May the mumbling commence!
Is there only one place to worship and one way to worship? Deuteronomy chapter twelve seems to be telling Israel just that. A recurring refrain in the chapter is that the Lord would choose a place among Israel in the Promised Land where all people seeking to worship God must go. All of the other places of worship left behind by the former occupants were to be destroyed. Sacrifices to the Lord were to be made only at the place where God would place His name. This location of sacrificial worship of the Lord receives one of the “be careful” sentences (verse 13).
Another “be careful” sentence follows six verses later in verse 19: “Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.” The Levites received no allotment in the Promised Land; their inheritance was the Lord. So, the Levites depended upon the most holy sacrificial offerings of Israel to sustain themselves. Yes, the Levites were one benefactor in the sacrificial system of ancient Israel, but they were not intended to be the only benefactors. If we skip ahead to the end of chapter 14, we will see a practice called for to benefit others besides the Levites. This practice was to happen every three years. Here is the practice as recorded in verses 28-29 of Deuteronomy chapter 14:
At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
The tithes of every third year were to be gathered into the towns to sustain the Levites who live in the allotted cities (underlined) and to the aliens and the fatherless and the widows (italicized). The motivation for this act was that the Lord would be freed up [in bold (from righting wrongs?)] to continue to bless the work of Israel’s hands. In our actions to protect the vulnerable, we bless the Lord. Do you doubt this principle? Then, I send you to Jesus’ parable of the “separation of the sheep and goats”(Matthew 25:31-46). “Even when you do it to these, my brothers and sisters, you do it unto me (verse 40).”
For this reason, I choose to be a not fully funded pastor. I have another job that provides me and my family with health insurance. My wife works to help pay the bills, and mostly we switch off on the care of our child. It means sacrifices on our part as a family, but we choose this path so that more of the church’s tithes can go to provide for the vulnerable in the world. In this way, we seek to “be careful.”
In verse 23 of chapter 12, there is another “be sure” sentence, which is related to the “be careful” sentences. “Be sure that you do not eat the blood because the blood is the life, you must not eat the life with the meat.” The bottom line is that we should be doing what is right in the eyes of our Lord. This Spirit of the law is given a “be careful” sentence in verse 28. “Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.”
The final “be careful” sentence of Deuteronomy chapter twelve deals with worshiping the Lord in the correct way. This sentence basically orders Israel not to ask for worshiping tips from the natives of the Promised Land. The way the natives worshiped was detestable in God’s sight (offering their children as sacrifices into the fire).
So, how do we explain the many different Christian churches in any given city or town? How do we explain the differences in worship styles – even within different services in one church? Doesn’t this portion of Deuteronomy suggest that there is only one place and one way to worship God? It does, but we are in a new era, a new age.
Jesus spoke about this time to the Samaritan woman at the well. Jews and Samaritans believed they had the rightful place to worship God – Jerusalem and “The Mountain” respectively. Jesus told the woman that the time had come to worship God in spirit and truth, because God is spirit.
So, before we get on our high horses to proclaim our house of worship and our worship style the only place and the only way, let us remember that people can worship the Lord in spirit and truth in many different places. And the variety of ways to reach this spiritual worship is limited only by our imaginations. The truth that must remain, however, is that the Lord is glorified in all we do.
Jesus is the center, the focus. If the outcomes of our worship services are any different than this, then we have failed to worship in spirit and truth.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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