In Exodus 19 God brings his people back to the place where he had appeared to Moses in the burning bush. It was here that Moses received his calling and now, as he returns here with the twelve tribes, the nation will receive its corporate calling here. That calling is expressed in 19:6: “You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” This is really a restatement of what God said to Abraham: “I will bless you… and all the nations on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12). To be a priest means to be a mediator of blessing. To be ‘holy’ means to be set apart or distinct by virtue of character and life. So, the people of Israel were being called to be distinct in their character and life so that they could fulfil their calling. We inherit this role through Christ (see 1 Peter 2:9) and so we must take these words to heart. The priestly role involves calling people out of one way of living into another. As priests of God we have been commissioned to call people out of guilt and autonomy and into grace and faith. So, while we must be relationally connected with people, we must ensure we are not living in the space that we are calling them out of. Ours is a ministry of invitation. We are to invite people into a life of grace and faith and so we must do this inviting from the inside of that experience. That way our lives testify to the reality of the message we are bringing to those around us.
Think and pray about how you can fulfil this role today.
Read Exodus 19:1-9
