I was going to skip over Numbers 15 – 19 except for the tassels, but chapter 16 brought me up short.

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. 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. 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?” (Numbers 16.1 – 13, ESV)

It sounds so holy, so pious: “All in the congregation are holy…and the LORD is among them.”

The problem is that in a church or even in an organization like The Navigators some of us might be tempted to challenge the leadership: “After all, we are all holy, and the LORD is among us all!” However,

Just because the LORD is among us doesn’t mean we’re in charge.

The pastor and elder team are in charge. In The Navigators, our president and his leadership team are in charge.

God takes a dim view of rebellion. Korah and his co-conspirators didn’t live to see the end of the chapter.

I was just talking with an associate pastor who told me their church leadership had to discipline one of their popular lay Bible teachers. For what? Undermining church leadership. I’m sure his language modeled Korah’s. “The Lord speaks to me as much as he speaks to you!” Except…you’re not in charge.

Be responsive to your pastoral leaders. Listen to their counsel. They are alert to the condition of your lives and work under the strict supervision of God. Contribute to the joy of their leadership, not its drudgery. Why would you want to make things harder for them? (Hebrews 13.17, MSG)