[AI translation] It was once said by someone who was already quite separated from the Church that it was through the person and figure of the Apostle Peter that he came into contact with the Church again, into communion with Christ! And that was because he was very impressed that this great apostle was otherwise a very ordinary, ordinary man, like himself, or anyone else. He had been a fisherman for years, so he was quite involved in the world. He knew well what it meant to struggle for existence, to sweat for daily bread, to work, to trade, in short, to live the most ordinary, prosaic life. And when such a man proclaims the eternal truths of the gospel, the free forgiveness of sins, the eternal life offered for the atoning sacrifice of Christ, it has the taste and smell of reality that you have to believe him!This particular brother said that he believes that this is one of the reasons why Jesus' "movement" has spread so quickly and has taken hold of so many people. And indeed, isn't it strange that God didn't put a high priest in Jerusalem with great authority to lead the work of Christ? He did not give the great Pentecostal sermon with a learned Pharisee, he did not appoint theologically trained rabbis to lead the churches that were being formed, but simple believers, believers in whom the Spirit of Christ was visibly and tangibly at work. Let me still quote the aforementioned brother, concluding his words. For me, faith only becomes meaningful when it is expressed and works through people who live in it in everyday life. Because only they can tell me what faith means for my everyday life too. And he also expressed the wish that it would be good to involve as many non-clergy - wrongly called lay elements - as possible in all the Church's activities.
Well, this brother saw the point quite well. Indeed, in the early churches of the New Testament, each congregation was like a bustling beehive, where each soul had its own ministry, its own activity to build up the whole body, or like a construction site in progress, where workers of all kinds of work nevertheless worked together according to a common plan and with a common purpose. The preaching of the word was not the business of one man, but of the church; the Christian discipline was not the business of another man, but of the church; the social work of the church was not the business of one body, but they took care of one another, bore one another's burdens, exhorted one another, confessed their sins to one another, prayed for one another, for they had 'all things in common' (Acts 2:44), as we read in the report. The church as a whole, and each of its members individually, lived out its vocation, which can be summarised in this way, to be the herald of Christ's kingdom in the world. That is why the apostle Peter says in the Word that is read, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people to be saved, to proclaim the mighty works of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9).
Who is this "you"? Not those who have been specially qualified for this, not those who are called to the priestly ministry by vocation, by profession, but those to whom Peter writes in the letter, "Who have been chosen according to the predestination of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." (1Pt 1,2) Who therefore are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, his lamb without blemish and spotless.
The church of believers in its entirety and in its members: they are the priests, the holy priesthood, the royal nation! So that the work of Christ was carried on in the world by His body, the church. It was only later that the life of the congregation developed, or re-developed, in such a way that missionary responsibility and ministry became increasingly confined to those who held official office, the presbyters and pastors. Later still, all church activities were concentrated and united in the activities of one person: religious education, preparation for confirmation, visiting families, pastoral care, caring for the poor, representing the church in secular forums, leading church associations and carrying out the administrative affairs of the church. This in turn has led to such an impoverishment of the whole church life that today the main question for Christian churches is: is there still a Christian church? There are people of faith, there are fervent souls, there are worshipping communities - but is there a church, a church in the New Testament sense? Is it a living body of Christ, where all the members work for one another, for the edification of the whole body? Is it a church that is the body of Christ because in it the person, life and work of Jesus Christ is made visible, made flesh, made tangible to the world?
Is there such a thing? I think it is best to say, honestly and frankly, that there is not! The church in the most varied ministries has become almost entirely a congregation of silence. Today, 99 percent of the activity of our congregations is silence. And it is the best case if you at least listen, if you come to listen, if you listen to the preaching in church, in Bible studies, in evangelism! But where will all the Word heard go? Somehow, it will evaporate, just as the closed basin of the Dead Sea in Palestine evaporates the abundance of fresh water that flows into it from the Jordan River every day, without refreshing, without reviving the great dead body of water.
The greatest problem and most pressing concern of the church today is to turn the listening congregation back into a serving congregation. That the one-priest or two-priest congregation may again become a congregation of priests in the New Testament sense! Only God can renew His church with His Holy Spirit, He can make His Word to form the community of hearers into a community of faith, a community of servants and a community of confessors. And for this renewing work of His Holy Spirit, we can only pray, and therefore we must pray with great perseverance and longing! But in addition to constant, persistent prayer, there is another thing: to believe and to realize in ourselves what Peter says here in this Word: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people to be saved, that you may proclaim the mighty works of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." (1Pt 2,9) So believe and know that every believing member of this church is a priestly office-bearer, every one of you who knows that he is redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, the Lamb without blemish and spotless; not for his own pleasure, but for the priestly life, for service, consecrated to the one God. He has been cleansed from all sin by the blood of Christ, that he may now use it as a purified instrument for the service of his glory, for the edifying of his body, for the shining forth of his light. It is not the end of our human life to be converted and born again, but the very starting point of a life dedicated to God. It is where service to the Lord begins. That is why salvation happened. So this congregation has as many priests as there are believing souls, people who confess Christ as Saviour and Lord. Our Word tells us very clearly what it means to be a priest: to proclaim the mighty works of the One who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Or what in other words means the same thing: "Offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1Pt 2,5) What are these spiritual sacrifices? The Old Testament priest was allowed to offer three kinds of sacrifices: sin offerings, burnt offerings, and consecration offerings. These are also the symbols of the New Testament sacrifices.
Let us first look at the sin offering. "Then he brought forth a bullock for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons put his hand on the head of the bullock of the sin offering." (Lev 8:14) This is also a symbolic act. By this, Aaron and his sons have confessed that we are unclean, that we have sinned and cannot stand before God. But knowing our sin, we come to this altar and lay our hands on the head of the sacrificial animal. We should die as this animal dies, but having laid our sin upon this sacrifice, it bears our punishment, it dies in our place. And because the sacrifice thus took away their sin, dying for us, we are free to go to God. Of course, this is all just a symbol. The reality that you are portraying is that our Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, has been sacrificed for us. Our most precious opportunity and duty as priests is to go daily to the Lamb of God, to lay our sins on Him, confessing: we have sinned, we should die, but You have already died for us and taken away our punishment and our shame. Behold, now through your death we have free access to the Father. Yes, Brothers and Sisters, it is only here again and again, at the sacrifice of the cross of Calvary, that we can enter into a relationship with God. God and man can only ever meet again here, but here they can always meet again! It is not only at the altar of the cross that conversion begins, but also afterwards, every service to God, the whole life consecrated to God, begins anew, by prostrating myself under the cross, by laying down my sins, by receiving and being strengthened by grace. This is our sacrifice for sin, our very first priestly act!
Now let us look at the burnt offering! "Then Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram." (Leviticus 8:18) This sacrifice was a testimony of total devotion, total surrender to God. In the burnt offering, the whole sacrificial animal was to be placed on the altar and burnt there. This was all for God! Aaron and his sons, when they laid their hands on this sacrificial animal, were testifying that just as this sacrifice would die and lose all its life, so that it might be burnt for God in the holy fire, so we also give ourselves wholly to God, to His glory. In the New Testament, this burnt offering is: "Offer your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God" (Rom 12:1). So if you have given your sins, lay your whole self at the feet of God! Sadly, very soon we are content to surrender our debt to the Lord and accept forgiveness from Him, but continue to keep our lives to ourselves. But only those who surrender not only their sins but also their lives to the Lord can be true priests of the Lord! Are you not indebted to your Lord for this burnt offering? Is not here also the chief fault of your priestly office? The salvation which you have accepted is completed precisely because God, having cleansed you by the blood of Christ, now wants to possess you, so that henceforth your life may be His gift to Him.
And finally, the consecration sacrifice, which was the sign of the commitment to service. With the blood of the sacrificial animal, Moses touched the right ear, the right thumb and the thumb of the right foot of Aaron and his sons. In this sacrifice, Aaron and his sons stood before God and declared their willingness to do whatever service the Lord sent them to do. It was a sign that through the blood of the sacrificial lamb the ear should be able to understand the word of God, to receive and receive His commands and commands from case to case. By the blood the hand is blessed, so that it may be occupied in doing the things of God, and the foot may be strengthened to walk in the way God has shown it. Here it is especially important that this spiritual ear for hearing, this sanctified hand for service, and this sure foot for walking could only be obtained by the priest through the sprinkling of blood, that is, through the direct communication of divine power. So the power that enabled a priest to live a consecrated priestly life and serve was not in the priest himself, but in God! The New Testament priestly life and ministry-qualifying power is not in us either, but in God. He communicates this power there, at the altar of sacrifice of His Holy Son, on Calvary, through faith in Him - to you too! This is our consecration sacrifice, when, through faith in His blessed Son, He always consecrates and equips us anew for His service. These are the spiritual sacrifices that are pleasing to God through Jesus Christ!
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for salvation, that you may proclaim the mighty works of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9). By accepting what God wants to do in you and through you. The exercise of our priestly office is ultimately not the result of our own effort, not of our own performance, but of our conscious and total acceptance of God's saving work in us. Would you like to? Not enough! Do you want it? It is not enough!
Come, let us pray together with the words of the song:
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us like the dew of dawn,
And give us on our heads the crown of thy glory,
That our lives, burnt for sacrifice, may be sanctified,
On your altar burn, our King, our Master!
(Canto 229, verse 3)
Amen
Date: 30 March 1952.
Lesson
3Móz 8