Who Told You You Were Naked? Kings, Priests and a Paradigm Shift

Sermon outline

Jesus has washed you in His blood and made you a king and a priest unto God, so make the paradigm shift from religion to revelation, silence every voice that tells you you are not worthy, and know that even your battleground is holy ground.

1. We need a paradigm shift

   Our only frame of reference is what we have been taught and seen, but much of what we learned in church was a mixture of the Word and religion, which drove him as a young Christian to study the Bible for himself. When God gets on your nerves, He is stretching you. A paradigm shift is uncomfortable: it jerks you to the next level, and the crowd cannot always follow you there.

   Illustration: Many Christmases ago, when two rand was a lot of money, he put a two rand coin in the offering plate and the Lord asked him, 'Am I worth two rand?' It grieved him at first, but he broke through, and now giving is a joy he has decided on before the offering is even announced.

   “When God gets in your nerves, it means He's busy working with you.”

2. From religion to revelation

   Church people can learn the language, saying 'I'm blessed' while they are going through tough times, and he would sometimes rather be with an honest drunk who admits he needs help. As a young believer he copied the way church people dressed, walked and prayed, thinking a louder prayer would be heard, until he realised it was phony. God taught him that it is not the words or the approach but the heart.

   Illustration: A couple with seven daughters (or six, he is not sure) dressed them alike and trained them all to walk, stand and sit together. Later, alone in his room, he simply prayed 'dear Jesus, dear Holy Spirit' and sensed the presence of God, even smelling bread and roses.

   “It's not the words that you use. It's not the language that you use. It's not the way you approach me. It's your heart.”

3. Righteousness is a nature, not right living

   Religion left him feeling condemned every time he went to church, while everyone around him was secretly struggling and pretending too. God showed him the difference between right living and righteousness: righteousness is His own nature, imparted as a gift the day you are born again, so you can come into His presence without inferiority or condemnation. It took a war in his mind, with one voice saying 'condemned' and another 'righteous', before he broke that barrier.

   Illustration: When he struggled with smoking, he would wash his hands and use spray before church so other Christians would not smell it, because of the looks they gave.

   “The righteousness of God is a nature.”

   • 2 Corinthians 5:21

4. Communion was a paradigm shift

   At the Last Supper the disciples' only point of reference was the Passover, the blood of the lamb on the lintel and doorposts. For the first time a man stood before them and said, 'Take, this is my body... this is my blood', calling them away from the past into something new. Jesus was also prophesying His own future, and in the same way there is a future in you beyond where you are struggling now.

   “It was the first time he suggested to them, look away from the past.”

   • Matthew 26:26-28
   • Exodus 12:13

5. Who told you that you were naked?

   Adam was fine until he listened to a third voice, and the enemy still shouts that you are not righteous, not fit to be a king or a priest, not worthy to pray. God hears us not because we are cute but because we are washed in the blood, and He loves us, has freed us and made us a kingdom of kings and priests. People define you so they can box you, but God calls you by a higher name, as He called Gideon a mighty man of valour, and makes you a royal priesthood and a chosen generation. Who told you that you cannot pray, give, dream bigger or do great things when you can do all things through Christ?

   Illustration: Some wives value another man's prayers but not their husband's because they know his temper, and some husbands think the same of their wives, yet God, not the spouse, made them kings and priests. He adds that the church needs some Peters too, robust people and not only gentle ones, and recalls relatives who said nothing good would come of him.

   “He listens to our prayers because we're blood-washed.”

   • Genesis 3:9-11
   • Revelation 1:4-6
   • 1 John 4:4
   • Romans 8:31
   • John 18:10
   • Acts 20:35
   • Malachi 3:10
   • Judges 6:12-15
   • 1 Peter 2:9
   • 1 Corinthians 1:27
   • 1 Peter 2:5
   • Romans 4:17
   • Mark 16:15
   • Philippians 4:13

6. The anointing flows from the head

   Joshua was trained by serving Moses, and the enemy often tries to separate people from their leader because the leader carries the anointing. Psalm 133 shows the oil running from the head to the beard to the collar of the robe: God anoints the head of the church, then the leadership, then the church. You may not agree with everything, but walk in respect, because strife blocks blessing.

   Illustration: Joshua washed Moses' hands, served him food, was there when he prayed and walked with him everywhere.

   “Strife is a blessing blocker.”

   • Matthew 10:41
   • Psalm 133:1-2

7. Your battleground is holy ground

   Near Jericho, Joshua was so worn down by battle that when the commander of the Lord's army appeared, he saw only a man. God is in your fight, whether it is in your marriage, finances, children, work or business, and He told Joshua to take off his sandals because the battleground was holy ground. On Resurrection Sunday he reminds the church that God has marked them for greatness, trains them in trouble, owns the church He bought with His blood, and will make the church grow, however others expect it to fail.

   Illustration: Someone overseas phoned to ask whether the church still existed, assuming it had closed because they had left. He says he has never wished for any church to close and prophesies a day when traffic will jam the roads to the church.

   “You might be in a battle, but that battleground is holy ground.”

   • Joshua 5:13-15
   • Hebrews 13:5
   • 2 Corinthians 5:8
   • Acts 20:28