Christ has made His people kings and priests to God. What does that calling ask of us when we return to our relationships, responsibilities and ordinary routines?
At Beyond’s Coffee Shop Sunday, we were blessed by Reverend Daniel Gichana, a friend of the house visiting from Kenya, where his ministry is based. He brought a message that connected what Jesus has accomplished through His sacrifice with the way we live in response.
“Priesthood has demands,” he reminded us.
A body offered to God, a life poured out in service and prayer sustained in faith give practical expression to that calling. What Christ has done for us reaches into what we do with our lives.
MADE KINGS AND PRIESTS
Reading Revelation 1:5–6, Rev. Daniel asked us to follow the passage beyond the cleansing of sin. Christ has also made His people kings and priests to God. His blood brings forgiveness and establishes a new identity.
Family history, race, social standing and public approval no longer have the final word over who we are. Speaking to those whose backgrounds offered no connection to royalty, Rev. Daniel put it memorably:
“If you don’t like how you were born, get born again.”
His point was that our beginnings do not determine the fullness of who we become in Christ. Through new birth, we belong to God and receive an identity rooted in what Jesus has done. That identity must shape how we think and live.
The patterns and standards of this world constantly offer other ways to define ourselves: by what we achieve, what we own, what we do or how others respond to us. Those influences reach into our ambitions, relationships, entertainment and social media habits. Receiving our identity from Christ calls us to examine what we follow, consume and celebrate, and whether those choices reflect the people He has made us.
To explain the connection between kingship and priesthood, Rev. Daniel turned to Abraham’s encounter with Melchizedek in Genesis 14. Melchizedek appears as both king and priest, bringing out bread and wine. His priesthood precedes the Levitical priesthood, and Hebrews identifies Jesus as High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
The priesthood we receive through Christ does not depend on descent from Israel’s tribe of Levi. First Peter describes God’s people as a royal priesthood and a holy nation. Revelation pictures those redeemed by Christ’s blood coming from every tribe, language, people and nation.
Revelation 5:9–10 carries that calling further, describing those redeemed by Christ as reigning on the earth. Rev. Daniel connected this reign with the practice of priesthood.
He taught that our spiritual lives should equip us to fulfil our calling and exercise influence wherever God has placed us: in our studies, careers, businesses or ministry.
But how do we live out that calling? The answer begins with the One who opened the way.
A WAY OPENED BY CHRIST
The foundation of priesthood is Christ’s sacrifice.
In Matthew 26, Jesus gives His disciples bread and wine, speaking of His body and the blood of the new covenant. Rev. Daniel drew attention to those receiving them: disciples who had surrendered their lives to their Master. He placed that moment within the continuing call to follow Jesus.
At the cross, the covenant was established through His death. Matthew records that, as Jesus yielded His spirit, the temple veil tore from top to bottom.
Under the old covenant, entry into the Most Holy Place had been restricted to the high priest, once a year. The torn veil marked an opening only God could make. Through Christ, we can draw near to God with confidence.
Hebrews 10:19–20 describes this access as a new and living way, opened through Jesus’ blood. Our confidence rests on His work.
That access also invites a response. Turning to 1 Peter 2:4–5, Rev. Daniel described believers as living stones being built into a spiritual house: a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
To be holy is to be set apart for God. That belonging begins to shape our habits, priorities and choices as we learn to offer our lives to Him.
Rev. Daniel identified three sacrifices through which priesthood becomes visible.
THE BODY: A LIVING SACRIFICE
Drawing on Romans 12:1, Rev. Daniel called us to present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God.
This brings worship into the details of daily life. Our sexual conduct, appetites, conversations and habits all become places of response. Consecration asks us to consider what we permit, pursue and practise throughout the week.
Those decisions can be costly when the surrounding culture makes another course seem “normal”.
“I know everybody is doing it,” Rev. Daniel said, “but I came to remind you, your name is not everybody.”
He rooted that challenge in Jesus’ call in Luke 9:23: deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow Him. Following Jesus involves saying no to things that compete with obedience, even when they bring pleasure or approval.
That surrender also reaches into our surroundings. Rev. Daniel warned against remaining in environments that reinforce destructive habits, particularly where those habits have already marked a family’s history. He urged us to confront those patterns through a deeper walk with God and choices that support obedience.
The same call applied to ministry. Those seeking to carry God’s presence must spend time in His presence. For musicians and others serving publicly, preparation before God was to take priority over visibility or popularity.
Offering our bodies to God becomes a daily expression of belonging to Christ: a boundary kept, an appetite brought under His lordship, a decision to follow Him when others choose differently.
And that surrender shapes how we give ourselves to others.
SERVICE: A LIFE POURED OUT
The second sacrifice was a life given to the work of ministry.
In Philippians 2:17–18, Paul describes himself as being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of the believers’ faith. Rev. Daniel used that image to speak about the time, energy and comfort we give in serving God.
Showing up, contributing and caring for others require something of us. For those quietly giving themselves to the life of the church, the message offered encouragement: God sees their sacrifice, and their service is not in vain.
Yet the offering includes our attitude. In the verses leading into Paul’s description, Philippians 2:14–16 calls believers to do all things without complaining or disputing, hold fast to the word of life and shine as lights in the world.
How we serve matters.
Priesthood shapes both what we give and the spirit in which we give it. Serving with love and without grumbling makes the life of Christ visible through ordinary acts of faithfulness.
Rev. Daniel also recalled Anna’s sustained worship through fasting and prayer in Luke 2, and the privilege she received of seeing Jesus. Her example invited us to recognise the value of devotion that continues over time.
A life offered to God is never wasted. That faithfulness continues in prayer, including when we cannot yet see its fruit.
PRAYER: AN OFFERING SUSTAINED IN FAITH
The third sacrifice was prayer.
Rev. Daniel challenged the ease with which prayer becomes negotiable. Other commitments retain their place in the diary while time with God is postponed. His concern extended to corporate prayer and the priority we give to gathering with others to pray.
He recalled visiting a businessman with his father to buy a replacement car engine. They arrived ready to pay, but the man’s Friday prayers took precedence. The transaction would have to wait.
The memory brought the question of priorities into focus: what place does worship hold when it competes with convenience, opportunity or personal plans?
Rev. Daniel also spoke about the resistance that can arise when prayer, fasting and giving become deliberate commitments. He urged us to recognise that spiritual contention and remain faithful.
Revelation 5:8 and 8:3 gave this call a wider perspective. The prayers of the saints are pictured as incense before God’s throne.
Our prayers carry significance beyond what we can immediately see.
We may pray and feel that nothing is happening. Circumstances may remain unresolved, and the answer may take longer than we hoped. Yet visible circumstances do not tell the whole story.
Returning to his teaching on spiritual dominion, Rev. Daniel emphasised prayer as essential to living out our calling. He urged us to sustain our offering in faith, trusting that our prayers matter before God while we wait.
LIVING UNDER JESUS’ LORDSHIP
As he closed, Rev. Daniel brought the message to a point of decision.
“I don’t want you to leave here saying it was a good message.”
He called us back to the secret place: time with God in prayer, fasting and the study of Scripture. What we receive in His presence is to shape how we live beyond it.
That response reaches into personal priorities, opinions and decisions. Relationships, marriage, career and business all come under Jesus’ lordship.
Echoing Galatians 2:20, Rev. Daniel reminded us that the life of faith is a life in which Christ lives in us. The demands of priesthood lead us into that surrender, allowing His will to direct our own.
The gathering moved into prayer and the song “Lord, Prepare Me to Be a Sanctuary.” Rev. Daniel prayed for forgiveness where other priorities had displaced God, and for grace to live as priests each day.
The response would continue beyond that moment: in a habit surrendered, a responsibility carried with love or time set aside to pray.
Christ has opened the way and made His people kings and priests. We respond by offering our bodies in consecration, pouring out our lives in service and sustaining our prayers in faith.
As we return to the week ahead, where is that calling asking something of us?
What needs to be surrendered? Whom can we serve? What place will prayer hold?
Priesthood takes shape as we bring those choices under the lordship of Jesus.
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