Sunday, August 9, 2020

The Whole Big Picture - Part 3


Continuing Dr. Nolte's message, he explains that the Apostle Peter reminds us by using a couple Old Testament concepts. The two that Dr. Nolte wants us to look at are the terms “royal priesthood” and “holy nation”. They are two extremely important conceptual titles that God used for the nation Israel. If you think about the long “salvation” history, how God was working through history to bring us to the place where we could all have a personal relationship with God, which He intended. God literally chose the nation of Israel as the conduit and means by which we would come to Jesus and the Gospel would come into the world. They were a holy nation, a set apart people, so that the good news of the Gospel could reach the entire world. They were a “royal priesthood” with God as their sovereign King and they were the representatives of the Kingdom. 

It didn’t matter who this epistle was written to, a Jew or a gentile, because it only mattered if you heard the “good news” of Jesus Christ. It mattered if you understood God’s love for you and God’s plan to bring humanity back to Himself. But the concept of the vehicle, the royal priesthood, and holy nation from the Old Testament, the Apostle Peter keep the same and tell us, “that is what you are church.” That’s what we are in God’s plan for the Gospel. We are that vehicle in God’s Plan ‘A’. Did I mention that there is no Plan ‘B’? We are priests of God (in the modern church, a person who is set apart or consecrated to the ministry of the gospel). The concept of the priest is the individual who mediates, who explains, who connects people to the things of the divine … the people that do God-stuff and bring the things that God wants to make sure gets to the people. The priests, in and of themselves do not cause or affect the outcome, but they set the table. Not one of us can bring about the forgiveness of sin. But, every one of us can set the table for someone who does not yet know Jesus, so that the King can come and take care of that person’s relationship and eternal destiny.   

If you are a Believer today, Scripture already calls you a priest. So, when the Apostle Peter says, “the church, Believers, Followers of Christ, sisters and brothers in the family of God”, God looks at us and says “My holy people, my holy nation; I have chosen you. You are my priests because I want you (the church – the body of Christ) to be the vehicle for the good news of the Gospel to reach the rest of the world. 
     
Now let’s be really clear about what makes us that chosen people. Is it because we are awesome, smart, a certain race, a certain nationality, a certain age, in a certain social/economic class? None of these things makes us God’s people. You know what makes us the people of God? The restored relationship that comes about through Jesus. That restored relationship that those who were once far away from God by their sin, repent and are brought near through the Cross. Jesus stands between sinful people and a holy God (applied to the Supreme Being, holy signifies perfectly pure, immaculate and complete in moral character). That is what makes us a Follower and the people of God. Christians have that changing and transforming power of God the Holy Spirit. It is what Jesus has done, that makes us that people. Then Jesus take His people and tell tells them that He wants them to take the “Good News” of the Gospel to the world, saying in Matthew 28:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. 

God is not hiding from you and the Gospel is not complicated. We know instinctively and naturally that something is not right in our hearts, our soul and our spirit. The Bible calls it what it is … it is sin that separates us from God. God is not okay with that. The people of God and royal priesthood are called and privileged to say to those who do not know the Lord as Savior, “This is how you can join and be a part of God’s people.” The first is to acknowledge that you are a sinner and on my own have no way to get to perfection or deserve heaven. Accept that God knows that and that is why Jesus Christ came, stood in the gap and paid the price for your redemption. Would you be willing to say the Jesus died for me? Then God promises to give you forgiveness of your sins (past, present and future) so that what has been separating you from God is gone and there is no reason for you not to embrace a relationship with your Maker. The second thing is that God adopts you are a son or daughter into the family of God so that you are never alone. The third thing is that God promises to come into your life and fill you with the presence through the Holy Spirit to transform you in His godly process, and you will have the power and capacity to do it. The fourth promise is that when your earthly sojourn is completed, you will in fact go on to spend eternity with God in heaven. That is the whole big picture.

Pray in your heart, mind and soul: God, I thank you that you love me. I admit that I may not understand everything. God, I admit that I have in fact sinned and fallen short and I repent of that sin. I thank you that you love me enough that Jesus came to live, die for my sins and lives again, so that I can be forgiven, so that I can belong, so I can have a family of Believers, and so that I can be part of who you are and I can live the live that you created for me to live. Come into my life now God; I want to hand it over to you. I want to be a part of your people and I want to have life eternal. I believe you aor it right now. Amen.      
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In Christ, Brian

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