The Priesthood

THE CALL OF THE PRIESTHOOD

 

      There is yet another image from 1Peter 2:1-10, which can certainly be brought to our attention. The writer says in verse 9, “But you are a royal priesthood.” Just what could Peter possibly mean when he calls believers in Jesus, priests? The background and context for this idea comes from the ancient Hebrew temple organization, practices, and beliefs.

      We are reminded of the way these Jewish people did worship. We remember how the people would stand in the courts outside the inner temple. God’s presence resided in the Holy of Holies, the room in which only the high priest could enter. Between the “holy place” and the “holy of holies” hung a curtain or sometimes called a veil. This curtain separated the presence of God from his people; so the high priest came to God for the people, to present a blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins. Yet the people stood outside!

      Then, there was that Friday afternoon on a hillside outside of Jerusalem, Jesus hung his head and gave his spirit back to God his Father. The Synoptic Gospels tell us that at that moment the curtain in the temple, which separated God from his people, was torn in two from the top to the bottom. At that moment, Jesus became our high priest. No longer did the women, Gentiles, foreigners, those who could not afford a sacrifice have to worship in the outer courts; no longer would anyone be forced to remain on the outside dependent on an earthly priest to make a yearly sacrifice for them.

      In  Leviticus 8 we find an interesting account of the ordination of the priests. Moses does a strange thing; he takes blood from the sheep and places it on the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of Aaron and his sons.

      Why blood on the ear? I suggest that God wanted the priests’ hearing to be dedicated to the words that God speaks. Hearing is the first step in obedience. Why the blood on the thumb? It is our thumb which allows us to pick up and the hold on to things. The priests were to have no material possessions, the Lord was to be their portion; they were to hold only to the things which were holy and pure. Why the blood on the toe? The Biblical term for the Christian faith journey is the walk. They were to walk blameless before God and the people.

      As priests, we are to allow the blood of Jesus to be applied to our ears so that we can discern his voice above the distractions all around us. If we are to be of service to the Lord, we must be able to hear his voice and obey his instructions. And then, because God wants to be Lord over the things we hold on to so tightly, the things which mean so much to us, God wants us to allow the blood to be applied to our hands. And what about our walk? Our walk with Christ must be one in which we are walking in ways which are pleasing to him. God wants disciples who are willing to walk the straight and narrow way, even if it means walking alone. God wants us to allow the blood to be applied to our feet.

      What does it mean to us to be “a priesthood of believers?” The writer of Hebrews 10 says it means to do the will of God just as Jesus did. Priests do not live for themselves; they live for the ones they serve. Serve as Jesus served. This giving of our selves is the essence of the plan Jesus has for his believers and for his church. This is the reason a church without a missionary passion is not the church Christ envisioned. Priests are mediators. They stand between other people and God. They are to teach others about Jesus and how he can make a difference in their lives. Being a priest means that the believer should begin to look and act like Jesus. Jesus’ character is to be the defining quality of their lives. In order to serve as a mediator between a world without God and God himself; we must dress ourselves in the righteousness of God so that the world can see Christ in us. We must allow the Holy Spirit to change us from the inside out so that we actually begin to be like Jesus. The blood applied to our hearts. Our business is to cause the grace of Christ and the needs of the world to meet. As members of the “priesthood of believers,” Jesus sends us into the world, just as God the Father sent Jesus.

Rev Tim McConnell Long’s Chapel UMC July 7, 2013

 

A Different Diet

A DIFFERENT DIET

      As we continue to think about Peter’s words in 1Peter 2:1-10, we discover more metaphors, which may help define our walk with Jesus. It is almost as if Peter attempts to put as much as he can in these ten verses. He says there are things in my life and yours that we must get rid of before we can become mature Christians. Things like ill will, deceit, pretense, envy, and slander must be taken out of who we are—they can no longer be a part of our identity. Then Peter gives us an interesting metaphor of the Christian walk and development. He talks about us drinking milk as “babies” who are just beginning the faith walk.

      All new Christians begin their “new lives” on the “milk” and soft food of God’s word. Because the new way of life is different and sometimes unclear to a new disciple, the “spiritual food” must be simple and digestible.

      Yet, God does not intend for the new Christian to stay a “babe in Christ.” He wants us to move on to the “meat and potatoes” of the deep things of holy living. Paul writes in Colossians 1:10, “We’re praying this so that you can live lives worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him in every way; by producing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.” As long as “milk” is the only item on our “spiritual diet,” we will be less likely to live the abundant life that God has for us, and we will be less likely to be able to discern the right path, the good choices, and to fulfill God’s purpose for us. It is so important that a new disciple be guided and nurtured within the faith community by more mature Christians.

       So how do I begin to add solid food to my “spiritual milk” diet? First, I must see the need to grow a disciple. I will need to conduct an honest self-evaluation by asking myself some searching questions. Is this all there is to my faith walk? Is this all God has for me, and is this all I can be for him? Am I satisfied with how I am living? Am I the same person, behaving and thinking the same way as before I met Jesus? This is the beginning of what scripture calls “working out your own salvation.” Start spending more time in prayer, meditation, and Bible study. Get serious about learning the deeper things of God by actively and intentionally fellowshipping with other Christians who are interested in the “solid food.” It is true that as our “spiritual diet” expands and so will our growth as a disciple of Jesus.

      A true, vital, and strong relationship with God is the result of a “spiritual diet” that feeds the hungering and thirsting after God’s righteousness and knowledge. “Milk” is a good start to our faith walk, but “solid food” will lead us toward the goal of spiritual maturity. We should settle for nothing less.

Rev Tim McConnell Long’s Chapel UMC June 30, 2013

Chosen

THE CONFIDENCE OF BEING CHOSEN

      What does it mean to you to be chosen? Do you remember being chosen to be in the class play, or to bat first on the softball team? Maybe your class project won a prize. It could be that your abilities and desire to serve caused you to be chosen to head up a committee, or lead a ministry in the church. It feels good to be chosen to be someone’s friend, or what about the time you were chosen by your future spouse. There is something about that word “chosen” that causes us to think about being valuable, needed, and having a quality that is special to another person. It singles us out and gives us a chance to feel good about ourselves, and what we have to offer to God and to others.

      In 1Peter 2:1-10, we find some interesting metaphors to describe Christians and their relationship with God. The Apostle Peter is writing to the churches in five Roman provinces in what is now the modern country of Turkey. In his letter to them, he expands on this notion of being chosen. Peter uses words like “chosen race,” “holy and royal priesthood,” “living stones,” and “God’s possessions,” to describe the members of the early church family. Peter is trying to tell those folks how valuable they are in God’s eyes. How once they were “nobody,” but now they are “somebody,” not by anything they had done, but because of the mercy of God through the saving action of Jesus Christ.

      Because of what Jesus can do in your life, you can go from being a “nobody,” to a “somebody.” Not in a prideful, better-than-anyone-else attitude, but in a life-changing way that makes you different. Once a person has allowed Jesus to be Lord of his/her life, there is a pronounced difference in the way that person looks, thinks, and acts. There is an outward change in attitude and spirit—a change that is a reflection of a deeper heart change. Knowing that we have been chosen, knowing that we have accepted our “chosen-ness,” gives us confidence and assurance that we did not have before    

      It is interesting that Peter talks about Christians being “living stones.” God calls each of us for a particular ministry for him. He chooses very carefully each “stone” that he uses to build his kingdom. I have watched stonemasons as they pick up each stone, turn it over and over in their hands, hold it up to the wall, beat on it with a hammer, and shape it for where they have chosen for it to be placed. Sometimes after working with a stone for a while, they will toss it aside, only to pick it up later to be used in a different place on the wall. Peter says, “You are being built like living stones into a spiritual temple.”

      We are not building the structure, this kingdom, God’s church, as much as we would like to think that we are. This is critical to understand. We are being built into it. The builder is the Spirit of God who is at work always and everywhere. The mission is God's. We join it; we participate in it; we are swept along and enlivened in and through it, but we do not make it. God does.

      Jesus said, “I have chosen you even before you were born, when you were in sin, when you were struggling against me, I chose you. I chose you to make a decision to serve me, love me, and to give yourself completely to me. I have forgiven you and have a place for you in my kingdom as a “living stone,” and I am waiting for you to choose me. I need you to be a holy priest, to stand as my witness to those who have not chosen me. I can give you the assurance and the confidence that you are my people—my chosen people, if you are willing.”

      Do you have that assurance that you are a chosen person? Do you have the confidence that you have chosen Jesus?

Rev Tim McConnell, Long’s Chapel UMC, June 23, 2013

A Reluctant Witness

A RELUCTANT WITNESS

 

      We can find the story of Jonah in the Old Testament. In chapter one of this short book called appropriately Jonah, we find his first call to go on a mission trip and Jonah’s running away. Jonah was swallowed by the large fish, and spent three days and nights in his stomach. In chapter two, Jonah does something that we all do when we are in trouble; he found himself on his knees in the slimy stomach of the fish, praying his heart out for forgiveness. The third chapter brings us the account of Jonah’s experience in Nineveh, and the revival that resulted.  

      However, the Jonah story is more than an exciting “fish” story. We find God asking Jonah to do an incredible thing, something that Jonah really did not want to do. God asked Jonah to go into the enemy country of Assyria and preach to people who were so unlike him and his comfortable traditions. Jonah began thinking and his thoughts were not in line with God’s thoughts. Jonah said to himself, “My own people need to be preached to, so why should I go to people who are so unlike me? Why doesn’t God send someone else? Surely, someone over there can tell them the salvation story.”

      Jonah suddenly had a problem. He had attempted to place boundaries and limitations on who should, and who should not hear the salvation story. Jonah was afraid and that is understandable, but he also had a deeper more serious problem that you will see if you read the entire story. Jonah thought that he and the Jewish people had God in a box, and God was not to be shared with anyone else. In fact, the entire Jewish nation thought that since God had chosen them as his people, they could sin and treat him any way they wanted to and God would never severely punish them, and certainly would never offer salvation to other nations becoming their God also. So when God asked Jonah to take the message of hope and salvation to the city of Nineveh in the heart of enemy territory, Jonah went the other way.

      However, after Jonah spent a long weekend in the stomach of the fish, he reluctantly went, as God had asked, on the people waiting in Nineveh. This story is about a reluctant messenger, a saving message, and people who had receptive hearts. The people in Nineveh were ready to hear about the true God. God’s timing for the salvation of those particular people was perfect, and God chose Jonah to carry the good news.

      God uses people to carry out his work; he can use you and me. Paul writes in Romans 10:14, “But how are people going to call upon God if they don’t know about him? And how are they to believe if they have never heard of Jesus? And how are they to hear unless someone is sent to them?” If we claim to be witnesses, then we are the “sent” ones.

      God has called a team of witnesses from our church to take the Jesus story to Asheville. So we pray that the Holy Spirit will go before us each day. We pray that those who need to hear will hear the message God has given us. We pray that the message will be received and accepted, expanding God’s kingdom.

      God is looking for witnesses who have a genuine personal message and are willing to share it with others; not for any other reason except to bring others into God’s kingdom; witnesses who are willing to lay aside themselves and the need to please themselves in order to please the One who has sent them. Will you and I be those witnesses?

Rev Tim McConnell, Long’s Chapel UMC June 16, 2013

Sacrificial Giving

SACRIFICIAL GIVING

 

      I spent some time just this past week sitting in a hospital room with Bill. We talked about his growing up years, playing golf, and how he came to Western North Carolina. Bill told these stories with much enthusiasm, sprinkling them with sly humor. Then, Bill paused and told this awesome story from years ago.

      When Bill and his wife, Mary Lou, lived in Gastonia some years ago, they read in the newspaper of an unusual story of a young woman who had just given birth to quadruplets. Doing some research, Mary Lou found where this young, single, disadvantaged woman lived and knocked on her door the day she came home from the hospital. A young mother answered the door with a baby in her arms and the other three crying in the small room. After Mary Lou introduced herself, she said, “I am here to help you take care of these babies. I will bathe them, change diapers, wash the diapers, and prepare food and feed these babies. I am here to help.” For the next two years or longer, Mary Lou was there, every day faithfully doing all those things that she had promised. As the years went by, Mary Lou became the “second mother” to these four young children.

      This coming Saturday, Bill and Mary Lou will attend the high school graduation of the four “now grown babies.” Eighteen years ago, Mary Lou made a promise, a promise she faithfully kept. Sounds a lot like a promise Jesus made to us, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you.” Thanks, Mary Lou, for showing us the heart of Jesus.

      Is this not what Jesus was trying to tell his disciples on the night of his arrest by washing their feet? After Jesus had finished his act of service, he said, “I have given you an example: just as I have done, you must do. I assure you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are those sent greater than the one who sent them.”

      I recently received an e-mail from my nephew who relates yet another story of sacrificial love. Scott writes that as he and the ministry team loaded a truck with supplies for the tornado victims in Oklahoma, a little boy rode up on his bicycle. The boy told the men that he had something to give to those who have lost so much. Not seeing anything in the boy’s hands or on his bike, they asked, “What is it that you want to give?” The little boy jumped off his bike as he said, “Here, I want to send my bike to Oklahoma for someone who has lost theirs.” Scott said that they found a new owner for the bike in Oklahoma, took a picture of the boy holding the bike, and when they returned were able to show the picture to the little boy with the big heart.

      Maybe this is the lesson from the story of the widow who put two pennies, all the money she had, in the collection plate. Jesus said, “She has given more than all the others because she has given everything she had.”

      The spirit of Jesus stirred the hearts of Mary Lou and the little boy, moving them from belief to action, resulting in the transformation of lives including their own.

      Where are we in these stories? Are we holding on tightly to “things,” our possessions, when others are needy? Are we reluctant to give of ourselves when others are struggling?  Let’s ask God to put someone or some situation in our path today so that we can make a difference.       

Rev Tim McConnell Long’s Chapel UMC June 9, 2013