You Might be a Priest for Sale, if…

Judges 17-18

So I have to get very personal. I might be a priest for sale, if…

If I permit and excuse unholiness in my own life, I might be a priest for sale.

“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14 NKJV).

“This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil” (I Timothy 3:1-7 NKJV).

Am I a priest for sale?

If I bless unholy marital unions because I don’t want to offend anyone, I might be a priest for sale.

A friend of mine remarried. This marks her second marriage. It is her fiance’s second marriage. She was 33 and he was 53. They were engaged before his divorce was final. They will have a church wedding. She will wear white. A pastor will perform it. Would I perform such a union? For a friend?

Will I provide a church wedding, complete with a white dress for the bride, to a couple that has been openly cohabiting without the benefit of marriage?

There was a day when a woman who was getting married for a second time would wear a lovely dress, but never a white dress. The symbolism of the white dress was a mark of purity and virginity; and that was important.

Am I a priest for sale?

If I sanction immoral living arrangements because I fear what people will say against me, I might be a priest for sale. What about cohabitation without the benefit of marriage? What about same sex relationships? What about illegitimacy? Mississippi illegitimacy birth rates exceed 50%. Do I love and accept the illegitimate child while rejecting the illegitimate behavior of adults? I have a Biblical mandate to care for the fatherless.

“You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child” (Exodus 22:22 NKJV).

“Defend the poor and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and needy” (Psalm 82:3 NKJV).

Do I see the suffering of the fatherless child as a sin of cruel abuse to that child? Or has fatherlessness become so commonplace that I excuse, embrace, and normatize it? Will I have the courage to proclaim fornication as the immorality which the Bible judges it to be?

Am I a priest for sale?

If my funeral sermons preach lost sinners into heaven, I might be a priest for sale.

If I compromise my call with my ambition, I might be a priest for sale. Am I ambitiously climbing a ladder of church politics? Of worldly politics? Does my public job have greater priority in my life than my calling?

Am I a priest for sale?

If I lack pastoral compassion for lost people and for my people God has called me to serve, I might be a priest for sale.

If I lead people astray, embracing cultural Christianity’s failure theology, neglecting to call my flock to holiness, I might be a priest for sale. Failure theology abandons all hunger and quest for holiness as over-zealous, unattainable idealism. Failure theology seeks to normatize daily sin of word, thought, and deed as one’s “Christian” obligation. The Bible teaches victorious Christian living.

If I blend cultural political correctness with nominal Christianity, creating a superstitious idolatry, a false gospel, I might be a priest for sale.

God has called you to be a pastor, a shepherd of His flock. Don’t be like “Jonathon Levite.” He was a priest for sale… First, to Micah. Second, to the Danites. And Jonathon started an idolatrous cult that plagued generations of Danites.

Jesus needs some shepherds of the flock of God who cannot be bought, will not be compromised, love the sheep, and call the church to be Christ’s holy bride. You need a priest who is not for sale.

I am praying that you will study to be approved by God, and become a priest who is not for sale. Serve your flock as a shepherd in the model of the Good Shepherd. Speak the hard truths of God’s Word, along with the comforting truths of God’s Word, to your flock. Care for souls. Care for families. Care for children. Instruct in holiness, and lead God’s flock to heaven. I pray to that end.

“Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20-21 NKJV).