The Priesthood of All Believers

Pastor Rod Thompson

Midland SDA Church

April 25, 2020

In Numbers 13 you have the story of the 12 spies sent into the Promised Land and the results of their investigation.  They saw that the land truly flowed with milk and honey just as the Lord had promised.  But they also saw the challenges of trying to take the land and 10 of the 12 spies said that they couldn’t do it.  They gave a faithless report and turned nearly the entire nation against God.

They had an attitude of defeat and their attitude was like a plague upon the people.  In the first part of our sermon series on the secrets to a thriving church we saw that attitude is everything.  We saw that faith based optimism is the most important ingredient to a thriving church.  Today we continue our series with the priesthood of all believers.

After the spies rejected the Lord and rebelled against Him and all the people followed them, they were given there awful fate.

Read Numbers 14:6-33

After they hear their fate they decide that they are going to now go in and take the possession of the land and claim the promises of God.  But God tells Moses to tell them not to go, for I am not going with you.  You will be defeated.  And sure enough it was just as God had said.  So the Israelites go back out into the desert. 

But the rebellion does not end there.  In chapter 16 you have Korah, Dathan and Abiram  who gather together a coalition of people who rise up against Moses and Aaron.

Read Numbers 16: 3

Do you see what’s happening here?  Korah – who is of the tribe of Levi – says to Moses and Aaron, the whole congregation is holy, God is with them, so why do you think that you are the only ones who can minister before the Lord.

Notice what Moses says

Read Numbers 16: 8-10

So Moses says, let’s have a competition.  You and your 250 followers get yourselves a sensor and offer incense before the Lord and let’s see what God says about all of this.  And of course you know the story.  God says to Moses tell the people to separate themselves from the rebellious group and those who didn’t where destroyed along with them.  The earth opened up and swallowed them all up. 

Now I wish that we could say that this was the end of the rebellion, but unfortunately rebellion often goes deeper than just those who are the most vocal about their displeasure

Read Numbers 16:41-50

Now this passage doesn’t have much to do with our message today but I mention it because I want to show you something.  Look at verse 49 again.  It says that 14,700 died in the plague. 

Read Numbers 14: 35-37

Do you see what happened here?  Those 10 spies who gave the bad report, those leaders of the 10 tribes of Israel died in this plague.  They were among those who were destroyed by the wrath of God.  They were among those who were rebelling against God.  And they were leaders in this rebellion.  So God had to wipe out the entire seed of rebellion.

So now new leaders of the tribes of Israel are assigned and God is going to make sure that He shows the other tribes that the line of Aaron is the only line to the priesthood.

In Chapter 17 God tells Moses to get 12 rods and give one each to the 12 leaders of Israel and write their names on the rods and put them in the sanctuary?  And of course you know what happened.  The next morning Moses goes into the sanctuary and Aaron’s rod had sprouted and put forth buds had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds.

This was God’s way of showing that the line of Aaron was the priestly line and they were to minister before the Lord and before the people.

Now by now you may be saying that’s nice pastor Rod but what does that have to do with us today?  It’s important for us to understand that there was a change that was made.   At this point in history the Israel of God is under the Old Covenant and there was only the line of Aaron within the tribe of Levi that was to be priests.

But today we live under the New Covenant.  SO what is the difference?

Read Hebrews 8: 7-10

God says that Old Covenant was faulty.  It was faulty because it was based on the promises of the people that they would keep God’s law.  But they were trying to do it in their own power and they couldn’t.

So at the death of Jesus God instituted a New Covenant.  This one was based on the promises of God.  I will give you the Holy Spirit, I will write my law in your mind and in your heart, I will give you the power, capacity, and desire to keep my law.

And when that happened everything changed. 

Read 1 Peter 2: 5 & 9-10

Now today you don’t have a select few in the line of Aaron who are to be priests and ministers of God, but now you have the priesthood of all believers.

I don’t know about you, but I have often wondered how those Old Testament priests kept it all straight.  There were so many different offerings and each one required something a little different.  But today there is just one sacrifice.

Romans 12:1      I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 

And today we don’t follow after the priestly line of Aaron, but we follow after our high priest, Jesus Christ who came from a superior line, the priestly line of Melchizedek.

So the question we have to ask ourselves is what is my role as a priest today?   What should I be doing?  I think the only way we can find that answer is through studying the ministry of Jesus.  Because He modeled for us what each of us should be doing as a priest of God and a minister of the gospel. 

We should be emulating the ideal model, Jesus Christ.  And when we do that, we are discipling others who then disciple others so that the church becomes dynamic, and growing with the Holy Spirit working in all members.

As we examine the life and ministry of Jesus, we discover no less than five things that He did while He was here on earth.  So let’s unpack these five thoughts to develop a clear theological understanding of ministry for us today.

The first significant thing that Jesus did was to maintain a close relationship with the Father

Repeatedly scripture shows us that Jesus placed the highest priority of His life on spending time alone with the Father.  His life reveals an intense passion for God’s presence as His heart longed for and hungered to touch the heart of God. 

Note the following incidents in His life

Luke 6:12            Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.

Matthew 14:23     And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.

Mark 1: 35           Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.

Here we see that Jesus lived a life of prayer.  He started every day in communion with the heavenly Father and ended it in close connection with Him.  At times He even spent the whole night in communion with His Father.  Actually Jesus was in touch with His Father at all times. 

The very first thing Jesus did each day was to fill the well of His being with the presence of the Father.  He then lived with heaven in mind all day long.

In other words, Jesus managed His time by moving from being to behaving.  His being was about being in communion with the Father and His doing was that of performing the will of the Father.   

Steps to Christ P94

His humanity made prayer a necessity and a privilege.  He found comfort and joy in communion with His Father.  And if the Savior of men, the Son of God, felt the need of prayer, how much more should feeble, sinful mortals feel the necessity of fervent, constant prayer.

We should be able to see that He was effective in ministry because of His prayer life.  And I believe that it is no coincidence that Jesus instructed His disciples to prioritize their relationship with God before they went out to share the gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth

The issue of prayer is so important that Jesus went as far as to declare that without a connection with Him we can do nothing.

John 15:5            I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing.

So the work of ministry is first and foremost to know the Lord Jesus Christ intimately and passionately.   In other words, we are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God.

The second significant thing that Jesus did while here on earth was to preach the gospel.

Luke 4:18            The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor

Matthew 9:35       Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom

Jesus taught the people every day, giving guidance through the word and calling them to confess their sins and to experience a transformed life, in other words it’s about sharing the truth with others.

We should be leading people to a better understanding of the word and helping them to live out the word of God out in their own lives

Notice the following vital spiritual things that the word does for us

Philippians 2:16             God’s word gives us life    

1 Corinthians 15: 1-2    God’s word can make us righteous

1 Peter 2:2           God’s word can produce growth

John 17:17          God’s word sanctifies us

Psalm 119:98                God’s word gives us wisdom

I’m afraid that many times we reduce scripture to mere information.  But we should be studying the scriptures – not for knowledge – but for transformation.

Ministry of Healing P143

It is not theoretical knowledge you need so much as a spiritual regeneration.  Yu need NOT to have your curiosity satisfied, but to have a new heart.  You must receive a new life from above before you can appreciate heavenly things.

So, the church, (that’s you and me), is fundamentally the place for leading people to experience the presence of God and receive the power of God. 

In our journey with God we should be moving from knowledge to power, from knowledge of the text to knowing God, and from mastering the text to God mastering us and transforming our lives.

The third significant thing that Jesus did was to meet the needs of the people

Jesus loved people.  He knew that lost people mattered to God, and therefore they mattered to Him.  So Jesus set out to build relationships and meet needs.

Ministry of healing P143

Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people.  The savior mingled with men as one who desired their good.  He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence.  Then He bade them “follow me.”

Often as Christians we might be tempted to distance ourselves from the world, when in reality what we must do is not only be in this world (though not of it) but we must socialize, build relationships, and win confidence.  We are not to renounce social communion.  We should not seclude ourselves from others.  In order to reach all classes, we must meet them where they are.

The fourth significant thing that Jesus did was to make disciples through the Spirit

His concern was not with programs to reach the multitudes, but with men whom the multitudes would follow.  Jesus challenged His disciples….

Luke 10:2            The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore to send out workers into His harvest field

Jesus is basically saying that we have a math problem on our hands.  We need more workers – more disciples – to gather the harvest, so we must go and make disciples of all nations

Joseph Kidder – The big four P48

Our role is to pray for the harvest and especially for harvesters.  God’s role is to send us people who will be the new harvesters.

The New Testament church followed in the footsteps of Jesus.  Not only did they baptize new believers daily through their spirit filled witnessing and preaching, but they were intentional in raising a new generation of leaders.  Acts 6 indicates that the apostles selected and called others as disciples to help do the ministry and be leaders in the church.

Soon they also began to understand, practice, and preach the priesthood of all believers.  Everyone was considered to be a disciple and had a ministry to perform. 

2 Timothy 2:2       And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.

Finally, the fifth thing that Jesus did while on earth was to give His life in service and sacrifice.

Mark 10:45          For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many

Luke 22:27          For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves?  Is it not he who sits at the table?  Yet I am among you as ONE who serves.

The king of the whole universe was not into self-glorification, self-satisfaction, power, or control.  Rather His motivation was service and ministry.

Lost people matter to God.  So if I am to be a genuine disciple of Christ, then they will matter to me as well.

As we should be able to see, the sacrificial life of Jesus manifests itself on at least two levels

1. A life of giving – giving of time, resources, and life.

2. Give our lives in sacrificial giving – even to the point of death

God is summoning all of us to live the life that Jesus lived.  Ministry of any type is not about us, it’s about Him.  It’s about knowing and serving the Lord.

If we want to grow spiritually, if we want our church to grow what should we be doing?

So what did Jesus do that we should be doing?

Jesus built His relationship with His Father

He preached the gospel of the kingdom of God

He met the needs of people

He made disciples through the power of the spirit

He gave His life as a sacrifice

Jesus spent three and half years training people for ministry.  In His ministry we see the things that we are to be doing.

We see that the main role of priesthood of all believers is that we are o be training and equipping someone else to do the ministry that we are doing.

The implication is that we ourselves must first be doing ministry before we can teach someone else to do what we do.

We must do what Jesus did.