So You’re a Priest: ‘What’s in it for me?’ Is Not the Question

Last Sunday during communion, I mentioned that the whole congregation is called to be priests—what Protestants call "the priesthood of all believers." Last Sunday, I wasn’t sure what I was going to be preaching on after the summer series of Olympic-theme sermons; I felt that a new direction was needed after two months of sermons on trials, endurance, and perseverance. However, it wasn’t until Monday that I realized what that new direction would be:

If you have given your life over to Jesus, your life is no longer your own. Even though you may often not feel up to the task, God is calling you to be a priest: a mediator of God to others, a mediator for others to God, making a difference in the world by taking grace into the world.

You can do it.

At first it looks like a lot of pressure. "Who am I," you say of yourself, "to be a priest?" I tell you a secret, "I know you’re not good enough to be a priest. I’m not good enough to be a priest. One of the mysteries of the kingdom of God is that he uses us anyway, and somehow it usually works. We usually don’t see until afterwards how it all worked. Not by our power, certainly, but by God’s power and for his glory."

1 Timothy 6:17-19

Commentary

Context: Paul’s comments appear in his final instructions to Timothy (1 Tim 6:3-21) which deals a lot with godliness and the love of money. In reading the larger context, one might conclude that godliness and the love of money are polar opposites.

During the sermon, we watched Rob Bell’s Nooma video, "Rich", which referred to today’s sermon text.

v17 Three commands are given in this verse for the rich. The first two—not to be arrogant and not to put hope in wealth—are prohibitions that amplify each other. Putting hope in worldly wealth is arrogance. The third command is the positive alternative: as opposed to trusting in material stuff, trust in God. With this comes the promise that he will give you what you need.

v18 Likewise, the four commands given here amplify one another. Several weeks ago, I said that when Paul charged Timothy to train himself to be godly (1 Tim. 4:7) that Paul did not expect perfection; rather, he wanted Timothy to develop a bias for godliness, i.e. a predisposition to do good. We see an example of that bias here. Good deeds without a generous heart are worthless; and a good attitude with no follow through is dead (James 2:14-18).

good deeds. Bell described this as doing mitzvoth: doing the commands of God. The good deeds Paul has in mind are a frequent topic in this letter (2:9-10; 5:9-10; 5:24-25) as well as elsewhere in the Bible (Matt 5:14-16; Eph 2:10; Heb 10:24-25; 1 Peter 2:11-12; ).

v19 lay up treasure ... truly life. The verb here is a compound word that means something like, "from their own treasure they will amass treasure." We are called to take one form of treasure—material wealth—and turn it into a better form of treasure—spiritual wealth. Material wealth will fail to satisfy, but spiritual wealth will last forever. In material wealth we will die impoverished and alone, but in spiritual wealth we will live in the company of God and the saints. One way looks like living, but the other way leads to real life. (Luke 16:1-15)

Application

We have been blessed by God in order to be a blessing to others. However, we live as if we have been blessed by God to order to indulge ourselves. How could we get everything so wrong?

The typical advertisement we hear on the radio or see on TV is designed to make us dissatisfied with what we have or to create in us a yearning for something that we heretofore didn’t realize that we needed. "I thought my life was OK. I didn’t realize that I was missing out on Blue-ray movies! I didn’t realize that I was committing a grave error by driving the wrong kind of car! I didn’t realize that my clothes were to hopelessly out-of-fashion!" The ads urge us to consider only our own needs and desires, e.g.:

Have it your way (Burger King)

Yours is here (Dell Computer)

Live richly (Citibank)

Just do it (Nike)

Do what tastes right (Wendy’s)

You deserve a break today (McDonald’s)

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas (Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority)

What is your favorite ad that urges you to overindulge?

When we become dissatisfied with what we have, we come to believe the lie that God is not going to give us what we need. We become discontented with God. When we give in to our newfound yearnings to indulge, set ourselves in opposition to God: we will decide what is good for us; we will decide what is enough; we will provide for ourselves. This is the way it always is when we find the good life. When the Israelites were freed from slavery and returned from Egypt to Israel, Moses warned them:

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery ... You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. (Deut 8:10-14,17-18)

Ironically, Moses told them they had been called to be a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and I am giving you the same message today. I just hope you have more success than the Israelites!

As part of my annual autumn anti-Christmas-consumerism diatribe, I submit that you’ve been messing around in a secularly priestly role for years. Every Christmas shopping season, you have become a mediator of Santa Claus to others, a mediator for others to Santa, trying to make a difference by taking material gifts into the world. To borrow a phrase Jesus (Matt. 7:11), "If you, brainwashed as you are by commercials, want to bring grace into the world through DVDs, flat screen TVs, and Aéropostale jeans, how much more does your Father in heaven want to use you to bring real grace, lasting grace, into a world that is dying for something real?" Our idea of being a blessing to others is a perversion of the real grace, the real peace, the real justice that God would have us bring into the world.

How would it look, how would it feel ...

... to live to be a blessing for others, taking the blessings you have received from God and passing them on to others?

... to find satisfaction from giving to those in need?

... to live on less in order to be able to bless others more?

What would have to change in you to make that a reality?

Points to Ponder

Everyone worries about cost of heat this winter. Economists predict Americans will spend an average of $850 per person on Christmas gifts. What is the priestly answer to this predicament?

The NIV only mentions "godliness" 10 times, but 6 of those references are in this letter from Paul to Timothy and 2 more are in the other pastoral letters (1 Tim 2:1-2; 3:16; 4:7-8; 6:3-11 (3x); 2 Tim 3:1-5; Titus 1:1-2). Godliness seems an impossibly high standard, but what practical examples of godliness do these verses cite? Could it be that living to be a blessing to others is part of what godliness is all about?

In Judaism, there are many ways of listing and talking about good deeds, but a good summary is the six constant mitzvoth, "six commands which are perpetual and constant, applicable at all times, all the days of our lives:" (1) to believe in God, and that he created all things; (2) to not believe in anything else other than God; (3) to believe in God's oneness; (4) to fear God; (5) to love God; (6) not to pursue the passions of your heart and stray after your eyes. How do the six constant mitzvoh fit into today’s lesson?