The Worth of a Godly Leader

Right after the event in which the dead staff produces fruit, God teaches Aaron and the Levitical priesthood about their sacred duties as God's anointed and appointed priests.

Numbers 18:7 (ESV) And you and your sons with you shall guard your priesthood for all that concerns the altar and that is within the veil; and you shall serve. I give your priesthood as a gift, and any outsider who comes near shall be put to death.”

What's incredible is the number of times the words "give" and "gift" show up in this chapter. They appear in some form 16 times.  It's a chapter all about giving and its entirely related to the priesthood reinforced by the life brought out of a dead piece of wood.

So what is God teaching? The Lord considers His ministers and leaders as gifts for His people. They are gifts in that they mediate the Word of God to the people of God so that the people of God can be equipped to represent what life with God looks like to the world around them.

Paul will pick up this theme in the letter to the Ephesians. Notice the same word.

Ephesians 4:11–13 (ESV) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God

The Pastors and leaders of God's people are a gift. They are to be well supplied for by the people to whom they minister as well. We see that in Numbers 18 for the Old Testament priesthood:

Numbers 18:8–10 (ESV) Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, “Behold, I have given you charge of the contributions made to me, all the consecrated things of the people of Israel. I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual due. 9 This shall be yours of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, every grain offering of theirs and every sin offering of theirs and every guilt offering of theirs, which they render to me, shall be most holy to you and to your sons. 10 In a most holy place shall you eat it. Every male may eat it; it is holy to you.

The food the priests ate came from the people to whom they ministered. It is a scriptural principle from cover to cover that those who minister God's word are to be provided for by those who receive God's Word (See Galatians 6:6; 1 Timothy 5:17).

Numbers 18:21 (ESV) “To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting,

The fact is a minister on God's behalf to you is a blessing. I can think of the many men of God who preached the word into my life. It changed me in invaluable ways. I was protected from error by their guidance, I was empowered for witness through their prayers. I was taught how to preach and teach myself. I was encouraged when I didn't want to go on. I was mentored and discipled to lead by those who led me. I can literally say that everything good about me in my gifts and calling were identified and equipped in me by men who gave themselves to the ministry of God's word. 

A good Pastor/Preacher is hard to find and he is worth the provision God's people provide. In this chapter, God calls on the people to bring their best to the priests. God is in favor of a well provided for ministry in the church. A Pastor that is constantly worried about his finances is of no benefit to the body of Christ. His children will grow to resent the church. His wife will too. This will add stress to his heart that could rather be given to the preparation to preach God's living Word. 

Yes, there have been and will be abuses when it comes to those who minister the Word. The earlier Church had a document outlining how to spot a phony from the real thing (Didache). One of the tests for the Priests in Numbers 18 was that they also would tithe: 

Numbers 18:28 (ESV) So you shall also present a contribution to the LORD from all your tithes, which you receive from the people of Israel. And from it you shall give the LORD’s contribution to Aaron the priest.

Those who received the tithe, tithed on it. It was all teaching God's people to be a giving people. We are alive in Christ, we are fed through His faithful servants and we are all called to live giving, God-honoring generous lives before the world.