Look at chapter 2:9 Peter says “you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” There is a responsibility that comes with being a priesthood – a people belonging to God – it is to declare his praises. The English translation here does not really express this very well – declare his praises is not coming to church on a Sunday and singing some nice songs! The word declare here means proclaim, make it known, tell other people and the word praises here really means God’s good deeds – the things that God has done. So we are God’s representatives with a responsibility to declare the good things that He has done to other people that they may know him.
Today we’re going to look at the Church as a Priesthood.
What do you think of when you hear the word Priest or Priesthood?
Where is the church described as a priesthood? – 1 Peter Chapter 2:4-10
Peter refers to the believers as a priesthood in v.5 and v.9
Who is Peter writing to?
- 1:1 “God’s elect”
- Gentile believers in various churches scattered over quite a wide area (note Asia is not the area we call Asia today – it is more or less modern day Turkey).
- it is a circular letter to be sent around many churches.
However even though Peter is writing to Gentile Christians he uses quite a lot of Jewish terminology – Peter had Jewish background and to him the term priest probably meant something quite different to what it means to us today.
So who were the priests in Peter’s day, what was the Jewish understanding?
The priesthood was established early on in the history of the Jewish people – Moses’ brother Aaron was the first high priest.
Aaron was given very specific instructions from God about what he should do as a priest, what clothes he should wear, what rituals he should perform, etc. As the people of Israel grew so did the priesthood. One of the 12 tribes of Israel was designated to be priests – the Levites, so being a priest was hereditary – if you were born in the tribe of Levi, you would be a priest. The priests were responsible for carrying out all the rituals in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple.
Characteristics of the Jewish priests:
- Set apart
- Dedicated to serve God – their whole life was given over to serving God, performing duties in the temple.
- Holy
- It was a position that had a lot of responsibility with it
- Performed rituals in the temple – particularly sacrifices – the way everything had to be carried out was laid out in the Law that Moses received from God.
- Intermediaries between the people and God – eg. sacrifices were to atone for the sin of the people, and the people could only have access to God through the priests.
When Peter writes in v.9 “you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood” he is not just writing to the church leadership, this was a letter that would be read out to the whole church. He was not talking about a church leadership structure, as many might think of the priesthood today, he was saying that every member of the church was a priest and was part of the priesthood.
What Peter is saying was pretty radical at the time – in the Jewish understanding only certain people could be priests and here Peter is writing to Gentiles – not even Jews - and saying that they are all priests – everyone!
This is one of the main points I want to stress is that we are all priests – we all have a part to play.
A buzzword in certain church circles is “every member ministry” which means every member of the church should be involved in the ministry of the church and this is what Peter is saying. I’m pleased to say that from what I’ve seen of HCC and of the wider Pioneer network that “every member ministry” is one of the key things they try to promote. It means church is not about the church leaders doing everything and everybody else just turning up on Sunday and then going home again until next Sunday. It is about every member of the church being involved and having a part to play. Similar to the body imagery we were thinking about a couple of weeks ago – each part of the body has a part to play – “the eye cannot say to the hand “I don’t need you”” 1 Corinthians 12:21.
And what Peter was saying to the church then is still applicable to us now – so each one of us is part of the priesthood. The priesthood is not talking about the leadership structure of the church. Nowhere in the New Testament is the word “Priest” used to refer to a leader of the church. Also note that Peter in this letter is not giving instruction to the believers about how they should meet together or what they should do when they meet together, he is giving instruction on how they should live their lives – every day.
So if we look back at the characteristics of a priest what does it mean for us today
a) that we should be dedicated to serving God.
- our whole lives should be focused on God, on living how He wants us to live and doing what He wants us to do
- When Ian talked about the bride imagery he talked of the devotion of the Bride.
b) that we are called to be holy
- in chapter 1:15-16 Peter tells the people he is writing to to be holy – because God is Holy
- God is holy and we should be like Him – pure in every way, reflecting God’s nature.
c) that we should give sacrifice to God
- what are the sacrifices that we give to God today?
- v.2:5 Peter says we are a “holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
- Spiritual sacrifices are praise and worship, prayer and giving thanks, and also good deeds – in the rest of the letter Peter moves on from saying what the church, the body of believers is, to how they should conduct themselves in everyday life – this is the sacrifice we offer to God – how we live. Peter talks quite a lot about suffering for doing good – this is a sacrifice.
- In Romans 12:1 Paul says “I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” – So it is giving our whole lives over to God, letting His will be done in our lives so that he can use them for his purposes rather than trying to live how we want to and do our own thing that pleases us – this is a sacrifice.
d) that we have direct access to God
- we do not have to go through a mediator to have access to God, we can go straight to God ourselves. When Jesus died on the cross the curtain in the temple that separated the innermost sanctuary – known as the Most Holy Place – from the rest of the temple was torn in two. This symbolises that the way to God was opened up – everyone could have direct access to God.
e) that we are God’s representatives to other people.
- The Old Testament priests were the interface between God and the people. Now we are the interface between God and other people – and I think this is the most important point for us today, here and now, as church in Hertford. If you think I’ve said a lot, you’ve been bombarded with information, I’d like you to just remember this: that we are God’s representatives, that we are the way that other people can meet with God. What a privilege! and what a responsibility!
Look at chapter 2:9 Peter says “you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” There is a responsibility that comes with being a priesthood – a people belonging to God – it is to declare his praises. The English translation here does not really express this very well – declare his praises is not coming to church on a Sunday and singing some nice songs! The word declare here means proclaim, make it known, tell other people and the word praises here really means God’s good deeds – the things that God has done. So we are God’s representatives with a responsibility to declare the good things that He has done to other people that they may know him.