St. Paul’s Ev. Lutheran Church North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin 3rd Sunday in Lent February 28th, 2016

Text: Numbers 16:23-40 23 24 Then the LORD said to , “Say to the assembly, ‘Move away from the tents of , and .’ ” 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 29 know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: If these men die a 30 natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then the LORD has not sent me. 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 31 men have treated the LORD with contempt.” As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all 33 Korah’s men and all their possessions. 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 around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!” 35 And fire 36 came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense. The LORD said to Moses, 37 “Tell Eleazar son of , 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 39 presented before the LORD and have become holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.” So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned up, and he had them 40 hammered out to overlay the altar, 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. – NIV84

Prayer of the Day: Almighty God, look with favor on your humble servants and stretch out the right hand of your power to defend us against all our enemies; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen! Verse of the Day: Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3:14,15) Sermon Text: Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, I’m guessing these are three names that we don’t know much about. Even if you were fortunate enough to have learned about them at some point, unless you have a good memory, or the history of these guys and their families made a large impression you, you probably have long since lost the knowledge you once had. So today, a refresher course on one of the rebellions of Israel in the desert and as we consider this lesson, perhaps the words of Jesus in our Gospel will begin to shine ever brighter and more boldly, UNLESS YOU REPENT … YOU TOO WILL PERISH. Perhaps a bit of background before we read our lesson today. In chapter 13, the 12 spies return and give their bad report to the community. In chapter 14, the people rebel and then all but two of the spies (Joshua and Caleb who remain faithful to the Lord) perish. The punishment for Israel is well known 40 years of wandering in the desert and an entire generation of Israelites buried beneath hot sand. Korah a Levite and therefore a member of the priesthood and 2 men from the tribe of , Dathan and Abiram stand up in opposition to Moses and Aaron, which is to say they stand up against God. They aren’t alone, 250 members of the community leaders, Jewish council members, join in the verbal assault on Moses and the absolute all out challenge of his God given authority. “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)?” It’s actually in verse 16 of chapter 16 that God steps in and we’ll read that lengthy section which encompasses the lesson appointed as a alternate lesson for the old testament lesson today. 16 Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow— you and they and Aaron. 17 Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it—250 censers in 18 all—and present it before the LORD. You and Aaron are to present your censers also.” So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 19 When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the entire 20 21 assembly. The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” 22 But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, “O God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?” 23 24 Then the LORD said to Moses, “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 30 happens to men, then the LORD has not sent me. 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 32 and 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 37 The LORD said to Moses, “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, 40 and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar, 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 (Deuteronomy 16:16-40). It just makes one gasp a bit, doesn’t it? Can you imagine the cries of the families of the three men as fall into the hole which opens beneath them? Can you imagine the sight to say nothing of the smell as God incinerated 250 men leaving “smoldering remains and coals”? It’s all so frightening that Israel runs in fear. God wants it remembered. The golden censers pounded out and molded into the veneer of the Altar of God in the tabernacle that none will forget. How could they? Sadly enough they will and in the space of a night’s sleep. If we were to continue reading, we are told in the very next verse “The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ‘You have killed the LORD’s people,’ they said (Numbers 16:41).” The result, 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah (numbers 16:49). It all kind of makes you scratch the head a bit doesn’t it? Why does God give us such a lesson? Maybe more pointedly why would Pastor Kampman pick such a lesson as the basis for our sermon today? Well, because it’s Lent and I thought we should all have a real bummer of a story to depress us good this weekend. No, that’s not it at all. I picked it because as we said at the beginning, I think it brings home for us those words which Jesus speaks within our Gospel lesson. So let’s pull out the Galileans and the 18 who perished when the tower fell and listen again to Jesus’ question “Do you think that these Isrealites were worse sinners than of you because they 3 suffered this way? I tell you, no! BUT UNLESS YOU REPENT, YOU TOO WILL ALL PERISH (obvious paraphrase of Luke 13:3).” So, what do we have to learn here? Well obviously God takes the Fourth Commandment seriously! No, I don’t say it to demand mindless obedience of members to pastors or students to teachers, or parents of students to teachers but when these people speak to us in accordance with the Word of our God, rebellion is a scary thought. It amounts to rebellion against our God, who has clearly spelled out that which is right and wrong in the pages of His holy book. I could have said, obviously God takes His law seriously. The same is true. Have we ever looked like Korah, demanding that something goes too far, forces us to reach too high or work too hard, simply demands too much of us when it comes to our God? Isn’t that kind of the point of the word perfection in the Scriptures? Do I love with all my heart, mind, and soul as long as it doesn’t hit the pocketbook, my popularity, or my personal comfort zone? Do I love my neighbor as myself as long as that neighbor isn’t annoying, frustrating or rude? And yes, that means we all deserve to have the earth swallow us whole this morning! And while that is certainly not a pleasant thought, we go too far if we think, Lord you punish to severely. God is simply holding to His word! A warning sounded repeatedly throughout the scriptures. It was the warning given to Adam and Eve regarding the fruit (Gen. 2:17), God spoke bluntly through Ezekiel The soul who sins is the one who will die (Ezekiel 18:4), try to read Romans or any other New Testament book which speaks of the consequence of sin without seeing the results laid out. It would sound to me like we could all more humbly before our God acknowledging our sin in contrition and turning to God as the only source for our salvation, our only help in time of need. And that’s really the point of such stern law as that produced by God in our lesson today! At first look, censers pounded out and fastened to the altar of God as an eternal reminder of the sin of the assembly seems mean and harsh. But before we scream “too far” to God pause and really examine what that statement is. Censers offering up unholy fire, pounded flat and molded to fit the altar of burnt offering, yes a constant reminder of the sin of those who would have wrestled away the authority of God’s appointed people, the authority of God himself. But at the same time, a reminder of sin which was regularly covered up, as flames consumed not 250 men but the sin offerings brought by the people of God. In fact, in the plague that followed, Moses commands Aaron to snatch coals from this fire and this altar and stand between the people and presence of God at the tabernacle and as God once more beheld the smoke from the fires of the altar, the plague stopped. It’s an amazing picture of Jesus is it not? When you and I, yes when the entire world should have been consumed one man stood between the temple and the condemnation of all mankind. On the Cross, Jesus allowed himself to be the sacrifice which covered the sins of all, all of our rebellion and all of our whining and complaining about a God who demands too much and expects more than any could give. Jesus presented himself, perfect and holy, in our place for our offenses that the plague of sin might cease, that the fires of hell might not reach out and consume, that the grave might not swallow us whole. It’s a poignant reminder this Lenten season. As we peer at Israel and gasp at the rebellion and the consequences of it, may we see that our God is deadly serious about sin. Then in Spirit wrought faith may we flee to the cross to behold the greater altar upon which our sins are paid in full. Then as we behold our Savior may we hear the warning and the love as he urges us all UNLESS YOU REPENT, YOU TOO WILL ALL PERISH! AMEN!