Tag: God’s priests

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Galatians Devotionals

Pleased

Christ revealed in me

But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles… (Galatians 1:15-16)

“God was pleased to reveal his Son in me.”

Those are amazing words.

Why would God choose to reveal his Son in me?

Paul must have wondered that.

He had been a blasphemer, a violent man who had persecuted Christ’s church. (1 Timothy 1:13)

God could have chosen “better” people to reveal his Son to the Gentiles, but he chose Paul.

More, he was pleased to do so.

That gives me hope.

God has called all of us to be his temple, his priests in whom he reveals himself to the world.

But when I look at myself, I can see so many flaws, so many “cracks” in the wall. Can you relate?

God could choose so much better people to be his temple, his priest in whom he reveals himself.

Yet God does not just choose to reveal himself in me and you, he delights to do so.

That’s an awesome thought.

Categories
Exodus Devotions

Remembering who we are

“Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine, and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.”

These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites. (Exodus 19:5-6)

Amazing words, aren’t they?

But over a thousand years later, Peter took God’s words to the Israelites and applied them to us.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises, of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

Let us always remember who we are.

We are God’s chosen, beloved people.

But not only that, we are priests of the great King, called to proclaim his praises.

Not just so that God is blessed. But so that those around us might hear our story and that they too may come out of darkness into his marvelous light.

So I say it again: “Remember who you are.”

Categories
Psalms Devotionals

God’s priests, God’s children

Psalms

As I read Psalm 99, I thought about how amazing it is that we have the same kind of position with God that people like Moses, Aaron, and Samuel did. We are priests before him.

When we call on him, he answers. He reveals himself to us, speaks to us, and teaches us his ways.

Oh, we may not see him in a pillar of cloud, but we have something better. We have his Holy Spirit himself dwelling within us.

When we fail, God is forgiving towards us, but he doesn’t ignore our sin. He deals with it. He brings discipline into our lives.

Most amazing of all, this exalted and holy God humbled himself and became a man, taking our sin upon himself at the cross.

It is because of what Jesus did that we can stand before God as his priests and as his beloved children.

Those are pretty awesome things to think about.

Categories
Malachi

Your role as God’s priest

Malachi

Some of you may look at today’s title and say, “I’m not a priest. This has no relevance for me.”

But if you are a Christian, you are God’s priest. Peter says of you and me,

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. (1 Peter 2:9)

And so this passage is very much relevant to you and me as Christians.

Here, God rebukes the priests because they were not doing what he had called them to do.

Their problem was the same as the rest of Israel: they were failing to honor God with their lives. But God particularly rebuked them because of their position.

Because they were priests, they were held to a higher standard than everyone else.

God talked about the covenant he had made with the priests, “a covenant of life and peace” (Numbers 25:12–13). And he told them,

This called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name.

True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin.

For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. (Malachi 2:5–7)

What does God expect of us as his priests? And what is our role? Here, it is clearly laid out for us.

First, he expects us to revere and stand in awe of him. In short, to honor him.

Although God calls us his friends, he is much more than that. He is our King and our Lord as I mentioned in my last blog.

Gordon MacDonald once noted that “The most costly sins I have committed came at a time when I briefly suspended my reverence for God.”

As God’s priests, we can’t afford to do that.

Second, he expects us to walk in peace and uprightness before him. This flows from the first expectation. If we honor God, we will walk righteously before him and in peace with him.

Unfortunately, that’s not what these priests did. They had suspended their reverence for God, and as a result had no qualms about offering him sacrifices that were lame and diseased.

What is our role as God’s priests?

We are to be people that instruct others in God’s ways.

People ought to see God in our lives and seek to hear God’s word from us. Obviously, if we are not honoring God with our lives, no one will ever do this.

Our lips should preserve knowledge.

But that will be impossible to do if we don’t know God’s word. So linked with this role is the idea that you study God’s word and know it intimately so that you can share that knowledge with others.

This is not just the role of the pastors in the church. Every Christian should be doing this, because all of us are his priests.

We are to turn people from their sin.

When we see others falling into sin and going down the wrong path, we are not to just ignore it and pretend everything is all right. God calls us to warn them.

They may listen. They may not. But God requires us to warn them. (Ezekiel 33:7–9)

The priests in Malachi’s day failed miserably in these things.

Instead of turning people from their sin, and instructing them in God’s way, they caused the people around them to stumble.

What about you? What kind of priest are you?

Categories
Exodus

A priest’s heart

As I read through this passage, two things stood out to me. 

First, on the shoulder pieces of the ephod were placed two onyx stones which had the names of the tribes of Israel engraved on them. 

Then, on the breastplate the priest wore, twelve gems were fixed there, one for each tribe of Israel, with the name of one tribe written on each gem. 

And so, the high priest had the names of the tribes of Israel on his shoulders and over his heart.

I think God was trying to say two things here. 

First, the priest was to take on his shoulders the burden of serving the people.  He wasn’t there to be served, but he was to serve. 

His job was to intercede for the people, and to teach them God’s ways.

Second, the priest was to always hold the people near his heart.  He was to love them and care for them as God does.

Jesus, of course, was the perfect high priest.  He said,

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

Jesus took upon himself the sins of the whole world, dying on a cross so that our sins could be forgiven.

And he always holds us close to his heart.  Our names are written there. 

He teaches us.  He intercedes for us.  He loves and cares for us as a shepherd takes care of his sheep. 

As Jesus said,

I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down  his life for the sheep.  (John 10:11)

But as I mentioned before, don’t forget that as Christians, God has called you as his priests too.  And as his priests, the names of the people around us should be written on our shoulders, and on our hearts. 

As Jesus does, we should have a heart to serve the people around us, to share God’s word with them, to pray for them, and to share God’s love with them.

It’s so easy sometimes to get self-centered.  I know I do. 

Instead of the names of others being written on my shoulders and my heart, only my name is there. 

I seek to be served, instead of serving. 

I seek my own needs and desires, instead of seeing the needs of the people around me. 

But that’s not a priest’s heart.  And that’s not the heart I want to have.

How about you?  What names are written on your shoulders?  Which names are written on your heart? 

Is it only your name? 

Or are they the names of the people that God has placed in your life?

Categories
Exodus

Clothed with dignity and honor

As I read this passage, one phrase struck me concerning the priest’s clothing. 

God said it was designed to give the priests “dignity and honor.”

The priests were by no means perfect people. 

When the high priest entered the Most Holy Place, he offered the blood of the sacrifices not only for the people, but for himself as well. 

But though the priests were sinners, God looked at them as people worthy of dignity and honor, and he clothed them as such.

Why was that so important to him?

Because he wanted the people they served to see them that way too.

I think there are two things we can take from this. 

First, in the Christian church, our leaders, and especially our pastors are to be treated with dignity and honor, just as the priests in the Old Testament were. 

Like the priests, our pastors are not perfect.  And yet, they have been called by God to serve us. 

Because of Christ’s work on the cross, God has forgiven their sins, clothed them with Jesus Christ, and given them both dignity and honor. 

For this reason, we are to see them in that way too.

The writer of Hebrews wrote,

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account.

Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.  (Hebrews 13:17)

In 1 Timothy 5:17, Paul adds,

The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

How many churches fall apart because the leaders are not given their due dignity and honor?  Instead, members snipe at them, gossip, complain, and in general, dishonor the people God put in the church to shepherd them. 

More than one pastor has had his ministry fall apart because of this.  But that’s not God’s will. 

We are to treat our leaders with dignity and honor.  Because God does.

But as we look back on the Aaronic priesthood, it’s good to remember that as believers, we also have been called as priests.  (1 Peter 2:4,9; Revelation 1:6)

As we come before God, we too have been clothed with Jesus Christ.  He covers our sin with his blood, and we no longer have to be ashamed of who we are or what we’ve done. 

We’ve been forgiven and have been given dignity and honor by God.

So many times, Christians hear that God wants to use them for his kingdom, but they think to themselves, “How could God use me?  I’m a nobody.  I have no special skills or talents. 

“Besides that, look at my past.  How could use someone with my past?  How could God use someone that has failed so terribly?”

But God doesn’t see you that way.  He has clothed you with Jesus Christ and your sins have been forgiven. 

He doesn’t see your sins.  He doesn’t see your failures.  He doesn’t see your shame. 

Instead, he sees someone whom he has clothed with dignity and honor. 

And now he has called you to be his priest.  He has called you to touch the lives of the people around you.

How do you see yourself? 

Do you see yourself clothed with the dignity and honor that God has bestowed upon you? 

Or are you still looking upon yourself with shame? 

God doesn’t want you to see yourself that way anymore.  You are his priest.  And he has clothed you with dignity and honor. 

So let’s start living that way.