The Well Palmdale, CA

This past Sunday, we read through Leviticus 8, and saw God establishing the priesthood.  This all built up to Jesus being our great high priest, offering up the perfect sacrifice (himself) on our behalf.  Because Jesus has given us a new life, we are now a part of the priesthood of all believers.  Because of Jesus, we now have access to the Father, which we did not before.  We also saw that being a "priest" we are called to point people to the great high priest in all that we do.

Here's what got me thinking.  In the church we suffer from a great deal of self-centeredness.  It can be expressed in many different ways, but it's still self-centeredness no matter the flavor.  Many congregations will focus on a "Jesus and me" mentality, where worship is completely an individual act despite sitting next to someone else.  We sit in a chair or a pew and simply think about just "Jesus and me", without any concern to our neighbor.  In this case, our hearts seek to exist as a spiritual island of sorts. 

Still, other churches seem to focus on true ministry only happening by the staff.  Only the pastor can forgive/teach/and point people to Jesus.  Like the brothers and sisters above, you show up to a building as a consumer...simply a receiver of ministry.  There might be an evangelism committee, but they accomplish little more than putting "clever" sayings on their new church sign (Note: please stop putting puns on your church signs...it's not cute...it's annoying).

Other congregations will hear the Word and glory in their perfect theology, and how they have things down...essentially domesticating and paper training the divine.  Satisfaction is found in your own perfection...and the attention is solely upon "Me" and how everyone else needs to be like you.  Though lip service might be given to bringing the gospel to your community, it simply looks like proper liturgies being performed with perfection that is just shy of divine...all the while, there are people walking right past your perfectly executed Te Deum or altar call and heading straight to hell.  Ministry ends up looking much more like putting a light underneath a bushel basket than anything (which I'm pretty sure doesn't reflect the petition "they kingdom come").   

Well, as we see in 1 Peter 2, where Peter refers to us as "living stones" and a "royal priesthood", this should really draw our attention outward.  Now, I know that many of us sit in a worship service seeking grace for your sins (a very good thing), and how God can change you (another very good thing) and what a true understanding of Scripture is (also very good), it should also draw our hearts and meditations outward.  The priesthood was a very public ministry.  It was established for the people.  They were the "go-betweens" for man to God.  In the same way, the church (that is...the people of God) has been established for the people (that is...the people that Jesus came to save...which is everyone).  This means that though there should be a component to worship and study that deals with "Jesus and me" and even seeking out sound theology and doctrine...it also means that worship/study/prayer/etc. should always move us outwards into the public.  Being a royal priesthood means that the King of Kings has washed us clean with His blood and now sends us all out into the public to be an agent of grace in that place by pointing people to the cross.  The further we dive into God's Word, the further it should push us out to the four corners of our communities to listen to the needs that others' have, and then continually point them to Jesus who satisfies all needs and forgives all sin.  I pray that your inclusion into God's "royal priesthood" moves you out into your community to share the good news of salvation found in Jesus. 

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