Noah was a man like many of us in a lot of ways. I’m not sure there are that many of us who would have the faith to build an ark like he did. He truly was a great man who walked with God during challenging times and stormy periods. But, what about when things weren’t so challenging and the storms seemed far away? Those are the times in his life that I have no trouble relating to at all!

Here was a man who spent about 100 years as a carpenter, building an ark, and preaching to the people the word he had heard from the Lord, warning the people of judgement. Then, for a little more than a year, he lived in the ark as God passed judgement on the world. Genesis 9:20 says he then changed occupations and became a farmer. 600 years old and starting a new occupation - how cool is that!

But then, the unthinkable. God’s judgement had passed. Noah’s guard was down. Everything was going good. It’s those times that are most dangerous. It’s those times when we are not on our faces before the Lord and crying out to Him that can trip us up. It tripped up Noah. Genesis 9:21 tells us that he got drunk and sinned. Regardless of your stance or belief on whether Christians should drink socially, it is undeniable that the Word teaches drunkenness is unacceptable. How revealing it is that a man who walked with God, and who was responsible for the saving of life on this earth, could slip and sin. The passage says that his nakedness was revealed. The same thing happens when Christians today get drunk. They expose themselves, too. Maybe not physically, but in so many other ways. They say things that they wouldn’t have said if they were sober. They do things that they desperately regret doing. When people’s thinking gets fuzzy from the effects of alcohol, they don’t make good decisions. They become vulnerable. They often get involved in things they never would have gotten involved with otherwise.

Noah got drunk, and was exposed. Then his familly saw him. As it happens so often today, when Christians get exposed, it is often a member of the family who sees it. If not the natural family, then surely the church family. Ham made sure to tell the rest of the family about what he saw. Why did he do that? I don’t really know. But, it’s the same in the church today. We tend to like to talk about the weaknesses we see in others way too much. The other two sons, Shem and Japheth, refused to look at the weakness of their father. They worked together to bring in a garment and cover him. I think the reason they carried it between them as they walked into the tent was to protect Noah from being seen by anyone outside the tent. Talking about each other’s weaknesses does not help our church to spread the gospel. People are looking for excuses to not embrace our message. And hearing us share the dirt on our members isn’t going to make anyone want to come inside.

Why was it important for Shem and Japheth to not look at his nakedness? And why is it important for us to not look at our fellow Christian’s sin? I think it’s because that even though I know we are all sinners, and our sin is forgiven, when I look at someone’s sin, I don’t ever see that person in the same way as I did before I saw him exposed. If you hear how someone lost their temper and berated their kids or spouse in public, the next time you see that person you have a different view of them than you did before. Or, if you hear of a young man or woman cheating on their spouse, the next time you see them you won’t be able to block the thoughts from coloring your perception of that person. It doesn’t matter that they had repented, sought forgiveness from God and those involved. Your perception is changed. And that’s a problem. That’s why as Christians we are to not look at the weakness ourselves and cover the person so that he or she isn’t exposed to outsiders, either.

The only time that we should talk about someone’s sin or weakness is when it is our sin or weakness. Be like Japheth and Shem when it’s someone else’s problem, sin, or weakness and cover them. Not only will you protect them, but you will be protecting yourself as well.

Paul writes in Galations 5:14-15, For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!