"Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away my wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel in my jealousy."--Numbers 25:11. This event takes place on the heels of the events surrounding Balaam. Israel had engaged in sin by turning to the idols of the foreign people in the land so those guilty were to be executed. Phinehas, in an effort to accomplish this mission executes an Israelite and the foreign woman he the tent of meeting for sinful purposes. God is pleased with this because Phinehas was jealous with God's jealousy.
God's jealousy. We know from Galatians 5:20 that jealousy is an act of the sinful nature. However, there is a big difference between man's jealousy and God's jealousy. More often than not man's jealousy can lead to some sort of harm up to and sometimes including murder. Yes, two people wound up dead here as a result of Phinehas being filled with God's jealousy. However, something we need to understand is that these foreign people and their gods were to be destroyed in an effort to protect Israel from engaging in the sin of these foreigners and their gods. God's wrath was turned away because one man was jealous with God's jealousy.
God's jealousy. So what does this mean to us? Well first of all let me say that I am by no means suggesting that we should go out and kill someone who is in blatant sin as that is not what God expects us to do when there is sin in the camp. However, I do believe we still need to be jealous with God's jealousy.
God's jealousy. What I mean by this is that so many of us that are in the Lord's church today are overlooking sin. Once again, allow me to step on to my soapbox. This is another area in which I have witnessed church leadership fail. So many times there is blatant sin going on within the confines of our brotherhood and no one seems to care and many times this includes the leadership. When you look at the letters written to the seven churches in Revelation, you can see clearly that God does not tolerate sin in His church. Do you realize that five out of these seven churches had sin among them that needed to be repented of? Please understand that this does not mean that we won't ever sin because we will. However, what I am saying is that we cannot allow that sin to go unchecked. What is happening in churches today, sin is being allowed to infect each and every member of the Lord's body (church) today and if nothing is done about it, entire congregations run the risk of losing their salvation. This is why church leadership holds a heavy responsibility because just a small handful of men can lead hundreds astray and cause them to lose their salvation. This is why it is crucial to be jealous with God's jealousy. Now stepping off my soapbox.
God's jealousy. I want to further my point here by saying first of all I am not trying to slam church leadership because the fact is each individual Christian, leader or not has a responsibility to do everything in his (or her) power to turn people, especially brethren in Christ, away from their sin. This involves us showing people from God's word (because that is where the power is) where they are going wrong and allow God and His Word to do the judging even when you get the classic response "Don't judge me." I have already stated that man's jealousy leads to harm but when we are jealous with God's jealousy and when handled according to His Word, it can lead to nothing but good.
God's jealousy. So my encouragement to you is this. I am willing to guarantee that you know someone, a brother or sister in Christ that is living in a sinful lifestyle. Take God's Word and help that person see through the lens of God's Word where they are going wrong. They might not listen immediately or at all but that does not change the fact that we all, yes even you and me have a responsibility to preach God's word even when people don't listen. If nothing else, we can take encouragement in the fact that the seed has been sown and that it has been planted but only God can give the increase.
DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!
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