Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Hello everyone.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is Pastor Benjamin.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, Orlando.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's Prayer.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com.
Joshua Esquivel: Please join me in reading the Prayer of Illumination.
Joshua Esquivel: Almighty God, as we hear your word inspired word, teach us, reprove us, and train us in righteousness, that we may be equipped for every good work through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Joshua Esquivel: Amen.
Joshua Esquivel: Our scripture today comes from Numbers 16.
Joshua Esquivel: Now Korah, the son of Ezar, son of Kohath, son of Levi and Dathan and Biram, the sons of Eliab, and An the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men, and they rose up before Moses with a number of the people of Israel, two hundred and fifty chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men.
Joshua Esquivel: 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.
Joshua Esquivel: Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?
Joshua Esquivel: When Moses heard it, he fell on his face 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.
Joshua Esquivel: The one whom he chooses, he will bring near to him.
Joshua Esquivel: Do this.
Joshua Esquivel: Take censors, Korah and all his company, put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow.
Joshua Esquivel: And the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one.
Joshua Esquivel: You have gone too far, sons of Levi.
Joshua Esquivel: And Moses said to Korah, Hear now, you sons of Levi, 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, and that he has brought you near him and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you?
Joshua Esquivel: And would you seek the priesthood also?
Joshua Esquivel: Therefore, it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together.
Joshua Esquivel: What is Aaron that you grumble against him?
Joshua Esquivel: And Moses sent to call Dathan and Biram, the sons of Eliab, and they said, We will not come up.
Joshua Esquivel: 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?
Joshua Esquivel: That you that you must also make yourself a prince over us.
Joshua Esquivel: Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards.
Joshua Esquivel: Will you put out the eyes of these men?
Joshua Esquivel: We will not come up.
Joshua Esquivel: And Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, Do not respect their offering.
Joshua Esquivel: I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.
Joshua Esquivel: Then Horah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord appeared to the congregation, to all the congregation.
Joshua Esquivel: And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from among the con this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.
Joshua Esquivel: And 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?
Joshua Esquivel: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Say to the congregation, get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
Joshua Esquivel: 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.
Joshua Esquivel: 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.
Joshua Esquivel: 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.
Joshua Esquivel: And as soon as he had finished speaking these words, the ground under them split apart, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them with all their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods.
Joshua Esquivel: 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.
Joshua Esquivel: This is God's word.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: They're all signature moves.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And this morning, in our text, we're gonna see that God has some signature moves too.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That in the story of Scripture, God shows up in predictable patterns where we can begin to count that this is the way that He's gonna move and act.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so I have one point and three subpoints.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The one point is that God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Throughout the storyline of Scripture, that's one of God's signature moves.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If you have a Bible or a device, or you have the worship guide and you brought a monocle to be able to read it, you are welcome to turn there now, and let's look at numbers 16 together, verse 1.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I want to look at the proud.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Let's look at the proud here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Number 16, verse 1 says this.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now Korah, the son of Izhar, son of Kohas, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and An, the son of Pelith, sons of Reuben, took men.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, when we read this, these names are confusing to us, but they are ancient hyperlinks to other places in the story of Scripture.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's what's happening here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so when we read that Korah is a Levite and a son of Kohath in verse 1, that cues to the close and careful reader of Scripture that this group of people were actually charged with this really incredible responsibility, which was to carry the most holy things in God's mobile tent dwelling that's called the tabernacle.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: They had a really important responsibility.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And then Dathan and Abiram, being sons of Reuben, who was the firstborn son of all of Israel's sons, it's a really prestigious role, they were meant to be leaders in Israel.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, let me make that plain.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Korah, Dathan, and Abiram should have had high status in Israel, but they didn't.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Why?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, because God chose Moses as the leader, not Reuben or his descendants, and he chose Aaron as the high priest, not the sons of Koath.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so you can see there's something going on here for these men as they take up their dissatisfaction that leads them into a rebellion.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Korah becomes this ringleader in a rebellion to get the status he thinks he deserves.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look with me at verse 2.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And they rose up before Moses with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: These are, it says, well-known men.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In other words, they have high status, just not as high as Moses and Aaron.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Verse 3 says, they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, one of the things you have to know is a primary character in the book of Numbers is what's called the camp.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, there's a slide that'll be up behind me that shows you kind of what this camp would have looked like.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But in concentric circles from the outside in, the outermost tribes of Israel would have camped around the outside, and then inside of that would have been the Levites, and then within that was the tent of meeting, the most holy place where God Himself dwelled among his people.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's relevant because the Lord structured his camp with these concentric circles, these inner rings of holiness.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 3.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and here's the issue: they don't like these inner rings of holiness.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And they said to them, You've gone too far.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I've never been in a courtroom, but I've seen TV shows, and so I assume this happens.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But when you're about to take the stand, right, you put your hand on a Bible in the courtroom and you say, I will tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What is happening here is that Korah has taken a half-truth and made it the whole truth, thereby becoming an untruth, which is heretics 101.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's what you do.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You affirm one truth strongly, but you deny another one.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And that's what's happening here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So let me just ask you: are all in the congregation of Israel, are they all holy?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Yes.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Leviticus 19, 2 says really clearly, speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I am the Lord your God, and I am holy.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So that's true.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But did Moses and Aaron really, quote, exalt themselves above the assembly of the Lord?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: No.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The Lord exalted them.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's a big difference.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so Korah is blinded by his pursuit of status here, and he's forgetting something important.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Korah is a Levite.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's in, he's not even in the outer courts, if you will.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's in this inner circle of the holy ones.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But it's not enough for him.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In fact, Moses and Aaron might be the only people that have greater status than Korah in the people of Israel.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And it's not enough for him.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 9.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Moses calls this out.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He says, 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?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Is that not enough for you?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One of the things we're seeing in the pattern of the people of Israel in the book of Numbers is that whether the human cravings are for meat or for power or for exclusive access, it is never enough.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's never enough.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Because Korah has fallen prey to what C.S.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Lewis calls the desire to be in the inner ring.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Lewis says at some point in your life, you're going to experience this.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You're going to experience that one of the most dominant elements of our existence as human beings is the desire to be inside the inner ring and the terror of being left outside of it.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We all experience this in a variety of ways.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Out of this desire to be an insider, many of us will stay late at work and even take projects on the weekends, special projects that we, you know, we complain about.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And maybe it's tiring and unhealthy to work on a Saturday afternoon, but to have them free because you don't matter would be far, far worse.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so you work yourself endlessly trying to pursue, ambitiously pursuing the ascendancy through these inner rings of exclusivity.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, the problem isn't in the fact that there are inner rings.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: They're not the issue.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The issue is our desire to get inside of groups that are more exclusive than the ones that we already belong to.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The underlying question is: who am I if I'm not with them, whoever they may be?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so the proud disregard people who can't help them to ascend.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: They're lesser than.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If you can give me status, I will give you my time, energy, attention, devotion.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But if you can't offer me anything, why would I do that?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now I want to commend you, new city.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In the last year or so, I've heard more people in their 40s and 50s asking for me to connect them with people in their 20s and 30s to invite into their circles to disciple them.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Why do I love that?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Because those people can't give you any status.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: All you have is to offer them status.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's a really important thing.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But I was talking to some of the business leaders in our congregation.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I asked, hey, what is this dynamic, this inner ring dynamic, look like in the workplace?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It was illuminating for me.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One of them spoke about how they've seen mid-level people cry because they were not invited into a meeting that they wanted to be a part of.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Another one said that there's this on the surface a culture, a team culture, but underneath is this zero-sum game.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so you can't have friends in the workplace because everybody is competition.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so gossip and self-promotion become the lingua franca of that workplace.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, the reality of living to press further up and further into these inner rings creates an immense pressure.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One person said the pressure is the pressure to say yes to everything, always doing and producing more and more and more.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Because how else are you going to ascend the hierarchy?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And sometimes even people land in the ER because of stress and anxiety and panic attacks, and they're pecking away at their work phones from the hospital bed, unable or unwilling to unplug, wearing their hospital stay as a badge of honor.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, one of the reasons many of you are so busy, so exhausted, so overcommitted is because of the pride that's motivating you to ascend into the upper, upper, upper rings.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Thinking that once you finally get into the next one, it'll be enough.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, this is Korah's problem.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's showing us what it looks like to want to be in the inner ring.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And C.S.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Lewis, in this article called The Inner Rings, he says this of all passions, the passion for the inner ring is most skillful in making a man who is not yet a very bad man to do very bad things.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Korrah might not have been a ringleader of a rebellion against God most high if it wasn't for this desire that we share with him to be in the next inner ring.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now I want to contrast proud Korah with humble Moses.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look with me at verse four.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: When Moses heard it, he fell on his face.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I like to call this faceplant leadership.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And this speaks to me.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The reason why is because I was a skateboarder for most of my life.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so I just like to imagine that Big Mo is trying to golly nose grind a handrail and he clips his lip and he faceplants, falls on his face.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's not what's happening, but I like to think that that's what's happening.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What's really happening here, and this really did catch me years ago when I was reading through the book of Numbers and our Bible reading plan, and I came to this realization that godly leaders fall on their faces before God as a strategy of leadership.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is core to godly leadership.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If you don't believe me, just track with me here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Abraham fell on his face before God in Genesis 17, 3.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Joshua fell on his face in Joshua 5, Ruth fell on her face in Ruth 2, David fell on his face in 1 Samuel 20, Ezekiel fell on his face in Ezekiel 1, Daniel fell on his face in Daniel 10, Jesus fell on his face in Matthew 26.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What is happening here?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, you see, because to fall, to fall down prostrate with your face to the ground is a position of being humbled before the exalted one.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The Bible says, you are dust.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so if that's true, beloved dust, inspired dust, yes, dust nonetheless, than to fall on their face before God, it's a posture of saying, you are holy and I am not.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You are exalted and I am low.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You are the one who is great and I am actually small.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's a the proper positioning of the humble before the holy God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's why all of these godly leaders find themselves falling on their face before God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And it's it's not only fear and trembling, it's also awe and adoration and exhilaration because true status looks like submission and surrender, not ascending to the next and highest ring.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus says it like this everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And he who humbles himself will be exalted.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I take great hope in that because it's easier to go low than to rise up high.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And this is within the realm of all of our agency, right?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's the one who exalts himself or the one who humbles himself.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You can go low.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And there's a good promise in Scripture that grace runs downhill.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, face plant leadership shows us that the way up is down.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And in verse five, we see that Moses 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.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The one whom he chooses, he will bring near to him.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, what Moses is willing to do here is to let God vindicate him.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's a humble move.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One of the places this main point shows up in scripture is in 1 Peter chapter 5.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Peter says this, writing to the whole church, he says, Clothe yourselves, all of you, in humility toward one another.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Why?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Peter says, For God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He goes on, he says, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What does it look like to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This verse right here, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's what Moses is doing right here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's casting his anxieties on the Lord.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's saying, Lord, you vindicate me, you handle this situation, you show up and act.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And that actually frees him up.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, because pride fills you with cares and anxieties, but humility actually frees you to be carefree in the care of God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's what Moses is experiencing here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But it goes on in verse 9, this is his critique.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He says, Is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Listen to this language, 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.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And that he has brought you near to him, and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And would you seek the priesthood also?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And here's the key piece.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What is Aaron that you grumble against him?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Verse 9, that phrase, is it too small a thing for you?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, look at all that God has given to you, and yet you're still discontent.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And is your discontentment at your spouse or your boss or your situation?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: According to Moses, he says, What is Aaron that you grumble against him?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Your discontentment is against the Lord.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Your dissatisfaction is actually towards the Lord.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, because discontentment with our current ring will always lead to a desire for a more attractive and exclusive ring.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Your inner ring in this room, diverse people, your inner ring might be a country club or a punk rock band.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You might be a Swifty or a sneakerhead.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You might be wanting to be in a corporate boardroom or a CrossFit gym or the PTA or even a church leadership team.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But as long as you're governed by that desire, you will never get what you want.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The reason is because as you try to peel that onion, you will succeed until there's nothing left.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so discontent is not only destructive to you, it's dishonoring to God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so in verse 20, the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from among this congregation that I may consume them in a moment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He takes their discontent very seriously.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But look how Moses and Aaron respond.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and said, Oh God, the God of the spirits of all flesh.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: When you're reading the Bible, however God's address, his titles, his names, it's worth just underlining, slowing down, paying attention.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Oh God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin and will you be angry with all the congregation?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, the humble are free to see God for who he really is.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: There's a way in which many of us miss God in the world because we expect him to be all over high and lifted up in profound ways, but he's actually at our feet oftentimes, washing them.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Because we worship a humble God who is high and lifted up and also with the broken and the lowly and the contrite.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, when they call him the God of the spirits of all flesh, what they're saying here is that God is sovereign over the life of every human being.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He has ownership over the lives of every human being.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Because Moses and Aaron knew that a heavy dose of the sovereignty of God is medicinal to the mania of pride.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: When you see God high and lifted up, who holds your very life in his hand, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when that begins to soak in, that that's ultimate reality, not you and your little ladder of success, you begin to be set free.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You don't have to be so proud.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You don't have to pursue higher and greater status.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so Moses, freed up to be content with the place that God has him, in verse 28 says this.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: 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.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, Moses is just trying to do what the Lord has sent him to do.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's another way to talk about what calling or vocation is.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Who is God made you to be?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What is he called you to do?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Maybe you don't have to ambitiously ascend in order to matter.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Maybe you can just do all that God has given you to do.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Ephesians 2.10 says that we were created in Christ Jesus, where his workmanship, and that he actually did that in order to give you good works to walk in that he's prepared beforehand.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Maybe that's your life's mission, is to just simply walk out the good works that God gave you, that he prepared beforehand for you in Christ.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I was talking to again one of those business leaders and I and I asked them, like, what's the antidote?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What's the way forward?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If this is the culture of the workplace often.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And they said the lack of idolization of the room is what actually gets you invited in.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The obvious desire to be in the room is the thing that obstructs your ability to get in, because people think your chief goal is just to be in the room, not to do the work that it requires.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I love this.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Moses is giving us the way forward.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Do what God has sent you to do.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Nothing more, nothing less.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's given you good works to walk in.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's all Moses is trying to do.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so maybe you pass up a promotion or an exclusive dinner or an opportunity of a lifetime because you have a deep and settled sense that wherever God has you, you could say with Moses in verse 28, the Lord has sent me to do all these works.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And it has not been of my own accord.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Moses is so confident the Lord will show up for him in real time that he leaves this up to him.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The third and final point is that is God's opposition and grace.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 31 with me.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And as soon as Moses had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart, 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.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from their mid from the midst of the assembly.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men offering the incense.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is a picture of God's poetic justice.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: His punishment always fits the crime.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Dathan and Abiram refused to, quote, come up in verse 12, and so they went down alive into Sheol, verse 33.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Korah wanted to play with fire, and the dude got burned.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so what we see here is that the proud, recognizing that you are dust, and to dust you shall return, it might be the antidote to your pride.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But Korah's story is not over.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In fact, later in the book of Numbers, chapter 26, if you want to turn there, you can, verse 9, the narrator is telling this story, and they add a surprising note.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In Numbers 26, verse 9, it says this Dathan and Abiram, who contended against Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah, when they contended against the Lord, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, when the fire devoured 250 men, and they became a warning.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And here's the key text, verse 11.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But the sons of Korah did not die.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What's the significance of that detail?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The Holy Spirit does not waste his breath when he inspires Scripture.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That phrase matters.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The sons of Korah did not die.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Somehow God preserved Korah's descendants, sparing them from their father's fate.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And in fact, God opposes the proud, but he gives grace upon grace upon grace, so much though that in 2 Chronicles 20, verse 19, it says this and the Levites of the Kohites and the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, the sons of Korah became musicians, singers, and gatekeepers in the temple of David.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Their access, the access that their dad was grasping for was given to them by grace.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, because of God, his opposition to Korah, but his grace to his sons, the sons of Korah wrote some of the most beautiful Psalms.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: They're on like the greatest hits list.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Some of you know these, Psalms 42 through 49, Psalms 84 through 85, Psalms 87 and 88.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: These are all written by the sons of Korah.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And interestingly, some of the themes that mark these Psalms are redemption from Sheol and a longing for God's presence.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Our call to worship this morning came from Psalm 84.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Many of us know this one.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It goes like this: a psalm of the sons of Korah.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: My soul longs, yes, feints for the courts of the Lord.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: For the Lord God is a son and a shield, the Lord bestows favor and honor.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Better to be a doorkeeper than a ringleader.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Better to be the kind of sons of Korah who learn from their family story that the kind of status that our Lord is most concerned with and that calls us to is the status that comes from proximity to himself.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: To long, yes, faint for the courts of the Lord, to be near unto God, and to be contented with the status that comes from that.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So how can we be the kind of people who have the humility to be content with proximity to God?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard tells a story called The King and the Poor Maiden.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Tells a story about this king who was great and exalted, and all of his enemies feared him, and everybody knew if he said this, it would happen, or else punishable by death.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And as he was parading through his kingdom, he saw a beautiful poor maiden that he immediately fell in love with.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So he went back to his castle and he strategized.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: How am I gonna get her?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He thought, well, the first and easiest thing he could do is to command her to love him.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Like he could roll up, pomp and circumstance, banners and horses, swords and shields, and command her to become his wife.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But the problem is that forced love is not true love, and he knew it.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: See, he knew that if he wanted a cringing subject, he could do that, but he wanted a lover.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That option wouldn't work.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Second option, he could elevate her to his status.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He could show up and give her gold rings and precious stones and a robe and a cloak and a crown and lift her up to his level, to let her ascend the rings.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But the problem is he would never know if he was loved by her for himself or for his gifts.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So the only other option he was left with was to become a peasant like her in order to win her love truly.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so this king, convinced that he could not command her love or elevate her to his status without crushing her freedom, he resolved to descend down to her.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Not in disguise, truly and really forsaking all that was rightfully his as the king of the kingdom and taking on the broken and tattered robe of a beggar, he goes and meets this woman and wins her affections.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now you see, Jesus did this in the incarnation.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is the true story of the world.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We live in a world that is a romance in the midst of a battlefield, and this is what the true king did.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, he left the innermost ring of heaven in order to come down.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And while the proud are grasping to ascend into the inner ring, the Son of God descends in order to bring us into the only ring that really matters.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, Jesus fell on his face before God in Gethsemane because he knew he would be swallowed up in judgment, that he would descend into Sheol.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But rather than descending into Sheol alive, he ascended from Sheol alive, and now he ascended to heaven, and he's seated on the throne at the highest ring, and he's bringing us up to be with him.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, the dust of earth is now seated on the throne of heaven.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so we look to Jesus, the exalted one, and as we look to him, we can humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, because we know at the proper time, just like he exalted Jesus, he will exalt us as well.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Let's pray.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus, we worship you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Holy Spirit, you alone can stir up our affections to see Jesus in all that he is.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We want to behold the King and His beauty.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What kind of King is this that would come down?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Forgive us for being so preoccupied with ascending into further up and further end into inner rings when you, Jesus, showed us what true humanity looks like.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We love you, we worship you, we adore you, we want to be like you, but more than that, we want to be with you and in you, seated with you in the heavenly places where you dwell.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's in your beautiful name we pray.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Amen.