Some of the thoughts in this series are taken from a series by Bruce Wilkinson, Leading a Company For Christ
A Priest In The Marketplace
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9
From the very existence of God, His purpose has been to have a personal relationship and fellowship with those He created. His plan from the time of angels in Heaven to the present day, has been to have His people chose to love Him and to share His love with others. Unfortunately, Lucifer, God's second in command in heaven, wanted to do things his way. He had a better idea and wanted to be in control so he led a revolt against God. But God prevailed and He banished Lucifer and his angels from heaven forever. God's plan had been destroyed. Thus began the creation of the earth, a place for God to start over with free will for those He created to choose or not choose to love Him.
Each believer would be a priest in taking His message to the world and giving each person the opportunity to choose to love Him. Adam was created along with Eve and they were given the opportunity to take the message of God to the future generations. But with their free will, they also had the opportunity to choose satan and his way. The tree of life was the object God used to provide Adam an opportunity to use his free will. Adam failed and with his failure, God's plan of everyone being a priest also failed.
God started over again with Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam. This time God required that a blood sacrifice be made for the sins of man. He allowed an animal sacrifice to be made instead of us having to pay our own penalty. But once again, man failed. Cain had his own idea and wanted to be in control so he brought grain instead of an animal. He refused to be the priest and bring people to God through God's way.
Through Seth and Enoch, the people began to call on God's name once again, and this Godly seed began to produce a whole new generation. But one of the strangest things in the Old Testament happened; the sons of God married the daughters of man and God's plan for man to take His message to all peoples was once again destroyed.
The sins of man were so wicked that God decided to destroy all mankind except for one man. Noah. God told Noah to be fruitful and multiply the earth with his seed. Noah would be the one to rebuild the earth with God's people. But Noah got drunk, committed immorality, and built the tower of Babel. There again, someone decided they had a better idea and would do what they wanted to do.
At this point, if I were God I would have given up. But God found a faithful moon worshiper named Abram, and through him all mankind would be blessed. God promised Abraham a son and through him a Messiah would come. But Abraham too had a better idea. He sleeps with his servant and once again God's plan failed.
If God could not depend on one man to carry His message then He would appoint the whole nation, all twelve tribes to be priest. But the people made another god, and worshiped a golden calf. God's best plan was destroyed another time.
God's grace and mercy abounded once again. Since all the people could not be the priest, God decided to appoint this responsibility to just one tribe. The Levites were to take God to the world. But the nation of Israel turned inward and nobody went out to the world. The world never heard about God.
Finally, God said He would make one last attempt to bring the world into a relationship with Him. God sent His Son and through him all the world would be redeemed and worship Him. We are the last attempt to take God to the world. Understanding this will change all we do. Upon accepting Christ, we become a nation of priest. We are the Priesthood of Believers.
But Satan is still destroying God's plan in the same way. We have better ideas and we want to do it our way. We separate the State from the Church, we exclude God from the marketplace, and now we hire people to be the Priest. Instead of God first and business second, we have placed our business first and God somewhere down the line. We have created a people of laity and a people of clergy.
God never intended it to be this way. He walked with man in the original garden as man worked and gave praise, honor, and worship of God. The original marketplace was a place of glory. I don't know about you, but I have guilt running all over me. God has never changed, we are the Priesthood to take the message of Christ to the world.
