Educating Christian Children

The

Royal Priesthood

 

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels, and Sermons

Lesson: 1-7

Genre: Talk

Track: 1

Dictation Name: RR312A1

Location/Venue:

Year:

After all that has been just said, I had better do very, very well! (laughter)

I have always dreaded speaking after dinner, and it wasn’t too long ago that I got up from the dinner table. After eating a good dinner I feel very, very much at peace with the world; not in any condition to get up and preach hellfire and damnation. I’ve always regarded it as very difficult to have such an assignment. Years ago I was in the south in Alabama, I was speaking at a church dinner at a large southern Baptist church, and I got to chatting with the woman who was in charge of it, and I told her: “You can rest assured, I’m not a long winded after dinner speaker.” And she said: “We know that already.” And she was laughing when she said it, and I said: “Why are you amused?” and she said: “Well, we can solve the problem of long winded after dinner speakers.” And I asked how, and she said: “Oh, we make sure that they get a ham and corn on the cob dinner, and they have their teeth full of ham and corn, and it is hard for them to speak very long.” And I said: “Well, I can top that. I used to be a missionary among the American Indians, and the Sioux Indians had a way of disposing of long winded speakers: every year they would have the moderator of the Presbyterian church come out to the Sioux reservation to speak to the elders of all the Sioux elders; and it would be a lot of sweet talk telling them how wonderful they were, and what a pleasure it was to be there, and saying nothing. Well they solved the problem very easily. After the dinner, and before the Presbyterian moderator got up to speak, they would ask him: “And how was the dinner?” “Oh, very fine, very fine.” “And how did you like the meat?” “Oh it was very tasty, very tasty.” “Good, because that is a specialty among us Sioux’s, puppies!” the after dinner speeches were very, very short.

Well, now to get to the subject on hand. Educating Christians for work in a non-Christian world. This evening we will deal with the subject of a royal priesthood. Education is always a religious fact. The educational program can be Christian, it can Islamic, Buddhist, Shintoist, Humanist, or some other religious faith; the particular faith may vary, but the fact of a religious premise cannot.

Education is the transmission of the faith and values, and the tools of a culture to its children, and values are expressions of ultimate concern, of religion, and tools are the products of that concern.

Public education is grounded on the religious faith of humanistic statism; it is religious education, fully as much as any Christian schooling. Education can never be neutral, it is always religious. The very fact that during much of the history of western civilization reading has been stressed, sets western civilization apart from the rest of the world, and all other histories. Especially since the Reformation, reading has been stressed because the Bible must be read and known to maintain our culture. Universal education for reading has only been adopted by other religions because of the influence of Christianity, not out of any inner development of their faith. We are unique in stressing reading as the heart of all education, because we have as Christians believed that knowledge of the word of God is the starting point of learning and wisdom.

The implications of the Christian, especially the Protestant emphasis on reading, are very important. The Reformed believers have been most prominent in this regard, in the United States up to 1900, about 75% of all colleges and universities were founded by Scots who with their Calvinistic rearing had a very great dedication to learning. This is a remarkable fact. Studies have shown that over the generations, the Scots have been less interested in making money, so that as against the Welsh, the Irish, and the English, they rank 4th in their money making propensities; but they have always ranked first in their emphasis on education, and at the heart of that concern has been the belief that the word of God must be known from cover to cover.

A personal knowledge of the Bible; this has been the stress. Not simply one based on hearing sermons, important as that is. While Calvinism very strongly stressed the importance of faithful preaching, this was never seen, then or now, as enough. A direct and personal knowledge of the word of God is necessary, and the strength of Calvinism has a correlation to personal Bible reading and study. Whenever the Reformed community is strong in family Bible reading and study, Calvinism is on the march; it commands a community or a nation.

Now, this fact has a theological premise; the Biblical doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. We all know that that is a basic doctrine of the Reformation, but how much do we hear about it now? It is a forgotten document, or doctrine. It is interesting that a few years ago, an historian, nor Reformed or a Christian, wrote a book about the generation after the Reformation. The title of his book was: When Fathers Ruled. What happened with the Reformation? The converts saw themselves as a royal priesthood. They took it seriously. They ruled in their homes and in their churches, and in their communities, and they revolutionized the culture of their time; and every time men have seen this doctrine, the priesthood of all believers as basic, it has accomplished great things.

The Bible after all, speaks of Christians as a royal priesthood. For example, in 1 Peter 2:5,9 “5. Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 6. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;” And again in Revelation 1:6, Jesus Christ: “hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

Now in the Old Testament history, we see the office of king and priest kept strictly apart. When king Uzziah sought to combine them he was stricken with leprosy as a judgement from God. Even in the New Testament, there is no ground for combining them in any officer of church, or state. But we see the two offices of king and priest combined in the New Testament, in the believer; not in an institution, not in church nor in state, in the believer, in you. You are called to be kings and priest. There is never a permission for the rulers and churchmen to combine the offices, the ban on this continues even as for the believer the union of the two offices is mandated, commanded. We are called to be a royal priesthood. What does this mean? I believe it is extremely important for us to grasp this fact, and we will deal with two like facts tomorrow.

The combining of church and state into one institution remains forbidden. Nothing in the New Testament invalidates God’s ban on their mutual absorption, what we are told is very different; namely that these two offices, these two functions which cannot be combined in any institutional form, are and must be combined in the person of all believers. What is forbidden to church and state is commanded of you, that you be a royal priesthood.

Now this is the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers; it is a necessity that Christians see themselves as a royal priesthood, and that they function accordingly. In Ephesians 2:19 Christians are described as no longer aliens and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. The word ‘fellow citizens’ is in the Greek ‘sumpolites’ meaning: ‘from the same city’ the city of God. So we are fellow citizens of the City of God. We therefore represent the kingdom of God, more than church or state, more than any institution can, we the people of Christ represent the kingdom of God. We are the fellow citizens thereof, we are dominion men, kings and priests, dominionists; and we are to speak as God’s men, offering the world and all that we have and are to Christ, our great High Priest and King.

This means that God’s word is a personal word, it speaks to you and to me. Of course it speaks to church and state, to business, to the arts and sciences; but first and foremost it speaks to us as a royal priesthood. It is a command word, telling us how to live. For His royal priesthood, the Bible is marching orders for dominion. God does not issue His word to institutions such as church and state, although they are to be governed by it; but He speaks directly to us as believers, as His royal priesthood, on how to make all the realms of this world His kingdom.

As the word of God is made a church word, it loses its power; because it can only be a strong word, and a strong state word, and a strong word in any area of life and thought, if it is first of all His command word to us, as His royal priesthood. In other words, God is talking to us, and we had better listen.

We are told as His royal priesthood, how to make all the realms of this world God’s kingdom. The great commission speaks to all believers, and it is a personal command. Every area of life and thought must be made subject to Christ our King. Moreover, we are told that access now is not limited to the High Priest who alone went into the Holy of Holies, but is available to all Christians as the Royal Priesthood.

This is an exciting fact. Joseph (Mcauloph?) is preaching on Hebrews right now, and he has urged me to go into Hebrews in my next series, which I shall. Hebrews 10:19-22 tells us of this access, as priest, into the Holy of Holies; and Hebrews 13:15 requires of us the sacrifice of praise. I think that is a verse we all need to read often, because too often we go into the presence of God, and we have a long list of demands and complaints. We know what we want to whine about. But we are told to go in, among other things, with the sacrifice of praise.

Because Christians are a Royal Priesthood, the future of Christianity does not depend on the Christian state and the Christian church, important as they are; as much as it depends upon the Christian himself, on the Royal Priesthood. I want to stress that, it depends on you.

And that is why John accomplished so much in so short a time. He didn’t hear Christ talking to the church, he heard Christ calling him. When he went to Romania and came back, he was called on the carpet by one pastor who wanted to know “By what authority” (Those words ring a bell, don’t they, from the New Testament) “are you doing this?” and when John got what he was striving at, he said: “Well, if you want to do it, I’ll turn it all over to you. You do it!” “Well that’s not the point, the question is what church commissioned you? Who gave you the authority to go out?” well, that is backwards. It is Christ who calls us, because we are a royal priesthood.

We as individual Christians are the ones who must make things happen. We must begin where we are to reclaim our families, churches, schools, civil governments, businesses, the arts and sciences, and all things else; for Christ. It is we who are the royal priesthood, not institutions; important though they may be. God on judgement day judges persons, not institutions. He will not ask you what church you were a member of.

The purpose of the sermon is central to Reformed premises. It is educational, it is to teach the people of God who God is, and how to obey Him. God is triune, and His Son is our Redeemer, and His law word is our marching orders. The church is like a barracks room where the soldiers of Christ are trained to go forth and conquer in His name.

The world is not going to be changed, therefore by politics, nor by churches, and today it is the politicians who offer us the plan of salvation; is it not. But it is going to be changed by the grace of God manifested by and through His royal priesthood. We are also God’s prophets, called to apply God’s word to all areas of life. As kings in Christ we are to govern all spheres by His law word, as priests in Him we are to dedicate ourselves, our families, callings, and our world to Christ our Lord.

This means that the new Reformation will be by Christ’s royal priesthood, by you. We cannot legitimately wait for others, or for institutions to do it, however good they may be. It is our task and calling. We must educate ourselves and others to Christianize the non-Christian world for Christ.

I read years ago about a woman in the Middle Ages born horribly deformed, born into a very wealthy family, but so repulsive that people found the sight of her painful. They didn’t want her around, it was upsetting to them and their faith to see this repulsive, shriveled up girl. But she was full of faith and full of joy. She tried to go around and help in the various good works, but even her good works were not acceptable because she was so painful to see: “If that can happen to her, born into a wealthy family, it could happen to my child or my grandchild, they could be born that way!” They didn’t want to see her. So they finally walled her up, and they said: “We will feed you every day, we will take care of you; but stay here till you die, the community finds it hard to take, to see her.” So what did this girl, Margaret, do? She said: “Well, God be thanked I have my voice and I can pray. And she said: “If anyone has anything to be prayed for, come to this little opening where the food is handed in, and tell me your needs. You don’t have to look at me, just speak.” And she became famous throughout the area, shaming everyone by her grace, and for her intense prayers. And little by little the people were changed.

We must be the new Reformation, because we are Christ’s Royal Priesthood. We must educate ourselves and others to Christianize a non-Christian world for Christ. The modern world has a humanistic and erotic plan of salvation. It is amazing, the volume of books published, the gist of which is to say that: “We are going to have salvation by free sex.” Norman O’Brown wrote Loves Body in 1966, and he called for making once again knowledge in its essence carnal, as in ancient paganism. Michael Perkins has described as the central theme of modern erotic literature, which comes out in great quantities, this statement by Brown in Loves Body: “Dionysus the mad god breaks down the boundaries, releases the prisoners, abolishes repression, and abolishes the principium individuationis, substituting for it the unity of man, and the unity of man with nature.” Or as others summed it up long ago, as the first and only law for man: “Do what you will, is the highest and only law.”

But the goal of Christianity is to redeem men by Christ’s atonement, and to make of them a Royal Priesthood in His service. As against this the erotic revolution of our time seeks the depersonalization of man into a mindless sexuality. Our present humanistic goals are geared to the pleasure principle; whereas Christianity’s goals are governed by the reality principle, that is that God is the Lord and we His people must serve and glorify Him.

In the 1970’s a prominent physicist, one of the top men in his field, wrote a book, a very pessimistic book, predicting the end of civilization within two centuries. Because, he said, men now have faith in nothing but the pleasure principle; and in terms of this civilization will disappear. The value of reading will be regarded as a nonessential factor, we will begin to live like Polynesians live now, and we will end up as the Polynesians once were before they were controlled by the West: murderous, mindless people, interested only in their pleasure. So he said the end of civilization is growing near. But we are out to capture it in the name of Christ, and to rebuild it.

We are out to redeem men by Christ’s atonement, and to make of them a Royal Priesthood. Genesis1 tells us, not that God made ‘nature’ which is a collective noun and not an entity; there is no such thing as nature, that is just a collective noun. It sums up everything that exists, outside of heaven. But Genesis 1 tells us that He made the specific things of the universe, the sun, the moon, the stars, the plants, the animals, and that His creative work on the 6th day culminated in man, his purpose for creation was stated to a man, an individual, Adam; not to a general entity. Our new creation began with the resurrection of the last Adam, Jesus Christ; the first fruits of them that sleep. In other words, the Bible is a very personal book. It is a marvelous book. I don’t like to think of it as some do, as an inspiring book, it is inspired, but not inspiring, because it tells us: “Thou art the man.” It confronts us as we read it with our sins. It reminds us of all those things that we have left undone that we should have done.

The Bible is a book of marching orders, and we don’t take well to orders. We want gifts from God, not orders. And we keep praying to God not for orders, but for gifts. We have the whole thing reserved; we do not say: “Here am I oh Lord, send me. What are your orders for me this day?” No, we thumb through the Bible to find a happy word for the day. (laughter)

To shift our responsibility for the conquest of all things for Christ our King, from ourselves to institutions, is to warp our mandate. It is doing pastors an injustice if we expect them to do our work. They are to teach us, they are to instruct us in the word of God; but when it comes to marching, we do the marching. They are the sergeants training the troops. So the church must serve us, educate us, and guide us, but God judges us primarily, and we cannot hide in the church on judgement day. It won’t work. We are the Royal Priesthood, the empowered people of Christ. Our education therefore must be Biblical. The Bible is God’s command word, we must reestablish the relationship between reading and the Bible, between faith and action, and between faith and victory; because as John tells us, this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. This is our calling. Thank you.

[Audience Leader] We are going to have a time for questions and answers. [Tape ends Q&A cont. next lecture]