Leadership Conflict

Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotion. This is where every weekday morning, you and I, we get together. We have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's Word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2024, we'll make it through the books of Numbers, Deuteronomy, Hebrews. Good job. Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, we'll get into God's Word. everybody else has had some this morning.
But it's coffee, baby. But it's coffee, he says. That's why it's so good. All right, I'm going to move this screen here real quick. We're going to be in Numbers chapter 16. You want to grab that, Numbers chapter 16? I think I have it in my hand for a few days. Nope. All right. So, yeah.
So last time when I've been in here with the kids, with the other kids, we've talked about different offerings that God has given, like free will offerings. And then we also I talked with them about the difference between unintentional sins and presumptuous sins, right? Like the sins where you go, oh, it's a dummy. Why have I messed this up? And the sins where you go, I just don't care. I hate God. I don't care about his law. I'm going to do whatever I want to do because I'm the standard. Right. Then Ellie and I talked last about.
At the very end of Chapter 15 here, they were to on their garments show that they were God's people, that he was their king, that he had redeemed them out of Egypt by having blue thread in his garment, in their garments, right in the tassel of their garments to show that they were a royal priesthood. They were a holy nation. And so every time they looked at the blue thread and the tassels on their garment, they would go, ah God made us kings and queens in his kingdom. He is the king of kings So let's go ahead and we're gonna go in verse chapter 16, right now that we've thought about that We're gonna go down to verse 40, right?
There's just one big story though. Yeah, but I got the long part everybody else gets But everybody else had a lot to talk about. Yeah. Right. So here we go. How about I read one through 19 and you can read 20 through 40. Is that good? Now, remember, you can use your finger to keep track of where you're supposed to be. You're good. You're good. No, you're good. All right. Here we go.
Now Korah, the son of Ishar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan, and Abiram, the son of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, son of Reuben, took men, and they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown.
They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord? So what's their complaint? You shouldn't be better than God. Yeah, better than everybody else in the congregation, the church, right?
So when Moses heard it, he fell on his face. And he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who is his and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him, that one whom he chooses he will cause to come near to him. Do this. Take censers, Korah, and all your company. Put fire in them and put incense in them before the Lord tomorrow. And it shall be that the man whom the Lord chooses is the Holy One.
You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi." Alright, so what does Moses say? What about the sons of Levi? What if maybe they're being That's right, okay, good. Then Moses said to Korah, Here now, you sons of Levi, is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself, to do the work of the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to serve them?
And that he has brought you near to himself and you and all your brethren, the sons of Levi, with you? And are you seeking the priesthood also? Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the Lord. And what is Aaron that you should complain against him?" What's he saying there? I'm being prideful. You're being prideful, right?
God had made, they're Levites, and Levites, were they like everyone else? Nope. No, they were special, they had their own jobs, and Moses is saying, wasn't that enough for you? And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, we will not come up.
Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? That you should keep acting like a prince over us? Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up."
Oof. Where did they think the land flowing with milk and honey was? Egypt. Egypt. Who are they blaming for their wandering in the wilderness? Moses. Moses, that's right. Then Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I hurt one of them.
And Moses said to Korah, Tomorrow you and all your company be present before the Lord, you and they as well as Aaron. Let each take his censer and put incense in it. And each of you bring his censer before the Lord, two hundred and fifty censers, both you and Aaron, each with his censer. So every man took its censer, put fire in it, laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the tabernacle of meeting with Moses and Aaron. And Korah gathered all the congregation against them at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to the congregation.
Yeah, right? Alright, get your sensors. You think you're in the right? One guy, Aaron. All you, all 250 with your sensors. Right at that moment when they come with their sensors. That'd be scary. That would be scary. Can you imagine if it was like, still dark? And he's like, this is fine. And he's floating. Verse 20.
And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. You want to pick up from here or you want me to keep reading? You can keep reading. Then they fell on their faces and said, O God, O God of the spirits of all flesh, shall associated with your priesthood also... You went too far. Back it up. One man said, and you be angry with all the congregation.
The Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the congregation saying, get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. So God appears, they fall on their faces, and God says, right, get away. I'm gonna kill them all. Now what does Moses do? Okay, so get away from those guys get away from the leaders good verse 25 Then Moses rose and went up to Dasan and Abiram and the elders of Israel followed him. And then he spoke to the congregation, saying, Depart from the tents of these wicked men, such as this thing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins. So they got away from around the tents of Korah, Dasan, and Abiram. And Dasan And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the toe of their tents with their wives, their sons, and their children.
And Moses said, By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have done them of my own will. For I have not done them of my own will. I have not done them of my own will. If these men die naturally, like all men, or if they are visited or if they are visited I cannot well here you want my glasses yes okay I think maybe that bible has print that's a little too small for your eyes that's why I'm I think if you put your finger underneath the words it will actually help you follow it along better Okay, so what's Moses saying there?
If they just die, like normal people, then... They know that Moses isn't really who he says he is, but if the God opens up and solves him, then you kind of know who God is. That's right. Good. You want to keep reading or do you want me to read? Where are we? Verse 31.
Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit. The earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly. Israel who were around them fled at their cry. For they said thus, the earth shall up us, us up also, and a fire. Okay, so what happens there? Uh, poof. The ground opens up. Korra, his family, all those supporting him. What happens to them? And what happens to the ground then?
You really think that can happen? Yeah But I don't think it has to happen all the time. That's the point of a miracle, right? I think it can happen I think it did happen. I don't think this is like fanciful fairy tale. I think this did happen Right. Could you imagine how scary that would be? because even if like somehow it's like well maybe I was just like this crack in the earth that kind of just like I winded up there's no scientifical way that you can just split a part of the earth just open. Yes it definitely seems crazy doesn't it right but there's maybe there was some type of earthquake or mudslide or I don't know right but the point is God's the one who does this. At that exact moment, to those exact people, there's no way to just explain it away, or it's an article of faith for us just to say, no, I believe God can do miracles, right? The God who created the earth can do with the earth what he wants. Okay, let's go ahead and finish this up. Where are we? Verse 35.
And a fire came down out from the Lord and consumed it. So a fire came out from the Lord, that's right. and consumed the 250 men who were offering incense. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Tell Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the priest, to pick up the censers out of the blaze, for they are holy and sacred. The fire some distance away.
The censers of these men who sinned against their own souls, let them be made into hammered plates plates as a covering for the altar because they Presented them before the Lord before they Before therefore they are holy. They shall be assigned to the children of Israel So Eliezer the priest took the bronze censer which those who were burned up had presented and they were hammered out as a Covering on the altar to be a memorial to those to the children of Israel that no outsider who's not a innocent Who is not a descendant of Aaron should come near to offer incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his companion, just as the Lord has said to him through Moses.
All right, so Korah, Nathan, those other guys, right? What happens to them? They get swallowed up. They get swallowed up, and so what happens to the other 250 guys? They're all standing there with their censers. That's why our Lord consumes them all, right? And so all that's left is their censers. What's the Lord say to do with their bronze censers, right? Censers are where you put like hot coals that have incense. You have to pound them and put them on.
That's right, there's going to be a covering over the altar, right? So every time somebody looked at the altar and they saw the bronze that was there, what would they remember? That God's not just going to be like, oh yeah, whoever wants to do incense, so that it's fine. Yeah, it doesn't take that. The Lord is the master of the house. And he's the one who gets to determine who's in charge, right?
Let's go ahead and just there's a really long story. It's a really gripping story. But let's move quickly into what do you think it teaches you about your life today? What are you called to do or how does this show us about Jesus? Do you respect those in authority over us? Okay. Respect doesn't authority over us. Okay. Yeah.
It's God. The one who gives levels of authority. God, the one who gives organizational structure. But often in our society, people hate that. Right. People don't like authority. Who do they want to be the final authority? than themselves. I think all of us are tempted that way. But especially today in our culture, we're just talking about this. Right. Yesterday, as we were talking about deconstructing, right, people are deconstructing their faith.
And at the end of the day, one of the things that often happens is people want to be their own authority. I get to choose what I think about God and I get to do whatever I want. And that, you know, we live in a free country. They can do whatever they want. That doesn't change objective reality. It doesn't change what God said in his word.
And so the question is, do we subject ourselves to God? Do we trust him? Or do we fight against him? This is a difficult thing. Each one of us, I have to wrestle with it. You have to wrestle with it. I think all of us have to wrestle with what is our relationship to the authorities appointed over us? And do we trust God that he's the one who placed them there? Is it easy to follow authority?
Nope. You mean you don't love following me all the time? Nope. Just this morning we had a fight about the frames of the camera. Yeah. Yeah, right. I don't think it was a fight, but we had a disagreement. There was no screaming, yelling, hitting, but we had a disagreement. That's something we could overlook. That's right. We were talking about three levels of conflict and this was an overlooked this morning. But does the Lord overlook every conflict? Nope. Nope. The Lord's got to deal with some. Are you ready to pray? Yep. OK.
God, we thank you so much for the patterns of authority that you've given us are for our good, for your glory. We thank you most of all for giving us Jesus Christ, the king of kings and the Lord of Lords, our great high priest. Lord, we thank you for entrusting to us the blessing of being in your covenant. Please help us, Lord, to live under your authority. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. All right. May God bless you. May you live under the authority and kingship of Jesus Christ. And we'll see you next time. You want to say goodbye? Bye!
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.