– I’m at Resonate, the annual gathering of the new official workers for The Christian and Missionary Alliance. It was my privilege to open the conference, and I felt like the Lord gave me a fresh word for the moment that I’m eager to share with you today.

As my wife and I got into the car to drive over here, I said, “This is the first of the last.” This is the first time this year that I’m going to say that this is the last time that I get to do this. August 1 launched my twelfth and final year in this role. Hence, this would be my final Resonate Conference as president.

I preached from 1 Peter 2:9: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God,” and we considered each phrase. “You’re a chosen people”—starting with the basic truth that we, my Alliance brother and sister, are called first and foremost to Christ. We know this, but to our new workers and to all of us, I remind us that our call is one of a relationship with Jesus that precedes and surpasses our call to service. Please seal this in your soul. Yes, we are called to serve, and what a privilege it is! But I worry about those whose work seems to have outpaced their worship. I worry about myself when my work seems to be outpacing my worship. Our work is only worthwhile when it flows out of worship to the One who is worthy. Let’s do whatever soul work and schedule prioritization we have to do to keep our souls fresh and our walk with Him intimate, for we have been chosen by Him to be in relationship with Him. “You,” Church, “are a chosen people,” chosen by Christ Himself.

Next, we are a “royal priesthood.” Core to New Testament theology and Protestantism is the priesthood of all believers. We believe this. We know that this is written for the whole Church, not just the clergy. But we, as those called to serve Him in the church and in other forms of professional ministry, have a unique position of being the priest who represents people to God and God to the people. Many of us have a title, whether it’s “minister” or “pastor” or “reverend.” We have a talk that we give from time to time. Maybe you have the pulpit or you lead a youth group or a small group and you give the lesson. We have a title. We give a talk. And we have a task. It may be paid or unpaid, the position that we hold, but it’s still a position, an assigned responsibility in the ministry. And so, because we have a title and we give a talk and we have a task in the eyes of those around us, we represent God, whether we want to or not.

You, my friend, are a priest representing God to people. Their view of God is largely determined by their view of you. I hope this puts fear in some of our hearts. It does mine. In the eyes of others, we embody the Church. And therefore, we represent God. Whether we want to represent Him or not, whether we do it well or not, this is how we are perceived. Not only do we represent God to people, but we represent the people to God. Moses: “I can’t carry all these people, and I give them berth. Why do I have to lead all these people?” Paul: “Who is weak that I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin that I do not inwardly burn? Besides all this I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches” —2 Corinthians 11.

Those are priesthood statements, where those leaders are feeling the “I represent the people into the presence of God Himself.” How we handle this idea, that we represent the people before God, is a determinant in how well we will do in ministry. If we don’t care about the people, we won’t carry them well. But if we think that we’re the savior of the people, then we’ll attempt to carry them too much. If our defense mechanism is to protect ourselves from the weight of carrying them, then we’ll put a distance between ourselves and them in such a way that we’ll never really serve as a spiritual leader for them. This is a tricky thing in the ministry, to know how to fully represent the people to God and God to the people without playing the role of God. Here’s the question: “Where will the privilege and responsibility of the priesthood take your soul?”

I know you feel the privilege, at least I hope you do. And I know you feel the responsibility, but where will it take your soul, priest? Will it take us to a place of performance? “Well, I know what it is to put on the show and create the image and maybe even make a brand for myself in the process.” Die to image ministry—that’s an oxymoron if there ever was one. Pastoral brand—stop, please. Where will it take your soul, priest? To be a performer? I hope not. Maybe to the perfunctory. Perhaps you know what I’m talking about. “My heart’s not in it, but this is what religious people do, I guess. So, it’s Sunday, I’ll do the religious gig and say the religious words.” God, spare us, please. I perfuncted at times in my early ministry, and I drove home ashamed because I knew I had been a religious professional carrying out a religious duty in a totally religious spirit, and that’s not what God called me to do or why He gave me His Spirit to indwell me. Will it lead you to performance? Will it lead you to the perfunctory? Or will the priesthood leave you to press more deeply into Jesus? “I need you now. I’ll need you tomorrow. I need you always, every moment.” May the priesthood cause us to press into the High Priest Himself.

Number three: “You’re a holy nation.” Holiness matters. This is a call to righteous living. If we are to represent God, then we better live in a godly manner. We better make sure that our lives are above repute and that we have a lifestyle that is worthy of the calling that we’ve received. Remember, you are not holy because of what you’ve done. You’re holy because of what He has done. May we learn what it is to have Christ as our Sanctifier, His character lived out through our personality. Many people see the Sermon on the Mount as a beautiful illustration of holy living, living the life that Jesus requires of us. I agree, it is. If you think you can do the Sermon on the Mount, I don’t think you understand the Sermon on the Mount. “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” If that doesn’t pin you to the mat, you aren’t listening. I think the result of the sermon should be a very simple, “I can’t do this.” I believe the proper conclusion to the serious listener is, “I can’t even do Jesus 101. I’m going to need Him every step of the way.” I think there’s another lesson in this phrase, “holy nation.”

Our primary allegiance is to our heavenly citizenship, not our earthly one. We’re already a holy nation as God’s people. I love the country in which I was born and get to live, America. I feel proud every time we win the gold in the Olympics—yay us! But my deepest allegiance is not to a flag, a country, a political party. I’m already a citizen of heaven who has been placed by God—Acts 17—to live in a specific space and time. I didn’t choose it. It was chosen for me. I better not idolize it. First-century Jews, anticipating the Messiah, are our model and example for the current moment of time. They desired power to dominate, wrapped in a spiritualized cloak all the way to their final moments with Jesus on the Mount of Ascension, where the final question asked by the Church to our Risen Christ was, “Now do we get to power? Now do we get to reign? Now do we get our kingdom back?” We’re still doing this 2,000 years later. “Lord,” they say, “At this time, are you going to restore the kingdom to us?” Jesus’ response: “I’m going to give you power, but it’s not the kind that’s going to be for that kind of purpose. I want to give you the enablement to be My testimony, a martyr for Me. Start in your town. Don’t get stuck there. Remember your regions. See the Samaritan among you, and make disciples all the way to the ends of the earth. You are going to be My anointed ones, anointed with power that will be world-changing, not nation-creating.”

May The Alliance never get caught up in the passing fads of political fanaticism. I know the pressure that’s upon the Church and church leaders. I know that you’ll be declared as weak and spineless if you don’t try to marshal and mobilize your congregation to political causes. There are those in and outside the Church who belittle pastors, who seek to dominate pastors with a political pressure in a spiritualized cloak. And I’m welcoming you, church leader, to keep your head above it. I know we have a duty to vote and to be an influence for good. Do it. Be it. But your church is neither an extension of nor an outpost for a political party. Your church is an expression of the blood bought, heaven-bound Bride of Christ, a holy nation. We can find ways to be salt and light, to be an influence for good in our community and beyond, without being a pulpit or puppet for a political agenda. So, Church, we’re already a nation. Heaven’s our home. Jesus is our King.

“Chosen people, royal priests, holy nation,” you’re also called a “people belonging to God, a people of His possession.” In the Young’s Literal Translation, “a people acquired.” 1 Corinthians 6: “You’re not your own. You were bought at a price.” For this reason, for Council next May, I hope you’ll be there, the theme is simply His. As The Alliance lacks a new president and we experience a leadership transition, this theme will be a reminder to us and a call to the whole Alliance family of whose we are. We are not our own, writing our own agendas. We’re His. Peter continues: “Once you were not a people, but now you’re the people of God. Once you have not received mercy, but now you’ve received mercy. My dear friends, I urge you as aliens and strangers in this world, abstain from the desires of sinful nature which war against your soul, and live such good lives among the pagans, that though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.”

May the watching world see holiness and wholeness in our lives. May they taste the salt. May they experience the brightness of our lives and praise God as a result. Peter first states that we’re the ones who declare God’s praises and then says that the accusatory pagan joins us in the praise. As the work of God goes deeper in us, the mission advances more greatly through us, and those who once belittled us now worship with us as we live out our calling—chosen, priests, holy, acquired, His.