17 June 2010
Psalm 34; Num. 12:1-16; Rom. 2:12-24; Matt. 18:10-20

Aaron and Miriam, the brother and sister of Moses, want some recognition, want to share the leadership of the people. Moses’ humility guards his mouth but the Lord takes up his cause for him. There is a great distinction between the three, a prophet is an important thing, the Lord speaks through the prophet, but Moses’ relationship to the Lord is entirely different. The Lord speaks “to” Moses not through him. Moses leads from relationship with the Lord and Aaron and Miriam need to learn the difference. It is interesting that the punishment for this rebellion only falls on Miriam which makes one wonder if she had perhaps instigated it. While Moses pleads for her the Lord says He will not immediately restore her, she must remain outside the camp seven days in accord with the law not regarding leprosy but rebellion of a child against a parent. Her punishment was very public for this sin.

Jesus speaks about church discipline. We don’t much practice discipline but we should. One of the reasons the unchurched give for not coming to church is hypocrisy, they see the sin in our lives, the way we talk about one another, the control we exert over others and the church, and they see that we aren’t remarkably different from them even though we claim to be. My experience has sometimes been that behavior that would never be tolerated in a secular environment is often tolerated in the church. If we are to actually make progress in our Christian walk, we need to be called out on our “stuff.” It is not right to say, that is just how so and so is, it is not loving or Christian to allow them the luxury of not changing. Jesus is clear that if one of us sins against another we are to deal with the sin and the failure to confess the sin means increased public attention to the sin and ultimately to expulsion from the church. He has given us the mandate to deal with sin in the church yet we neglect it and wonder why the world won’t be part of us.

You are responsible for living according to the revelation you have received. Paul explicitly connects doing with judgment. There are a great many things we can know intellectually and to which we give our assent but which never move beyond the intellect. The truth of God and the truth about God are intended to work their way from our heads to our hearts. The Holy Spirit’s first work is to convict the world of sin and righteousness and in receiving the Spirit we have no excuse for not knowing sin. It seems, however, the church is now denying certain sins to be sin, in spite of the witness of Scripture and the Holy Spirit. I would venture to say that we do the same in our own lives regarding sin, I am not gossiping, I think it is important for you to know this about so and so. God doesn’t excuse sin, He sent His Son to die for sin. We need to remember how important sin is to God when we begin to make our excuses.

I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
let the humble hear and be glad.
O magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together.