Holy and Royal Priesthood of the Believer
By Forest Steenfott
We yield our life and body once, but commitment to obey is hour by hour, day by day. Here it is in a Scripture verse, Galatians 2: 20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Amen. There are two avenues of ministry, which are the same for each of us. 1 Peter 2: 4 – 12 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house,
(1) a Holy Priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation,
(2) a Royal Priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Our God is sovereign and we must obey Him in the work He has assigned to us. We are all His Priest in this world.—Forest The Priesthood of the Believer
This may come as a surprise to you, but being in Christ Jesus, you are a priest. You may say that, “I am not a pastor, missionary, deacon or elder, Sunday school teacher. I don’t have a ministry.”
My beloved Believer, you are wrong. Remember, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2: 10). That goes for you and me, brother. We are His workmanship, and have a major task that God has appointed us to. For the particular ministries you were talking about have Scriptural requirements to do such ministries. The only requirement to be a priest is to be a born again believer in Jesus Christ.
Even your pastor is a priest with the same assignment as you have. Christian ministries must have these qualifications. Acts 6: 1-6; 1 Timothy 3: 1-10; Titus 1: 5-9
The believer priest is a holy position. This speaks to character and conduct of life. This is brought out by Peter in his first epistle,
“But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy." And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but (redeemed) with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1: 15 – 19)
The believer is saved by God’s grace not by our works, but after we are saved we maintain good works for witness of Jesus Christ.
“Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men” (Titus 3: 1 – 8)
The Holy Priesthood speaks of spiritual sacrifices. These are not to be thought of as being redemptive sacrifices. Only Jesus Christ could sacrifice Himself for our sins. There is absolutely nothing we can do to gain our own salvation. What then are these “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ?” The very first and foremost after becoming a believer is to be baptized. The great commission given by Christ Jesus was to make disciples and to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul baptized his new converts right away, according to the Acts of the Apostles. The second is vitally important, too, the sacrifice of ourselves.
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen. (In light of who God is and what He has done to save mankind,) I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” (Romans 11:33 – 12:1)
Notice a few things about this sacrifice. It is not a dying sacrifice in the physical sense. It is acceptable to God and for spiritual service. It is a total matter of giving ourselves to God. Apostle Paul speaks of himself in this respect,
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2: 20)
Take some time to talk to the Lord about these issues, which I brought up. I praise the Lord for you. Forest
To the Work of the Ministry of the Holy Priesthood:
To begin with in respect to being a priest of God we must have a right attitude of mind. This comes first in performing the office of priesthood. It revolves around the attitude of pride in ourselves. Take stock in these Scripture passages.
Psalm 51: 17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.” (Philippians 2: 5 – 9)
”For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. (1Co 1:26-31)
I spoke about “spiritual sacrifices,” which are “good works.” The epistle of Hebrews tells what these works are all about. They really come about through the second great commandment, which we covered earlier,
Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. (Heb 13:13-16)
We may have to bear Christ Jesus reproach while trying to help others. The first of our good works is speaking forth the praise of God. Let others know of your praise for God’s goodness under your trials and tribulations. We all walk through trouble times such as,
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over” (Psalm 23: 4 – 5).
Your hurts and trials are to be a witness of God’s care and faithfulness to you. You are not in that valley alone, God is at your side. He is preparing a table before you that others may see your faith. Now praise God for using you as His witness. We are different than the world. We are in the world to glorify God, but we are not of the world. The next works are from the 16th verse. I believe that, “to do good and to share” are two different matters. “To do good,” means honesty, truthfulness and accountability in you acts with others. In other words no lying on your taxes, or cheating on your spouse. You should have a reputation that you follow through on projects that you take on. Your character is one of reliability and truthfulness “To share,” is one that we generally have a hard time with. This has to do with our money or time. Apostle John mentions this very thing in his first epistle.
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. (1Jn 3:16-18)
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
(Jas 2:14-16)
The Royal Priesthood of the Believer:
“Royal” speaks to a government or national position. We entered a new kingdom when we took Jesus Christ as personal Savior. The believer priest is a governmental position,
“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1: 13 – 14)
The Believer Is an Ambassador for Christ:
“Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.” (Romans 6:6)
Once again, we must have knowledge of our standing or position in Christ Jesus. This verse, Romans 6:6, goes hand in hand with
2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
This verse, along with the next four verses, gives each believer a work to be done. I have deliberately been dwelling on good works when it comes to matters of faith and practice. These are the DO’s from the outcome of the Gospel, not the DON’T’s. We are of a Holy and Royal Priesthood. The works from being a priest are:
“Through Him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:15-16)
Then the other works we are to do:
“Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:19-20)
I want to speak to the fact that we are ambassadors for Christ: Let me make a statement that I made earlier about the priesthood of believers; the ambassadorship is not mentioned anywhere else in the New Testament regarding church administrators. There is nothing in the spiritual gifts about it. Every one of us, brethren, is an ambassador for Christ. You and I in our lives must represent Christ Jesus. What, then, are we to do? Going back to our passage in 2 Corinthians five, verse 19: “namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” That is our business. We are in a new and heavenly kingdom. All of us are priests and ambassadors for Christ.
There is a hymn that is sung often in our churches. The name of the hymn is “Take My Life, and Let It Be Consecrated, Lord to Thee.” The third verse of the hymn goes, Take my lips and let them be filled with messages for Thee; Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold, not a mite would I withhold.” WHAT REALLY COUNTS?
(Author unknown)
Twenty years ago, I drove a cab for a living. It was a cowboy's life, a life for someone who wanted no boss. What I didn't realize was that it was also a ministry. Because I drove the night shift, my cab became a moving confessional. Passengers climbed in, sat behind me in total anonymity, and told me about their lives. I encountered people whose lives amazed me, ennobled me, made me laugh and weep. But none touched me more than a woman I picked up late one August night.
I was responding to a call from a small brick four plex in a quiet part of town. I assumed I was being sent to pick up some party gores, or someone who had just had a fight with a lover, or a worker heading to an early shift at some factory for the industrial part of town.
When I arrived at 2:30 a.m., the building was dark except for a single light in a ground floor window. Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a minute, then drive away. But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation smelled of danger, I always went to the door. "This passenger might be someone who needs my assistance," I reasoned to myself. So I walked to the door and knocked. "Just a minute", answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.
After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.
"Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she asked. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb. She kept thanking me for my kindness. "It's nothing", I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated". "Oh, you're such a good boy", she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me the address, then asked, "Could you drive through downtown?" "It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly. "Oh, I don't mind," she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice". I looked in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were glistening. "I don't have any family left," she continued. "The doctor says I don't have very long." I quietly reached over and shut off the meter. "What route would you like me to take?" I asked.
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl. Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, "I'm tired. Let's go now."
We drove in silence to the address she had given me.
It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico. Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her.
I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door.
The woman was already seated in a wheelchair. "How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching into her purse. "Nothing," I said. "You have to make a living," she answered. "There are other passengers," I responded. Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly. "You gave an old woman a little moment of joy," she said. "Thank you." I squeezed her hand, then walked into the dim morning light.
Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life. I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly, lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?
On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life. We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unaware—beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.(Author Unknown)
PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID...BUT THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.