Our Priestly Ministry
Pastor Ashley McArtney
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:4-5
Notice that this is presently happening. There is a corporate element to the priesthood of all believers. It’s not something that happens in isolation, it happens in the gathering. It’s no longer an individual, isolated calling like in the Old Testament, it is a corporate calling.
6 For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
9 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. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2: 6-10
In these verses we see;
The Lord deeply cares about Zion. At the heart of Zion was the Tabernacle of David. Its priestly ministry, pattern and function moves the heart of God.
Jesus was laid ‘in Zion’ as the foundation of the Lords final resting place.
You were ‘chosen’ by the Lord to be His Priests.
Priests are ones ‘possessed by God’.
Priests declare praises of God and the triumph of the Light. Active, not passive.
‘Now a people’. Priesthood's truest expression is found in the corporate gathering
To fully understand the resting place of the Lord it is vital that we understand Zion, Jesus and the Priesthood. This is the blueprint for the Lord dwelling with His people!
Aaron the High Priest
How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down on the collar of his robe.
It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore. Psalm 133
Who was Aaron and why is He so important to unity and the blessing commanded in this Psalm? Arron was the first High Priest of Israel. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, Aaron was allowed to go into the Sacred Sanctuary, the holiest part of the Tent of Testimony, bringing his offering on behalf of the nation. The blessing of LIFE happens when we see each other AND ourselves as High Priests unto the Lord. When you come to church do you see yourself like this? Besides Jesus Himself, there is nothing more unifying or essential in the corporate gathering than seeing each other like this! Your fellow worshippers are an integral and indispensable part of God’s dwelling place and holy nation. This has major ramifications for how we gather together corporately.
1| You have got to come oily.
When others look at you is your beard oily? Oil is scriptures metaphor of the Holy Spirits anointing and your intimacy with Him. We must endeavour to come pre oiled into the congregation. Come as a lover, come saturated in the Presence of the Holy Spirit! The house of prayer is meant to be made up of PRIESTS who firstly love and minster to the Lord in private. Any prayer culture must invades hearts, homes AND the corporate gathering We need to be so careful that we do not over emphasise one over the other. Our daily bread is daily, not weekly. We are sustained in the secrete place, not once a week on a sunday. The strength of any corporate gathering and its ability to host the Presence of God will be determined by the secrete place lifestyle of its individuals.
2| We come to the corporate gathering to minister to the Lord.
Church is for God and not for you. Blessing and life flow as you minister out of your priestly identity. I believe this marks a major shift for most pentecostal believers and churches. We are so use to coming in and getting from God. A word, a prophesy, a touch, a blessing. We need to teach needy people that they get everything when God is their only treasure.
3| There are no mediators.
There is no holy man or women. You stand like Aaron, the holy man, with full access! The facilitator and worship team are not seperate from the congregation, together we are the worship team. When you look around at church what do you see? I see High Priests.
4| Without out your ministry unto the Lord, the whole congregation is weaker.
Everyone brings something - adding too and supporting the whole.
“come with a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation… so that the church may be built up.” 1 Cor 14:26
As individuals gather together we begin to see more of God, because no one individual fully expresses who God is! We complement and complete each other.
5| Its intercessory
Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, “Spare Your people, O LORD, And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ” Joel 2:17
Jesus is our Great High Priest. He stands in the gap for us, and likewise, we stand in the gap for those love. We have one hand holding the edge of His garment, and one hand on those we love.
Conclusion
When we get the full revelation of our corporate Priesthood and how God has designed His resting place, our worship and prayer changes its sound. As more and more believers embrace the bridal and priestly identity, so the sound of the corporate gathering will change. It changes from my needs to His, from my dreams to His.
“I actually don’t have a passion for revival. I have a passion for Jesus, which is what revival is made out of… In the same way, I don’t love prayer. I love the one I pray to. I don’t love worship. I love the one I worship. I don’t love theology. I love the one theology is about. I don’t love signs and wonders. I love the one who does them. I don’t love world transformation. I love the transformer. I don’t love heaven. I love the one who is there.” Roland Baker
