Sunday
Morning Bible Study
August 12, 2001
Introduction
The idea behind Deuteronomy is to prepare the people for the Promised
Land. In this book we see principles
about how we can enter into the things God has for us.
On this Sunday that we are ordaining Dave Dunagan as a pastor, I thought
that it would be appropriate that we talk about ministry. To help us this morning, I did some research
and came across a letter that is circulating among churches that are looking
for the Perfect Pastor.
Illustration
Perfect Pastor
The results of a computerized survey indicate the perfect Pastor preaches
exactly fifteen minutes. He condemns sins but never upsets anyone. He works
from 8:00 AM until midnight and is also a janitor. He makes $50 a week, wears
good clothes, buys good books, drives a good car, and gives about $50 weekly to
the poor. He is 28 years old and has preached 30 years. He has a burning desire
to work with teenagers and spends all of his time with senior citizens. The
perfect Pastor smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a sense
of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his work. He makes 15 calls
daily on congregation families, shut-ins and the hospitalized, and is always in
his office when needed. If your Pastor does not measure up, simply send this
letter to six other churches that are tired of their Pastor, too. Then bundle
up your Pastor and send him to the church on the top of the list. In one week,
you will receive 1,643 Pastors and one of them will be perfect. Have faith in
this procedure. One congregation broke the chain and got its old Pastor back in
less than three weeks.
:8 At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi
We are in the middle of a section where Moses is reminding the Israelites
of some of their history while they wandered in the wilderness. He recounts how God had at one time taken an
entire tribe and given them a job to do.
God had already called Moses’ brother Aaron to be the head of the priests
for Israel, but Aaron wouldn’t be able to do all the work by himself or even
with his entire family. He needed help,
kind of like an assistant pastor.
God made a deal with the nation of Israel.
Technically, God already “owned” every firstborn child in Israel when He
delivered the people out of Egypt at the Passover. To make things easy, God proposed a deal where He exchanged his
ownership in all the firstborn for an entire tribe, the tribe of Levi (Num.
8:13-19).
The tribe of Levi was the greater tribal family that Aaron and his brother
Moses belonged too. The priests were to
be descendants of Aaron, but the rest of the helpers in the Tabernacle and the
Temple were the Levites, the rest of the relatives.
The idea of “separating” is that of pulling these people aside and giving
them a job to do. Their job was to
assist the priests. Here’s where God
reminds the people of four things about the Levites and their “ministry”.
Ministry Lesson
#1
You are in the ministry
(Eph 4:11-12 KJV) And he gave some, apostles; and some,
prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; {12} For the
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the
body of Christ:
(Eph 4:11-13 NIV) It was he who gave some to be apostles, some
to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,
{12} to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ
may be built up {13} until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge
of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the
fullness of Christ.
One of the gifts that God gives to the church is the ministry of the
“pastor-teacher”. The role of the
pastor-teacher is to help train the people in the church for the ministry.
We can tend to think that the “ministry” is only for those who are paid
staff people, people who have the initials “Rev.” in front of their name.
The truth is, the ministry is for all believers.
This whole message isn’t really about Dave, is it? It’s about all of us. God has called ALL OF US into the
ministry. We are all called to serve
the Lord.
:8 to bear the ark of the covenant
of the LORD
An “ark” is a box. The “covenant”
was the agreement that God had made with Israel, summed up in the Ten
Commandments. This “Ark of the
Covenant” was a gold covered box (as in Indiana Jones, “Raiders of the Lost
Ark”) that contained this agreement.
Ministry Lesson
#2
Carry the message
God had purposely designed this golden box to be carried by humans. The box had rings on the side for long poles
to go through. When the Ark was to be
moved, it was to be moved by putting the poles through the rings and then
carried by the Levites.
When David was king, he tried to move the Ark once by sticking it on an ox
cart, but God wasn’t pleased with this and one of the priests died in the
process. Later David found out that he
was trying to move the Ark incorrectly.
When he went back and moved the Ark by having the Levites carry it,
everything went smoothly.
What does this mean for us?
The Gospel
The “covenant” inside Moses’ Ark was the Ten Commandments, the “Old
Covenant”.
But we have a “New Covenant”.
(Mat
26:26-28 KJV) And as they were
eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the
disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. {27} And he took the cup, and
gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; {28} For this is
my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of
sins.
Under the “Old Covenant”, mankind’s relationship with God was conditional
upon man obeying God’s Laws.
Under the “New Covenant”, mankind’s relationship with God
is based on what Jesus has done for us, dying on the cross to pay for our sins.
If someone wants to have a relationship with God, he no
longer must live a perfect life according to the Law, but instead he must come
to the point where he has asked Jesus to pay for his sins through Jesus’ death
on the cross.
The Levites are to carry the Ark – the gospel is to be carried by those in
ministry. If you consider yourself to
be in the ministry, God wants you to be involved in sharing this good news with
others. It’s on “your shoulders”.
The Word
The Ten Commandments is not only God’s “covenant”, they are God’s Word.
The men God uses are men of the Word. God’s men ought to be carrying God’s Word on their shoulders.
When you serve the Lord, there will be a temptation to find some new
gimmick, some new program, some new “thing” that will enhance your
ministry. Don’t get away from the main
thing. Be a man or woman of the
Word. Base your ministry on God’s Word.
:8 to stand before the LORD
Ministry Lesson
#3
Know His Presence
Ministry must be done with a sense of God’s presence.
I think there are several aspects of knowing God’s presence in your life.
It starts with humility and a sense of your own unworthiness. When Isaiah the prophet found himself in
God’s presence,
(Isa 6:5
KJV) Then said I, Woe is me! for I am
undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
But there is also something very real, very powerful about a person who has
been in God’s presence.
Whenever Moses had spent time in God’s presence, he seemed to literally
“glow”. There was a kind of radiance –
(Exo 34:35
KJV) And the children of Israel saw the
face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone …
With the apostles, the fact that they had been with Jesus and had been
filled with the Holy Spirit produced a holy “boldness” in them.
(Acts 4:13
KJV) Now when they saw the boldness of
Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they
marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
The person God uses in ministry is a person who is very aware of God’s
presence in their life.
:8 to minister unto him
minister – sharath – to minister, serve
The word is used to describe the work that the priests and Levites did
inside the temple, the worship they offered to the Lord. When King David began to organize the temple
worship –
1Ch 16:4 And he appointed [certain] of the Levites to
minister before the ark of the LORD, and to record, and to thank and praise
the LORD God of Israel:
1Ch 16:37 So he left there
before the ark of the covenant of the LORD Asaph and his brethren, to
minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work required:
Asaph was one of the chief musicians whose job was to praise the Lord.
Ministry Lesson
#4
Worship the Lord
When you are in ministry, your primary job is to worship God.
When you begin to discover what it means to serve the Lord, it’s not hard
to get so caught up with doing “things” that you lose your focus on what is
really important. This was the problem
that the church in Ephesus had developed:
(Rev 2:1-5 KJV) Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus
write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand,
who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; {2} I know thy
works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which
are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not,
and hast found them liars: {3} And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my
name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
This was a church that had done a lot of great things. They had done great “works” for the Lord.
{4} Nevertheless I have
somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
This was a church that had gotten off track. Instead of doing things for the Lord because they loved Him, they
were just doing things for the sake of doing things.
{5} Remember therefore from
whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come
unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except
thou repent.
Jesus remedy for the Ephesians was threefold –
First, they needed to take some time to reflect on where
they had fallen from. They needed to
take some time to remember what it was like when they were so madly in love
with Jesus.
Second, they needed to repent. They needed to recognize what had gotten into their lives to take
them away from loving Jesus and they needed to turn around from those things.
Thirdly, they needed to “do the first works”. They needed to get back to the basics and
serve the Lord out of love.
God’s desire is that those who serve Him serve HIM.
:8 to bless in his name
Ministry Lesson
#5
Encourage others
Those in ministry are responsible to “bless” others in God’s name. You are to encourage them, build them up.
One of the ways we “bless” people is in what we say to them.
(Num 6:23-27 KJV) Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying,
On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, {24} The
LORD bless thee, and keep thee: {25} The LORD make his face shine upon thee,
and be gracious unto thee: {26} The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and
give thee peace. {27} And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel;
and I will bless them.
God wants us to be encouraging each other.
He wants us to be asking for His blessings on each other. He wants us building each other up.
Sometimes we “bless” people by the things we do for them.
Illustration
Dancing on Potato Chips
An anonymous wife writes,
Not too long ago I had “one of those days”. I was feeling pressure from a
writing deadline. I had company arriving in a couple days and the toilet was
clogged. I went to the bank, and the trainee teller processing my deposit had
to start over three times. I swung by the supermarket to pick up a few things
and the lines were serpentine. By the time I got home, I was frazzled and
sweaty and in a hurry to get something on the table for dinner.
Deciding on Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup, I grabbed a can opener,
cranked open the can, then remembered I had forgotten to buy milk at the store.
Nix the soup idea. Setting the can aside, I went to plan B, which was leftover
baked beans. I grabbed a Tupperware from the fridge, popped the seal, took a
look and groaned. My husband isn’t a picky eater, but even HE won’t eat baked
beans that look like caterpillars. Really frustrated, now, I decided on a menu
that promised to be as foolproof as it is nutrition-free: hot dogs and potato
chips. Retrieving a brand new bag of chips from the cupboard, I grabbed the
cellophane and gave a hearty pull. The bag didn’t open. I tried again.
Nothing happened. I took a breath, doubled my muscle, and gave the bag a
hearty wrestle. With a loud pop, the cellophane suddenly gave way, ripping wide
from top to bottom. Chips flew sky high. I was left holding the bag, and it was
empty.
It was the final straw. I let out a blood curdling scream. “I CAN’T TAKE IT
ANYMORE!!!”
My husband heard my unorthodox cry for help. Within minutes he was standing
at the doorway to the kitchen, where he surveyed the damage:
An opened can of soup, melting groceries, moldy baked beans, and one
quivering wife standing ankle deep in potato chips. My husband did the most
helpful thing he could think of at the moment. He took a flying leap, landing
flat-footed in the pile of chips. And then he began to stomp and dance and
twirl, grinding those chips into my linoleum in the process! I stared. I fumed.
Pretty soon I was working to stifle a smile. Eventually I had to laugh. And
finally I decided to join him. I, too, took a leap onto the chips. And then I
danced.
Now I’ll be the first to admit that my husband’s response wasn’t the one I
was looking for. But the truth is, it was exactly what I needed. I didn’t need
a cleanup crew as much as I needed an attitude adjustment, and the laughter
from that rather funky moment provided just that.
There’s a right time and a wrong time for stomping on potato chips. But stomping on chips isn’t our goal,
blessing others is.