“With him I speak face to face,
    clearly and not in riddles;
    he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
    to speak against my servant Moses?”
Numbers 12:8 (NIV)

For a handful of years I had a rare privilege to serve as mentor and coach to individuals among my local gathering of Jesus followers who wanted to give preaching a try. Our gathering is unique in that we have a second worship space on Sundays that gathers concurrently with the main worship area. It was designed to be a space to experiment and try new things. One of those “new things” was to recognized that individuals in our midst might have the gift of preaching or teaching and perhaps we should identify, develop, and allow those who are gifted to use their gifts. This runs directly opposite the popular paradigm of the celebrity pastor and the traditional paradigm of the spiritually-elite priest.

During my time, I think there were somewhere between 30 and 40 individuals who at least gave it a shot. Some were already known teachers who wanted to continue to develop their gifts. Many had never given a message before. Individual results were as varied as people’s own stories. On a macro-level, this period moved our local gathering further away from the celebrity pastor paradigm and further into a team teaching concept.

I’m honestly not sure how well I performed in my role. It was something I’d never done before and there was no template. In the end, I think I learned more than those in my charge. I’d like to touch on a couple of those personal lessons that came to mind as I meditated on today’s chapter in which Aaron and his wife Miriam work themselves into a critical lather about Moses. The source of their critical spirits is prejudice, as they were upset he’d married “a Cushite.” We can’t know for certain what “Cushite” refers to, but suggestions range from her being from Sudan to Arabia to the term simply referring to Zipporah, Moses’ non-Hebrew wife from. Midian.

Father God calls Aaron, Miriam, and Moses to His study at the entrance of the traveling tent temple in order to have a talk with His children. He scolds Aaron and Miriam for being so mean to their brother, affirms his love for and support of Moses, then punishes both Aaron and Miriam, sending Miriam into a seven-day time-out outside the camp.

At the heart of this story is the fact that we human beings can be envious, jealous, catty, and downright mean to one another. When it comes to what God is trying to do in and through His people in community, that is not only not-productive, it can be destructive. It erodes the loving-order God is trying to develop and leads towards the chaos that our spiritual enemy initiates, supports, and celebrates.

In my tenure mentoring prospective preachers, I knew that not everyone I worked with would be truly gifted at it. But here’s a few quick hits of things I observed and learned:

Every message bore fruit. There was never a Sunday that I didn’t have at least one person tell me something to the effect of “I needed to hear that this morning.” Through the prophet Isaiah (55:11), God said that when His Word goes out it does not return empty. God used every person I ever worked with, no matter how much they struggled and sputtered through their message. It may have been one or two little fruit blossoms, but the tree was never void of fruit.

Every messenger was God’s vessel. Every individual I worked with was a wonderful human being and child of God. Every one wanted to do a good job. Every one had a unique voice, their own story, and a sincere desire to do a good job. Results varied, but what never changed was how special each person was in God’s eyes. Jesus loved and died for each of them. Each person was God’s vessel indwelled by God’s Spirit.

There was no failure. Some individuals realized that preaching was not their gift, but that doesn’t mean they or their message was a “failure” (see the previous two observations). In the paradigm and metaphor God gave us through Paul, we are all one body, but there are many different parts, different functions, and entirely different systems with different essential functions within that body. We all have an essential role within the system whether I’m a tooth in the mouth speaking God’s Word or a booger in the nose helping the entire body breathe God’s Spirit well.

The goal, I’ve learned, is to discover and embrace the role I was created and gifted to play in service to the whole, and to respect and honor every other part for the roles they were created and gifted to play. If every part of the body is not willing to embrace this truth, then we’re back to order giving way to chaos.

We live in the most divisive times. Fueled by the anonymity of social media and online commentary, people are downright terrible to one another. I observed that people are more quick to anger, quick to speak, and quick to criticize than at any time in my lifetime. Name calling, insults, threats, and demeaning/dehumanizing messages towards others has become not only normal, but those who do this communicate smug self-justification for doing so.

It’s not creating more order, only more chaos.

In the quiet this morning, the story of Aaron and Miriam, and the lessons of my time as a preaching coach, remind me that God calls me to do things differently than what I see in the world, and differently than how my sinful human nature emotionally prompts me to react. I am to honor my fellow human beings as God’s sacred creation and individuals Jesus loves and for whom Jesus died. I am to honor my fellow believers as indispensable parts of God’s body no matter how different they are and how differently they are gifted. I am to lovingly treat them with deference, kindness, and gentleness. And, I am to embrace my unique gifts, calling, and role within God’s body and the part I’m playing in the Great Story God is authoring.

These lessons have taken a lifetime to learn.

I’ve had to sit in time-out many times in order to learn it.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.