A Kingdom of Priests (2)

 

 

“And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:4 – 5; see also Ephesians 2:19 – 22).

 

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood…” (1 Peter 2:9a).

 

Jesus is a living stone, we are living stones; Jesus is our High Priest (Heb. 2:17), we are a holy and royal priesthood.

Note the word “holy.” We are to be a holy people, a holy priesthood. The word “holy” is a coin with two sides, two complementary meanings; the first is what we normally think of – purity, spotlessness; the second is separated and dedicated unto God – they go together, we can’t have one without the other.

 

In 1 Peter Chapter One we see that we are to be “like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1:15 – 16). We are termed “children of obedience” in 1:14, and we are to live as those who know that we “were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold…but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1:18 – 19).

 

These things that we hopefully “see” in Chapter One, lead us into the holy and royal priesthood of Chapter Two. We see who Christ Jesus is and what He has done, we see that we have been given new birth in Him (1:3, 23), purchased by Him – which means that we are no longer our own, we no longer belong to ourselves. We have been made holy in Jesus Christ, both in terms of purity and in terms of being dedicated and set apart unto God our Father.

 

Now then, when we speak of the “priesthood of the believer” do we speak of being holy and separated and dedicated to God? If we don’t, then are we really speaking of the Biblical priesthood which believers have in Jesus Christ? No, we are not, we cannot be, for the Bible tells us that we are a holy and royal priesthood.

 

We are not a priesthood of the Old Covenant with its constant focus on our sinfulness, we are not ministers of the Law which is “the ministry of condemnation,” a “ministry of death” (2Cor. 3:1 – 11). Rather, we are ministers of the New Covenant in Jesus Christ, a Covenant which makes those within it holy and righteous and dedicated unto God, in and through Jesus Christ…which is why the Bible calls us “saints,” “holy ones.” This is not because of anything we have done or do or ever shall do – it is all because of Jesus Christ and what He has done and what He is doing and what He shall be doing (note the past, present, and future in 1 Peter Chapter One), it is most especially because of who He is, who the Father is, who the Holy Spirit is – who God is.

 

If we do not know who we are, how shall we live as who we are? If we do not know who Christ Jesus is and how perfect His salvation for us is, how shall we live in that salvation and in intimate relationship with Him?

 

When we affirm that we are a holy and royal priesthood, we affirm Jesus Christ, we look to Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2).  When we affirm our priesthood in Christ, indeed every element of our salvation in Him, we testify that we are looking unto Jesus, seeing beyond what the natural eye of understanding sees, and that we are seeing into the eternals, seeing into that which actually and truly “is” in the Trinity and the great salvation which God has accomplished for His glory. This is living by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).

 

Let’s look at the two elements of holiness, that of spotless purity and that of being separated and dedicated to God and His service. We’ll consider the latter first.

 

We have an immediate problem with both considerations, and that is that we don’t think in these terms and we don’t live as if they were true; this means, for most of us, that it will take time for our thinking and living to change, but let’s be encouraged that our God is the God of transformation into the image of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 3:17 – 18; Romans 8:28 – 30).

 

While we tend to often speak of Jesus as Savior, the designation Savior for Jesus is used few times in the Bible, while the term Lord is used constantly. What might this tell us about the way we think and the way the writers of the Scriptures thought? More importantly since the Bible was written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, since its primary Author is God, what does this say about the message of God to us about Jesus Christ? About our relationship with Christ and about the salvific work of Jesus Christ?

 

Paul writes that we are not our own for we have been “bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:19 – 20), and Peter tells us that we were redeemed (bought back) with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18 – 19). We no longer belong to ourselves, we are the property of Jesus Christ, He is indeed our Lord. But do we teach this? Do we preach this? Does our Sunday school and small group curriculum embody this? Do we live this as individuals, as families, as congregations…as our Way of Life?

 

In July 1967 I stood in a room at Fort Holabird in Baltimore, MD and swore an oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States of America. There were many other men in that same room taking that same oath. These men were from many different places and I did not know any of them. We then boarded a train for North Carolina, after which we boarded buses which took us to Fort Bragg. At Fort Bragg we were each assigned to a company, which in turn belonged to a larger unit, which in turn belonged to a larger unit. Each company had around 200 men; prior to arriving at Fort Bragg I didn’t know any of these men.

 

Prior to taking the “oath” we all had one thing in common, we belonged to ourselves. We could decide what to do on any given day; we could decide where to go, what to eat, who to see and associate with, where to sleep, what to wear – we had all the choices the average American had.  

 

After taking the “oath” we had a new thing in common, we no longer belonged to ourselves, we then belonged to the United States of America, most especially to the Army of the United States. We were not even governed by the same laws as the average citizen; we were then governed by the UCMJ, the Uniform Code of Military Justice – a special set of laws governing those men and women who are the property of the military forces of the United States of America.

 

Among the things all of this meant was that we had to take care of ourselves not simply because it was a smart thing to do, but also because if we didn’t, if we did something to damage ourselves, it was like damaging government property. For example, if I went to the beach or swimming pool and got a sunburn so bad that I couldn’t perform my duties, I could be subject to a judicial procedure under the UCMJ known as an Article 15, which could result in a fine or other disciplinary action.

 

Consider that within the U.S. military there is an assumption, when meeting others within the military, that everyone in the military belongs to the Armed Forces of the United States of American and is subject to the UCMJ and the oath which everyone took to support and defend the constitution of the United States. Everyone is also subject to the personal orders he or she has received, no one is stationed on a base or elsewhere without orders directing and authorizing that solider, sailor, airman, or marine to go there and remain there. People in the military do not move from one place to another without orders.

 

Now, may I ask, within the professing church do we assume that we are all under the Lordship of Jesus Christ? Do we acknowledge and teach and preach and live as those who no longer belong to themselves, but who are slaves of Jesus Christ? Do we respect the authority that Christ has placed within His Church? Do we respect one another? What do our leadership meetings look like – whether at the congregational, regional, or national level? Are we living as subject to our Lord Jesus, His Word, and one another?

 

What do we look like at work, school, in our neighborhoods, at recreation? What do our entertainment choices look like? What do our checkbooks look like – both within our families and within our churches? What does our consumer consumption look like? When others look at us, do they see a People living in subjection to another Person, another Kingdom, another constitution (Phil. 2:1 – 16; 3:20)?

 

As Bishop Sheen wrote, “The priest is not his own.”

 

If we are not teaching and preaching and living as those who belong to Jesus Christ, as those to whom Jesus Christ is Lord in the full meaning of the word “Lord,” a meaning which the Early Church certainly understood – if we are not living and speaking thusly, then how can we claim to believe and teach “the priesthood of the believer”? If we are not confronting the Biblical teaching of Jesus Christ as Lord, if we are not being conformed to this teaching, if we are not living as those who belong to Him, if this is not our Way of Life…then we are deceiving ourselves to claim that we believe and teach the priesthood of the believer – for the priest of Jesus Christ does not belong to himself or herself – we belong to Another.

 

Do I belong to Jesus Christ?

 

Do you?

 

The Glory of Sonship in the Son (2)

 

Adoption and Inheritance

 

“For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” (Romans 8:15 – 17)

 

“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Galatians 4:4 – 7).

 

“He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:5 – 6).

 

What does it mean to be adopted by the Father? What does it mean to be a joint heir, or fellow heir, with Jesus Christ? Note that in Romans 8 and Galatians 4 that adoption and inheritance are linked; we also see this in Ephesians 1:5 and 11.

 

When we think of adoption, we think of going through a legal process in which a person, normally a child, is made the legal child of non-biological parents or parent. However, in ancient Rome it was adults who were often adopted so that they would carry on the family name, assume a leading position within the family, and receive the family inheritance. (Adoption practices and legal requirements varied during ancient Rome, so I am focusing on the main reason for Roman adoption – being entrusted with the family name and inheritance). People of modest means did not, it seems, typically adopt in ancient Rome; adoption was for the wealthy who had a substantial inheritance to pass on and who wanted to preserve the family name.

 

Since those who have trusted in Jesus Christ have become daughters and sons of the Living God by new birth in the Holy Spirit (John 1:12 – 13; 3:1 – 8; 2 Cor. 5:14 – 21; Eph. 1:1 – 10; 1 Peter 1:22 – 25), that is, since we have the life of our Father living within us (Hebrews 2:10 – 13) and are biological children of God in Christ, why then does the Holy Spirit speak to us of adoption?

 

For one thing, when we read that we have received the spirit of adoption and that we cry out, “Abba! Father!” we see that, in Christ, Biblical adoption is more than a legal process, there is also an organic life-giving dimension to it which is wrapped in our new birth in the Holy Spirit. But still the question remains, why adoption when we already have the reality and image of the new birth? How does adoption enter into our relationship with the Father?

 

Of course, we naturally have the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, causing us to cry out, “Abba! Father!” Then we have the element of inheritance, we have been “adopted” to bear the family name and to receive the family inheritance. We’ll look at the family name in a forthcoming meditation, but for now let’s consider our inheritance; what does it mean to be heirs of God and coheirs, or joint heirs, or fellow heirs, with Christ?

 

Keeping in mind that in ancient Rome adoption was a means of passing along a family’s wealth to the adopted person, and that the bulk of the wealth would be concentrated in the person adopted; how does this image fit within the New Testament passages on adoption?  Since Jesus Christ is the firstborn Son of the Father, certainly He receives all of the wealth of the Father, all of the Father’s wealth and glory is in the Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore, what conceivable role can our adoption, as daughters and sons, play in the plan of God?

 

We might form an image akin to ancient Israel in the Promised Land, in which every tribe and every family and every person within a tribe receives a portion of the Promised Land, but this image would be amiss when we look at the Firstborn Son and His many brothers and sisters.

 

Jesus says to the Father, “…and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine…” John 17:10). What then does it mean for us to be joint heirs with Jesus Christ? It means that we share an indivisible inheritance in Christ and with Christ; it means that the sisters and brothers of the Firstborn Son share His inheritance indivisibly with Him. It means that the Head and His Body share all things jointly and equally and indivisibly – for they are not two people – a head and a body – but one Person in Christ (1 Cor. 12:12).

 

This is an essential element of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; the eternal purpose of the Father that Jesus Christ should be the Firstborn among many brethren, that the Father should bring many sons and daughters to glory in and through Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29; Hebrews 2:10 – 13).

 

Here is an illustration to help us see what an indivisible inheritance looks like. In Maryland and Virginia, at least up until recently, when a husband and wife took title to real estate they took it as “tenants by the entirety,” this was a concept in English common law related to marriage and married couples. Unless you were married you could not hold title as “tenants by the entirety.” Today, most states have what is known as “joint tenants,” which means, in part, that the people on the real estate title share in the complete and total property (or other asset), one person cannot have 80% of the property and another 20%, it is an indivisible enjoyment and possession of the property – if there are two people involved then each enjoys 100% of the property.

 

The difference between tenants by the entirety and joint tenants is that English common law recognizes not only a “unity of possession and enjoyment” in a tenancy by the entirety, but is also recognizes a unity of person, that is, English common law sees (or used to see!) a husband and wife as one person – which is why tenants by the entirety could only be used by married couples to hold title to property.

 

Therefore, when the New Testament tells us that we are joint heirs with Christ (fellow heirs, coheirs) along with being adopted by the Father, that we have a radical message before us:

 

We have been adopted, placed in the family, by the Father through the Son, with the Spirit’s witness, so that we might bear the Family Name, have the Life of the Family (the Trinity) within us, and receive the Family inheritance.

 

We do not receive the Family inheritance piecemeal, we do not receive a certain percentage of the inheritance, Jesus Christ does not have 80% of the inheritance and we have 20%; since we are joint heirs with Christ, in Him, we share in 100% of the inheritance indivisibly in Him and with Him to His glory and the glory of the Father.  Just as in English common law there is one person in marriage, a husband and wife, so in the Gospel there is One Person; the Head and His Body, Christ and His Bride (Eph. 5:22 – 33). (Note, in 1 Peter 3:7, Peter makes it clear that husbands and wives are “fellow heirs of the grace of life,” that is, here again husbands and wives are one person. There are really four people in a marriage; Christ, the husband, the wife, and then the husband and wife as one person.)

 

This was a radical message in the first century, and it is a radical message today. We might expect that the Firstborn Son would have most all of the inheritance, or we might think that He would receive 100% of the inheritance and then give each of us a portion; but the Bible says that we are joint heirs with the Firstborn Son, that we are heirs of God and coheirs with Christ…but it does seems that we have a difficult time accepting how wonderful our salvation is in Jesus Christ, it seems as if we really don’t want to touch the fattened calf and enjoy the feast our Father has prepared for us.

 

We seem to be afraid to enjoy the glory of justification, of sanctification, and of glorification in Jesus Christ. Our dear Father wants to draw us closer and closer to Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ wants us to know and enjoy Him in greater and greater joy and power and glory and intimacy…and yet we insist on dumpster diving, we insist on self-flagellation, we insist on saying, “Yeah but..” when all of the promises of God in Christ are “Amen!” (2 Cor. 1:19 – 20). In fact, the promises are given to us that we might partake of and participate in the Divine Nature! (2 Peter 1:4).

 

When Paul writes, “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who d us” (Rom. 8:37) we say, “Yeah but, it ain’t for now.”

 

It ain’t for now? If it ain’t for now, when is it for? Jesus gives promises to the overcomers in Revelation – to those who are overcoming now, not when life is over on this earth. Now is the time for overcoming. Now is the time for God’s salvation to be believed and manifested (Hebrews chapters 3 and 4). Now is the time to be salt and light and life to the world in Christ. Now is the time to live as the sons and daughters of the living God. Now is the time to eat the fattened calf for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Now is the time to cast off the clothes and identity of Egypt – there is a reason believers in Jesus Christ are called SAINTS more than anything else in the New Testament.  Jesus says that as the Father sent Him, He sends us. When are we going to go? How many excuses are we going to have?

 

Jesus gives us the baptism in the Holy Spirit to empower us to witness. He gives us His Cross so that we can reckon ourselves to be dead to sin and alive to God. He delivers us from the Law and its condemnation so that we can live in and by His grace. He gives us Romans Chapter 8 and we say, “That ain’t for us.”

 

The Father gives us Himself, the Son, the Spirit, as our eternal inheritance…and we push them away, we push the Gospel away – so deeply ingrained in us are caricatures of the Gospel, of God…of the salvation of Jesus Christ.

 

O dear friends, Jesus came to declare the Name of the Father to us (Heb. 2:12)…can we not hear Him? Can we not receive the glorious inheritance that we have in Jesus Christ? Can we not learn to share this inheritance with those around us…as joint heirs with Jesus Christ? As daughters and sons who have been adopted by the Eternal Father into all the riches of the Holy Trinity? What a shame to have such wealth and not to share it with others!

 

Let’s live as who we are in Christ, not as who we once were outside of Him. Let us begin to see the glory of sonship in the Son, a glory that magnifies the Trinity, a glory that is our destiny.