How David Restored True Worship In Israel - And How You Can Restore Yours Too - 2 Samuel 6:13-23 Series

Introduction: Establishing Corporate Worship in Israel

In our study of 2 Samuel we have arrived at some landmark chapters in chapters 6 and 7. In chapter 6 David is establishing worship in Jerusalem. That is something David cared deeply about – restoring worship in Israel. David’s personal, private worship was unparalleled. You can see that in his psalms. But he did not just care about private worship. He cared deeply about corporate worship.

Psalm 122:1 I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD."

Psalm 109:30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD; in the great throng I will praise him.

In Psalm 55:14 he speaks of his close friend…

Psalm 55:14 with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God.

David loved the thrill of lifting up his voice and having it drowned out by the voices of the multitudes praising God together. He loved the unity of it, and the way that it pointed to the supremacy of the Lord.

There is something about corporate worship that seems to amplify your private worship. If you are a big football fan, and you go to the big playoff game and in the closing seconds your team comes from behind and scores a touchdown to take the lead and 75,000 people leap to their feet with a roar so deafening that you cannot even hear yourself shouting – that is a little different than if you are the only fan in the stadium and you hold up your little foam finger and say, “yay.” David loved God and loved the name of the Lord and he wanted more than anything for it to be magnified and so he did all he could do to establish nation-wide praise. No other king in Israel ever did as much as David in establishing national worship. And he did not just do the big, high level organizational things. He did that sort of thing but he worked just as hard at addressing the individual hearts. David composed the core of the book of Psalms and taught the people how to worship from the heart in every circumstance of life. David restored the Ark to the nation’s capital after 70 years of neglect. He wanted to build a Temple, but God said no, so David assembled all the workmen and gathered all the material (1 Chrn. 22). Then he charged all the leaders of the nation to help in the work (1 Chrn. 22,28). He reorganized the Levites (1 Chrn. 23), then he reorganized the divisions of the priesthood (1 Chrn. 24), then he got the musicians organized (1 Chrn. 25), then the gatekeepers and treasurers and the rest of the personnel for the Temple (1 Chrn 26). David was passionate about corporate worship because he loved the name and renown of the Lord.

People always ask me if I like big churches or small churches. If you ask me what the ideal size of a church is, I do not know the answer to that. But if you ask me how many voices praising God together is too many my answer is there is no such thing as too many.

Review

2 Samuel 6 is about joy in the Lord. It is a chapter about David and Israel rejoicing in God with all their might. Their joyful worship in the presence of God as revealed in the Ark is something that has not taken place any time in a couple of generations. In this chapter God’s people soar through the sky on the wings of praise like an airplane that takes off for its first flight after sitting in the hanger for 70 years. And in the first half of the chapter the plane gets up to full speed on the runway, and then crashes on the runway in a giant fireball. To get a plane in the air you need both lift and thrust. They had plenty of thrust – the joy was certainly there, but they lacked reverence. For worship to get off the ground it needs both joy and reverence - both delight and fear, and if one of them is missing the plane won’t fly. Joy without fear of a holy God will just accelerate you into the side of a building somewhere. And reverence without joy will leave you just sitting there on the tarmac going nowhere.

They tried worshipping God with joy but without enough reverence to obey God’s Word. And right in the middle of their celebrating the presence of God, at the height of their joy and rejoicing the ox stumbled, the Ark started to slide, and Uzzah reached out to steady it, and God struck him down. All eyes were on this man, writhing, then twitching, then still. They called 911 – but it was too late. When God strikes someone dead there is no resuscitation and every bit of joy is instantly gone. The party is over, the celebration turns to grief – and then anger, and then fear. The ark is dumped, the plan is scrubbed indefinitely, and everyone just goes home.