This is not a message only to musical worship leaders, it is a message for those who will not idolize the world, the fake religious leaders, the ministry plans, the empty structures, the temples built with human hands. It is not anti-church but it is pro-church in all of her fullness and bridal beauty. The Levites were simply those who rallied to loyalty to God, when it was not popular to do so.
Do you remember why God called the Levites and set them apart?
The Levites were the sober ones at the time of the great idolatry at the foot of Mt. Sinai. When others were out of control and running wild, Moses called out,
“Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him. (Exodus 32:26)
Where are the Levites of today? Where are those who side with God and give up any inheritance in the world to be at his beck and call? To simply “be his”? Not called to lead worship, not searching for your place to lead. If you are a Levite, you are not called to anything but Him. To do what you see your Father doing, to say what He is saying. This is worship ministry.
At the time the 10 commandments were given, “the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister and to pronounce blessings in his name, as they still do today. 9 That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance, as the Lord your God told them.” Deuteronomy 10:8
Do you want to be a worship leader? Stop trying to become one. Take in your inheritance. Who are you, son and daughter of the Most High? What more have you to receive? What greater position? He is your inheritance. He is the fulfillment of every promise He made to you. Just Him. He is the treasure.
What if your inheritance were only God? Would you even be able to contain it? You would be so satisfied, so full, so satiated that you would say, I have no need. The problem is that we are so full of other things that we consider blessings, that we are not ready to receive the fullness of our inheritance in Him. We often have to get to a place of emptying, of realizing the poverty of our earthy inheritance, gifts, training, abilities, and ministries. Then, we can get to the real work of truly belonging to Him and Him belonging to us in a way that changes the world and puts us on the front line of God’s Kingdom advancing in the world.
Through the prophet Malachi God said,
“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify THE LEVITES and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
Malachi 3:1-4
So many of the words of Jesus were spoken to the religious leaders, those descended from Levi (including Aaron’s sons). They had forgotten their role as laborers and priests and simply wore the robes of the well-educated and high status. But Jesus called them whitewashed tombs (Matthew 23:27-28)!
And where is the temple leadership of our day? I have a feeling they are not on the stages at churches. They are really young. They are unseen. They are unrecognized, unsigned, and not trying to be. They minister in the secret place. In living rooms and backyard fire pits. Whoever is for the Lord, come to me! Let me tell you your role, children of the Most High God. Come you singers, you musicians, you poets, you artists and prayer warriors who prophecy and intercede with hearts on fire! Receive your inheritance. Receive it FULLY. Be filled, drink the Living Water of the Holy Spirit. Minister to the Lord. Prepare the way for our Messiah’s return. He is your inheritance if you will have Him. You worship leaders, rise up. Go to the streets and highways and sing! Stop waiting for an invitation. Announce it. Prophecy to the dead bones. He is coming. He will not delay. And you are His people, the sheep of His pasture. You know His voice.
He came to purify the temple leadership, but they rejected and killed Him. Even this, Jesus forgave. Now that Jesus has born the wrath of God on the cross, for our sin, our distrust, and our rebellion, we see a miracle even in that moment of horror. The veil that kept the presence of God in a Holy room has been torn in two! Now we can enter the presence of God, and when I choose God’s side, He literally fills me with the power to serve, to minister to Him, and bless the people. I become grafted into the Levitical lineage and I carry the presence of God INSIDE me!
I am a Levite! I am part of a living temple of priests. He is my inheritance and I belong to Him! A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS. May I live to see it.
If God is my inheritance, what does this mean. I do not have land in this world, no name of my own, nothing of value apart from his presence. All I have to offer others is to carry His presence into the world, to go out before the army of God’s people, to minister to the Lord, and to bless others. Everything else I count as loss.
What if we resist the temptation to be filled with the satisfaction of our work, our accomplishments, our networks, our goals–even those that are done “for God”? What if we stopped expecting to be filled by people, social media, or by our church groups, or by establishing a great legacy for our name? What if we asked God to not allow us to be filled by the praise and flattery of men, not by food or wine, not mind-numbing entertainment, but to be truly filled by the Spirit of God?
Then, we will be purified as a kingdom of priests, set apart for God to bless Him and others.
You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1 Peter 2:5,9-10
It is an invitation. Again, we stand among idols and rebellion and again, we hear the call, who will stand with God? Who will join me? Where are the Levites?
