Priests in the City I

Am I good? Yeah. Okay guys, so we're going to talk about, for Christ-like ministry to

happen in the city, we have to pattern ourselves as Christ patterned Himself when He walked

the earth. And so, over the next three, four weeks, what I want to look at is the pattern

of Christ's earthly ministry. And He did it as a priest, He did it as a prophet, He did

it as a king. When He walked the earth, one of the things He did in His earthly ministry

here was at different times He was priest, He was prophet, He was king. And I mean that

is a very natural thing for the Messiah to be because it had been prophesied about Him

in the Old Testament that He would be priest, prophet and king. And throughout the Old

Testament we see priests, we see prophets, we see kings. But in Christ we see all three

coming together, priest, prophet, king. And so then His body has to behave that way here

on earth if we are to pattern after His earthly ministry. Because we now get to be all three

and we take on these roles so that the city benefits. And so over the next three or four

weeks we want to explore priest, prophet, king. And today we will just start with priests

in the city and we will see how far we will go. So one of the things with, and so you

have to think of it in two ways. One, individually, sorry, one corporately that we have to think

like this together. And if we think like this together then we can be the same thing individually.

In Christianity it is never a few individuals joining together to create something. It is

the something is what needs to catch it first so that the individuals become it. It is the

whole that has to get it so that the parts become. It's not the parts becoming so that

the whole gets it. It's the whole getting it so that the parts become. In the kingdom

it's always like that. It can't be one or two people getting it so that the whole body

changes. No. It's the whole that gets it. It's the body that gets it so that the parts

become a certain way. So that's how we need to approach this. And so here are three roles

that a priest must play because we are only dealing with priests in the city today. A

priest is a mediator. A priest is a mediator or an interceder. I'm not even calling it

an intercessor. A mediator or an interceder. So with spoken words and with radical action,

with spoken words and with radical action, we do two things. We invite people and we

enable people with words and action, with words and radical action. Action ain't enough.

It has to be radical action. We'll touch on that today. Radical action. We begin to invite

people and then enable people to enable what? Enable that they open themselves and are touched

by the love of Christ. Open to the love of Christ. That they open to the love of Christ.

So in a sense, one of the jobs of a priest is to telescope God. Telescope God. God is

a distant star. Priests are able to telescope God so that he's much closer. So as a church

when we begin to think like this, that in this city of Vancouver or in New York or in

Dayton or wherever you are, that I am a mediator for God. I'm a telescope. I telescope God.

I love those words. I don't know where I heard them first or whether I came up with it, but

telescoping God is such a cool thing. Telescoping God where a distant God suddenly becomes so

evident because you bring him closer. And you do it through words and you do it through

radical action. And we'll examine the radical action a little later. You see this in Hebrews

Hebrews 8:6

8 verse 6 where it talks about Christ as a mediator. So we're just borrowing from Christ

as a priest as we talk about this. The second thing a priest is, is a priest is a proclamer.

A priest is a proclamer. You find that in Malachi 2 verse 6 and 7 where God is talking

Malachi 2:6

to Israel and he says, man, when I call Levi out, I expected people to go to the priest

because on their lips would be found the truth. On their lips would be found knowledge. That

they would begin to speak and people would know the ways of God. So priests are supposed

to be proclamers. So it's impossible for us to function in Christ's earthly ministry

if as a people we don't begin to preach the good news by being faithful to the biblical

text while at the same time being relevant to the context. Relevant to the context. That's

important and I'll just pause on that for a second. It's not enough to quote the Bible

when you preach the gospel. It has to be relevant to the context in which people live. It has

to be relevant to the context in which people live. So it has to be faithful to the biblical

text but relevant to the context in which people live. So in that sense, the Bible is

the Bible. So in that sense, priests teach God. Priests teach God. As in they teach God

to people. So the first one was priests telescope God. The second one is priests teach God.

It's okay to be spontaneous but I would suggest that you be spontaneous after preparing at

home. So when I'm going into a situation, I have an idea of the context I'm going into

and I do go over points in my head that this is important. This needs to be said. That

needs to be said. And after having kind of thought that in my head, I won't make notes.

I won't follow the script. But now that I've prepared in my head when I'm in a context,

I can now go be spontaneous. Spontaneity that is not rooted in preparedness is the same

as just a mishmash. It'll be like me cooking. But you need to know what the content is

so that like it says in Matthew 13, you can go into your storehouse and pick the new and

pick the old and present it. So priests teach God. So if you're preaching the good news

to someone that you're going to meet today, you have to have an idea of the context and

you have to have an idea of the scriptural or biblical text. And when those two collide,

you begin to teach God. The third thing the priests are, and we'll just take three today,

is priests must be shepherds. Priests must be shepherds. We're talking about us as a

church, and if we think like this as a church, we can also think like this as individuals.

Priests must be shepherds. And what about shepherds are we talking about? Why shepherds?

Because shepherds care. In Revelation 7, 16 and 17, it's such a beautiful verse, and you

realize that it's the consummated end of Jesus being a shepherd. But when you see Revelation

Revelation 7:16

7, verse 16, it says, reading it from verse 15, Therefore they are before the throne of

God and serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will shelter them

with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. The sun shall not

strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their

shepherd and he will guide them to springs of living water and God will wipe away every

tear from their eyes. Beautiful verse. Revelation 7, 15 to 17, which will see every tear wiped

away should begin now through a people who understand their priestly role if they are

supposed to follow in the pattern of Jesus' earthly ministry. This idea of being a shepherd,

of taking care, of smelling like sheep is important. Are we not talking about being

shepherds to the church? We are talking about being priests in the city. We are not talking

about teaching people in the church. We are talking about teaching God to people in the

city. We are not talking about telescoping God to people in the church. We are talking

about telescoping God to people who see him as distant. This is not within these walls.

This is outside. And we follow David's pattern of a tent. Not a church like this. It is the

presence of God in a tent. That tent sometimes happens to be five people, sometimes happens

to be fifty people, sometimes happens to be one person. So that anybody can access it.

There is no protocol. They can access it anywhere because you are there. Because you are there,

someone can access God. Mind blowing. Because you are there, someone has now the freedom,

the access to God because you are there. That is nuts. That is nuts in terms of who you

are and that is also nuts in terms of who God is because he is willing to be confined

through a flawed vessel like you and I. Treasures in jars of clay. So I will be the best I can

and you will be the best you can. I am not being the best you are. You are still a jar

of clay with cracks. I mean in God deciding that I will become man, that I will send my

son in weak flesh. I mean what he was doing was much more than saving us from our sins.

He was preparing a residence for himself. A full residence for himself. A people of God.

The only thing he hasn't done is he hasn't revealed himself in his brilliance because

we would not be able to handle it in the way that he did. He hasn't revealed himself in

his brilliance because we would not be able to handle it in these bodies. But does he

live in this flawed residence? Absolutely. He is withholding himself only so that we

don't get consumed. But he is not withholding himself through us. We can talk about that

another time. So priests must be shepherds because that's how you are incarnate and that's

how you are relational. As in you are actually present physically and you actually relate.

And that is when God can enter lives with power and with mercy. So that's the first

God enters lives with power and with mercy when a church begins to pattern themselves

after Christ in being shepherds to the city that they are in. Not to the church. Church

you have one shepherd and really good one at that. So that's fine. Let's move on to

the rest of the city. So a missional, words sound big but they are not, a missional responsibility

for my neighborhood requires that I assume the role of prophet, priest, king. And we

will only talk about priest today. Priest, prophet, king. A missional responsibility

requires that I assume the role of prophet, priest, king. And we will only talk about

priest today. Priest, prophet, king. A missional responsibility requires that I assume the

responsibility. As in if you want to be on mission in your city like Christ was on mission

in the cities that he walked through then I must assume the role that he patterned and

the role was that of a priest sometimes, of a prophet sometimes, of a king sometimes.

And therefore I must too, if I want to take up, not I, we must too, if we want to take

up the responsibility in this city be priest, prophet, king. Hopefully it will really add

to what we already know. So, yeah. Kind of because this is the order that you find developing

in the Old Testament. First it was priest, then it was prophet, then it was king. There

seems to be that order. Though it sounds better when you say prophet, priest, king. But I

think the pattern is priest, prophet, king. Yeah. So we look at what it means to intercede,

what it means to invite, what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves. Especially

in a culture that is more and more isolated. I'm not talking about COVID. Man, I've been

getting texts from different parts of the world with regard to the convoy of trucks

heading to Ottawa. Canada is like so famous now. So in a world that is isolated, in a

world that is protectionist, as in protect your own kind first, in a world that is self-focused,

being a priest, prophet, king goes against the grain. It will really upset us. As we

go further, if I get to where I want to get to today, it will upset us. So you can pray

that oh God, please upset us. Oh God, can you upset us next week? So, and the problem

is this is how the world is. Isolated, protectionist. Trump's basic idea was America first. And

it's the same thing that we have. Acts 29 first, Christianity first, our country first,

the Canucks first, Burger King first. So it becomes very protectionist. It's like okay,

this is what is ours kind of a thing. And that, everything that Christ is a priest,

prophet, king goes against today. As a king, he doesn't behave at all like a king. We'll

get there a few weeks from now. Isolated, protectionist, self-focused. It's better than

usual, Kusum. Yeah. Yes. So a church which refuses to intercede, as in actually step

in, invite or love the city, but instead clings to fear, fellowship, and self-sacrifice.

Convenience and comfort will spiritually die. One of the things Acts 29 has to be aware

of as we go forward, because we are a pretty decent strong church, is spiritual death.

Spiritual death is subtle. You don't know you're dying because it's spiritual. You

don't feel the pain. I mean, we realized that two weeks ago or three weeks ago when we were

talking about why is it that David can say, as the deer pants for the water, so my heart

thirsts after you, that my flesh longs for you. And as I was teaching that, I was weeping

and others were weeping in different places that were watching it, because suddenly there's

this realization that even though we had the kind of worship we had today, my body

longs for you. My heart thirsts for you is not my 24-7 condition. And you realize that

spiritual death can happen. And when it happens, because it's not painful, you don't realize

it till a lot slips away. And so one of the things Acts 29 has to be careful of is dying

spiritually. And one of the ways a church dies spiritually is when it chooses not to

intercede, not to invite, not to love, not the ones that come for a service. I'm not

talking about Christians. I'm talking about the city. And instead clings to fear that

you've got to be careful. Fellowship, it's wonderful. Convenience, yeah, once every week.

Comfort, if it doesn't rain. That's when a church begins to start dying. If it doesn't

rain, it means for eight months we don't have to do anything. One of the verses that

really got me was 1 Peter 2.10. Where this fellowship that we have is so satisfying,

relationship with each other, that we don't need anything beyond this. It can be very

satisfying. Yeah. One of the verses that really got me was

1 Peter 2.10. We forget, we forget, we forget. Prashant was sharing yesterday in a setting

how he and his family were Hindus and how they came to become believers. And when I

hear that, that's when you realize that Ashat once, for him it is even fresher for Mohini

Pawan and Prashant because they're coming out of a background that had nothing to do

with Christianity. Some of us were born in Christian families, we don't realize this.

But 1 Peter 2.10 says, once you were not a people. Once you were not a people. And then

you became the people of God. Let me read it. 1 Peter 2.10. Once you were not a people

but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy but now you have received

mercy. Something had to transpire. Someone had to speak. Someone had to invite. Someone

had to intercede. Someone had to love. Something has to happen. And we forget because I've

been a Christian for 30 something years. I've been a Christian longer than half the young

adults have been alive. And you forget that once I was not a people. But now I'm a people

of God. Once I had not received mercy but now I have received mercy. You would not let

your children near me if you knew my past.

Hosea names his children, strange names. He names his daughter Lo-Ami and he names his

son Lo-Ru-Hama. One means not my people. The other means not shown mercy. And then God

says that I will change their names from Lo-Ami and Lo-Ru-Hama. I will show them mercy and

I will make them my people. Somehow reading Hosea 2.23 and 1 Peter 2.10 is making me think

that if we are not careful we can spiritually die. And we'll see how to go about it. Can't

be just scriptures. Okay. Yeah. We'll not get through this but that's fine.

So here are some of the things you can receive from God and you can extend to people. Do

this well. Extend Siddhek or righteousness or right relationship. These are some of the

things that God offers you every day and you can offer others every day. He offers us righteousness

as in, hey Jacob, every day I want to bring you into right relationship with me and the

blood of my son is in your blood. And then God says, hey Jacob, I want to bring you into

right relationship with me and the blood of my son is sufficient to do that. The grace

that I have in the death of my son and his blood can bring you into right relationship

with me. So one of the things we extend to the city as priests and this was something

that the priests in the Old Testament used to do. They used to extend to people the way

to come into right relationship. The way to come into right relationship. Come into right

relationship. Can't elaborate on it because in different situations it will be different.

For someone who's been sexually abused to wash their feet and say Jesus calls you clean

can bring them into a right relationship. For someone who is caught in some deep sin

to say that Christ died for this very sin in your own words over a period of weeks

or maybe in an hour can bring them into right relationship. For someone who is steeped in

Christianity but hasn't been born again to bring them to a place where you show them

that you're no longer a slave to these requirements and laws but you are a child of God can bring

them into right relationship. I don't know what it will take. Each of us can figure that

out but one of the things we continuously extend as priests to the city is we can bring

you, we can show you, we can tell you how to come into right relationship. The second

one is a, I mean I'm just writing the words as they are pronounced not as they are really

written in Hebrew is mispat. Mispat is making things right. Making things right through

some action. God does this always. He brings us into right relationship and you will see

it especially in the message version or the NIRV you will see God say this again and again

I am here to make all things right. I will make things right. So he doesn't just bring

you into right relationship. Now he does something to make things right. This lies

at the essence of some of the things that Derek and Mark and Pawan and others are doing

in Wally to make things right. It is not enough that I bring you into right relationship with

God. Now I do things to make things right for you. To put things together for you so

that in this right relationship obstacles are removed so you can begin to walk in it.

Jesus doesn't make, Jesus doesn't bring me into right relationship and say alright now

start walking. He makes things right with actions. He helps me resolve things with Nick.

He helps me pay back Jeevan. He helps me forgive Miguel. He helps me receive forgiveness from

Jill. He does things, makes things right. This is something we extend to the city. Any questions

on that one if it is not clear? Making things right is difficult guys. It requires action.

In right relationship is easy. Yeah. Making things right just complicates it. I wish it

was just left at the right relationship. There are several things with God and making things

right is far more difficult. Making things right is what some Christian churches and

congregations are trying to do with the First Nations. Things need to be made right. It

is not enough to have a song and a dance, a reconciliation song and dance. It doesn't

make things right. Making things right is very, very difficult and it does not happen

through one action. It is sustained action. Long obedience in the same direction.

Any questions? Making things right through some action. And some of the action is restraining

evil. Some of the action is protecting someone from evil. Some of the action is protecting

the evil. Exposing the evil that is happening to them. This is why making things right

is difficult. It is one thing to say to a guy who is being abused, get into right relationship

with God. But now what do I do in terms of restraining the evil that is happening to

him? Protecting the evil, protecting him from evil and exposing the evil that is happening

to him. This is where it gets really complicated. But my God, when a church begins to rise like

this, Isaiah 58, 10-12 immediately hits the church. Healing will break upon you. The sun

will dawn upon you. You will be like a garden that is watered well. Your thirst will be

slaked. You will call and I will be there before you can even call. These things break

out on a church without prayer.

Next one, hesed. Beautiful word. These are things God is to you and me. Every day, every

day Yahweh says, this is my nature Jacob, this is what I want to be for you today. You

got some time. Hesed. Hesed means this word really bothered me. Devoted loyalty. God being

devoted and loyal to me. The word for mispath is justice. Justice. Justice. Justice. Justice.

Justice is making things right. Hesed, devoted loyalty. Where it's an allegiance that you

have, an allegiance that God has towards me and an allegiance I must have towards you

and towards the city. An allegiance that goes beyond what the law requires, goes beyond

what customs require, goes beyond what culture requires. This is when Ruth, having been given

permission by Naomi to go back, Orpah goes back. But Ruth says, no, no, no, no, no. Where

you go there I will go. Where you lodge I will lodge. Your people will be my people.

Your God will be my God. And where you die, I will die. This is going beyond custom, culture,

regulations, needs. Why? Because there's devoted loyalty. There's an allegiance saying I will

go beyond. And God is saying every morning Jacob I have a devoted loyalty to you. I have

an allegiance to you. If you have time we can walk. And then occasionally guys go back

to him and say hey you can't just make a covenant with me and get away with it. I want to make

a covenant with you. I am also loyally devoted to you. Hopelessly devoted. And then you can

break out into that. Hopelessly devoted to you. Most of you won't know that song. Devoted

loyalty. Next one. Beautiful word. I love this word. Raham. It's a womb inspired tenderness,

mercy, compassion. It comes from the womb. Raham. It means compassion. And it's a compassion

that has tenderness in it. It's tender. It's mercy filled. It's a tender mercy filled

commitment that, a commitment to someone despite their failure, despite their wrong doings.

It's a tender mercy filled commitment. Can you imagine being a priest like that to the

city? A tender mercy filled commitment to someone. And it's a tender mercy filled commitment

to someone even if they fail and even if they do wrong. To continuously have that.

And you can give it back to God. One of the images that I always have of tender mercy

filled commitment to God is when kids sometimes start touching their dad's face and they look

at their dad's face and they touch their dad's face and they sometimes make comments like

dad you look so ugly. But there's a tenderness in it. There's a mercy filled commitment in

it as they do that. You can do that back to God. Because God does that with you every

day. And now you get to give that to ones around you that are in the city. And then

the last one. Extend to people faithfulness. The word for faithfulness is faithfulness.

Faithfulness. Faithfulness is constancy and steadiness. Constancy and steadiness in your

support and in your compassion. In your support and compassion. You know when Jeevan first

came into the church I was telling him hey this is what God can do and all this stuff

and this is what God can do. One of the questions he asked me was Jacob I can commit to this

but can you commit to me in the long run. And guess what? I have. I've been constant

and steady in my commitment to him and to Nandigama. To the people. And now I don't

even if he dies tomorrow I'd still be committed to some of the people that I know through

him. This is what I mean by long term. And then a city is at the mercy of God. Why? Because

you have decided to go faithful. These are five words that you can extend to the city.

These are five words that Yahweh extends to you every day. These are five words that you

can give back to God saying well if you think you are betrothed to me then I want you to

know that I am betrothed to you too. And so therefore I give you this back. And when this

happens vertically then it is natural that it happens horizontally. Not just to the people

of God but beyond the people of God. Why? Because there was a time when you were not

the people of God and you were not shown mercy. But today you are the people of God and you

have been shown mercy. So here's what we can end with. In this church we've spent much

relational currency with each other. And we are richer for it. In this church we've spent

much relational currency with each other and we are richer for it. We share meals.

We share money. We share cars. We've opened up our homes. We've opened up our lives to

each other. And there's a lot of relational currency that has been spent on each other.

But what if every second week we went beyond ourselves and we went beyond ourselves and

practiced Luke 12-14. He said also to the man who had invited him, he said, I am the

man I am and I have invited you to this morning. You all remember the man who was invited this

morning? And he was invited by pals and he had a dinner to be held. He was invited by

parables and he was invited by the역 Çiğence. I told you all about it even when we were

I just want to leave it there because if I go beyond this, then I'll have to really go

into the rest of it.

But there is this idea, guys, that we need to practice called radical hospitality.

I saw two scenes over the last two days.

One was a little girl on the corner of Fraser and 52nd or 53rd.

And there's a guy who seems homeless and poor sitting outside the shop.

And she's got some food in her hands.

And I'm parked at this traffic light.

And this girl is struggling to give the food because she's scared that people will see

her giving the food and they will disapprove.

She's waiting there with the food.

And at some point when she realized that there is nobody around, she quickly went and gave

it.

And she had this, even though she had a mask on, you could see how happy she was.

And she quickly walked away.

And I was saying to myself, why is it that a nine-year-old finds it so difficult to give

food to a person on the street?

Because we have divided and categorized the city into the ones we can approach and the

ones we cannot approach.

So I'm sitting outside Himalaya now a day later.

And there's a man who walks past the car and he's coughing like his insides may come out.

And as he's coughing, I'm thinking to myself, oh, I'm glad my windows are up.

That's my first thought.

Then he goes to the corner of the building and he starts urinating.

Then I'm making sure that the doors are locked.

And I'm thinking to myself, this is how you are, Jacob.

You react so differently from how you should react.

Because there is this instinct in us now to be protective of ourselves.

Radical hospitality puts you at risk.

Radical hospitality strips you of privacy.

Radical hospitality establishes boundaries, not so that you can prevent people from coming

in, but so that you can provide parameters and contexts that people may or may not understand,

may break or may not break.

It is a scary thing to live like this.

I'll repeat that.

Radical hospitality strips privacy.

Radical hospitality requires that you give up rights.

Radical hospitality has boundaries, not to keep people out, but so that people understand

parameters and context.

As in, hey, when you step into this area, it might be a good idea if you took out your

shoes because the mud may come on the carpet.

If they don't, well, then you end up cleaning the carpet.

It is not to keep people out.

What if every second week, instead of the young adults or the old adults or the in-betweens

like me, what if, and this can't be done.

Guys, whenever hospitality is attempted in isolation or as individuals, it is very hard.

And whenever hospitality is attempted as a people, it becomes much easier.

What if three of you over the next six months focused on two to four people in your neighborhood?

Not as some kind of, I have to rehabilitate this person.

What if it was simply, I will see them as the image of God, I will value them as God

values, and I will remember that they are not as people, but they can become as people.

Let me write that down.

What if it is not a project, but seeing people as created in the image of God?

What if it is beginning to value them as your Jesus values them?

What if it is recognizing that they are not, they are low army, but they can become the

people of God?

What if every second week or every third week, let's do it once every three weeks, where

in your neighborhood, over a period of six months, three or four or five of us begin

to do this for two or three people?

That's it.

What will happen inside this church will be magnificent.

Come share your stories.

Okay, let's stop there, I will elaborate.

Low army is not my people.

Any questions, anything you want to add?

I'm done.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.