Envy Leaves One Standing On Shaky Ground
A sermon based on Numbers 16:23-40
Sunday, March 7, 2010 - Lent 3C
Does it sometimes seem to you that God's not really fair? I mean, doesn't it sometimes seem that God doesn't give you the good things that you deserve, but instead gives them to other people who don't deserve them? Does it sometimes seem that power goes to the politician who lies the most? Or that the promotion goes to the biggest slacker at work? Or that the godless neighbors have better behaved kids than you? Doesn't it sometimes seem that God's just not playing fair?
But in reality, you deserve no good thing from God. And neither do I. But when we think we deserve something more than what we get, its leads to envy of others for the blessings God has given them. And that envy leaves one standing on shaky ground with God, which is not a good place for anyone to stand.Let's listen to account of Korah, Dathan and Abiram and learn from their bad example that we won't be standing on shaky ground. Numbers 16:23-40...
23 Then the LORD said to Moses, 24 "Say to the assembly, 'Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.' " 25 Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 He warned the assembly, "Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins." 27 So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents. 28 Then Moses said, "This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: 29 If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then the LORD has not sent me. 30 But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt." 31 As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah's men and all their possessions. 33 They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. 34 At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, "The earth is going to swallow us too!" 35 And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense. 36 The LORD said to Moses, 37 "Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to take the censers out of the smoldering remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for the censers are holy- 38 the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the LORD and have become holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites." 39 So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned up, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar, 40 as the LORD directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the LORD, or he would become like Korah and his followers.
I. Rebellion Demands A Response of God's Wrath
Moses' and Aaron's cousin, Korah, wasn't particularly happy with his lot in life. Cousin Aaron and his sons got to be High Priests - positions of great atuthority. Cousin Moses got to be God' prophet and tell the people what to do. But poor Korah and his family were the manual laborers. Their assigned duty was to carry the parts of the tabernacle every time it was broken down and they were ready to move. They did all the work and Moses and Aaron got all the glory.
And Korah was sick and tired of Moses appearing before the people with that "I just talked to God" look on his face. He was sick and tired of watching Aaron parade around in his "special" High Priest robes that cried, "Look at me I'm important!" In short, he was envious.
And when he voiced his complaint he found that others felt the same way. Dathan and Abiram, and others too. Soon a handful of men became a mob of 250 "well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council" (Numbers 16:2) all ready to rebel.
And they made their demands. "You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD's assembly?" (Numbers 16:3) In other words, "What makes you so special that you should be the only mediator between God and us? Aren't we special too? Aren't we set apart by God? We don't need a mediator!"
And Moses response was simple: "You don't think you need a mediator? Fine! Approach God without. If you walk away from it, you're right. You don't need a mediator. But if God appointed me as his prophet and Aaron as your mediator, then God will make it clear by ending your lives in a spectacular way. To everyone else he said, 'Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.' "
And even with this final warning and opportunity to repent, as others are warned to move away from the target of God's wrath, instead of falling on their knees in repentance, Korah and company continued to insist on their rights before God, shaking their firsts at God. And they stood on shaky ground.
And the result of that contest? "As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah's men and all their possessions. 33 They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community." And that's not all. The followers weren't off the hook. Verse 35 continues, "And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense."
Wow! God showed pretty clearly what he thought of this rebellion against his representatives and thus against him and of the envy that caused it. If they thought they didn't need a mediator God would deal with them directly. And the result weren't pretty.
How about us? At first read, Korah's challenge might resonate with a democratic culture like ours. Power belongs to the people. We should have a government of the people, by the people, for the people. There shouldn't be one person solely responsible for the decisions. That leads to tyranny!
But what shaky ground we stand on, what thin ice, when we apply this thinking to religion, as if popular opinion determined truth! No, we know that God is the sole author of what is true. Because he is perfect, divine, holy, just, he sets the standard, not us. And he blesses as he sees fit. That leaves no room for envy. For what we have comes from God.
But aren't we are just as guilty of envy and rebellion against God as Korah? Who do you envy? Is it that undeserving jerk in the next cubicle? Well, actually, he used to be in the next cubicle—now he's in the corner office—with an actual window! Is it the no-talent hack teenage singer who's running around in limousines and going on incredible vacations while you have to work hard for what little cash you have? Or maybe it's the next-door neighbor who hit the jackpot in the spouse lottery, marrying ridiculously far above herself while you ended up with a guy whose idea of Valentine's Day is tossing you the very first card he looked at in Walmart on the way home before he heads for the couch and the the television?
You laugh at the picture, but when you're living it, it's not so funny, is it? No, it makes you a little envious, doesn't it? It eats at you! Because it's just not fair! We should be the ones living that kind of life—or at least they shouldn't be.
And while we may not mind the earth swallowing up truly evil people like Korah who shake their firsts at God, we don't like to think that we deserve the very same fate! But how much like Korah we are! For when we envy others, we rebel against him by implying that he is unfair. We make the subtle claim that we deserve more from God. After all, look at what we've done for him. But we forget how sinful and depraved we are. We forget that God is serious about rebellion against him and must act! And we stand on shaky ground when we promote ourselves and think ourselves decent folk who God ought to love and bless with more, as if we needed no mediator. We forget that we deserve to be swallowed up not just by earth, not just by death, but by hell.
But God, in love, reveals how very serious he is about sin and that rebellion against him demands a response from him to lead us to repentance. But God's response to sin is not just a response of wrath. He also responds with his grace...
II. Rebellion Demands A Response of God's Grace
Even as Korah and his immediate followers were swallowed up by the earth, and as the 250 men who thought they needed no mediator were burned up, God showed his grace and mercy to rest of the nation who was equally guilty. He told Moses, "Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to take the censers out of the smoldering remains and... Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar... to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the LORD..."Can you imagine the scene? Picking among the charred flesh, amidst the stench, the smoke, the smoldering and twisted parts, they recovered every one of those 250 censers. Not one was to be lost, but each was recorded cleansed and placed on the altar to symbolize the mediator that rebellious sinners need.
And the next day, as the people continued to complain against Moses and Aaron and deserved to have God end them once and for all for thinking they needed no mediator, God sent a mediator. Numbers 16:47-48 say, "Aaron... ran into the midst of the assembly... and made atonement for [the people]. He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped." Though the people rebelled against him, Aaron threw himself in harm's way, in front of the plague of God's wrath. And he did it to save them. For the people's rebellion demanded a response from God. Only he and his representative could fix it.
Remind you of anyone else?
Roughly 1500 years later some men would be so blinded by envy that they too would rebel against the one God had established. They would unjustly accuse and attack him, demanding "Who gave you the authority?" And they handed him over to be crucified out of envy. Even Pontius Pilate was able to figure that out as Matthew 27:18 says, "[Pilate] knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him."
But why did God allow it this time? Why not swallow up Herod and Pilate, the chief priests and teachers of the law and bury them alive? Because he knew that we needed a mediator like this who would not only go between us and God to intercede, but would actually take the punishment of God's wrath in our place. God would remove our rebellion by sacrificing his own son who refused to rebel, who was never envious of others, who prayed, "Not my will, but your will be done." (Luke 22:42) And as our mediator, he "ran out" to save us. He stood between death and life for us. And through him we have forgiveness because even though envy and rebellion deserve hell, he paid the hell we deserve. We're no longer on shaky ground, but are forgiven through Christ.
And though Korah was lost, his entire family wasn't. The name, Korah, which is now synonymous with rebellion and self-righteousness appears again in the Bible. In 1 Chronicles 6, where the temple musicians are listed, there's a man named Heman whose lineage is traced back to Korah. And in the Psalms, the Old Testament hymnal, there are a number of Psalms written by some men who only call themselves "The Sons of Korah."
That might sound odd, like someone today calling themself the Son of Benedict Arnold, but it's really a tribute to God's grace. Though they came from the line of an envious rebel, God's grace never ends. In the Psalms they wrote we see what God does to those who don't hide their sin, but instead turn to his perfect grace:
In Psalm 85:2-3 they rejoice: "You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins. You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger." Looking ahead to the coming Messiah, the sons of Korah knew that God forgives rebels like us. And they knew that he would continue to take care of us, as they declare in Psalm 46:1, "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."
So don't make the mistake of their ancestor, Korah, who thought he didn't need a mediator. For that would leave you standing on shaky ground indeed. Instead trust the perfect mediator who intervenes between rebels and God. Then you can be assured that even your envy and rebellion against God is forgiven.
Yes, God gives people what they do not deserve. But the best evidence of that is not your wealthy neighbor, your popular classmate, your under-qualified boss. The best evidence is you and me—we have been given what we do not deserve—eternal life. Be content, for you have everything anyone could want—a place in heaven.
With that there's no need to envy others. We don't need a higher position or greater blessings from God, but can sing with the sons of Korah the words of Psalm 84:10: "Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked." For on Christ, the solid rock we stand. All other ground is sinking sand. In him, dear friends, amen.
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