Category: Bible studies

The line between courage and foolishness is sometimes quite blurry. I cannot imagine why anyone would walk a tightrope between two tall buildings. It seems insane. Yet the story of Man on Wire is all about just that very idea. The official trailer to the movie said this:

“On August 7th, 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between the New York World Trade Center’s twin towers. After dancing for nearly an hour on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released. This extraordinary documentary incorporates Petit’s personal footage to show how he overcame seemingly insurmountable challenges to achieve the artistic crime of the century.”

Whatever you think about Petit’s idea of walking 110 stories above the ground, you have to admit one thing – the guy was committed. Not only was he committed enough to work at it for months – he was committed enough to trust his life to be dangled by a tiny wire. He trusted his feet to remain steady amidst the perilous cross-winds. He trusted his abilities and took on what could only be termed RADICAL COMMITMENT.

Rest easy, I am not going to be asking you to walk on a high wire a thousand feet in the air. I am, however, going to speak about a radical kind of personal commitment. God will not call ALL of us to do this – but he may call YOU. Some believers will be engaged, in each moment of each generation, in a radical kind of commitment that will force them to stand out in the face of the rest of us. If they take on the challenge, we will all be changed by their testimony. We will all be moved to recognize their intimacy with God. We will all be the better because of the commitment of a few.

Key Principle: A specific call to radical commitment may come to you from God’s Spirit and God’s Word. If it does, you will know how to respond Biblically and sensitively if you follow the pattern God left for us in His Word.

Radical commitment isn’t something new – it is as old as a walk with God itself. It isn’t for everyone. God has a call for specific people at specific moments. The important thing about the call is that it demands a proper response. Even before we turn to Numbers 6, let me show you a picture of what I am talking about:

Johann Leonhard Dober and David Nitschmann, were two young Moravian Brethren from Herrnhut, Germany that were called in 1732 to minister to the African slaves on the Caribbean islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix. One source recalls that when the men were told that they would not be allowed to do such a thing, Dober and Nitschmann offered themselves into the bonds of slavery if this were the only way to make passage – an irreversible offer of extreme commitment to the cause of Christ, on behalf of a forgotten people – the slaves. Another source shared the story that as they boarded a ship bound for the West Indies, and the ship pulled away from the docks, loved ones on shore cried out, “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering!” It is not clear that they actually became slaves. What is clear is that when asked by a court official how they would support themselves, Nitschmann replied, “We shall work as slaves among the slaves.” Another point is also clear. They left Copenhagen on October 8, 1732, and arrived in St. Thomas two months later on December 13. While in the St. Thomas, they lived frugally and preached to the slaves, and they had significant success. Other Moravian missionaries continued the work for fifty years afterward, and Moravian missionaries baptized 13,000 converts before any other missionaries arrived on the scene. Few direct quotes of the two men survive, but one is particularly moving: “Even if no one should be benefited, and no fruits follow my efforts, yet I will go, for I must obey my Savior’s call.” – Leonard Dober

These Moravians, and many others like them, were called to radical commitment. They vowed by the move of God’s hand, to do the extraordinary – and they felt that any less was blatant disobedience to God’s call in and to them. Long before the Moravians, long before the ministry of the Cross of Jesus – there was a pattern for radical commitment. It is found in a group that were called NAZARITES – those ordinary Israelites that were impressed by God to offer a special vow to complete a specific act in accordance with their call. Often they appeared quite radical – but they were following God to do extraordinary things. The pattern of that call, and the proper response is the subject of today’s lesson.

What should a “radical commitment” look like?

It is a commitment that originated from God and is in line with God’s revealed truth (6:1-2).

Number 6:1 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: ‘When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the LORD…” The text offers four truths that help define this radical commitment:

• The Lord gave the specific rules – that means that He is acknowledging the burden that came from Him in His people. Because He regulates the practice, such commitments must be according to His parameters.

• The person making the vow was individually led to do so. No discussion is given to how the man or woman received the burden to make the vow – so it appears it is not the same for everyone.

• The issue of the rules was to regulate not call them to a vow. Because I have a burden for something I am not more spiritual than others – I am just called to play a specific role in what God is doing.

• The vow (neh’der) can be for personal service, or the giving of a special offering (votive) for a season. It is always given to the Lord and no other, and done for His purposes and no other reason. Jesus warned that there were those who gave “to be seen of men”. Mt. 6 and Mt. 23 both offer this insight from Jesus: “People who are seen of men because they have desired to be – have the only reward they will receive for their sacrifice right here and now.”

The issue of Numbers 6:1-2 then is this: God may call a certain man or woman to a radical commitment from a burden within for a time and for His purpose. We should not feel deprived if we are not so called, but be readily responsive if we are called. Most importantly, we must check the vow against the Scripture and it must fit into the priorities of God as stated in His Word. God is absolutely consistent: He will NOT call you to do something that He has placed outside the boundaries of proper ministry. Care should always be taken to check a burden against the pattern of the Word of God.

I remember when I was a freshman in Bible College, a speaker came from Inner City Ministries in Chicago. He shared about the terrible conditions of people in his part of the city, and how desperately they needed help. I remember coming back to the dorm and thinking, “What am I doing here? I can help! Why not quit school and go right to that area and start working?” Then one of my older room mates came and sat down to talk with me. He explained that God told me to be at school, and the needs would wait until I was made ready. He spoke of it in terms of a surgeon, whose impulse to help needed to be matched by training to help. I needed to be calmed down. Vows to the Lord are not just emotional springboards after a stirring Chapel speaker – they are considered, careful and planned.

It requires a disruption from the normal life patterns and setting aside of personal pleasures (6:3). It is a distinct call for a set time, taking extreme care to commit every effort to strict obedience (6:4).

6:3 “…he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. 4 ‘All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.

• Because of the radical nature of a specific commitment to the Lord, it is essential that there be complete and absolute sobriety and clarity of thinking. Doubt will creep in when the vow get hard to accomplish – so it is essential for the duration of the commitment to abstain from anything that would decrease clarity, making it ever clearer that the direction was from the Lord, and for the Lord.

• Fences must be set away from any possible violation. Every care should be taken to see to it that no one can even claim an influence beside the Lord – so there is both complete abstention from wine, and even from anything that can be made into wine. Though the person under commitment does not vow to be seen of men, it must be clear that what he has committed to do was not influenced by anything but God’s call.

• Apart from the vow, the normative behavior was to be able to drink wine and eat grapes. The point is not that such a normal ancient practice was ungodly – it was not. Note that after the vow, they are specifically told they are allowed to do so: 1: 1:20 ‘Then the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. It is holy for the priest, together with the breast offered by waving and the thigh offered by lifting up; and afterward the Nazirite may drink wine.’

Let me interject here that abstention from alcohol is a perfectly acceptable practice among believers. Since we do not know if another believer was an alcoholic, it may be wise to abstain, at least in front of that person. Yet, abstention was not the norm in the Biblical period. We must guard against any haughty spirit that can be found in us because we abstain from normative practices. If God has told you to stay away from anything alcoholic – don’t even take cough medicine with alcohol in it. We will all understand. It is God’s call on the body you live in – but it is only a loaner body. You must do what He tells you to do.

On the other hand, what He specifies for you is personal, and cannot be applied to everyone in every place. I recently dealt with a woman that knew God told her not to wear pants of any kind. She was to wear dresses and skirts. She wouldn’t even were pajamas that had pants. The problem was that she was busy trying to get every other woman to stop wearing them – and I cautioned her that she had no business trying to do so based on Scripture. Her understanding of God’s call in life was no more general than her personal life. The Scriptures offer direction and the Spirit speaks to each of us through the Word. We need not make lists for one another that are longer than stated Scripture. Follow the Word on what is stated. Ask the Spirit for what is left to license. I have every confidence that if you are truly willing to follow God in all things – you won’t go wrong.

It should so obviously dominate your life that every aspect of it is affected – from appearance to daily practices (6:5).

6:5 …‘All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the LORD; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long.

• Most vows and covenants required a symbol. We are physically oriented people. That is why we baptize people – because the work of the Spirit is invisible, but the world we live in is visible. We have a marriage ceremony to represent something that happens in Heavenly places as two become one.

• The distinct look of one under a vow also helped others to encourage them to walk uprightly. When someone undertook a Nazarite vow, you wouldn’t offer them a glass of wine or a grape. You would see their appearance, judge their commitment, and help them accomplish it. Believers should be seeking ways to encourage each other to walk with God in the call He has made for each of us. Don’t try to get the other guy to explain all that he is going through with God. Suffice it to say that he is working out something in his walk, and God is leading him. Help him with it; don’t hinder it.

God expressed no desire to have those who were following Him walk around wild-eyed saying strange things. At the same time, you don’t know what God is taking another brother or sister through. We see only what they DO, God sees WHY they do what they do. Be encouraging to one another, pulling each other up with words of encouragement – not pulling each other down with words of discouragement.

It will restrict even normal commitments and desires – and entrust them into the hands of the Lord for that season (6:6-8).

6:6 …‘All the days of his separation to the LORD he shall not go near to a dead person. 7 ‘He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. 8 ‘All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.

• Separation to God’s work for the specific time of the vow takes one out of the normal loop of life. We should not enter any vow lightly, because God takes them very seriously. While in the vow, there may be things we would otherwise normally be responsible to do, that we cannot do. This should be considered before we take on the vow to accomplish something.

• There are seasons in life when it would be unwise to take on a vow to the Lord –as in when a parent is quite ill and failing. Because that is true, it was important for the Lord to explain exactly what He desired concerning that time under the vow.

One of the greatest privileges of a son was to be the one to sensitively and lovingly care for the body of his parent in burial. It is a strange concept to us, but it was an honor for them. I have only one memory that compares – when I carried the body of a former colleague out after his death the hearse that was to take him to the funeral home. I will always feel that was a special honor for me.

In this time of a vow, a man forfeited that honor, and any other honor that he would anticipate – because the vow took precedence over everything else. It became his passion – his duty and his focus. Jesus warned that there would be radical commitment involved in following Him in Luke’s Gospel:

Luke 14:25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 “Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

Jesus pressed the disciples and called on them to count the cost of following Him. Yet, not everyday are we called to live the extremes. We have to reckon that such a time may come, and we must be readied to know what comes first on the list of priorities.

Brothers and sisters, we live in a time when people measure rights more than responsibilities – privileges more than priorities. We have had the wind of culture at our back for generations, and we have come to expect much more out of life than the disciples of the early years of the faith. We consider any derision in public a form of persecution. Yet, we know little of the days of real peril known to the early church.

Under Emperor Nero, Peter was crucified upside down at the circus grounds west of the city of Rome. Paul was beheaded south of Rome. Domitian is recorded as having executed members of his own family generally assumed to have been Christians. Under Emperor Trajan, Christians were outlawed but not deliberately sought out. Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic had the Church Father Polycarp killed in Asia Minor. Under Emperor Septimus Severus (202-210) the famous martyrdoms of Perpetua and Felicity were carried out. Perpetua (born around 181) was a 22-year old married noble and a nursing mother. Her co-martyr Felicity, an expectant mother, was her slave. They were thrown before wild cows and trampled, and when they did not die, they gave each other an embrace of peace and then helped the hesitant executioner find the mark with his sword. There are thousands of other stories – all like this one. Were they different than we are? Not really. They met Christ and He changed them. They knew He was Savior, and they gave all they could. Why do we expect less? We can and should HOPE for better, but should we EXPECT better?

We may yet see days ahead where extraordinary commitment and radical devotion are called for again. I pray it is not so – but I recognize it is fully possible. It is happening in some places today, and it could happen where we are in days to come. Christianity cannot be indelibly linked to temporal success – that is not its message. The Gospel is about salvation from sin – an abundant life that may seem distant to a Christian martyr, but they die with confidence that God hears every cry, sees every tear, and knows every sacrifice.

Only in the most extreme providential situations can it be broken, and then it requires a renewal to the commitment (6:9-12).

6:9 …‘But if a man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his dedicated head of hair, then he shall shave his head on the day when he becomes clean; he shall shave it on the seventh day. 10 ‘Then on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the doorway of the tent of meeting. 11 ‘The priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him concerning his sin because of the dead person. And that same day he shall consecrate his head, 12 and shall dedicate to the LORD his days as a Nazirite, and shall bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering; but the former days will be void because his separation was defiled….

I love that the Word of God is tremendously practical. God offers this to the one under the vow: If the man beside you keels over dead – you must break your vow and care for his needs. This was a call to the Priest and Levite of the Good Samaritan story. People who have no help, must be helped. Set aside the vow – there is a way to renew and start again says the Lord. Do you see the shocking irony? I must forfeit caring for my father and mother, but take care of the stranger that has no one else to care for him? How can that be? It is the way God works. He knows our desire is for our family, but His providence overrules our right.

The technical part of how to present the specific Nazarite offering is given (6:13-21):

We will not address the specifics of the way to offer the Nazarite sacrifice given in verses 13-21 in this lesson, but suffice it to say that every aspect of the separation and cleansing are carefully prescribed. God did not ask men to take on the seriousness of the day without ample instruction as to what they must do and not do. He is a precise God. (6:13-21).

Finally, there are unique benefits of the radically committed to the community (6:22-27).

God called some to a vow before Him. He had them make a radical commitment. He nudged their hearts with a prayer burden and a spiritual burning fire within. They felt it. They knew they needed to abandon all other pursuits and follow Him. Their names may seem a blur, buried in the past of ministries and commitments – but they are God’s heroes.

They are men like Adoniram Judson – called to reach into south central Asia, and David Livingstone – called to the dark continent called the “white man’s grave yard”. They were single women like Charlotte (Lottie) Diggs Moon and Amy Carmichael. They were student volunteers like C.T. Studd converted at a Moody evangelistic crusade and sent to China, India and later Africa. There was John R. Mott who reached into China, the likes of Rowland Bingham of the earliest days of Sudan Interior Mission. One writer introduced Mr. Bingham in this way: “Failure, death, and despair marked the beginnings of the Sudan Interior Mission..”.

What made these people surrender comfort and loving care of home to go so very far away? God’s burning passion within. God’s flaming call that pulled them from normal life. There may be a life like that today, right in the sound of my voice. God may be calling someone to extraordinary commitment. I mention their names and feel the words of Hebrews 11: “of whom the world was not worthy.”

Their lives pave a road for the Gospel, and the salvation of the souls of men. Look at the blessing they become to all of the people of God:

6:22 …Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 23 “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: 24 The LORD bless you, and keep you; 25 The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; 26 The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’ 27 “So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”

Two times in the verses, God’s face is mentioned as turning toward His people. His tender but mighty attentions flow to those who are prepared to “leave it all on the field” for the Lord. Half hearted commitment doesn’t move God’s face – whole surrender does. How can we give Him less if He calls us to lay down all for Him?

A specific call to radical commitment may come to you from God’s Spirit and God’s Word. If it does, you will know how to respond Biblically and sensitively if you follow the pattern God left for us in His Word.

I close with a passage taken out of the book: From Jerusalem to Irian Jaya that slaps my commitment in the face every time I read it, It is a selection about Mary Moffatt, wife of Robert Moffatt:

“The Moffats’ early years in Kuruman were filled with hardships. They lived in primitive conditions, their first home being a mud hut, with the kitchen separate from the house. Although Mary was not used to doing heavy domestic work, she adapted to African life remarkably well. She washed clothes by hand in the river and cooked on an open fireplace. She overcame her aversion to cleaning the floors with cow dung and even recommending it: “It lays the dust better than anything and kills the fleas which would otherwise breed abundantly.” Her husband Robert wrote: “Our labors might be compared to the attempts of a husbandman laboring to transform the surface of granite rock into arable land.”

I read this stuff and think to myself – Randy, you are a wimp. Shut up. Just shut up. They ministered in radical commitment – you (I tell myself) need to stand silent as you read their names. Radical commitment may grab your heart. Count the cost, but look even further. At the end of life’s journey, when the whole ordeal is over, the face of the Savior stands at the finish line of life. Run to see Him smile – and the journey will be worth it all!

Though you may have heard differently back in your school days – I have some news for you: Cleopatra probably didn’t die of an “Asp” bite to her bosom. According to modern toxicologists, “Cleopatra actually used a mixture of hemlock, wolfs bane and opium to end her life.” The name of the snake as an Asp is actually also inaccurate –it actually referred to an assortment of venomous snake species found in the Nile region – but would likely have been the Egyptian cobra – if she used a snake at all. It is true that in the end of dynastic Egypt and into the period of Roman domination, the asp was a decorative symbol of royalty in some court art – a mascot if you will. If that is how we mean it – then she died BIT by the throne itself – as did many rulers who tried to withstand the inevitable rise of Roman domination on their shores. That would not have been an inaccurate assessment.

It is also true that in both ancient Egypt and Greece, an asp posseses potent venom that made it useful as a means of execution for criminals who were thought deserving of a more dignified death than that of typical executions. According to the Platonist philosopher Plutarch (a younger contemporary of the Apostle Paul), Cleopatra tested various deadly poisons on condemned persons and animals for daily entertainment and concluded that the bite of the Egyptian Cobra was the least terrible way to die; the venom brought sleepiness and heaviness without spasms of pain. In 2010, a German historian along with a toxicologist came to the conclusion the old version of her death was highly unlikely. At the same time, that explanation will not quickly leave us, because it is the one so artfully explained in William Shakespeare’s writings by none other than Cleopatra herself in Act V, scene II of “Antony and Cleopatra” – and you know the “movie version” wins over the actual historical event most every time.

You may be asking, “Why are we discussing venomous snakes?” Because most all of us have suffered from the bite of one that slithered across our path more than once. He is not a cobra… but he possesses a deadly venom. He is a snake whose venom is jealousy. King Saul suffered from its pangs when he heard the people say: “Saul has killed his thousands, David tens of thousands..” It nearly drove him mad – and jealousy will do that. In today’s lesson we want to deal with an antidote that God gave for jealousy. Left to itself, the poison will kill you. It will poison you, and then poison the relationship – killing every good thing once found between you. Like bitterness – jealousy can be remedied alone (one can come to peace without another person’s help) – but it is much more difficult to do if a suspicion of violation in the relationship is not confronted and settled.

Remember that God’s instruction in the “Law of Jealousy” was part of a bigger picture that we began to sketch out in the previous lesson in Numbers 3-5. We saw the principle in our study that:

Key Principle: God placed specific barriers and fences to protect the people, and wanted the people to pay close attention to follow the Word He has given concerning contacts and divisions among people.

Before we look at the “Law of Jealousy”, let’s set the text well…Numbers 5 includes commands to three kinds of people. In today’s lesson we will briefly review the first two of them, and then focus on the third. The three kinds are:

1. People who needed to get out of the camp (5:1-4).
2. People who needed to get right with God (5:5-8).
3. People who needed to get straight with one another (5:11-31).

Each of these should be handled carefully, and separately…

First, there were people who were defiled by contact with the dead or by manifestations of bodily discharges. They needed separation.

Numbers 5:1 “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the sons of Israel that they send away from the camp every leper and everyone having a discharge and everyone who is unclean because of a dead person. … so that they will not defile their camp where I dwell in their midst.”…

In review, let’s pick up only five quick highlights of what we said in the previous lesson:

1. Passages like this can easily be dismissed as only pertaining to the health conditions of the ancient desert – but we should look more broadly to the principle behind the separation barrier.

2. In the Bible the term defilement isn’t necessarily about specific sin in the life of the person who is defiled. Defilement may mean that you aren’t ready to serve God in your function at that moment.

3. God knows that His people are not always wise concerning their own limitations. They are often tempted to keep going, even when we should stop. Ineligibility may help stem off burnout. Here were the reasons one was set aside in the text:

• Sickness: People who were are sick, especially with something that was “catching”..

• Discharges: People with an active blood seepage. Not due to specific sin, but due to a sinful state – it is a status problem, not necessarily a participation problem.

• Death of a loved one: People who are handling the burial of their loved ones. I believe there is a Biblical case to be made for suspension of service by ministry people who have lost their spouse. I think it is both unwise and in my view unbiblical for them to continue right away. A time of grief should be granted and enforced by those involved in leadership.

4. The ultimate point of all this was that people weren’t always ready to keep going – even if we thought we NEEDED to for the sake of others. God was introducing a condition to get them to slow down and look at life differently.

5. Finally, but very importantly, we made the point that we are not more compassionate than God – nor do we have a better sense of our REAL responsibility than He does. He made rules so that REAL compassion and true responsibility could thrive.

Second, there were people that were caught up in sin. They needed repentance, restoration and in some cases to pay restitution.

The text turned from those who were told to go away from others because of defilement, to others who were told that their actions had separated them from others and they needed to be restored.

Numbers 5:5: “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Speak to the sons of Israel, ‘When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the LORD, and that person is guilty, 7 then he shall confess his sins which he has committed, and he shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it one-fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged…

Skipping a pebble across the text for a review, we should not forget four things we discussed:

• People who take from others what they have not rightfully earned need to be dealt with openly – but with a view toward restoring them. God instructed the way to make it right, not just angry discipline about wrong.

• It was necessary not only to give back what you took, but to go the extra mile and give back MORE.

• If we have wronged another, Jesus said it was more important that you make it right then you offer your gift to God at the altar.

• Become the honest worker you would want in someone YOU hire to work for you. Your testimony will increase, and God will use your faithfulness as a platform to reach others.

** NOTE: Numbers 5:5-8 relate to the sinner corrected, but Numbers 5:9-10 do not. It is a clarification of the ownership of gifts given to those in the priesthood. It says: 5:9 ‘Also every contribution pertaining to all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the priest, shall be his. 10 ‘So every man’s holy gifts shall be his; whatever any man gives to the priest, it becomes his.’” This was a simple clarification brought up in light of the previous comments, and sought to make clear that all gifts passed to a priest became the property of that priest. It was given in the context of theft, so that it was clear that a gift constituted a change of ownership, and was irrevocable.

Now the text turned to where we began – our poisonous slithering friend, that strikes hard with the venom of jealousy…

Third, there were couples divided by jealous suspicion. They needed inspection, counsel and in cases without foundation – restoration (Numbers 5:11-31).

1: Accusations are costly, and need to be taken seriously.

Whether or not the spouse is guilty – the accusing spouse must present to the Lord both her and an offering. This cannot be frivolous, or he will lose valuable food supplies.

Numbers 5:11 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him, 13 and a man has intercourse with her and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and she is undetected, although she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act, 14 if a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has defiled herself, or if a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has not defiled herself, 15 the man shall then bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring as an offering for her one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of memorial, a reminder of iniquity.

Even suspicion is costly. Doubt robs the family. How much better for each of them to have maintained their inner heart and kept themselves both pure and uncompromised. In many cases, there is more to the jealousy than simply time unaccounted for – there is a deep mistrust that already exists and may have been fostered. Some time should be put into keeping clean accounts with one another.

The old saying is true: “Most of our suspicions of others are aroused by what we know about ourselves.” Often people who let their mind wander and heart go astray easily worry about their partner – because they know themselves.

Mark Hensley wrote that “Duke University did a study on “peace of mind.” The highest six factors found to contribute greatly to emotional and mental stability are:

1. The absence of suspicion and resentment. Nursing a grudge was a major factor in unhappiness.

2. Not living in the past. An unwholesome preoccupation with old mistakes and failures leads to depression.

3. Not wasting time and energy fighting conditions you cannot change. Cooperate with life, instead of trying to run away from it.

4. Forcing yourself to stay involved with the living world. Resist the temptation to withdraw and become reclusive during periods of emotional stress.

5. Refusing to indulge in self-pity when life hands you a raw deal. Accept the fact that nobody gets through life without some sorrow and misfortune.

6. Cultivating the virtues—love, humor, compassion and loyalty, etc.

The text of 5:11-15 do not presuppose guilt, but it is a foregone conclusion that before a couple would bring potential shame on their house – one would feel certain there was something to the accusation. There was a specific cost, and a specific person to take the problem to – because God initiated the Law. God isn’t happy with buried sin or open suspicion. There must be a remedy.

2: Sin puts a distance between God and man.

Confronting the accusation of sin needs to be direct between the sinner and God.

5:16 ‘Then the priest shall bring her near and have her stand before the LORD,

We have often declared it – but we cannot neglect to say it. Sin may affect others, but it is chiefly directed against God Himself. As a result, when I am wrong with another, I am wrong with BOTH them, and the God that made them.

Do you wonder why God didn’t direct the issue to a CIVIL authority as we would in our modern culture? The issue to God was that suspicion alone, let alone hidden guilt, would defile the whole of the congregation. You know how it goes. First, he suspects that she is cheating. Next, after sleepless nights his best friend asks him what’s wrong. Soon after, a whole group of people are speculating on what went wrong, who the offending party may have been, and what is wrong with the straying spouse. In a matter of a short time, some will weigh in as “experts” on the behavior of the two. The whole process has all the reliability of the shopping line magazine that proclaims there are “alien babies growing among us!” We live in a time of too much talk without substantial knowledge. America is swamped with experts on the inner thinking of celebrities and politicians – as though we truly know what they are doing, let alone thinking.

When a woman stood accused of infidelity, the priest brought her near to God. There she stood – alone for a time before God. Any resistance she may have had that hardens one’s heart – was challenged and softened before God’s face. If she were guilty, I suspect she would have been very apt to say so before the drinking of the water began.

Maybe that is our problem. Maybe we sin, and rather than get alone with God and face Him because of the way we have acted – we carry on the charade that we love and respect Him. We act like it surely must be someone else who is the cause of the disunity and disrespect for God in our time – surely it isn’t OUR FAULT.

Perhaps if believers took the time to get alone with God, to focus on His Divine inspection – they would recapture a sensitivity to sin in their life. For some of us, time alone with God suggests a chilly sense of sweeping guilt. For others, it is nothing of the kind. If we develop time with God, if we allow Him to step into our guilty presence and open ourselves to feel the warm wash of His cleansing – “alone time” will not be something to be avoided. The fresh feeling you had when you came to Jesus and He washed you thoroughly can be your experience all over again – but you must get alone with Him.

Get rid of religious distraction. Shut the radio and iPod off. Get far from everyone else in your heart. Really focus on placing yourself before Him. He wants to hear your voice – even in your guilt.

3: The defilement of hidden sin will deeply corrupt the worship place – defiling countless others who do not know why!

God used that place to indicate guilt or innocence. The first sip was water mixed with dust from the worship center is put into the water.

5:17 and the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel; and he shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.

Don’t forget that your personal sin has communal implications. A Sunday School teacher that is hiding lust is impacting the whole body of Messiah. An usher with an anger and bitterness issue is hindering God’s open flow of life in the local body. Our sin is not irrelevant – it is very powerfully affecting others – even if we cannot see it. The worship center was affected by DIRT brought in through sin, and the worship center’s DUST would be employed to deal with the problem.

If she is innocent, the water should be a sweet drink – for it will clear suspicion. God will vindicate what she has been saying – and suspicion should evaporate. It will be based on God’s power – not her honesty! Think about the sweetness of no longer hearing a whispering over her shoulder – because GOD declared her innocent.

Charles Bridges in his commentary on Proverbs explains the quiet whispers this way: “We may seem to make light of the tale brought to our ears, and wholly to despise it. But the subtle poison has worked. ‘Suppose it should be true. Perhaps, though it may be exaggerated, there may be some ground for it.’ The thought indulged for only a moment brings suspicion, distrust, coldness: and often it ends in the separation of chief friends.”

4: Even the accusation was a tarnish against God’s glory in her honor – the truth of innocence had to be cleared!

Letting her hair down, the priest and the woman will stand before God while an offering is submitted to God for His approval. Both her and her husband should avoid getting to this point if at all possible.

5:18 ‘The priest shall then have the woman stand before the LORD and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and place the grain offering of memorial in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy, and in the hand of the priest is to be the water of bitterness that brings a curse.

God referred to hair as symbolism on a number of occasions. In the Nazarite vow of Numbers 6 and in the vow language of Leviticus 14 – hair was symbolic, and shaving was symbolic. In the case of women, Paul made the point that her hair represented her GLORY (1 Cor. 11). Here, the accusation meant that a stain would stand over her life- unless God could rescue her and vindicate her. Her hair was let down before God.

In several idiom dictionaries, the phrase “let your hair down” had specific meaning. Look for a moment at these:

“Fig. to tell [someone] everything; to tell one’s innermost feelings and secrets. Let your hair down and tell me all about it. Come on. Let your hair” and “to relax and enjoy yourself without worrying what other people will think” as in: It’s nice to let your hair down once in a while and go a bit wild. (From the Online Idiom dictionary by Farlex).

It appears to me that both of these senses should apply. Standing before God, I should not be concerned about anyone else’s view of my life. His is the one that matters. I should be able to relax and tell the whole truth. Real intimacy with God forces pretense out. God wants to walk with you the way He did in the Garden BEFORE sin entered the world. You who know Christ are the only ones on the earth with which he can sojourn in that way!

5: Sin needed to be confronted and confessed or denied and rejected – and the wages needed to be made clear.

5:19 ‘The priest shall have her take an oath and shall say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you and if you have not gone astray into uncleanness, being under the authority of your husband, be immune to this water of bitterness that brings a curse; 20 if you, however, have gone astray, being under the authority of your husband, and if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has had intercourse with you” 21 (then the priest shall have the woman swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman), “the LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people by the LORD’S making your thigh waste away and your abdomen swell; 22 and this water that brings a curse shall go into your stomach, and make your abdomen swell and your thigh waste away.” And the woman shall say, “Amen. Amen.”

She confessed before God deliberately and completely. The woman verbally swore an oath before the Lord to ask for the curse or clean judgment. The woman must show that she clearly agrees to the God revealing the hidden – if there is anything hidden. If she is not guilty, this will be a simple matter. If she is guilty, perhaps she believes, as many people do, that either God is not real, or not able to see what she is truly doing.

It is a good and healthy thing to recite all the things that would result from a sinful choice BEFORE I engage in the activity.

Randy Alcorn wrote words to those of us in ministry, but the same words can be used for your life as well, in his article in Leadership Magazine: “What Happens When you fall”: The Consequences of a Moral Tumble:

• I grieve the Lord who redeemed me when I tumble.
• I drag His sacred name into the mud.
• I forget I will one day look Jesus the righteous judge in the face and give account of my actions. I will stand there without an answer.
• I begin my journey following in the footsteps of those who have gone before that have forsaken their ministries and caused me in the past to shudder.
• I inflict untold hurt on Nancy, my faithful friend and loyal wife. I lose Nancy’s respect and trust, hurting my beloved daughters, Rachel and Angie.
• I destroy my credibility with my children.
• If my blindness should continue or my wife should be unable to forgive, I may end up losing my wife and my children forever.
• I cause shame to my family.
• I lose my self respect.
• I form memories and flash backs that could plague future intimacy with my wife.
• I waste years of ministry training and experience for a long time, and perhaps permanently.
• I undermine the faithful example of other hard working Christians in our community.
• I would be bringing great pleasure to Satan.
• I would be heaping enormous judgment on the person with whom I was committing adultery.
• I could possibly bear the physical consequences of my sin with diseases such as gonorrhea, syphilis, clomidia, herpes or aids.
• I could even infect Nancy, or in the case of aids, causing her death.
• I would bring shame and hurt to fellow Pastors and elders: (Names).
• I would invoke life long embarrassment on myself.

The old adage is true: “Pure love and suspicion cannot dwell together: at the door where the latter enters, the former makes its exit.”

6: Every sinner hiding sin needs to know the weight of a LIE to God.

5:23 ‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall wash them off into the water of bitterness. 24 ‘Then he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings a curse, so that the water which brings a curse will go into her and cause bitterness. 25 ‘The priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, and he shall wave the grain offering before the LORD and bring it to the altar; 26 and the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial offering and offer it up in smoke on the altar, and afterward he shall make the woman drink the water.

Another dramatic step of seeing the indictment in writing added solemnity to the occasion. Insuring the woman is fully aware of the weight of the moment, the priest wrote out the curse, and then washed the words into the water cup of bitterness. She would have to INGEST her words – to drink them in.

7: God loves to clear the innocent, but God will not withhold judgment on the guilty who are hiding sin. God worked in the woman’s body to prove her or curse her.

5: 27 ‘When he has made her drink the water, then it shall come about, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, that the water which brings a curse will go into her and cause bitterness, and her abdomen will swell and her thigh will waste away, and the woman will become a curse among her people. 28 ‘But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will then be free and conceive children.

What a grand moment, when she would be set free from suspicion and God would show her word to be TRUE. Her husband would be silenced about this, and she would be blessed by God.

8: The truth is the beginning of the healing point. The purpose of coming before the Lord was to be absolutely sure nothing was left unanswered.

5:29 ‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, being under the authority of her husband, goes astray and defiles herself, 30 or when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife, he shall then make the woman stand before the LORD, and the priest shall apply all this law to her.

9: God holds us responsible to TRY to make things right before Him and each other. If you do all you can do to make it right, the sin is left on the other.

5:31 Moreover, the man will be free from guilt, but that woman shall bear her guilt.’”

The end sounds funny, but what the writer is trying to say is simple: If she was guilty – her sin would be her fault. Unfaithfulness isn’t always a two way street. If he walked through the steps and found her unfaithful – his heart would be broken. God does not heap the bad decisions and sinful choices of one on the record of the other.

I am not suggesting that sometimes we don’t play a negative role in the eye of our spouse – I am stating that my sinful choices are MY ISSUE – and so are yours. Don’t blame them. God knows your heart – and THEY are not the primary issue – your roaming and rebellious heart is!

God placed specific barriers and fences to protect the people, and wants believers to pay close attention to follow the Word He has given concerning contacts and divisions among people. When God placed specific barriers and fences – they were to protect the people and heal divisions among us. We dare not re-write the rules.

She meant well, she truly did. She brought home the wounded animal, and tried to nurse it to health. Well beyond her limited veterinary knowledge – she brought in the door a potential pet – but she had no idea what she was doing. You see, the animal she brought in the door was very sick, and the disease spread to all the other pets in the house. Her good heart indirectly caused the death of all of her other beloved pets. As one after another died of the same illness, she saw the problem: Good intentions aren’t enough – they need to be accompanied by right actions. Wanting to do good doesn’t mean DOING GOOD. The difference is found in the actual choices – not simply the INTENT.

I mention this because it helps to frame the chief lesson of our text. For God’s people to move forward in the heat of the wilderness THEY NEED MORE THAN GOOD HEARTS – they need His Word, and leaders that will offer His direction and discernment of His will. That is the reason why God specified the qualities and work of leaders before they left Sinai. There are many traps God’s people would unwittingly face, and leaders that followed His Word closely would soon be essential to success on the arduous path to the Promised Land. The problem is that God’s people can be moved from God’s path with simple emotional appeals to their warm-heartedness of the hurting, along with their desire to forgive and unify – even when that is NOT what God desires in a specific case.

On the face of it, unrestricted forgiveness always sounds Christian, but it is not. Leaders know that. They know that some people will say they are sorry to gain the advantages of restoration, but not truly believe what they are saying. Others bring danger to the community if too easily offered unconditional acceptance. God gave many commands about caring for one another, but He also gave commands to put distance between us and some, and to have fences around us to protect the community.

Key Principle: God placed specific barriers and fences to protect the people, and wants believers to pay close attention to follow the Word He has given concerning contacts and divisions among people.

Our story begins all the way back in Numbers 3, where we learned some principles about God’s establishment of the leadership before the tough standards of Numbers 5 were revealed. We five important truths about God’s selection process:

1: God chose the leaders He wanted for His people (3:1). Numbers 3:1 “…the LORD spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.” Leadership is CHOSEN and GIFTED BY GOD.

2: God didn’t give enough leaders to do the work – but made them look to others. (3:2-5), They were named from the sons of Aaron. Numbers 3:2 These then are the names of the sons of Aaron… Leadership is TEAM DEPENDENT.

3: God appointed a third group to be brought into the practical maintaining of the ministry (3:6-9). We named them as the men of the tribe Levi. Numbers 3:6 “Bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him…Leadership is PRACTICAL.

4: The work was both profoundly serious and extraordinarily unique (3:10). Numbers 3:10 “So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that they may keep their priesthood, but the layman who comes near shall be put to death.” Leadership is a DISTINCT CALLING.

5: God said His servants were His personal property in a unique way (3:11-13). He replaced the Levites with the need to have a firstborn redemption from among the people of that time and said: “… So the Levites shall be Mine. 13 “For all the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from man to beast. They shall be Mine; I am the LORD.” Leadership is at God’s BECK and CALL.

If you read carefully the rest of Numbers 3 and 4, it becomes clear that God wanted to organize the leaders in each of the groups with specific tasks:

First, God told Moses to COUNT all those males who were from the specified families: Numbers 3:14 Then the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, 15 “Number the sons of Levi by their fathers’ households...

Next, Moses was told to divide the work four ways – 1) Aaronic family priests; 2) Kohathite Levites; 3) Gershonite Levites and 4) Merarite Levites.

AARONIC FAMILY PRIESTS: There were commands of priestly work to Aaron’s sons. When all was said and done, they lived for the work of the worship center and cared for every aspect of its operations on behalf of the people. There were four ways this was clear:

• They were to watch over the daily work in the Worship Center (3:32). Numbers 3:32 and Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was the chief of the leaders of Levi, and had the oversight of those who perform the duties of the sanctuary. This included even the menial tasks related to the work (3:28). Numbers 3:28 “This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting, and their duties shall be under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest…

• They were to prepare the most holy things for proper transport (4:15). Numbers 4:15 “When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects … the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them, so that they will not touch the holy objects and die. .

• They were to handle the oil and grain of the offerings that were necessary to the operation of the worship place (4:16). Numbers 4:16 “The responsibility of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is the oil for the light and the fragrant incense and the continual grain offering and the anointing oil—the responsibility of all the tabernacle and of all that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings.”

• They were to live ever watching over the worship center (live at the door) and keep their focus on worship, instruction and intercession for the rest of the nation (3:38). Numbers 3:38 Now those who were to camp before the tabernacle eastward, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, are Moses and Aaron and his sons, performing the duties of the sanctuary for the obligation of the sons of Israel; but the layman coming near was to be put to death…

LEVITES OF KOHATH FAMILY: There was the Levitical work of Kohath’s sons, who worked beside the priests: Those of the sons of Kohath that were NOT from Aaron were not priests, but they had a special call from God as ELDERS among the people. They focused on the worship center and worked beside the priests, but had some limitations the priests did not have. They stayed close to the priests and took their cue from the priests. They were there as godly men who would be ever ready to assist the priestly corps. They cared for the holy implements of the Tabernacle.

• They were to live near the worship center and make its care their primary focus (3:27-31). 3:27 Of Kohath … 29 The families of the sons of Kohath were to camp on the southward side of the tabernacle, … 31 Now their duties involved the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, and the utensils of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the screen, and all the service concerning them;

• They were to be tested and trained men, with enough experience to know how and not too much to be able to practically serve (4:1-2). Numbers 4:3 from thirty years and upward, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tent of meeting.

• Their specific work was to take their cue from the priests, and when things were properly prepared, to move the objects of the Tabernacle, handling them with great care (4:4-15). Numbers 4:4 “This is the work of the descendants of Kohath in the tent of meeting, concerning the most holy things. 5 “When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and they shall take down the veil of the screen and cover the ark of the testimony with it; …15 “When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is to set out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them, so that they will not touch the holy objects and die. .. They were to stay closely tied to both the priests and the other servants, and not to become too distant from either of them (4:17-20). Numbers 4:17 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 18 “Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites. 19 “But do this to them that they may live and not die when they approach the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each of them to his work and to his load; 20 but they shall not go in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.”…

LEVITES OF GERSHON’S FAMILY: The men of Gershon were the “fabric masters” of the Tabernacle. They transported, maintained and washed the fabrics of the Tabernacle. These were men aged between 30 and 50, camping to the west of the Tabernacle, caring for the fabric needs of the Tabernacle.

• They took special care of the fabric coverings, camping behind the Tabernacle. Numbers 3:21 Of Gershon … 23 The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle westward…25 Now the duties of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting involved the tabernacle and the tent, its covering, and the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting, 26 and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the doorway of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords, according to all the service concerning them….This was repeated in 4:24 “This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in carrying: 25 they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and the covering of porpoise skin that is on top of it, and the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting, 26 and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the doorway of the gate of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords and all the equipment for their service; and all that is to be done, they shall perform. 27 “All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their loads and in all their work, shall be performed at the command of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them as a duty all their loads. 28 “This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting, and their duties shall be under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest…

LEVITES OF MERARI’S FAMILY: These men were given charge over the metal and wood work of the Tabernacle. These were men between 30 and 50, commanded to encamp north of the Tabernacle and care for wood, metal and rope.

• They lived on the north side of the Tabernacle, and were told to service the wood and metal equipment, along with the ropes. 4:33 Of Merari … 35 … They were to camp on the northward side of the tabernacle. 36 Now the appointed duties of the sons of Merari involved the frames of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, all its equipment, and the service concerning them, 37 and the pillars around the court with their sockets and their pegs and their cords….

• They also were active from thirty to fifty years old. 4:29 “As for the sons of Merari, you shall number them by their families, by their fathers’ households; 30 from thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, you shall number them, everyone who enters the service to do the work of the tent of meeting.

Now counted and ordered, God again revealed truth to the people, but it was painful for them to hear.

God placed specific barriers and fences to protect the people, and wanted the people to pay close attention to follow the Word He has given concerning contacts and divisions among people.

Look at three kinds of people in the commands of Numbers 5. Today’s lesson will include two of them, the third will have a lesson of its own – because of the specific nature and length of the text:

• People who needed to get out of the camp.

• People who needed to get right with God.

• People who needed to get straight with one another.

Each of these should be handled carefully, and separately…

First, there were people who were defiled by contact with the dead or by manifestations of bodily discharges. They needed separation.

Numbers 5:1 “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the sons of Israel that they send away from the camp every leper and everyone having a discharge and everyone who is unclean because of a dead person. 3 “You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside the camp so that they will not defile their camp where I dwell in their midst.” 4 The sons of Israel did so and sent them outside the camp; just as the LORD had spoken to Moses, thus the sons of Israel did.

Passages like this can easily be dismissed as only pertaining to the health conditions of the ancient desert. Although I believe there is a connection to health, certainly, I would caution Bible students to look more broadly to the principle behind the separation barrier. Let me explain:

In the Bible the term defilement isn’t necessarily about specific sin in the life of the person who is defiled. Sometimes, God separated out people from ministry and even from dwelling together for a time for purposes that were not related to their specific behavior at all. The term “taw-may” translated defile can be used in a variety of ways. Sometimes it carries with it the sense of pollution of sin, as in sexual or idolatrous sin that “polluted the children of Israel”. In other cases, though, it was a marker of ineligibility for a specific service or use by God – not because of specific sin, but for other reasons. Levites that slept with their wives were not suited for eligibility of service for the next twenty-four hours (Lev. 22). If a Levite has a son that dies, he may bury him, but he may not immediately serve in his position (Lev. 21). The point of such commands included some health and cleanliness concerns, but they were focused also on the servant’s ability to concentrate on their work appropriately.

Defilement may mean that you aren’t bad, but because of something happening in your life, you aren’t ready to serve God in your function at that moment.

We don’t have such a standard today. We keep going, even when we should stop. I don’t know how many times I have counseled men in ministry that were in trouble in their life, and much of it stemmed from the same thing – the expectation that no matter what happened to them, they needed to be ready to keep going. Look at the three specific conditions of ineligibility:

• People with a communicable disease. When we are sick, it is related to the fall and sin in general, but not necessarily related to a specific sin we are engaged in. Sickness may remove someone from active service for a time, particularly if it is a sickness that can be spread by them. An usher with the flu on Sunday morning can thin out a Sunday night crowd! We seem to have this exception fairly well imbedded in our day, so we will move on.

• People with an active blood seepage. Under the Law, women were defiled during their monthly cycle as part of the Fall in the Garden of Eden. The accompanying pain and discomfort is a testament that mutiny against God has its price in everyday life – just as the experience of the man who breaks his body to plant in an unyielding field experienced. No woman is specifically SINFUL because of this ineligibility to be among her people – it is because she is a SINNER. Sickness, discharges and defilements are because we are all SINNERS, not because we have specifically SINNED in some area. It is a status problem, not necessarily a participation problem. Having said that, God did make the point elsewhere in Scripture that He may use sickness as a discipline to His people. Some people are held out of participation by a discharge or lesion that God intended to keep them from further contaminating the ministry with sinful practices. I have in mind the specifics of 1 Corinthians 11.

• People who are handling the burial of their loved ones. No place is the “Fall of Man” so powerfully recalled as at the burial site. Physical death is an illustration of separation from God – spiritual death – that took place when the mutiny of the Garden occurred. In the Bible, the dead were handled by their family and prepared for burial. The caring for the body, with all its health dangers, removed people from the camp for a time. At the same time, I would suggest there was another reason. Perhaps those involved in the process of burial were NOT READY to be back into the flow of their life, and the time away allowed them to put some time into healing from the loss – even though it would take much longer to truly heal. The first stages of grief, in this view, would eliminate someone from service. I believe there is a Biblical case to be made for suspension of service by ministry people who have lost their spouse. I think it is both unwise and in my view unbiblical for them to continue right away. A time of grief should be granted and enforced by those involved in leadership.

The point of all this is that we aren’t always ready to keep going – even if we think we NEED to for the sake of others. We can WANT to do the right thing, but that isn’t the same as DOING the right thing.

God may be introducing a condition to get you to slow down and look at life differently. If you are not well, you should take the time, away from others, to get well – particularly if what you have can be spread to them. If you are suffering from a loss or facing some condition that is messing with your body and emotional life – you may need to set aside some time for recovery – and get off the firing line. It is unwise to push past events and trauma of body.

God commanded the leper to be removed from the camp. That doesn’t SOUND very understanding! Why was He being so MEAN? What if, because we have compassion on the leper, we decide to keep him in the camp? What would happen? In short, the malady would spread and others would be hurt. Here is the point: We are not more compassionate than God. He made rules so that REAL compassion could thrive.

I constantly hear people in our day that for the sake of compassion re-draw God’s stated lines. We want to have compassion on the brutalized and victimized woman who was raped, so we make the exception in our stand on life – because we think compassion is defined by OUR WAY of looking at things – it isn’t. God introduced a baby on the planet through a vicious and despicable act – but the baby isn’t a disease to be destroyed or a monster to be slain – it is God’s answer to man’s sin sickness. That baby has the mark of blessing that can only be understood by one like Joseph of old who said “what another meant for evil, God meant for good.” Compassion misplaced is injustice allowed.

Second, there were people that were caught up in sin. They needed repentance, restoration and in some cases to pay restitution.

In direct contrast to some people who were told to go away from others because of defilement, others were told that their actions had separated them from others and they needed to be restored. Numbers 5:5: “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Speak to the sons of Israel, ‘When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the LORD, and that person is guilty, 7 then he shall confess his sins which he has committed, and he shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it one-fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged. 8 ‘But if the man has no relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution which is made for the wrong must go to the LORD for the priest, besides the ram of atonement, by which atonement is made for him.

God made specific conditions of restoration for those who deliberately acted in a way that hurt another. When either a man or woman acted unfaithfully – meaning a deliberate act that broke the relationship, and when they were found to be guilty of that act – they were to ADMIT THEY WERE WRONG. Next, they were to give back what they took away (implying the primary sin in view here was one of theft). They were to add a 20% “markup” on the restoration and give that to the wounded party, or their estate. They were reconciled to the wounded one through this, but STILL NEEDED to be reconciled to God. That happened when they offered a RAM, a valuable asset that would have helped them secure themselves in the future.

Here is the point: People who take from others what they have not rightfully earned need to be dealt with openly, with a view toward restoring them. We are all sinners, and we all want things we shouldn’t want. We rationalize and justify in our own minds that we should have what others have. We covet another person’s good fortune, and we can easily rationalize taking. No one is exempt from the desire, but most don’t give into it. If you did – make it right. Don’t just give back what you took, go the extra mile and give back MORE. If you have taken too many breaks at work, do extra work and make it up – then do even more make sure you have repaid the full debt plus.

If you have wronged another, Jesus said it was more important that you make it right then you offer your gift to God at the altar. Don’t steal money and put it in the offering plate. It doesn’t belong there! Don’t cheat customers and think that by being CLEVER you will honor God and grow your business. For every gift to mission you make from stolen money, you wound someone’s ability to hear the Gospel right here at home.

Be the honest worker you would want in someone YOU hire to work for you. We have no right to complain about a mechanic doing a poor job on our car if we are doing a poor job in our office or factory. It is time for Christians to show their loyalty to Jesus Christ by becoming the BEST WORKERS on the job! We need men and women who will show up on time, work hard even when not watched, and give their best every day. Work is not the refuge of rest for the overactive recreation of your busy weekend. Go to bed earlier and get ready to be your best at work. Your testimony will increase, and God will use your faithfulness as a platform to reach others.

** NOTE: Numbers 5:5-8 relate to the sinner corrected, but Numbers 5:9-10 do not. It is a clarification of the ownership of gifts given to those in the priesthood. It says: 5:9 ‘Also every contribution pertaining to all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the priest, shall be his. 10 ‘So every man’s holy gifts shall be his; whatever any man gives to the priest, it becomes his.’” This was a simple clarification brought up in light of the previous comments, and sought to make clear that all gifts passed to a priest became the property of that priest.

Third, there were couples divided by jealous suspicion. They needed inspection, counsel and in cases without foundation – restoration. That is our subject for the next lesson! (Numbers 5:11-31).

When God placed specific barriers and fences – they were to protect the people and heal divisions among us. We dare not re-write the rules.

Despite the fact that some Christians are uneasy with discussing military service as an option for our young people, we are humbled and thankful for each young man or woman that chooses to serve in our armed forces. We support them through this sacrifice, and pray for them without ceasing. We also are particularly sensitive about the needs and work of the fine men in the “Chaplain’s Corps” of the US military. We believe their work to be more than important – we believe it to be essential….

One of the things anyone in the military will tell you is that they learn very early in their time the STRUCTURE of the service.

They know from the smallest of emblems the rank and accomplishments of others around them. They know when to stand for another person, simply because of their rank. They understand respect, and they learn the parameters of each job assigned to them. They are not taught to initiate, but to follow. Theirs is not normally a call to creativity – but to obedience. The military, perhaps better than anyone in modern society, is able to organize a rabble into a squad of accomplishers. Given a clear objective and a chain of command, they are able to carry out mission after mission. One thing is painfully clear about their work: without clear definitions and parameters, the whole system breaks down quickly. Painstaking work on organization in the boot camp saves lives on the field of battle. Under fire, it is too late to learn who is in charge, and how to accomplish team objectives – there simply isn’t time.

What is true about the physical fighting force of our military today was also true about the people of God in the wilderness long ago. They were given a short time at Sinai to organize into ranks before the journey from the Mountain of the Law to Mount Nebo – where Moses looked over the Promised Land before his death. The journey was perilous, and God’s organization and ranking was meticulous. The record of that organization is found in the text for today’s lesson from Numbers 3 and 4.

Before we look into the organization of the ancients, we again should pause and remember that the record of this organization was part of God’s training manual to believers throughout the ages. He intended that organization and preparation be hallmarks of His work in the world during every generation. In ours, it is no different. We are in a strange time in the life of the modern church. Even after churches have been planted in virtually every community of our United States, we find the populace virtually Biblically illiterate. We find believers living indistinguishable values to lost men and women around them. It is as if the army has lost its ability to recognize uniforms, let alone understand sleeve markers for rank. We need to re-examine what God wants from His followers.

Key Principle: Working together well requires defined expectations and structure. For God to be well served, believers must understand the standards for participation, the parameters of the work, and the leadership structure.

To help us understand the whole passage and the people involved, maybe it would be most helpful to recall an old story from the Bible, set at the time of the Patriarchs…

Our story began with a young woman named Leah who had a broken heart. She grew up in a home with a beautiful younger sister, and Leah was not as valued because, frankly, she wasn’t as beautiful as her younger sister Rachel. One day she met the most handsome man, and she longed to have him as her husband. Unfortunately, as was the story of her whole life, the man didn’t love her back – but fell deeply in love with her more beautiful, younger sister. Leah’s father made a deal with the young man to allow him to work for seven years in order to earn Rachel – his beautiful daughter’s hand – in marriage. At the end of the seven years, Leah’s dad switched the younger girl for our broken-hearted bigger sister. She slipped into the bridal chamber, and in darkness she drank in one night of romantic love with her new husband, believing in here heart, or at least HOPING, that if he would give her a chance, she would win him over. The morning sun revealed her face, and her new husband was angry over the switch. He felt abused by her father, and he took some of it out on her. Her charged out of the tent as she lay crying – her one night of acceptance and love sunk into a bitter pool of tears. Another deal was struck for her younger sister’s hand, and her new husband continued to work for his true love – all the while his first wife just wanted him to love her deeply – as she loved him. Would NO ONE understand her need for love? God opened her womb and she had a child and named him “Look a SON!” (Reuben) hoping to get her husband to see her as valuable and important to him. She bore him another child and called him “God has heard!” (Simeon) believing that her petitions to the Lord would bring her husband around as she gave him a future. A third child was born and she called him “Attached” (Levi) hoping that her husband would grow attached to her through this third son. It didn’t happen. She cried. She sought God some more, and then she learned her lesson – God gave her yet a fourth son, and she called him “Praise!” (Yehudah) because she was finally learning to get her self-worth and approval from God and not husband.

Those children grew up. We want to follow the sons of “Attached” or Levi. They went with Jacob into Egypt when Joseph saved their lives during a famine. The sons of Levi grew into a large brood, as did the sons of all of Jacob’s family. When Moses was used of God to lead the people from Pharaoh’s harsh hand, the sons of Levi left with the flock of Israel and journeyed to Sinai. This is where our text is set – at the Holy Mountain of God – as the children of Israel ready for the journey to the Promised Land.

Our story is about one Israelite family – that of Levi. They distinguished themselves on the journey when Moses went up onto the mountain, and the people began a terrible and sinful party around a “golden calf” set up to bear an image of their self-styled god. The Levites refused involvement, and were ordered to even kill others of Israel who were involved in debauchery (Ex. 32). The Levites acted so righteously in that exchange that God commended them in His Holy record: (Ex.32:29) and placed a special blessing on them. When we speak of Levi, by Numbers 3 and 4 he was long dead, but he had fathered three sons that became heads of significant households in Egypt: Gershon. Kohath and Merrari.

In the line of Kohath was the father of Moses and Aaron – Amram, son of Kohath, son of Levi. God set aside all the sons of Kohath that came from Aaron’s loins to be the priest of the Tabernacle. Other sons of Kohath were NOT to be priests, were special “Kohathite Levites” that handled the most holy parts of the Tabernacle. The rest of the Levitical family – sons of Gershon and Merrari – were given other important tasks in regards to the worship center of God in the camp of Israel. Our lesson is about the setting aside of each of their duties… but that is not ALL the text is about. It is about something much bigger – the principles of ORGANIZED WORSHIP AND SERVICE of the people of God.

Let’s remember that we are a part of a believing family that extends back generations. God has always had a people that was learning of His love, and attempting to walk with Him. He told us the story of our older brother Israel’s assignments to help us understand our own. Each principle is a timeless truth of an unchanging God – the same God that we serve today. In all the words, don’t get lost and forget the premise of all of this: working together well requires defined expectations and structure. For God to be well served, believers must understand the standards for participation, the parameters of the work, and the leadership structure.

Principles of God’s Worship Structure

1: God set up the system by His Word, and chose the key leaders to lead the team of servants for His people (3:1).

Numbers 3:1 Now these are the records of the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when the LORD spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.

God knows how He wants things done. His Word is specific as to who should serve in what capacity. It is not subject to culture or popular sentiment – it is based solely on God’s Word. The restrictions for the offices, the functions of those offices, and the call to those offices belong to God and are specified in His Holy Word. In ancient Israel, God spoke to Moses about which people were to be placed in which service – and it was based solely on their birth. God placed them in the wombs of their mothers, and the womb of a Levite gave birth to a Levite. They did nothing special to be better – they were CHOSEN.

Today, the work of God is carried out by people who were GIFTED BY God with spiritual enablings from their NEW BIRTH. When they came to Christ, they were given spiritual gifts that marked their service in the Body of Christ. They are not better – they are CHOSEN. Every believer was given gifts, and all of the gifts were designed to build the whole body. The point it this: giftedness was a birth issue, not an issue that made them somehow “holier” than others. When we function in our gifts, we will find that some among us are gifted for the operations of ministry.

Without moving far afield, we also need to recall that God placed the parameters on WHO got the specific call to do ministry tasks. He was not an “equal opportunity” leader. In the past, Levites from the family of Merari got certain tasks, but they were not to do the work of Gershonites. Kohathites were given special and important tasks – but not those of the family of Aaron, who alone bore priestly responsibilities. What if I felt God called me to be a priest, but I was not of the sons of Aaron? I would serve in the station God gave me with all my might, but I would not become another because I FELT I should be. God set the parameters. The same is true in Pastoral ministry today. I keep running into really well intentioned ladies who FEEL that God called them to do the work of Pastor. Biblically speaking, He didn’t. It isn’t unclear. We don’t have time to address all of the case for this in this lesson, but it is nowhere unclear in Scripture. How people feel about their service isn’t the point – God’s parameters are the ones that matter, and they are found in His Word.

2: The servant team cannot and will not be sufficient to accomplish the goals of ministry (3:2-5)

Numbers 3:2 These then are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he ordained to serve as priests. 4 But Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD when they offered strange fire before the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of their father Aaron. 5 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying…

Three important truths come from the few verses above. Each help us move in on God’s direction, and understand a problem God was caring for. The group of priests that came from the line of Aaron was FAR TOO SMALL to care for all the work, so they were given a portion of the work to accomplish, and the rest to oversee.

• Privileged: The men were marked by name (3:2).

God gave a special privilege to Aaron’s sons in service, and they showed themselves to be neither deserving, nor intrinsically better than the rest of the people. Serving God in intercession and leadership, shepherding and disciple building is a PRIVILEGE of weak and frail vessels. Pastoral ministry is not given to men that “glow in the dark”. It is given to men that God called – for no particular reason in themselves. Left to their own devices, they would not “deserve” any authority, and they would not exercise prudence and discipline. God granted the privilege, and they should hold ministry in their hands as something God enlisted them into, and God entrusted them for. It is a gift, not a problem. If a shepherd cannot honestly say that they sense their ministry as a gift of God – they need to recuse themselves.

• Tested: The men were held by God to a higher standard than their peers (3:3-4a).

In the case of Nadab and Abihu, it appears they became drunk on day, and failed to precisely follow God’s method of putting fire on the altar. Focus on their personal pleasure made them sloppy about caring for God’s work – and that is always a danger. One of the greatest applications of this truth in my lifetime has been the professionalism of ministry. Men in the work have begun to look at the service as an occupation more than a calling, and it shows up in a focus on what they can GET over what they are willing to SACRIFICE and how they are willing to SERVE. The standard is HIGHER for God’s under-shepherds. Their focus is supposed to be different.

• Limited: The men were too few in number to meet the needs of the community (3:4b-5)

The work was too great for the family of Aaron, and the work is still too great for the under-shepherds today. Pastors cannot reach a community, be at the bedside of the sick, pray without ceasing for the flock, disciple the young and care for the old. There are the same hour limits to Aaron’s sons as to the rest of Israel’s sons. The work was simply too much to effectively accomplish. The most important work was accomplishing the tasks God’s Word outlined for each specific office. No one office was to do the work of all. This is the reason that later in church ministry, God made intentional training and discipleship so important. The work of the under-shepherd today is to “train the believers to do the work of the ministry”, NOT to be the professional that does it for them. Good shepherds are working to fill the place with the next generation replacements, because the work will always be both too big, and last beyond the borders of our lives.

3: God appointed others to be brought into the practical maintaining of the ministry (3:6-9)

Numbers 3:6 “Bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. 7 “They shall perform the duties for him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle. 8 “They shall also keep all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the duties of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. 9 “You shall thus give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel.

Because the work was too large for the priests, God laid out the plan as to how the work could be effectively accomplished. Again three important truths can be gleaned from the verses we just read:

• Appointed: God birthed servants into this privileged position (3:6).

God appoints, God’s leaders acknowledge. The Levites were placed into their position by God, but enlisted into operation by the acknowledgement of the leaders. The same is true today. Each believer is gifted to do part of the work of ministry – and each leader should be busy trying to identify God’s gifting of them so that we can properly train and equip them for that work. Failure to identify your gifting will keep you from participating in the work the way GOD MADE YOU. Failure of leaders to enlist gifted men and women into their work, and motivate them to stay at the task faithfully will burn out ministry staff. The God-given task for anyone in ministry is to search for, enlist, train and motivate those who God has gifted. If we lack those with the appropriate gifts, we should be seeking God in prayer asking for people with the right gifts.

• Practical: They serve in ways helpful to both the ministry staff and the congregation (3:7), sometimes in areas like furnishings and meeting places (3:8).

Notice the work these servants performed was for the benefit of the whole congregation, but the work was done for GOD. They served God by serving the people’s needs in worship. The work they did included much preparation – all this is and was HOLY WORK. It could not be haphazard, and it could not be a second thought. Their priestly attention to detail would make the whole congregation function better. They were to take their part of the work seriously, and do it with all their might.

• Blessing: They are given from among the people and a gift from God to make all things work – it is an esteemed mission (3:9).

I have had the privilege of training many men for shepherding ministry, and have participated, along with the whole congregation, in shaping them. What a blessing they are to us! It is an incredible privilege – to see the hand of God on a family and watch a man diligently prepare for service of the King. I am humbled over and over to be a part of it. It is exciting, and it is fulfilling work. We are blessed when God sends one of these trained from our midst to another place to work in His vineyard there.

4: The intercession work of the minister is distinct and must not be engaged lightly (3:10).

Numbers 3:10 “So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that they may keep their priesthood, but the layman who comes near shall be put to death.”

God called Moses to single out and recognize His Holy choice for the shepherding group – the priests that would minister for Him. Three important truths ooze from verse ten:

• Recognized: The community will know who they are (3:10a).

The priestly function was important to God, so He had them marked for their work. It wasn’t that the work of the priest was intrinsically more valuable to God than the work of others – that wasn’t the point. All obedient work for the Master is important. The point was that it would HELP the congregation if they knew who was prepared and appointed to this work… Today I bear a title called “Reverend”. It is a funny titular leftover from a bygone era – a mark of ordination to ministry. It seems strange in our casual modern day, but it is important. It is important to ME because it reminds me that people will be watching. It is important to YOU because it marks those who we are expecting something from. What should we expect?

The priest was to be exacting in his work for God in ministry, ever diligent to understand God’s Words and commands better, and careful to find clear applications to his own walk, and the lives of those in the congregation. That is the job – knowing God’s Word, applying God’s truths, training God’s people. We take a title to help recognize that established and acknowledged calling.

• Responsible: They must do their work consistently (3:10b).

The word “shamar” is translated “keep” in the verse, but that is only one part of the word’s essential meaning. The term is also to “guard” to “defend” and to “keep watch over”. It is a word with strong preservation themes. The work of the priestly office was not only to keep up the Tabernacle’s sacrificial system – it was to guard against abuses of God’s Word.

Part of the work of the shepherding office is to guard the Word and the congregational understanding of it. This relates to why it is essential that there is both training and recognition of that training. If a man began to speak out the “word of God” in a way that was untrue, or to introduce immoral applications of it in the congregation, we expect the priests would have been involved. They would speak out.

Increasingly, this is misunderstood in the modern society that we live in. Now, if a political personality stabs badly at a moral issue, the clergy are warned to stand silent because that is now “political”. Let me be perfectly clear:

o If the government licenses same sex marriages, they will stand in violation of the Word of God – and I will not stand silent.
o If the politicians claim that they are able to segment human life into stages, and take the life of anyone who is not self-sustaining, I will not stand silent.
o The definition of LIFE is a moral and Biblical issue – because God created us. The parameters of “fair pricing” are a Biblical issue – or many Minor Prophets should be removed from the book because of their overt statements about that very practice.

Let me be clear: We live in a day when we are left to two choices: government takeover of vital areas of life with all its sloppiness and immoral underpinnings, or free market raping by a party that thinks no regulation is good regulation. This isn’t a Pastor reaching into politics, though the words impact political ideology. Christians have got to be unafraid to challenge both sides of the modern American political spectrum. It is particularly important for me to remind you, dear ones, during this political season – neither side has it right, because neither is deriving the foundational principles from God’s Word.

Republicans are red state people. Democrats are blue state people. Jesus the King’s color is PURPLE.

His definitions of morality are the ones His true church represents – not the other two. Each offer some very good ideas and some very bad ones. Each need to be challenged by God’s church, familiar with God’s Word – and not let off the hook.

We can get so afraid of one side taking control we forget the other isn’t God’s side either. His thoughts are in His Word – and they need to be again in His pulpits. We should not be silent, or cast aside and told we cannot speak because that is political. Nonsense! God’s Word speaks about fair pricing, and about the origins of life – and we need to be prepared to graciously but pointedly challenge from the Word anyone who says otherwise.

We need to speak to principles, while praying fervently for our leaders. We are blessed to have them, and we are blessed to able to choose them. Our President is a man, and he needs our prayers. Our Vice President is a man, and he needs us to intercede on his behalf before God. Our congressman and congresswomen are just people. They don’t see everything and how it will work out. They need our help NOW, and when they time comes our CHOICE later. Our critique must be factual and substantive, not personal and abusive – that isn’t a godly way to behave… but neither is silence from our pulpits.

• Respected: Their work shall not be handled casually (3:10b).

It is hard to read words about layman being “put to death”. It is hard to understand why God so abruptly made clear that He wanted those who were not in the position to recognize that truth. He made clear that ministry wasn’t a casual thing. Service to God isn’t a “spare time” pursuit of the marginally interested. God is looking for people who take what He is doing in their community very seriously, and work diligently to train the next generation to stand for God.

We measure all our work by one standard: “Will it help construct disciples that will make other disciples?” We could have comedy nights and barn dances – and that would make the church at the center of your social life. Is that the call of God to us? I would argue that it is NOT. We can have the occasional fun time, but that isn’t even CLOSE to our primary purpose. The work is serious and important, and requires those who will seriously train to do it.

5: God marked His servants as His special ones among men (3:11-13).

Numbers 3:11 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the first issue of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine. 13 “For all the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from man to beast. They shall be Mine; I am the LORD.”

Let’s thank God for some great men and women that He is using and has used in our lives. Look at what the Word reminds:

• Chosen: God specially marked them as His own in a unique property (3:11-13a).

In my life, men like Dr. Ken Masteller who first explained the Gospel to me, or Dr. Jack Jacobs, who first taught me sound methods of Bible study will forever be important in my heart. National Pastors like Chuck Swindoll and his infectious laughter, or John MacArthur and his careful studies will always be tied into my own teaching. Dr. John Caywood, who taught me in a classroom proper study methods helped me more than he could ever know. Pastor Herb Mitchell was used of God in my life to show me practical aspects of ministry. I made my first, and some of my most classic ministry blunders under his ministry tutelage. My life has been blessed with literally dozens of men who have helped, some over the airwaves and others in the classroom of church service. It doesn’t matter – they all helped shape me in some way, and I want to celebrate them. I want to be on the list of other men as they go forward. It is a unique blessing to pass what has been passed to you!

• Separated: God pulled them from the many and made them unique in His eyes (3:13b).

You can hear it ever so clearly: “They are MINE!” We must be careful about how we criticize God’s choice servants. I have been ever so blessed to have many supportive and loving leaders around my life – that is the truth! At the same time, I am quite amazed at how some people speak of men in other ministry places. Remember: they are but men and they make mistakes – but it is a holy calling. I can only hope for those who go out from this place in training that they will be granted such affirming and lovingly supportive people as I have been surrounded with!

At the same time, the words “They are MINE” are sobering to me as I serve my King. I am His unique possession – and I cannot fail to prepare or sluff off in my duties, no matter the temptation to do so. It is essential that we make choices that honor Him, and remember He is watching in the study and preparation, as well as the delivery!

Today’s ministry seems like it is moving faster than ever before, but it may not be heading in the right direction. We need to consider this story:

Years ago in Dublin, Ireland a lecturer named Thomas Henry Huxley lurched out in a horse drawn taxi. It was toward the end of the nineteenth century and Huxley has offered series of blistering verbal attacks on Christianity in public lectures and writings, especially aimed at the “alleged resurrection” of Jesus of Nazareth. He was a devoted disciple of Charles Darwin, and felt his calling to destroy the church in Europe. He was a famous biologist, teacher, author, defender of evolutionary theory. He was bold, convincing and a self-avowed humanist. He had become a traveling lecturer. Having finished another series of public assaults against several truths Christians held sacred, Huxley was in a hurry the following morning to catch his train to the next city. He took one of Dublin’s famous horse-drawn taxis and settled back with his eyes closed to rest himself for a few minutes. He assumed the driver had been told the destination by the hotel doorman, so all he said as he got in was, “Hurry . . . I’m almost late. Drive fast!” The horses lurched forward and galloped across Dublin at a vigorous pace. Before long Huxley glanced out the window and frowned as he realized they were going west, away from the sun, not toward it. Leaning forward, the scholar shouted, “Do you know where you are going?” Without looking back, the driver yelled a classic line, not meant to be humorous, “No, your honor! But I’m driving very fast!” (revised from sermon central).

…I mention him because it seems it is time for our country to take a look out the window. Deficits are doubling, moral thinking is sinking. We are actually debating the morality of beastiality in the news. Our education system is one of the most expensive on earth, but our abilities are sinking. Our past strengths are giving way. We are moving fast in technology – but are we headed in the right direction?

Now look at the church as it is poised to answer the assault of our day… are we heading in the right direction? There is a Japanese saying, “A vision without action is just a daydream, but an action without vision is plain disaster.” (sermoncentral.com). Perhaps it is time to look out the window and evaluate the direction we are taking in the ministry of Jesus as well. Is our expectation of our church framed on Biblical concepts or popular modern notions?

We must remember, working together well requires defined expectations and structure. For God to be well served, believers must understand the standards for participation, the parameters of the work, and the leadership structure.