Royal Priesthood

For the past few days God has been hammering me about this theme. Two Saturdays ago, I passed by a street preacher. But he wasn’t the usual kind. He was standing atop his prado with a JBL party box speaker and he was declaring the word of King Jesus!

If you are non Ugandan, you may not necessarily understand the criticism and ridicule labelled or imposed on street preachers. This is majorly because most are not appealing in apparel and finances. By apparel I mean some look shabby, and in need of a meal, coupling their sermons sometimes with requesting for handouts. This engenders their despising: always perceived as beggars hiding behind the megaphone of the gospel.

But — the preacher on top of a fairly good car, well dressed and not asking for money was making heads turn. The passers by had nothing on this one. The least they’d do is wonder if he had no better things to do.

The pedestrians could not scorn him! They had no cars! Those on motorcycles had to respect him — He owned a better automobile than them! The status quo was being undone!

The ‘street preacher’ was being redefined.

My biggest take-home was: BE RICH for the gospel Biggie; while the same two words echoed in my spirit again, ‘Royal Priesthood.’

We have declared that scripture from 1 Peter 2:9 countless times, but it had never struck home hitherto. The word ‘royal’ means having the status of a king or queen or a member of their family or; of a quality or size suitable for a king or queen;

This therefore means, the quality of our priesthood must be suitable for majesties. Or, its status must be analogous to highnesses. The early street preachers’ approach (or serving of the Lord) wasn’t regal. The tendency of asking instead of giving automatically places their priesthood in the inferior category. Royalty doesn’t beg! They are never in need!

Of course I am not saying we all need cars first to preach. I am saying presentation matters as priests come to evangelize. Presentation both outwardly and doctrinally.

But beyond presentation, our hearts’ postures need to be free and pure, to tell the gospel and to tell it alone. Allow me demystify:

We all love confessing Hosea 4:6 — my people perish because of a lack of knowledge. But we always stop there. The context is actually priesthood. The NLT version says, ‘My complaint is with you priests. You are not teaching my people. You have refused to know me.’ The NIV says, ‘A people without punderstanding will come to ruin.’

Basically, the priests were not teaching them . . . nor are some doing now. They are not helping laymen understand, thus the perishing. Verse 8 adds meat to bone. The NLT says ‘When the people bring their sin offerings, the priests get FED. So they are GLAD when the people sin.’

Ah!

The Bible is indirectly saying, that the priests were jubilant about the laymen’s sin, for that fed them. That made the people to continually show up at their doors with these offerings which could have been consumed by the very priests — or sold by them to increase their affluence and sustenance.

In today’s setting, I imagine the preacher not clearly explaining the scriptures such that the ignorance of the sheep is siphoned to the advantage of the priest. There are some priests who deceive men to carry some sort of seed or offertory when coming to be prayed for. This could be addressed as ‘seed for deliverance.’ — and blindly, the poor laymen comply.

Imagine Jesus had asked for cash from everyone who approached Him!?

Many are even taught wrong, that God would do a miracle for them according to how much money they bring to church. Men end up being coerced to give, hence doing it uncheerfully, yet God loves cheerful givers.

But how did we land here?! The manipulation starts when the shepherd’s heart wasn’t dealt with; when the seed of self-control didn’t bud completely; when the love for money wasn’t choked from under-root! Or — or simply because the shepherd is BROKE!

Speak of ‘beggarly priesthood!’ That is not what we were called to be nor was it what we were defined as!

It is also different when God has called one into full time ministry, and He is testing their trust of Him. He usually proves Himself in supernatural ways. You’d hear testimonies such as a couple walking up to them and saying “God instructed us to give you this house, or that land, or these many dollars.”

But being a full time pastor — in my opinion — shouldn’t stop one from running businesses in the background. I know of a pastor who makes millions this way. Not employed, but an employer. He employs the sentiment that if his congregation never gave … he would not stop preaching since his provision wasn’t in the power of the congregation. I can’t imagine how many pastors suffered during the lockdown because churches were not allowed to converge.

Paul wrote that each man should give according to their heart and not out of constraint or grudgingly. But because some sheep have not been taught this, they continue on the treadmill of manipulation or drown deeper into the pool of cajolement.

In a nutshell, there are three factors we must observe as royal priests and priestesses — or factors that check indeed if we are royal (for royalty comes with it some degree of wealth): The trust in God (for finances for whatever level one is at), having money (not to be tempted by the lack of it) and finally the consecration of the heart (being content, having self control and understanding process or patience for God to work it out).

If I could only use the story of Balaam, we can see whether he was a royal priest or not. First of all, I think he failed at all these three factors. In Numbers 22-24, God instructed him not to go curse Israel the first time Balak sent messengers with some money to him. When he told them God had reprimanded him from going with them, Balak sent more honorable (more distinguished) men.

The reward integrated. King Balak promised to do whatever Balaam asked of him, on top of the reward of money.

Having a king at my finger tips to puppeteer … that is POWER! He must have thought.

He went against God’s word saying, “Even if Balak were to give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I would be powerless to do anything against the will of the Lord my God. But stay here one more night, and I will see if the Lord has anything else to say to me.” (Numbers‬ ‭22‬:‭18-19‬) [I could not go beyond the word of God] NKJV

That ‘but’ — considering to go back to God for a second opinion, makes us question his trust in God’s provision.

His going back indicated He wanted God to perhaps change His mind. And what caused this train of thought? More distinguished men and money.

This leads me to think that Balaam was not in a financially good situation. Perhaps he was on the bare minimum end. Perhaps he was building his dream house. Maybe the project had stood still and this platter looked like it’d expedite the ‘mansion’s’ completion. His lack of money (the second factor) put him in a position of temptation.

When Balaam set out, after God sarcastically telling Him to go, the whole matter qualifies him as well for point three. If his heart was consecrated; if he had self-control, he would have stood on God’s word. The love for money was present (and 1 Timothy 6:9 says it is the root of all evil).

God showed me the Magi. The wise men came from no where, with great gifts. They honored baby Jesus, without necessarily asking for anything in return. A time will come when you’ve fully attained the royalty that’s been prophesied over you, but even then, your heart must be circumcised.

God should still be trusted to provide even then. The consecration here is in the form of us not making idols of ourselves and the wealth — staying humble. It is not demanding thanks when honorarium or donations reach the recipient. Of course this doesn’t mean accountability should be shunned. It can be called for, if say an organization is requesting for donations at a sequency more intense and sooner than the last.

That aside; the adjective in our theme scripture is ‘royal.’ The noun is ‘priesthood’. It wasn’t priestly royals. This means that the primary identity must remain even if the adjective may shake. If I say ‘happy boy’, the happiness may not be constant, but the boy will be.

If you have lived long enough as a christian, you know that once in a while you feel un-royal. But whether you have money or not, your priesthood must not be COMPROMISED! No wonder Jesus didn’t fall for the third temptation: to bow in order to receive kingdoms!

No wonder Joseph fled from Mrs Potiphar! No wonder Moses left Pharaoh’s palace for the wilderness. He left a fallen royalty for the higher royalty — a fleeting royalty for an eternal one.

The wealth aspect aside, perhaps we should inquire of God’s definition of ‘royal’. Yes there is wealth, but there is also an aspect of genealogy. Not every wealthy man is royalty. But I believe most royalty are wealthy by default.

Being royal priests then means we must understand our lineage or ancestry directly from God. We must understand God’s kingdom as its rulers, and its extent. We must understand territories, and power. We must understand the culture of our family and know our family: We should trace our relatives back through Jesus, through David, and through Abraham. We must understand our traits of faith and DNA chromosomes of ‘great exploits.’

So, in a nutshell; being royal priests requires us to live by faith and not by sight. Our sight must be blinded to vain sources of money in such a way that it can’t be used to bribe us to curse God’s people (as for Balaam’s case) or to go against His will (as when Satan tried on Jesus). We must be either too rich that no amount can move us, or too blind and deaf to be convinced by it.

Abraham refused the reward from the king of Sodom speculating that the king could later claim he was the reason Abraham became rich. We as royal priests wouldn’t like that: to be controlled by atheists or be puppeteered by them.

Perhaps that is why Daniel had also refused to take the reward from King Belshazzar which had been promised to whoever would interpret the writing on the wall. It takes a lot of contentment to say ‘no’ to many of these things as opposed to ‘God will provide.’

I know this is heavy, and you wonder how you’ll be able to tell what to reject or what to accept, especially in a situation which looks like God is honoring you. Don’t worry, the Holy Spirit will teach you all things. He’ll tell you when to say ‘no.’ And if you fail the first time, you will find yourself repeating the same class until you finally learn the lesson and develop acute discernment. Just don’t take too long to learn such that the consequences begin to bite.

But for now, settle the matter in your mind that you are a royal priest even when you don’t feel like it. Abraham was called a father long before He conceived. As you continue to grow in those two offices and identities, may He prune you more and more, that you may not repeat the mistakes of some of our forefathers, but run your race with discretion, contentment, holiness, understanding and perfection; trusting Him always, working hard not to be at anyone’s mercy financially, and allowing Him to circumcise your heart daily, in regards to these matters.

For when you’re a royal priest, the power to get wealth is more evident effortlessly! The earth yields its increase in the most unusual ways! Fish give up coins of silver!

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I Corinthians‬ ‭15‬:‭31‬ I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

I Chronicles‬ ‭15‬:‭27‬ David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who bore the ark, the singers, and Chenaniah the music master with the singers. David also wore a linen ephod.
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II Kings‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬ For thus says the Lord: ‘You shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, so that you, your cattle, and your animals may drink.
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