“Submit to Your Leaders (Numbers 16)", Will DuVal | 3/30/25
Numbers 16 | 3/30/25 | Will DuVal
This week my Memphis Grizzlies decided to fire our head coach Taylor Jenkins with just 2 weeks left in the regular season, despite the fact that Jenkins was runner-up “Coach of the Year” in 2022, and has led a frankly mediocre team to the playoffs in 4 of his 6 seasons. We have OVER-performed under Jenkins’ leadership, but he got the axe. Why?
Because sometimes, with some PEOPLE that you LEAD, it’s never GOOD enough. Unless we’re winning the championship NOW, in the Promised Land NOW - it’s a long journey to get to the Promised Land. And some people just don’t have the PATIENCE for it. Moreover, SOME people want the glory for THEMSELVES, for having GOTTEN us there. There are rumors that Jenkins’ assistant coach had been eyeing the head job all season long.
We find a similar story this morning in Numbers ch16. Moses once again finds himself in the cross-hairs, in the FIFTH of SEVEN rebellions recorded for us in the book of Numbers.
But I thought we’d take a slightly different tack this time. Rather than outline all the different ways we go wrong in our sinful rejection of godly leadership in our lives - which we could certainly DO; read ourselves into this story as a Korah. We’re all guilty at times of FAILING to obey God’s COMMAND in Hebrews 13:17 to “Obey your leaders and submit to them… let them [lead] with joy and not with groaning…” (Heb 13:17); we’ve ALL disobeyed and REFUSED to submit; launched our OWN mini-mutinies. And by the way, this call to submit doesn’t just apply within the CHURCH; Romans 13 exhorts us “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.” And we’re gonna SEE God’s judgment on VIVID display this morning.
But RATHER than focus on the rebellion, I want to analyze GODLY LEADERSHIP this morning, look at this story through the eyes of MOSES. Who, as we’ve seen all along, through Exodus, Leviticus, and now Numbers, is a type, a picture, a prefiguring of an even GREATER leader to come, the perfect “Shepherd and Overseer of our souls,” Jesus Christ. How does Moses’ leadership here point us AHEAD to HIM, to Christ? And then, finally, how are WE called to respond, and apply these principles PERSONALLY in our OWN leadership.
Everyone here is a LEADER. If nothing else, if you’re a believer, God calls you to lead others to Christ. And we can apply all 7 of these principles in our personal evangelism. But MOST of us lead in OTHER capacities as well: in our HOMES, as parents; in your families, as grandparents; in our workplaces, schools, etc.
So SEVEN facets of godly leadership here that we’ll apply in THREE ways: 1) the PRINCIPLE we extract from Moses’ example; the 2) PERSONAL application for our own lives; and finally 3) the PROPHETIC fulfillment, in the leadership of Christ.
LOTS to get to; let’s begin by reading the text together.
I invite you to stand with me… (SCRIPTURE: Num 16)
“Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. 2 And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. 3 They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” 4 When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, 5 and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him. 6 Do this: take censers, Korah and all his company; 7 put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!” 8 And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: 9 is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, 10 and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also? 11 Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. What is Aaron that you grumble against him?”
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12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up. 13 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 must also make yourself a prince over us? 14 Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.” 15 And Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.”
16 And Moses said to Korah, “Be present, you and all your company, before the Lord, you and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. 17 And let every one of you take his censer and put incense on it, and every one of you bring before the Lord his censer, 250 censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” 18 So every man took his censer and put fire in them and laid incense on them and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19 Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.
20 And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 21 “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” 22 But they fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?” 23 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Say to the congregation, [then], Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25 Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” 27 So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. 28 And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord. 29 If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”
31 And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. 32 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. 33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. 34 And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” 35 And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men offering the incense.
36 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 37 “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy. 38 As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the Lord, and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.” 39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar, 40 to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense before the Lord, lest he become like Korah and his company—as the Lord said to him through Moses.
41 But on the very next day all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” 42 And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting. And behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. 43 And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, 44 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 45 “Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” But they fell on their faces. 46 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.” 47 So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. 49 Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the affair of Korah. 50 And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, when the plague was stopped.” [This is the word of God…]
#1- Godly leaders will be CROSSED. (vv1-3; 12-14; 19; 41)
“Opposed openly; betrayed.”
And what must have made THIS betrayal sting even WORSE was that Korah was Moses’ & Aaron’s first COUSIN. It’s NEVER fun getting stabbed in the back, but ALWAYS hurts worse when it’s someone CLOSE to you. 2 additional things worth noting about the IDENTITY of these insurgents:
The FIRST is that they are NOT your rank and file Israelites; these were “250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen… well-known men.” As is often the case, it is those closest to the TOP, who’ve gotten just enough of a TASTE of the power they so desperately crave, who pose the greatest threat. Moses TRIES to confront them about it in v9: “Isn’t it enough - “you sons of Levi” - that God has ALREADY separated you from the people, CHOSEN you as his special tribe, brought you NEAR to himself” - “would you seek the priesthood also”?
It’s not enough to be an ELDER; you desire even more influence than the PASTOR. Not enough to be LIEUTENANT general; you’ve gotta be the head honcho?
The other really TRAGIC thing to note here is that their rebellion comes just on the heels of ch15, where God ENDED last week by instituting the TASSELS on their GARMENTS to remind them of 2 things: Israel’s holiness (15:40) and God’s presence, with them (15:41). Now look at Korah’s complaint against Moses in v3: “all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them.”
This is what SIN does - what SATAN does - he takes something good and beautiful and true - and he twists and corrupts it with HALF-truths. Such that the tassels that GOD designed to be a reminder of our calling and his presence become an occasion for ENVY and PRIDE instead.
WAS all the congregation “HOLY”, as Korah claims here? They were certainly CALLED to be: “if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples… and you shall be to me… a holy nation” (Ex 19:5-6). But DID Israel obey his voice? WERE they a holy nation? They’ve barely been out of Egypt a YEAR and they’ve already REVOLTED TEN, now ELEVEN times!
Is “the Lord among them” all, as Korah says? He’s at the center of their camp. But only MOSES gets to speak with God “face to face”. Another half-truth.
Did Moses “exalt HIMSELF above the assembly”? There’s NO truth in THAT one! Moses BEGGED God to give the job to someone ELSE! He did NOT sign up for it; He was APPOINTED to this role, by GOD.
That’s why he can say, in v11: “It’s not really ME, or AARON that y’all have the problem with here; “it is against the Lord that you’ve gathered.””. Your complaint - your REBELLION - is against HIM.
But their complaint continues on, in v13; Dathan & Abiram wouldn’t even come MEET with Moses to try and work it out, SUCH was their disrespect: “you brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey…”
Did EGYPT flow with milk and honey? The only thing it flowed with for the ISRAELITES was blood, sweat and tears.
“It’s not enough you’re trying to KILL us out here; you exalt yourself as PRINCE over us while you’re AT it!”
“Moreover”, v14, “you haven’t BROUGHT us into the Promised Land yet”. Whose fault is it that Israel is not ALREADY enjoying all the milk and honey and wine they could ever want? Did Moses not lead them to the very EDGE of the Promised Land back in ch13, and convey God’s COMMAND to them: “Go up and TAKE it; for God will be WITH you, fight FOR you…”? But how did Israel RESPOND?With FEAR instead of FAITH. They REFUSED to fight, REFUSED to trust God. It’s their OWN fault! It is THEIR “eyes” that have been “put out” - they say, “Moses: You may have tricked everyone else into blindly following you, but we see clearly what you’re up to here…” (Duguid, 203). But the TRUTH is that Dathan and ABIRAM have deceived THEMSELVES about what is going on here; their own ENVY, and their LUST for POWER have BLINDED them.
Don’t be FOOLED by their STATED agenda; the STATED agenda is RARELY the REAL agenda, of the complainer: “We think EVERY Israelite should share the power”. NO you don’t; you think YOU should have all the power! As Levites and “chiefs of the congregation”, these guys already had a disproportionate share of the power. They don’t want an egalitarian society; they are FINE with a dictatorship… as long as THEY’RE the dictators!
Commentator Iain Duguid points out (Numbers, 202): “The desire for a leadership position can be a dangerous thing. The humorist Douglas Adams observed in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, that “Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made president should on no account be allowed to do the job.” In other words, those who desire most intensely the ability to wield power are also the most likely not to wield it well.”
Maybe it’s a GOOD thing no one wants to be an ELDER here; you gotta watch out for the churches where EVERYONE is jockeying, lobbying for power. We got too many MOSESes here - “God, appoint someone ELSE! Who am I to lead” - some of you are TOO humble, when GOD is actually calling you. The fact that you don’t CRAVE the position, don’t feel like you measure UP, may be a good indication that you’re just the person for the job.
But for those who ARE leading, don’t be surprised when you are CROSSED, opposed. Parents: if you NEVER face opposition from your kids - you never upset or disappoint them - you better WATCH OUT, cuz you’re raising entitled MONSTERS. One of the GREATEST gifts we can give our kids is our “NO”. “No! You CAN’T have candy for breakfast.” The most underrated verse on parenting in the Bible is 1 Kings 1:6, where King David’s son, Adonijah, “exalted himself, saying I will be king,” and launches a MUTINY against David; why? V6: Because “his father (David) had NEVER at ANY time DISPLEASED him,” by saying “NO”!
David was a good leader, but we see just ONE of his leadership FLAWS here: David wanted, he NEEDED, to be LIKED. He was a Michael Scott: “Would I rather be FEARED or LOVED? Easy: BOTH. I want people to be AFRAID of how much they LOVE me.”
But we’ve gotta realize that even the BEST leaders - even JESUS; ESPECIALLY Jesus! - faced opposition… he was HATED! Jesus said, “If the world hates you, know that they hated ME before they hated you. ” (Jn 15:18) So don’t be surprised; EXPECT to face opposition as a leader. You’re in good company.
But #2- WHEN you’re crossed (not “IF” but “WHEN”...), godly leaders can be CONFIDENT. (vv4-5, 15)
How does Moses RESPOND? V4: “When Moses heard it, he fell on his FACE” in PRAYER. THAT’S the reason for - the SOURCE of - his confidence: the LORD. Moses knew RIGHT where to go with his problems: 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast ALL your cares on [the LORD], because HE cares for YOU.”
“What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!” (“What a Friend We Have in Jesus”)
We can be CONFIDENT in God’s CARE.
And we can ALSO be confident of God’s vindicating JUSTICE. Moses knew he didn’t NEED to defend him-SELF here; he need only take it to the Lord and let HIM be the faithful Judge and Defender that Moses KNOWS Him to be.
Confident leaders stay “cool, calm, and collected” in the FACE of opposition and adversity.
Moses simply replies: “In the morning, God’s gonna SHOW, gonna PROVE, who is HIS and who’s NOT; who is HOLY and who’s NOT; the leader whom he CHOOSES, and the POSER he REJECTS. We’ll find out, soon enough…”
But Moses reveals a SECOND source of confidence in v15. The LORD is primary, but Moses ALSO derives confidence from a CLEAN CONSCIENCE: “I have not taken one donkey from them, I haven’t harmed any of them.” He says, “I haven’t WRONGED them, that they should be ATTACKING me like this.”
That’s of course the CAVEAT to principle #1: Godly leaders should expect to be opposed, but just cuz you’re BEING opposed doesn’t mean you’re leading in a godly manner. UNGODLY leaders get opposed TOO; if you ABUSE your power - and steal donkeys, force those you’re supposed to be serving as a leader to serve YOU instead; Jesus said, “You wanna be a great leader? SERVE! Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk 10:45). “Follow in MY footsteps,” Jesus says, “and SERVE those you lead” - if you DON’T, then YEAH, expect pushback, for SELFISH leadership.
But MOSES knows he’s been nothing but self-LESS in leading Israel. He keeps sticking his OWN neck out for this STIFF-necked people, and he’ll do it again at the end of the passage.
Right AFTER the author of Hebrews exhorts us to “Obey your leaders and submit to them”, the very next VERSE, he adds: and “Pray for us… that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things” (13:18).
I attended a breakout session that John MacArthur led at a Together for the Gospel conference years ago, on “Facing Opposition as a Pastor”, and he told all these stories of all the different ELDERS over the years who had tried to get him FIRED over bogus accusations, and someone ASKED him: “How did you RESPOND?” And MacArthur replied: “I DIDN’T.” He said, “I didn’t HAVE to; I KNEW they were false allegations, and if my PEOPLE didn’t know me well enough - didn’t TRUST me, when the wolves in sheeps’ clothing started spreading the rumors and LIES… if they were that BELIEVABLE based on my CHARACTER, then I shouldn’t be leading ANYWAY!”
Remember how JESUS responded, when HE was falsely accused? “Jesus made no answer,” Mark 15:5, “so that Pilate was amazed… “Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you!”” But “like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Isa 53:7).
Godly leaders can be confident in the care of Christ, and in the cleanness of their conscience.
#3) Godly leaders must be CALLED. (6-7a; 27b-30)
They say, “Quit EXALTING yourself above the REST of us, Moses”; he says, “Look: I’ve been trying to GIVE this job away for the last 80 chapters now, but UNFORTUNATELY, it isn’t MY choice to lead y’all; it is GOD’S choice.”
Then Moses ADDS, in v28, “And NOW, God’s about to PROVE it” - ““Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me… and that it has not been of my own accord.”
“If these rebels DIE a NORMAL death…” - okay, now it’s getting REAL. It’s all fun-and-games until Moses starts threatening DEATH. But at THIS point in the altercation, what story should be coming to MIND for Korah, Dathan & Abiram. Notice, by the way, that ON has now wisely backed DOWN - remember there were FOUR instigators of this insurrection originally, but we don’t hear about ON again after verse 1; Moses started talking about “the ground opening its mouth and swallowing [y’all] alive down to Sheol”, and ON wisely picked up HIS tent and relocated as far as humanly POSSIBLE from theirs.
But Korah, Dathan & Abiram double down. Despite KNOWING better; SURELY they remembered the story of Nadab and ABIHU?! From just last year - both for them AND for us; we studied it last year in Leviticus 10; but the Israelites had WITNESSED it just a year PRIOR to this at the foot of Mt. Sinai: when Aaron’s OWN sons, Nadab & Abihu “offered unauthorized fire before the Lord” and what HAPPENED? They got INCINERATED; burnt to a CRISP! And THEY were legitimate PRIESTS! How much MORE so ought they expect God to judge not just unauthorized FIRE, but unauthorized PRIESTS!
“But what makes MOSES & AARON ‘authorized’?!”, we imagine them objecting.
And God’s ANSWER: “I do. I CHOSE them.”
“But I’m a better public SPEAKER…”
“Oh, I know,” God says; “that’s part of the reason I CHOSE Moses: so he wouldn’t dare try and speak WITHOUT me; AND so I could get even more glory, from using such a poor orator to declare such bold & BEAUTIFUL words - MY words.”
Being a leader doesn’t always mean you’re more QUALIFIED. I look at some of y’all’s marriages and think, “God, are you SURE about this whole “Wives submit to your husbands” thing?! Cuz personally, I may trust HER to run the church, and I wouldn’t trust HIM to water my PLANTS for the weekend. He couldn’t lead his way out of a paper BAG!
But leadership doesn’t MEAN you’re more qualified; you SHOULD be! You should STRIVE for it. Leading is a high calling; we should strive to be found WORTHY of it.
But worthy or not, qualified or not, you MUST be CALLED.
“What’s so special about MOSES?” - Nothing… except his CALLING. God CHOSE him for this task.
Where is He calling YOU to lead, and are you stepping UP?
Hebrews 5 declares, “every high priest chosen from among men is appointed [by] God… So also Christ did not exalt himself [as our] high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my SON”” (5:1-5). God the Father called Moses. He called JESUS. And he is calling YOU this morning; will you ANSWER that call, and LEAD?
#4) Godly leaders are ABLE to be CONFRONTING. (7b-11; 16-18)
NOT “confrontational” - not predisposed to confrontation - but rather “confronting” - “ready and willing to confront”, when NECESSARY.
Moses wasn’t LOOKING for a fight. But it sure found HIM. And a good leader doesn’t back down when - a good SHEPHERD will stand up and FIGHT when there’s a threat to his SHEEP. Moses has seen this movie before, just 2 chapters ago, when 10 faithless spies incited the entire NATION to rebellion at the cost of the PROMISED LAND! So he’s trying to nip THIS one in the BUD.
Korah says in v3, “Moses, you’ve gone too FAR!”
But Moses gives it right BACK to him in v7: “No, Korah, YOU’VE gone too far!”
And I like how Moses gets even MORE direct and BOLD here as the story goes on. He tried “SENDING” for Dathan and Abiram in v12, so they could work it out, but they not-so-politely DECLINED his invitation. So what does Moses do now in v16? He marches PERSONALLY over to KORAH’s tent and confronts him to his FACE: “Be present tomorrow”; I’m not INVITING anymore; I’m TELLING you - you better BE there; that’s an ORDER. Last I checked, I’m still in charge around here until God says otherwise.”
Put simply, if you can’t CONFRONT, you can’t LEAD. Somewhere around a THIRD of the instructions given to church leaders in the NT concern confrontation: we confront false teaching - an elder must “be able to… rebuke those who contradict [sound doctrine]”, we confront SIN in the church before it SPREADS (1 Cor 5), DIVISIVENESS - “As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him (CONFRONTING him) once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him” (Titus 3:10).
Forget LEADING; you can’t even FOLLOW Christ, OBEY him, if you won’t CONFRONT! In Matthew 18, Jesus taught us how CHRISTIANS deal with CONFLICT: ““If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault;” CONFRONT him (v15).
And Jesus MODELED it for us as well. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites…” (Mt 23:13). Even his closest followers - “Get BEHIND me, Satan, aka, PETER…” (Mt 16:23); Jesus wasn’t afraid to CONFRONT, when needed.
But at the SAME time, #5) Godly leaders are COMPASSIONATE. (20-27a)
God is so mad at his people - it STARTED with Korah… who incited the 250 “men of renown”... who by v19 had “assembled ALL the congregation” against Moses & Aaron; “a little leaven leavens the whole lump”; sin SPREADS - and GOD’s ready to smite them ALL! V21: “STAND BACK, Moses & Aaron, ‘that I may consume them [ALL]’!”
But DO they “stand back”? No, they fall DOWN… on their FACES, once again. Someone said, “It’ll be easy to recognize MOSES in Heaven: just look for the guy with the FLAT NOSE.” Cuz he was CONSTANTLY on his FACE, interceding for, PLEADING for, begging God for MERCY & COMPASSION for a bunch of whiners and complainers who were perpetually blaming HIM and trying to steal his JOB.
Listen: you backstab ME, and I may be PRAYING for ya… but it’s probably gonna be one of the IMPRECATORY prayers from the PSALMS: “O God, break the teeth in their mouths… Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime…” (Ps 58:6,8); that’s MY prayer.
But not MOSES: ““O God… shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?”” (v22).
Remind you of anyone else?
“Father, FORGIVE them, for they know not what they DO!” (Lk 23:34). Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, the one who least DESERVED our antagonism and would have therefore been most JUSTIFIED if He had called down legions of angels to SMITE US ALL, prayed: “FORGIVE them”!
“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt 9:36).
Maybe you feel like all you’ve ever received from the Church is JUDGMENT and CONDEMNATION; “Ugh! God, thank you that I’m not a SINNER, like HER… like HIM…”. But you need to know this morning: that’s not JESUS’s response to you, to your sin; the One who would be most RIGHT to judge you looks on you instead with COMPASSION, like a sheep without a shepherd. He sees your harassment and your helplessness at the hand of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Jesus knows better than ANYONE how powerless you are over sin, how DESPERATELY you NEED him. And he INVITES you to come! “Come to me, all who are weary and weighed down (by SIN), and I will give you REST… For I am gentle and lowly in heart, [I am COMPASSIONATE] and you will find rest for your souls.” (Mt 11:28-29). You don’t HAVE to be “shepherdless” another day; let ME be your Good Shepherd, and I will give you REST. Because I laid down my LIFE for you, my sheep (Jn 10:11), so that you would never have to fear sin or death ever again; now THEY are powerless over YOU!
That’s the kind of COMPASSION Jesus has for us, friends: he was so MOVED by our harassment and helplessness, that he laid down his own LIFE to RESCUE us from it.
And Moses gives us a GLIMPSE of that kind of leadership here. God says in v24: “Get AWAY from the tents of Korah, Dathan & Abiram…”, but what does MOSES do in v25: he runs TOWARD their tents, to WARN the people, to PLEAD with them! “Depart, PLEASE, from these wicked men…lest you TOO be swept away with all their sins!”
We might say godly leaders are compassionate CAUTIONERS. They are willing to charge INTO the fray, even at great personal risk, to warn others against being “swept away” by sin.
Is that YOU? When was the last time you made a conversation with a family member, a friend, really AWKWARD by WARNING them about the consequences of their SIN? By PLEADING with them, “Depart - PLEASE! - from your WICKEDNESS, and run to JESUS for mercy and compassion and forgiveness… before it’s too LATE!”
One other thing worth noting here: Moses didn’t do it ALONE. V25: “Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.” Compassionate cautioners need compatible, cooperating CHEERLEADERS. Jesus sent his disciples out 2 by 2. Mike, Austin and I went to the mosque together on Friday night; I WOULD NOT GO there alone. We need the support of our fellow believers. Maybe THAT’s why you’re not bolder; you’re trying to do it alone. Why not bring your LIFE group in - “I’m getting together with my unsaved childhood friend for coffee next Friday at 10am; would y’all pause and PRAY for me then?” If you know all 12 of them are gonna STOP what they’re doing, interrupt life and work to PRAY for gospel boldness for you as you walk into that conversation, and they’re gonna TEXT you at 11:30 to ask how it WENT… moreover, if you know you’re not ALONE in your CARE for this lost loved one, that you’ve got a GROUP of intercessors all lifting this person up before the Lord together WITH you… you might be AMAZED what that can do for your personal evangelism.
But it all starts with a heart of COMPASSION. We need to see unbelievers NOT as people who are infected with a disease that we’re afraid of catching, but “like sheep without a shepherd”. And like JESUS, we move TOWARD them, in LOVE.
#6) [QUICKLY now] Godly leaders should be CONFIRMED. (31-40)
God powerfully CONFIRMED his choice of Moses & Aaron, and his condemnation of Korah and his followers here in vv31-35: “the ground under them split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up…”. For sake of time, I’m gonna leave all your questions about SHEOL, and whether this was an earthquake or a sinkhole, and why their entire HOUSEHOLDS had to perish WITH them - you can ask all that for our “After the Sermon” podcast if you want. But suffice it to say, the BIG takeaway here is: God CONFIRMED His calling.
Not ONLY by consuming all 250 men, in that moment, but God then commands Moses to have Eleazar collect the censers and hammer them into a new COVERING for the altar, as a perpetual sign of his confirmation of the Aaronic priesthood, for the generations to COME as well.
And while we may not - HOPEFULLY - need OUR leadership to be confirmed in quite so DRAMATIC and devastating a fashion today, it is STILL important that God confirms for us HIS chosen leaders. It was important to me that the results of the vote to call me as lead pastor here 6 years ago were like 106 FOR and 3 AGAINST, or something. Cuz if it had been like 80-20, I would’ve wondered, “Ehh, is God really CONFIRMING this?” But if it had been 100%, if there hadn’t been those 3 OBJECTORS, I would’ve wondered if I was even LEADING at ALL, if there was NO opposition?!
Do you know how God the Father confirmed his choice of JESUS his SON as our Messiah and SAVIOR?
The RESURRECTION! Christ’s resurrection was the PROOF that Jesus WAS who he SAID he was - the perfect Son of God - and that he’d DONE what he CAME to do - DIE for the forgiveness of ALL our sins. And then Jesus ROSE in VICTORY on Easter morning to give US power over sin and death, and to raise us to newness of LIFE.
Lastly, and briefly again in closing now: #7- Godly leaders will be CONCILIATORY. (42-50)
“Prone to placate, win over, RECONCILE”. 2 Corinthians 5 puts it this way: “Christ reconciled us to himself and gave US the ministry of reconciliation… We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. So we implore you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God!”
That’s who we ARE now, in Christ: we are “reconciled RECONCILERS”. Ambassadors. Intercessors.
Like MOSES, who once AGAIN, charges into the fray. This story would almost be FUNNY if it wasn’t TRUE, and if it wasn’t OUR story, meant to remind US of just how forgetful and stubborn and rebellious WE are; v41: “on the very next DAY all Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron” AGAIN, and blamed THEM AGAIN: “YOU have killed God’s people”.
You can imagine Moses thinking, “So, ONE minute there’s NOTHING special about me, that I should be your leader; but the NEXT day I suddenly possess the power to split the EARTH in two?! Which IS it?!”
But before Moses can open his mouth or even fall on his FACE this time, GOD speaks: “Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them TOO” (v45).
And once AGAIN, Moses & Aaron INTERCEDE on the peoples’ behalf. They “make ATONEMENT” for the people (v47). And Aaron “stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped” (48). What a glorious picture of the gospel!
Friends: that is EXACTLY what JESUS CHRIST, our great high priest, did for us on the CROSS - actually, he didn’t just “stand between”; he CROSSED OVER, Jesus was “cut OFF from the land of the living”, and he DIED, to “make atonement” for us, that the plague of sin and death that would otherwise DESTROY us might be STOPPED once and for ALL.
Isaiah 53:12- “He bore the sin of many, and he makes intercession for the transgressors.”
And you know what I find maybe most interesting of ALL about this story: guess who DIDN’T die? “The sons of KORAH”. Dathan and Abiram’s family lines are wiped OUT; we won’t hear about them ever again, except for a few other passages that warn us not to be LIKE them. But the “sons of Korah” - his descendants - go on to write some of the most BEAUTIFUL Psalms in the psalter: “God is our refuge… an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way” (Ps 46:1-3). How IRONIC! How REDEMPTIVE that the sons of KORAH would pen those words: “we won’t fear even if the EARTH splits in TWO,” why? Because GOD is OUR refuge. “Sorry, Dad; you can stay and go down with the tent, but we’re running to JESUS!”
Is he YOUR intercessor this morning, friend? “My little children, I am [PREACHING] these things to you so that you may NOT sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins” (1 Jn 2:1-2). Our WRATH-absorber. Our PLAGUE-stopper. Our SIN-forgiver. And our compassionate “ADVOCATE”.
What a friend we have in Jesus! Amen? Let’s pray.