Many of the psalms have titles in the original Hebrew that either identified the author or the intended audience. The title of this 84th psalm reads: "for the Sons of Korah."

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We tend to remember people by either their last or worst act. People tend to forget that Judas Iscariot was chosen by Jesus Christ because he had spiritual potential. People forget that Judas Iscariot healed blinded eyes and baptized people in Jesus' name along with the other 70 disciples sent out by Jesus. We think of Judas Iscariot as a betrayer, but he didn't start out that way. He was on the right road until he became greedy, stubborn , and bitter. Because he betrayed Jesus, we tend to forget that he was a normal guy that allowed deception to enter into his relationship with God. The horrible ending of his life sort of makes us forget that he started out called and appointed of God.

That's how people remember Korah. Perhaps you have never heard of him, but to Bible scholars, he is well known and infamous because of the horrible way that he died. He didn't die by hanging himself, but rather by the ground opening up and swallowing him, then crushing him as it came back together. The name of Korah has become synonymous with rebellion, judgment, and God's anger. You do not want to follow in Korah's footsteps, so perhaps you'd better know more about him.

Korah lived in the time of Moses. In fact, Korah was first cousins with both Moses and Aaron. They had the same grandfather and all of them were from the same tribe of Israel, the Levites. All three were there when God performed the 10 fantastic plagues upon Egypt to convince the Pharaoh to set the Israelites free. All three men: Moses, Aaron, and Korah, witnessed the parting of the Red Sea and the Egyptian army's demise at the hand of Almighty God. All three were there when Mount Sinai shook as God revealed Himself to His people and began to instruct in the new laws that would govern them in the promised land. All three were called to a special place of ministry under the new dispensation and were to serve the people and God in the newly built tabernacle where the Shekinah presence of God dwelt. All three were to be spiritual leaders but in distinct ways. Moses was chosen as the pastor. He was the man that God had chosen to give the people spiritual direction through the wilderness and into the promised place. Moses heard from God to tell the people when to move and when to stop. He judged their everyday questions of the law. He stood between God and the people as the "mediator" or go-between. Aaron was the High Priest. It was he who would wear the golden ephod with 12 beautiful stones across the chest representing the 12 tribes of Israel. It was he who would ensure and head up the worship in the temple and offer the various sacrifices before God and the people. It was Aaron who had the coveted and essential role of officiating on the annual Day of Atonement. On that day, Aaron was the only man upon earth allowed to enter into the Holiest of Holies behind the veil and actually feel the presence of God. There he would sprinkle the blood of a sacrificial lamb or goat so that the children of Israel would be forgiven of their sin for one year. It was quite an important job because the salvation of millions of people literally depended upon Aaron and his sons getting performing their priestly duties to perfection. The High Priesthood would then pass from Aaron to his sons and down through their generations.

Korah was also given an important position in the house of God, albeit a much less "glamorous" one. Korah and his sons were in charge of several important duties. First, they were to be porters, or "doorkeepers" of the temple. One priest had to continually guard the entrance into the temple courtyard day and night so that someone could not enter into the house of God against the law. Only Jewish men were permitted to enter into the courtyard and then only if they brought a proper sacrifice. Throughout the day, the porter by the entrance made sure that those who entered were indeed Jewish and were equipped with the proper sacrifice before they were allowed to approach Aaron or his sons within the courtyard. This was the appointed ministry of Korah. He was also the "clean-up crew." It was his and his sons jobs to carry out the ashes from the altar at the end of the day and to remove the portions of the carcases that were not offered upon the altar from the camp. Korah also was given the somewhat tedious but very important task of cleaning up outside the door of the courtyard where the slaughtering took place so that the house of God did not stink or smell rank and was a pleasant place to visit. This was the MINISTRY chosen by God for Korah.

While I'm here, let me pause and say thank you to those who clean our church week in and week out, and those of you who always stay after activities to help mop and straighten up and to those of you who help cut and trim the grass. It IS a ministry and a blessing and is just as important to the well-being of our church as the preaching or Sunday School is. God blesses those who are faithful in the seemingly "small things." Those who are faithful of a few things will be made a ruler over many!

Moses, Aaron, and Korah. God was doing a new thing and these were the three men whom He had chosen to lead and guide His people in worship and life. All three men made mistakes. Moses got angry at the complaining of the people and disobeyed the commandment of God one day. Aaron listened to the racial jealousy of his sister against Moses and criticized Moses for marrying a woman of another race. Korah also rebelled but Korah's was much more serious than Moses and Aaron's mistakes. Moses was unable to enter into the promised land because of his mistake, but he still died right with God, having found forgiveness. Aaron saw God cause his sister's hand turn leprous and decided that racism wasn't for him. He got things right with God and his brother Moses and died right with God. In fact, another scripture later refers to him as "the saint of the Lord." But Korah died apart from God's mercy. He was swallowed up by the wrath of an Almighty God who was angry at his rebellion.

What did Korah do that was so horrible to cause him to lose out with God for eternity? What did he do so evil that God caused the earth to open up and swallow him? Korah looked at his ministry and compared it with those of Moses and Aaron's and he got jealous. He said "why does Moses get to be head dog?" "Why is Aaron the High Priest?" "I'm from the same family." "I'm from the same family and tribe." "I've witnessed the same things that they have." And so he found two other "like minded" individuals, named Dathan and Abiram, who were well known tribal chiefs among the Jewish people, and they began to murmur and complain and plot against the men that God had chosen to lead his people. They talked against Moses and Aaron to other people in the camp. "Moses and Aaron have taken too much upon themselves" they whispered. But they forgot that Moses nor Aaron called themselves, but rather that it was God that called those men to that position. And God had not made a mistake in what He had asked Moses and Aaron to do.

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The rebellion of Dathan and Abiram is easily understood although that does not make it right. Before God gave the law upon Mount Sinai, each tribe was governed by a "family leader." It had been that way since Noah's time. This "family father" was responsible for their families' spiritual direction. After Noah and on down through the time of Abraham, there was not one leader to whom all had to look for guidance. But when God handed down the laws to Moses, God made Moses a spiritual "pastor" over every family. Dathan and Abiram, who were the heads of their respective families, did not like submitting to another man in spiritual authority although they expected their wives and children to submit to them. So they murmured against Moses and against Aaron. They did not want to have to go to the house of God to bring their sacrifice. They did not like the fact that if Moses made a decision that they were to follow it.

Can I pause here and remind you that you need a pastor to be saved!? Ephesians 4:11 states that part of the ministry that God gave for the saving of the church is pastors. I'm not just preaching that to you because I am a pastor. I am not on some power kick today. Just because I am a pastor does not mean that I don't need a pastor, because I too must submit to spiritual authority to be saved. Submitting to authority is not a weakness but actually brings protection. You need to be accountable to someone for your actions. People who are not accountable to anyone are loose cannons. You need a man of God in your life. Men, don't expect your wives and children to submit to you or respect you if you do not submit or respect a man of God in your life. You are to be the priests of your homes; the spiritual leaders. That does not mean that you are King "Farouke" and Lord of your house. That does not make your spouse or children your personal slaves, running to fulfill your every wish and whim. That means that when your wife and children look at you, they ought to so see and feel the love of Jesus that they desire to become more like Him! That they follow you and trust you because they see that you are follow Him! It should be to follow you that they follow Jesus! If you have to demand respect or "prove" your position as man by ordering your family around or raising your voice or making snide comments about your wife, then you really are not in a position of authority. You are only fooling yourself. Leadership is teaching by example. Do your kids hear one thing from the pastor at church and another from your lips at home? Then you are not the spiritual leader of your home and are not fulfilling your God-called role as priest of your home. Does your wife and children see the Words of Jesus going this way and you going another and have to choose? Then you are not nearly the man that you think you are! A real man loves his wife as Christ loves the church, and shows them how to submit by submitting to his pastor and unto God. My wife has seen my pastor tell me to do something or not do something based upon what he felt was best for me and that was something that I did not necessarily like to do. She has seen me submit and obey -- without murmuring -- to my pastor. So in the times when I have had to make a decision that I felt best for our family that went against what she desired, she has always acted just as I acted to my pastor: she has obeyed without complaint or murmuring. Don't like the way that your wife responds to your "authority" then take a good look at how you are responding to the man of God in your life and his teaching and preaching. You'll usually find that they are the same. She is responding as you have taught her by your submission!

The sad thing is that many men refuse to believe the Word of God's teaching in this area. I'm not going to "lord" over you as a control freak, because I want you to submit to God in every area. How I treat you and respond to God is how that you will also act. But, yet, many people are like Dathan and Abiram who don't want to live what they expect from others. And it is sad because when the judgment of God came, and the ground opened up and swallowed the dissenters, the scriptures say that not only were Dathan and Abiram killed but their children were also consumed. Not one of their offspring were left alive. And it's the same way today. When a man refuses to submit to a man of God's preaching and teaching and chooses to do things "on his own" the world will always end up not only swallowing him, but usually his children as well! We need men who will stand up and say "I am going to be a man of power and prestige and I will fulfill my Godly role as priest of my home!" "I will lead my family in prayer." "I will lead my family in worship and faithfulness to the house of God." We need men who will show their wives and children how to submit to God's Word by example! Don't be like Dathan and Abiram! If you submit to God's Word and the man of God, then you will be blessed. If you rebel against God's Word and the man of God's teaching, then you will be cursed. Parents, choose to lead your family into blessings! When your children learn from your actions let them be placing themselves in a "set up" for a blessing from God! What are you setting your family up for? A blessing or a curse? I want my family to love God and to grow closer to Him! I want to set them up for a blessing, therefore I will submit myself to His Word!

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The sin of Korah was a bit different from Dathan and Abiram. He still had a very prominent place of leadership. The problem of Korah came because he began to despise his ministry. It did not get the glamour of Aaron's beautiful vest and offerings. It was the stinky and smelly work. He began to view his ministry as not really needful or important. He then began to desire the prestige of Moses' position. He began to desire the glory of Aaron's duties. He refused to be happy manning the door of God's house. He refused to find fulfillment in what he began to think of as "menial" tasks in the house of God. So he began to murmur and complain against Moses and Aaron. He found people with different motives but a like spirit and began to stir up rebellion within the camp of Moses. What was it exactly that caused Korah to become bitter? He was chosen of God just as Moses and Aaron were. Korah was an essential part of ministry and of the worship at the tabernacle. But Korah started only viewing "offerings" and sacrifices as worship. He stopped viewing his daily duties as worship. They were worship because Korah was just much a priest as Moses and Aaron and thus called to serve God in leading in worship. When Korah cleaned the ashes from the altar, it was just as much worship as when Aaron had stood earlier in the day and placed a flayed goat upon the fire and prayed. Korah's duties were worship, but he began to categorize some things in his mind as worship and other things as not worship. And he reached the place where he no longer viewed the "everyday" things of God as worship.

I'm preaching to some today that are making the same mistake of Korah. What pops into your mind when I mention worship? Is it throwing your hands in the air? Is it shouting among the pews? Is it clapping your hands to a snappy, upbeat praise tune? Those can be worship. They are modern day "sacrifices of praise." But outward motions in church is not the only worship to God. Paul told the Roman church:

God is looking for a much deeper worship than just outward manifestation of praise. We are commanded to present our bodies a "living sacrifice" that is holy, and acceptable unto God." To do so is our "reasonable service" or "the ministry which we have been called to fulfill." Did you know that by obeying the Word of God on Monday rather than living or acting as you always have, you are worshipping? Did you know that when the word of God teaches something, and you submit to it and change that area of your life, you are becoming a "living sacrifice" to God? It is worship! When I am given an opportunity to lose my temper and respond as I used to before I found this glorious message, and I choose to act like Christ, and bite my tongue, turn the other cheek, and give blessing in response to someone cursing me, I am worshipping God! It is just as much worship as if I were shouting a jig across the front of the church. I have become a "living sacrifice!"

When I choose to live, talk, act, respond, dress, and think like this sinful world does, then I am worshipping Jesus Christ no matter where I may be! But the problem comes when we don't realize that truth and begin to think like Korah did: "well, this is just a small area of my life, and I really don't want to change this, no matter what the scriptures may say." "I go to church, and I raise my hands, and I 'worship' God and I even feel God." "It's not going to matter if I go a little against God's Word or rebel a little in the week, after all I am a pretty religious person." That's thinking like Korah. You only view the outward sacrifice as worship, but God is trying to remind somebody today of the words of Peter:

If you are a born-again child of God, then you are a "chosen generation," "a royal priesthood." Did you get that? A royal "priesthood." In other words, you have been called of God just like Korah to serve God in worship! And that means much more than just outward praise, but it also refers to the "menial" tasks of living for God. How you act on Monday. How you respond to adversity on Tuesday. How you respond to your spouse on Wednesday. What your priority is on Thursday. Whether or not you submit your Friday's entertainment to the Word of God or not. Whether or not you pray or read your Bible on Saturday. Whether or not you come to one service or two on Sunday. The way you choose to live your everyday life is either worship or the lack thereof! It doesn't matter how small the command of God's Word may seem to you, to obey it is worship, and to not is to allow the Spirit of Korah to enter into your life.

I don't want anyone to misunderstand me, I'm not knocking outward worship. We need it. We are commanded to praise and worship God with emotion. If you are breathing, then you are commanded to clap your hands and shout unto God and dance before Him! It is a command of scripture (start at Psalms 150 for one scripture of many). And likewise, coming to church is important. To willingly not come to church is sin according to the scriptures which command us to "not forsake the assembling of ourselves together" (Hebrews 10:25). But my motive as a pastor is not to hound you week after week to force you to jump up and down and begin to make Sunday morning and Sunday evening and Wednesday night services a priority in your life. If I would hound those things, I would run some of you off, and probably talk some of you into being more faithful in them. But they are not my priority. My priority is that you willing submit your life as a living sacrifice unto God. That you live according to this Word outside the doors. That you allow your everyday actions and decisions to be based upon the Word of God. My goal is that someone would get a revelation of what true worship is. That you would realize that true worship is living every area of your life under the guidance and direction of God's Word and the Holy Ghost! The everyday things, Korah, ARE worship! The everyday things are just as important, or even more important than what you do on Sunday. Because if you don't take care of the everyday things, Korah, then eventually your sanctuary is going to reek of flesh! If you don't submit to God in worship through obedience of the everyday things, Korah, then others are not going to desire to come to know God the way that you worship! Korah, what you are doing everyday and consider the menial things, are very, very important sacrifices! They are true worship unto God!

And those who get the revelation that surrendering the small things in everyday life to God is true worship, do not have a problem with dancing before the Lord and clapping their hands to Him in a service! Those who are living the week long according to God's Word usually long for the part of the service where they can outwardly express their gratitude to God! A song leader does not have to force someone who is living every day as a living sacrifice to perform outward praise, because they are worshipping from the heart. They are excited to be in His presence! And they certainly don't have a problem with coming to church three times a week. In fact, those who are allowing God to change their everyday life, usually are not content with only Sundays and Wednesdays around God's people and at His house! They look for other opportunities to be more involved! Why? Because they are worshipping Him from their heart! They do not neglect the small things of living for God therefore the larger things are not even an issue! But people who have the spirit of Korah, have to be primed to worship. Everything has to "feel right" and work out just so for them to really put everything into it. And church attendance? That usually rates toward the bottom of their priorities. And I have largely stopped calling people when they are missing church. Because if it is habitual, it is an issue where they need to get a true revelation of worship! Being faithful is more worship than shouting on the communion table! And if you are faithful to God, you will have no problem praising Him! The faithful servant has no problem lauding his master!

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And so Korah didn't feel as if his duties were worship, so he grew jealous and resentful. Every day as he had to stand at the door of the courtyard, he seethed with anger. He got to the point where he hated to shovel the ashes and clean up the tabernacle. The thrill that he once felt at just being near the place where God dwelt was eaten up by his jealous indignation. And so he teamed up with Dathan and Abiram and they rebelled together against Moses and Aaron, and, in our text, we find that God considered it as rebelling against Him! You see, to rebel against the authority that God has placed in your life is to actually rebel against Him as well! And God commanded them through Moses to go stand in the doorways of their tents. They took their "censers" which was essentially a coal and ash shovel and they were to put coals of fire in their censer in the morning and then wait for God to decide upon whom He had chosen. The next morning, they all put on their fine priestly robes and took their personal censers which were full of coals from the altar of God and held them there. They placed incense upon the coals and Aaron did likewise. (This story is the subject of Numbers chapter 16.) Then God spoke to Moses and Aaron and told them to distance themselves from Korah and Dathan and Abiram. Suddenly the decision of God was revealed by the ground opening up under the rebellious leader's feet and they fell into the abyss, along with their tents and their belongings, and then the earth closed up leaving only their censers still resting upon the earth in front of Moses and Aaron. At the same time, fire shot out of heaven and consumed the 250 men that Korah and Dathan and Abiram had talked into rebelling with them. God's judgment was complete and final, and He soundly answered their rebellion!

The interesting point of the entire story is found in our text today and I have saved it for last because I wanted you to realize it's significance. God allowed the earth to completely consume Dathan and Abiram along with their families and children and belongings. The same happened likewise to Korah. But the SONS of Korah were not consumed nor destroyed. In fact, they took daddy's place in the temple. They became the porters and the doorkeepers. They became the guards by night. Instead of cursing them along with their daddy, God blessed the sons of Korah. It was a son of Korah who would later become one of the greatest prophets and leader of Israel that ever was, the prophet Samuel. That's right, Samuel was a descendant or "son of Korah" (I Chronicles 6:27-28, 33-38). And it was the Sons of Korah who in David's time were placed not only in leadership positions but who also became the musicians and singers and worship leaders in David and Solomon's temple! The attention and type of worship that Korah had longed for was exactly what the Sons of Korah became! If I want to emulate anyone, it is the sons of Korah! They were blessed and blessed mightily.

The question is "what did the Sons of Korah do different that caused God to not only spare them from the wrath that killed their dad, but also caused Him to bless them bountifully? The answer to that question is that the Sons of Korah did NOT have the same attitude toward the everyday aspects of worship that their father did. While dad was getting resentful shoveling ashes, his sons were loving it! While daddy was chomping at the bits to stand behind the altar as Aaron did, his sons were looking forward to the privilege of standing at the door. We know this from the 84th Psalm. It's subtitle in the Hebrew indicates that it was written by a distant "Son of Korah" for the Sons of Korah. I would like to actually read the entire Psalm to you as I close. It reveals the attitude that the Sons of Korah had to the everyday aspect of worship:

The key phrase is "I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." The Sons of Korah loved the things of God, even the "small" commandments, and the everyday tasks of living for God. They refused to classify it as unimportant! And they said "I would rather spend a day looking into the worship of the courtyard from afar than to dwell in the tents of wickedness with our father!" Your worship is more than just raising your hands and shouting unto God. Your worship includes how you spend your time, how you live your everyday life, how you speak and respond, and whether or not every aspect of your life is governed by the Word of God. God wants you to be a "living sacrifice." Fall in love with the "small" "menial" "everyday" things of God! Fall in love with true worship! Be like the Sons of Korah! And see if God does not bless you!

I close with the most famous words from the most famous son of Korah, the prophet Samuel:

The Sons of Korah had a revelation about the things of God that we must strive to get! Obeying His Word is much more important than a temporary sacrifice. God is not interested in what you have done for Him, if there is an area of your life that you have not allowed Him into! You can give a sacrifice of time, of all your money, and of even outward praise, and yet not truly worship Him by surrendering yourself as a living sacrifice! The Sons of Korah understood that; they couldn't help but be blessed! It not only saved them from destruction but elevated them to the leaders of worship! We must be as the Sons of Korah! We must change our attitude to match that of the 84th Psalm: it was written "for the Sons of Korah!" If you are a spiritual Son of Korah today, it will have struck a chord in your spiritual man!