Num 16:8-10, Then Moses said to Korah, "Hear now, you sons of Levi, is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? And are you seeking for the priesthood also? 
    	We come this morning to a manner in which many people get themselves caught up in that which is not their place before the Lord and before His people. The truth is that the Lord has His allotted assignments within the Body. This is very Biblical as the Apostle Paul details and as we have read often in the various letters to the New Testament churches. Not all are called to minister, or to teach, or for a number of other facets of the corporate body. There are things that every Christian is called to do such as serve the Lord and fellow man with hearts that fully honor both. Every true Christian is to read the Word, study the Word, pray constantly, trust in the Lord, encourage, help one another, always please the Lord in word, and thought, and deed, worship the Lord, and obey Him.
	At the same time, as we have seen throughout our reading of Leviticus and Numbers, the Lord had specific jobs for very specific people and tribes. He even arranged each tribe in set places throughout the camp and had them march according to a particular hierarchy. The Lord specifically took the Levites unto Himself for the service of the Tent of Meeting and later the Temple as we read in Num 3:5-13, if you would please turn to it once more. 
Num 3:5-13, Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may serve him. And they shall perform the duties for him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle. "They shall also keep all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, along with the duties of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. You shall thus give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel. So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that they may keep their priesthood, but the layman who comes near shall be put to death." Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every first-born, the first issue of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine. For all the first-born are Mine; on the day that I struck down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the first-born in Israel, from man to beast. They shall be Mine; I am the Lord." 
Sadly, it was from the tribe of Levi that this current rebellion arose. As we hear Moses in his rebuke of Korah and those who had joined themselves to this uprising in this morning’s passage, Moses was pointing out the fact that they were already favored by God in their call to service. However, these Levites were seeking something more than was allotted to them. 
Then Moses said to Korah, "Hear now, you sons of Levi, is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? And are you seeking for the priesthood also? 
	This group of Levites was not satisfied with the position of service that they had. They wanted to receive greater acclaim within the nation of Israel. They set aside the place that God had given them and tried to force themselves into that which was not their service before God. They presumed to know, better than the Lord, what they could and should do. 
As we read in Prov 13:10, that attitude, as was so indicated by the Lord’s judgment upon Korah and those aligned with him, only leads to trouble. Prov 13:10, Through presumption comes nothing but strife, But with those who receive counsel is wisdom. 
    	Korah and his band of co-conspirators decided that they could do as well or better than Aaron and Moses as priests and leaders before the people. It did not matter to them that God had chosen these two men for His precise plan and purpose. They felt they were just as capable and just as holy and just as gifted to offer the sacrifices and the leadership required to enter into the Promised Land. Maybe they even thought that God would change His mind and let the people enter despite the nation’s apostasy and the death sentence that hung over all those 20 years of age and older. 
Whatever they thought, their presumption led to their violent demise as the earth opened up and swallowed them. For those 250 Levites who tried to offer the Lord their firepans filled with incense, they were burned up in the presence of His holy fire. This indicated that only the priestly order chosen by God could bring the sacrifices that honored and pleased and were acceptable before Him. The presumptuousness of these men led to their immediate demise before the sovereignty of the Most Holy and Just Lord God.
This episode, however, did not set aside the attitude which has been the plague of humanity’s old nature from the very beginning. It served to highlight its awful insinuation within the people of God. 
As recorded in Luke 22:24-26, Our Lord, Himself, had to deal with it even among His chosen disciples. Luke 22:24-26, And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest. And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called 'Benefactors.' "But not so with you, but let him who is the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as the servant. 
    	These disciples could not be satisfied with the reality that they were among the specific and select group of men to be taught firsthand by the very Begotten Son of the Father. They had to strive to gain some greater place of honor even within that small cadre. The Lord had to lay out the truth that to be the greatest meant to set aside this vicious attitude of selfhood and be the servant of all.
God’s estimation is not the superiority of any man over the other. It is set in the full heart that is willing to serve selflessly among any who are in need of help and care and encouragement and uplifting. 
	The Apostle Paul, as well, had to deal with this self-seeking attitude of contention for more than what the Lord appropriated throughout his letters to the churches. He sets before us the full measure of the truth that God does choose certain members of the Body for specific tasks as He so deems fit and necessary. Accordingly, we must never presume to take upon ourselves that which is not our calling before the church and most especially before the Lord. 
	Consider again that which we can read together in Rom 12:6-16, as the Apostle highlights the various gifts and the Lord’s use of those gifts as He so bestows. Rom 12:6-16, And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. 
    	Notice throughout this encouragement, the prevalent attitude that puts others first. It is not a place to exalt ourselves over our brothers and sisters in Christ because of some false sense of superiority and favor from God. It is all centered in the laying down of our lives. It is the use of the gifts and the skills given by God in order to help and to teach and to lift others up. We are to absolutely set aside any aspect that others are to serve us or elevate us because of some misguided sense of who we are. 
Rather, everything is in terms of how we can make their lives better than it is. We are to seek to offer whatever service we can to meet their needs. 
We endure everything that this world throws at us to be those people who can stand in the gap for the less fortunate. We endure the storms for the sake of those who are tossed to and fro. We are to persevere through the greatest pressures and onslaughts for the benefit of those who are oppressed and cowering in fear and anxiety. We bear what they cannot because that is the call of God’s blessing in our lives. This is all through the power and the love of Jesus Christ in us for the sakes of others.
	Again, let us read what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church at Philippi in Chapter 2, verses 3-11. Here the Apostle highlights how each one of us is to honestly look at ourselves and to regard others. 
Phil 2:3-11, Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 
	Here we have the greatest and most perfect example of what our lives are to be on this earth. The Very Son of God, the most excellent and faultless One, came to earth to die a most undeserved and ignoble death for you and for me. He set aside His Godhood in order to serve us. 
He is the One Who, Alone, deserves all praise and adoration and honor as the Creator of Heaven and earth, and yet He chose to not lord it over us, as was His perfect right. Instead, He chose to die the death of the cross, the most severe and painful of deaths so that you and I might have life everlasting. In the light of His example, we must never try to put ourselves above and before others, but rather be of service to the nth degree for their sake.
	The Writer to the Hebrews, in Heb 5:4-10, follows up with the same truth of the manner in which Christ was chosen as the ultimate High Priest by God the Father. It was not a position which He took to Himself, as was the plan of Korah and his followers. It was the place into which He was put by the Heavenly Father as the means of serving our needs for eternal redemption and sanctification. 
      	Heb 5:4-10, And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, "Thou art My Son, Today I have begotten Thee"; just as He says also in another passage, "Thou art a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek." In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. 
  	We conclude this morning with the writing of the Apostle John as he, also had to deal with this vile attitude of self-worth and superiority within the church in his third Letter, verses 9-11. 3 John 9-11, I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say. For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, neither does he himself receive the brethren, and he forbids those who desire to do so, and puts them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God. 
	This is the means by which we can measure the attitude that proceeds forth from our hearts and minds unto others. If there is any desire to put others down, or feeling that we are diminished because others are elevated, we need to seek after the Lord to work His ever more searching and perfecting work in us. We must never allow jealousy and evil intentions to dominate our focal view of others and their relation to us. 
Rather, there should be a manifested desire to be of complete and unrestricted service for the benefit of others and for their uplifting, doing good to all as the Lord so guides and directs our walk on this earth. In that, we are to find full satisfaction and contentment in the service unto which God has called and placed us. So be it!   
	Then Moses said to Korah, "Hear now, you sons of Levi, is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them; and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of Levi, with you? And are you seeking for the priesthood also? Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Ps 113:5-9. Who is like the Lord our God, Who is enthroned on high, Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in heaven and in the earth? He raises the poor from the dust, And lifts the needy from the ash heap, To make them sit with princes, With the princes of His people. He makes the barren woman abide in the house As a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord! Amen.