the friends that we have known previous years. Obviously, to meet many of you, I am confident for the first time, and we look forward to that opportunity, the opportunity to fellowship together with other believers and for me to hear the ministry of the Word of God. I really appreciate that opportunity. So many times when I'm in various places, I'm the one who's doing the speaking, and after a while I sort of feel like Well, I need to get back to one of these conferences where I listen to someone else minister the word. And so that's one of the great anticipations that I have on an occasion like this as well. It's good to be here and I certainly trust that together we will be able to enjoy the fellowship and share the word of God and stir up one another to love and to good works so that when we go away from here our lives won't be quite the same that they were when we came. I think that's one of the problems that I see in a long history of meetings. It's great to see the sustaining grace of God over the years. It's marvelous to live in a land where for decade after decade after decade we are free to continue to meet publicly and proclaim the Word of God. On the other hand, I sometimes think that if some great soul-searching movement of the Spirit of God were to come upon us, we would hardly know how to face it, because we have sometimes, I fear, settled for too many meetings. I can't say that about your meetings here. I don't know. I am not long in my history of this conference. In fact, the matter is, I've heard very, very good things, very positive things about the workings of God in many lives over the years, and so I trust that this year, as in previous years, there will be a real movement of the Spirit of God in our hearts. Now this evening I would like for us to read from First Peter chapter two, not that we will be looking at this passage per se this evening, but in order to get a New Testament perspective on the subject that I would like to work with and those occasions when I'll have the opportunity to share the Word of God with you in this weekend. And I think in reading through the first ten verses of this passage that you will no doubt recognize a very prominent theme and subject here which we would like to look at. First Peter chapter two, verse one. Therefore putting aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. and coming to him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God. You also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in him shall not be disappointed. This precious value, then, is for you who believe, but for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. For they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. For you were once not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Well, end our reading there. Let's pause again a moment to pray. Father, we do thank you that this evening hour, as we have begun in your presence in this season of prayer, that it is our great privilege to recognize the presence of our Lord Jesus among his own. For he has said where even two or three would gather, he would be in their midst. And we do thank you for the freedoms that we enjoy in this land, freedoms to meet even in this way. We thank you. even above that for your word and for the gracious Spirit of God, the same Spirit who moved holy men of old to give us this book here to minister the word to us. And we do thank you, Father, above all, for our Lord Jesus, in whose name and around whose person we have met and whose glory we desire to enhance in our conversation, in our ministry, and in our fellowship. And, Father, this evening we would quiet our hearts before your word and ask that you will speak to us. You know our needs, as varied as they are. And we do pray that you will minister to us and that in giving us understanding from your word that you will awaken our conscience to respond in submission to the authority of your word and to its instruction for our lives. Grant that we may not be the same when we leave this weekend. as we are now. Move in our hearts we pray that Christ may be honored. We ask in His name. Amen. Now as you may suspect from the reading of this passage of Scripture, the subject I would like to share with you in our time together this weekend is the subject of the priesthood of believers. Just a little bit about the thinking that has gone on. in order to come to this point for a number of reasons my attention has been focused on this subject in the past several months spent a good bit of time rethinking and reworking a number of the issues biblically speaking of priesthood and exercise about why the Lord may have brought this subject to mind repeatedly over a long period of time and in really developing a sense of burden to share a fresh some of these things with the Lord's people at this conference I was talking to a new friend we are as you know now also living in the state of Iowa we have moved here within the last several months to the city of Dubuque with the college and we have met a lot of friends talking with a friend a new friend in the city of Dubuque the other day a believer a faculty member at the seminary at the University of Dubuque, and he was asking me, what are you going to speak on at the conference down in Atlantic? And I said, well, the burden I have on my heart is to speak on the subject of the priesthood of all believers. And he almost gasped. And I don't remember exactly his words, but they had something to do with the effect, well, to talk to a group of people like that about the priesthood of all believers is like carrying coals to Newcastle. Isn't that a very, very dangerous thing to pick up such a well-known subject as that when you're talking to the Lord's people in that kind of a context and I suppose there is a sense in which it may be presumptuous to pick up the subject that is as well-known and as frequently discussed as the subject of the priesthood of believers and frankly his response made me stop and do a little bit of second-guessing. Maybe I had gotten the wrong kind of sense of burden over this. But I must tell you very honestly that I have seen, even among the Lord's people with whom we have such close and such wonderful fellowship, a lot of evidence that it's possible to talk about a subject like this, to give very definite conscience, commitment to the subject of the priesthood of all believers which is a very precious doctrine that we hold and it's one that we uniquely try to fulfill in some of the unique features of the meetings that we attend of the structure and order of the local church which we so dearly appreciate and yet I believe that there are dimensions of priesthood as taught in the scripture which we need to rethink and rethink And there are a number of reasons why. First of all, because, as is true of any of God's truth, our human propensities, our preoccupation with many life situations, pressures, responsibilities, are such that we constantly need to be refreshed in all biblical truths. I think, however, that the subject of priesthood is one in which we particularly are vulnerable to lose that cutting edge of biblical appreciation. Because while it is a very basic doctrine to which we commit ourselves, it is also an issue which the world talks a lot about. And all of the great religions of the world have their priesthoods. And we see a lot and we are impacted a lot by the realm of religion. And I think that there is a sense in which rather unconsciously all of this may condition our thinking to something other than a biblical perspective. And we lose that keen appreciation of many of the dimensions of a very choice doctrine such as this. I'm thinking particularly of the fact that we, in moving to Dubuque, have been made very, very aware by a lot of people that we have moved into a strongly Roman Catholic community. Now that's really not too frightening. We did live in the Chicago area. And the Chicago area is really the largest Roman Catholic archdiocese outside of the Vatican. So to have friends and neighbors who are Roman Catholic is not new to us. And we don't feel at all out of place in that kind of context. In fact, have been amazed at the rather open and friendly attitude that many, many people have shown toward us and are grateful for them. But the fact of the matter is, not only in the Roman Catholic Church, but in every major strain of religious thought, there is some unique perspective of priesthood. And in fact, if you go to other countries and to other parts of the world, you will find some astounding concepts of and ideas of priesthood. It is not an uncommon thing. For us to be forced to think in some kind of terms relating to the subject of priesthood. And in all of this, frankly, in all of this differing drumbeats and confusion of message, I think it's good for us, even if it has been a very important subject and a doctrine to which we have committed ourselves over the years. I think it's important for us to rethink biblically this subject. because it touches on so many dimensions of our lives and our responsibilities as believers. Now to be sure, the Word of God uses a number of different descriptive terms and functions to describe various aspects of the life of the believer. In some ways, we are like soldiers. The Bible uses that language. In some ways, we are to be like athletes. In some ways, the Christian life is described as the life of a farmer. In some ways, the Christian life is described as the life of a builder. Sometimes the Christian life is described in terms of servanthood or slavery. And we could go on and on to talk about the various kind of role constructs that the Bible uses to describe various aspects of the life that we ought to live as believers. For indeed, the life into which the Lord Jesus has called us is a full and a marvelous, many-dimensioned reality and not adequately described in any one word save the expression the life of Christ himself. But in order for us to understand something of the fullness of the life that we have in Christ and the potential of our lives as believers in Christ, the Word of God uses many descriptive ways of spelling out for us. the dimensions of life in Christ that can be ours. And certainly the terminology, the concept of, and the function of priesthood is one of those. And we will be coming back, the Lord willing, to this choice passage in First Peter II, where Peter describes our priesthood, both verse five as a holy priesthood as well as in verse nine, as a royal priesthood. And we want to look at these. And to see the significance of these two great statements in their context and in their essence. And we will come to this later on in the will of God. But I thought this evening it would be healthy for us, although I'm sure a review, to drop back into the Old Testament and to take a bit of time to build some foundation again, to rethink. By the way, how long has it been since you've looked at the foundation of your house? You need to do that once in a while, you know. Saw this old man the other day that's lived in the house for forty-three years. And he went down the basement of his house the other day and he found something that alarmed him. Had a problem. Find you. Forty-three years he's been in that house. And now all of a sudden he develops a problem with the foundation. And you know when you have a problem with the foundation, you have real problems. So I think it's good for us. to go back and take a look at some of the foundational perspectives of priesthood again. This will have to be a quick survey, but I trust it will help us to orient ourselves to this very, very basic subject in our studies during this weekend. Now, when we talk about priesthood, of course, we realize that this is a subject that's dealt with all through the Scriptures, and it becomes very apparent, even with a casual observation, that there are different functions and different kinds and different orders of priesthood even within the biblical narrative. And yet at the same time it's interesting that while there are different orders and functions of priesthood even within the biblical narrative, the Old Testament priesthood is not identical to our New Testament priesthood. The Old Testament priesthood was not one. There are several functions of priesthood there and so on. The fact of the matter is, however, there are common ingredients in all biblical discussions of priesthood. And it's very helpful for us in looking for foundations, both to see those common elements of priesthood, along with those distinctive and differing elements of priesthood, as God in ordering the various economies of history with his people has revealed it to us. And, of course, we begin way back in the book of Genesis. reading as we do in chapter four the first occasion in which a human being offered sacrifice. His name was Abel. And Abel was a man who not only was presented to us in the early chapter, the chapter four of the book of Genesis, but Abel is a man who is presented to us in the scriptures, a man of faith. Though his life was not a long life, And though we do not have a lot of details about his life, he died, as we would say, humanly speaking, an untimely death at the violent hand of his brother. Nevertheless, Abel is the first human being in the history of mankind to function in a priestly way. Abel brought a sacrifice and offered his sacrifice to God. That is the function of priesthood. Now the Bible does not say in chapter four, the Bible does not give Abel the title priest. But as we shall see as we read through the scriptures that to offer sacrifice to be directly involved in the actual mechanics of offering sacrifice was in fact a function of priesthood. Interestingly enough, God had spoken to the first two boys to be born in the human race, Cain and Abel. We know that he had spoken to them because the Bible says that Abel's act in bringing a lamb and offering that to God in sacrifice was in fact an act of faith. Faith is always an obedient response to the word of God. And even though we do not have in the Genesis narrative the actual event and words which God spoke to Abel, we know that he did because what he did was an act of faith. and faith is always an obedient response to the Word of God. Therefore, we validly conclude that God had spoken. God had revealed to these individuals what He wanted from them. And, of course, Urel, remember, you learned it in your earliest days in Sunday school, that these two sons of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, brought different kinds of offerings. God accepted Abel's offerings He rejected Cain's offering. And we well know the reason why. Cain's offering came from his garden, from his farm. Cain's offering was a bloodless offering. Cain's offering was the direct result of his own efforts and labor in farming and in gardening. And we immediately see in this right at the beginning of the revelation, that which God cannot accept. God cannot accept human efforts in this business of salvation, in this business of a relationship with God, in the matter of sin in our lives, and the issues of eternity. In all of these great issues, God cannot accept the works of man. He rejected Cain's offering. He accepted Abel's offering, as we see in Genesis chapter four, was a blood offering. An innocent life was poured out by the shedding of blood in that sacrifice. And we read of Abel as a man of faith. We read that God accepted his offering. And thus, Abel is the first recorded individual to directly function in a priestly way. Now as you read through the Old Testament, you find that a whole series of events are revealed before us that relate to the function of priesthood. You go to Genesis chapter eight, for example, and there you see Noah offering a sacrifice. Genesis eight and verse twenty. Noah built an altar to the Lord, and he took every clean animal, every clean bird, and offered bird offerings on the altar. Noah functioning as a priest. Noah offering sacrifice to God. Clean animals. Now, mind you, the Levitical instructions were not yet given. The thunders of Sinai and the law given to Moses was yet a long way off. But God had revealed not only that he wanted blood sacrifice, but God had by now revealed that there were certain animals that he would accept in sacrifice and others that he would not accept. And Noah, a man of faith, brought clean animals. in sacrifice. As you turn a few more pages you come to Genesis chapter twelve and here we see Abraham at this point in life still called Abraham offering sacrifice and repeatedly in Abraham's life you see him building an altar and offering sacrifice to God. That is priestly function and it's one of the distinguishing features of the life of Abraham In fact, a number of scholars who have studied and have written studies on the life of Abraham will hinge the whole analysis of his life around the various altars, the various sacrifices that he brought to God. A very distinct feature of the life of this outstanding man of God, Abraham and his sacrifice. And then, of course, in Genesis twenty-six, you see Isaac offering a sacrifice. In Genesis thirty-five, you see Jacob offering a sacrifice. You're beginning to see a pattern, aren't you? But it's interesting that if you follow the narrative through, there is an interesting shift of emphasis. The early references to sacrifice, such as Abel, were a highly personalized thing. Abel brought a sacrifice, innocent blood was shed, the lamb was consumed. In response, of course, to God's revelation, it was an act of faith. A very personal thing. There's no evidence that others were involved in this process at all. It was Abel who brought his sacrifice. And God accepted that sacrifice. But by the time you come to the patriarch, Abraham, yes, you begin to see it more in the case of Isaac, but distinctly in the case of Jacob. It becomes apparent that in patriarchal times, the implications of the function of priesthood were broadening. And you not only have the individual offering sacrifice in obedience to the instructions of God, But you begin to see individuals in the patriarchal priesthood offering sacrifice in obedience to God that had implications for the whole family or clan. You distinctly see that in the case of Jacob. Notice Genesis chapter thirty-five. And look at the interesting reference there in the beginning of the chapters. Then God said to Jacob, Arise, go to Bethel, and live there, and make an altar there to God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau. So Jacob said to his household, Oh, what's this? Oh, you see, this is not just going to be Jacob doing something on his own. Jacob now involves his household in this business of sacrifice. And thus we see the concept of patriarchal priesthood. And it becomes quite apparent that in this period of God's dealings with mankind, God appointed in the patriarchal period one individual from each generation of the patriarchal family to function as a priest in behalf of the family. It's seen not only in Jacob, it's also seen in Job, very clearly in the case of Job. Of course, who lived, as near as we can tell, in patriarchal times. Where you see Job offering sacrifice for his family. And interceding with God in behalf of his children. And so the concept of priesthood is developing now as God reveals more and more of his truth to these ancient people. And as they respond to his truth, we see the concept of priesthood becoming more and more weighty. And it's not only a matter now of an individual responding in obedience to God, but an individual in obedience to God responding in a ministry that really reaches out to others in his family or his clan. The patriarchal priesthood. By the way, this was the real significance of the birthright. And all of that hassle about birthright among the two brothers, Jacob and Esau. And this is the real reason why Esau brought himself under such divine displeasure by considering lightly or despising the birthright. By the way, this was the significance of that coat with long sleeves, or sometimes translated the coat of many colors, that Jacob gave to Joseph. It's not that the rest of the boys were cold and didn't have clothes. But the coat that Jacob gave to Joseph was the symbolic indication to the family that Jacob had thus chosen Joseph to be the patriarchal priest for the family in the next generation. And it was that which increased the animosity of his brothers. That this young upstart, this kid brother, should be given that privilege. And so there is evidence at this period of time that there was a great awareness among the ancient people of God, that there was a tremendous privilege in functioning in priesthood. For after all, this was a place of communion with God. And when you read of God speaking to men, it is often in connection with their offering of sacrifice and functioning in priesthood. And these people had enough spiritual sense to see the privilege inherent in the functioning of priesthood. Oh, responsibility to be sure, but certainly privilege. Now when God called his people out of Egypt, if you look in Exodus chapter nineteen, you see a statement that God made when he brought his people to Sinai. You recall, God heard their cry as slaves in Egypt. He raised up a deliverer, Moses. He bared his mighty arm in a series of ten great flags, which consummated in the Passover and the death of the firstborn. From the firstborn of Pharaoh, death signed for the throne in the palace, right on down to the firstborn of the slave in the hovels of Egypt. And God, with a mighty hand, shook that empire and delivered his people, Israel, out of their bondage. He didn't lead them the easy way into the land of Palestine. In fact, he didn't lead them the logical way, north and east, even though he had told them that he was going to take them to the promised land. Instead, he took them south into the foreboding Sinai desert. And there he caused them to camp in front of a little mountain down in the tip of that Sinai Peninsula, and they stayed there for more than a year. And you will recall that while they camped at Mount Sinai, Moses went up into the mountain and communed with God, and God gave him not only the commandments, but all of the instructions for the religious and the civil life of the nation. In other words, God was taking a mob of slaves and hammering them into a nation. and giving them his law and revealing his holy character in that law. But listen to what God said to Israel when they got to the mountain. Exodus, verse four. You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. Think of that. Think of the intimate, loving, endearing terms that God used. I bore you on eagle wings. I have brought you to myself. Why? Now then, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession among all the people, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and holy nation. Does that sound familiar? Have you heard those words before, even tonight? Sure you have. They're the same words that we read in Peter's epistle. A holy nation. A kingdom of priests. Now, I'm not sure that all expositors will agree, but it seems very apparent to me, in the light of this passage of Scripture, that God's primary intent for his ancient nation Israel was that they would all be priests. And there are a number of supporting passages, not only this one. For example, if you go to Deuteronomy chapter thirty-two, verses eight, nine, ten, thereabouts, you find God saying to Israel through his servant Moses, I'm going to put you in this land which we call the land of promise because it is the bridge point of empires and of continents. And I put you there like the hub of a wheel so that you may be my witnesses and my representative to the nations of God. In fact, God said through Moses, I have actually set the bounds of the various nations of the world in relationship to you and the land that I'm going to give you. God placed them in a strategic point, in the bridge of continents, so that they might function as his representatives to a lost world. A holy nation, a kingdom of priests. But what happened, you say? What happened? Well, if you read on into chapter twenty, you find that as soon as God had spoken these words, the people answered, as you see it in verse eight, all that the Lord says we will do. Sounds good, doesn't it? But then God began to speak chapter twenty. And as he spoke, what did the people do? Bow in worship and obedience? No. They trembled and fled. Physically. And they said to Moses, Moses, we can't tolerate this direct divine communication. You let God speak to you and tell us what he says. In other words, Moses, you be the priest. We can't tolerate this direct divine communication. And as a nation, Israel flaunted her priesthood. Now later you remember in the incident of the golden calf. Great national apostasy. Moses, in that hour of national crisis, cried out to the nations, Who's on the Lord's side? One tribe stood up. What tribe? The tribe of Levi. And their allegiance to God had an early test that was a tough one. Girt on your sword, the Lord said, and go out there and be my instruments of judgment. And it was that tribe that was then appointed as the priestly tribe. And many expositors see in this God's plan B for a nation that had rejected her priesthood and had rejected God's basic intent that they be a nation of priests, a holy nation. Well, I wouldn't quibble over that issue, but the fact of the matter is God did raise up one tribe out of the nation and ordained that tribe as priests, the tribe of Levi. But at this point, we should recognize that there were some very unique features in this, and I think you're aware of the fact that we really have more descriptive elements about the Aaronic Levitical priesthood than frankly any other priesthood in the Scripture. Even New Testament priesthood. Now, of course, it is the teaching of New Testament priesthood that directly applies to us as believers. I'm not questioning that. All I'm saying is as far as wealth of content and of details about priesthood and its functioning, we have more details about the Levitical priesthood than any other than the patriarchal priesthood, than that unique priesthood of Melchizedek, about which we will have to say something, than any of the priesthood of the scriptures. And we can't review all of those details, but I think you should be very, very aware of the fact that priesthood is not a single simple thing. In fact, it becomes apparent as you look at the guidebook for priests, the book of Leviticus, that priesthood in fact was a very complex thing. For example, it was only one family within the tribe of Levi that functioned in the intimacy of high priesthood and of going into the holiest of all. And the high priest would only be chosen out of that one family. None of the other Levites ever had or ever could anticipate that privilege. It would never be possible to them. Only the family. Only the family of Aaron himself, who was only one of many, many, many Levitical families. And even out of that family, only one man in each generation would be the high priest who indeed would have that privilege. Some of the Levitical families, I should say some of the Levitical families, carried the furniture of the tabernacle through the wilderness. Another family would carry the cloth and the coverings, the tapestry. Another family would carry the structural parts, the poles and the boards and that. And each had their function. Some of the Levites were pointed as singers. Some were silent. Some would bring wood. By the way, have you ever tried to burn the carcass of an animal? I imagine in an area like this where a lot of people are either farmers, have a rural background, you may have had that experience. I remember one time we had an epidemic among our hogs. And I'll never forget the sad day that the veterinary told us we had to burn their carcasses. I want to tell you, it's not an easy thing to burn the carcass of an animal. It takes a lot of wood and a lot of fire. And can you imagine having, first of all, many of you, how many of you have ever butchered? A few of you. That's hard work. It's dirty work. And all of those animals that were brought had to be slain, their blood caught, they had to be skinned, they had to be dismembered. Various parts of the body washed with water out in the Sinai Desert? Yes. Where did all that water come from? Somebody had to carry it. Who did all that skinning? Who cut and carried all of the wood? to burn all those carcasses of all those animals. And who cleaned up the awful mess at the end of every day? There was just a lot of hard work. And it wasn't out front glorious public work. It was dirty work. And it was hard work. And some of the priests did that. But then you remember when God brought them into the land, He didn't put them in a given territory. If you look at a map, of the nation of Israel as it was established under Joshua, you won't see any tribe of Levi. God did not give them an earthly inheritance in a tribal territory. Rather, he scattered them through the nation in forty-eight Levitical cities, six of which were cities of refuge, three on the east and three on the west of the Jordan River Valley. And I'm tempted, boy, my schoolteacherishness comes out of me moments like this to ask how many of you can name the six cities of refuge and could find them on a map. Well, don't run, I won't ask you that. But the fact of the matter is God scattered them all through the land. Why? Why? And of course, over the years, as the population grew, only a few priests at any one time were needed actually in connection with the tabernacle service. And so courses or tours of duty were set up and given names. so that most of the time a priest and they only function between the ages of thirty and fifty in this public way would take from anywhere from one to three weeks out of his year to travel to either Shiloh or later to Jerusalem and help with all of this business of carrying water and cleaning out ashes and skinning of animals and whatnot and the other fifty to forty-eight weeks of his year, he was living out in one of the forty-eight Levitical cities. What was he doing on a vacation? Not on your life. They were busy out there. They were teachers for the nation. They were part of the judicial system. And you remember there were levels. You could go either to the City to the town fathers where you lived. Or if it was a hard case, you could take it to the nearest Levitical city. Or if it was a really tough case, you could take it to a city of refuge. That was like a district court. And it was really a difficult thing. Then, of course, you took the matter to headquarters, to the tabernacle. And there was the high priest with his yearman summer. And so there were levels of judicial functioning built in. And by the way, one of the great functions of Old Testament priesthood, which we very readily miss, is the function of shepherding. And if you go to the prophets and you hear the condemnation of God, woe to you shepherds of Israel. Who were they? And you go back to the Levitical ordinances and you don't see any professional class of pastors or shepherds set up. They're just not mentioned. But they were pretty important. Because God's final indictment against the nation was against the shepherds of Israel. Who were they? Well, you go back to the Levitical Ordinances and you look for the language of shepherding. And the language of shepherding is used of parents. It is used of priests. And it was used of leaders. Parents were to shepherd. Priests were to shepherd. Leaders were to shepherd. And it wasn't a separate professional class. It was a function that was to be found in parenting, in functioning as a priest, and in leading the people of God. By the way, I see a direct parallel in the New Testament. That the emphasis there is not on a professional class of shepherds, but rather you see the language of shepherding used toward parents. You see it used of believer priests. and you certainly see it of leadership. Now, let's pause just for a moment. Any of you included in any of these categories? Parents? To be sure, most of us. Priest? I'd like to think all of us. Leaders? Certainly a number of us. And all of these involve shepherding. Shepherding. Shepherding is fundamental to priesthood. And if you haven't seen it before, by the time you come to the prophecy of Ezekiel, you will see it there very clearly. And if some reason or other you missed it in Ezekiel, it'll hit you right between the eyes in Malachi. One of the fundamental responsibilities of priesthood is shepherding. And one of the great indictments of God against the failing priesthood was the failure to shepherd. By the way, we dare not leave it all to the elders. Oh, to be sure, the New Testament says that elders are under shepherds and that they have the responsibility of shepherding. But God help you if in your assembly the only people that are doing any shepherding are the elders. And God help the elders. All believer priests are responsible for shepherding. We all who are believers in Christ ought to be reaching out to others with a helpful, caring, shepherding ministry. Parents? One of the most revolutionary things in my life as a parent was to come aware of the fact that as a parent I must shepherd my children. Oh, what a tremendously helpful thing the Spirit of God brought upon my mind in that. To shepherd my children. What a helpful perspective on parenting. But back to the question of the Levitical priesthood. You see, not all of these priests functioned in identically the same way. Some were very public functions. Some were very private functions. Some involved music. Some involved participation in sacrifice. Some involved just plain hard, dirty work. Some involved teaching. Some involved judicial function. And so on. Is it any wonder, then, when we come to the New Testament, we find that God in the New Testament has reserved the prerogative to describe various functions among his people. And although we are all priests, we do not all function the same way. And we are not all public people, and we are not all singers. And there is some hard work that needs to be done by New Testament priests. We shouldn't be surprised that the very diversity of gifts