Prophet, Priest and King
Dear brothers and sisters,
The church is precious.
To be part of the body of Christ, the church, is to be gifted a position of great privilege because we have been bought with a great price. It is to be called to a life of joyful, sacrificial, self-abasing service. “In Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” Ephesians 2:13. This means that “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” Galatians 2:20, and therefore “we love because he first loved us” 1 John 4:19. After all Jesus came not “to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” Matthew 20:28.
What’s my point? That coming to church on a Sunday is not enough.
There is a persisting phenomenon common in many local churches where 20% of members normally fulfil 80% of voluntary ministries and the remaining 80% fulfil 20%. What we need is to be captured by a better vision of Christ Jesus and a deeper love of the church. It was John Calvin in Chapter 15 of the Institutes of Christian Religion who said:
“Therefore, that faith may find in Christ a solid ground of salvation, and so rest in him, we must set out with this principle, that the office which he received from the Father consists of three parts. For he was appointed both Prophet, Priest and King.” – John Calvin.
Allow me to say a word about Jesus, ministers and church members.
Jesus
Our Lord Jesus is the great Prophet. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor” Luke 4:18. He is the great messenger and mouthpiece of God the Father, speaking perfect truth and wisdom and is himself “The Word” – John 1. He held the office of Prophet perfectly, fully and finally, and from him we learn the importance of proclaiming the full counsel of the Word of God. “Word Ministry” isn’t, then, a hobby horse of protestant evangelicalism; you find Word Ministry front and centre in churches being obedient to the biblical imperative to “preach the Word”. Jesus is also our great high Priest, interceding before the Father. He knows our weaknesses; he carries our burdens; he shares in our sorrows; he brings us to the throne; he weeps with us and lifts us up before our Father in heaven. And he is also our King. He has been given a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. His Word, then, is sufficient; his priestly ministry is grace-on-tap and his kingly rule is the great assurance we need in a world dominated by smaller kings and tyrants. Jesus is therefore our great Saviour and Son of God – he is our Prophet, Priest and King.
As his church we therefore imitate him. Imperfectly, yes, of course. But much can be gleaned by thinking carefully and prayerfully about how each of us might mimic Christ in his three-fold offices; this is how to love one another, friends.
Ministers
Ministers are those called to the ministry of Word and Sacrament. But there are whole spheres of ministry that often go unspoken, unmentioned or unseen. We often think of the prayerful preparation of sermons, and ministers visit the sick and pray with and for the suffering, of course. But ministers also chair elders and deacons meetings; they plan the annual calendars of the church life, deal with conflict resolution, prayerfully give a vision to the church they serve, oversee budgets, line-manage personnel, write reports, serve as trustees on charitable boards, project-manage, exercise spiritual authority, and the list continues. All this to say ministers could categorise their calling in the same three-fold pattern. Ministers speak “prophetically” from the Word and so are prophets with a small “p”. Ministers are priests who prayerfully intercede before the throne of God in the name of the Son in the power of the Spirit; they walk with the suffering and minister to all those in need. And ministers exercise a kingly ministry – wielding authority in the local church, planning and organising and strategizing as needed. Because ministers are flawed (saved) sinners like everyone in the church they fulfil this role imperfectly and will have strengths and weaknesses in each area, according to their own personalities and gifts. Part of ministry, therefore, is surely to build a leadership and team ministry ethos in the local church that complements the strengths and weaknesses of each other.
Church Members
I had originally started this paragraph by saying “of equal importance are church members”, but actually I don’t think that’s quite right. It risks giving the false impression that there are 2 levels of church membership – members and ministers – which is unbiblical and wrong. Instead I want to say that all members of the body of Christ mimic his three-fold ministry in some way, by virtue of being remade in his image and likeness. We are not the same as him, but we do belong to him, and if the ministry of Christ can be accurately summed up in Prophet, Priest and King, could we not also see our loving service towards each other through this same lens? Not everyone in the church is gifted to preach and teach, but every one of us is to be careful how we speak, and actually many godly Christians exercise wonderful ministries of encouragement and wisdom throughout the life of the local church, and by so doing follow after Christ in his prophetic office. Others of us are great prayer warriors who labour quietly, behind locked door, interceding for the saints and for the world. Still others of us have hearts burdened for the least, the last and the lost and so minister priestly grace via the ministries of the church. And then there are those who have a head for numbers, or who are well organised and take delight in serving the church with their kingly gifts.
I want to encourage and exhort you to ask yourself: am I serving the church with the gifts God has given me in particular? Do I see myself having gifts and skills that are more priestly, kingly or prophet-like? I may not be good with spreadsheets, but I love children: have you considered serving at Sunday School, Creche or mainly music? I may feel frail and am unable to leave the house as often as I’d like: do you receive the weekly prayer news? There is a wealth of information and people to pray for. I may not feel confident speaking up or speaking out: have you thought about serving in hospitality or Relaunch?
Ultimately, we give our time and resources to what we treasure most. I exhort you to treasure Christ above all things, and to therefore treasure his church to which you belong.
“Jesus, my Shepherd, Brother, Friend, My Prophet, Priest and King,
My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, Accept the praise I bring.” – John Newton.