When Leaders Rebel Against The Lord

Key Verse: 16:11      6-26-16

“It is against the LORD that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?” (NIV)

Part 1: Step Back And See The Sovereign Lord (1-3)

Verses 1-3 read, “Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent ² and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. ³ They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?”

     These people were some very influential people in the Israelite community. Korah was a Levite. These people were not helpless. They had some human power and leadership ability. for they were able to rally 250 of the prominent men in the community, That is not an easy thing to do. But they did it. They were able to start a conspiracy. They were men with responsibility and power, but they wanted more. Korah envied Aaron and wanted to be a priest. Dathan and Abiram were not Levites but thye too wanted more than was given them. They became insolent. The definition of insolent is, “rude or impolite: having or showing a lack of respect for other people” Miriam Webster.

They were being extremely disrespectful to God’s appointed leaders. They felt that they were left out of leadership and authority positions within the community of God’s people. Maybe they felt there was some opportunity for them that they were not given, like wealth, prestige, honor or position, like the priestly class they saw in Egypt. They felt that Moses and Aaron were keeping some of the monopoly on the prestigious and potentially rewarding positions and so they became insolent. “Hey wait a minute! What about us?” He did not see God’s plan unfolding and the true motivation of Moses and Aaron.

What was their demand? Look at verse 3, “They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?” They spoke some truth and some falsehood. The whole community was holy to the Lord. The entire nation was set apart by God to serve God’s holy purpose. They were all called, together, to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. They were also right when they said that God is with every one of them, for he is a personal God of every Israelite. They were also right in their observation that Moses and Aaron were standing in an exclusive place of leadership and had been granted lots of authority.

But they were wrong in two areas. Moses and Aaron did not set themselves up as leaders to take advantage of the people. It was God himself who raised them up to the leadership to serve his redemptive purpose. The prominent men were actually complaining about something that God had done. They were wrong about the attitude Moses and Aaron had concerning their leadership. They were not setting themselves above the people to Lord it over them. They were fellow sinners, called and maintained by God. Moses was actually very humble. Once God called Moses the most humble man in the world. (Numbers 12:3) They were servant leaders called to represent God before the people and to serve the nations as political and spiritual leaders. They never tried to set themselves above the people and they definitely were not doing it to get wealth and prestige. Theirs was a very hard calling to live up to.

What did Korah and his followers want? They wanted a piece of the leadership. They wanted the wealth and the prestige that they felt were due them. They wanted a piece of the action, though they did not understand the suffering and the sacrifice that comes with leadership.

Rebellion happens in the church sometimes. It is true that God is with the whole congregation. God is with each person. God does raise up his leaders. But there will always be some who feel that the leaders of the church are self serving. They do not like where the church is going. Some people may want the authority and prestige that comes with church leadership,  but they want to get there by intrigue and not by humble servantship. They are willing to bypass God’s sovereignty in choosing leaders and they want to bypass the years of suffering and sacrifice that paves the road to spiritual leadership within the church. They may not even know what they are asking for if they ever get to positions of authority in the church, they will be inundated with calls to serve and sacrifice continually. Is anyone ready for that? Even Jesus told James and John about spiritual leadership in Matthew 20:20-28,

“20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. 21 “What is it you want?” he asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” 22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” they answered. 23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.” 24 When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (NIV)

Part 2. Going Too Far (4-14).

Verses 4-14 read, “ ⁴ When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. ⁵ Then he said to Korah and all his followers: “In the morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him. ⁶ You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take censers ⁷ and tomorrow put burning coals and incense in them before the LORD. The man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!”  ⁸ Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you Levites! ⁹ Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the LORD’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them? ¹⁰ He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too. ¹¹ It is against the LORD that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?”  ¹² Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We will not come! ¹³ Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you also want to lord it over us! ¹⁴ Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you want to treat these men like slaves^[b]? No, we will not come!”

Moses was in shock about their insolence. Look at verse 4, “When Moses heard this, he fell facedown.”  Falling down is a sign of sincerely coming before God.  He couldn’t believe that something like this could happen. Any normal person would get extremely mad and start yelling at the people. It was too much to deal with through reasoning and arguments. He did what any servant of God could do. He fell to ground; face down before God, bringing it all before the Lord. Moses left it all up to God, to do as he sees fit.

After a while, when God helped him to get it all together, Moses spoke in verses 5 &6, “Then he said to Korah and all his followers: “In the morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him. ⁶ You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take censers.”  Moses reminded them of God’s sovereignty in verse 5. God will show who belongs to him. God will choose those whom he wants to be near him. God is the sovereign Lord. He moves according to his will. This is the basic faith of any believer. God then summoned the followers of Korah to come near to him with censors. The Lord was going to make a distinction. God was about to reveal to them who was right and who was wrong.

Moses rebukes them with the truth in verses 7b-10, “You Levites have gone too far!”  8 Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you Levites! 9 Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the LORD’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them? 10 He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too.” The truth is that their thirst for position and authority was rebellion against the Lord, because they were rebelling against God’s sovereignty. Of course God’s servants should be kind and patient listeners. But there is a time that a rebuke is in order. And this was the time. The Spirit of God was surely moving Moses to speak the words of truth. It was like a surgeon making the decision to make the incision for a healing operation. There are times, not often, but there are times, when we need good stiff rebuke so that our eyes can be opened to the truth and see how God is leading. And do you know what our response should be? “Thank you”… and learn and grow through it. “Let a righteous man strike me–that is a kindness; let him rebuke me–that is oil on my head. My head will not refuse it, for my prayer will still be against the deeds of evildoers.” Psalm 141:5

Moses reminded them of God’s grace in their lives. Look at verse 9, “9 Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the LORD’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them?”  So much grace was poured out on them. Korah and his followers had significant and valuable qualities of their own. They were serving a wonderful role among God’s people already. God elevated them to a very important position among the body. They should have been content with what God was doing and allowed God to grow them according to his sovereign plan. But they were not content and they wanted more, more than what God was giving.

They were trying to debunk those associated with Moses. Moses was even wondering why they were even bothering opposing Aaron in verse 11b, “….Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?”  Those who stand with God’s chosen leadership will often receive the flack along with the leaders.

Let’s face it…God appoints leaders in our lives. There are leaders in the family and at work and in the government and in the church. The pastor is usually the leader in the church. The pastor is God appointed. The leader must be respected and the congregation should listen to their teachings and his direction. (Of course it must be weighed before the truth of the Word of God and in conjunction with the elders of the church body.) God has appointed leaders among us. We must not close our heart and cease from learning from those whom God has sent. May the Lord keep us humble and respectful and ever growing individually and corporately.

Their impatience can be seen in the reaction in the reaction of Dathan and Abiram  in verses 12-14, “¹² Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We will not come! ¹³ Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you also want to lord it over us! ¹⁴ Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you want to treat these men like slaves? No, we will not come!”  Moses summoned them to come but they refused. They brought up the fact that Moses failed to deliver on the promise by bring the people into to the Promised Land the land flowing with milk and honey. They were not patient to allow God to lead the people in God’s way and in God’s time. These men had totally lost their perspective in what God was doing with his people. They took their eyes off of God and started to look at other people and their problems.  Their insolence made Moses very angry.

Sometimes we do go too far in rejecting the wisdom of leaders in our church. We are not content with how God is working through us among his people or leading the church. We need to step back and pray and find out what God is doing. God is all powerful. He is the sovereign Lord. He can do things according to his own will. God takes rebellion very seriously. One has a hard time to operate a church with the messy-ness of rebellion going on. We need to always be reminded of the Gospel and respond with words of love and encouragement and not words of hate and discord. We need to allow God to unfold the fruit of his church in his time and in his way. We need to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in all we do. On the flip side, leadership cannot use “trust in God’s sovereignty” to maintain and perpetuate a stagnant system. Repentance may be needed, but things can never be solved with insolence and rebellion. There must faith, love and hope and may I add, respect.

Prayer: “Lord, there are times when I become frustrated and angry about things. I loose my perspective on how you are working. I lash out at leadership. I repent and place all of my hope and trust in you. Help me to follow your Spirit and build up your church according to your will.”

One Word: Have spiritual eyes to see the Sovereign Lord at work among his people.