Dear Friends in Christ:
The Holy Spirit endows God’s people with gifts for work in the kingdom as he determines. We take note of those gifts in the servant leaders congregations call, elect, or simply choose to represent them. The greatest of those gifts is the Spirit himself who dwells in the believer’s heart. The Lord was generous to Moses and to his assistants in that way as we hear in our first lesson.
The Spirit’s gifts are not uniform in type and in amount for workers in God’s kingdom. Do God’s people always appreciate God’s generosity to others even in the gift of his forgiveness which always is the same-free and total? Last week we learned through Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard that we do not. We can be jealous about those the Spirit calls to saving faith in Christ in the late hours of their lives. We can become envious of other gifts the Spirit endows presently to our fellow believers.
Did Joshua appreciate that God had given his Holy Spirit to Eldad and Medad though they had not been at the Tent, the Tabernacle? Recall Jesus’ disciples’ lack of thankfulness for the man who was working in Jesus’ name but was not “one of them?” Jealousy, envy, and self-importance can rear their ugly heads.
Here is a question. Who is Best Suited for Work in God’s Kingdom? The answer in our text is twofold. First, the one who sees the importance of the Spirit. In addition, who seeks God’s honor and the kingdom’s good.
Moses requested and received help for leadership. He was growing weary of God’s people’s constant ingratitude for God’s goodness, and their insistent complaint about how much worse they were off now than when they were slaves in Egypt. We are well aware of that delusion the memory of the pleasures of our sins gives us.
The Holy Spirit came upon 70 leaders to be Moses’ assistants. They prophesied; spoke God’s Word, as evidence of God’s call. They already had the Holy Spirit as all believers do. This endowment of the Spirit was a special gift. It indicated that God had chosen them for the work of helping Moses. We read,“They prophesied, although they never did so again.” This seems to indicate a singular speaking as the sign they were God’s choice.
Eldad and Medad also received the Spirit although they were absent from the Tent of Meeting. This is similar to when Jesus pointed out to his disciples that the man who was driving out demons in his name was on their side though not part of their band.
This incident followed the disciples’ big discussion about who among them would be counted the greatest in the kingdom. Their sense of self-importance caused them to be jealous of another doing the same work. [Lk 9:50] In both circumstances, the Holy Spirit is the One who does the work.
Who is best suited for work in God’s kingdom? It is the one who sees the importance of the Spirit. Joshua, “who had been Moses’ aide since youth” seemed to take Eldad’s and Medad’s call as an affront to Moses.Moses’ response would indicate otherwise. Moses’ question strikes to the heart of the matter. Joshua was jealous for his own sake.
Jesus’ disciples took the work of the other prophets as an affront to their call and authority from Christ.They and Joshua showed a decided lack of understanding that the Lord pours out his Spirit on a variety of people to do the work in the kingdom. The Lord’s workers in both instances display a decided lack of humility.
The Lord has been most gracious to us in giving his Holy Spirit to us through the gospel to bring us to faith. The Holy Spirit endows his gifts to do his work. Who is best suited to use those gifts for work in God’s kingdom? The one who sees the importance of the Spirit.
We do not apologize for preaching Jesus Christ, crucified and risen again as our Redeemer from sin, death, and the power of the devil. We recognize that there are heterodox churches that preach the gospel of Christ. They exercise genuine Christian charity, as do we. When they offer a cup of water to drink in Jesus name as we do, they are on Christ’s side even as God’s Word judgestheir false doctrine and sin.
Who is best suited for work in God’s kingdom? The one who also seeks God’s honor and the kingdom’s good.
The one who seeks God’s honor is not proud of one’s gifts. He or she does not become jealous or envious of the Spirit and his gifts God has given to others. Moses and Jesus address the wrong understanding of kingdom work in their co-workers.
God is jealous of his honor and does not want Christians arguing about honor in kingdom work. The Lord gives the Spirit and gives the gifts. We are not to question God about his distribution of abilities and unique contributions others possess to thefurthering of the kingdom of God. God alone gets the entire honor for the results. It is to his honor and purpose that the Spirit brings the harvest of souls after our sowing of the gospel.
Moses expressed his wish that all of God’s people were prophets who had the gift of the Spirit. That would mean many benefits for the kingdom of God. Not every Christian has the Spirit’s gift to speak God’s Word publicly.
However, each of us has the gift of faith with which we are able to share the reason for the hope that we have. That reason is we have set apart Christ as Lord in our hearts. This too is the Spirit’s work. So rather than have a sense of self-importance, we are to have a humble appreciation for what the Spirit works not only through our band, but also through people who may not be “one of us.” Amen. <SDG>