It is important that whatever role we have been given before God, we must do that work before God.

Today we are going to share the grace of God in Numbers 18:1-14. Starting from Numbers 13, we only heard bad news. After the Israelite community surveyed the land of Canaan, they all struggled in disbelief to God’s word. I would prefer not to give messages like this, I only want to give happy messages. And when I talk about the floor splitting open and people dying, I feel pressured because I see your expressions. It would be great if I tell you the words only you want to hear, but I believe I have been raised to testify the words of God and I believe that the standard of God does not align whether I like it or not. 

If I go outside of God’s word, I’ll be far from God.  Because of the words of the disbelieving spies all the Israelites community fell in unity into disbelief and disasters. And from that point on, someone named Korah gathered 250 other leaders to oppose Aaron and Moses. Once disbelief enters in the natural state of people’s heart will be revealed  and then after the 250 men were swallowed up in to the ground, there were another 14,000 people who were killed by plague. 

It wasn’t because of their low immune system, but it was because of their disbelief. Just because you exercise a lot doesn’t mean you live a long life, you might be healthy. I believe that your life is in God’s hands. And then God called 12 people to bring their staff with their names written on it, and showed them with the budded staff of Aaron that he had chosen Aaron. And the evidence that God chosen Aaron, was because there was the power and light and that is only the work God can do. 

If the standard of whether Aaron was chosen by God was that the staff was painted red the next day then any human could’ve snuck in and painted it themselves. but the sign was that there will not only be life but the fruit that would be born. The reason God did this was his method to stop all the resentment and disbelief of the Israelites. The natural state of mankind is that we always have disbelief, but every time we have disbelief, we shouldn’t die. That is why God told them to put the budded staff of Aaron inside of the ark of the covenant. So you can look at that and remember God’s method to have us not die, but live.

God is alive and he can do all things, the real problem is us. Nothing else is the problem, it is I, myself. God is always always us, and he always desires to bless us. The only problem is me. God raised Aaron up as the high priest and he appointed the sons as well as the  Levite tribe and it’s not because God exalted them for their greatness. They were all raised up as high priests and priests, and God is saying that, “If you guys mess up you guys will die just the same as everyone else.” It is important that whatever role we have been given before God, we must do that work before God. There was one time where Aaron’s two sons faced death because they did not use the proper way to transfer the holy fire. This means that if they are not able to keep the role of the priest properly, the priest himself will die. What do all of these things mean? 

God has given you the structure and word to always be with God, but these are the results that follow when we separate from God’s word. God is not trying to show us that he is a scary and fearsome GodIt means God will use methods like this to help people. God is not someone who wants to paralyze us out of fear. You guys, going into God’s word is a blessing. 

The only problem is that we try to accomplish something without going into God’s word. Then what do you think the individuals and families of people who went outside of God’s Word will hear? They might think things like, “Oh don’t you think God is too harsh or extreme?” But if you think that that’s a misunderstanding. God is a God that blesses and you just have to go into God’s word. But the only problem is that we keep on trying to be blessed outside of God’s word. God gave these rules that may seem severe, but that’s only so the Israelites can be blessed by remaining in God’s Word. God is someone who practices justice and within this justice blocks us from experiencing this death from our sins.

The role of the priest was so important, because they were the ones that took charge of all of the sins of themselves and their community. Those sins caused the disaster that reigned upon Israel, so there is no role greater than the priest. there is no greater blessing for us than to remain in the guidance of God’s Word. so people were not chosen to be priests out of their qualifications, God chose Aaron out of his grace. 

The priests and the high priests have to atone for all the sins of the Israelites that cause disasters, and if they’re not able to fulfill these roles properly, God is giving them punishments too. God assigned the levite tribe to the priests and the high priests so that they may do that work. The rest of the Levite tribe cannot touch the work that is going on in the Holy place. if they enter that holy place, then they’re dead, they’re killed. and if the priests don’t stop that from happening, then the priests are responsible so they also die.

Why do you think God was so picky with this? Why is it that not anybody can go in? Why do you think he did that? Why? Why did he make it so that if you go inside and touch anything you die? It means this has been set apart as a Holy location for God. It is not because if you touch it something will go wrong. You need to understand that this is the quiet and holy place where God resides. The members of the Levite community were split up onto different clans that would do the manual labor to transport the tabernacle but the Levite cannot touch the things that were inside the most Holy place. Only the descendants of Aaron and the priests could. 

People who are used to the ways of the world will think of this as a hierarchy. They look at it as some sort of hierarchy, thinking the role of the high priest is a high position and I’m in a low position. Because they think of it as a structure, the followers of Korah wanted to do a coup d’etat, so that they could become the high priest. It is not a hierarchy but God is giving every individual their role to play in God’s kingdom. 

All you have to do is the role that God has given to you specifically well. But when you see someone give messages and benediction, you think, “I don’t think they’re that great, why is God only using this person?” That’s when you begin to oppose God. Because those words are the evidence that you either don’t know the word God gave to you specifically or you just look down on it.

The more you know the word of God from the Bible, the more you know about how important your church position is. The way that we are educated and the way we are used to thinking, is that the high position of the world is good, and that’s what we are imprinted in. On the other hand, you think that anyone can do the work in the church and it doesn’t really determine my success or failure, so I can just do it haphazardly. But they don’t work in the world that way. They stake their life on their work in the world. 

And the reason is because, that’s what you heard since you were young, and that’s the way you matured in the church. The people who take really seriously the role they have been given in the church from God, they really do their best, they pay their own money, and I can see that. And just like how God will punish pastors who are not able to do their priestly role, is the same for other roles. 

Today in the Bible is talking about priests, but there are no priests today. There’s not a specific person who will atone for your sins. Now it is important for the church to relay the accurate word God desires. What’s important is the accurate word that will free and liberate the members of the church when they come to the church, from all the tight bonds of sin, Satan, and separation from God in the field. 

In the Old Testament, whenever the Israelites sin, they had to give sacrifices like blood offering or grain offering, but now we don’t have to do that. The saved children of God that are so lost in the world of sin and Satan come back to this church, not to give blood sacrifices, but to receive God’s accurate word, and that’s what it is important. We are no longer in an age where we are sacrificing goats and lamb, but it is an age where we worship in spirit and truth in the church. Then the greatest role of the church and pastors is to relay the accurate word that God desires, and when we are not able to do that, that’s when God intercedes. 

You simply take on the role God has given you, with the talents he has given you. And we raise up church officers in the church just like the Levites so that we can do this work together. That’s why God raises these positions. But how important are these positions? If you understand how important this is, your walk of faith will change. If you do not know how important your church role is, you will think that the work in the world is more important. 

You think that the position in the world is more important. Then you’re going to start leaning into the world. You shouldn’t look down on that work, but when you need to determine which one’s are more important, you must make a correct decision based on God’s word. Don’t listen to my words, but make the decision based on the word God gives you. I’m not telling you that the church position is everything and you can look down on the position in the world. I’m talking about what needs to be our first priority. 

I have told you about the role of the priests, and I also told you that the responsibility of the priests is on the priests too. then starting from Numbers 18:8 it talks about the authority of the priests. The authority of the priest, God says, is to receive all the sacrifices the Israrlites give, the meat offering and the grain offering as long as it’s not completely burnt up. 

And whenever God talks about the offerings that are given, they are given to the LORD, he says. For example, Numbers 18:12 says ” I give you priests all the finest olive oil and the finest new wine and grain they give the LORD as first fruits of their harvest.” The verses above and below talk about the other offerings they give, and it’s all given to the LORD. this is very important. you have to know this properly, what happens if you don’t know this properly. if you don’t know this, the church will change into the world.

God did not give the Levites the same thing He gave to the rest of the tribes so they wouldn’t have to work and could focus on the forgiveness of sins.  If you look at verses 13-15, it keeps on saying, “The offering that is given to the LORD, to the LORD.” The Israelites do not give their offering to the priests, but they give it to the LORD. This is very important. 

If the church members don’t understand this, they will be corrupted, saying, “Why do I have to give donations to the church? It’s better for me if I buy something for myself. Why do I have to spoil the pastor with my hard-earned money?” That’s how people think, and it goes to the point where they think, “The pastor is my servant because I pay him with my money.”  They go even to the extreme thinking that they can control the assistant pastors as day laborers, controlling their wage and what they do.  That is the characteristic of the members of a failing church. They are in God’s seat, trying to do everything themselves, and without a single exception, God will strike all of them down.

This is so important, they give it to the LORD and we give it to God. Then, who provides for the priests?  God allocates this to the priests.  If people don’t know this, they start to think of the church as a kind of company or organization where they allocate funds based on business needs.  That is a church that is run by people who are owners, but we give to God.

There are times when I go to a visitation or ministry and people give me money, and the assistant pastors know this better, but I don’t accept that. Instead, I tell them to give it as offering to the church instead.  Most people say, “Okay.” But some people insist, “Just use it for gas money, because I know you drove a long way to get here,” and depending on whether that person will fall into trial, I will or won’t take it.  If someone is easily tested or trialed by money, I won’t accept it from them.  But if someone is not swayed by money and is not giving to the pastor but an offering to God only then will I accept it.

Once, there was a person from whom I kept refusing money, and they said, “I am not giving it to you pastor” and I said “If you keep giving it to me, it will be difficult for me to come.” “I’m not giving it to you, pastor, I’m giving it to God,” and it seemed true,even though it wasn’t a large sum of money. because this person wasn’t giving me money personally but he was giving it to the ministry of God, and that person isn’t someone who’s easily swayed in the world by money, so I accepted it.

Today’s passage says to give it to the LORD and I think that’s very important.  If you don’t think you’re giving your offering to the LORD then you think you’re giving to people, so either you don’t give it, or if you do, you give it in front of people, and I think this is very important.  Then, you will be able to see how your viewpoint on finances is or is not aligned with God’s viewpoint on finances. If you don’t have this viewpoint, the church will fall into conflicts because of money. 

They say things like, “You have no idea how much offering I give to this church,” it’s because this person wasn’t trained in God’s Word and I hear from other churches that people leave their churches and demand their offering back. You are giving it to God, it’s not a donation, it is an offering.  People think of this as a donation, but God doesn’t need our donations, it is an offering.  If you keep looking at these verses, it is about the offerings the Israelites give to God and God returns it to the priests.

Numbers 18:19 says, “It will be your perpetual share.” It is your everlasting covenant of salt before the lord for both you and your offspring. Salt is meaning it doesn’t perish so it will never change.  It means that, with the offering God has received, He will directly pay the priests.  Numbers 18:20, “The LORD said to Aaron, ‘You will have no inheritance in the land nor will you have any share among them.  I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites” What does this mean?  He doesn’t give land to the priests, God gave land to all the rest of the tribes so they could grow harvests and animals, but not to the priest, to the priest, God is saying, “I am your share and your inheritance.”

God will provide for you, how does He do that?  God uses what the Israelites have given to God and God gives it to the priests. You do not give offering to people, you give offering to God.  There are a lot of very strange and frustrating pastors on YouTube because they will give a pastor’s certification to anyone who goes to seminary school but they have scars regarding money, so they ask things like, “Why do we need offering?” 

If you don’t give offering ,should the members of the church worship outside?  If you don’t pay taxes to the government, how would the government pay for parks and other things? The police departments run on the taxes we pay, the money we use are for us, but people’s thoughts fall short of this. Even their common sense isn’t there.  The reason we can live so comfortably is because we pay taxes to the government and they fund the department of defense and the police and schools; it comes back to us, and that’s how the nations of the world function.

Then, what about the church? Can it be maintained by just standing still? It does not.  If you’re just staying still, how would the pastor do the same thing every day? Because they aren’t able to, they have to get a second job, driving taxis.  That church is already finished, because the word cannot be properly proclaimed because they are living in the world.  The members of the church may like it better because I don’t have to pay my own money, and the pastor can make their own money by driving taxis, but both of them will die. If the accurate Word is not relayed through the pastor not only to your spirit but your children, you will die, too, and you won’t be able to do your work well in the world, either.  That’s how important God’s Word is.

We’ll look at Matthew 6:24 before we end.  Now, we’re in the age of the New Testament where we are a nation of priests, and not one particular person is forgiving sins, but Matthew 6:24 says, “None can serve two masters. Either he will hate the other one and love the other, or they will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mMoney.  

In Matthew 6:19-20, “Do not store for yourselves treasures on earth which will be destroyed but store up your treasures in heaven.”  How do you store up treasures in heaven? Do you have a heavenly bank account to deposit money into? God is saying, no one who believes in God can serve two masters, so is God your master or is money your master?  How can I know this?  You can know through your worship.  When we give worship, we give our offering, and that will change based on the finances you have.  

Why do you think He says these words?  He is telling us not to worry about what to eat or wear.  He is telling us not to live for yourselves or for material things, then what must you have to live?  That’s Matthew 6:33, seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.  We are told today that you cannot serve two masters, God and money, then we must serve only God.  We’re told that when we serve only God, money is something that follows.

What does it mean, then, to serve God?  That’s Matthew 6:33, first seek His kingdom and His righteousness.  What is His Kingdom?  What does it mean to live for God’s Kingdom where Jesus Christ and His Word is reigning?  That’s the church.  The head of the Church is Christ and the body of God is the Church over which He reigns.  In other words, we are being told to live for the church for the body of Christ.

Do not live for money but live for God’s Kingdom, God’s Kingdom is worship. God’s Kingdom is the area where Jesus’ words are reigning.  What happens when the church collapses?  It is collapsing because the words of Christ aren’t going in.  Because the Words of Christ aren’t going into the church, the members of the church are serving money instead, all of their sermons are about their own life or their own things; they never think of Jesus Christ or the message.

That’s what happened in Malachi, they brought their offering, but it was all diseased and they brought the things that had no value. God told you to bring the sacrifice with no defect, meaning it had high value, but instead they brought the diseased, broken, and dying offering that would have no monetary value.  Because the priests did not have enough to live on, the priests became corrupt.  

God is continuously pouring out His Word, but because the priests weren’t able to fulfill their role, worship but think of it as a waste.  They don’t think that spending money on alcohol outside is a waste, but it’s a waste to give offering.  The members of the church don’t think it’s a waste to buy cars for their children but they think it’s a waste to give offering, then what do you think will happen? That’s why the servants of the Lord are going out to drive taxis, but people see this and have no emotion about this.  Then, that’s a congregation that’s already finished, and their future generations are finished, too because our lives are in God’s hands.  That’s what He’s saying today.

You guys, first seek His Kingdom.  What does it mean to save the church, for the church officers to save the church? The church officers save the church through offering and missions and evangelism, and you work for this reason.  Do not work in the world for your kingdom and your knowledge, but instead work for the Kingdom of God to save.  You need to take on your position in the church to take care of all the blind and empty places that have still not received the gospel today.  

If someone just listens to the message and runs away immediately, that’s just according to their time schedule. But if they come to church for a long time, and they run out, their life, their finances, family, and money just aren’t working out. If a new believer is like that, it makes sense because they still need to be nurtured in the faith, but if someone’s been going to church for decades, but they still run out immediately after the message, they’re not able to live for the kingdom of God because they don’t have a role.  People who understand this will look for the ways they can serve God’s kingdom and the church even if no one really tells them to.  

Seek His righteousness.  Romans 1:17 says the gospel reveals the righteousness of God, in other words, first do the work that proclaims the gospel. We’ve already received the gospel so seeking God’s righteousness means to seek to proclaim the gospel. If you’ve received the gospel, you come to church and are developed in the Word through the church.  

In Acts 8: 23-24, even though Phillipis is just a congregation member, he was delivering the word of God in the house of God. He’s not an apostle, nor a pastor, but he’s just a deacon, an everyday church goer.  But in today’s age, all the members of the church are a nation of priests.  

Apostle Paul was an apostle, but it says in Acts 28:30, it says all he proclaimed for two years was the gospel of only Jesus Christ, what does that mean?  It means you relay the gospel and bring the people into the church, to raise them and establish them in the Kingdom of God, and make it so that they can go out and relay the gospel, too. That’s the kingdom and righteousness we must seek first.  

Everything else follows, that God has prepared for that work, that’s the economy of light.  But what is the state of the churches today? It is a state where they’re far from God’s Word, they go to church in order to gain things from the world.  So, even if they receive God’s Word, their state is the opposite of God’s Word, so unless they change, there’s no answers for them.  The church is not just talking about us, but every member of the church is a church, and you are the church that will serve the vulnerable people, the remnants, and the multiethnic people.  

It seems like we’ve all worked so diligently to gain things from the LORD, but that was given to us by God,and God promised to continuously give you more for His Kingdom and His righteousness.  If you don’t have this priority set in your life, then you’ll always be in poverty and you can’t escape from money problems.  Your thoughts of poverty and poverty in general come into your life because you don’t have the word of God as your viewpoint in your finances.  

What do you think about being poor?  Being poor doesn’t mean you’re stingy with everything and you don’t give to others, and you’re just borrowing from others. There’s an ideology you have that leaves you. No choice but to do that.  It means that, first seeking God’s Kingdom and righteousness hasn’t gone into you.  

Following God’s kingdom and righteousness means your finances must follow, but if God’s Word doesn’t go into you, then you have no choice but to be poor. What happens if every member of the church becomes poor? The church becomes poor.  That’s why every member of the church is connected to the whole church, and that’s why you raise those people up with God’s Word. Make it so that they can live properly following God’s word, that’s God’s Kingdom and His righteousness.

God has given each of our remnants the talent to do this work, too, and we’re told that as we’re editing or coordinating God’s Word, we discover our talents. THere’s another way to discover your talent by doing the work God has given you in the church because that talent was given to you by God for His Kingdom and righteousness.

But because you keep looking for your talent for your own kingdom, your goals, and your own righteousness in the world, God is going to block you from seeing your talent.  Because otherwise, you’re going to graduate from college, you’re going to graduate, and you’re going to use your talent however you want in the world.  You’re in a state where the Word isn’t organized in you, and when you become a young adult and you have to get married, you just have to eat and survive, then you’re always going to be a slave to money.

If I give my priority to God’s Kingdom, everything else follows.  So for the remnants, making money isn’t important, but what is it that you’re working for and why, that’s what’s more important.  If you don’t do this, you should at least teach this properly to your children, and if you meet people out in the field, you have to do the Word movement with the accurate Word. This is what God has given to us.

Therefore, I make all my decisions with the Word of God and go into the guidance of God’s Word.  The Temple Construction, saving the 237 nations and the 5000 unreached people groups is the work God is doing, and we must resolve to go into God’s Word.  I know there are a few people who will pray for this message. I’m not listening because I want to, but I hear news like that.  

There are three categories of people, people who really take the Word of God and go into it and challenge it towards it, people who are simply doing this because the rest of the church is doing it and people who don’t really find any interest in this at all. This isn’t controlled by the leadership of the pastor, but God gives the finances to the people upon whom God has given grace, and God fulfills His work. If you don’t have God’s grace, your heart can’t move in that direction, so there are people to whom God has given this grace.  That’s not something you can change by doing this or that, but those are the people who will stand as witnesses.

Prayer

Let us pray.  Let us pray holding onto the Word God has given. If there’s a difference between me and my word, then that is how we bridge that gap through prayer. May the Kingdom that God desires, and Word be fulfilled.  May the members of the church and the church officers take on their role as a kingdom of priests.  

Our second prayer, Deaconess Han passed away and went to heaven and there will be a funeral worship service tomorrow at 11am.  Because it is a worship, it is better for more people to come, and from the facility where the funeral will be held, they’ve requested that people don’t come unless they’re vaccinated.  Because everyone has different circumstances, there may be those who are not vaccinated, and even if they want to get vaccinated, there are things preventing them, but if that is the case, I hope you will still participate with the prayers in your heart.  Let’s pray together so that through this worship, all of the precious gospel will be spread through the whole family line.  Let us pray for tomorrow’s funeral service.

Third, let us pray for our missions and evangelism fields.  We are told to first seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, so let us pray for the missions fields our church is serving: Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mongolia, South America, Karen, Navajo, Jews, Americans.

Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the heads of the people of God, the remnants and multiethnic people who desire to live, prioritizing their roles in the church for the the kingdom of God and Your righteousness, upon their academics and all their jobs, be with us from now until forevermore always, amen.