What work are you doing for the Lord?

We will examine those that God has chosen.

From the Old Testament and the Tabernacle.

The Levi’s

"6 Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him.
7 And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle.
8 And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle."

"15 Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them.
16 And Moses numbered them according to the word of the LORD, as he was commanded.
17 And these were the sons of Levi by their names; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. "

When God set up the Tribe of Israel, He chose the tribe of the Levites to take care of the tabernacles furnishings, unlike the Priests, the Gershonites, Kohathites and the Merarites of that tribe were assigned to what seemed a very mundane task, the cleaning of the furniture, the lamp stand's, the curtains, the posts for the supports, the tent pegs, the ropes. In addition, when the tribe was moving, it was these people who were chosen to carry all the Tabernacle material.

The Jobs are given.

Numbers 3:25,26; 28,31,36-37.

These jobs were specifically assigned by God to this group of people as "Doing the work of the Tabernacle" v8 and it is recorded in God’s Word for posterity. Each family was given a specific part of the furniture and building which was their responsibility to clean and maintain as necessary.

"30 From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old shalt thou number them, every one that entereth into the service, to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation."

The Levites, of the tribe of Israel, were especially chosen to build and move the Holy Tabernacle. No one else was allowed to touch any of the material used. It was also very tight on which parts they were allowed to touch, none of the Holy furniture was opened to touch by these people, the Lord protected everything.

Well how is your day of work for the Lord, with the Rapture getting nearer every day, then our time to work for Him is rapidly getting shorter. As we do not know when the Rapture will happen, it could just be minutes left.

Jesus spoke a parable about this, is found in Luke 19:12-26.

"12 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.
15 And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
16 Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.
17 And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
18 And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.
19 And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.
20 And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:
21 For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.
22 And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:
23 Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?
24 And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.
25 (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.)
26 For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him."

"Occupy till I come" We are to use the gifts that He has given us and take the opportunity that Jesus puts in front of us.

You will find that Christians who do the most for the world are in fact those who are thinking of the next world and being with Jesus. It is since Christians have stopped thinking of the next world that they have become of very little use in the present world. The possible coming event of the Rapture makes us think of heaven, but also to think about our present world, as we move on to become more pure and Christ like.

We know all about the future, as we walk with the Lord, the world may laugh at us, may oppose us but with our thoughts turned towards our future in heaven, we are not worried. Peter thought this, he gave a warning of what can happen,:-
2 Peter 2:19-22.

"19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire."

I believe that this person that Peter is talking about did not actually know the Lord as his / her Saviour.

So, what is your action for the Lord today?

Let us now look at the New Testament

We will look at 2 Timothy 4 as this covers most of the workers, then look at the other Epistles by Paul.

Paul, in his letters, or Epistles that were sent out to the various churches often ended with him referred to the workers that has been involved in the work, Below is a list of those mentioned, it is basically a roll of honour, these are the reliable ones, except Demas, who went back into the world, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica;.v10.

Demas may remind us of the minds of many church members, some are like wheel barrows, need to be pushed to do any useful work, or like kites, only as good as the string, fly away if they become detatched, another church member is like a football, you do not know which way it will bounce. However, the rest of the helps and workers were like the stars, bright and never moving.

Let us look at the various people listed and see what we know about them.

Timothy

He is a very important leader of the church in Ephesus, Paul feels that he needs Timothy, Come quickly, v9. Paul may feel that his time on earth may be coming to the end. v21. He needed spiritual company and most of the others had been sent out. An additional thought, Do thy diligence to come before winter, why? Timothy will have to cross two seas and a considerable distance to walk, with winter coming, travelling, especially at sea will be dangerous. Travelling in the days of the New Testament were actually very difficult, a sea voyage during the winter would be very bad and difficult. Timothy was Paul’s son in the faith, he had been tried and tested over the years.

Crescens,

We do not have much information about him, though he had been sent to Galatia by Paul, He is one of the unknown but very faithful.

Titus

He has been sent to Dalmatia, it is the area today covered by Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and parts of what we knew as Yugoslavia, it is the area covered by the Eastern shores of the Adriatic.
Titus was a travelling companion with Paul, he is mentioned thirteen times in the New Testament. He was a Greek Believer and was involved with the Jerusalem meeting to discuses whether all believers should be circumcised.

Luke

He is the only one left with Paul at the time we are examining. Prisoners who were in the same state as Paul were allowed two servants or slaves to live with the prisoner, it is possible that Luke had allowed himself to become a slave to achieve this. Being a doctor Luke was ideal for Paul who had suffered many physical treatments at times in his time of preaching. Luke, regularly travelled with Paul, he was also with Paul and involved with the boat being sunk in the storm, Acts 27:14-44
Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke and the early church growth, as recorded in Acts.

Philemon, v23,24

This Letter to Philemon occurred at a different time to those of Timothy.

"23 There salute thee Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus;"

Epaphras, Paul referred to him as a fellow slave and fellow prisoner, was very well received by Paul and the churches.who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, It was news of Epaphras, of the conditions in the churches of the Lycus valley that caused Paul to write the Epistle to the Colossian church.

"24 Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow labourers. "

Marcus is the Latin version of Mark, the Gospel writer.

Aristarchus, a fellow-traveller in the ministry with Paul, cams from Thessalonica. Later joined Paul in the prison, possibly as a slave for Paul.

Demas.

He was with Paul at the first imprisonment, however, he seemed to have found a problem which he did not like and in 2 Timothy 4: Paul remarks about Demas, For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica;

Romans 16:3-16.

Rufus, v13, probably the son of Simon of Cyrene.Mark 15:21.

Jason may be the host of Paul, from Thessalonica. Acts 17:5-8.

Tertius v22, Paul’s secretary in writing the letter.

Erastus v23, a public official,

Ephesians 6:21 Tychicus is mentioned, see below.

Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfill it.

2 Timothy 4:9-22

" 19 Salute Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. "

1 Corinthians Aquila and Priscilla are mentioned, their home was in Rome but travelled all over the area as part of their leather working business., they were very involved with work for the Lord at Corinth and Ephesus, Acts 18:2-3 ; Acts 18-28.

"20 Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick. why did not Paul heal Trophimus. He had the gift of healing."

Paul now sends special instructions to Timothy, on who to see and what to do

" 12 When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.
13 Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them.
14 And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.
15 All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. "

So, what is your action for the Lord today?

Are you a welcome voice for God, are you a help, or a nobody. Are you look forward to the words of our Saviour,

"Well done my good and faithful servant."