Post by Cindy on Aug 21, 2015 11:11:52 GMT -5
Pretty amazing isn't it? It's true though. We're told this first by Peter where he says, “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 2:5)and “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9). Then Jesus reminds us of this: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9) I think we often consider this to be a nice picture and nothing more, but in fact, it's the Truth of what God has quite literally called each one of us to be. We tend to think of ourselves as just the peons, while the ones we call "pastor" are the "special ones" called by God to do this job while we sit and listen to them. But this isn't quite the case. While they are most certainly called to be our pastor, (at least those who are honestly born again and have really been called by God) and we are called to honor them, listen to them, and learn from them, there's more to it then that. Their job as a pastor is to help prepare us to be priests, while they too grow in their own priesthood.
I was surprised today when I was reading Malachi 2 to find that God tells us exactly what He expects of His priests. The more I read, the more I realized just how well it all matched what He tells us in the New Testament that He expects of us. The passages I'll be referring to here are Malachi 2:5–9. Here, God is angry at the priests for not fearing Him and not doing their job. He compares the current priests to Levi and those of his time. In doing so, He shows us what He expects from His priests, so this is also our job description! He shows how Levi responded to His covenant with him: “he feared me and stood in awe of my name.” (Malachi 2:5) which is how we are all to respond to the Lord. Some translations use the word "reverence" instead of fear here, but they mean the same thing. Both suggest a reaction that includes humility on the persons part because they realize how much greater God is then they are. It suggests too that due to their attitude toward God, they wouldn't think of carrying our their responsibilities anyway but by doing their very best and doing it exactly the way the Lord commanded them to.
Next God says that “True instruction was in his mouth” (Malachi 2:6) This is also translated as "The law of truth was in his mouth." The term "law" means all forms of instruction, which is why it's also translated the first way I showed you. This shows us that the priests were to know doctrine well and were to teach what God's Word said about it, not their own ideas or thoughts concerning it. So they were to know and teach God's infallible and unchanging Truth as it's revealed in His Word. We see this all through the New Testament including such places as 2 Timothy 2:15 and Hebrews 5:12.
Second, “nothing false was found on his lips.” (Malachi 2:6) or "iniquity was not found in his lips." The word translated "iniquity" in some versions, means "crookedness". The priests were to pass judgment on people when they saw that someone was not walking according to God's Word. When they did, they were to do so according to God's Word and not twist His Word to suit themselves. Their decisions were to be made without any prejudice. Back then the priests served as both spiritual and secular judges and so judged all kinds of different things. They judged everything from whether or not a person was living according to God's laws to where a property line fell or who owned what. This too is something the Lord has charged us with as well. Obviously in our day, we can't do this legally like they could, but we can settle our own arguments to a great extent and we can make judgments to determine if someone is living in sin. One of the places we see this mentioned is in 1 Corinthians 6:1–4 and in John 7:24.
Third, they were to be devout, holy. Malachi says, “He walked with me in peace and uprightness,” (Malachi 2:6). Uprightness is sometimes translated as "equity" which means someone who's just, who doesn't show prejudice or treat people unequally. Paul reminds us “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) and we're constantly told to treat everyone with love and to live at peace with everyone, and not to show preferential treatment to anyone. This part of the verse has a lot packed into it. It shows us that we're to live and walk in peace (or harmony) with others and with God. We can't be at peace with God if we sin, so that means repenting of sin as soon as we realize we've sinned. It means forgiving others immediately when they sin against us, because again, we can't be at peace with God (or others) if we don't. Walking uprightly, or in equity, are other words for righteousness. So it again is saying we're to "walk" or live our lives in the way God intends us to, not the way the world does. It shows us a picture of someone living a life of holiness and living in constant fellowship with God. These again are things we're constantly taught and shown in the New Testament as well.
Fourth, they're to constantly be focused on their job, which is to turn others away from sin. “and turned many from sin.” (Malachi 2:6) Other words for sin, would be iniquity, or evil. Sadly though we often don't see sin that way do we? Instead, we often think of it as a "mistake" or short coming. That's not how God sees it though, and we're to look at it the way He does. God doesn't assign different penalties for different sins. He says the wages of ALL sin is death. Not some of them, not just the worst ones, but all of them. That doesn't seem fair to us, especially at first because our thinking has been so corrupted by the world. God knows though, that all sin, no matter how "tiny" the sin appears to be, is quite literally rebellion against Him.
The other problem we have with this is that we don't consider ourselves to be our brother's keeper. Instead the world has taught us since birth that it's every man for himself and that we are to look out for ourselves not others. Sadly, that's the way many of us act too, even though it's completely against what God says. He tells us that we're responsible for the other people in our life. Now, if our employer was to tell us that we were responsible for something or someone, we'd know that if we didn't take care of the responsibility that we could lose our job or would have to pay some other penalty for it. Yet when God tells us this, we tend to just look the other way and not worry about it. Strange isn't it? Jesus tells us though that we should fear God and take to heart what He tells us. (Luke 12:5) Please know though that I am not suggesting that we lose our salvation because once we are really saved, that's impossible. The real question for many is, are they really saved. It seems like every time we turn around today, we hear someone quoting Jesus and telling us not to judge them. That's really disheartening because when they do that, it shows that they really don't understand God's Word or His love and concern for them, and they don't understand that it's our job to let them know when they are sinning against Him, just as it's their job to let us know when we are. They also don't seem to realize that God is going to hold them responsible for ignoring what others have tried to tell them, and for not knowing His Word - on top of the original sin someone attempted to speak to them about. Many seem to have a false idea that once we've been saved we don't have to do anything but wait to die and then present our free ticket to heaven. Sadly for them, it doesn't work that way.
Lastly we're told in Malachi 2:7 that “the lips of the priest should keep knowledge.” Other translations say, “preserve", instead of "keep". Either way shows the person making sure that their knowledge of God and His Word is pure and untainted by the world and that they retain it. It doesn't go in one ear and out the other. They don't only read it, they take it to heart and apply it to their life. The reason is found in the second and third part of the verse: “and from his mouth men should seek instruction—because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty.” This brings us full circle and we're again told that the priest is to not only live God's Word but they're to teach it faithfully. It shows us too that while they are most definitely to instruct others with words, that their life itself is to be a "how to" manual showing others what God's Word teaches. The reason they're to do this is because they are God's messenger to others, so because of that other people should seek them out for instruction in His Word. Because they are God's messenger, others are to honor them. This shows us that it is a great honor to be a priest of the Lord God Almighty. To be chosen by Him for this honor is just incredible. Reading this should cause us to be thrilled by the honor He's extended to us. Rather then being puffed up with pride because of it though, it should cause us to be humble in our acceptance of this honor because we know what a powerful and mighty God we are serving. It again brings us full circle reminding us that the only acceptable reaction is humility and the fear of the Lord, causing us to live our life in a manner worthy of our calling.
“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:16–20)
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9).
I was surprised today when I was reading Malachi 2 to find that God tells us exactly what He expects of His priests. The more I read, the more I realized just how well it all matched what He tells us in the New Testament that He expects of us. The passages I'll be referring to here are Malachi 2:5–9. Here, God is angry at the priests for not fearing Him and not doing their job. He compares the current priests to Levi and those of his time. In doing so, He shows us what He expects from His priests, so this is also our job description! He shows how Levi responded to His covenant with him: “he feared me and stood in awe of my name.” (Malachi 2:5) which is how we are all to respond to the Lord. Some translations use the word "reverence" instead of fear here, but they mean the same thing. Both suggest a reaction that includes humility on the persons part because they realize how much greater God is then they are. It suggests too that due to their attitude toward God, they wouldn't think of carrying our their responsibilities anyway but by doing their very best and doing it exactly the way the Lord commanded them to.
Next God says that “True instruction was in his mouth” (Malachi 2:6) This is also translated as "The law of truth was in his mouth." The term "law" means all forms of instruction, which is why it's also translated the first way I showed you. This shows us that the priests were to know doctrine well and were to teach what God's Word said about it, not their own ideas or thoughts concerning it. So they were to know and teach God's infallible and unchanging Truth as it's revealed in His Word. We see this all through the New Testament including such places as 2 Timothy 2:15 and Hebrews 5:12.
Second, “nothing false was found on his lips.” (Malachi 2:6) or "iniquity was not found in his lips." The word translated "iniquity" in some versions, means "crookedness". The priests were to pass judgment on people when they saw that someone was not walking according to God's Word. When they did, they were to do so according to God's Word and not twist His Word to suit themselves. Their decisions were to be made without any prejudice. Back then the priests served as both spiritual and secular judges and so judged all kinds of different things. They judged everything from whether or not a person was living according to God's laws to where a property line fell or who owned what. This too is something the Lord has charged us with as well. Obviously in our day, we can't do this legally like they could, but we can settle our own arguments to a great extent and we can make judgments to determine if someone is living in sin. One of the places we see this mentioned is in 1 Corinthians 6:1–4 and in John 7:24.
Third, they were to be devout, holy. Malachi says, “He walked with me in peace and uprightness,” (Malachi 2:6). Uprightness is sometimes translated as "equity" which means someone who's just, who doesn't show prejudice or treat people unequally. Paul reminds us “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28) and we're constantly told to treat everyone with love and to live at peace with everyone, and not to show preferential treatment to anyone. This part of the verse has a lot packed into it. It shows us that we're to live and walk in peace (or harmony) with others and with God. We can't be at peace with God if we sin, so that means repenting of sin as soon as we realize we've sinned. It means forgiving others immediately when they sin against us, because again, we can't be at peace with God (or others) if we don't. Walking uprightly, or in equity, are other words for righteousness. So it again is saying we're to "walk" or live our lives in the way God intends us to, not the way the world does. It shows us a picture of someone living a life of holiness and living in constant fellowship with God. These again are things we're constantly taught and shown in the New Testament as well.
Fourth, they're to constantly be focused on their job, which is to turn others away from sin. “and turned many from sin.” (Malachi 2:6) Other words for sin, would be iniquity, or evil. Sadly though we often don't see sin that way do we? Instead, we often think of it as a "mistake" or short coming. That's not how God sees it though, and we're to look at it the way He does. God doesn't assign different penalties for different sins. He says the wages of ALL sin is death. Not some of them, not just the worst ones, but all of them. That doesn't seem fair to us, especially at first because our thinking has been so corrupted by the world. God knows though, that all sin, no matter how "tiny" the sin appears to be, is quite literally rebellion against Him.
The other problem we have with this is that we don't consider ourselves to be our brother's keeper. Instead the world has taught us since birth that it's every man for himself and that we are to look out for ourselves not others. Sadly, that's the way many of us act too, even though it's completely against what God says. He tells us that we're responsible for the other people in our life. Now, if our employer was to tell us that we were responsible for something or someone, we'd know that if we didn't take care of the responsibility that we could lose our job or would have to pay some other penalty for it. Yet when God tells us this, we tend to just look the other way and not worry about it. Strange isn't it? Jesus tells us though that we should fear God and take to heart what He tells us. (Luke 12:5) Please know though that I am not suggesting that we lose our salvation because once we are really saved, that's impossible. The real question for many is, are they really saved. It seems like every time we turn around today, we hear someone quoting Jesus and telling us not to judge them. That's really disheartening because when they do that, it shows that they really don't understand God's Word or His love and concern for them, and they don't understand that it's our job to let them know when they are sinning against Him, just as it's their job to let us know when we are. They also don't seem to realize that God is going to hold them responsible for ignoring what others have tried to tell them, and for not knowing His Word - on top of the original sin someone attempted to speak to them about. Many seem to have a false idea that once we've been saved we don't have to do anything but wait to die and then present our free ticket to heaven. Sadly for them, it doesn't work that way.
Lastly we're told in Malachi 2:7 that “the lips of the priest should keep knowledge.” Other translations say, “preserve", instead of "keep". Either way shows the person making sure that their knowledge of God and His Word is pure and untainted by the world and that they retain it. It doesn't go in one ear and out the other. They don't only read it, they take it to heart and apply it to their life. The reason is found in the second and third part of the verse: “and from his mouth men should seek instruction—because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty.” This brings us full circle and we're again told that the priest is to not only live God's Word but they're to teach it faithfully. It shows us too that while they are most definitely to instruct others with words, that their life itself is to be a "how to" manual showing others what God's Word teaches. The reason they're to do this is because they are God's messenger to others, so because of that other people should seek them out for instruction in His Word. Because they are God's messenger, others are to honor them. This shows us that it is a great honor to be a priest of the Lord God Almighty. To be chosen by Him for this honor is just incredible. Reading this should cause us to be thrilled by the honor He's extended to us. Rather then being puffed up with pride because of it though, it should cause us to be humble in our acceptance of this honor because we know what a powerful and mighty God we are serving. It again brings us full circle reminding us that the only acceptable reaction is humility and the fear of the Lord, causing us to live our life in a manner worthy of our calling.
“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:16–20)
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9).
!!
