Responsibilities and Privileges

For the tithe of the people of Israel, which they present as a contribution to the Lord, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said of them that they shall have no inheritance among the people of Israel.” And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Moreover, you shall speak and say to the Levites, ‘When you take from the people of Israel the tithe that I have given you from them for your inheritance, then you shall present a contribution from it to the Lord, a tithe of the tithe. And your contribution shall be counted to you as though it were the grain of the threshing floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. So you shall also present a contribution to the Lord from all your tithes, which you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you shall give the Lord’s contribution to Aaron the priest. Out of all the gifts to you, you shall present every contribution due to the Lord; from each its best part is to be dedicated.’ Therefore you shall say to them, ‘When you have offered from it the best of it, then the rest shall be counted to the Levites as produce of the threshing floor, and as produce of the winepress. And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting. And you shall bear no sin by reason of it, when you have contributed the best of it. But you shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die.’ ” (Numbers 18:24–32)

This is a difficult passage. I read a few ideas from others about its significance then and implications for God's people today. These are important attitudes and actions for me.

First, when all that I have, including time, money, talents, opportunities, and influence is dedicated to serving the Lord, I can enjoy life with glad of heart. I may not have all that others have, but joy is not about possessions but about being filled with the Spirit and committed to loving Jesus.

Even though I have no worldly inheritance, Jesus is mine and I am His. I have many things to enjoy, but they are not mine but only entrusted to me for a time and for my stewardship. I may hold these blessing yet only on condition of giving any or all up at once, without complaint or astonishment, if called to do so. Yet I am not poor though having nothing; but rich beyond compare, having Jesus and in Him I have all things.

So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. (1 Corinthians 3:21–23)

Some of the Levites might have wished to be landowners rather than Levites yet they had the great privilege of serving the Lord. They were not forgotten but received houses, gardens, pasture lands and were commended to the care of the nation. In today’s family of God, those called to serve are provided for in every way. Those who hear that call to be pastors, evangelists, or missionaries have every reason to obey it. Such full-time service may have many trials and heart-aches yet God’s Word promises: “Them that honor me I will honor.” This means preferring God without the land to the land without God, and having no fear that God will fail His commitment. He wants me, regardless of what He asks of me, to commit my soul entirely to Him and have no “second portion” to fall back upon if anythings seems to not work out as I hoped. Of this, I need not fear. I have accepted God’s offer to be His and can say: 

… I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, (or whatever He asks of me) which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. (2 Timothy 1:11–12)

Jesus, I realize that the vital responsibilities of the Levites have their parallel in the entire consecration You ask of me. Shrinking from my responsibilities is less of a temptation as You remind me of my privileges, even in a much lesser role than those listed above. I’m thankful that You promise safety and sufficiency. You are my portion and security, even made me Your inheritance. I am Your child, and I have all that I need.

My stuff isn’t really mine

That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field. “In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property. And if you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another. You shall pay your neighbor according to the number of years after the jubilee, and he shall sell to you according to the number of years for crops. If the years are many, you shall increase the price, and if the years are few, you shall reduce the price, for it is the number of the crops that he is selling to you. You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord your God. “Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land securely. The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and dwell in it securely. And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives. (Leviticus 25:11–22)

In a sermon series on generosity, our pastors have made it clear that I do not own anything but am a steward of what belongs to God. That is, He is the owner and I am a steward who He entrusts what He gives me to care for it according to His will.

For some time, I’ve thought of my fabric stash that way and that I have a responsibility to use it wisely and generously. However, that translated to using it up before I die. Then along came a friend who is moving and decided to downsize her stash. She gave me a large bag of lovely quilt fabrics, so large that she could not carry it. I could have said no, but didn’t. After a few weeks of letting it sit out of sight, I decided to sort everything as a good steward should. This verse was like a shot between the eyes:

But all things should be done decently and in order. (1 Corinthians 14:40)

It is now in order and with that the sad realization that in my lifetime, I cannot use it all. This made me think more deeply about stewardship.

Two more things happened. One was a lady who advertised her expensive sewing machine and furniture and other connected items for about a tenth or less of their retail value. It was quickly snapped up but she had some longarm accessories that she gave to me. One still had a price tag of a couple hundred dollars. When I asked her motivation, she said, “I just want all this to go to someone who will make quilts for needy people.”

The other event was a time with some quilters who talked about needing just a bit of this or that — and realizing how I could supply those needs, that I don’t have to use all my fabric stash myself, but give it to those who can. My anxiety about failing as a steward vanished. People need quilts, but quilters need bits of this and that to finish projects. God was giving me another way to be a good manager of my stuff.

Reading Leviticus and these rules for living also is a prompt to think the way He thinks. His people are in this together, needing to think of one another with goodness and in fairness. We don’t own what we have and if someone else needs it, God can ask us to give it to them. As my sister always said, if we need it, He can just as easily return more of the same back to us.

Jesus, Your way of doing things takes a burden off me. I can trust You to help me be a good steward and give me innovative ways to be generous to others as You are generous to me. It is so simple that I am sorry for not ‘getting it’ a long time ago. Thank You again!

Ultimate control and ownership

Ever since the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, the same question arises in our minds from time to time. We have Jesus’ response in what is called the Lord’s prayer, and the prayers in the Bible offer examples of how to pray. What I notice is the predominance of praise in those prayers.

For instance, in 1 Samuel 2, Hannah has just dedicated her child, Samuel, to serve the Lord for rest of his life. This is a child that she prayed for and longed for and now leaves him in the temple with the priest. He is still very young, in fact, just weaned. I cannot imagine how she feels, but her prayer is filled with clues. All ten verses are filled with praise for the God of her salvation!

Verse 8 says, “He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap, to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and He has set the world upon them.”

This is Hannah’s world view. She not only sees the power of God, but also His ownership. She knows that He can do what He wishes with her beloved Samuel, making him great if that is His choice. She also knows that even before the child was born, he belonged to God.

These ideas are part of Christian theology, but that doesn’t mean they come easily to our world view. Sin’s notion is that “I control my world” and “Whatever is mine is mine.” Logic and faith say otherwise, but the power of sin ignores both.

Not only that, Christians are tested on these truths all the time. How many people, even God’s people, will say after today that the winner of the US election was not a surprise to God, but rather part of His plan, regardless of who wins? How many will gripe about voters and campaigns and all sorts of reasons why their candidate did not win? Will anyone shake their fist at God and blame Him for the outcome? Will anyone bow their head and thank Him for His sovereign power?

On a more personal scale, how often do I thank God for things that do not fit into my plans? Last month I had an opportunity to purchase some quilting thread. It was on sale at less than wholesale and I use a lot of it. But, for one reason and another, I didn’t get at it and when I finally called to place an order, the sale was over. I didn’t thank my sovereign God for that happening, but I should have. A few days ago, someone with much more experience than I, told me how that brand of thread is manufactured and why it is never a good buy — at any price.

God kept me from wasting my money. Even with a minimum order, I would have spent about a $100. Why didn’t I think to thank Him when I missed the sale? I certainly offered praise after finding out that missing it was a good thing.

The ultimate ownership of things is perhaps an even greater issue. How many people consider their house, car, all possessions as being ‘on loan’ and they are merely stewards or managers of what God has allowed them to have?

One year our garden was particularly lush, but our area was experiencing many hail storms. I worried that my garden would get shredded. Finally, I gave the garden to the Lord, saying, “This is Your garden; if You want to hail on it, that is up to You.”

What strikes me as almost funny now is that the garden was always His. Giving it to Him is not correct theology, but acknowledging that it belongs to Him is more of a biblical world view. That year, God didn’t hail on His garden. I’m not sure what my reaction would have been had He pounded it to the ground, but I do remember being at peace, and no longer worrying about it.

That is the bottom line. People might fight tooth and nail for control and for their rights, but there is no peace of mind in that, only hassle. Trusting God brings peace, ever though there are conditions that go with yielding those things to God. First, I must believe that He actually is in control and owns all things, but I must also believe that He is good and intends good for me. Without trusting Him, I would be wrestling with Him too, and that is about the farthest thing from peace and rest that I can think of.