“Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the Tent of the Testimony. They are to be responsible to you and are to perform all the duties of the Tent…I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord to do the work at the Tent of Meeting.”—Numbers 18: 2, 3, 6 NIV
Are you serving as an assistant or volunteer in a support position on your team or ministry? Determine to let your service be a gift. In the Old Testament, God gave the Levites’ help as a gift to Aaron and his sons. He literally called out the Levites solely as a support ministry to the priesthood and offered them to Aaron and his sons as a gift
God’s design and purpose for our Levite brothers reflect a beautiful pattern for his New Testament servants today. God set the Levites apart to help the men of God. Look with me at some simple principles set forth that undergird and still apply to our modern support ministries:
- God appointed the Levites. He selected the Levite brothers from among the other Israelites to join Aaron and his sons in service. In a similar fashion, the writer of the first book of Corinthians tells us, “God chooses and puts his saints exactly where he wants them in the body of Christ.
- The Lord dedicated the Levites to himself. One of the meanings given for dedication as well as holy is ‘set apart’. Interchanging the words we could say, “The Levites were set apart for the Lord.” Join me as I ask myself, “How am I set apart to the Lord for service in his church?”
- God gave the Levites’ ministry as a gift. What a wonderful honor given to the Levite tribe of Israel. The physician Luke phrased it in a similar way referring to God’s gifts saying, “If your nature is evil and you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give a good gift.” The helps ministry is a gift to our ministry leaders in the church.
- God assigned the Levites to the details of the Tent of the Testimony. They were given duties concerning the Tent while the priest ministered before the Lord. Perhaps the early Church apostles had this fact in mind when they assigned the first seven to handle the details of ministry while they spent more time before the Lord in prayer and the ministry of the word.
Have you been assigned the details of the ministry while your leadership ministers before the Lord? If so, you have been given a great honor. We need each other in God’s chain of support. We must begin to take our place and serve as a strong link in God’s chain.
In the book of Exodus, the Israelites were in a battle with the Amalekites. Moses went to the top of a mountain and held the staff out over the battle. As long as his arms were up, the Israelites prevailed. However, when his hands were down, the Amalekites won. Aaron and Hur put a large rock under Moses for him to sit on, then one stood on each side to hold his arms up in the air.
God could have supernaturally strengthened Moses’ arms so that he didn’t need Aaron and Hur to hold them up. I believe God wanted to spotlight our need for each other, especially in times of battle. Often without support, our personal battles are longer than necessary. In addition, if we do not allow others to share in our battle, we cheat them of their share in the joy of victory. Jesus spoke of this when he said, “Those that share in my sufferings, I will share my glory with them.”
Most leaders need a strong support team. Your leadership should have one, too!
Earma Brown is director and co-founder of Armorbearers International, Inc., a ministry helping leaders and supporters build strong teams in the local church (www.armorbearers.net) and author of In the Spirit of Armorbearing: Being the Gift of Support for God’s Leaders.
