Living Beyond Myself
Part 2
“What, Me a Priest?”
5Present
yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with
life, in which you’ll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up
to God. . . .
9But you
are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work,
chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for
him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you.
In the N.T. every
Christ-follower has been chosen to be part of a holy people. That word “holy”
means to be set aside for a special purpose or use. That special purpose is to be priests of the
living God.
What
does a priest do?
In the Bible priests are
those who serve God and serve
others.
How
do I serve God as a priest?
So here’s what I want you to do, God
helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating,
going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.
Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.” Rom. 12:1 (
Are
you willing to offer your ordinary life to God
so that he can use it in extra-ordinary ways?
How
do I serve others as a priest?
1. Be God’s instrument,
to do his work.
For we are God’s workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us
to do. Eph.
2. Speak out for him; tell others of the night-and-day difference he made
for you.
Through thick and thin, keep your
hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak
up and tell anyone who asks why you’re living the way you are, and always with
the utmost courtesy.
A word to those who feel
they are just “ordinary” Christians.
The Spirit
has given each of us a special way of serving others.
Living
Beyond Myself doesn’t require us to be something we are not. But it does require us to think and act as
one of God’s priests, willing to serve him and serve others.