Pretentious Korah, Jude 1:11, Numbers 16

Pretentious Korah

Numbers 16:3 they came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them,  You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, everyone of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves up above the Lord's assembly?"

You have to read the whole chapter to get the whole feeling of the event. The basic story is this: Korah, a self proclaimed Levite leader, was upset that Moses and Aaron were setting up laws for the people of Israel. He claimed that Moses and Aaron were not chosen by God and had led the Israelites into the desert to kill them. Moses sees through this attempted coup and declares that what Korah is really upset at was that the sons of Aaron were the only ones fit to be priests. They were the only ones holy enough to serve before the Lord and that Korah and the 250 plus others felt slighted.

So, how does this relate to the godless men that Jude was talking about. This is how I see it... We have a problem in the church today. We make everyone equal and we are not! I'm just as good as you is a common theme. So we take the common, immature believer and make them a leader in the church. How did we get to this point? One area is in minimizing sin. We equalize by claiming that we all sin in thought, word and deed everyday. You are no better than the next guy. We are all sinners. If you claim Christ then we are all equal. In fact, We are all holy! I heard a preacher say that he believes everyone has the right to come before God and praise and worship him, even non-believers.

This is dangerous, in our own church, we set an alcohol salesman as an elder of the church board. We put new believers in charge of Sunday school classes to teach out children. We equate the wisdom of children to that of mothers and fathers. We allow those who we know want to commit willful sexual sins and place them as worship leaders. This must not be! We are not all fit for leadership. We are not all mature enough to lead the church. We are not all holy! This is Korah's rebellion - we want to be leaders but are not willing to live holy lives that are required to do so.

K and A, seeking to be a leader in the church is a noble task. It pleases me that you have taught SS, led music, ran VBS, and have been involved in junior church and other things... all good and noble things. But, remember this! Know that God see you as a leader differently than others. You have a special role not to be taken lightly. You hold the hearts and souls of others in their hands. Their eternal destination may be determined by you by your life outside of church! James says it this way... not many of you should presume to be teachers , my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

Daughters... we are not all holy! If you read that chapter in Numbers you will see what God thought about the subject. Keep your heart right before the Lord, so you can lead others with a clear conscience. Then they will mature in righteousness learning from your words and from your life!

~Dad