Reading: 1
Chronicles 15:1-2, 2 Timothy 2:1-3.
And
David made him houses in the city of David, and prepared
a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent.
Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but
the Levites: for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the
ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever. (1
Chronicles 15:1-2).
Thou
therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in
Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me
among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful
men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou
therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus
Christ. (2 Timothy 2:1-3).
The Levites
are a very interesting people and their history is full
of valuable things for the Lord's people at all times,
but the thing which we are concerned with now is that
they were the men who took responsibility for the Lord's
testimony. David's decision about their task was the
sequel to a tragic experience. One of the very many
snares set by Satan against God's testimony in the life
of David had succeeded when the king thoughtlessly
ordered a new cart to be made for the transportation of
the ark. It was a violation of divine law; it produced
the death of at least one man; and it brought the whole
testimony to a halt for a long time. After the chastening
experience, David corrected his mistake by reference to
God's Word and a new spiritual movement was made
possible. So in accordance with the Scripture which David
now remembered, the ark was brought out and committed to
the Levites, as David affirmed: "None ought to bear
the ark of God but the Levites, for them hath God
chosen...". Theirs was a peculiar responsibility
among the Lord's people, and they had to take up their
responsibility and not leave it to other means. It
belonged to them, and if they did not shoulder this
burden then everything went wrong and was held up.
Maturity
and Responsibility
These men
are a reminder to us in our day that God calls us to take
up our responsibilities and to play our part in His
testimony. The Levites could not enter upon their
ministry until they were thirty years of age, and then
they had to give it up when they were fifty. While the
age for going to war was twenty, the entering upon this
Levitical ministry in fullness was not allowed until they
were thirty. This represents real maturity. The Levites
then had to retire at fifty before their strength began
to wane. It is a spiritual thing which is represented,
and what it seems to say to us is that for this carrying
of the Lord's testimony, full strength is required.
Levitical ministry was the expression of the best years
of a man's life. It does not apply to us in the matter of
age, either for beginning or for laying down our work for
God, but it does remind us that spiritual strength is
required for the bearing of this responsibility. That is
why God calls us to be strong.
This brings us to the reference in the message to
Timothy: "Thou therefore, my child, be strengthened
in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" and then:
"Take your part...". What was Timothy's
spiritual strength needed for? It was that he might take
his part in suffering hardship for Christ. So far as
others were concerned he was to commit to faithful men
those treasures which had been committed to him. The
whole background is levitical. Timothy and the other
faithful men were having responsibility committed to them
by the Lord, and so they needed fresh grace to be strong
in the Lord. In our day there is a tremendous need for
people to take their share in the Lord's testimony and
not always to think of others being responsible instead
of them. The Lord calls for His people to grow up
spiritually, not always to remain babes, demanding that
they be carried and nursed, nor being immature youngsters
who childishly complain or avoid responsibility. Such can
never be entrusted with the work of Christ, they will
never take their share in its hardship, never be good
soldiers of Jesus, and the testimony will not be safe in
their keeping. Perhaps one of the greatest spiritual
tragedies of our time is the fact that so few seem to be
sufficiently strong spiritually to shoulder the interests
of Christ in a mature fashion, preferring rather to
follow and let others take the lead.
I feel quite sure that it was because Israel had not
recognised spiritually the meaning of the Levites in
their midst that they failed so constantly in the
wilderness. The Levites had been chosen to take the place
of the priestly firstborn in every family. The firstborn
was the natural priest who was to take responsibility in
household affairs, but the Levites had been chosen to
substitute for the firstborn and had become the tribe of
the firstborn ones. If all Israel had recognised this,
and abode by the spiritual truth, there would not have
been that detachment which meant so much weakness and
which found the general company constantly drawing back,
wavering in uncertainty. They let the Levites carry the
ark as though it was something separate from themselves,
never realising their own responsibility, and so they
were often murmuring and complaining, not giving any sort
of loyal support to their representatives.
It seems that today we have something very similar. A
large number of those who belong to the Lord are just in
the camp, content to be lost in the throng of God's
people and leaving the main responsibility to others.
They like to see things going on, but for themselves they
do not want to carry any responsibility. To all such the
Lord says: 'Take your share, take your part in the
sufferings as a good soldier. Do not be always babes,
carried about by every changing wind or impulse. Do not
be those of whom the letter to the Hebrews complains that
when they should have been teachers they were still
needing to be put right over the simple elementary
principles of the spiritual life.'
Responsibility
Means Strength
There is a
sense in which those who take responsibility have to feel
that all will fail if they fail. The important thing is
to realise, in a right and humble spirit, that the Lord's
testimony does depend on us individually. Each one is
fully justified in taking the attitude that this is his
business, that he is not just one of a crowd, but a
responsible member. The real difference between the
Levites and the rest of the people was that this tribe
had been called to bear the Lord's burdens, to accept
responsibility in His name, and in this sense we are all
Levites. When these men accepted their responsibility and
took up the ark, we are told that they received special
help from the Lord (I Chronicles 15:26). Timothy was
assured that God's grace would supply him with new
strength as he took his share.
I do believe that if we recognised the responsibility
resting upon us and took it up, however conscious we are
of our weakness and inadequacy, we would have a new
incoming of divine strength. If, for the Lord's sake and
for the sake of His testimony, we reached out to Him, He
would give us more strength. The way to get strengthened
is to take on more than you can of yourself carry.
Perhaps you are working the other way round. You may be
thinking that when you are stronger you will be able to
accept more responsibility, that when you feel more of
His power in you, then you will be more serviceable to
Him. I ask you if it has ever worked out like this with
you yet? What is your experience so far? Has the Lord
ever come to you, given you a new sense of His power
within, and then appointed a new task? Or has He not
called you to something which is quite beyond you, and
then given you the strength and enablement as you have
moved forward in faith. Your experience differs very much
from mine if it has not been in this second way. I have
always found that the Lord makes demands upon me, calling
for an exercise of new faith in Him, and then has met the
demand as I have been willing to take my share.
So we must
not wait until we have become such wonderful people that
we feel competent to carry the load, but must shoulder
our responsibility and prove the strength and enabling
which the Lord will give us. It is as though the Lord
said: 'Take your responsibility and then take your
strength'. Strength comes not merely along the line of
consciously feeling the need of it, but of appropriating
it because of a specific need. It is the object in view
which brings the strength. We tell the Lord that we are
willing to take our share, to accept responsibility for
His interests and yet feel quite unequal to the task, and
so we can have a new experience of His strengthening
grace.
The
Nature of Responsibility
The fact
that none but the Levites should bear the ark does not
mean that in our day there is a special class of worker,
but it reminds us that all of us are called to a priestly
ministry and should have our lives altogether bound up
with the Lord's interests. The tabernacle was the place
where the Lord was known as King. This means, then, that
all that relates to His majesty, to His honour and glory
was put into the hands of the Levites. They were a sort
of bodyguard here on earth of the King invisible. They
had to keep things for Him, to watch His interests and to
maintain His testimony in strength. This is our calling.
The Lord is in the midst of us, and things must be
maintained in accordance with His presence. This is not
just a latent and passive truth, but a challenge to our
spiritual energy to care for His interests. He is holy;
then the responsibility of holiness is committed to us,
His Levites. He is a Being of power and majesty; then
that power and majesty are our responsibility. We have to
be faithful, and that is why the charge to Timothy was
concerned not with clever but with faithful men, men who
by life even more than by words were able to teach others
and bring them into taking their share in the testimony.
The Levites were divided into three sections. They had
three departments of responsibility. One section had the
vessels of the sanctuary, all the holy vessels; another
section had all the curtains and the coverings; while the
third had the boards and the bars. We may have our
different aspects of work, some in preaching and more
obviously spiritual work and others in different spheres,
but it is all the same testimony. The Levites were
divided into sections of different kinds of work. Some
had the rougher work, the heavy bars and boards, which
was more strenuous physically than the carrying of the
pots and pans; but it was all Levitical work, they were
all one people, one tribe. Responsibility rested upon all
equally, for the totality of their labours made one
ministry. The great thing was - and still is - that each
should take his own responsibility seriously and give
himself to his ministry.
I am sure that the Lord's heart must long for that. I am
sure that at times in looking at me, He has had to say:
'Oh, I wish that I could trust him more; I wish he were
more reliable, more responsible'. And I know that, as I
have looked at many of God's people I have sometimes said
that I wish that they did not need so much looking after.
If only they would begin to stand on their own feet and
take responsibility, so that we need not worry about them
any more because we know that they can be trusted! They
need urging and encouraging and all the time to be
followed up, put right, and pacified when they get touchy
and take offence. We all need fresh grace from the Lord
to take our share in the labours and the sufferings as
good soldiers of Jesus Christ. His grace will give us the
necessary strength if we put our shoulders to the burden
and take our share in the testimony.
From "A Witness And A
Testimony" March-April, 1939, Vol. 17-2.
Repeated in "Toward the Mark" Jul-Aug 1975, Vol. 4-4.