“but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself”
(Phil 2:3, NKJV)
To recap – we are currently exploring the history of Korah and the inherent flaws of the current church structure we have grown accustomed to over the last few centuries, trying to figure out why and how it feeds rebellion. Korah presented three complaints. We are busy concluding the second one – “You take too much upon yourself.” We have seen that this is a very real problem within organised religion, mainly because of the artificial division of clergy and laity, and we explained the New Testament alternative – every born again individual is indeed a priest who fulfils a particular role in the Body of Christ. (We will later turn to what this role of priest entails.) In the last three teachings we stated that the Word is clear on the fact that it is the responsibility of ALL believers to shepherd one another, practically living out Christ’s love by ensuring that their fellow sheep are safe and well-fed.
Because of the perverted church system where this happened by chance, rebellion has found a way into the local church and Korah and his crown princes have a legitimate, albeit unrighteous, reason to justify their revolt.
The third accusation the spirit of Korah levels against spiritual authority is that of Num 16:3 – “Why do you set yourself above the LORD’s community?” (GNB). This accusation builds on the previous two, and is again, like the others, not a false statement in itself.
Here I would like to extensively quote from Phil 2:3-8 to discuss this important principle – “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”
One of the most important demonic foundations of our spiritual functioning is the notion of spiritual hierarchy. The wrongful distinction between clergy and laity has obviously fed this cancer, but it has spread much wider. We will discuss this in greater detail in the next couple of teachings.
- Sela: Ask the Holy Spirit to minister to you about this issue.
- Read: 2 Kings 18; Jer 19; 2 Cor 2
- Memorise: 2 Cor 2:14
