Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20040512.htm

APPLYING THE CHRISTIAN'S POSITIONAL RICHES IN CHRIST
Part XVIII: Applying The Truth That Believers Are Partakers Of A Holy And Royal Priesthood
  1. Introduction
    1. In view of the brevity of our earthly lives, one of our greatest needs as humans is that of achieving goals that impact others for lasting worth that lasts eternally. As reflected in Moses' prayer to God in Psalm 90:17b, we along with Moses desire that God " . . . e stablish thou the work of our hands . . ."
    2. One of the 33 positional truths the believer possesses the instant he trusts in Christ as his personal Savior from sin is that he becomes a partaker of a holy and royal priesthood, cf. Lewis S. Chafer, Systematic Theology, vol. III, "Soteriology," p. 251. Applying this truth provides the fulfilling means for the believer to have an invaluable interaction with eternally priceless worth before Almighty God (as follows):
  2. Applying The Truth That Believers Are Partakers Of A Holy And Royal Priesthood.
    1. Peter taught believers in Christ belong to a holy (1 Peter 2:5) and a royal (1 Peter 2:9) priesthood.
    2. To understand so as to appreciate just what this meant to many of his readers who had come to faith in Christ out of Judaism (cf. 1 Peter 1:1) [since Peter was an apostle predominantly to his Hebrew countrymen, cf. Galatians 2:9], we trace the development of the priesthood in Hebrew history as follows:
      1. When God called Abraham to father the Hebrew nation, Abraham paid tithes to a superior, a man named Melchizedek, a priest whose name means "king of righteousness," Gen. 14:18-20; Heb. 7:6-7.
      2. Thus, Melchizedek, a king, was also a priest before God, a lofty position to say the least!
      3. However, God set up a priesthood from Abraham's seed of the line of Levi, one that ministered in behalf of the other tribes of Israel without the nation itself being a kingdom of priests, cf. Num. 3:6-10.
      4. Nevertheless, God promised that if the nation Israel would heed Him, He would make everyone in that nation a priest so that they would become an actual kingdom of priests, Exodus 19:5-6.
      5. However, Israel never turned to the Lord like this, so the nation failed to be able to approach God individually without the mediation of the human Aaronic priesthood, cf. Hebrews 7:5.
      6. Thus, in superior contrast to the arrangement Israel had with God under the Mosaic Law, when Christ died on the cross, He forged the path for a new kind of relationship with those who would believe on Him so that, by God's grace, every believer would belong to a kingdom of priests that Israel had FAILED to attain through her national disobedience. This truth Peter mentions in 1 Peter 2:5 and 9!
    3. Consequently, every believer in the CHURCH era needs no other human mediator to pray or to relate to God apart from his Great High Priest, Jesus Christ; we all unconditionally have equal access to God!
    4. This royal priesthood provides priceless opportunities for invaluable and eternally lasting service:
      1. As a member of Christ's holy priesthood, every believer may go to God in prayer in behalf of man's needs (1 Thessalonians 5:17; Romans 5:2) as well as testify to others in God's behalf (Romans 15:16)!
      2. As a member of Christ's holy priesthood, every believer may offer up divinely accepted sacrifices of praise from his lips, a function done by testimony , prayer and song, Hebrews 13:15; Eph. 5:18-19.
      3. As a member of Christ's holy priesthood, every believer may offer up his body as a living sacrifice in exercising his spiritual gift to serve God with eternal results, Rom. 12:1-2, 3 with 1 John 2:15-16, 17.
      4. As a member of Christ's royal priesthood, every believer will rule forever with Christ on the earth beginning with His Millennial Kingdom and stretching throughout eternity, Rev. 1:6; 5:10 with 22:3c.
Lesson: (1) Unlike believers under the Mosaic Law, we who trust in Christ TODAY need no OTHER mortal to interact with God, but we are EACH MEMBERS of God's KINGDOM of PRIESTS who may MEANINGFULLY relate to God DIRECTLY for men and for men in God's behalf, and that with ETERNALLY LASTING effects. (2) We do so by witnessing, testifying, praying, singing and using our spiritual gifts to edify the Body of Christ. (3) One day, as ROYAL priests, we will RULE with Christ!

Application: (1) For the BLESSING of achieving INVALUABLE, ETERNALLY LASTING ACHIEVEMENT, we who trust in Christ can perform deeds as members of God's HOLY PRIESTHOOD: (a) we can minister to men in God's behalf by teaching and witnessing, (b) by using our spiritual gift to edify the Body of Christ and (c) by ministering of God's glory in testimony, prayer and song. (2) In Christ's coming earthly reign, we will rule with Him in continued meaningful service!