Keep sharing good news without ads.
A brief bit of encouragement for your day from God’s Word
Well, a good Wednesday to you, middle of the week leading up to Palm Sunday and then next, the following Sunday, Easter Sunday.
By the way, I just mentioned that on Thursday, April 1st at our church, we're going to be having a
Maundy Thursday service. We like to do this every year on the Thursday before Easter.
We gather together about at 7 o 'clock in the evening and just reflect on that last supper night of Jesus and have a time of the
Lord's Supper together and just read some scriptures and sing some hymns and so forth, and all preparing us for thinking about the crucifixion and then ultimately, of course, on Resurrection Sunday, the
Lord's resurrection from the tomb. That's coming up a week from tomorrow at 7 o 'clock in the evening,
Lord willing. That's just something we do at our church and it's kind of a blessing. If you can make it, of course,
I encourage you to do so. Today in our reading, we read in Exodus chapters 32 and 3, and this, of course, is the whole incident with the golden calf.
One thing that comes out in that whole scenario is the contrast between the two kinds of spiritual leaders that you find in Moses and Aaron.
By the way, remember, Moses and Aaron are brothers, and Aaron is the older brother.
Yet, there's quite a difference in the way these two individuals function in their spiritual leadership capacity.
Aaron is going to be selected as the head of the priestly tribe.
He's going to be the first high priest, and yet what we see in this passage is some glaring weakness on the part of Aaron.
Aaron ignores the truth he knows, and he is willing to placate the crowd, ignoring that truth, to give the crowd what they want.
Aaron knows that the truth is there is only one
God, and that that one God has insisted that no images be made to reflect him as God.
Aaron knows that that golden calf is an illegitimate representation of Yahweh.
He knows that, and yet he ignores that, and is willing to violate the commands of God for the sake of, what, popularity, acceptance with the people, maybe out of fear that they might reject him, or they might get angry with him, or might do something to him, or whatever the case.
He won't confront the sin. He won't confront their error. He won't address their wrong thinking.
Instead, he capitulates. He goes along with it.
There are so -called religious leaders who do that even in the 21st century.
They know better. They know what the scriptures say, but they are willing to swallow it. They're willing to ignore it, because they don't want to rock the boat, if you will, and they don't want to upset anybody.
They just want things to be easy and comfortable for them. Moses isn't like that at all.
By the way, what's even more glaring with Aaron is that when he's confronted about what he's done, and the golden calf and everything, he makes excuses for himself.
Instead of accepting responsibility and taking personal responsibility, he makes excuses for himself.
He comes up with this crazy idea, the people made me do this, they brought their gold stuff, and I just threw it in the fire, and out came this golden calf.
No accepting of personal responsibility. He couldn't hang his head and say, you know what, younger brother, you're right.
I was wrong. I should not have given in to the people like this.
I should have confronted them. But he didn't do that. Now Moses, on the other hand, is quite a different kind of leader.
He's ready to do all of that. He's ready to confront the people.
He's ready to pronounce the Lord's punishment and judgment upon the people.
But at the same time, he also intercedes for the people, and he expresses, above all else, primarily a concern for God's glory.
He's not interested in himself. He's not interested in his glory. He doesn't want power for himself.
In fact, God says to Moses, he says to Moses, let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them, against the people for doing this worshipping of the golden calf and so forth.
He says that I may burn hot against them, and I may consume them, and then he says to Moses, and I will make of you a great nation.
I'll make it of you. And, you know, man, how would some religious leaders respond to that?
Oh, well, you know, I mean, after all, you know, okay, I mean, you know, I am, after all, the spiritual leader that knows everything, and it's, you know, you're using me.
Okay, all right, if that's what you want to do. That's not Moses. Not Moses.
He's not interested in any of that. What he's interested in is the glory of God, and he responds to the Lord, and he says, no, no, don't do that.
Don't do that. I'm more concerned about what the Egyptians are going to think, and what the Canaanites and so forth will think if they hear that you brought the people out here in the wilderness, and you just destroyed them, and that would ruin your reputation, in other words,
Moses says. So he's not interested in anything for himself. He's unconcerned about personal greatness and personal glory.
He's interested in God's glory. He's interested in God's glory.
So above all else, I think good godly spiritual leaders, they're not afraid to address sin and confront it when it's there, and it's evident, it's obvious.
Not afraid to do that, and above all else, what they want to do is proclaim and see that God is glorified above all else.
That is their primary concern. You don't have to be a spiritual leader for that to be your primary concern.
That should be anybody who's a follower of Christ. That should be what we want to see, that God in our lives, in our ministries, in our churches, that he be glorified.
So our Father and our God, I pray that that would be the desire of our heart, that we would be concerned above all else that you receive the honor and the glory, the praise and the thanksgiving in our churches and among your people.
So Lord, I pray, use us, whatever our role, whatever our place in your kingdom, use us to bring glory to your name, to be more like Moses and less like Aaron.
This we ask in Jesus' name, amen. All right, have a good rest of your Wednesday, and I trust