The Christians who show sincerity

“At that time men were appointed to be in charge of the storerooms for the contributions, firstfruits and tithes. From the fields around the towns they were to bring into the storerooms the portions required by the Law for the priests and the Levites, for Judah was pleased with the ministering priests and Levites. They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did also the singers and gatekeepers, according to the commands of David and his son Solomon. For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there had been directors for the singers and for the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. So in the days of Zerubbabel and of Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside the portion for the other Levites, and the Levites set aside the portion for the descendants of Aaron.” (Nehemiah 12:44-47)

Don’t you want to dream of a church community in which not only a pastor loves you but also you love your pastor so you embrace your pastor’s hidden grievances so that both of you can builds the church with understanding and love? However, the reality of pastor is 80 percent of all adults think that the pastor must meet a higher standard of living than the ordinary people. Ironically, the people think that almost no pastors can meet that expectation (Internet). What are your expectations for your pastor? This could all be different. But what we must make clear is that all of us must strive to build our church with understanding and love. In order to do so, we must show our sincerity to each other. We must share the love of the Lord by opening our hearts to each other, talking to each other, getting to know each other, and praying for each other. All of us must be sincere and faithful in this matter.

I would like to think about Christians who show their sincerity based on Nehemiah 12:44-47. I hope and pray that we, whether pastors or congregation members, maybe able to hear the Lord’s words well and commit ourselves to build the Lord’s church with understanding and love.

First, let’s think about the pastors who show their sincerity.

Look at Nehemiah 12:45 – “They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did also the singers and gatekeepers, according to the commands of David and his son Solomon.” Here, the word “performed” means ‘be careful, protect, keep, observe.’ The basic idea of origin is ‘care very much’. The first meaning is ‘to be cautious or diligent’ when it is a verb or compound word. The second meaning is to express that the Israelites are very careful in handling whether it is the covenant or the responsibility of the law. The third meaning is 'to care for, take care of'. The fourth meaning is ‘to be important, to pay attention to.' Then, what did the priests and Levites who served in the temple after the rebuilding of Jerusalem's wall care very much about the temple? What did the priests and Levites show more sincerity?

(1) They care very much about worshiping God.

Look at Nehemiah 12:45 – “They performed the service of God ….” What will happen to the church if a pastor forgets about the importance of worship and tries to worship God? What would you think if your pastor prepared and guided worship without sincerity? We must keep in mind. The pastors should realize the importance of worship and must keep it, pay attention, and care very much with it.

(2) They care very much about the service of purification.

Look at Nehemiah 12:45: “They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, ….” The service of purification is found in Nehemiah 12:30 – “When the priests and Levites had purified themselves ceremonially, they purified the people, the gates and the wall.” We must care much about not only the purity of ourselves and our families but especially the purity of the church. In particular, the pastor must purify himself, his family and endeavor to purify the worship of the church.

The Korean churches have grown remarkably phenomenal for a while but their growth started to stop in the 1980s. There are many factors, but one of them is that the pastor’s right to preach is being challenged. The experts pointed out that the problems of pastors who have easygoing attitude of not looking ahead of the times and their problems of moral issues here and there began to elicit an attitude of no longer accepting pastoral preaching as the Word of God. Now, it is important who and what kind of person is preaching the Word of God. So the experts point out that only thorough self-renewal and repentance of pastors can save the collapsed pulpit. The theologians point out that, based on the right ministry of the pastors, the worship must be emphasized to the congregation and in order for this to be done, worship must be thoroughly in line with the essence and a plan for the restoration of worship should be made. The pastoral plan of worship and preaching is not only driven by a hunger for pastoral sites based on the church's quantitative revival, but also requires the attention of the pastor to develop a pastoral plan to examine the times and change the life of the saints. After all, the authority of the pastor is not superficial outward things but it is spiritual and moral, and must be shown through the godly life and preaching of the pastor. In other words, the pastors should not forget that the pastors who say only God's words on behalf of God will be respected (Kim Nam-joon). But now it seems that the time has reached when the pastors are not respected. And one of the reasons is that pastors are not exemplary to the saints.

We must learn that the priests and Levites in Nehemiah 12 set an example for the Israelites in worshiping and performing the service of purification. In particular, there are two principles that we can apply:

(1) The first principle is team work.

Look at Nehemiah 12:45: “… as did also the singers and gatekeepers, according to the commands of David and his son Solomon.” In modern terms, the pastor, associate pastor, choir/praise team, all worked together to worship God and to keep the purity of the church.

(2) The second more important principle is obeying the Word of God.

Look at Nehemiah 12:45: “…. according to the commands of David and his son Solomon.“ In modern terms, the church pastor and other servants served together to worship God and to keep the purity of the church according to the Word of God (vv. 30, 45). Like the Israel priests, the Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, we must worship God according to the Word of God, not just whatever and however we think and want.

This is what Pastor A. W. Tozer said in his book “Worship and Entertainment”: ‘Today we have everything but no worship. Instead of attending the prayer meeting, there are those who only participate on the Church Running Committee and calculate how much the church's budget should be spent. These are just church runners and we cannot make them to attend our prayer meeting. The reason is because they are not worshipers. It is a terrible contradiction that those who don’t pray and don’t worship are running and leading the church’ (Tozer). We, the pastors, should be faithful and sincere Christians who show sincerity to our church members. Like the Israelites, we all need care very much about worshiping God and the purification of the church. We must be committed to build ourselves, our families, and the church as a community of worshipers. All of us must strive to be established as worshipers who are purified by the blood of Jesus on the cross.

Second and last, let’s think about the church members who show their sincerity.

(1) The people of Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who served.

Look at Nehemiah 12:44: “….for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who served.” In modern terms, the church members, who saw their pastor’s sincerity, rejoiced with him because they knew how much he served and worked hard. Are church members really pleased with their pastors? Are congregation members satisfied with their pastor's service? One of the things that both the pastors and the congregation members in the church community should be very careful between their relationships is complaining or grumbling. If the pastor complains about his congregation members and the congregation members complains about their pastor, then the community is not a living community, but it’s like a dying cell. For example, let’s pretend that a church member is complaining about his pastor. So he complains about his pastor to other church members and finds a fellow church member who is also resentful to the pastor. They will eventually join together and will lead to spiritual degeneration, like two dying cells. Our church shouldn’t be like this. Rather, the congregation members should make their pastor not object of complaining but of joy. Likewise, the pastor should make his congregation members the object of joy and not complaining. Seriously, the frustration and discouragement of the pastors themselves may be more serious than the relationship between the pastors and the congregation members.

According to the book Peter Kaldor and Rod Bullpitt, in their book “Burnout Church Leaders”, the pastors themselves experience exhaustion in frustration and discouragement. In other words, looking at themselves, they aren’t happy but are disappointed. Why are they exhausted and disappointed? If I share only the few of the highest burnout average list, they feel tired and hurt in their daily life. They are disappointed with themselves trying to accomplish what they think is important to them. They feel guilty that no spiritual change or growth occurs in the church or in the saints. We, the pastors, must keep in mind that God is a God who takes great delight in us (Zeph. 3:17). Therefore, we should rejoice over our congregation members as we set an example of leading the worship and living a pure life according to God's Word.

(2) The people of Judah supported the priests and Levites who served in the temple.

Look at Nehemiah 12:44 – “On that day men were also appointed over the chambers for the stores, the contributions, the first fruits and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions required by the law for the priests and Levites.” As required by the Law of Moses, the Israelites offered the first fruits and the tithes to the temple in order to support the priests and Levites. Then some of the Levites took responsibility and stored the first fruits and the tithes that the people had offered in the temple. One thing we had to remember here is that the reason why the Israelites offered their tithes or offerings to the temple was to help the temple workers to serve God well. This is what missionary Hudson Taylor said: ‘'When God's work is done in God's way for God's glory, it will not lack God's support.’ If our pastors are doing God's work for God's glory, as Mister Taylor said, God's support will not be lacking. Eventually, the saints will each do their own support for the work of such a servant, not reluctantly or under compulsion (2 Cor. 9:7). They will support with joy. The result will be a blessing on the house and everything in it (Ezek. 44:30).

There was a deacon in a church who was doing a business. He was very stingy in church service and offerings. One Sunday a pastor's sermon title was ‘Christian and Money.’ The deacon was listening to the sermon with great interest. The pastor's sermon had three points. The first point was about making a lot of money. As the deacon was listening to the sermon, he continued to say 'Amen!' The second point was about saving a lot money, which he also 'Amen!' The deacon's face was bright and the sound of “amen” continued to be loud while the sermon continued. However, after listening to the third point of the sermon which was about giving it to God, there was no of “amen” anymore. After the service, the deacon told his friend. ‘Aren't your pastor's sermon titles great today? The first and the second points were very gracious. But the third point the whole sermon’ (Internet).