Let’s finish up with Numbers 4:19-20
—19 “But do this in regard to them, that they may live and
not die when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in
and appoint each of them to his service and his task. 20 But they shall not go in to watch while the holy things are being
covered, lest they die.” Again, God has an order He wants things done in.
He has a way things are to fit together, especially when it comes to His
people. It is no different with His church. We no longer have priests and
Levites, but there is still an order in which things must be done. Ephesians
4:7-16— 7 But to each one of us
grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. 8 Therefore He says:
"When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to
men." 9 (Now this, "He ascended"—what does it mean but that He
also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is
also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all
things.) 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some
evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints
for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we
all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a
perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that
we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every
wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of
deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all
things into Him who is the head—Christ—16 from whom the whole body, joined and
knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working
by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying
of itself in love.
Each one of us has a gift, a spiritual gift,
for doing our part in making the gospel known, and for building up the body of
Christ—the church. And even as the sons of Kohath were given a task, so each of
us is given a task. And each of us is given a particular task, a particular
gift. Some are prophets, who study the word of God and declares it to men and
instructs them on what it means in their lives. Some are evangelists who go out
into the world and announce the good news that Jesus has come and forgiveness
of sins is available. Some are elders and teachers, those who lead the local body
and those who teach what the Scriptures say and who teach those under their
care to rightly divide it.
And why are these offices given? They're
given, Ephesians 4:12-13—12 for the
equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body
of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge
of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ. So that each member of each body may grow into the
fullness of Christ. They are given to them that they may edify us and that we
may edify others, and by so doing, edify—build up—the church. And these gifts
are not given out haphazardly, and they are gifts that are given—they are not offices
to which a person may say, “Hmmm, I think I’ll be a prophet” if they are
not called to that position. If you are called as an evangelist, go evangelize.
If you are called as a teacher, then teach. And do all that you do in your
calling for the building up of the body of Christ. Do not take on your gift for
money or prestige. There are enough who do that, and they will receive their
reward.
But if you are called to teach, don’t be
jealous of the one who is called to evangelize. If you are called to evangelize,
do not be jealous of the one who is called to teach. 1st
Corinthians 12:15-22—15 If the foot should say,
"Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not
of the body? 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am
not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body
were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would
be the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the
body just as He pleased. 19 And if they were all one member, where would the
body be? 20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye
cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head
to the feet, "I have no need of you." 22 No, much rather, those
members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.
Which part of the human body do we think to be more important, the heart or the kidneys? We automatically think the heart is more important, and rightly so. You can live without one kidney—you can even live without both kidneys, if you go on dialysis—can you live without a heart? But guess what? Your heart needs your kidneys to work. Your heart needs your kidneys to get rid of fluid so your heart doesn’t have to work harder. And time doesn’t permit me to cover the renin-angiotensin system, you can read about it here.
So needless to say, your kidneys are just as
vital to your survival as your heart. Likewise, elders and teachers are just as
vital to the body of Christ as prophets and evangelists. We need people to
proclaim the good news to the nations. We need men to speak forth the word of
God. We need men at a local level to teach and to feed the flock. None of us is
more important than another. You should never hear a pastor or elder of a
church say he is more important than one who has been given the gift of
teaching, or of mercy. That would be arrogance. First of all, since none of us
received whatever gift we may have on our own, it was given to us by God. And
you did not receive it because you were better or smarter or more holy or more
righteous or more spiritually mature than another. But because that is the way
God wanted to do it. Besides, each one of us is needed in the body of Christ,
just as the heart or lungs or kidneys or pancreas or, I don’t know, the hypothalamus gland, are needed in the
functioning of the human body. And believe you me, you truly do need your
hypothalamus gland!
But we do that sometimes, don’t we? Someone in the body has to be the 4th toe on the left foot. But we don’t want to be the 4th toe on the left foot, we want to be at least the pancreas. Because the pancreas does something, it is recognized as being important. Who ever talks about the 4th toe of their left foot? “What good is being the 4th toe of the left foot? There’s no glory in that!” But there is! The body is not complete without the 4th toe of the left foot. And, quite frankly, your desires are not more important than the health and well-being of the whole body of Christ. Who puts the body together? Only God. By telling Him you’re not happy with your calling you are telling Him that your will is more important than His will and that, by default, is telling God that you are more important than Him. May we never think like that. May our thinking always be like the old hymn—
Take my life and let it be/consecrated, Lord, to thee.
Take my moments and my days;/let them flow in endless praise,
Take my hands and let them move/at the impulse of thy love.
Take my feet and let them be/swift and beautiful for thee—How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace. And those feet include the 4th toe, by the way
Take my voice and let me sing/always, only, for my King.
Take my lips and let them be/filled with messages from thee
If you’re a toe, be happy with being a toe. Because that is what God wants you to be, and He knows what is best. You are not here for your own purposes, but for His!
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.
