Rise Daily: April 27

Rise Daily: April 27

THIS WEEK’S THEME & PASSAGE

A Movement – 1 Peter 2:4-12

This week’s sermon from the series “Where We are Going: The City and the Mission“

THIS WEEK’S MEMORY VERSE

Memorizing scripture is a way to keep God’s word close to our hearts. Each week we will select one verse of scripture to remember as a community.

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

THE WORD

Each day’s devotion will focus on one part of the week’s passage.

1 Peter 2:9 (same as this week’s memory verse)

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

MEDITATION ON THE WORD

In our busyness and distraction, it is easy to skim through our reading rather than taking it in. Yet we believe this is the inspired word of God. Take a moment to pause, thank God for the scriptures and ask him to speak to you through them today.

The priests of the Old Testament served the nation of Israel in many ways, ranging from the more mundane: acting as civil magistrates, public health officials, and custodians of the temple and its ceremonial furnishings, to the sublime: serving as intermediaries, representing the people of Israel to God, offering prayers and sacrifices on their behalf. The highest ranking priest had access once a year on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, to the innermost sanctum of the temple, the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies, where the presence of God was particularly manifested. The High Priest would experience God’s presence on behalf of the people who were denied access, symbolized by a great and high curtain. He would offer sacrifices to atone for their collective sins, reconciling them to God.

These ceremonial practices served as a foreshadowing of what God was ultimately driving toward: unimpaired union between him and his people. But they also served as a reminder that access to God is not cheap, and not to be taken for granted. In order to provide his people full access to himself, God had to make the one perfect sacrifice that would remove the curtain of separation forever. The Son of God became the great High Priest who sacrificed himself for his people (Hebrews 10:19-22a).

When Christ ascended to his place of authority on the throne of heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit to his people, the Church. In so doing, the particular earthly presence of God was moved from the temple of stone to the temple of the human heart (1 Corinthians 3:16). Previously his people needed to move toward the temple in order to experience the fixed proximity of God’s manifest presence. Now they bore that presence themselves, and were carrying it into the world, as a body of believers wherever they were led to go.

Peter is telling this new community, the Church, that as they are a royal priesthood, they have an awesome capacity: to mediate the presence of God to the world in prayer and self-sacrifice, and even in the seemingly more mundane acts of loving service to their neighbors.

THIS WEEK’S RISE REFLECTION

Far more than a campaign about money, this season is an invitation to be part of what we believe God longs to do in bringing flourishing to all–starting with you and stretching across the city. How will you answer this call?  Will you take this opportunity to invest yourself more meaningfully in this vision for gospel renewal for New York City?
“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” – Isaiah 6:8

TODAY’S PRAYER

For your Heart: Pray that your heart and mind would embrace the full access to God that was provided by Jesus’s death and resurrection. Pray for God to help you eliminate whatever separation you might feel despite the atoning work of Christ.

For your Church: Pray that the Church–the collective body of Jesus followers and seekers–would carry the presence of God and the forgiveness of Christ into every relationship.

For our City: Pray for all churches in every neighborhood and every borough to reflect God’s unimpaired presence, love and redemption.