Undignified Worship
2 Samuel 6:12 – 23
In the early 1900’s, there was a little boy who lived out in the country who dreamed of being able to see a circus. He had heard great things from his friends about the circus, but he had never been to see one. One day, the boy was excited to find out that a circus was indeed coming to town, so he asked his father if he could go. His father agreed to the request as long as all of the chores were done. When the morning arrived, the child woke up early and finished all of his chores, so he went to his dad for the dollar bill he would need to get in. His dad gave the boy the bill and sent him into town to see the circus.
As the boy reached town, he began to notice that people were lining the streets. Finding a place to squeeze in, he watched the parade of those who were going to appear in the circus. The animals went by on foot and in cages. The ringmaster bowed to applause. A marching band came by and played some music. Finally, a clown brought up the end of the line. Reaching into his pocket, the boy took that single dollar and gave it to the clown. Before the clown could reply, the boy turned around and went home.
Why had the boy given the clown the dollar? The boy thought he had seen the entire circus when in fact he had only seen the parade. He was impressed with what he saw, but he only experienced a portion of the great things the circus had to offer. There was so much more that he missed out on.
I think this same thing happens in church as well. We come with the intent of worshipping, but all we see is the parade. We see the worship leader, the words to the songs, friends, and the pastor. When the service is over, we are satisfied with all that has gone on, but we have missed the most extraordinary part. We missed an intimate time of deep worship with God. That is what church is to be about.
Last week, we talked about some non-negotiables that we need to have in our worship times according to the Bible. Our worship must be God-centered, excellent, passionate, celebratory, reverent, and diverse. This is the first step in having worship that is pleasing to God. The next step is to go deeper. We must develop a personal and intimate bond with God in worship. To do that, we must become undignified, and to learn what that is, we must look to Scripture. Turn with me to 2 Samuel 6:12-23.
Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went down and brought the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sounds of trumpets. As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart. They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the Name of the Lord Almighty. Then, he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes. When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!” David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel – I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.” And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.
This morning, we need to dive deeper. We need to come to an understanding of what it means to be undignified before the Lord so that we can be closer to God in our worship times. If we don’t get deeper, we will be settling for the parade when God has a grand circus planned. Let’s ask the Lord to bless our time.
Undignified Worship Involves A Physical Aspect
I don’t know if this show is still on, but before we moved here I caught it a couple of times. It is on VH1 and it is called “Motor Mouth”. The basic premise of the show is this. They put hidden cameras in unsuspecting cars, and then, the motorists are caught on tape as they drive down the road listening to the radio. The results are hilarious. People sing at the top of their lungs with varying degrees of talent. Most people do some sort of funny dance or movements. Many of them sing out the windows of their vehicles to complete strangers passing by.
Now, I can relate to this show because I would probably be a good contestant in it. When I am driving by myself, or even with others I know well, I am known to sing goofy songs and do a little dance in the car. I don’t think I am the only one. You have either done it yourself, know someone who does it, or have seen a complete stranger doing it as they drive past you. We get caught up in the music and in the moment, so when no one is looking, we let our hair down so to speak.
When we gather for a church service, music is an important part of the worship time. We sing a hymn to start, a couple of choruses, and a hymn at the end. Some of the same people that rock out in their car to meaningless songs come into the church and sing in a dignified, sophisticated way. The movement and dancing of the car have been replaced by a stiff and rigid posture. What happens between the car and the sanctuary?
As David attempted to bring the ark back to the city the first time, he acted a lot like we do in church. Instead of doing things the way God wanted them done by carrying the ark on poles, he decided to use a cart because it would require a lot less effort. He also decided that he would just walk in front of the cart singing praises to God. As he tried this method, the cart began to fall and was caught by Uzzah, and Uzzah was instantly killed because no one was to touch the ark. So, the ark rested in the house of Obed-Edom for a spell until David decided to get it right. He put a little more effort into it, and he began to dance before the Lord with all his might. He didn’t care what anyone thought because this is what the Lord desired. The Lord desired for David to move beyond singing and to get physical with his worship.
When we get physical with our worship, we are doing a number of things. We are involving more parts of our body in the act of worship. This allows passion to be released in new and exciting ways. We are saying to God that we are willing to use everything He gave us for His glory. David stripped of his robe which would restrict his movement and danced. Maybe we need to do a bit of dancing. We could at least give up a clap or raise our hands or sway side to side. God is pleased when we get physical in our worship because we are moving beyond just words. We are no longer just saying we love and adore him. We are showing him this as well. If we can get undignified in our cars because we are inspired by a song, surely we can get undignified and physical in our worship in church as we are inspired by an Almighty Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Undignified Worship Involves A Bit of Foolishness
In every recent poll I have seen about fears, the results are all the same. When people are asked what they fear the most, the top two answers are always the same. The number two fear people have is dying. Can you guess what number one is? The number one fear people have is speaking in public. When asked why they fear this, most of the people responded that they were afraid of looking foolish to all of these people.
If you think about it, we have all been afraid of looking foolish at one point in our lives. It’s the fear of foolishness that keeps us from raising our hand in the fourth grade because our answer might be wrong. It’s the fear of foolishness that kept us from asking a certain person out on a date because they might have said no. It’s the fear of foolishness that keeps us from taking a certain duty in the church because we may fail. It’s the fear of foolishness that keeps us from praying for a miracle or sharing our faith. It’s the fear of foolishness that keeps us from worshipping God the way we could and should.
We are all afraid of appearing foolish, but God will call each and every one of us to be foolish some time in our Christian lives. He called Noah to build a boat in the desert, and it had never even rained yet. Sarah looked foolish making maternity clothes at age 90. The Israelites looked foolish marching around the strong walls of Jericho blowing their trumpets. David looked foolish walking before Goliath with a slingshot. The Wise Men seemed foolish chasing after a distant star. Peter was foolish to step out of a boat to walk on water. And Jesus looked foolish hanging half-naked on a cross.
All of these people were willing to look foolish when God called them to be foolish. Why does God call us to foolishness? He calls us to foolishness to see how much we really do trust Him. Are we willing to put aside our pride and reputation to trust that God has a perfect plan for us? God calls us to foolishness to build up our faith and to strengthen us. He wants to see if He is really number one in our lives, or are we going to hold on to our dignity instead. If we truly want to worship, we must be willing to be a little foolish.
One of the words in Hebrew that means worship is “hallal”. When this word is translated literally, it means “clamorously foolish”. In other words, foolishness is at the heart of worship. After all, we are singing to a God we cannot see and raising our hands toward someone we cannot touch. Foolishness is at the heart of worship! We must put aside the opinions of others and worship God with all our body, soul, and spirit no matter how foolish it may seem at the time. Worship is supposed to be our response to God, not our show before man. We must put aside our pride and trust God no matter what He leads us to do.
David knew he had to dance before the Lord with all his might. There was no other option. To do this, he had to take off his kingly robe and dance in a revealing ephod. It would be like us dancing around in our undergarments. It seemed like foolishness at the time, but it was what the Lord required. Because of David’s actions, the ark was brought into the city and all the Israelites were blessed because of it. David also gained the respect of the slave girls that saw Him. And God gave David the best compliment of all by giving him the title, “a man after God’s own heart.” This undignified, foolish worship turned into a boatload of blessings.
Undignified Worship Will Often Be Criticized
When we finally get physical and a bit foolish in our worship, don’t expect everyone to be as excited as you about it. When the Holy Spirit gets us fired up, it will disrupt the status quo. In doing this, some people will be inspired by what God is doing in your life, but others will be convicted. Most people will try to mask their personal conviction by trying to find something to criticize. Nine times out of ten, criticism is a defense mechanism. We criticize in others what we do not like about ourselves.
Things were no different for David. He was the newly crowned King of Israel. He had a reputation to build and protect. He had a crown to represent. Kings don’t disrobe and dance – shepherd boys do that. His wife Michal knew all of this since she had grown up as a King’s Kid. She knew how her father acted and what a King was supposed to be like. So, Michal was infuriated when she saw her husband doing such a foolish act. She confronted her husband and disapproved of his actions.
David did not become discouraged however. I love his response to her. “I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes.” David did not care about the opinions of the naysayers. He did not care about those who were critical of his worship. His only concern was that his worship would be pleasing in the sight of the Lord.
We need to have the attitude of David as we worship. We must come to the point where we forget about what other people will think and just worship. We must come to the point where we don’t care what other people will say about us because what we do is for the Lord and not for them. We must come to the point where we are willing to become even more undignified before the eyes of men to please the Lord.
This was not an easy sermon to prepare, because over the years, I found it more and more difficult for myself to be undignified. After all, now I am a pastor. What will people think if I put in a great worship song and do a dance for the Lord? What will people say if I go out on a limb and give a word of prophesy? What will people do if I lower myself to go into a bar to share the Word of God to people who truly need to hear it? This morning, it’s time for our pride to die. It’s time that we put God first and become undignified. I hope you will make the commitment to become more physical in your worship. I hope you will make the commitment to become a little foolish in your worship in order to please the Lord. I hope you will make the commitment to not put the opinions of others above the will of God. God has great plans of intimate worship with you if only you will become a little more undignified. I pray that you will lay down your pride and see what God has for you on the other side. Let us pray.
