Deuteronomy 5:4-5, 27
The LORD spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, while I (Moses) stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain.
(You, Moses.) Go near and hear all that the LORD our God will say, and speak to us all that the LORD our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’
The people of Israel are afraid to go near and be with God, they wanted Moses to be between them and God. This is a pattern we see for "the people of God" through time. Later Israel will demand a King to lead them rather than have God as their king so they can be like the other nations. Now in the New Testament church have we created a clergy to come between us and God? Have we forsaken the risk and adventure of the priesthood of all believers for the safety of a professional clergy? What is the meaning of this as it relates to the Spirit of God living in us and our need to rely on Him?
It seems to me that in the New Testament we have taken gifts of the Spirit, preaching, teaching, shepherding, even apostleship, which are given to exercise for a task, and turned them into “offices.” Office in the sense of position in an organizational structure. This has almost inevitably become to be perceived as a hierarchy of sorts that results in the people of God defaulting to the clergy to hear from God. As I read Acts, this was not how God’s Spirit seems to work. He seems to be active in people’s lives regardless of training, position, or perceived personal authority. When the Spirit speaks or leads, He chooses whom He wills and goes where He wills. Yes there is the difficulty at times of knowing when it is the Spirit speaking or leading over our own desires and wants, but I wonder if we have come to rely on clergy over community to discern the Spirit’s leading?
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