+ We are Priests +
1 Peter 2:9 proclaims, “YOU (all) are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that all of you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called YOU out of darkness and into his marvelous light.” Luther said, “Whoever comes out of the water of Baptism is a consecrated priest.” In a sense, in Baptism, ALL are called to faith, community AND ministry, Called and equipped for lives of prayer, service and proclamation. ALL baptized believers are priests, ministers and missionaries…. ALL baptized believers are a royal priesthood, God’s own people…. ALL baptized believers are called to proclaim the mighty works of Jesus!
Now…. don’t throw the baby out with the bath water! The New Testament stresses the role and importance of the clergy, even stating the requirements for pastors, bishops and other clergy. Lutherans do NOT join with Mormons, Quakers and some others who deleted all this stuff from the New Testament in a passion to have just laity. No. Indeed, Luther spent most of his ministry training pastors (he was mostly a seminary professor). But the “issue” is FUNCTION, not identity. It’s not that pastors have magical or supernatural abilities, or that they are in a spiritual class all unto themselves…. It’s that they have a distinctive ministry of service. Especially in the public setting of worship, especially in the congregation, they have an important function. Luther certainly retained Ordination but this doesn’t elevate the person to some superior class and infuse him with special spiritual powers, it means he is now in a God-established office in the church – with all the rights, responsibilities and privileges involved in the performance of that ministry. Pastors (and other clergy) – by virtue of their Office - are worthy of great respect but they are not a special class of believers (and can’t do magic).
Lutherans strongly reject the “anti-clericalism” and “democratic egalitarianism” found say among Mormons, Quakers and some forms of Protestantism. Only bad comes from deleting so much of the New Testament that teaches and establishes the Office of Pastor, and only bad from driving a wedge between pastors and people. Lutherans not only fully retain the Office of Pastor but hold such in great esteem. WE are ALL ministers of Jesus…. simply in different roles. We are ALL equal brothers and sisters in Christ, equally His own people, here to serve God and each other in our various roles.
Similarly, Lutherans see this as a corporate, community, “team” thing. While most Protestants call this “the priesthood of the believer,” Lutherans reject that, it’s “the priesthood of ALL believers!” We reject the individualism so rapid in much of modern Protestantism, the “God and ME” emphasis (Lutheran proverb: “It’s not Jesus and me but Jesus and we”). Lutherans reject the ‘private judgement, private interpretation, private faith’ abuse sadly found in some Protestant circles. It’s not a matter of some isolated individual helping self but rather the whole community of believers united in faith and love serving and working and growing together especially through the local congregation. The Priesthood of All Believers is a team thing.
The Priesthood of All Believers is not about me being special or me being my OWN priest….. it’s about all of us together being in service to others. We are ministers NOT for our own sake or so we can bless ourselves or by-pass the church and the pastor, it’s so we can SERVE one another with the gifts of the Spirit and the promises of the Gospel along with all God’s people. We can pray for our neighbor….. We can serve our neighbor…. We can strengthen our neighbor with the Gospel of God’s love and salvation…. We can forgive our neighbor who comes with a heavy-heart. It is the antithesis of self pointing to self, self serving self, self circumventing the church. Like Christ, the High Priest, we are to empty ourselves and take the form of a servant for others. Luther quoted Philippians 2:5-11.
There were many immediate practical implications. For example, Luther encouraged the laity to be involved in worship (not just quietly sitting there listening to the priest, cantor and choir do their thing…. in Latin), and changed the language of the worship service from Latin to whatever language the laity actually use (and understood). Luther encouraged all to sing (and wrote a lot of hymns himself). Even Luther’s claim that pastors may marry flows from this concept. He encouraged ALL to pray for each other, ALL to minister to their neighbors, ALL to proclaim the Gospel to unbelievers and to encourage the weak believers, ALL to forgive those who come to them with repentance and faith.
+ We are God’s Servants +
In Matthew 25:40, Jesus proclaims, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ In Colossians 3:23-24, we read, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not only for men, knowing that you are serving the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Luther steadfastly rejected the sharp “secular vs. sacred” distinction of work/service/ministry so prevalent in the world into which he was born. Luther looked not to after the Fall (when God made that weed comment) but to before the Fall when God appointed Adam and Eve to care for God’s garden, caretakers of God’s Creation. ALL service done from faith and love is ministry! ALL we do for others in loving, faithful service is sacred – indeed, also a service to God! The housewife serves God as she feeds her (um, God’s) children just as the priest serves God as he teaches God’s Word to God’s children. The distinction is not one of rank but of function.
This was not a demotion of ministry in the church, it was a promotion of ministry in the family, community and world. Luther had at least as high a view of churchy service as did the Roman Church of his day, it’s just he saw ALL service done out of faith and love as equally ministry. Our ministry together is one of service to and for each other; how we do that depends on the opportunities God has set before us and the gifts God has given to us, our “vocatio” as Luther put it (“Vocatio” is Latin for Calling).
Thus, in Lutheranism, we don’t limit one’s Calling from God to just some high office in the church. Nope. We ALL have a Divine Call (in fact, a lot of them!). Our vocatio may be as a husband, a father and grandfather, a plumber, a citizen, a neighbor, a church member… most of us have a whole lot of vocatios (dozens if not hundreds) – situations and opportunities (indeed, CALLINGS from God Himself) that God has placed before us that allow us to be His hands, His heart, His servants for His people…. Blessed to be a blessing. All this is ministry (the word simply means “service”). And all this is for Jesus. Ministry isn’t divine punishment or some mechanical cog in a machine…. Ministry is the privilege of serving God by serving His children: in the church, in the home, in the community.
Yes, in this fallen/broken world, our work (ministry/service/vocation) will encounter problems, suffering and even pain (thus the “weed” comment after the fall), just as Jesus’ vocatio meant the Cross. But that doesn’t diminish the holiness of the work. Remember: although He doesn’t have to, God typically works through means. God provides food for His children through farmers and ranchers, truck drivers and grocery clerks. God provides healing through doctors and nurses and pharmacists. God provides for peace through wise rulers and police and the military. Get it? It’s GOD’S work…. done by God’s people…. for God’s people…via their vocatio. All of it is serving God. All of it is Sacred. All of it is a divine Calling. Just different functions. And beware of the distinctions we make (say by our various payments for such work)… have the trash man stop coming to your home and you’ll soon learn how important his work really is. And while our vocatio often involves difficulties (because of the Fall and sin), this isn’t all bad; it encourages us to actively serve (few have the opportunity to be lazy, self-absorbed, self-serving bums – although we all probably know a few); the reality forces us to work (perhaps long, hard work). And work is good – as it flows from faith and love, as it serves others and thus God. And the end of the work day, say “This I’ve done for others and thus God.” Then go home and enjoy what others and thus God have done for you.
- Josiah
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