Rejecting The Position Of God

It is dangerous to demand that God give you what you deserve.

Numbers 16:1-4 One day Korah son of Izhar, a descendant of Kohath son of Levi, conspired with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, from the tribe of Reuben. 

2 They incited a rebellion against Moses, along with 250 other leaders of the community, all prominent members of the assembly. 3 They united against Moses and Aaron and said, "You have gone too far! 

The whole community of Israel has been set apart by the LORD, and he is with all of us. What right do you have to act as though you are greater than the rest of the LORD's people?"

4 When Moses heard what they were saying, he fell face down on the ground.

Today we are looking at another way that God's people have rejected his sovereign rule in their life. We have already seen that God's people have rejected the pleasures of God and they have rejected the promises of God and now we will see that God's leaders are not content and will reject the limits that God has on how they can serve him.

As soon as God chose this people and made them a nation he gave them the rules for life and worship. Unfortunately it is way too easy for us to become unhappy with God's design, Satan doesn't have to work very hard to get us to reject God's promises, his pleasures and the position that he has for us.

Moses has already dealt with challenges to his God given authority, it started way back when they were still in Egypt and right after God brought them out of Egypt the people were still rebelling against Moses. (Exodus 5:1-23, 15:22-27)

God gave his people a social and religious structure to live by and he made the duties of Moses and Aaron and every other lower level of leadership very clear. God also made the penalty for doing things the wrong way very clear so it is difficult to understand how God's people rejected the rules that God made.

The people that became unhappy with their job assisted the priest in worship and they had an important job when the Tabernacle was being moved but they were not content, they wanted to do more than God allowed.

They could not go into the most holy area during worship and they could not go in that area to remove the holy objects so that the Tabernacle could be moved when it was time to break camp. The priest had to go in and cover the holy items and then bring them out the Kohathite clan. (Numbers 4:1-20) 

Their God given authority to work for him in ministry was not enough for them, they wanted a promotion, God set the rules for the priesthood and he already showed us how serious he is about enforcing the rules. 

Moses response was so wise! These guys better be right!

Numbers 16:5 Tomorrow morning the LORD will show us who belongs to him and who is holy. The LORD will allow only those whom he selects to enter his own presence.

Numbers 16:10-12 Korah, he has already given this special ministry to you and your fellow Levites. Are you now demanding the priesthood as well? 11 The LORD is the one you and your followers are really revolting against! For who is Aaron that you are complaining about him?"

12 Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they replied, "We refuse to come before you!

These rebels are so bold that they ignored Moses' summons to meet with them and then they accuse Moses with outrageous allegations. The good old days back in Egypt should have been replaced with a new land that is also at least as good as Egypt was. 

For them to say that they experience the good life in Egypt, "the land of milk and honey" and demand the new "land of milk and honey" that they were promised. (Numbers 16:13-14) They seem to forget that they rejected God's promised land!

These rebels should have been terrified at the idea of "playing" priest just to see if they were allowed to do it. They were aware of God's response when Aarons sons didn't perform their duty as priest the correct way but they didn't seem to care. (Leviticus 10:1-3)

God handles the rebellion and the rest of God's people prove that they are just as bad as the men that God killed. The people had the nerve to accuse Moses and Aaron of being responsible for the death of these men.

Numbers 16:41 But the very next morning the whole community of Israel began muttering again against Moses and Aaron, saying, "You have killed the LORD's people!"

Really!?! Everybody knew the rules for coming into the Lord's presence. Moses didn't make the rules, God used Moses as the messenger to reveal his rules to God's people. (Proverbs 19:3)

God's people must be very careful about negative thoughts because they have a habit of growing very quickly and they spread to the people around us. A lack of contentment in where God has chosen to put you and the ministry that he has given to you can spiral out of control and infect the rest of the church.

Whether in the government, the church, or the home, God never grants authority for the power or benefit of those in authority. Serving God requires that you be his servant as well as a servant to those around you.

We must decide for ourselves if we are going to argue with God.

Galatians 1:10 Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant.

God's people must remain humble and be content with their God given ministry. We should strive to do our best in whatever God has called us to do, but be careful not to do our best to promote ourself. (John 3:30)

God's choice to use me and in what capacity is totally his choice. I can choose a different area of ministry and attempt to work "for him" on my own but the consequences can be very severe to myself and to the people around me that I was trying to serve. (Galatians 6:7-19)

RELATED ARTICLES

Lessons From The Life Of Korah (biblicalcounseling.com)

Who Were The Sons Of Korah (gotquestions.org)

Serving God Despite The Opposition

God's people will have opposition from many different sources.

Exodus 4:31 Then the people of Israel were convinced that the LORD had sent Moses and Aaron. When they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

Exodus 5:3-5 But Aaron and Moses persisted. “The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they declared. “So let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness so we can offer sacrifices to the LORD our God. If we don’t, he will kill us with a plague or with the sword.” 

4 Pharaoh replied, “Moses and Aaron, why are you distracting the people from their tasks? Get back to work! 5 Look, there are many of your people in the land, and you are stopping them from their work.”

We found out in my previous post that the unqualified get called by God into ministry that is way over their head. We learned through Moses that a lack of skill or specialized training seems to be what God is looking for in the people that serve him.

It must have been a great relief to Moses when he returned to Egypt and the people of Israel were convinced that he is on a mission from God to help his people. They seem to be thrilled that out of nowhere, after God's promise seems to be on the edge of failure, God finally sends a rescuer to put an end to their suffering in Egypt.

Wouldn't it be great if ministry was always this easy? Isn't it a beautiful thing when God sends a leader, the leader goes to God's people and the people agree to their leadership and their program that the leader wants to implement. So far their isn't any opposition and all is well but Moses hasn't been to see Pharaoh yet.

Suddenly the Israelites situation has gone from bad to worse, Pharaoh decided that he had been too easy on the Israelites by providing them with the materials that they needed to make bricks, so for now on they had to produce the same quota of bricks without any help getting the material they needed to make them.

Exodus 4:21  And the LORD told Moses, “When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do. But I will harden his heart so he will refuse to let the people go.

The blame game started up immediately despite the fact that they were so sure of God's plans and God already told they wouldn't be released and allowed to go until God steps in and forces Pharaoh to let them go.

God's people don't like opposition and they are quick to let their God appointed leaders know about it. It is a shame that God's people treat their leaders this way but it may be worse that the leaders run back to God and complain to him when God already warned them there would be opposition to his work.

Exodus 5:22-23 Then Moses went back to the LORD and protested, "Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me? 23 Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!"

We should expect that difficult days are going to come our way when we are serving God. When we are God's friend and we are being used in ministry then we are an enemy to Satan and he will start working overtime to oppose us.

Satan is already actively opposing God's plan to bring the Messiah to the world to redeem his people. The chances of the Lion of the tribe of Judah surviving all of the opposition to God's purpose and his people are extremely small but that's just how God works.

God allows his promises to come to the edge of failure for a purpose, God's people have to wait until there isn't any human ability to accomplish God's promises so that God is the only one that can get credit for making them happen. God knows that we will try to steal his glory if there is any way to explain away his miracles.

When God's people are doing what he ask them to do they should expect opposition from the world and also from God's other children that don't understand how he is working. We know that the world has a great reason to oppose you but Satan will convince some of your church friends to also go against you.

Serving God requires that we remember:

• How strong and how desperate our enemy is.
• The helpless, desperate condition of the people that you are serving.
• Your own weakness and inability for the task.

We must rely on God's strength and his timing in order to accomplish his work.

Who Do You Think You Are?

Keeping your perspective in ministry.

John 1:19-28 This was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Temple assistants from Jerusalem to ask John, “Who are you?” 20 He came right out and said, “I am not the Messiah.”

21 “Well then, who are you?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?” "No,” he replied. “Are you the Prophet we are expecting?” “No.” 22 “Then who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you have to say about yourself?”

23 John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah:

“I am a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Clear the way for the Lord’s coming!’”

24 Then the Pharisees who had been sent 25 asked him, “If you aren’t the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet, what right do you have to baptize?”

26 John told them, “I baptize with water, but right here in the crowd is someone you do not recognize. 27 Though his ministry follows mine, I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandal.”

28 This encounter took place in Bethany, an area east of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing.

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Somebody has started a new ministry and it is causing quite a stir. The established religious leadership decided to form a committee to figure out who this guy is and why he thinks that he has the right to perform a religious ritual such as baptism. We want to know who he is but we don't want to be bothered with going out there and seeing for ourselves.

The religious leaders thought that they knew the next event on God's calendar. They had a checklist of possibilities that they went through but that didn't help them. Was this the Messiah? Was he the prophet that was to come before the Messiah? Who is this guy and why is he in ministry?

After the committee went through their list John revealed his identity by using scripture. Certainly the religious leaders would understand if John quoted scripture, they are the experts on God's word, it seems like that would have made John the Baptist identity crystal clear. Instead of a clear revelation about what God is doing the committee seems to be interested in getting an answer and going back home as soon as possible. They are not the least bit curious about John's claims that he makes based on prophecy.

Since they don't know who he is they certainly don't understand why he is baptizing. Instead of getting caught up in arguments about religious issues he answers the question "what right do you have to baptize?” by pointing to Jesus. Forget about who I am there is somebody much more important on the way and you probably aren't even going to recognize him.

It's all about Jesus
John 10:39-42 Once again they tried to arrest him, but he got away and left them. 40 He went beyond the Jordan River near the place where John was first baptizing and stayed there awhile. 41 And many followed him. “John didn’t perform miraculous signs,” they remarked to one another, “but everything he said about this man has come true.” 42 And many who were there believed in Jesus.

John didn't perform any miracles he just pointed people to Jesus, when they asked him "Who are you and why are you doing that?" He would minimize the "who are you" and talk about the "why are you doing that."

John knew his place in ministry and even though Jesus called him the greatest man that had ever lived he still kept his focus. Success in ministry could have been his downfall, pride, jealousy, envy or have ruined him. No doubt Satan worked on him to try and get him to focus on himself.

"Being in ministry will either make you a much better Christian, or a much worse Christian."

-Kathy Keller

The pull to become apathetic, cold, disobedient to be proud of your success can make you a much worse Christian than when you first started serving. If the greatest man that ever lived thought very little of himself then I need to do the same.

The Testimony That The Light Is Coming

John was sent to tell us to get ready.

John 1:6-18  God sent a man, John the Baptist,  7  to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony.  8  John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light.  9  The One who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.  10  He came into the very world He created, but the world didn't recognize Him.   

11  He came to His own people, and even they rejected Him.  12  But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God.  13  They are reborn--not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

14  So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son.  15  John testified about Him when He shouted to the crowds, "This is the One I was talking about when I said, 'Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for He existed long before me.'"

16  From His abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.  17  For the law was given through Moses, but God's unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.  18  No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is Himself God, is near to the Father's heart. He has revealed God to us.

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It has been four hundred years of silence since the last prophets of the Old Testament shared any information from God. The last prophets were Ezra and Nehemiah, they led the people in the return to Jerusalem and in the rebuilding of the temple and the city walls.

Finally God has something to tell us, he was coming to be with us, he was coming as a man. But first he sent a man named John to announce the beginning of his ministry. John was born with a mission from God, we are all born with a purpose, but John's was spelled out from day one.

Luke 1:15-17 For he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. 16 And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. 17 He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord.

John was an unusual man, set apart from birth, he took after Elijah for his fashion sense, and he started his ministry out in the wilderness.  He was a simple man, he lived in a remote area, he lived a simple lifestyle. The only ambition that he had was to prepare the way for Jesus. (Matthew 3:1-12, Luke 1:5-25, 57-66)

Matthew 11:11 "I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is!

Besides being an unusual man John was a great man, Jesus told us so, there were a lot of great men in the history of the Jews and yet John in just a few years of public ministry is said to be the greatest, greater than King David or Abraham or Moses. Some of the people started elevating John above his rightful place and John had his own disciples but John didn't let his ego get out of whack.

John is the greatest man that lived but he told us that he is nothing compared to the next great man that was about to come onto the scene. Even the greatest man in history is nothing compared to Jesus, the light is coming, a huge light, and compared to him John is just a little flicker from a match.

It's Not About Me!

John 3:29 It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at His success. 30 He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

Sometimes the people in ministry get an inaccurate perspective on who they are and how important they are. If the greatest man that ever lived had such a humble attitude then how should we see ourselves in our ministry? We should have the same attitude that Paul had:

1 Timothy 1:12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him.

The spiritually blind crowd needed to have the light shown to them (John 3:19-20), John had to tell them and later he would show them the Messiah, his message was always that people shouldn't look at his greatness but look at the fact that the creator of the universe was soon to be revealed. John knew his place and his purpose.

John 1:6-7 God sent a man, John the Baptist, 7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony.

John's whole purpose was to help you believe that Jesus became human and made His home among us. They saw his unfailing love and faithfulness, they saw his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son. John knew who Jesus was, do you?

Growing Big Faith - Personal Ministry - Part 2

Personal ministry requires us to trust Jesus and get out of the boat.

Matthew 14:28-33 Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” 29 “Yes, come,” Jesus said.

So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink.

“Save me, Lord!” he shouted.

31 Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

32 When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. 33 Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.

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In the previous post Jesus and the disciples had taken a boat across the lake to get away from the crowds that were out of control. It looks like Jesus was trying to get away from the crowds but it could be that he was setting up a teachable moment for his disciples.

An important lesson on faith was the result of this boat ride across the lake. They had gone to a remote area and they needed food for the crowd but the only source of food was a small lunch basket. The disciples learned that they need to give Jesus what little they have and allow him to take care of the rest. That was Faith 101, the followup course, Faith 201 is coming right up.

The disciples are taking another boat ride but this time they are without Jesus. They are in the boat doing what they know how to do. They are experienced and have plenty of training at navigating a boat in a lake, they are at ease, they probably think "finally, Jesus asks us to do something that we know how to do."

The problem is that you don't learn very much in that situation and great things don't usually happen so let's throw in a bad storm and get them out of their comfort zone. They have been out there for hours and they were panicked, then it gets worse, Jesus saw their situation and went out across the water to them, they see him and now they are really freaked out.

The disciples are once again in a situation that seems impossible, earlier in the day they witnessed the impossible when Jesus fed the crowds, now they are in a situation that their experience tells them is hopeless. They are probably sure that this boat is going to sink.

Need Help?

Psalms 37:5  Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust Him, and He will help you.

Peter realized that he could do anything that Jesus asked him to do, he learned that when they fed the crowd a few hours ago, he just needed to know that Jesus was asking. Peter told Jesus to ask him to get out of the boat and walk across the water, so Jesus invites him to come.

Maybe the other disciples in the boat were thinking just get out of the boat but Peter wanted to know that Jesus wanted him to do it. The difference between faith and stupidity, you don't want to be out of God's will when you are making such a bold move, Peter asked Jesus to take him out of his comfort zone.

Peter may have thought "I dont know how to walk on water but I know how to get out of a boat and I know how to walk, I am going to trust Jesus with the rest." And so he trusted, until he took his eyes off Jesus and took a look around at his surroundings, he was reminded of what he couldn't do. He started thinking about his ability.

Instead of trusting in the one that can take you beyond what you can do you decide to look at your abilities and play it safe. Just about every minister, just about every ministry started with somebody that was willing to get out of the boat, insecurity is common to all of us.

Is God asking you to feed a crowd with what you have in your hands? Is he asking you to stand up and get out of the boat? When these things happen then God gets the credit but if you don't step out then you will never know what God may have accomplished through you.

Help me to trust you Lord and have big faith, big enough to pray the Peter prayer and ask Jesus to invite me out of your comfort zone.

Growing Big Faith - Personal Ministry - Part 1

Personal ministry allows us to experience God's power in our weakness.

Matthew 14:14-21  Jesus saw the huge crowd as He stepped from the boat, and He had compassion on them and healed their sick.  15  That evening the disciples came to Him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves."  16  But Jesus said, "That isn't necessary--you feed them."

17 "But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish!" they answered.  18  "Bring them here," He said.  19  Then He told the people to sit down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, He gave the bread to the disciples, who distributed it to the people.   

20  They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers.  21  About 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and children!

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At this point in Jesus ministry the crowds were getting out of control and Jesus wasn't able to have any down time. The people that were pressing at him trying to get something from him wouldn't even allow him some time away to mourn the death of his cousin John the Baptist. Jesus tried to get away from the crowds by taking a boat ride to a remote area East of the Sea of Galilee but as he arrived he realized that the crowds had followed him and he still wouldn't have any time to himself.

I wonder if he felt some frustration when he arrived and realized that he was still going to be bombarded with people selfishly requesting to be healed. I probably would have rolled my eyes and groaned but Jesus was moved with compassion and he continued to heal the sick and teach them.

As the day was coming to an end, the disciples saw that they were miles from any resources to eat dinner, there wasn't any way that they could provide this many people with food. The disciples looked through the crowd and found that the only food that anybody had with them was in a small lunch basket. Feeding the thousands that were there was completely impossible.

The disciples thought that the only thing to do was to send this crowd home but Jesus didn't see things the same way and instead of telling them good-bye Jesus told the disciples that they need to tell the people to have a seat. The disciples didn't want the crowd to sit down and they certainly didn't expect Jesus to tell them to do something impossible. Sometimes Jesus says something that doesn't make sense so when he said "you feed them" the disciples said "but Jesus this is all we have!"

Have you ever been out in the middle of nowhere with Jesus and you heard him tell you to do something impossible? We have all felt that internal nudge to do something, you see a need, you feel some tension inside, but just like the disciples you say "this is all I have."

What do you do when Jesus tells you to do something impossible? You tell God that there is no way that you have the resources or the skill set, you are not equipped, you are scared but God says "I don't care, bring what you have."

You may tell God, "I am not someone that meets that kind of need, I am somebody that prays for somebody to meet that need. I'm just a prayer warrior" But God says "I don't care, bring what you have."

The disciples did what they knew how to do trusting that God would do the rest. They stood there in front of Jesus and took a little bit of food from him, they turned around, faced the crowd and handed the food to somebody. They walked back to Jesus and somehow he had a little bit more food to hand them to pass out.

What is your initial response to being asked to serve? Have you felt that God was urging you to serve yet you refused because you felt unprepared or inadequate?

Your faith muscle gets flexed when you say yes to something that God is urging you to do despite the fact that you feel inadequate, scared, or lacking resources. Every major move of God is accomplished through somebody that feels inadequate, somebody whose faith muscle is being stretched, somebody that believes they can't do it apart from God

Are you willing to do what you know how to do so God can do what only God can do? If you do you will experience God in a brand new way but if you don't you will never know what God would have done through you.