Ten Shekels and a Shirt (Cleaned Up) — Paris Reidhead

Micah, the Levite, and Ten Shekels and a Shirt

And today I'd like to speak to you from the theme, Ten Shekels and a Shirt, as we find it here in the 19th chapter. There was a man of mine, and so they were on it, and spake of it. The silver is with me, where he could find a place.

Whence cometh, and I go? Ten shekels of silver was content to dwell away. And they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? And what maketh thou? What hast thou here? And he said unto them, Thus, and hath hired me, and I.

And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way is right. Before the Lord is right. And now if you will go over to the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish.

And the five men that went to spy out the land went up. And the priest stood in the entering of the gate, where the six hundred men were appointed with weapons of war. And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, the teraphim, and the molten image.

Then said the priest unto them, What do ye? And they said unto him, Hold thy peace. In that period, when every man did as seemed right in his own eyes, and there was no king in Israel. And so we understand that Micah was unable to get to Jerusalem, and perhaps for some kind of devout reason, he decided he would build a replica of the temple on his own property, an appropriate building.

Micah's Homemade Religion and the Levite's Career

And he made the instruments of the tabernacle, for this was part of the furnishings. The ephod included among them. But then he also gathered some of the things from the people. You see, nevertheless, until he had something that he thought might please the Lord.

And then, of course, from Bethlehem, Judah, he was a Levite. His mother was of the tribe of Judah, though he himself was a Levite. Levites might marry into other tribes. And so he started off to see if he couldn't do better for himself than was being done.

He felt that being a Levite was good, but there should be opportunities associated with it. And so he came to the house of Micah to become the priest. He said, You'll be my priest, be my father and priest.

Then I'll give you ten shekels and a shirt. It says a suit, but you understand that the people of the day wore what would be called a jelob. I'm going to say nightgown. I don't know if that's a jelob.

Something like that. His food and ten shekels. Living for him. And so he decided that he would stay in the house of Micah. But the people of Dan came along. They were supposed to have driven out the Amorites, but the Amorites were too difficult.

So they wanted to find someone that was a little easier to get out, to move. And they came to go ahead and then you find people. This would be to make some land for themselves. And when they came with the men that were set out to conquer this area, they figured that since they'd found the land through the young Levite, it would be splendid to have his assistance.

And so they went into the house of Micah, took all the things that he had made, and it cost a good bit of money because at least 200 shekels had been given for this one piece of furniture. And so they just took it off the Levite.

But you'll notice that the young Levite was able to adjust himself to this. It was amazing how flexible he was and how easily he could accommodate himself to such changes when there was a little rationalization along the way.

As soon as he could begin to see that it was far more important to serve a tribe than one man's family, and he could minister to so many more, why, he could see the wisdom of this and he could justify it.

And so with no real strain of conscience, he could make the adjustment, hold his hand over his mouth while they took the furniture out of the little chapel that Micah had built. But he was a wise man.

I say he was a wise man. He put himself right in the middle so that if Micah sent any of his servants to get him, he was safe with soldiers on every side. I call attention to the fact that it's a day, which you understand what I mean by pragmatism.

Perhaps pragmatism means if it works, it feeds, it's good. And the test of all practices, all principles, all teaching is do they work? Do they work? Now, according to pragmatism, the greatest failures of the ages, in 20 years you wouldn't call that particularly effective.

Measuring Ministry by Results

Most mission boards would ask the missionaries to withdraw long before this. I say as a shipbuilder he did quite well, but as a preacher he was a failure. And then we come down across the years to statistically how successful Jeremiah was.

He would probably get a large and wouldn't have anything to do. And then we come to judging from all the standards. He never succeeded in organizing a church or denomination. He wasn't able to build a school.

He didn't succeed in getting a mission board established. He never had a book printed. He never was able to get any of the various criteria or instruments that we find and are so useful. I'm not being sarcastic at all.

They are useful. Our Lord preached to thousands of people, fed thousands of people, and yet when it was all over, there were 120 or 500 to whom he could reveal himself after his resurrection. The day that he was taken, one man said, if all the others forsake you, and so all men.

And by every question comes then to this, what is the standard of success? And by what are we going to judge our lives and our mission? And the question that you're going to ask yourself is, or is he a mission life?

As long as they can get things done or get the job done, it's working, isn't it? Then our general, you've got to. And so we've got to ask ourselves at the very outset of our ministry and our pilgrimage and our walk, in performed religious, a place which would give him recognition, a place which would give him acceptance, a place which would give him security, a place where he could show importance to.

His business was serving in religious activities. When he found that Micah had ten shekels and a shirt, and he was prepared to put a value upon it, just a means to an end. And by the same token, God was the means to an end.

Humanism and the Attack on Biblical Authority

We have to understand the implications of that in the 20th century, a hundred years at least, that attacked Christianity. Just after the, with Finney, our country, there came an open, in Europe, under the higher critics.

Darwin had possibly adapted it to their philosophies and theologians. And so about 1850, you could mark the opening of a frontal attack upon the word of God. Satan had always been insidiously attacking it, but now it was open season on the book.

Open season on the church, and Voltaire could declare that he would live to see the Bible become a relic, and just that it would be utterly destroyed by the arguments that he was so forcefully presenting against it.

What was the effect? Philosophy of the day became humanism. Humanism is man's happiness. Now according to humanism, salvation is simply a matter of getting all the happiness you can out of life. If you're influenced by someone like Nietzsche, who says that the only true satisfaction in life is power, and that the power is its own justification, and that after all the world is a jungle, and it is therefore up to the man who would be happy to become powerful, and become powerful by any means he can use.

...of ascendancy in the worship of Moloch, that one can be happy. And this would produce in due course a Hitler, who would take the philosophy of Nietzsche as his working operating principles and guide, and would say of his people that we are destined to rule the world, and therefore any means we can use to achieve this is our salvation.

Somebody else turns around and says, well no, the end of being is happiness. For people, happiness comes from sensual experience, and so you would have the type of existentialism that characterizes France today, that's given rise to beatnikism in America, and to the gross sensuality of our country.

That since man is essentially a glandular animal, whose highest moments of ecstasy come from the exercise of his glands, the salvation is simply to find the most desirable way. And so this became the effect of the educators, that children shouldn't be brought to any particular standard, that the end of education was simply to allow the child to express himself, and expand on what he is, and find his happiness in being what he wants to be.

So we had cultural lawlessness, when every man could do what seemed right in his own eyes, and this is what they said, and God had been dethroned, he didn't exist, he had no personal relationship to individuals, Jesus Christ was either a myth or just a man, and so they taught, and therefore the whole end of being was happiness, as the individual would establish the standards of his happiness and interpret it.

Liberalism, Fundamentalism, and Self-Centered Salvation

Religion then had to exist, at that time in 1850, the church divided into two groups, the one group was the liberals who said, who accepted the philosophy of humanism, and tried to find some relevance by saying something like this to their generation, we don't know that there's a heaven, we don't know that there's a hell, but we do know this, and we know that there's a, and therefore it's important for you to come to church on Sunday, so that we can read some poetry, that we can give you some little adages, and we can't say anything about what's going to happen when you die, but we'll tell you this, if you'll come every week and pay and help, and we'll put springs on your wagon and your trip will be more comfortable, and so we can't guarantee anything about what's going to happen when you die, but we say that if you'll come along with us, we'll make you happier while you're alive, and so this became the essence of liberalism, it has simply nothing more than to, and sweeten it up for a time, this was all that it could say, well now the philosophy of the atmosphere is humanism, the chief end of being is the happiness of man, there's another group of people that have taken umbrage with the liberals, this group of my people, the fundamentalists that say, we believe in the universe, we believe in hell, but remember the atmosphere is that of humanism, and humanism is like a, permeates every place, and humanism is like an infection, so it wasn't long until we had this, it wasn't long until having said, these are the things that establish us as fundamentalists, the second generation, I'm a fundamentalist, believe in the inspiration of the bible, believe, and thereby become a fundamentalist, and so it wasn't long until, it's a doctrine, because he could say, uh-huh, at four or five places that he was asked to, and if he knew where to say, it was nothing more than an ascent to a scheme or a formula, and the end of this salvation was the happiness of man, because humanism has penetrated, and so if you were to analyze, the fundamentalism in contrast to liberalism of a hundred years ago, as it developed, where I'm not pinpointing it in time, it would be like religion is to make man happy while he's alive, and the fundamentalist says, the end of religion is to make man happy when he dies, happiness of man, and whereas the liberal says, by social change and political order, we're going to do away with slums, we're going to do away with alcoholism, and we're going to make heaven on earth after that, but we want you to be, seem to be getting nowhere fast, and then the fundamentalists along the line, are now tuning in on the same, same wavelength of humanism, until we find it something like this, accept Jesus so you can go to heaven, you don't want to go to that old filthy nasty burning hell, when there's a beautiful heaven up there, now come to Jesus so that you can go to heaven, and the appeal could be as much to selfishness, as a couple of men sitting in a coffee shop, deciding they're going to rob a bank to get something for nothing, and there's a way that you can give an invitation to sinners, to take up the most deadly and disastrous, and unfortunately it's seldom, wants to have a little chapel, and he wants to have, wants to have, have devotion, the Levite comes along and falls right in with it, because he wants a place in his food, and so in order that he can have what he wants, and Micah can have what they want, they sell out, and this is the betrayal, as in direct and total contrast, with a stenchful humanism, becomes so subtle that it goes everywhere, what is it?

God as the End, Not the Means

In essence it's this, that this philosophical postulate, that the end of all being is the happiness of man, has been sort of covered over, with evangelical terms and biblical doctrine, until God reigns in heaven for the happiness of man, Jesus Christ was incarnate for the happiness of man, all the angels exist in the whole, everything is for the happiness of man, and I submit to you that this is, God intend to make an end, and not a prime, that good man that's so admired, by the fuzzy thinkers of our day, out there in Africa, that's his heart, he's a brilliant man, a philosopher, a doctor, musician, composer, Dr. Schweitzer is no more Christian than this rose, personal insult if you were to say he was a Christian, see Christ as having any relevance, to his philosophy or life, Dr. Schweitzer is a humanist, Dr. Schweitzer was sitting on the bow of the boat, river toward his station, watching the Belgian government officials, with their high powered rifles, shooting at the crocodiles, sunning on the mud flats along the river, and they were expert marksmen, and as they would, up into the air, from the contraction of muscles, and he said how do you know so much about it, well to my shame I was guilty of the same thing in the Nile, this is what their sport was, they bagged them and they'd keep cows, and they'd put strings around the, and they'd tie knots, so they could see how many crocodiles they killed, colossal waste of life, and it was there that Schweitzer saw, the essence of his philosophy, and do you know what it is, or he doesn't want to hurt anyone, his organ broke, someone had sent him out an organ, and the means of playing it, as well, so I said George do you think you could fix my organ, he said I wouldn't be surprised, let me try it, so he took the back off, because of his anger, and he said you can't kill those, Mr. Klein, and he reached down very tenderly, and picked them up and put them in a little bag, and crimped the top, and he put each cockroach in, and they took them out in the jungle, and let them loose, here was a man, that believed his philosophy, reverence for life, utterly committed to it, utterly consistent, even when it came to the matter of a cockroach, this is humanism, philosophy of mission, what is the philosophy of evangelism, what is the philosophy of justice of God, I didn't think it was right for anybody to give poor sinners, using the provisions of Jesus Christ, as a means to improve upon human conditions, of suffering and misery, to Africa, I discovered that they weren't poor ignorant, little heathen running around in the woods, looking for someone to tell them how to go to heaven, masters of iniquity, than I ever dreamed they had, they deserved their conscience, and the light of the law written upon their heart, and the testimony of nature, and the truth they knew, and when I found that out, I assure you, I was so angry with God, that one occasion in prayer, I told him that it was a mighty little thing he'd done, these people that were waiting to be, native funerals, and I didn't want my fellow human beings to suffer, in hell eternally, after such a miserable existence on earth, began to tear, come and teach us, actually didn't want to take time to talk with me, or anybody else, they had no interest in the Bible, and no interest in Christ, continue in it, I felt the whole thing was a sham and a mockery, and I'd been told a bill of goods, as I faced, it seemed to me I heard him, they're going to go to hell, not because they haven't heard the gospel, they're going to go to hell, because they are sinners, who love their, because they deserve hell, I didn't send you out there for them, I didn't send you out there for their sakes, early as I've ever heard, though it wasn't with physical voice, but it was the echo of truth of the ages, finding its way into an open heart, I heard God say to my heart that day, something like this, I didn't send you to Africa for the sake of the heathen, I sent you to Africa for my sake, they deserved hell, those for whom I died, who didn't deserve it, but he deserved hell, let me summarize, of all being, humanism says the end of all being is to happen, one was born in hell, the deification of man, and the other was born in heaven, it's unworthy serving the living God, because of the highest honor in the universe, why did you repent?

Repentance for God's Glory Rather Than Self-Preservation

I'd like to see some people repent on biblical terms, George Whitfield knew it, speaking to 20 ,000 people, and he said, listen sinners, you haven't had, and you're crying, but because they were monsters of iniquity, that didn't even see their sin, or care about their crime, you see the difference, you see the difference, the difference is here is somebody trembling, because he's going to be hurt in hell, and he has no sense of the enormity of his guilt, and no sense of the enormity of his crime, and no sense of his insult against deity, he's only trembling, because his skin is about to be singed, afraid, and I submit to you, that whereas fear is it's good office work, in preparing us for grace, no place to stop, the Holy Ghost doesn't stop there, and that's the reason, why no one can savingly receive Christ, until they've repented, and no one can repent, until they've been convicted, and conviction is the work of the Holy Ghost, that helps a sinner to see, that he is a criminal before God, and deserves all of God's wrath, and if God were to send him to the lowest corner, of a devil's hell forever, and ten eternities, that he deserved it all, and a hundred fold more, because he's seen his crimes, he's not been convinced he's caught, but he has seen his crimes, and this is the difference, between 20th century preaching, and the preaching of John Wesley, Wesley was a preacher of righteousness, that exalted the holiness of God, and when he would stand there, with the two to three hour sermons, that he was accustomed to deliver, in the open air, and he would exalt the holiness of God, and the law of God, and the righteousness of God, and his requirements, and the justice of his wrath, and his anger, and then he would turn to sinners, and tell them of the enormity of their crimes, and their open rebellion, and their treason, and their anarchy, the power of God, would so descend upon the company, that on one occasion, it is reliably reported, that when the people dispersed, there were 1800 people, lying on the ground, because they'd had a revelation, of the holiness of God, and in the light of that, they'd seen the enormity of their sin, and God had so penetrated, their minds and hearts, that they had fallen to the ground, it wasn't only in Wesley's day, it was also in America, New Haven, Connecticut, Yale, in and around, they saw someone lying on the ground, but if he didn't, he had Wesley Redfield's disease, didn't leave them until they came to, because if they were drunkards, they didn't stop drinking, and if they were cruel, if they were thieves, they returned, but seeing the holiness of God, and seeing the enormity of their sin, the spirit of, because of the weight of their guilt, and somehow in this over spreading of the power, they repented of their sin, and came savingly to Christ, it wasn't trying to convince good men, that he was in trouble with a bad God, but that it was to convince bad men, that they deserved the wrath and anger, of a good God, that led to faith, and led to life, dear friends, there's only one reason, for a sinner to repent, and that's because Jesus Christ, deserves the worship, and the adoration, and the love, and the obedience of his heart, not because he'll go to heaven, if the only reason you repented, dear friend, was to keep out of hell, all you are, is just a Levite, serving for 10 shekels in a shirt, God, because he'll do you good, a repentant heart, is a heart that has seen, something of the enormity, of the crime, of playing God, and denying the just, and righteous God, the worship, and obedience, that he deserves, the people, whether they say it or not, that come to Jesus Christ, and say something like this, Lord Jesus, I'm going to obey you, and love you, and serve you, and do what you want me to do, as long as I live, even if I go to hell, at the end of the road, simply because you are worthy, to be loved, and obeyed, and served, and I'm not trying to make a deal, see the difference, between being a Levite, serving for 10 shekels in a shirt, or a Micah, building a chapel, because God will do you good, and someone that repents, for the glory of God, a person come to the cross, a person embrace death, with Christ, a person be willing to go, it's because you'll get joy, or peace, death, you are defrauding, until you've understood, the sanctifying work of God, by the Holy Ghost, taking you into union, with Christ, have to serve, in what you have, that which is under, the sentence of death, human personality, and human nature, and human strength, and human energy, and God will get no glory, out of that, you will get victory, it isn't that you're going to have, the reason for you, to embrace the cross, and press through, until you know, that you can testify with Paul, I'm crucified with Christ, isn't what you're going, for the glory of God, by the same token, why ought you press through, to know the fullness, of the Holy Spirit, why ought you press through, to know the fullness of Christ, I'll tell you why, the only possible way, that Jesus Christ, will get glory, out of a life that is redeemed, with his precious blood, is when he can fill that life, with his presence, and live through it, his own life, the genius of our faith, wasn't that we were going, to go through the motions, like a Levite, that were hired to serve God, the genius of our faith, was that we'd come to the place, where we knew, we could do nothing, and all we could do, would be to present the vessel, and say Lord Jesus, you'll have to fill it, and everything that's done, will have to be done by you, and for you, know the fullness of God, I've got a great church, we've got a wonderful, Sunday school program, got a radio ministry, but I feel a personal need, and a personal lack, I need to be baptized, with the Holy Ghost, I need to be filled, with the Spirit, and someone told me, God's done something for you, and I wonder if you could help me, took the fellow, just looked like me, I just saw in him, everything that was in me, you thought I was going to say, me before, no listen dear heart, if you've ever seen yourself, you'll know that, you're never going to be, anything else than you were, for in me, and my flesh, there's no good thing, God is not going to be, a means to anyone's end, I said I'm awfully sorry, I don't think I can help you, he said why, I don't think you're ready, I said well suppose, you consider yourself, coming up with a Cadillac, you've talked about, your program, you've talked about, your Sunday school, and you've done wonderfully well, that's what the Chinese, Christian said you know, when he got back to China, what impressed you most, about America, he said the great things, Americans can accomplish, without God, and he'd accomplished, a great deal, admittedly without God, now he's wanted something, power, to accomplish his ends, even further, I said no, no, you're going, you're sitting behind the wheel, and you're saying to God, give me power, so I can go, you won't work, you'll got to slide over, but I knew that rascal, because I knew me, I said no it'll never do, you got to get in the backseat, I could see him leaning over, and grabbing the wheel, I said no it'll never do, in the backseat, I said before God, will do anything for you, you know what you got to do, he said what, I said you got to, get out of the car, take the keys around, open up the trunk lid, hand the keys, to the Lord Jesus, get inside the trunk, slam the lid down, whisper through the keyhole, Lord look, fill her up, with anything you want, and you drive, and that's why, so many people you know, do not enter, into the fullness of Christ, because they want, to become a Levite, with ten shekels, and a shirt, they've been serving Micah, but they think, if they had the power, of the Holy Ghost, they could serve, the tribe of Dan, one reason for God, meeting you, is to bring you, to the place where, in repentance, you've been pardoned, for his glory, and in victory, you've been brought, to the place of death, that he might reign, and in fullness, Jesus Christ, is able to live, and walk in you, and your attitude, is the attitude, of the Lord himself, who said, I can do nothing of myself, I can't speak of myself, I don't make plans for myself, my only reason for being, is the glory of God, in Jesus Christ, I would say to you, come, to be saved, so you can go to heaven, to the cross, so that you can have joy, and victory, come to the fullness, of the spirit, so that you can be, I'd be falling, into the trap, of humanism, I'm going to say to you, dear friend, if you're out here, without Christ, you come to Jesus Christ, and serve him, as long as you live, whether you go to hell, at the end of the way, because he's worthy, I say to you, Christian friend, you come to the cross, and join him in union, and death, and enter into all, the meaning of death, to sell, in order that he, can have glory, I say to you, dear Christian, if you do not know, the fullness of the Holy Ghost, come and present your body, a living sacrifice, and let him fill you, so that he can have, the purpose, for his coming, fulfilled in you, and get glory, through your life, it's not what you're going, to get out of God, it's what he, let's be done, once and for all, with utilitarian Christianity, that makes God a means, instead of the glorious end, that he is, let's resign, let's tell Micah, we're through, we're no longer, going to be as priests, serving for 10 shekels, and a shirt, let's tell the tribe of Dan, we're through, and let's come, and cast ourselves, at the feet, of the nail pierced, son of God, and tell him, that we're going to obey him, and love him, and serve him, as long as we live, because he, and if he's shipwrecked, until he has to leave, but he's never going, to talk to any of us, about God, I'm through, with all that nonsense, 3000 slaves, from the jungles of Africa, bought to an island, in the middle, in the Atlantic, and there to live, and die, and use the money, they received, from the sale, for he paid no more, than he would, for any slave, to pay their passage, out to his island, for he wouldn't, even transport, and as the ship, left the sea, carried with the tide, these two lads, off in the early 20s, but this wasn't, a four year term, they'd sold themselves, and they could be, as Christians, or these others were, families were there, weeping, for they knew, they'd never see them, and questioned, the wisdom of it, one lad, with his hands, and shouted across, the gap, the last, the land, Moravian mission, this is the only reason, for the land, that was sold,.