Tithes to Support the Levites

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions is where every weekday morning you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. Our love, not wove, our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2024, Lord willing, we'll make it through the books of Numbers, Deuteronomy and Hebrews. No kids in with me today. Let's just have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for what a blessing it is to get to read your word. Father, we pray that you would please help us to understand it. We need your spirit to apply to our lives. Lord, thank you so much for the blessing it is to follow you in Jesus name. Amen. All right, here we go. Numbers chapter 18, beginning at verse 21.
Behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work which they perform, the work of the tabernacle of meeting. Hereafter, the children of Israel shall not come near the tabernacle of meeting, lest they bear sin and die. But the Levite shall perform the work of the tabernacle of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. that among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance. For the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer up as a heave offering to Yehovah, I have given to the Levites as an inheritance. Therefore, I have said to them, among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.
Well, we need to ask ourselves our three questions. A. What's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do, right? So what's this about?
The Levites are to have the tithe, right? The people come and they bring a tenth of all their stuff. They're presented to Jehovah himself, the king of their covenant people. It's their payment to him for bringing the harvest, for keeping them safe, for watching over them. All right, they're bringing it as both Thanksgiving offerings and all these things. And so the Lord says, now the Levites, right, they shoulder the burdens, they carry the stuff, they do the things.
So they're the ones who get the 10 percent, the tithe. Why? Well, they don't get an inheritance. They don't have a permanent land. They're going to get isolated cities here, here, here, here, here, right around Israel. They don't get a whole plot of land themselves.
So he says they're the ones who get it. Now, they also, though, bear their iniquity because they have a very difficult job. They act almost like a guard around the tabernacle. If they come and approach God in an unworthy way, if somebody goes into the tabernacle, they are the ones who will be held responsible. They're not allowed to do whatever they want. They have a burden upon them.
God takes their job seriously. Remember the context of all this with Korah's rebellion and people kind of vying for power and things like this. And the Lord says, Levites, you do have a blessing, you do have a job, but You also have obligations, but you need to be renumerated for your work as well. And so this is how the economy or how the household workings of the Lord's people are going to be. The Levites are going to be cared for. Aaron and his sons are going to be cared for, right? They get the offerings and stuff like this.
The Levites get the tithes. But both of those groups, the closer you are to God in responsibility, that weightier that responsibility is. Oh, what's the best verse to summarize this? Well, in my Bible, I would probably have underlined verse 21, but I also have underlined verse 23. Well, what are we called to do?
Well, I don't think this is a passage that we can just directly say, well, Old Testament, New Testament, one for one, I just don't think that's the case, right? I might be a pastor, but I'm no Levite. I may be a pastor, but I am not set apart as a priest like Aaron, right? I may have been ordained as a pastor, but we have one high priest and he is in heaven. His name is Jesus Christ, and we are now a nation of priests.
And so some people will go to a passage like this and they'll say, see, you need to give your tithes to the church dome. I'm not sure I'm always so comfortable with that. Actually, we'll find out as we keep going through. There are a number of different tithes that the people would make altogether. The Israelite economy would be about a third of their paycheck that they were giving, whether it was of their sheep or whether it was their fields. They were to give a portion to the poor, they were to give a portion the Lord's work, they were to give a portion as almost like a savings account as they were to go up for their tabernacle journeys or for their temple journeys. So I'm just not sure there's a direct correlation. Do I think a tie, the 10%, is a decent marker?
Sure, that's fine, right? But each person needs to consider in their own heart what they give unto the Lord and not out of being strong-armed or being manipulated. But the Lord loves a cheerful giver. And so this is where, when we see others doing the work of the Lord, we look at that and go, I want to support that type of person. I feel this way. I'll be honest with you, I often, and I'll tell the congregation this, you know this, I get a little uncomfortable when I think about this. Because I don't like receiving money in this way.
And yet, I remember I was reading through just recently where there are multiple women who supported Jesus's ministry. How was Jesus able to eat and buy the Last Supper and stuff like this, right? Because there were people who did support him. They saw the work he was doing and they cared for him. What ministries are you supporting? What do you support your local pastor, your local church?
I think this is one of those things that we can cheerfully give, not out of a sense of obligation and drudgery, but because the Lord has blessed us. And so we give to him as he prospers us, because we're just stewards, right? What the Lord gives me is because he's gracious. What the Lord gives you, because he's gracious. So do we give to the Lord as he's prospered us? Is he our covenant king? Is he the one we follow? Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for what a blessing it is to be under the covenant of grace. Lord, we thank you that you are our God and our king and that you have entrusted so many good things to our hands. Lord, our our life truly is blessed. And father, we love you. We pray that we would not be stingy. Holding on to this world's goods. Lord, that we would cheerfully praise you for all that you've given us. Most of all, we thank you that you have given us Jesus Christ, our high priest. In his name, we pray. Amen. May the Lord bless you. May you love him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. I'll see you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.