Scripture: 1 Peter 2:9-10 NIV
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Transcript
My wife is from New Brunswick, and my brother and I are from Prince Edward Island. So, that means we are Maritimers! Since our families still live out East, we attempt to travel home every 6 months to spend time with them. It’s a 14-hour drive with a 1-hour time change occurring in New Brunswick. We depart around 3 AM, and arrive at our destination between 4 PM and 6 PM, depending on how heavy my foot is. Along the way, we stop for fuel, stretch our legs, use the washroom, and grab a quick snack. Its very rare that we sit down for a meal, as we are too excited to get home and see our families.
But I remember this one time driving through Quebec… It was around 9 AM, we were hungry, and all the cards aligned. There it was. Burger King. It was on our side of the highway, and no offramp to get back onto… what an opportunity to sit down to eat and quickly get back on the road. So, we pulled in, and that’s when the fun began.
Everything was in French, and the only thing I could recognize was the numbers over each combo, and the pictures of the various breakfast items. I told the cashier; I would like three combo number 1s. She looked at me, smiled, and said “we have no plate.” Confused. I tried again. I would like three combo number 1s. And again, she looked at me, smiled, and said, “we have no plate.”
Getting a bit frustrated, I replied, we can take it to go, if you don’t have any plates. Now I could see that she was confused. So, the cashier went into the kitchen, and returned with someone who spoke both English and French who said, “sir, our hotplate is not working, so we can’t cook you breakfast. All we have available is tea, coffee, and muffins.”
If I had direct access to the mediator in the in the kitchen, I would have saved a lot of frustration, and had time to stop at another restaurant. Perhaps each of you have experienced similar frustrations speaking through a mediator? Maybe it was like my story, a language barrier?
Maybe you wanted to help your friend with filing their tax return? So, you call up the CRA, and try to ask them some questions on behalf of your friend. The first thing the agent will ask “are you their authorized representative?” The mediator between your friend and the CRA.
Maybe you are driving around and come across the perfect house. Your thinking, if I could offer them $20,000 less, I could complete all my desired renovations and make this house mine. The first step is to obtain a real estate agent and draft an offer. The next step is for your real estate agent to send the offer to the seller’s real estate agent. The seller and their real estate agent will then meet, and either send a rejection letter to your real estate agent or a counteroffer. Finally, you will meet with your real estate agent and accept the counteroffer or start this process all over again. Talk about frustrating! The mediators between you and your dream, are trying for the highest price, and not necessarily your best interest.
Since my wife is here, I am going to say this is your story and not mine. Maybe you’re on the phone, speaking to some friends. You’re planning to go out for a night on the town. Right in the middle of the conversation, you hear in your other ear what will Judy be wearing tonight? So, you pause your conversation, and ask your friend to speak to his wife and find out what she’s wearing tonight. He then pauses the conversation, and yells out what are you wearing tonight? After he hears the reply, he repeats it to you, and then you repeat it to your wife. Phew! But there’s a problem. Once both wives realize there’s a method to speak, that’s the end of that, the questions just keep flying.
I am sure we can all agree, speaking through a mediator is not our desired approach. It is something we tolerate if there is no other option. What does the Bible say about needing a mediator? God created humanity to have a personal relationship with Him. However, sin entered the world through Adam and Eve’s disobedience, which caused a separation between God and humanity.
But our God is a gracious God, let’s say it together: gracious God. He provided a way to bridge this separation. God appointed various mediators such as prophets, priests, and judges to communicate His will and commands to the people. These mediators were chosen by God to speak on His behalf and to guide the people in living according to His laws. However, just like us, these mediators were not perfect, and they could not completely restore the relationship between God and humanity.
I want each of you to picture the biggest lineup that you ever seen in your life. It could be going to a concert, a hockey game, or nowadays even the doctor’s office. Now, picture all these people as the Israelites, lined up with their bulls, rams, goats, etc. on their way to the Temple to atone for their sins. They brought the animal to the priest, placed their hands on its head, and confessed their sins over the animal, transferring their individual sins to the innocent animal for atonement. The priest would then sacrifice the animal. This occurred every single day. It’s like only being able to put $5 of gas into your tank, and never being able to fill it up.
Then you had the High Priest. He was the official mediator between God and His people. Once a year, he was permitted to enter the Most Holy Place, which was divided by a 70-foot-high curtain, and behind that curtain was the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of God’s very presence. This yearly event was scary! So scary that the people tied a rope with bells to the High Priest. As the High Priest entered the inner curtain, providing they continued to hear the bells, they knew God did not yet strike him down. Otherwise, they knew they had a body to pull out.
But there’s Good News! We are no longer restricted to only putting $5 in our gas tank. God provided a way for us to belong to Him and to His family. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins, and to bring us back to God. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. (John 3:16)
When Jesus died on the cross as the perfect and final sacrifice, the 70-foot-high curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom. God moved out of that Temple and promised to never again to live in a Temple made with human hands (Acts 17:24). Jesus Christ is the one mediator—the one and only Savior of the world. There is no other go-between. • Religion cannot save us. • Good works cannot save us. • Praying to Mary cannot save us. • Praying to Saints cannot save us. • Worshiping an idol cannot save us.
The only means of salvation, is coming to God through faith in His Son. Jesus is now our High Priest (Hebrews 2:17), and by His sacrificial death on the cross, He makes all His followers’ priests – a priest to God and priest for one another.
That is why in today’s scripture reading, Peter says that we are part of the Royal Priesthood. When we think of the word royal, its common to imagine a king or a queen, a castle, or the symbol of a crown.
To me, the word Royal brings me back to a vacation in Disneyworld. Disney sells a package called Princess for a Day. For a few hundred dollars, your little girl can have a princess makeover that included hair, makeup, a dress, and best of all, everyone’s attention. Each any every time she got on a bus, trumpets would play, and announce attention, attention, we have a Royal Princess on the bus with us today.
When we imagine a priest, we think of the Pope, a robe, a special hat, and perhaps a staff. Come to think about, the words Royal and Priesthood seem very opposite. Royals are served by others, while Priests are servants to others. However, Peter put those words together. He said we are part of the Royal Priesthood. As such, we are to serve God and serve Others. We are the reigning servants of the King of Kings.
So, if we are part of the Royal Priesthood, and we are to serve God and serve Others, how do we do that? If we keep reading today’s scripture, it says our service is “to declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light.” And guess how Hebrews 13:15 defines the word praise: “a sacrifice of praise.”
We are no longer offering blood or animal sacrifices, but spiritual ones, pleasing to God (Hebrews 13:16). Declaring the praises of God is more than just some words we say during a worship service. We declare the praises of God by telling of his goodness and his offer of salvation to a lost and dying world. And we declare his praises by honoring him as Lord in all we are and do. Demonstrating to the world what a difference God makes in our lives.
Hebrews 13:16 describes a second spiritual sacrifice we can offer “do good and to share with others.” Let me give you a great of example of doing good and sharing with others.
Today is Reformation Sunday. On this day, 500 years ago, a man named Marin Luther challenged the church. Martin was training to become a lawyer when he was or almost struck with lighting. He prayed that if he survived, he would become a monk.
He survived and kept his promise. Quickly, he started to see the numerous problems of the Church. The people spoke German, but the Bible wasn’t available in that language. As a result, you needed to rely on the Priest to interpret the Bible for you.
In addition, the Church taught that if you paid almost a full year’s salary for a deceased loved one, you can buy their way into heaven. Martin came up with 95 reasons that what was being taught by the Church was not Biblical and posted this to the front door of his Church. Imagine walking into Bethany this morning, only to see a massive poster with all the falsehoods your Church leaders were teaching.
Martin went on to translate the Bible into the language of the common people at the time, and started a reformation, which allowed people to read the Bible for themselves and see that what their Church leaders were teaching was wrong. Martin helped people rediscover the true meaning of scripture, and this kicked off the Protestant movement, and churches such as this one.
And this is why being part of the Royal Priesthood doesn’t mean that you can be a Lone Ranger. Perhaps some of you are thinking… I’m a priest. I have the Holy Spirit and I have direct access to the Father. Therefore, my interpretation of the Bible is just as valid as yours. I don’t need to listen to what you or anyone else says. My religion is between me and God.
What I can say is this. God provides teachers in the Church so that we will not be blown around by every wind of doctrine but will in all ways grow up in Christ (Ephesians 4). The interpretation of scripture is better as a community than an individual.
Being part of the Royal Priesthood means to serve God and serve Others. How are you going to serve today? Can you be a Royal Priest as a Youth? Yes. Can you be a Royal Priest as an Adult? Yes. Can you be a Royal Priest as a Senior? Yes. Can you be a Royal Priest using your gifts, talents, and abilities? Yes. When you use those talents and gifts to help other people, that’s called serving. Nothing fancy or scary about it. It’s just helping others.
But Jason… I am too young, too old, or I don’t have any skills. 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 states that “every part of our body is important for it to work properly” and “each of you have an important role to play.” Imagine trying to run a race after stubbing your toe! We are all needed. We are all equally important. We can’t stop ministering until the race is done (2 Timothy 4:7).
Let me give you a few final examples of how you can serve. • You can pray for someone. • You can start a small group in your home. • You can say grace when eating at a restaurant so that others hear. • You can mention that you are buying this stuff in your shopping cart to the cashier for the church or someone in need to spark a conversation. • Did you know that being an Usher can be a ministry? I bet we had numerous guests come in today. Speaking with them, showing them how glad you are that they are here, that’s ministry! • Did you know that serving coffee can be a ministry? Imagine all the conversations you can have speaking with everyone as they enjoy their coffee or tea. You can find out their problems and ask to pray for them. You can encourage them through a difficult time. You can share in their joys. • Come to church… You can’t serve from your sofa.
Let me close with this. Peter says that you are part of the Royal Priesthood. You are part of the community of faith. Christians aren’t consumers. We are contributors. We don’t watch. We engage. We give. We sacrifice. We encourage. We pray by laying hands on the hurting. We do life together. The church needs you, and you need the church.
What if you’re still not sure what your ministry is? Do something! Anything! Until God puts your special mission on your heart. But the keyword here is YOU. How are you going to serve today?
