Summary: Elder Mike Gowens' 1/13/19 sermon looks at an expression in Exodus 19:6 in which God's people are identified as "a kingdom of priests." Gowens insists that maintaining the balance between the personal privilege of approaching God as a priest and the corporate responsibility of living together with other believers in a kingdom is critical to healthy church life. Understanding the priesthood of each believer challenges the dangerous extreme of clericalism. Understanding the community nature of the kingdom of God curbs the kind of unaccountable extremes that are so prevalent today among religious mavericks who tend to strike out on their own apart from the fellowship of the church.
