SPEAKER: GREG SANDERS

PASSAGE: 1 PETER 2:4-10

THE POSTURE OF A PRIEST: PRIVATE & PUBLIC

Okay, so we’re going to pick up in 1 Peter chapter 2. Last week, David Mitchell brought an incredibly important idea in front of us, and it’s out of this passage where it says, you are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation, a chosen people, a royal priesthood. 

I really want to fixate on that phrase, priesthood, and talk about, David made a statement last week that I loved, which is as priests we have access to both the throne and the altar. Love that. We’re people that really have full, invited access to those places. 

As I was sitting listening to the teaching, the thought that kept coming to mind was more on the practical side of things, and it was more in this question of, so, what does it actually look like to be a priest? What is the posture of a priest? Because the reality is, we are priests. That’s not in question. 

And I want to encourage us that it’s not something we step into and step out of. It is a reality that happened the moment you came into the Kingdom. Scripture says you were translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, and the moment that that happened, what became true about you was that you are now a priest under the Lord. And it kind of reads like a greeting card idea, like, yeah, I’m a priest, but it’s a much bigger concept than that scripturally. 

And so I wanted to just take the time that we have, which is way less than I’m going to need. So I’m going to talk, believe it or not, I’m going to have to talk faster than normal. And I want to look at this idea of royal priests. What does it mean to be a priest? 

1 PETER 2:9-10

Peter obviously will clearly communicate that we’re priests here in this passage, and just to make it legal, let’s read it. “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who’s called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

So say this with me: I am a priest. Okay, that’s an established concept. What I want to focus on is what is our posture to be as priests, and I want to break it into two things. I really believe that if we look at all the scriptures, there’s several places this concept comes up. 

In 1 Peter, obviously, is royal priest. In Revelation 5, we’re depicted as a kingdom of priests who reign upon the earth. Later in Revelation, we’re going to be called a holy city. We, the people of God, are the New Jerusalem, we’re the holy city. We’re living from heaven upon earth. 

Paul makes a declaration, though, in 1 Corinthians 6, and then again in Ephesians 2, that I think is important because he talks about our physical bodies and he talks about us, the body of Christ, and he says that we are the dwelling place or the temple of God. So not only are we identified as priests, but we are actually the place where the presence of God rests and dwells.

How many have ever acted in a way in your life where you were pretty sure the Lord couldn’t dwell on you? So we all understand that, but I want to pivot to the positive and ask this question: What is it that we are supposed to be doing as priests? 

And what we see in these four passages we just talked about is two realities. There is a private posture and a public posture as a priest. And I want to teach a couple things. I think they’re different postures. That there are disciplines we are to have in private, and there are disciplines we are to have in public. 

I had a Bible college professor who would say it this way, “You will never be in public who you are not authentically in private, and who you are authentically in private will come out in public.” It was kind of this warning. But I would offer this: how we live in private and how we live in public are both to be a constant expression of our calling as priest. 

Anybody have those fifth-grade teachers, those teachers who, like, said something and you never forgot it. Mine was Mrs. Smith, and she called it the KISS method. This was a regular thing she would teach us, and her answer for everything, to me specifically, was, “Keep it simple, stupid.” Now I don’t know that teachers can say that now. I think it might have been outlawed, but I understood clearly what she was after was for me to let go of my tendency to complicate things, and so I really want to try to distill this down into very practical, livable points.

So the first thing we’re going to deal with is our private posture, and I want to explain it. Our private posture must be understood as our ministry to the Lord directly. It’s our ministry to Him. Now, if you’re here and you’re like, I didn’t know I had a ministry to the Lord, you do. 

PRIESTS ARE IN LOVE WITH JESUS FIRST

The first discipline you have to develop to live into this posture correctly is so simple. Jesus has to be your first love, because priests, priests are in love with Jesus first. Now you’re like, really? That’s your point? There are so many people that will call themselves Christians, but there are so few people that are actually in love with Jesus. Because you call yourself a believer does not mean you’re in love with Jesus. 

I want you to hear this in Revelation: it says, the throne of God and the throne of the Lamb. “The throne of God and the Lamb will be in it,” they’re talking about the throne room, “and his servants will worship him; they will see his face.” Being in love with Jesus means we’re investing regularly in intimate, personal encounter with Him. It means our face is always turned towards Him. We don’t have any parts of our life where we’re not paying attention to Him. We don’t have any moments in our life where we’re not living for Him. 

How many married guys do we have in the room? Raise your hand. How many of you understand there’s a certain part of the house, certain apparatus that you needed to learn how to put down? Because you discovered quickly after being married that the other part of your life didn’t enjoy it when you left it up. And so it’s not that you learned to put that apparatus down because it mattered to you, you learned to put that apparatus down because it mattered to them. Do you all know what we’re talking about here? Okay, great. I don’t need to be more clear, right? But you understood quickly that some of your life behavior was going to be shaped for the benefit of that person, and it really had nothing to do with you. 

Could I offer that love affair with Jesus is that simple? It’s about our life decisions and patterns being shaped because we love Him. We’re learning what matters to Him, what He cares about, what’s in His heart, and we’re adopting those into our life because of our love for Him. 

PRIESTS LIVE IN A CONSTANT STATE OF WORSHIPING THEIR KING

The second thing is, the second discipline is, priests live in a constant state of worshiping their King. You’re like really constant state. I love this in Revelation, “and His servants will worship Him.” It doesn’t say there’ll be a moment every once in a while, it just says the word here in the Greek is given in a way that it is a constant behavior. 

You’re like, well, how do I worship the Lord constantly? It means you’re always looking to give Him glory. You’re always looking to reveal Him, to lavish upon Him. Have you ever had the moment where you’re driving down the road and you just got filled with gratitude, and you’re like, man, Lord, thank you so much for who you are. It’s this mindset to where my face is always towards Him, my heart is always towards Him, and we’re living to elevate His glory and point people to His goodness. 

Could people say by watching your life that the way you live points them towards Him? That they could say, you know what, I’m around them, I don’t really get it, but I just kind of I think about the Lord a lot when I’m around them, because they’ve chosen to live in a way that elevates Him. 

PRIESTS HAVE DETERMINED TO TRULY FOLLOW JESUS

The third thing, the discipline we have to develop, and this is going to be, again, so simple, that priests have determined to truly follow Jesus. Again, not everybody who calls himself a believer actually follows. You see, because there’s a difference when we choose to follow Jesus. It means we’ve chosen to govern ourselves in this thing we call the fear of the Lord. 

What is the fear of the Lord? It’s just living our life pattern the way He says. We are adopting the things in our life that He has said matter to Him, and so there’s things that I’m going to now do, and there’s conversely, things that I’m no longer going to do, because He has said I don’t want that. And because of the first discipline, which is I’m in love with him, I’ve decided I’m going to shape my life based on what He says and how He says to live. 

One of the verses that instantly comes to mind here is out of Revelation 21, and it just talks about the presence of God, and it says, “Nothing unclean will enter.” Could I offer that the passion to live pure before the Lord is rooted in a desire to be near Him? It’s not rooted in a desire to be right. It’s rooted in the fact that I want to be near Him. 

Have you ever noticed that thing that happens when you made a really dumb decision and you feel like it’s harder to come connect with the Lord? And you’re like, Yeah, it’s because I got a spirit of religion. No, it’s because you have a spirit of smart, and you recognize that He is holy and He is pure, and there’s a reason we want to live clean. The reason we want to live clean is we want to have just an unfettered access. 

Now, am I saying He doesn’t want to be near me? No, absolutely not. I’m saying it’s harder for us to come close to Him when we know we’re guilty. So, what’s the simpler answer? Stop being guilty. Start living the way He says because we want to be near Him. 

Pastor Gary used to quote this all the time growing up. For those of you that don’t know, Pastor Gary was my pastor growing up, and he used to quote this old saying that says, “If sin’s on the street, I’m gonna walk on the other side of the street.” Nope, time out. I’m actually gonna find a different road. And it just used to stick in my mind this idea that I need to make sure that I’m positioning myself away from that, so I don’t even have to get near it. Why? Because I love Him. 

PRIESTS HAVE YIELDED THEIR LIVES TO WHEREVER AND HOWEVER HE LEADS THEM

The fourth discipline that priests need to develop is, and this one’s interesting. I think this is probably the hardest for Americans. Did you know that the Levitical priesthood in the Old Testament, by God’s decree, was to have no physical inheritance? They were the only tribe in Israel that was promised nothing, except they were promised everything. He said, “I will be your inheritance.” 

But I don’t know about you, how many are wired fiscally? You think about money a lot. If somebody says to me, you get nothing, but you get me. If I’m honest, I mean, come on, I’m like, really nothing and you. It doesn’t always come off as if it’s a really big blessing because at times it feels like, oh, I got nothing. 

What’s the discipline for us in that passage, in that understanding? If the Lord is our inheritance as priests, because we can lateral what was said to the priests into our life, because we’re called priests in the same order. What is the discipline then? 

The discipline for us is that we learn to settle our hearts into His sovereignty. Sovereignty means He is in control at all times. It means He watches the end from the beginning, and you and I can put our lives into His care and trust Him. 

Okay, so that’s a wonderful statement to make. It’s a great church statement. Well, what’s it look like to put skin on that? It means that He’s placed us where we are. Wherever you and I find ourselves in life, we can trust as a believer, He is sovereign, and He’s put us there. You’re like, what if I don’t like it? That’s a totally different conversation. 

We understand that He is able to adjust our life situations as He sees fit. Which means when He doesn’t, He didn’t see fit. You’re like, I don’t think this is biblical. Okay, cool, let’s go to the garden. Jesus is getting ready to face the cross, and we see a prayer, and it’s this really well-rehearsed, well-known prayer. “Not my will, but yours be done.” What He prayed before that was, “If it’s possible,” to the Father, He’s talking to the Father, “Can you let this cup pass from me?” What was the cup? Going to the cross. He said, if it’s possible, will you take this away from me, because I don’t want to do it. The Father didn’t take it away, and He did it. 

That is to be the same discipline in us. That wherever we find ourselves in life, our heart cry as priests is to Him. If it’s possible, take this from me. If you don’t, I will remain faithful. I will be who you’ve called me to be in this place. 

You’re like I didn’t want to hear that because I hate my job. Just be grateful for your job. Just start every morning getting up and professing this thing: Lord, thank you for work. Thank you for the opportunity to work hard because you prosper hard work, and you’ve given me an opportunity to be prospered. Thank you. And just recite it until you believe it. Take it before Him and teach yourself how to respond to Him correctly. 

Can I just remind us we are not just balls of flesh that have no control? Paul says that our spirit is to be in control of our body. We are to be a people that understand the ability to discipline ourselves with what the Scriptures teach. 

So, if you find yourself having a lousy attitude, you find yourself in a situation you want to run. Maybe you’re in a marriage, you’re like, I just want to get out. Maybe you should wake up every day and say, Lord, I know you hate divorce. I know you’ve said that scripturally. So, I want- I’m going to plant my feet here, and I’m just going to start praying blessing over that person that’s despitefully using me. 

You’re like, wait, I didn’t give you permission to talk about this. I apologize, I mean it from the depths of my heart. No, I don’t. Because the discipline of being a believer is learning how to control our flesh with our spirit. And His goal for you and I is to trust in Him by resting in His leadership. 

What’s that mean? It means I stay put where He put me. I’m just gonna just gonna rest. I’m gonna chill out, go, all right, Lord. I may not love this, but I trust you. I’m gonna hang here until you fix it. He’s in control, regardless of how many Instagram voices say different. He’s in control.

The second posture we have to develop as priests is the public posture. It’s a different posture. The public posture must be understood as our ministry to humanity. If you weren’t aware, let me make you aware. You are called to minister to humanity. 

John Maxwell, I love this quote, it’s one of my favorites, he says, “With one small exception, the world is comprised of others.” And from a biblical worldview, those others are actually your responsibility. You’re like, what are you talking about? There are disciplines that we need to develop to be able to minister to them correctly. 

PRIESTS HAVE CHOSEN TO CLOTH THEMSELVES TO REVEAL HIS NATURE

The first one is that priests have chosen to clothe themselves in a way that reveals His nature. Am I talking about your physical clothing? No. In the Old Testament, the priests had to wear very specific, very detailed clothing that had one agenda. The agenda was, for that clothing, it was to reveal the holiness, the sacredness of God. And everywhere they went, people would see what they wore and were reminded of the awe and the wonder. 

We sang about it, filled with wonder, awestruck wonder. That was what was supposed to be happening in people. But in the New Testament, it’s different, but it’s not. We are actually required in the New Testament to clothe ourselves. 

This is why Paul will speak so much of it, and Peter, in this book we’re studying, will talk so much about what we are to take off. Remember, Peter says take off malice, take off envy, take off hatred, remove those things. Paul in Romans 12 and 13, we’ll talk about putting on the nature of Christ, removing from ourselves all these other natures. 

So there’s this clothing we are to wear, and the clothing we are to wear in the New Testament is the nature of Christ, and it is shown in our behavior and our character. Our behavior and our character is what reveals the nature of Christ. So when we talk about putting on this nature, we’re really talking about grabbing onto behavioral patterns and character patterns that reveal Jesus. 

COLOSSIANS 3:14-17

I think one of the most poignant places in the Scripture is in Colossians 3, and Paul will say this: “Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.” So instantly we know Paul’s talking about the clothing we are to wear. So the first one he says is, “Clothe yourself in love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.” So that means we are to wear love. 

What does it mean to wear love? It means to put it on display. That anybody who sees you and I sees love. Anyone who contacts us contacts love. Anyone who rubs up against us gets love on them. Can that be said? Yeah.

Could you say, I, you know, I have this thing I do, I get up in the morning, and I stand in the mirror, and I’m like, all right, you’re gonna love people today, it’s gonna drip all over you. Because that’s the idea. Always wear love. Yeah, but what about when I’m mad? Always wear love. How do I wear love when I’m mad? You control your anger. 

Did you know it’s okay to be angry? Biblically. People are like, Yeah, we’re not supposed to be angry. I’m like, That’s not true at all. Scripture says, be angry, just says, don’t sin. Wait, you can be angry and not sin? Yes, you can be in control of your anger. It’s by choosing how to manage it. 

So Paul’s statement is: “Above all, clothe yourself in love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.” Binds us all together in perfect harmony. What an interesting phrase! Here’s what I take out of that phrase: We are to be a people who fight. We’re just to fight for peace. 

See, we haven’t been given permission in the Kingdom to fight for anything else. How many are justice people? You want to fight for justice all the time? I love that. I’m good with it. Sometimes fighting for justice, if you’re a justice person, is tough because you have to lay that down to choose peace. Sometimes you just have to let stupid go. You have to look at it and go, I can’t fix that. I want to so badly, a punch in the face feels like it would fix it, but I’m here to fight for peace. 

How many have experienced already that sometimes fighting for peace means you have to lay down your perspective? But Paul says that love binds us all together in peace. He says, “and let the peace”. Here’s that word again. “Let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts.” “Let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body, you are called to live in peace.” Say that phrase with me, “live in peace.” It’s not a once in a while thing, it’s a life that is settled in peace. 

I would offer that biblically, peace seems to be one of the things we’re supposed to manage the most. Have you ever noticed what manages peace the least is reaction? Anybody get a little hot-headed once in a while, get a little spun up? We call it passion. It’s another word for sin, because biblically we’re to live in peace. 

I would say it this way. I love the phrase in here, it says, “And let the peace.” That word “let” is important because it’s the idea in the Greek of surrendering to something. We are to surrender to peace. This is the clothing we’re to wear. We’re to be people who surrender to peace. 

What does that mean? That means that in every situation there is a peace process. If I’m willing to surrender to it. It might not be the justice process, and it might not be the process that makes me feel good, but there’s a peace process. 

I would offer that in every situation, in every conflict, in every relationship, no matter where we’re at in life, if we will pause and say, Holy Spirit, will you show me the peace process? He will show us, and then the question is, will we walk it out? But I feel so weak because I didn’t get to say all the things that were in my head, and they were really good. Understood. But how do I wear the clothing of peace if I’m not willing to walk out the process of peace? 

I love this one, so simple: “And always be thankful,” that we are to wear the clothing of constant gratitude. Have you ever been around somebody who’s constantly thankful? They’re just constantly grateful. It’s like no matter what the situation. 

My grandfather used to hit himself with a hammer and say, “Praise God.” He wouldn’t just go around hitting himself with a hammer, it wasn’t weird like that. He’d be working at the church, working on a project, and he would hit himself. And I remember being seven, eight, nine, watching him smash his thumb with a hammer and go, “Praise God!” and I just sat and went, “How long did it take you to learn that?” Because that was not the word coming to my mind when I hit myself with a hammer. 

But what does it look like to develop the discipline as a people that, regardless of what comes at us, we’re in control of what comes out of us? That we could stand face to face with life and say, Give me your best shot. You’re not going to get anything out of me but praise. You’re getting nothing out of me but gratitude. I’ve made my mind up. This mouth’s just going to declare His goodness. 

He goes on and says, “Let the message of Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives.” See some of the clothing we’re supposed to wear, we are to be people who wear the clothing of being obsessed with Jesus. We just can’t get enough. We’re digging in, we’re reading the scriptures, we’re finding out what He says about this. 

Every time something comes on the news, and it’s this big moment where we’re like, we just stop and go, I need to know what the Lord has to say about this. Doesn’t matter what they say, doesn’t matter what I feel, I need to know what He has to say because I’m addicted to Him. I’ve decided He’s the only way to go, and I’m going to lock my life in with Him. So I need to know what He says, and I’m going to live that because I don’t trust anybody but Him completely. 

He says, “Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives.” I love this one. We are to wear the clothing of being encouraging. I’d say it this way: encouragement is to become our life’s work. As a priest in the public sector, we are encouragers. If you’re like, yeah, I encouraged somebody yesterday. I’m talking about a lifestyle of encouraging. 

I want you to practice this: practice encouraging everybody you meet, and you’re going to discover how little you encourage. Because in every situation, you could be like, I don’t even know how to think straight, because I’m trying to figure out how to encourage you. I don’t even know how to encourage you because I’ll. And there’s going to be people you meet, and I promise your first response is going to be, I just see stupid. I don’t know how to encourage that.

You see, the discipline is learning how to encourage because you see who God’s called them to be. You see maybe where they’re going to go, you see what they’re doing, maybe you see their effort, it’s not great, but you see effort. And you can come alongside them, go, I just want to encourage you and what you’re doing with the Lord. Keep going. You’re like, that just sounds so cheesy. The Scripture says to always encourage each other, to teach and counsel each other with the wisdom He gives. 

And then Paul adds this, and I love, “Sing praises and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.” He literally says, In your life, I just want you to walk around singing. I want you to walk around praising. I want you to walk around in gratitude, just all the time. 

Start asking the Lord to put a song in your heart, and be willing to sing that song. You’re like, I don’t sing well. Doesn’t matter, singing is not about tune, singing is about releasing the song that’s inside of you. Yes, some people sing well, we give them microphones, some people don’t. It’s okay, we don’t give them microphones. But the discipline of singing is not about performance, it’s about a relationship of gratitude to Him. 

And then he ends it with this, because this is the punchline: “and whatever you do or say” in the public sector, I’m going to add my phrase, “do it as a representative of the Lord.” You represent Jesus to the world, I represent Jesus to the world, and we are to put on His nature and His character as we go out. The phrase here, “as a representative,” the definition of the Greek means in the name of someone. It actually means you and I are the Jesus people get to see.

Now I know that comes off like a super churchy statement, but perhaps you’re going to meet people, and the only representation of the King they’re ever going to meet is you. Would they want to meet the King if they met you? That’s our goal. Our goal has to be, I want everybody that meets me to want to meet Jesus, not because they think I need help, but because I’m so good to them, because I’m so like Him to them. I’m going to take on myself the responsibility of being Him to them. Let’s pray. 

Holy Spirit, thanks for today. It’s just been sweet already and rich. Lord, we take on these two disciplines to be priests in the private sector and priests in the public sector, to represent you. First, to love, to love you purely, to minister to you. That’s the one that I think is just so near to my heart this morning. That we’d be a people who fall in love with you more than ever before, but that every time we walk out into any public arena, whether it’s our home, whether it’s the marketplace, whether it’s school, that we would wear upon our minds the reality that I am here to clothe myself with Him, not me. So, Holy Spirit, would you lead us and guide us in this, and remind us this week what it looks like to do that? Remind us of the moments that we don’t. We love you. We honor you. And all God’s people said, Amen.