April 27, 2010

Numbers 4

A friend of mine used to be part of a small group of men who brought famous Christian entertainers into Wilmington, NC. He asked me on occasion to help serve in security. I was there for the Rebecca St. James concert and for one of my favorites, Robin Mark. It was interesting for me to watch the roadies come in and set up the stage and equipment. They performed their tasks day after day for months on end as they accomplished their tour. They knew exactly what to do. They had their order for doing things and did them well. Each had their task and did it.

The Lord assigns traveling responsibilities for the tribe of Levi. Each family had their responsibility. There was an exact order that had to be followed, so that the holiness of God was not transgressed. With forty years of traveling in the wilderness, I am sure they became very proficient at their individual jobs. Eventually it became like clockwork. By the time David came around, they had centuries and generations which had passed where the jobs were neither taught nor performed. It lead to David transgressing the holiness of God and the death of one of his men.

The church is somewhat like the Children of Israel in the wilderness. We are a people of God on the move. The glory of God is designed to be in our midst. We move from place to place throughout life, and in so doing we are to let the glory of Christ shine from our midst. J. Vernon McGee has this to say about our responsibility:

As each Levite had his assignment, just so, every Christian has a gift and a job God wants him to do. I believe God will reward you for doing what He wants you to do. We are not to do what we choose to do, but we are to exercise the gifts that He has given us.[1]



What would have happened if one of the Kohathites said, “I am tired of covering the ark. I don’t want to do it?” or if one of the Gershonites said, “I don’t want to carry the curtain?” or if one of the sons of Merari said, “I don’t want to carry this board?” Apparently something like that happened when David sought to transport the ark back to Jerusalem. The result was the holiness of God was transgressed, and a man died.

The Lord desires for His glory to shine in His church. What happens when we do not exercise the gift which He has assigned to us? His glory is seen in the discipline which He administers. It is not a pleasant thing. On the contrary, when we each submit to what He has assigned to us, the result is that His glory shines in a greater way. It is joy to see His glory unleashed. Let us make sure that we are doing the gift which He assigned to us. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor john


[1]McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1981, S. Nu 4:32



Luke 19:28-48

It was first grade, and my friend Jimmy had been sick for a while and had not been to school. I missed him and was hoping he would be there that day. The school bell rang signaling the start of class, and Jimmy hadn't shone up. A little while into class, the door opened, and Jimmy walked in. I was so surprised and excited that I blurted out very loudly, "Jimmy!" My teacher was not pleased to say the least. She rebuked me very sternly and asked why I did that. I didn't know how to answer, so I just shrugged my shoulders. Shrugging her shoulders, she sarcastically said, "What does that mean?" I was afraid to answer now, and I really did not understand why what I had done was so bad. She gave me a couple sentence lecture and then continued on with class.

I understand now that, when you are trying to mass educate children, there is a certain decorum that you must keep to control your class; otherwise, things can get out of control. What I had done was not bad. It was just that if everybody responded that way, there would be chaos in the classroom. The herd mentality would be shattered. There might even be a stampede. There is a time for joyful shouts and a time for solemn silence. The same is true in worship. There is a time for joyful shouts and a time for solemn silence.

Jesus was approaching Jerusalem on the Sunday before His crucifixion. He had carefully thought this through. He had prepared a colt to ride. Another Gospel tells us that He did this purposely in fulfillment of the 400-year-old prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. The people recognized the significance of it and were beginning to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Here He is a man who has healed the sick, the blind, the dumb, the lame, set the demonized free, fed the multitudes and even raised the dead. He has taught with great authority and is now headed to Jerusalem on a donkey's colt, through the Eastern Gate! This is surely the promised deliverer! They began to sing part of the Hallel in praise of the Messiah. He is the Long-awaited One. The long separation is now coming to an end! It was a time for shouting and celebration!

But there are always those who are concerned about shattering the herd mentality. They felt this was inappropriate. "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!" they called out. Oh no! They are out of control! They are expressing their great pleasure at the coming of the Messiah! But of course these Pharisees did not believe Jesus was the Messiah. So Jesus made a very wonderful statement, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."

The Creator of heaven and earth was in the flesh and in their midst! The sinfulness of human flesh hid that fact from human eyes but the rest of creation recognized it right away. Humans were created to praise and worship the Creator. We were created to cry out concerning the joy of His presence. The glory of our Creator is so great that if we should fail at our designed purpose, even the very non-sentient creation would take our place and fulfill our purpose because He is so worthy of honor and praise! A friend of mine used to have a rock under his communion table with a sign in front of it that said, "If you don't praise Him, I will!"

Yes, there is a time for silence before our Creator. But there is also a time of wild exuberant shouts of joy in praise of His name at His coming! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!

--Pastor John