Glynlea Grace United Methodist Chruch

Scripture

Exodus 19:1-9

On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. ² And when they set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain. ³ And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: ⁴ You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. ⁵ Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, ⁶ and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel." ⁷ So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him. ⁸ And all the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do." And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD. ⁹ And the LORD said to Moses, "Lo, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you for ever." Then Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.

Summary and Function

Summary: On Mt. Sinai God made a simple covenant with the Ancient Israelites. As long as the Israelites obeyed God, God would make them into a ‘priestly kingdom and holy nation’. As a ‘priestly kingdom and holy nation’, they would become a light unto the world and demonstrate what a love relationship with God looks like. They, however, failed to obey God. (Don’t be critical of them. No group of people could have succeeded.)

Like the Ancient Israelites, the church is called upon to be a ‘priestly kingdom and holy nation’ (1 Peter 2:9). We, however, are no better than the Ancient Israelites. So, how can we hope to be a ‘priestly kingdom and holy nation’? It is by the empowerment of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Under the Old Covenant, the Ancient Israelites had to rely on their own ability to live up to God’s Law. We are under the New Covenant. Under this covenant, the Holy Spirit changes our hearts and enables us to live up to God’s Law of love.

God is calling us all to be part of the ‘priestly kingdom and holy nation’. Being part of this kingdom means having a desire to stop living a sinful life characterized by selfishness and start living a Godly life characterized by love. If you want to answer this call, simply trust Jesus as your Savior and Lord. You can do it right now!!

Function: To encourage the congregation to live up to the calling of being a ‘priestly kingdom and holy nation’.

The Sermon

I. Introduction: To be set apart for a special purpose.

A. Many organizations set apart specific groups of people to perform special tasks or accomplish unique missions.

· Military: Set apart Special Operation Forces (SOF) such as Green Berets and SEALS to perform unique missions that the regular forces are not equipped to handle

· Police: Set apart Special Weapons and Tactics Teams (S.W.A.T) to perform unique missions that the regular police forces are ill equipped to handle.

· Medical community: Set apart doctors that specialize in certain ailments or diseases such as cancer, autism or mental health

B. God also sets people apart for specific purposes.

· God set apart the Hebrew people for a specific purpose

· This can be seen in the covenant God made between Himself and Israel (Exodus 19:1-9).

II. The covenant between God and Israel (Hebrew 19:1-9)

A. After delivering the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, God made a covenant or agreement with them. It was a simple covenant.

· The terms of the covenant are found in Exodus 19:5-6: Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

· Israel’s obligation: Obey God. In Exodus 20 God gives them the Ten Commandments. Obey these commandments and the Israelites fulfill their end of the covenant.

· God’s obligation: To make Israel into a ‘kingdom of priest and holy nation’

· In other words: God will make Israel into a ‘kingdom of priest and a holy nation’ as long as they obey God.

B. To understand what this covenant is really all about, we must understand what it means to be a ‘kingdom of priest and holy nation’.

· Kingdom of priest

- Priests acted as the go-between or mediator between God and people. God is all good and can’t tolerate sin. So, sinful people can’t approach God. They need a mediator. Priests became the mediator by going through certain rituals that ceremonially cleansed them of their sins.

- By fully obeying God, Israel was to act as the priest for the rest of humanity. They would become the mediator between God and humanity

· Holy nation

- In order to be a kingdom of priest, the Israelite nation had to become holy as God is holy. Being holy means becoming righteous and loving like God.

- The Israelites would become holy through obedience to the Law.

C. The Problem: The Israelites failed to fully obey God’s Law. They tried but just could not do it.

· Don’t be to critical of them. No group of people can succeed in following God’s Law.

- God’ Law is summed up by the two greatest commandments: 1) To love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and 2) To love your neighbor as yourself.

- We can try as hard as we can to love God and neighbor every second of every day but, at some point, our sinful attitudes and desires will get in the way. Our jealousies, anger, bitterness, selfishness, prejudices, greed, pride (the list is endless) will get in the way of our ability to love God and neighbor.

· Israel never became a ‘priestly kingdom and holy nation’ because they failed to obey God’s Law.

III. The church is now called to be a ‘priestly kingdom and holy nation’

A. 1 Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

B. We may ask: “We are no better than Israel. If they couldn’t become a ‘royal priesthood and holy nation’ then how are we to do it?”

C. The answer: “Unlike Israel, we are empowered by the indwelling Holy Spirit to obey God’s Law of love and become a ‘royal priesthood and holy nation’

· Whenever a person trusts in Jesus as Savior and Lord, he/she receives the Holy Spirit

· As we grow in Christ, the Holy Spirit cleanses our hearts of our sinful desires and replaces them with God’s holy love.

IV. What it means for the church to be a ‘royal priesthood and holy nation’

A. Royal priesthood: The church is not the go-between or mediator between God and the rest of humanity. The church points to the only one who could ever be the mediator between God and humanity, Jesus Christ. As fully God and fully human, Jesus is our mediator. Through Jesus, we all have direct access to the Lord God all mighty.

B. Holy nation: Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we become righteous like God. We become loving like Jesus. In this way we becoming a shining light showing people the way to God. The following are a few examples:

· The Holy Spirit empowered ability to forgive: Off the top of my head, I can think of three stories of forgiveness

- During my last Kairos (Kairos is a prison ministry) meeting, one of the team members told a story of an inmate who forgave the person who killed his son. He referred to the murderer of his son as his brother.

- A former Pastor of Glynlea Grace, Jess Baker, was able to forgive his son-in-law who murdered his daughter.

- I was able to forgive the person who killed my wife in a car crash.

· The Holy Spirit empowered ability to love our enemies

- Dr. Martin Luther King preached love towards the segregationist

- On October 2, 2006 a gunman took hostages at an Amish school and killed five young girls (6-13 years old.). The Amish families of the victims expressed forgiveness and reached out to the widow and family of the gunman. They visited the widow and set up a charitable fund for her family. Most people would have treated the gunman’s family as the enemy but the Amish treated the family as their friend. The world took notice.

V. Do you want to be a member of the ‘royal priesthood and holy nation?’

A. Do you want to be used by God to point people to Jesus and eternal salvation? Do you want to become a light unto the world that shows people how we ought to live with each other? Do you want to stop living a life of sin and start living a Godly life characterized by love?

B. If so, simply trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord. Jesus paid the penalty for our sins and enabled us to receive God’s forgiveness. By receiving God’s forgiveness, we have a restored love relationship with God. We become children of God. As children of God, we receive the Holy Spirit and become a ‘royal priesthood and holy nation’.