Word of Salvation – June 2011

 

Numbers 18 – MINISTRY AND ITS SUPPORT – by Rev. John Westendorp

(Sermon 18 in a series on Numbers)

 Scripture Reading: Numbers 18:1-13 & 26-32.

Singing: Book of Worship 27 / 451 / 434 & Rejoicing 312

 

Introduction: An interesting modern development in worship is the popular concept of Café-Church.

I discovered this past week just how popular it is.
I searched the Internet for the term ‘Café-Church’.
On Google that search returned thousands of entries.
I then searched on ‘Coffee-Church’ and ended up – in total – with some 35,000 entries.
You’ll be pleased to hear that I didn’t waste time to check out all of them…!

 

But some of the ways in which Café-Church was promoted left me feeling rather angry.
Promoters talk about church without boring hymns and with no rambling prayers.
And please don’t expect any fire and brimstone from Café-Church preachers… that’s too heavy.
In fact it goes without saying that you won’t have to listen to a 20-minute sermon at all.
It’s all about a fun experience where entertainment replaces worship.

 

Iain Duguid, in his commentary, begins his study on Numbers 18 with the following comment:
“We live in an age that suffers from a lack of the fear of God.”
And then he quotes from a church that advertises it’s worship services as follows:
“At (our church) you’re free to enjoy yourself.
Enjoy God as you experience Him through the timely message, caring people
and inspiring music. And it’s okay to laugh at Church – in fact we encourage it.
We’ve got a casual atmosphere where you can enjoy your morning with a cup of Starbucks House Blend, a doughnut and some new friends.”

 

Today for many people worship of God has to be casual and lay-back.
So there are churches where you can worship for months and not ever hear sin mentioned.
Where sermons are pep talks to make us feel good about ourselves.
And Jesus, when He’s mentioned, is usually presented as our best friend who always affirms us.

 

Welcome to Café-Church….! Please don’t get me wrong.
There’s room for evangelistic events in a lay-back setting where you can invite unbelievers.
Many Reformed Churches periodically hold a Coffee-Church as an outreach event.
But I’m talking this morning about places where this is now the norm for Christian worship.
Iain Duiguid concludes:
They make coming into the presence of Almighty God sound like the spiritual
equivalent of a visit to a favourite uncle.

 

What a contrast to the last couple of chapters of Numbers.
The fear of God is not a live issue for many people today… but it certainly was for Israel.
Listen how the last chapter of Numbers ends:
“We will die, we are lost, we are all lost…. are we all going to die?”

 

These people had just seen 250 leaders of Israel incinerated by Almighty God.
They had witnessed the earth open up and swallow three prominent families alive.
And as if that wasn’t enough that was followed by a plague in which 14,700 died.
Do you understand why these people were awestruck by God’s holiness and power?
That’s a million miles away from Café-Church where you periodically duck out for coffee refills.

 

A] GOD’S GIFT – THE MINISTRY OF ACCESS AND EXCLUSION.

 

1. Numbers 18 is all about the ministry of the Priests and the Levites.

It’s all about their labours at the tabernacle on behalf of the nation of Israel.

But the context is that of a people who are now terrified of the consequences of their sin.

 

These people have experienced in a frightening way what rebellion against God leads to.
God is not a tame God. God is not a God who you can comfortably keep in your back pocket.
God is awesome in his holiness… and he will not be messed with.

They have not only seen God’s terrible judgments they also saw that staff of Aaron that budded.
A dead staff of wood that came alive. It sprouted, budded, flowered and fruited all at once.
A profound and meaningful miracle that made clear that God had singled out Aaron.

 

But in this chapter we now see why God chose Aaron as Priest and the Levites as his helpers.
Ministry here in Numbers 18 is essentially one of protection.
It is to make sure that what the people fear will not happen.
The Priesthood is especially to protect the people from death by a holy and awesome God.

 

I imagine that all of us have seen the secret-service men who surround our Prime Minister.
I recall video clips of the previous Prime Minister out jogging in the morning.
And always there would be some security men – never too far away.
Their task is to protect the Prime Minister from anyone in the crowd crazy enough to attack him.

But now imagine that it actually works the other way.
Those security guys are not guarding the Prime Minister from the crowds.
They are guarding the crowds from the Prime Minister. That’s a crazy idea.
And yet that’s what the Ministry of Aaron is really all about.
To guard the people… to protect the nation from a holy and righteous God.

 

Please remember again the context.
Their fear is that the whole nation will perish after they saw plague.
And after they witnessed that Aaron’s rod had budded… flowered and born fruit.
But they will not all perish. God has a appointed Aaron as the security guy for the people.

 

Notice how God puts it in the opening verses:
Aaron, his sons and his father’s family are to bear responsibility for the offences of the nation.
The ministry of Aaron (and to a lesser extent that of the Levites) is the protection of Israel.
In some ways we could say that their’s was a ministry of exclusion.
Protecting the people by keeping them away from a holy God.
Aaron would be their substitute… He would enter God’s presence on behalf of Israel.

 

2. However there is also another way we need to see the ministry of Aaron and the Levites.

There ministry was also a way of making God accessible to a sinful people.
Let me come back to that lack of a fear of God in our day and age.
We have this attitude that anyone can waltz into God’s presence in any way they desire.
And when it comes to the ‘how’ of worship we just do whatever feels good.
It’s all very casual as if God was a jolly good fellow who just smiles a lot and never ever frowns.

Contrast that with these people in Numbers who feel that their doom is sealed.
“We will die, we are lost, we are all lost…. are we all going to die?”
They talk as if there is no hope anymore for any kind of terror-free relationship with God.
It’s a total contrast to the Café-Church mentality: Woe to us for we are all doomed.

 

But, no! Through the Priesthood of Aaron the way to God is still open.
There was a way they could come to God… a way they could know they would be accepted.
They needed to come thru Aaron.
He would present their offerings to God on their behalf.
And through the work of the priests and Levites God would bless His people richly.
In fact in this way God was showing that He desired fellowship with His people.

 

Here again the context of the previous chapters is very telling.

Korah had rejected Aaron’s special role as God’s appointed priest.
He claimed that the whole nation was holy and had full and open access to God.
He suggested that they didn’t need the ministry of Aaron for that.
Korah was the Café-Church promoter in whom there was no fear of a holy God.

But Israel had learned the hard way that Korah got it wrong.
Now, in contrast, they felt no one could approach God and live.
So God now reassures them that this is not the case.
God still wants to be accessible… but on His terms… thru His appointed office-bearer.

 

3. Let me also stress that this ministry of the Priests and the Levites was God’s gift to the people.

In verse 6 the work of the Levites is spoken of as God’s gift.

In verse 7 the work of the Priesthood is spoke of as God’s gift.

 

Nothing could possibly makes clearer to us that this is all about grace.
God takes the initiative and He gives to His people these ministry gifts. That is His doing.
He gives Aaron for the priesthood and the Levites for the work of the tabernacle.
It is God’s desire to continue having fellowship with His people.
And he provides the gifts that are needed for that to happen.

 

If the gift of these ministries highlights that this is His grace provision then it also points us to the gospel.
Today the Lord Jesus is our great High Priest. And His ministry is God’s gracious gift to us.
His too is both a ministry of exclusion and a ministry of access.
Those who do not put their trust in His finished work are excluded from God’s presence.
While those who humbly accept His saving work are given full access to the Father.

 

Some of us might want to ask: Well doesn’t that mean that today the Café-Church culture is okay?
Jesus has thrown open the way to the Father. We’re told to come boldly to the throne of grace.
So, surely, we don’t have to fear the way that those Israelites did.
Yes! But we remember again the price that was paid to make that possible.
We think of the horrible sufferings of Jesus – tormented in body and in soul.
It took an awesome sacrifice to open to the way to the Father.

Only in that way could we be protected from the wrath of an angry God.
If anything that must make us even more reverent and respectful than those Israelites.
Nothing less that the Son of God dying for us makes fellowship with God possible.

 

4. This morning I want to make some further links to the NT and to Christian ministry.

There are of course some big differences.
Christian ministry today is not the same the ministry of Aaron and the Levites.
Our office-bearers do not offer sacrifices the way Aaron did nor do they serve in a tabernacle.
The Aaronic Priesthood is finished. Jesus has come and all of that is now fulfilled in Him.

 

And yet there are some similarities.
In His letter to the Ephesians (4:11f) Paul speaks of NT ministry too as a gift.
His gifts were that some should be apostles and some to be prophets,
some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers.
And we might as well add: “…and some to be elders and deacons.”

Ministry is God’s gift to the Church. Office-bearers are called of God to bless and enrich the church.

 

Furthermore NT ministry too has both that elements of access to God and exclusion from Him.
On the one hand there is that idea of protection and exclusion.
Office bearers protect people by warning them that our God is a holy God.
That we cannot just waltz into His presence willy-nilly just as we please.
In fact office-bearers are given the keys of the Kingdom.
In teaching and discipline they exclude the unrepentant.

On the other hand there is also the idea of access and admittance to God.
Office-bearers point out that fellowship with God is wonderfully possible through Jesus.
It is not so that we will all perish… we are not all doomed as the Israelites wailed.
Here too the office-bearers use the keys of the Kingdom.
In teaching, preaching and discipline they admit believers into God’s Kingdom.

 

B] THE PEOPLE’S GIFT – SUPPORTING PRIESTLY MINISTRY.

 

1. We need to go further today because Numbers 18 consists of two parts.

The first part is God’s gift of ministry to the O.T. church in the wilderness.

The second part is about the gifts of God’s people to support that O.T. ministry.

 

This chapter goes on to mention a whole array of gifts that were given by the people to God.
But in some instances only part of it was offered to God… the rest was given to the Priests.
In other instances (the first-fruits) it seemed that all of it was for the use of the Priests.
So the Priests profited from the various sacrifices of God’s people.
Burnt offerings… wave offerings… first-fruits… and other things devoted to God.
In this way God provided for the support of the Priests.

 

As the chapter progresses we are then also told about the tithes of Israel.
One tenth of everything was given to the Levites to support them.
That was quite a generous allocation… they were only one tribe out of twelve tribes.
Furthermore the Levites were not as numerous as some other tribes.
Yet one tenth of Israel’s produce and income was to be set part for the Levites.

 

Over the years as I’ve participated in Ministers’ Fraternals I’ve met pastors who are poorly supported.
It’s led to a saying that a pastor’s stipend is meagre but the fringe benefits are out of this world.
Thankfully we in the CRCA generally excel in the support of our pastors.
And that’s good… because God’s provision for the Levites was very generous.

 

This one tribe received all the tithes of Israel.
The Levites in turn were to tithe the tithe – and they were to give that one tenth to the priests.

 

By the way: God talks about all their produce being tithed at a time when they are still in the wilderness.
In other words: there is wrapped up in this call to tithe their produce, a wonderful promise.
They will enter the Promised Land… and it will produce a rich abundance for them.
But in thankfulness they must now support the ministry by means of their tithes.

 

2. There was a good reasons why the Levites were to be given one tenth of everything from Israel.

These people had no inheritance in Israel. They owned no land.
In fact they were to become scattered throughout the nations in various towns.
In this way they were to be a blessing to the nation as they ministered to the people.

 

That meant two things.
It meant that a kind of exchange took place.
The Levites concentrated on the spiritual matters of the nation.
This priestly tribe ministered to people spiritually.
And in return Israel ministered to the tribe of Levi with material things.

 

But this also meant that they were totally dependent on the faithfulness of God’s people.
I can imagine that in times of religious indifference the Levites suffered and went hungry.
Whereas in times of spiritual renewal and revival they were wonderfully blessed.
I guess that in itself would have been an added incentive to serve the nation well.
So that as the nation was blessed they too would share in the blessings.

 

So in Numbers 18 God gives to his OT church people for the work of ministry.
But He also provides for the support of that ministry through the gifts of God’s people.
So the giving is a two-way thing. From God to the people and from the people to God.

 

3. A moment ago I made a comparison between the support of the Levites and a pastor’s stipend today.

We should ask though whether that is a valid comparison to make.
Can we draw lines form the second part of Numbers 18 to ministry support today?
Are there lessons for us here when it comes to what we put in the collection bag?

 

I believe there are. There are some principles that remains the same for NT ministry.
Paul makes quite clear that gospel ministry today deserves material support.
In 1Corinthians 9 he asks the question:
If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?
Paul is saying that it still works the same way as it does in Numbers 18.
The Pastor devotes himself to care for your spiritual needs.
But if he is to do that then you must care for his material needs.

Of course there were situations where Paul supported himself as a tent-maker.
But he argues in 1Corinthians 9 that this is not the norm.
The principle of Numbers 18 stands: the gifts of God’s people support the gift of ministry.

 

But there is another lesson as well. And that is the how of giving.
When you read this chapter of Numbers you see a certain generosity of giving.
And then I don’t just mean the tithe.
Which was generous because the Levites did not form even one tenth of the nation.

What I mean by generosity is also the quality of what was given.
When the Lord talks about the first-fruits He means just that.
The Priesthood did not receive the leftovers at the end of the harvest.
They received the first of what was harvested.
So are we giving to God on Sundays our left-over change?
Or did we put Him first when we made up our weekly or monthly budget?

The O.T. Scriptures also make very clear that whatever was offered to God was to be the best.
If you offered a young goat you did not give the Lord the sickly one.
You did not palm off to the Priest the animal with the broken leg.
Because of God’s goodness to you… the idea was to give your best.
That principle still ought to guide our giving today.

 

4. That leaves me with just one other matter that I really need to touch on.

Many Christians still feel that we ought to tithe today.
Of course not our produce – the way that Israel did.
If that was what we were to do God would only have got some zucchinis or silver beet from me.
No! People generally talk about one tenth of our income being for the Lord’s work.

 

Well… if people want to do that that’s admirable and we should thank them for it.
But I’m not convinced that you can base that on the O.T. teaching about the tithe.
While some principles from Numbers 18 hold true there is also a difference.
Our giving today is not the same as the tithe given by the Israelites.

 

In Israel the law – the torah – had moral, ceremonial and civic aspects.
This tithe was part of both Israel’s civic and ceremonial duty as a nation to support its leaders.
In some way their leadership also formed the civic government that we support in our taxes.
However: let’s remember those two principles: Firstfruits means we don’t give God our leftovers.
And in view of what God has given us in Christ should we give generously and of our best?
Let’s generously support gospel ministry today for God’s glory.

 

Amen.