Not everyone has an open door into Jesus’ church.
But Jesus can fix that.
I love so many things about the United States. I’m so thankful for the freedom we have here, and the sacrifice that was required to get that freedom. I’m especially thankful that we have religious freedom here.
But as I observe the state of the church in the country right now, this one thing really bothers me: not everyone is welcome to church here. Not everyone has an open door to Jesus’ church.
As I observe the state of the church in the country right now, this one thing really bothers me: not everyone is welcome to church here. Click To TweetI’m not trying to stir the pot or anything, but it’s sad, right? Stay with me, though: Jesus already had a plan for making sure that every non-Christian was welcome into His church, and we’ve come to call that plan “The Priesthood of All Believers.”
The Priesthood of All Believers
This idea comes from 1 Peter 2:9, Hebrew 4, and many other places in the Bible.
What Peter meant is that every single one of His followers is a minister of the gospel. So all Christians are supposed to be priests. But don’t think modern priest with a cool white collar (though I’ve always wanted to wear one of those).
Think priest in the temple in Jesus’ time. In the Old Testament, there was a tribe of priests called the Levites, and their job was to take care of the temple, polish the gold bowls in the temple, make sacrifices in the temple, run the worship services in the temple, and keep the doors of the temple open.
It was their job to open the doors.
So that’s the priesthood of all believers. And if you’re a Christian, you’re a part of it.
Breaking Down 1 Peter 2:9
This was Jesus’ plan for how the church would keep the doors open to non-Christians:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
1 Peter 2:9
But here’s the problem: we don’t do that in America. Maybe this is the case in other countries as well, but I live here, so I have only really observed it here. In America, we traded that priesthood for a much smaller group of church leaders. We basically outsourced our jobs as the priesthood of all believers to a very small group of vocational pastors and church staff.
The fault doesn’t land on them, though. We, all the Christians living here, are the ones that have tried to get that tiny group of people to do the entire job of the priesthood.
It worked fine for a while, but it just hasn’t opened enough doors. If you live in, say Seattle, or even Dallas – a place with a lot of churches – there are really only a few doors into the church because those doors are opened up by a very small group of individuals within the church – vocational pastors, or church staff, or key leaders.
Most churches, from traditional to hip, want you to fit into specific socio-economic doors to be welcome, but that’s not the way Jesus wanted this to go.
Let’s bring back the priesthood of all believers, where every believer can open a door into Jesus’ church. There are 200 million Christians in this country. If we all open a door into Jesus’ church, then all of the sudden, EVERY non-Christian is welcome to church.
Let’s bring back the priesthood of all believers, where every believer can open a door into Jesus’ church. Click To TweetWe could open a door into Jesus’ church on every single street in this country.
Any Christian Can Open That Door
Here’s the exciting thing: The door to the church could be anywhere. And any person in this massive priesthood of believers can open a door.
Think about this: the front door of the church could even be the front door of your house.
Let’s open the door and invite a non-Christian in.
An organization called 24:14 did a study that found that 98% of believers in America will die without sharing their faith with a single person. That wasn’t Jesus’ plan. We can’t outsource all of our jobs to just vocational church leaders. We all need to open a door and let someone in.
Imagine this Holy Priesthood, as Peter put it, spread out all over this country. And it’s our job to open the doors of the temple and let people in. But because of what Jesus did on the cross, there’s a new twist. Now the doors to the temple are spread out onto every street.
Because the door to the church can be the physical door of your house.
I Stand At the Door And Knock
As I’ve been thinking about this, a line from Revelation keeps coming to mind. Jesus says,
“I stand at the door and knock.”
Revelation 3:20
We often think this passage is Jesus knocking on the door of the heart of an unbeliever. But it’s not. This is Jesus knocking on the door of a church.
Want to know where this line comes from?
The apostle John had a vision of Jesus speaking to a “lukewarm” church in Laodicea. Jesus says, you’re neither hot nor cold. You’re lukewarm. You’re complacent. You think you have it all together. But He says, I am lovingly reprimanding you like a father. I’m reprimanding you because I love you.
And here is what this fatherly reprimand sounded like: “I stand at the door and knock.”
History tells us that Laodicea was a rich city. They were so rich that when an earthquake hit the city, they declined help from the empire. Imagine this! A city in Jesus’ time with theaters, gyms, spas, running water. They had it all together. They thought they didn’t need anyone. And the church there was comfortable.
Does any of this sound familiar? A church in a rich place. The mindset that I don’t need anyone? Fierce individualism?
But Jesus speaks to us in a loving, fatherly reprimand and says, “I stand at the door and knock.”
Jesus is standing at the door of the church, saying, open the door.
Let’s open the doors.
Let’s open our door.