Title: Principle of Service/Numbers 4:1-33
Content Title: Principles of Service
Text: Numbers 4:1-33
Key Verse: (Numbers 4:3) Count all those who may participate in the work of the tent of meeting, from thirty years old to fifty years old.
This chapter specifically instructs the three descendants of Levi, the Gershonites, the Kohathites, and the Meraris, to share their duties in order to enable them to perform the work of the tent of meeting more efficiently and in an orderly manner. At that time, it was the era of wilderness travel, so the tabernacle was built in the form of assembly. Therefore, when moving from one place to another, very careful work of disassembling and moving the tabernacle was followed. This text is the part that deals with various problems during the movement of the tabernacle. God entrusted this task to the priests and the Laine who were totally devoted to God as ministers of the tabernacle, who were in charge of covering and wrapping the holy things, and the Levites were in charge of carrying them. Let's look at the principle of effective service through the work of the tabernacle.
1. He uses people who can work.
In verse 23, God told Moses and Aaron to number those who could work in the tent of meeting “from thirty years old to fifty years old”. Here, the lower limit of the age of 30 is to prevent physical or mental immaturity, and the upper limit of the age of 50 is to ensure that the work of the tabernacle does not become a burden because it is too weak. Ultimately, God entrusts the work of the tabernacle to those who can work. Of course, God sometimes wants to use the young and the elderly. Jesus also began his public ministry at the age of 30, and his disciples also called people who could work passionately to work. God finds people who can work and makes them work.
2. Make sure the division of work is done.
If you look at the text, you can see that the three descendants of the tribe of Levi, namely, the Kohathites, the Gershonites, and the Merari descendants, clearly assigned their duties and division of duties. The sons of Kohath were to carry the main equipment in the tabernacle, the descendants of Gershon to carry all the curtains, coverings, and their cords, and the descendants of Merari to carry the pillars, bases, and stakes of the tabernacle.
3. You must not overrun.
However, there is something to note at this point. The Kohathites must not directly touch the holy things. It was the responsibility of the anointed priests to wrap and cover the Most Holy. Only Aaronic priests can touch the holy things, and the Levites, the Kohathites, should only carry the holy things, never overpower them. Recall that Saul also met a disastrous end by overriding Samuel's work. In the Lord's work, each one must be faithful to his or her own work, not to do what one is not supposed to do.
apply
1) Am I mature enough to do God's work? Or are you in the process of being more prepared?
2) Am I really doing what I am assigned to do, and am I clearly assigning tasks to others?
3) Have you been misunderstood by overpowering others in church service?
4) Are you doing effective service through the work of the tabernacle during the Israeli wilderness march?