✎Church

Reveals God as Great High Priest 

All the Israelites were Jews, but not all Jews were priests. Under God’s direction, Moses chose Joshua to continue political leadership while Aaron and the Levitical tribe are given the priesthood. From the earliest days in the wilderness God made it clear that government and the priesthood were two different and distinct institutions, both with clear Kingdom purpose and function. This concept of an ecclesiastical structure with an independent function, apart from the overall function of the body of believers, has been hard for Protestants to grasp since Luther nailed his treatise to the Wittenberg door in 1517. But understanding the institution of the church is foundational to understanding the unique, God-given functions of all the domains in society. Today we use the words priesthood, believer, body of Christ, and church rather interchangeably. All Christians are priests, believers, the church, and part of the body of Christ. For clarity in this study, we need to differentiate between the people, the building, and the individual believers who work full-time in a particular function such as pastors, missionaries, and evangelists. All of Israel was taught to be holy, but the Levitical tribe (the priests) were to model holiness to the rest of the nation. The book of Leviticus focuses, in the main, on their unique role as an ecclesiastical institution. - See more 

A NOTE TO THE MINISTRY PROFESSIONAL: 

It is the responsibility of the “priesthood” to teach and clarify for the body of Christ its job. It is not our job to start businesses and banks; it is our job to teach and disciple business people and bankers in the full counsel of God as it relates to their calling. It is not our job to run the government and write the constitutions; it is our job to teach those who are called of God into those vocations how to carry out their responsibilities in accordance with the Word of God. It is not our job to be the father to the family, but to teach the father God’s way of fathering. We are not to bring all the domains under the church structure; we are to send the body of Christ away on Sunday prepared to be Christ’s ambassadors of wisdom in their individual and specific domain callings. If we are to launch a generation prepared again to see qualitative differences in not only their lives, but in their communities, we must reintroduce an adequate theology of the laity, as well as of the “priesthood.” The institution of the church has a pivotal role in discipling the nations if we understand what our role is and is not. - See more

 

 

GENESISEXODUSLEVITICUS, NUMBERS, DEUTERONOMY, JOSHUA, JUDGES, RUTH, 1 SAMUEL, 2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS, 2 KINGS, 1 CHRONICLES, 2 CHRONICLES, EXRA, NEHEMIAH, ESTHER, JOB, PSALMS, PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES, THE SONG OF SOLOMON, ISAIAH, JEREMIAH, LAMENTATIONS, EZEKIEL, DANIEL, HOSEA, JOEL, AMOS, OBADIAH, JONAH, MICAH, NAHUM, HABAKKUK, ZEPHANIAH, HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, MALACHI

MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, JOHN, ACTS, ROMANS, 1 CORINTHIANS, 2 CORINTHIANS, GALATIANS, EPHESIANS, PHILIPPIANS, COLOSSIANS, 1 THESSALONIANS, 2 THESSALONIANS, 1 TIMOTHY, 2 TIMOTHY, TITUS, PHILEMON, HEBREWS, JAMES, 1 PETER, 2 PETER, 1 JOHN, 2 JOHN, 3 JOHN, JUDE, REVELATION

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