Deuteronomy 18:1-8 -

The support of the ministry the duty of God's people.

In a note on a corresponding passage in Numbers 18:21 , Numbers 18:22 , Dr. Jameson remarks, "Neither the priests nor the Levites were to possess any allotments of land, but to depend entirely upon him who liberally provided for them out of his own portion; and this law was subservient to many important purposes, such as that, being exempted from the cares and labors of worldly business, they might be exclusively devoted to his service; that a bond of mutual love and attachment might be formed between the people and the Levites, who, as performing religious services for the people, derived their subsistence from them; and further, that, being the more easily dispersed among the different tribes, they might be more useful in instructing and directing the people." This suggestive note seems to us to contain the pith of the Mosaic instructions concerning the maintenance of the Levites. (For the several details, see Exposition.) We can scarcely fail to see in this passage principles far wider in their application than to the Jewish people alone, and reaching much further onward than the times of the old covenant. And though, as it falls to the lot of the preacher to expound these principles, it may not quite fall within his preference to do so, if he is, like the Levites, supported by the contributions of the people, yet, when he is continuously expounding the Word of God, he may not omit to teach the people that" he that is taught in the Word should communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things." This is part of the " counsel of God," and should not be withheld, since it is not for his own sake, but for the sake of the entire ministry of the Lord Jesus, for which, if he is faithful, he will plead. The principles which may be expounded by the ministers of the New Testament are these—

I. A GODLY , ABLE MINISTRY IS THE WANT OF THE PEOPLE . True , there are now no sacrifices to be offered, nor is there any complicated ritual of service to be performed; but there is a mighty work to be done in heralding the gospel "to every creature," and in "building up the body of Christ." And so long as sin and ignorance prevail, so long will the people need those who will lead the way in seeking their expulsion and extinction. For this end our Lord has instituted a New Testament ministry. The work now to be fulfilled is that of teaching and preaching Jesus Christ ( Ephesians 4:1-16 ; 1 Corinthians 9:1-27 .). "Faithful men, able to teach," are to be appointed. These are the qualifications. The Church needs no priesthood in it. It is itself the priesthood for the world. Ministers do not come now in a family, a tribe, or line. The figment of apostolical succession is "less than nothing, and vanity." It is not by the law of "a carnal commandment" that any ministry is valid now. But wherever God's Spirit fills a man with holy yearning for this work, where the needful gifts are imparted, where God's providence leads and clears the way, and the divinely inspired voice of a free Christian people says to him, "Come and be our teacher and guide in the ways of the Lord," there are calls to a ministry such as cannot be mistaken, and such as ought not to be ignored. And when, on such a ministry, the seals of Divine approval are set, when the minister can see the law of Christ which is promulgated by his lips, reproduced in men's hearts and lives, when he can see many a wanderer reclaimed through his pleading and prayers,—then can his ministry show a like validity even with that of Paul, for he, like him, can point to one and another and say, "If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you, for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord."

II. THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD DEMANDS THE DEVOTION OF THE ENTIRE LIFE . We by no means intend here that none should teach or preach but those who can give their whole time thereto. But that, as a part of the application of the "division of labor" in the Church, the demands on those who make the ministry of the Word their care are such, that only the entire consecration of their life to it will enable them fittingly to meet them. To take the oversight of the flock of God: to give unto each one their portion of meat in due season: to visit the fatherless and widow, the poor and the sick: to observe the signs of the times: to know what Israel ought to do, and to direct them in doing it: to keep abreast of the thinking of the day, whether helpful or adverse: and so to declare the whole counsel of God, as by manifestation of the truth to commend himself to every conscience:—all these things go to make up a work so varied, so momentous, so exhausting, that nothing less than "giving himself wholly" to it can enable any man even approximately to discharge it.

III. THIS BEING THE CASE , IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT THE MINISTER SHOULD NOT BE ENTANGLED IN IMPEDING CARES . The Levites were not to have great estates that might draw off their interest from the duties of their office, nor were they to be left at an uncertainty respecting the supply of their temporal need. Even so now. It will greatly fetter and hamper a minister if he is entangled with the affairs of his life, whether by having so much on his hands that his time is absorbed in secular, which ought to be devoted to sacred, things; or by having so little on which he can rely, that the anxiety about feeding the people with living bread, is diverted from its proper channel, by anxiety about having the "bread that perisheth" for himself and his.

IV. CONSEQUENTLY IT IS AN ORDINANCE OF GOD THAT THE MINISTRY , WHICH IS FOR THE PEOPLE , SHOULD BE THE CARE OF THE PEOPLE . This may be set on several grounds.

1. It is manifestly right . If a man gives up all ways of securing temporal comforts for the sake of serving the people, they are bound to secure him the temporal comforts in some other way.

2. The Apostle Paul distinctly lays it down as an appointment by the Lord Jesus ( 1 Corinthians 9:14 ). (Paul waived this. right, rather than hinder the gospel by pressing it, as is now done under like circumstances; but it was a right, nevertheless, and a Divine appointment.)

3. Wherever a people cause a minister to be embarrassed in temporalities, they will suffer for it. The minister's work, teaching, and preaching will all bear the traces of such embarrassment, and will be the weaker for it.

4. This Divine ordinance helps to promote the mutual care of minister and people for each other. They reap his spiritual things; he reaps their carnal things.

5. There is also thus a high and holy spiritual education of the people, in calling out their own kindly and just activities to uphold that ministry by which they themselves are upheld. The ministry is not to be found for them, but to be maintained by them. Thus there is seen to be a guard against abuse of position on either side.

V. ISRAEL WAS TO GUARD ITS OWN PRIESTHOOD AS BEING ITSELF A PRIESTHOOD FOR THE WORLD . So Churches are to guard the honor of their own ministry, because they have a ministry for the world. It is not for the ministers' own sakes that they are to be thus cared for, but on account of the high and holy cause which they represent, and which they seek, however imperfectly, to maintain. They are to be esteemed very highly in love for their work ' s sake ; for the work which they fulfill is that which is purifying and saving the world. It is, in fact, by thus supporting a ministry that the Church is fulfilling its commission, "to preach the gospel to every creature." Of course, it follows from all this, that a ministry can claim such and such support, only so far as it is carrying out the Divine intent, or seeking in all fidelity to do so. It is not that God has put clergy as a kind of official police over the people; but that those who love righteousness are to show it by upholding the preaching of righteousness, and that those who love their Savior's Name are to sustain the heralds of that Name, both at home and abroad.