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Would God Curse His Treasured Possession?

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But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9

Scripture calls you a priest of God, dear one. Do you think of yourself that way? Do you even know what it means?

Peter’s words in our opening scripture echo God’s to Moses in Exodus 19:5-6.

“’Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

From the beginning, God has sought to create for Himself a kingdom of priests. Perhaps you noticed the contingency mentioned in verse 5. If. We tend to treat God’s promises as though they’re all automatic. I think God would like us to notice our role in bringing them to fruition.

…if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples.

 I can’t help thinking of God’s words over Jesus on the mount of transfiguration.

And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” Luke 9:35

Throughout scripture, God promises blessing to those who listen to Him. And Jesus came as the Word made flesh, calling all people to follow Him. Those truths leave me struggling to understand how so many professing Christians believe we can ignore God’s Word and still expect His blessing,

We shout grace as our justification.  We’re taught that God treasures and loves us regardless of how we behave. We are, after all, His royal priesthood, saved by grace.

But God declared this message to His priests in Malachi 2.

“And now, O priests, this command is for you. If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the Lord of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. Verses 1-2

I’m guessing those verses might make you a little uncomfortable. We don’t want to picture our God of grace cursing the blessings of His own people. And yet, there it is in black and white. God disciplines His children who refuse to listen to Him. When we reject His Word, we reject His blessing.

Dear one, we cannot separate the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Right here in the book of Malachi, God confirms His unchanging nature.

“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:6-7

God’s blessing departs from His people when we cease to honor and obey His Word. But He also promises that whenever we repent and return to Him, the blessing that flows from Him will return to us.

Like in the days of Malachi, God calls us to return to the sanctity of our covenant with Him. He describes that covenant with His original priest, Levi, in Malachi 2:5-6.

My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.  True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity.

Behold the true priest of the Word, dear one. Humbled by the awe of God, he fears Him and lives his life according to His Word. Life and peace follow him, because God is near. God’s Word is in his mouth and on his tongue, and he turns many from their sin.

Do those words describe you, dear one? Do the Father’s eyes rest upon you with joy because your life reveals your position in His kingdom of priests?

For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. Verse 7

Blessing flows to the one who hears the Word of the Lord and follows.

Lord, empower us to live worthy of the calling we have received. You have consecrated us, sanctified us, and set us apart for your kingdom purpose. Forgive us for living for ourselves instead of for You. Ignite Your Word in our hearts and give us the faith to live by it, turning many from iniquity. May we stand in awe of You, living lives that reveal Your glory.

Dear Father, raise Your kingdom of priests.

Astonishing

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Look at me and be astonished; Put your hand over your mouth. Job 21:5 NKJV

We love to be amazed.

Ordinary doesn’t cut it for this generation. Average barely gets a mention.

But when something really wows us, we can’t help sharing it. Cell phones and social media start buzzing, and news of the astonishing spreads like wildfire.

Unfortunately, most of what we feel compelled to share has little to do with Jesus. Somehow the One who brought us the ultimate “wow factor” has been reduced to short, encouraging Scripture quotes to help remind us that He even exists. Amazing is left to great football plays, astounding special effects, or even the ridiculously stupid.

These days, we don’t really expect Jesus to astonish us.

Perhaps we’re missing something. According to Hebrews 13:8,

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Jesus hasn’t changed, dear one. And He specializes in the extraordinary. So why don’t we see more of Him?

Perhaps we’ve settled for less than what He wants to give.

When was the last time the glory of Christ’s presence ignited you to share your experience of Him? What happens when you meet with other believers? Do your church services and gatherings reveal the unexplainable in a way that even non-believers can’t help but talk about it?

That’s the legacy of the church handed down to us through Scripture. Church didn’t start out as orderly programming that followed a workable schedule and met expectations each week. Church began as groups of believers encountering the presence of the God they worshiped and becoming empowered beyond their abilities to reveal His glory.

Consider how these unbelievers responded to what they witnessed in the early church.

  • Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Acts 2:7-8
  • When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13

God’s presence among His people caught the attention of the lost. They couldn’t help but take notice. What they witnessed defied what they could logically explain.

Beloved, you and I are supposed to bear witness to the glory of God.

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.” Isaiah 43:10

God's presence at work among us should astonish and amaze. #extraordinaryGod Click To Tweet

Perhaps the most astonishing miracle occurred among the believers themselves.

Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Acts 2:43-47a

Thousands of Christians from different backgrounds, with different personalities and unique desires, united as one. With hearts full of joyous praise, they shared all they had.

Selfless love permeated the church,

And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:47

Come to think of it, it appears the early church fulfilled what Jesus claimed to be the greatest commandment in all of Scripture.

“’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Luke 10:27

The early church grew because the people in it became what Jesus died to make them. They became love.

He extends the same invitation to us, dear one.

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. Isaiah 60:1-2

Glory rises, beloved. But will ours be a generation that sees it?

That depends on you and me. You see, God reveals His glory through the faith of His people. Let’s submit our personal desires to His leadership and allow Him to once again astonish the world through us.

Jesus knocks at the door of His church, dear one. I think it’s time we let Him back in.

Do You Know What You Have?

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“For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” Mark 4:25

Recently God captured my attention with a portion of scripture from Acts 3.

It begins with Peter and John heading to the temple at the hour of prayer. As they were about to enter, a man who had been lame from birth asked them for money. Peter responded with something the man did not expect.

And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. Acts 3:4-5

I wonder how many times this man had lived this very scene. Verse 2 reveals that he was carried and laid daily at the temple gate to ask for alms. I imagine the monotony of the routine left him with little expectation. I wonder how many temple visitors passed by pretending not to see him. Still others may have tossed him a coin without ever actually looking at his face.

And yet this day, Peter and John gazed right at him and asked him to do the same. “Look at us.” Their response got his attention, stirring the lame man’s heart with hopeful expectation. These two would surely provide him something.

But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Acts 3:6-7

I can only imagine what the man must have thought in that life-changing moment. He extended his hand to receive coins from a stranger. Instead a hand raised him to his feet. And immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.

Most of us can’t remember our first steps. This man, lame from birth, would never forget his.

And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Acts 3:8-10

Are you desperate to experience wonder and amazement at the hand of God, dear one? I am. I long to see God reveal Himself again in our midst. And I believe what I desire is something God longs to give.

You see, Hebrews 13:8 declares simply,

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Jesus hasn’t changed, dear one. If our experience of Him has changed since He first birthed His church, that only leaves one explanation. We’ve changed.

What’s different now? Take a look at Peter’s words when he addressed the crowd to reveal the power behind this miraculous healing.

And his name [Jesus]—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. Acts 3:16

Faith in the name of Jesus gave a lame man perfect health. Legs that had never stood before lifted him to his feet. Muscles that should have atrophied from years without use carried him into the temple. And he didn’t just walk. He leapt.

What had been dead came alive, all because of faith. Sounds like the Gospel message to me.

But whose faith, dear one?

This is the part of the story that intrigues me most. You see, it wasn’t the faith of the lame man that ushered in his miracle. It was Peter’s faith that produced a work of God on his behalf.

I can’t seem to let go of Peter’s words to the lame beggar.

“I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

Peter knew what he had. He knew exactly what was available to him through Jesus. And he knew he was free to give it. He believed, and his belief poured out blessing on a man who had no faith.

I wonder, dear one. Do we miss seeing Jesus reveal His glory in our midst because we don’t know what we have to give? Do we simply no longer believe?

Perhaps it’s a good time to revisit our opening scripture.

“For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” Mark 4:25

Jesus repeats those words five times in the four gospels. [See Matthew 13:12, Matthew 25:29, Mark 4:25, Luke 8:18, and Luke 19:26] I think He may be trying to get our attention.

At first glance Jesus’ words appear confusing. How can God take something from someone with nothing?

Take a look at His words again.

“From the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

What if Jesus’ words reveal that this man’s problem isn’t really that he didn’t have, but rather that he didn’t acknowledge and use what he had? The consequences are clear. If we don’t use it, we lose it.

You and I need to know what we have, dear one.

Let’s not allow unbelief to quench the Spirit of God in our day. It’s not our place to tell God how He should move. He manifests His Spirit through each of us as He chooses (1 Corinthians 12:11). But if He’s going to release His work through you, He will require something of you.

A little faith.