All Believers Ordained for Kingdom Service
Daily Scripture
Exodus 19:2-6, 1 Peter 2:5-10
Exodus 19
2 They traveled from Rephidim, came into the Sinai desert, and set up camp there. Israel camped there in front of the mountain 3 while Moses went up to God. The Lord called to him from the mountain, “This is what you should say to Jacob’s household and declare to the Israelites: 4 You saw what I did to the Egyptians, and how I lifted you up on eagles’ wings and brought you to me. 5 So now, if you faithfully obey me and stay true to my covenant, you will be my most precious possession out of all the peoples, since the whole earth belongs to me. 6 You will be a kingdom of priests for me and a holy nation. These are the words you should say to the Israelites.”
1 Peter 2
5 You yourselves are being built like living stones into a spiritual temple. You are being made into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 Thus it is written in scripture, Look! I am laying a cornerstone in Zion, chosen, valuable. The person who believes in him will never be shamed [Isaiah 28:16]. 7 So God honors you who believe. For those who refuse to believe, though, the stone the builders tossed aside has become the capstone. 8 This is a stone that makes people stumble and a rock that makes them fall. Because they refuse to believe in the word, they stumble. Indeed, this is the end to which they were appointed. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who are God’s own possession. You have become this people so that you may speak of the wonderful acts of the one who called you out of darkness into his amazing light. 10 Once you weren’t a people, but now you are God’s people. Once you hadn’t received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
The medieval church said clergy (from priests to popes) were spiritually “above” everyone else. Today’s Bible passages led Martin Luther (and reformers like John Wesley) to disagree. “God gave the ‘precious keys’ for heaven itself, first received in baptism, to all believers…. Luther then referred to such forgiven sinners as ‘the priesthood of all believers,’ a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5) that was not reserved for a special class of people sacramentally ordained.” * Resurrection follows in believing that all God’s people, not just a few, are part of “a holy priesthood.”
- Peter drew from Exodus 19:5-6 (Israelite people were a “holy priesthood”) and Hosea 1:10 and 2:23 (Israelites freed from exile were God’s people, though for a time they hadn’t been). Have you ever realized that, as Luther and Wesley taught based on Peter’s words, you are a member of “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who are God’s own possession”? How can that rewrite your sense of mission and purpose in life?
- Luther took a revolutionary step: translating the Bible into German. If God called all Christians to be priests, he believed they should be able to read the Bible for themselves. Today, many English translations of the Bible are available through tools like www.biblegateway.com, as well as in print. Yet many find the Bible confusing or off-putting. That’s why Resurrection offers classes and groups to help you understand the Bible better. How will you deepen your Bible reading and application?
Prayer
Lord God, you give me a high and holy calling, and you make the Bible’s writings readily available to guide me in living out that calling. I’m no Luther or Wesley, but give me their devotion and willingness to learn from you. Amen.
GPS Insights
Jeff Lady
Jeff Lady, who serves as Recovery Ministry Coordination Director, wrote today's Insights. Jeff works daily in the Recovery Ministry to serve those in our community fighting battles with substance use and the many challenges that go with it. Jeff spends most of his spare time at his farm with his 55-member family… the dog, cats, goats, and chickens.
There was a time when I believed I was not fit for and was not welcome to serve the Lord Jesus and His Kingdom. As a gay man and a drug addict, shame had convinced me that I was unworthy of love, grace, and particularly, purpose. My past felt like a long list of failures that disqualified me from ever being of service to God. I even rejected the church for 12 years, figuring that if the church didn’t want me then I didn’t want the church.
But God had a different idea. I heard Pastor Adam Hamilton speak about loving, welcoming, and affirming people just like me. I walked through the doors of Resurrection, and I found something I had never expected: acceptance. Instead of judgment, I was met with love. Instead of rejection, I was welcomed as I was. Six months later I needed Resurrection Recovery. Sitting in Pastor Tom Langhofer’s office some of my first words were, “Will I ever be of use to God?” “Will I ever be able to make a difference?”
Now, six years later, I stand in awe of what God has done. I not only found a church family that embraced me, but I discovered that God could use and wanted to use my story to help others. Today, I serve on staff here at the very church that welcomed me home, ministering to people in recovery every day. My life is living proof that God’s grace truly has no limits. What I once believed disqualified me from service has become the very testimony He uses to show others that there is hope, healing, and purpose for everyone. It is a truly awesome blessing to know that I, Jeff Lady, am ordained for Kingdom service simply because I am a follower of Christ and am willing to serve.
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Scripture quotations are taken from The Common English Bible ©2011. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
References
* Steven Paulson, Luther for Armchair Theologians. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004, p. 163.
