I would like to read one verse from the Old Testament and another verse from the New Testament.
The one in the Old Testament is from Exodus 8:1:
And the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let My people go, that they may serve Me.
The one from the New Testament is in 1 Peter 2:5:
Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
When God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, He sent Moses to Pharaoh with this declaration: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.” This reveals God’s purpose in saving His people.
These people had served Pharaoh in the past. They were slaves. Now the Lord said, “Let My people go.” These people were to be freed. The reason they were to be free was not that, from then on, they might serve themselves, but that they might serve the Lord.
This proclamation is made seven times as you read the book of Exodus. In other words, it is a tremendous declaration, and it has an eternal effect: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.”
People who are in bondage cannot serve God. They had to serve Pharaoh. But to serve God requires free people—people who are free to serve God.
Now, brothers and sisters, if this was true with the children of Israel, how much truer it ought to be with us today. We are the redeemed of the Lord. We have been set free.
Through the finished work of our Lord Jesus on the cross, He has delivered us not only from the penalty of death; He has delivered us from the power of sin. He has delivered us from the old creation, even from our flesh. He has delivered us from the dominion of our enemy, the power of darkness.
We are today a free people. The reason we are free is not that from now on we can live as we want to live or do whatever we like to do. Probably this is our idea of freedom or liberty. But we know that the true meaning of freedom and liberty is that we are free to serve God.
Once upon a time, we were not free to serve God. We were under bondage. We could not help but serve sin, serve the world, and serve ourselves. But, dear brothers and sisters, today we praise the Lord that He has set us free. Because we are a free people, we are free to do God’s will. We are free to serve Him.
I think this is something that we must always remember: we are not here to serve anybody else but the Lord Jesus. We are saved; we are free to serve God.
God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt and took them to Mount Sinai. There, in Exodus 19, He told them that if they would keep His covenant, He would make them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
In other words, in freeing these people, God’s intention was to make them a nation of priests. Priests are those who serve God. God wanted to make this nation a nation of priests. Everyone in that nation was to serve God as a priest: the old and the young, the men and the women—everyone.
All who were delivered out of Egypt were to serve God as priests. When God delivered them out of Egypt, not only the men came out; the women came out. Not only did the men and women come out; the children came out. Whole families came out.
Therefore, it was God’s purpose that everyone who came out of Egypt—old and young, man and woman—would serve God as priests.
It was unfortunate that, while Moses was on the mount receiving the Ten Commandments, the children of Israel rebelled against God. They worshipped the golden calf. Because of their failure, they disqualified themselves from being priests unto God.
Therefore, God gave them an emergency measure. God chose one family, the family of Aaron, to be priests. He took one tribe out of the twelve tribes, the tribe of Levi, and gave the Levites to the priests to help in the service of God.
So we know that in the Old Testament only one family were priests. If you did not belong to that family, you could not be a priest. Only one tribe was set apart to minister to the tabernacle. If you were not a Levite, you did not have the privilege of serving in the house of God.
But this was an emergency measure. It was not God’s original purpose.
Therefore, you find that our Lord Jesus has accomplished the work of redemption. He has redeemed us back to the original purpose of God.
That is the reason why today every believer is a priest. Every believer is a Levite. With the children of Israel, you had the priests, the Levites, and the people—the laymen. But in the church of God today, every believer is a priest as well as a Levite. There is no layman.
Peter said that as we come to the Lord, we are as living stones, being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, today we are a holy priesthood. Every believer is a priest. The universal priesthood of believers is the teaching of the New Testament.
It is our honor, our privilege, our duty, and our responsibility, as the redeemed of the Lord, to serve God.
You remember what Joshua declared in his old age:
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
In his declaration, he was trying to tell the children of Israel that it was God’s purpose for them and for their household to serve God.
So, dear brothers and sisters, as we are the redeemed of the Lord today, it is important for every one of us to understand that we are freed in order that we may serve God. It is our responsibility, and more than responsibility, it is our privilege. Every one of us, old and young, is to serve God.
Now, how are we going to serve God? We are going to serve God as priests as well as Levites.
In Old Testament times, you find the priests and the Levites. The priestly service was mainly toward God, while the Levitical service was mainly toward the house of God. The priests served God by offering sacrifices. The Levites served God’s people by helping to prepare those sacrifices.
Today, as the redeemed of the Lord, we serve God in both capacities. On the one hand, we serve God as priests. There is a priestly service that every one of us must fulfill. At the same time, there is a Levitical service that every one of us must also fulfill.
So we have a double service that we need to fulfill today as the redeemed of the Lord. On the one hand, we serve God as priests; it is a service toward God. On the other hand, we serve God as Levites; we have a service toward the house of God.
What is the house of God today? The people of God. So we have a service toward God’s people. These two services every one of us must fulfill, because if we do not, then we fail in the purpose of God. We fail to realize why we are set free.
The priests in Old Testament times offered sacrifices on the altar. They ministered to God in the holy place. They burned incense unto God.
The Levites helped in preparing these sacrifices. They helped in washing them, and they helped in killing them. They helped the priests in the sacrifices. In Old Testament times, the Levites were given to the house of Aaron to help in their service.
The Levites kept the doors of the temple. They were seen in the house of God under the direction of the priests. The Levites did many works in order that the priestly service might be fully accomplished.
Even though there were distinctions between the Levitical service and the priestly service, these services could not be separated. The priestly service needs the help of the Levitical service, and the Levitical service needs the priestly service to complete it. You have two different services, yet they work together as one.
This principle applies to us today. As believers, we have our priestly service, and probably we think that priestly service is spiritual service. It is spiritual in nature.
But as believers, we also have our Levitical service, and we may think the Levitical service is temporal. I do not like to use the word secular. It is temporal. It is mundane.
Whether it is priestly service, which we consider spiritual, or Levitical service, which we consider mundane or temporal, all service requires three things.
First, it requires that we do all things as unto the Lord. If you are engaged in priestly service, of course you have to do it as unto the Lord. If you do spiritual service and do not do it as unto the Lord, it has lost its spirituality.
But even if you are doing Levitical service, you have to do it as unto the Lord. You may preach, and we may think that preaching the word of God certainly is a priestly service. But you may not do it as unto the Lord.
Or you may serve the table. We may think serving the table is a temporal thing, but you need to serve the table as unto the Lord. So, whether it is Levitical service or priestly service, all has to be done as unto the Lord.
Second, whether it is Levitical or priestly service, it has to be done in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Certainly, when we think of the apostles, when they ministered the word of God, no doubt they had to do it in the power of the Holy Spirit. They could not do it in their own power.
But we must remember that in Acts 6, when they chose the seven to serve the tables, they chose people who were full of the Holy Spirit.
Whether it is spiritual or temporal, everything has to be done as unto the Lord. You are doing it to the Lord, and it is the Lord who is receiving it. You remember the Lord saying that if you do it unto one of these little ones, you are doing it unto Him. We need to remember that.
And, of course, it has to be done in the power of the Holy Spirit. It cannot be done in our own power, our own strength, our own cleverness, or with our own energy. We have to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit under the anointing of God.
Thirdly, whether it is priestly or Levitical service, it has to be done in love.
If love is not the motivation behind it, if it is not because of our love toward the Lord and toward the brethren, then you will find that, even if we do these things, they are not acceptable to God.
These are the three factors that we must remember as we serve God in our double capacity.
Every believer has to fulfill his or her priestly function. Now, what are these priestly functions for us today? Let us be very practical.
First of all, I think our priestly service is in praise and thanksgiving. You remember Hebrews 13:15:
Through Him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to His name.
As New Testament priests, we are to offer the sacrifice of praise continually to God. We are to praise God. We are to thank Him.
Now, what is praise? Praise is seeing Who He is, what He is, and knowing what He has done. This will draw praise from us.
We who know Him know Who He is. We know what He is. We know what He has done—what wondrous works He has performed. When we know these things, we ought to praise because of that.
We must not only praise Him, but also thank Him. Thanksgiving is because of what we have received from Him. We thank Him for all the blessings with which He has blessed us, both what we consider as real blessings and blessings in disguise.
Sometimes we think some blessings are very real, and sometimes we think these are not blessings but blessings in disguise. So we need to thank Him both for the real and the disguised blessings. Whatever we receive, we receive as from His own hands. We know that every good thing comes from Him; it is for our good.
So, as priests of the new covenant, dear brothers and sisters, it is our duty and our privilege to thank Him and praise Him—to offer to Him the sacrifice of praise continually.
This is not something we do only when we come together. This is something we must do every day, all the time, in our private life and in our individual devotional times. During the day, this is something we need to offer to God continuously. Let praises ascend to God continuously, without end.
We thank Him always for Who He is, and we praise Him for what He is. We thank Him for everything that He has done for us. So we need to cultivate a holy habit—a holy habit of praising Him and thanking Him.
As you read the Old Testament, you find that the Old Testament saints prayed three times a day: in the morning, at noontime, and in the evening. But in the Psalms, you find that David praised God seven times a day.
We should praise Him whenever there is occasion for it, and we have plenty of occasions to thank Him and praise Him.
Of course, the priests came to the house of God to praise. It was their responsibility to praise God in the temple. I think, as believers, this is what we must do. We must not only praise Him and thank Him in our daily lives, but when we come together, this is the time that we should offer to Him praises and thanksgiving.
Especially at the time of worship, when we come together to worship the Lord, we are here as priests to serve God. The time of worship is not the time that we look for something from Him. It is the time that, having received so much, we come to worship Him, to praise Him, and to give thanks to Him.
This is the time that we should bring out all these praises and thanksgiving. It would be a good thing if everyone would do that.
Oftentimes, you find only a few who praise and give thanks, while the rest seem to be silent. Of course, we say, “In our spirit, we are with you, and you are doing it for us.” But that is not good enough.
It is best if every brother and every sister, young and old, man and woman, remembers that this is our privilege. Let us not be silent. Let us praise God.
Of course, we do not have time for everyone to praise and thank Him. Well, if we make it shorter—if we just say, “Lord, I thank You”—that is good. If we make it shorter, probably we will have time for everybody. If the Spirit of God moves you to make it longer, that is fine. We do not have rules and regulations here.
The principle is that everyone is a priest, and everyone should praise and give thanks.
I believe that whenever a young one, whether young in age or young in spiritual age, praises God and thanks God with a few words, our heavenly Father is very, very much pleased—even much more than with those who are more mature.
So I encourage you, dear brothers and sisters: we are priests. When we come together to worship the Lord, let everyone have an opportunity to praise Him and thank Him. I hope especially those who have been silent for years—it is about time.
This is the time that we should fulfill our priestly function. Let us remember this: let us praise, and let us give thanks to Him.
Oftentimes in a meeting, especially in a worship time, we try to hide ourselves behind choruses and hymns. I do not mean that we should not sing hymns and choruses; we should. As the Spirit moves us, sometimes we cannot express ourselves, and perhaps somebody else is inspired to give us a hymn or a chorus that helps us express our thanks and praises unto God. That is good.
But oftentimes that is the way we hide ourselves. Instead of praising and thanking Him ourselves, we use other people’s praise and thanksgiving to cover ourselves. That is not good.
We hope that when God’s people come together, there may be so much praise and thanksgiving from so many that every time we find we do not have enough time.
That gives us a sense that we long for that day when time shall pass and eternity comes. Then we will have the time to praise and thank God. We need to have that sense.
Sometimes we find there is too much time, and we receive the wrong impression—that there should not be time to praise and thank God. It takes eternity to do that.
So I encourage especially the young ones that they should come out with praises and thanksgiving. Oftentimes, I know you are thinking of the ones sitting next to you or of other brothers and sisters. You may think, “Well, what can I do? If I say a few words, my words may not be smooth or well phrased.”
But if you think of the Lord, do not think of other people. Think of the Lord. If you think of the Lord, then you will have the courage to offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord.
This is the first thing: as priests, we must praise and thank God in our daily life as well as when we are together. If you learn to praise and thank God in your daily life, it will help you to praise and thank God when we are together.
Probably one reason why there is not much praise and thanksgiving when we are together is that, perhaps in your daily life, you are not praising God and thanking God as you should. Why not practice it for six days? Then on the seventh day, when we come together, we can praise and thank God as we should.
Secondly, as priests, our priestly function is not only to praise. Our priestly function is also to pray—to pray.
Acts 2:42 says that they “continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
You will find that this refers not only to the twelve apostles. Of course, the twelve apostles had to give themselves to prayer. But “they continued stedfastly” included not only the one hundred and twenty who had followed the Lord, perhaps for three years, but also the three thousand who had just then become babes in Christ.
The babes in Christ, as well as the more mature one hundred and twenty and the twelve apostles, continued stedfastly in prayer. Why? Because prayer is a priestly function.
You remember how the priests went into the temple and burned incense at the golden altar of incense. That is intercession.
So it is the duty and privilege of every redeemed one of the Lord—again I say, both old and young—that we ought to pray. This is our priestly service.
Of course, we pray in our private life. We need to pray, not only to pray but also to intercede. We need to take burdens and pray for other people.
As 1 Timothy 2 says, we need to pray for all men. We need to pray for those in authority. We need to pray for souls, that they may be saved.
We need to learn to pray in our daily life. This is like burning incense toward God. But not only that: when we come together, we need to come together and pray.
Oftentimes, we think that prayer meetings are common things. When there is a time for ministering the word of God, you find more people. When there is a time when God’s people come together to pray, many people say, “Well, that is not for me.”
Of course, I know there are certain limitations or problems involving family and children, and someone has to stay home with the children. I know that. But still, we must remember that as a holy priesthood, we need to come together and pray.
We need to intercede for God’s interests. It is the duty and privilege of every redeemed one of the Lord not only to be present when the church gathers to pray, but to pray.
Oftentimes I wonder, why do we come? Sometimes we come together to pray, and very few pray. I wonder, why do we come at all? If we do not come to pray, why do we come? We do not come to listen to prayer; we come to pray.
Of course, when our brothers and sisters are praying, we are praying with them in our spirit. That is true. But that is only one part of it. The better part is that we too must pray.
Let us offer incense toward the Lord. Let us not always let our other brothers and sisters offer this incense.
In Old Testament times, how the priests coveted the day when they could be chosen to burn incense at the golden altar of incense! There were thousands of priests, and only one priest a day was chosen to burn incense at the golden altar.
Usually, they did it early in the morning. The priests for that day gathered together in a room and cast lots to see who was to do what. If the lot fell upon one to burn incense at the golden altar, they considered it the highest privilege of a priest.
Oh, how they looked forward to that day! In Old Testament times, you might be a priest for life and never have the chance to burn incense at the altar. If the lot fell on you once, that was all you could do; it could not be repeated. In other words, it was a high privilege.
Yet today, dear brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit is not casting lots, but the Holy Spirit certainly will stir your heart and my heart—every heart—to burn incense, to pray.
You cannot say that you have attended prayer meetings and the lot never fell on you, that the Holy Spirit has never moved you to pray. I do not think you can say that. On the contrary, if you are open, you will find that He moves you more often than you think.
So let us come together and really pray, because this is a priestly function. Now, brothers and sisters, are we fulfilling our functions?
We are redeemed of the Lord. We are believers. But have we been fulfilling our priestly functions? Are we ready to pray, not only individually but together? Are we really praying? Let us give ourselves more to this priestly function.
Thirdly, a priest is to offer sacrifice unto God. In Old Testament times, the priests offered burnt offerings, meal offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, and trespass offerings. They offered sacrifices and gifts unto God. That is the work of the priesthood.
Of course, all these sacrifices are types of Christ. We cannot go into that now because it would take too much time. But remember that all these offerings are types of Christ.
In the New Testament, we are told to offer spiritual sacrifices. We are not here to offer bulls, lambs, goats, or pigeons. We are to offer spiritual sacrifices.
What are these spiritual sacrifices? These spiritual sacrifices are Christ in His various aspects. It is our knowledge, our understanding, our experience, and our apprehension of Christ.
We know Christ as the burnt offering: the One Who offered Himself freely and voluntarily to God for our acceptance. We know Christ as our meal offering: a life that is perfect. We know Christ as our peace offering: He is our peace.
We know Christ as our sin offering: He atoned for our sin once for all. We know Christ as our trespass offering: He cleanses us from all defilement, from all failures and sins in our daily walk.
We know Him as such, and because of our knowledge of Christ, we apprehend Him as our burnt offering, our meal offering, our peace offering, our sin offering, and our trespass offering. This knowledge of Christ is what we offer to God.
With this knowledge, we share Christ with the world and with believers. We share with them what we know of Christ and what we have experienced of Christ. This is offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, every redeemed one of the Lord is a priest. Everyone knows Christ. At least we know Him as our Savior, as our sin offering. Thank God, we may know Him more.
Our knowledge of Christ is to be shared. As we share Christ with our brothers and sisters and with the world, we are fulfilling our priestly function.
The priest had to offer these things for the people, and we are to share Christ with the people. Whether we are witnessing for the Lord to the unsaved, or trying to exhort, encourage, comfort, and help our brothers and sisters with what the Lord has given us—what we know of Him—when we share these things, we are fulfilling our priestly functions.
We are not all called to preach, but we are all called to share Christ, to offer spiritual sacrifices. Do not hide what you know of the Lord, but learn to share. The more you share, the more you will be given.
Whatever gift or gifts the Holy Spirit may give to you, they are not for us to bury. They are for us to trade with.
In other words, brothers and sisters, it is the will of God that the whole body, every member of the body, must exercise the gift or gifts that God has given to each one. Every member of the body must learn to share Christ with one another.
Whether you share through one gift or another gift, the gift is the channel. Whether you share Christ through one gift as a channel or another gift as a channel, it is Christ Who is to be shared. We all need to exercise and to share.
The gifts are different, but Christ is the same. God gives different gifts to different people, but the Christ Who is being shared through these gifts is the same Christ. This is the way to build up the body of Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, I believe it is God’s will that every brother and every sister, young and old, must share Christ and must exercise whatever gift God may have given. That is the way we fulfill our function as a holy priesthood.
A priesthood includes many priests. It is a number of priests, but this great number of priests works together as a priesthood under the high priest.
How true it is that we are all priests, but we do not serve independently. We do not serve in isolation, unrelated to one another. Yes, we serve each in our own capacity, with our gifts, but we serve together as a priesthood under our great High Priest, Christ.
If we know Him and hold fast the Head—and the Head is represented today by the Holy Spirit—then we will work together as a priesthood unto God. There will be order and coordination. It will not be chaotic if we all submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit under His headship.
These are the practical things that we ought to do as priests. Brothers and sisters, have we been fulfilling our priestly functions?
Do not just let a few seem to monopolize the priestly functions. This is not the will of God. Sometimes we think, “Well, these few brothers do everything. We do not need to do anything.” No. If that is the way you think, you are responsible for it.
Every brother and sister must fulfill his or her responsibility and privilege as a priest. But do not forget: it is a holy priesthood.
This is our priestly service. But we are not only priests; we are also Levites at the same time.
Do not think that because you are a priest, you are so dignified that the Levitical service—these temporal things—is beneath your dignity. Do not say, “I will have nothing to do with it. I only want to be involved with spiritual service, not with those mundane things.” Brothers and sisters, not at all.
The apostles, even though they were called to prayer and to the ministry of the word of God, had the example of our Lord Jesus. He washed their feet.
Do not think that doing Levitical service means merely doing temporal things with nothing spiritual in them. No. Those who were chosen to serve the tables had to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Oftentimes, without these Levitical services, the priests could not do their service well. You cannot separate them. They have to be together.
So, brothers and sisters, are we fulfilling our Levitical service today? Do not forget: you are a Levite. You are called to serve in the house of God, so serve the house of God.
What are our services as Levites? Let us make it very practical. First, the Levites served the tabernacle of God.
When the children of Israel were traveling through the wilderness, and the tabernacle was to move, the priests came and prepared it. They covered the ark with a blue cloth, and they covered the things in the holy place. After they had prepared the things, the Levites came and carried the tabernacle.
If you read the book of Numbers, you will find that the Levites were divided into three groups. One group took care of the ark and the furniture in the tabernacle; they bore them on their shoulders. Another group took care of all the boards and heavy things. Another took care of the curtains, and so forth.
In other words, the Levites served the tabernacle of God. They took care of the things pertaining to the tabernacle. They drew water, helped to kill the animals, prepared the wood, and did all the things that pertained to the tabernacle of God. These were the things that the Levites did.
Perhaps you think that they were serving the tabernacle and not serving God. But when they served the tabernacle faithfully, you find that God used them even in greater service.
Think of the seven who were chosen to serve the tables in Acts 6. They served the tables faithfully, and the result was that Philip became an evangelist. Stephen became a mighty witness and teacher. If we serve faithfully in temporal things, God will enlarge our capacity.
We should not look down upon these Levitical services. Without these services, the priestly service simply could not be done.
Today, as Levites of the new covenant, what is our duty? Remember: we serve the house of God physically.
For instance, we have a place where we meet. Of course, this is not the church; this is where the church meets. But having such a place, there are many things that must be done:
Brothers and sisters, this takes Levites to do the work. But do not forget: everyone is a Levite.
The problem is that sometimes we aspire to those spiritual priestly services and tend to forget that we are Levites too. So I want to remind all of you, and myself too, that we are all Levites. We cannot fully fulfill our priestly service if we fail in our Levitical service.
Every brother and sister, young and old, must be involved. Some may be able to help clean the house. Some may help set up the chairs. Some may help fold and put them away. Some may help put out the hymnbooks. Some may help prepare the table. Some may help in the yard.
You will find that there are many things that must be done. The Levites serve together as one—not merely everyone doing what he likes. Everyone comes in and is willing to be under direction.
In other words, when we are doing mundane things, spirituality is still required. We need to know what the will of God is. We need to do it as unto the Lord, and we need to do it with order and coordination.
We need many brothers and sisters to volunteer for these works, under direction—not just to do whatever they like, but under direction—so that all these physical things may be well taken care of. It is for the sake of serving God in a spiritual sense.
I hope that every brother and sister should be involved in at least one item in the Levitical sense. Do something. As you do it unto the Lord, you will find that your heart will be strangely warmed, and your love toward the Lord Jesus Christ, toward the house of God, and toward God’s people will increase. It is very true.
This is serving the house of God. Now, secondly, the Levitical service today includes serving tables.
In New Testament times, there were so many believers in the church in Jerusalem that at one time there were over ten thousand people. There were many widows among them because life was very difficult, and these widows needed to be taken care of.
In the beginning, the twelve apostles tried to do everything. Because they tried to do everything, they failed in everything. God showed them that this was not required. There should be a working together.
So finally, seven brothers were chosen to serve the tables. By serving tables, it meant that they ministered to these widows. But in serving tables, they were men full of the Holy Spirit.
So, brothers and sisters, in the church today we need people, as Levites, to serve the tables. In other words, we need people who will look after the poor.
It is always one thing in the Bible: remember the poor. Our Lord Jesus, Who was rich, became poor for us, that we might become rich in Him. Therefore, to remember the poor is always a duty of the church, especially those in need in the household of God.
We need Levites who will look after the poor. We need Levites who will look after the sick. When people are sick, they need to be visited. When people are in need, they need to be supplied and helped.
Sometimes a sister or a family may have sickness in the home. Brothers and sisters can go there and help with household chores. These are physical works. If there is no one to clean the house for them, let us go and clean it for them.
These are the ways we can show our love for one another. This is serving the table. When we serve our brothers and sisters in various capacities and in many ways, we are serving the tables as Levites. Certainly, this is something that we should do.
There is another thing. In New Testament times, there was often washing of feet.
Of course, there is a spiritual meaning behind it. What the Lord said in John 13 is that we should love one another. But this love is expressed in a practical way.
When you see a brother or sister in need, whether spiritual or temporal, whatever the need may be, go and try to wash the feet. In other words, try to supply the need. Try to make that brother or sister comfortable, refreshed, and happy in the Lord.
Let us remember that we are also Levites. Let us remember that we are to serve in the house of God, to do these temporal things for the sake of spiritual service. We are to serve our brothers and sisters as Levites.
We are to serve the tables. We are to wash the feet of our brothers and sisters. This is the way we can fulfill our Levitical function. I hope that we will fulfill it.
Again I will say: today we do not have a few Levites and the rest laymen. Today we are all Levites. We are all priests. Therefore, we must all serve God as priests and as Levites.
May the Lord make all this very practical. Let us just be before the Lord. If the Lord exercises your heart, whether it is concerning a priestly function or a Levitical function, share it with the brothers. Share it with those who have responsibility in these various areas, that you may be a part of it.
May we serve as a body. The whole body must function. This is the will of God.
Let us pray.
Our heavenly Father, we do believe that we are touching something that is very basic, but also very vital. We believe that this is something that You have in mind for Your people.
You have set us free that we may serve You as priests and as Levites. We pray that there may not be any priest or any Levite who is not functioning.
Oh, we ask You to show us that it is our privilege that we can serve such a great God. Lord, teach us how to serve.
May we not only be given the desire to serve; Lord, give us also the spirit of humility, that we may learn to submit to one another, that we may learn to hold fast the Head, and that our service may be acceptable unto You.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.