Exiles, Legos, and a Royal Priesthood

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, welcome to the Vine Life Church Podcast. We're in Boulder, Colorado, and we're following Jesus by staying rooted in his presence, growing in his family, and living on his mission so that hearts are awakened with his awe-inspiring love. In this time of social distancing, we're not currently gathering in person, but we invite you to stream the video from our weekend services online. And if we can help you in any way, reach out to us at VineLife.com. For now, here's a short sermon from last week in Avine Life. Again, thanks for joining us. Alright, friends, we're gonna get into the Word today. We're gonna align with the Word of God for our lives and let Him speak into our identities and shape us into His image. Hey, and I hope that you have an expectation today that the Holy Spirit wants to meet you. He wants to plant the Word of God inside of your life. That's my prayer. I pray that's your prayer for yourself, for those you're listening in with, that this translates beyond a video screen, but the Holy Spirit of God would rush into your living room or your office right now. And I want to encourage you, if you have your Bibles, open up to 1 Peter chapter 2. The scripture will appear on the screen as well. But this is a passage we've been in on and off for the last several weeks. It's an important passage for us because this is all about aligning with what God is doing in the church and agreeing with his identity for our lives. It's critical for us right now. And so let's enter into this together. We're gonna start in verse 5, then I'm gonna give a little context. Peter says this in chapter 2, verse 5. He says, You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And this is where we're gonna start off this image of us being living stones. What I love about this passage, though, is Peter is writing to believers who are scattered all across the region. They had been driven out of their cities and their homes because of persecution. So this is all across Asia Minor. He's writing to multiple churches in multiple cities. It's a little different than Paul, who would write specific letters to specific cities and the house church networks of that city. Peter is, he, this is his first shot at writing to believers. And what I love is in the book of Acts, we get to see about five of Peter's sermons, his proclamations of the gospel. This is his first chance of writing it down. And that's significant because we get to see what was important to the one who spent time with Jesus, to this apostle who spent face-to-face time with Jesus, and what is his go-to picture for what God is doing on the earth. And and where he goes immediately is this fact that Jesus is a cornerstone. Something has happened so significantly in Christ, he has become the new cornerstone upon which we build our lives. And now we are like living stones. And so, you know, if we want to be clear on what God is building, He's not building new facilities, He's not building new uh programs or ministries, He's building people. And out of the people come these things, come new dreams and visions and ways of blessing the world. But He's building you and I, and that's a critical word for us in this season. Here's how I would uh illustrate this. Uh I have three young kids at home, and uh without exception, every year, at some point in the year, we uh we get our kids uh a new Lego set of some kind, either for Christmas or for their birthday. But Legos are a thing in the Humbrecht household, all right? And uh I'm excited because more recently our kids have started learning to put those together in the last like year or two. But before that, we'd buy Legos, and then on Christmas afternoon, uh our kids would be so excited, and then they'd just look up at me or to my wife Megan, and they would just have that sense of anticipation. Hey, when are you gonna put this together for me? And so uh so together, you know, we'd we'd open the box and then dump out all these Lego packets and and then start just going page by page through these booklets and trying to figure out how these really sophisticated parts are actually supposed to fit together. And it's amazing because once they all do fit together, it blows us all away, right? It's like, oh my gosh, this is actually super cool to see you know a Batmobile or a you know a Star Wars like uh you know spacecraft or something like that, or a new Lego city. Um and and and as a family, once a new creation would be built, we'd all look at it and admire it and pass it around and and enjoy it and high-five each other, and and it was just a beautiful moment for about 15 minutes until all of these Legos just started their atrophy, just disassembling all around the house, and every corner of the stairs and our couch cushions, and just Legos that start going everywhere, and and most of the time uh to no avail. Like they would never find their way back into their full creation again. And so what happens in our house is you know, shortly after something's built, Legos start to uh to be destroyed and disassemble around our house, and and then they end up in our basement where Legos go to die, right? And so basically what that means is we have about 12 bins full to the brim of just random Lego parts, right? Just all lonely, just sitting there collecting dust. And our kids will go down and sometimes they'll dump out the bins, but mostly this is for the sake of spreading them around the carpet, so that uh when I go down there in the dark and I cross over, you know, uh over this landscape, this wasteland of Legos, the Legos will double as shards of glass, causing me great pain and anguish, right? But you can pray for me, all right? I'm not bitter, I promise you, I'm not bitter. Um, but I guarantee you this when you go into our basement, nobody is looking at these bins of Legos, and nobody's thinking, wow, this is fantastic. Look at all the potential of all of these Legos. Um, there's no glory in Legos that are scattered and disassembled. The glory is when they all fit together as they are supposed to, right? According to that, the blueprint of that book, or whatever the designer decided it should be. And it's the same thing in the house of God. It's not enough that God has just put potential inside of us. God's ultimate plan was to fit us together as living stones, and upon us being fit together, our glory is not just as individuals, it's coming together as a people. And as Peter would say here, as we come together, fit together as living stones, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets in Christ Jesus, we become a spiritual house and a holy priesthood. And this is really important that we get into this because being living stones is much more than a clever illustration for this new building. The next question is what is it that this building is supposed to do? And here's where Peter gets in in verse 9. So we're going to continue in verse 9. He says, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. And I hope that you are just jumping and spinning around right now. I hope that you're waving a hanky in your living room. You should be freaking out. This passage is just beautiful, it's explosive. That God's heart from the beginning was to do something so significant that we would proclaim the excellencies of him who transplanted us out of the kingdom of darkness into a brand new kingdom of light. Guys, this is what we're in it for. And this is the vision that all the apostles would proclaim. You see, this language here, what's important to know, this language is not unique to Peter. It's not unique to any of the New Testament writers. When Peter would start talking about becoming a holy nation and a royal priesthood, this wasn't new, some clever invention of language and dialect that he was, you know, poetically trying to invite people into. What Peter was doing was connecting the people back with an age-old promise of God. All of the writers were doing this. They were using their words to try to connect the people back to the story that God had been writing for hundreds and thousands of years to his people that had now culminated in the person of Christ and would start this launching a new kingdom movement out. And it's so exciting. And particularly this language of becoming a royal priesthood in a holy nation. This was the promise of God to Moses as God would liberate the people of Israel out of 400 years of slavery, and that he had to take them out of one culture and shape them into a new kind of people at Mount Sinai. Here's what God would say to the people in Exodus chapter 19. He says, Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall become my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Get that? These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel. And so in the beginning of Scripture, in the in the Torah, God was building upon his promises to bless the whole nation, every nation of the earth. You see, he would promise to Abraham, he made a covenant to Abraham that he was going to, through Abraham's seed, uh create a family so numerous that it would end up blessing every nation of the earth. And he built upon that promise through his covenant to Moses and the people of Israel, that not only was he gonna bless every nation on the earth, he was gonna do that through a people. And and he and so he said to Moses, if you guys keep my covenant and do what I say, you're gonna become my treasured possession. Now, the problem is, as you know, as God was making these covenants, the problem is they were not able to hold up their end of the covenant. And so the people of God were not able to keep their hearts set on God, on Yahweh. They would turn to idols, they would turn to wicked ways, they would turn to other means to try to fulfill these promises. Which is why God would come later and say, Listen, I know that you've turned from me, but um there's gonna come a day where I'm going to take your heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. I'm gonna do something for you so that you will become my people and I will become your God. And so that's what catches us up to this moment in 1 Peter, because Peter's saying, Listen, there is a promise that was age-old, we were not able to keep that, but through Christ, the perfect representation of Israel, he was able to do for Israel what Israel was not able to do, to live a life fully devoted to God, sinless, and to go as an atoning sacrifice to the cross to wipe away the sins and make a new way, that all who would believe in who Christ was, that he had come from the Father, that all who received him were given the right to become children of God, that as people of every nation of the earth, Jews and Gentiles alike, would trust in his name, would trust in what he accomplished, would trust in the story that he was coming to fulfill, that there would be forgiveness of sins, and out of this people that would respond to Jesus, a brand new community would be formed. That would become a kingdom of priests, which is an amazing word picture. Because as you know, in the Old Testament, only a few people got to be priests, only a few people were able to go uh into the presence of God to come face to face with God, and God says, listen, I'm doing something new in this coming day. I'm going to make a way for every person to be to take up their role as a priest in the house of God. Now, what does that mean for us? What does that mean for the moment that we're living in right now? This is this is this is pivotal for us, I believe, as we continue to be shaped as a church in our personal identity, our communal identity, and our role in the world. So from here on out, Peter starts to describe what a priestly uh behavior is. What do priests do? How do priests behave? How should a kingdom of priests act? So the rest of 1 Peter, he's basically getting into. This is where the rubber meets the road. In fact, I would encourage you to continue to read this letter on your own. But we're gonna start in verse 11. And here's how Peter continues. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles, right? Because they're scattered, to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. And he continues: Be subject to the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the Emperor as Supreme, or to the governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. This is a robust, deep, rich passage where Peter is giving several different angles of this is what it means to be a kingdom of priests. I just want to unpack a few of these things for us today that I believe are important as we take up our role. You and I are being fit together as living stones. Right now, as a church, we're doing that in smaller groups for the most part, in twos and threes and fives and tens across the region. And he's fitting us together. But our role is still the same to be a kingdom of priests. So, what is one of the first duties of a priest, even in the New Testament? It's it's to come face to face with God. I just want to encourage you. Part of our greatest responsibility, what God is doing among us, our first work is to live face to face with God, to get heaven's perspective on all of the things that we're dealing with, to get heaven's perspective on our lives, on these social issues, on the climate of things that are happening in our nation. Um, we don't have a right to speak into things that we don't have heaven's perspective on. And so it's it's it's it's imperative that that to enter into what God's doing, that you and I are spending time in prayer, seeking the face of God, in intercession, knowing the heart of God in the scripture, not just speaking from our own opinion, our own surface level observation, but we're going straight to the throne room of God to get his perspective. That's the first thing we are to do. A second thing that priests do, though, is we offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. This is still something we do in the New Testament. It's just instead of sacrificing animals, we're giving our lives. We're giving our very beings. As in Romans 12, Paul would say, offer to your body, offer to God your bodies as living sacrifices unto Him. That's your spiritual act of worship, which means that everything we do, everything we speak, every way we order our lives has the potential to be an aroma to the heart of God. And that's the thing as priests, what gets us out of bed every morning is this question of Jesus, what would be most pleasing to you? And I just want to just ask you, when's the last time you asked that question? Jesus, today, what would be the most pleasing to you? What do you want from me today? What do you want from us? What would bring you the most glory? What would make you the happiest today? Not and we're not asking that question because he's this demanding judge, it's because the heart of a priest is to minister to the heart of God. And this is part of our role to come face to face with God and say, God, what is it that you want? What would make you the happiest? In an age where so many people, uh, the way of the world is to organize a lot our lives around what do I want, what is my preference, what a royal priesthood does is say, God, what is it that you're doing? What do you want? And how do we how do we orient our lives around your will? So we come face to face with God. We offer spiritual sacrifices to God. But here's here's a key one. This is massive. Then this goes to this age-old promise. We represent the heart of God to the world. Okay? And that's part of the royal priesthood thing is God was making for himself a people, not just so we could be tucked away and just have these intimate times with God, but so we could know the reality of heaven, extend the blessings of God onto every nation of the earth, into every street, into every family, uh, into every neighborhood, that every cul-de-sac would be filled with the reality of heaven, and only priests, only those who are spending time in the presence of God are able to extend that blessing. And that's what he wants us to do is to represent his heart to people who need to know what is God like, what is his heart like. This is critical right now. And this is why Peter, I believe, then goes into you need to let your speech and your conduct be honorable. Because this is going to put to silence foolish talk and accusations. The Gentiles need to see honorable speech and conduct. And church, I cannot emphasize enough in this particular moment of divisiveness, it is critical that our words and our conduct represent the heart of God. That we, like the scripture says, proclaim the excellencies of God. In the Passion Translation, it says that we broadcast his glorious wonders throughout the world. Our words matter. Your words matter. And this moment is critical right now. Probably like you, I am seeing all kinds of reactions and these visceral reactions to things happening in our nation and very important uh issues that are happening governmentally and politically. Um and my concern is that because these are significant issues, we feel like we have the right to say whatever we want. And a lot of Christians even are saying, listen, we have a constitution, we have the freedom of speech, I can say whatever I want, I get to oppose whatever I don't agree with, and um and and and and what happens is uh we we we claim our rights as citizens of the United States and our Constitution that says, our constitution says that we have the freedom to speak, right? And that's true, that's what our constitution says, and it's actually a really good uh part of our constitution. But I I need to remind you this the Word of God would instruct us that even though our Constitution gives us the freedom to speak, the freedom to speak, the kingdom says that you are a slave to righteousness. So even though we have an earthly right to say whatever we want, if you are a citizen of the kingdom of heaven, every word, every action, every behavior must filter through righteousness and honor and love if we are going to fully represent the kingdom of heaven. It is not enough to say, I have the right to do whatever the heck I want. Peter would say here, and other parts of the scripture would say, do not use your freedom to self-serve just what you want. Use your freedom to serve. Friends, watch what you say. I am not saying that you shouldn't speak up for the things that matter, but if any of us feel that we have the permission to belittle or mock or devalue another human being, especially a leader, somebody that God has been put in a position of authority in our state or our nation or a current president or a future president. And if you feel like you have the right to mock them or to belittle them, I am telling you, you are mistaken. That is not what priests do. Now, you might be pushing back and say, well, I feel like that's I need to speak up. Yeah, there's things that we must continue to address, but we can do that as a kingdom of priests, still representing the honor and the love and the full force of heaven. That's what people need to see from us and from the church. They need to see speech and conduct that calls the whole world into flourishing, that honors the image of God that He has deposited in every human being. This is part of our role in this moment. So, priests, we represent the reality of heaven as we come into earth. But also, priests, we intercede. So we're not just coming face to face with God, but we are interceding. We are, you know, we are addressing major things happening all around us, principalities and strongholds and powers, not just through opposing them with our words, but we are interceding in the Spirit, catching God's vision and then agreeing with the purposes of heaven. And this is all throughout the scripture. Paul would even urge Timothy to offer supplications and prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings for all people, for kings and all who were in high positions. Guys, I'm telling you, pray for your leaders. Pray for the governor. Pray for the president. Pray for those you even disagree with. Pray for them. Bless them in the name of Jesus. That is what we are called to do. And ultimately, all of this culminates in this vision for us to extend the blessings of God to the nations. And this is what the church needs to continue to do. We are looking for ways for the reality of heaven to touch every nation on the earth. That's what God had destined from long ago. That all of the nations of the earth would be blessed. So I invite you into this picture. I'm hoping that this vision that Peter is laying out, my prayer is that this is reorienting for us that we see ourselves as a kingdom of priests, a priestly identity, a holy nation with certain roles and certain responsibilities and certain functions, and we don't just get to do whatever we want. We are called by God to invite the whole world into face-to-face encounters with the power of God. So I leave that with you, friends, and I invite you to respond to that. Invite you to talk with your friends, with your home groups this week about this passage, about how you see your role in this moment. What does it look like to be a priest? And even in this moment, I just want to invite you, if the Holy Spirit is convicting you in this moment, maybe you've never thought about this, or maybe your speech and conduct, maybe you haven't felt like you've represented God or God's purposes well, and you feel the Holy Spirit nudging on you, I just want to encourage you to repent, to change your ways. Let's together, let's let's repent and align our hearts with the heartbeat of heaven. Let's call each other up in this area. That's part of what it means to be living stones, is we get to sharpen each other. And so if one of us is living below our calling, we're living below the standard of what it means to be a priest. If one of us is being flippant with our words and our speech and our conduct, we will call each other, we'll email each other, we will take each other aside and say, hey, you've got to, you know, we've we've got to grow up in this area. This is what God is calling us to. That's what we can be as a church. We can call each other up into the image of God. This is what God expects of us because his heart is for every person to taste and see his goodness on earth. And so today I want to pray for us. I want to pray as we respond to this word, as we become a spiritual house, as we become, as we continue to live this out together, that the strength and the power of God would align our vision to what he wants, that we'd be a people that reflect what he wants, and he would show us what needs to change. He would show us what should be transformed. So would you pray with me today? And first of all, I want to pray for those of you, if you've never responded to this picture, if you've never put your trust in Christ as your cornerstone and built your life upon him, I want to invite you to do that right now, just wherever you are. You can just pray simply and you pray a simple prayer and say, Jesus, I want to know what it's like to build my life upon something that lasts forever, not just upon what I think needs to happen or what my neighbors think needs to happen or my best friend thinks needs to happen. I I want to build my life upon your love. And I just invite you with your own words to welcome Jesus and say, Jesus, would you come into my heart? Would you show me what it means to trust you and to give my life to you? And I bless you with that. The rest of us, let's pray together and agree together. So, God, I um we thank you for this picture. We thank you that you're continuing this epic age-old story of setting for yourself aside a people, set apart in holiness to you with the function of extending the thoughts and mind of God into the earth. It's what we need right now. God, we need this. We need your thoughts. We don't always get this right, but we thank you, Father, that you are raising us up, you're maturing us because you want to send us out in power. I pray for encounters this week with heaven. I pray for encounters for every person watching this video. That we'd be taken into the secret place and that you would uh continue to build us up into the image that you had in mine. And I bless my vine life family. I bless us as we uh represent your heart to the world. Teach us, Lord God, teach us in humility how to repent and to trust and respond, to depend on who you are. And we thank you, Father, that you're doing a great work in our day. And you were at work, you are present and at work in our lives and in our nation, all around the world. We love you today. And it's in the name of Jesus we trust and we proclaim. Amen.