“Giving Respect to
Leaders”
Part 1
Numbers 12:1-15
Then Miriam and Aaron
spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he
had married an Ethiopian woman. 2 So they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken
only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” And
the Lord heard it. 3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all
men who were on the
face of the earth.)
4 Suddenly the Lord said to
Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting!”
So the three came out. 5 Then
the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle,
and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. 6 Then He said,
“Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, make Myself known
to him in a vision;
I speak to him in a dream.
7 Not so with My
servant Moses;
He is faithful in all
My house.
8 I speak with
him face to face,
Even plainly, and not in dark sayings;
And he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
To speak against My servant Moses?”
9 So the anger of
the Lord was aroused against them, and He departed. 10 And when the cloud
departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned
toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper. 11 So Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord! Please do not
lay this sin on us,
in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned. 12 Please do not let her be
as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb!”
13 So Moses cried out to the Lord,
saying, “Please heal her, O God, I pray!”
14 Then the Lord said to
Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven
days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be
received again.” 15 So Miriam was shut out
of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought
in again.
The pastor may be your parent,
sibling, relative, or friend but often times, we do not know how to properly separate
the roles. If the pastor is your close
friend, it’s fine to call him “Mike” when the two you are alone or with a small
intimate group. But you should not
address him in an informal manner in front of the whole church just to show
everyone that the two of you are close enough to refer to one another on a
first name basis.
When people become familiar with a
leader they sometimes speak to them or about them in a disrespectful manner
because they do not realize how God views the position. People do not fully understand how God views
leadership. Even if a leader is completely
wrong, God never SUPPORTS or PERMITS the disrespect of leaders. In Acts 23:1-5, Paul mistakenly disrespects
the high priest but when it is brought to his attention who the man is, Paul IMMEDIATELY
acknowledges his error. Although this
man does not acknowledge Jesus as God and he was completely wrong for
instructing someone to assault Paul, God still doesn’t authorize Paul to speak
against someone in his position. God
requires that the position of leadership be respected.
