"Who Is Your Offering to God?"
Romans 15:14-16:27
March 16, 2007
Dr. Jerry Nelson
P.
14, A Summary of Romans, Dr. Jerry Nelson
P.
20, Excerpt from The Contemplative Pastor, Eugene Peterson
In 1631 John Eliot, at 27 years of age, sailed from England to America.
To give you some historical perspective - remember, that was 145 years before the Revolutionary War.
After being in Boston for several years he noted there were 20 different tribes of Native Americans in the area.
Eliot believed that God's name should be proclaimed among all peoples of the world.
So when he was over 40 he determined to study the Algonquin language and he translated the entire Bible into that Indian tongue.
By the time he
was 84 he had established many Indian churches with their own Indian
pastors. (from John Piper, Let the Nations e Glad,
50-51 from Cotton Mather Vol 1 The Great works of Christ in America 1702 Vol 1,
562)
What was Eliot's passion in life? That God would be honored.
What is yours?
What gets you up in the morning?
What determines how you spend yourself each day?
Are you headed somewhere in life?
When you arrive will it be worth the life you invested?
How old are you?
Assuming the average life expectancy in America, 78 years, how many years do you have left to invest?
For what will you invest those years of your life?
Look with me please at Romans chapter 15.
The Apostle Paul has come to the end of his long letter to the Christians in Rome.
It would not have taken Paul as long to write the letter or the Romans to read the letter as it has taken us to study it.
Seven months and 26 sermons later we arrive at the end of his letter.
Paul opens and closes his letter
with what motivates his life.
At the very beginning of chapter 1 Paul said,
Romans 1:1,5 "I have been set apart by God for the good news...for Christ’s name's sake...to call people from among all the peoples to the obedience that comes from faith - people who are called to belong to Jesus Christ."
And Paul ends his letter on the same theme:
Romans 15:16 I am “a minister of Christ
Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God,
so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by
the Holy Spirit."
Paul in essence writes, "I live that God may be honored by people."
Notice I didn’t just say that people might know God.
As important as that is, Paul’s purpose was larger - that God may be loved and obeyed (honored) by people.
That’s what I want us to think about today.
Paul’s purpose never wavered - his vision was just as clear as ever and his passion never waned.
Again, I ask, what is your passion in life?
Look with me at the Apostle Paul's passion and let
it be to you and to me a challenge - a clarion call to consider the priorities
of our lives.
We are looking at the rather long final section of Paul’s letter today:
Romans 15:14-16:27.
I plan to read just the beginning and the
ending of this section but I will add an outline of what is between.
Please stand for the reading of God’s
Word.
Romans 15:14-19a “I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you
yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to
instruct one another. 15 I have written you quite boldly on some
points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me 16
to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of
proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering
acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 Therefore I
glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. 18 I will not venture to
speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the
Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— 19 by the power
of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit.
In the
rest of chapter 15 Paul tells of his plans to visit the Rome:
15:19b-22 I have completed my work in SE Europe.
15:23-24 I am planning to visit you on my way to Spain.
15:25-27 But first, I must take
donated money to Jerusalem to help the poor Christians there.
15:28-33 Then I will visit you; pray for my safety and
ministry until then.
In
chapter 16:1-2, Paul makes a special appeal for a friend:
In verses 3-16 he gives greetings to numerous friends in the church at
Rome: (The names give us insight into the diversity of people in the church –
men, women, Jew , Gentile, slave, free, rich, poor, aristocracy and commoners.)
In verses 17-20 he gives a final warning to watch out for
divisive people.
And in verses 21-23 several who are with Paul indicate
their greetings.
Then we
come to the Benediction: 16:25-27
25 Now to him who is able to
establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to
the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now
revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the
eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him— 27 to
the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
It is from the opening and closing of this final section of Romans that I wish to show you Paul’s purpose and our purpose in life.
I want to set it before you in three parts:
Paul’s mission, his methods and his motivation.
We begin with Paul’s mission:
Romans 15:16 “To be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”
I’m not here this morning to merely point out Paul’s mission in life.
Clearly the intention is to demonstrate that Paul’s purpose is ours.
One of the greatest lies perpetrated against the church and its mission in the world is the idea that ministry is the responsibility of the clergy.
That is exactly the opposite of what the Bible says in
Ephesians 4:11-13 “It was (Christ) who gave some to be
apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors
and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that
the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in
the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining
to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
Do you see who is responsible for doing the “works of service,” the ministry? God’s people are.
Paul’s purpose is every Christian’s purpose.
But notice that Paul declares
his and our mission in a rather unique way as “the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles
might become an offering acceptable to God…”
Yes, he says we are to “proclaim the gospel of God.”
But to what end? For what purpose are we to do this?
It is “so
that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God…”
The offering to God is people!
Here is the way he said it in Colossians 1:28-29 “We proclaim (Christ), admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29 To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.”
Those verses grabbed hold of me 45 years
ago in a dormitory room at the University of Wisconsin and have, ever since,
guided me to give my life to what is most important and enduring and have
guarded me when I have been tempted to respond to the siren call of lesser
purposes.
The very words “priestly” and “offering” immediately
convey ideas of the OT sacrifices to God.
Sacrifices fitting for a holy God had to be without
blemish – they were to be perfect.
Here in verse 16 they are called
“acceptable.”
The offering had to meet God’s standards.
The author of Hebrews
said it this way: Hebrews 12:14 “without holiness no one will see the
Lord.”
God said in 1 Peter 1:16 and elsewhere “Be holy, because I am holy.”
So Paul’s mission was not just to get people saved but also to bring
them to spiritual maturity.
·
Galatians 4:19 “My dear
children… I am again in the pains of childbirth until
Christ is formed in you,
·
Ephesians 4:13 “until we all reach unity
in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature,
attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
·
Or as he says it here in Romans
15:18 “leading the Gentiles to obey God…”
So here is Paul imagining the day when he would stand before God
offering God the fruit of his life.
Don’t
misunderstand this isn’t some kind of entrance fee.
This is a love offering.
This is a response to God’s grace in his
life.
“Jesus, here is Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Priscilla and
Aquila.”
“Jesus, here is Epenitus (and quite a few
others Paul mentions in chapter 16) and the people in Ephesus and Colosse.”
And Paul could go on listing more and
more that by the grace of God he had had the privilege of influencing toward
maturity in Christ.
Who will you offer to God?
Several years ago Ray Boltz wrote a song that became quite popular for a
while. It was called “Thank You for Giving to the Lord.”
The man in the song’s story imagines himself in heaven.
Someone approaches him and says,
1. "Friend you may
not know me now," and then he said, "But wait you used to teach my
Sunday School, when I was only eight.
And every week you would say a prayer before the class would start.
And one day when you said that prayer,
I asked Jesus in my heart."
2. Then another man stood before you, he said "Remember
the time,
A missionary came to your church, His pictures made you cry.
You didn't have much money but you gave it anyway.
Jesus took that gift you gave
And that's why I'm in Heaven today"
3. One by one they came, far as your eyes could see.
Each life somehow touched by your generosity.
Little things that you had done, sacrifices that you made,
They were unnoticed on this earth
In Heaven now proclaimed.
And the chorus was,
Thank you for giving to the Lord,
I am a life that was changed.
Who will you offer to God?
Will it include your spouse, your children, your
friends, your neighbors, or co-workers?
Paul’s mission went beyond those immediately around him.
Look at chapter 16:26 “so that all nations might believe
and obey him.”
Paul wanted to be part of offering the people groups of the world to Jesus.
There are Christians who make the unbiblical comment that they just aren’t into missions.
They don’t pray for the mission work of the church and they don’t give to missions.
Bluntly said, I don’t think that is an option for Christians.
I suspect there are some truly valid reasons for not participating in the Kingdom Connection praying and giving ministry of our church but something is wrong when fewer than 300 families out of over 800 even bother to say they will pray for our missionaries, much less give.
Some of us need to reevaluate our priorities.
Again, who will you offer to God?
Our mission in life is clear.
Now
what about the methods?
Romans 15:16 “To be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”
Paul said his priestly duty is “proclaiming the gospel of God.”
Paul is not, here, calling himself a priest.
In the sermon notes on-line you will find further discussion of why the NT doesn’t call ministers “priests.”
But there was one duty of the OT priest that carried over to NT ministers – it is the duty to proclaim and teach God’s Word.
In 16:25 Paul says it this way, “Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ…”
This will
sound familiar to you but I want you to hear it again loudly and clearly and
realize that your lives and eternity depend on it.
The
Holy Spirit of God
uses
the Word of God
as
taught and lived by the people of God
to
grow us to be more and more like Christ.
There is
no substitute for the Word of God – the Scriptures.
It alone is our soul food.
Without it you will die.
·
Jesus
said, Matthew 4:4 “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word
that comes from the mouth of God.’’
·
God
said through Isaiah 55:11 “My word that goes out from my
mouth… will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and
achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
·
The
psalmist wrote, Psalm 119:9,11 “How can a young man keep his
way pure? By living according to your word… 11 I have hidden your word
in my heart that I might not sin against you.
·
Paul
wrote to Timothy, 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is God-breathed
and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
so that the (Christian) may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Many
creeds through the centuries as well as the recent 1996 Cambridge Declaration
make it abundantly clear that the word of God is the primary means
that God uses to accomplish his saving and maturing work in us.
Sola
Scriptura “We reaffirm the
inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation, which
alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that
is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by
which all Christian behavior must be measured.”
My method and your method for producing an offering of people acceptable to God is to proclaim and teach the Word of God.
Never stop being a church that demands of its teachers, its leaders and its pastors that they be people of the Word.
Expect it of your children’s teachers, of your youth workers, of your adult teachers and leaders.
I urge
you to allow your new pastor to be first of all a teacher of the Bible.
There is great pressure on pastors to be social workers,
psychologists, organizers, fund-raisers, chief-executive officers, managers,
visionaries, etc.
But above all else what the people of God need is one who
will consistently teach the Scriptures, pointing us to Jesus, that God may
change us.
Some might think I’m suggesting we will neglect the rest of our responsibilities to the world as Christians.
But that is not the case.
Proclaiming
the Word of God is not instead of helping the poor or instead of healing the
broken.
Preaching the Word is the means by which those other ends
are accomplished.
The means that God has chosen to change the world is to
change us.
The means God has chosen to change us is by learning
and living his Word.
When
John Calvin was recalled to the church in Geneva, Switzerland in 1536 “he had
no money, no influence and no weapons but the word of God.
But he preached from the Bible every day, and as he did,
under the power of his preaching, the city began to change.
As the
Genevan people acquired knowledge of God’s Word and allowed it to influence
their behavior, their city became a model city from which the gospel spread to
the rest of Europe, Great Britain, and the New World.
Geneva was cleaned up physically. Beggars were removed
from the streets; a hospital and poorhouse were provided for them, and they
were run well. Education was offered
for all classes of people… and new industries flourished.
There has probably never been a better example of
extensive moral and social reform than the transformation of Geneva under John
Calvin, and it was accomplished almost entirely by the preaching of God’s
Word.”
(in Boice, Romans,
1859)
There
is another example of this kind of radical change in a culture in Great Britain
in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries.
And it was the direct outgrowth of the Bible teaching and
application of Whitefield, Wesley, Wilberforce and countless others.
The world changes when the Christian’s life is anchored in and grows through the living, active, sharp, penetrating, dividing, and judging Word of God. (cf Hebrews 4:12)
Our method for offering people to God is teaching the Word of God.
There is another method I want you to see.
In verse 16 Paul also says these people who are our offering to God are “sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”
The Westminster Shorter Catechism reads,
“Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace by which the whole person is
renewed in the image of God and we are made more and more able to become dead
to sin and alive to righteousness.”
Think about how someone changes to be
more like Christ, how they become an offering acceptable to God.
It doesn’t come through knowledge alone,
though knowledge is essential, as we have already seen.
It certainly doesn’t
come through self-effort alone because willpower is insufficient to change the
heart even if we could control our behavior.
It takes the
supernatural work of God’s Spirit to change our desires as well as our behavior.
With the words “sanctified by the
Holy Spirit,” Paul is certainly implying that we are dependent on the Spirit of
God to make the changes in us, and others, to help us be more like Jesus.
When I know Paul’s dependence on
the Spirit, I cannot help but think of Paul’s prayer life.
He knew that the Spirit of God had to act and so he
prayed.
Colossians 1:9-10 “For this
reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you
and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual
wisdom and understanding. 10
And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may
please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the
knowledge of God,
Ephesians 1:17 “I keep asking
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the
Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
Ephesians 3:16 “I pray that
out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit
in your inner being,
Philippians 1:9-11 “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
What do we pray for each other, for our children, and for
those others we would offer to God as an acceptable offering?
When my purpose in life changes from my health and wealth and my purpose becomes the offering of people to God, my prayers change.
I’ve spoken of Paul’s and our life-purpose and of the methods, so lastly I want to speak to our motivation.
When Paul began his letter he spoke to the reason for his passion.
Romans 1:5 “Through him and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.
Now Paul will end his letter on the same theme:
Romans 16:25-27 “Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ… to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
David Brainerd, another missionary to Native Americans died in 1747 at the age of 29.
He wrote these words seven days before his death:
"Friday,
October 2. My soul was this day, at
turns, sweetly set on God: I longed to be with him that I might behold his
glory... Oh that his kingdom might come in the world; that they might all love
and glorify him for what he is in himself; and that the blessed Redeemer might
"see (the results) of the travail of his soul and be satisfied." (p474 The works of Jonathan Edwards Vol
7)
That was Paul's passion - he longed to see God honored.
In contrast Andrew Murray wrote:
"As we seek to find out why the
real army of God that is (working) is
so small, (when there are so many millions of Christians in the world), the only answer is - lack of
heart. The enthusiasm of the kingdom is
missing. And that is because there is
so little enthusiasm for the King."
(p133 "Key
to the Missionary Problem")
Who am I living for, for God's glory?
Do I have a passion to see God honored by my neighbors?
Does it break my heart to have God dishonored by so many?
I'm not asking does the conduct of others offend my personal sensibilities?
I'm asking, does it grieve me that God is so little known and loved?
Paul saw all of life, including his most mundane activities of traveling by foot from city to city, or of spending time in prison, of the abuse and persecution he endured, - all of it as necessary to make his offering to God.
We think of sacrifice as what we give up for God.
Paul is here thinking about what we give to God.
He wanted to give God people - people who know and glorify God.
The 18th Century Moravians were a people with a zealous desire to see Jesus honored among all peoples.
They became some of the most intrepid missionaries of that era.
I say fearless because fearful they might have been.
Between 1732 and 1768 (just 36 years), 79 of those German people died in their effort to bring the gospel to the slaves of the Caribbean Islands.
But in those same years over 4500 slaves were converted and brought into the church.
The first to go to those islands were Johann Dober and David Nitschmann.
As they prepared to leave the safety of Germany and home to go to those lawless, disease infested islands many reports from sea captains made it clear that they would likely die in that place.
No one could survive the life of the slaves.
It is reported that as their ship set sail and pulled away from the dock some were still asking "why would you do this?"
While we might have expected them to speak of their compassion for the slaves of the West Indies, what they focused on was exactly what Paul focused on:
The response given by the two men was: "The savior is well worth giving one's life for." Worthy is the Lamb!
(p275 A Caribbean Mission
by CGA Oldendorp)
They had a passion for God’s glory.
So did Paul. Do we?
Our mission: that
others might become an offering acceptable to God
Our methods: the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God and prayer-filled dependence on the Holy Spirit.
Our
motivation: to the only wise God be glory forever
Romans 15:14-17; 16:25-27 “I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. 15 I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. 17 Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God…. Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him— 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
Permission: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute
this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any
way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a
link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above
must be approved by SoundLiving.org.
The Theme of the Book:
Romans
1:16-17 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of
God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the
Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a
righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first
to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
Humanity’s
Problem:
1:20-21
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible
qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being
understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave
thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were
darkened. 1:25 “They exchanged the truth of
God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator 2:5 “because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant
heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath ,
when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 3:9-11 “What shall we conclude then? Are we any better ? Not at all! We have
already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10
As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 3:23
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”
God’s Remedy:
3:21-24 “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law,
has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who
believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 3:28 “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing
the law.
4:4-5 “Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to
him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5 However, to the man
who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is
credited as righteousness.
The
Great Results:
5:1-2 “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we
now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 5:8-9
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we
were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been
justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath
through him!
6:1-2
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that
grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how
can we live in it any longer? 6:3,6 “don’t you know that all
of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body
of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
6:14-15 “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as
instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who
have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him
as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your
master, because you are not under law, but under grace. 8:5,9
“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their
minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with
the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires… You, however, are controlled not by the
sinful nature but by the Spirit…”
8:15-17
“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave
again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba,Father.”
16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we
are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are
heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his
sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
8:18-23
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth
comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed…we
who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for
our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
8:28-30
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of
those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of
his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And
those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those
he justified, he also glorified.
8:38-39 “For I am convinced that
neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the
future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor
anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
9:16 “It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on
God’s mercy.
10:16 “not all the Israelites accepted the good news.
11:1 “Did God reject his people? By no means!
11:5 “So too, at the present time there is a remnant
chosen by grace.
11:25-26 “I do not want you to be ignorant
of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has
experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come
in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved
Our
Response to Grace:
12:1-2
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy,
to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is
your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the
pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then
you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and
perfect will. 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in
brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.12:17 “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do
what is right in the eyes of everybody. 13:1 “Everyone must submit himself to the governing
authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.
The authorities that exist have been established by God. 13:9 “The commandments, “Do not commit
adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other
commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor
as yourself.” 14:13 “Therefore
let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to
put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.
16:25-27 “Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him— 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
Christians and Priests:
In
Romans 15:16 does Paul give warrant for calling ministers, “priests?”
A
priest is “One authorized to perform the sacred rights of a religion especially
as a mediatory agent between humans and God.”
(Miriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary)
In the
Bible the word “priest” is related to the Hebrew word for “one who stands”
before God.
The OT
priest represented the people to God through the sacrifices.
Exodus
28:1 “Have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites, along
with his sons Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, so they may serve me as
priests.
Leviticus
9:7 The priest is instructed: “Come to the altar and
sacrifice your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for
yourself and the people; sacrifice the offering that is for the people and make
atonement for them, as the LORD has
commanded.”
The
priests were also to proclaim the word of God to the people.
Malachi 2:7 “For the lips of a priest ought to preserve
knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction—because he is the
messenger of the LORD Almighty.”
But in
the NT the role of the priest is superseded by Christ who is final and infinite
priest fulfilling all the purposes of the OT priests and the sacrifices.
Hebrews 9:11-12 “When Christ came as high priest of the good things that
are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that
is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of
the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all
by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.
Hebrews 10:11-12 “Day after day every priest stands and
performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins. 12
But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat
down at the right hand of God.
Unfortunately,
within a couple of hundred years of the beginning of the church, the idea of
church ministers being called priests developed. The whole idea grew from copying both the cultures around them
and the OT priesthood. A special class
of Christians, the ministers, wore more and more elaborate clothing. They began calling the communion table an
altar. They began to think of the bread and wine of the Lord’s Table as the
literal body and blood of Jesus and thus offered them time after time as a
sacrifice. But all
of this was contrary to what God teaches us in the book of Hebrews and
elsewhere.
Remember,
a priest is a mediator. But now the only mediator between God and man is Jesus.
1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God and one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus,
Hebrews 9:14-15 “How much more,
then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so
that we may serve the living God! 15 For this reason Christ is the
mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised
eternal inheritance
We
believe it is misleading and thus improper to refer to a Christian minister as
a priest. And there is no altar at the front of our churches. The ultimate
altar was the real cross on which Jesus died. The Lord’s Table is not an altar.
I want to suggest that the only altar remaining is the human heart. Romans 12:1
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies
as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of
worship.”
See a
lengthy but helpful article at http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/catholicscandal.htm
It is
titled “The
Scandal of the Catholic Priesthood (Selected Scriptures) Copyright 2002
by John
F. MacArthur, Jr. All rights reserved.
The church’s word to its pastor: “We want you to be responsible for saying and acting among us what we believe about God and kingdom and gospel… We believe that the invisible is more important than the visible at any one single moment and in any single event that we choose to examine… We need help in keeping our beliefs sharp and accurate and intact. We don’t trust ourselves; our emotions seduce us into infidelities. We know we are launched on a difficult and dangerous act of faith in life, and there are strong influences intent on diluting or destroying it. We want you to give us help... Be a minister of the Word… (Let God speak through you into all the different parts and stages of our lives) – in our work and play, with our children and our parents, at birth and death, in our celebrations and sorrows, on those days when morning breaks over us in a wash of sunshine, and those other days that are all drizzle.
This isn’t the only task in the life of faith but it is your task. We will find someone else to do the other important and essential tasks. This is yours: Word and Sacrament. One more thing: We are going to ordain you to this ministry, and we want your vow that you will stick to it. This is not a temporary job assignment for you but a way of life that we need lived out in our community. We know you are launched on the same difficult belief venture in the same dangerous world as I am. I know your emotions are as fickle as ours and your mind is a tricky as ours. That is why we are going to extract a vow from you. We know there will be days and months, maybe even years, when we won’t feel like believing anything and won’t want to hear it from you. And we know there will be days and weeks and even years when you won’t feel like saying it. It doesn’t matter. Do it. You are ordained to this ministry, vowed to it…
Promise right now that you won’t give in to what we demand of you. You are not the minister of our changing desires or our time-conditioned understanding of our needs, or our secularized hopes for something better….
There are many other things to be done in this wrecked world, and we are going to be doing at least some of them, but if we don’t know the foundational realities with which we are dealing – God, Kingdom, Gospel – we are to going to end up living futile, fantasy lives. Your task is to keep telling the basic story, representing the presence of the Spirit, insisting on the priority of God, and speaking the biblical words of command and promise and invitation.”
(Eugene Peterson, The
Contemplative Pastor, 137-9)