Today is the 2nd installment in this series from the life of David. If you’re following the Scriptures, you’re going to notice we’re skipping more than we’re looking at. And, you’re going to notice that once again, David is like us – in his life there are shining moments, and there are flaming failures. There are times when David really is living up to the way God described him – a man after God’s own heart – a man who’s really in tune with what God wants and who carries it through. Then there are the times when he just doesn’t seem to concern himself with what God wants.
I’d like to point out 2 different ways God tells us what He wants us to do - 2 voices through which God pronounces His will: precepts and principles.
Precepts are found especially in the OT. They’re direct commands, sometimes to a specific person or people or time. For instance, the 10 commandments – God gave these to Israel. They’re specific and part of the 613 commands of the Old Covenant. The Jews were to keep these by the letter, but behind them are the principles that not only the Jews were supposed to keep, but you and I as well. When a sign says “Speed limit 35 MPH,” that’s a precept. Now, behind that precept is a principle, “Drive at a safe speed.”
Jesus gave a precept, a very direct, specific command, to a rich young ruler who was wanting to know what he should do for eternal life: “Go, sell all that you have and give it to the poor, then come follow Me.” That’s a precept. It was a specific command, given for that rich young man’s specific situation in life, but the principle behind it applies to all of us: Make following Jesus a priority over material stuff.
Too often we live like not having a long list of precepts means God hasn’t told us what to do. The Lord doesn’t give me a precept about the job I’m supposed to work at, but He does give me principles that tell me that job needs to be something other than being a drug dealer or a prostitute. Nowhere did the Bible ever say, “Sherm is supposed to date and marry Carrie Hart,” but it did tell me what kind of woman to look for, how to relate to her, and how marriage is supposed to look.
Understanding the difference between principles and precepts is important, especially if we’re going to take anything home from the story we’re going to be looking at today. It’s a story about God’s precepts and principles and what happens when we do or don’t keep them.
You remember the story of David and the Ark, don’t you? Yes, that’s David and the ark…
(I. God Gives Them… )
It actually starts a long time before when God told Moses to build an ark – “box.” The instructions were very specific – in other words, it was a precept. It was to be made of acacia wood, and would have been about 19 cubic feet, almost 4 X 2 ½.” It was to be covered with gold inside and out. It had to be special. It would house the stone tablets containing the 10 Commandments. On the top were 2 gold cherubim (angels), facing each other, with their wings spread upward and touching each other on the tips. This part of the Ark, called the “Mercy Seat,” is where God would display His actual presence. In Exodus 25 He told Moses, “There I will meet with you…”
There was one other feature to the Ark – 4 rings made of gold; one on each corner, and 2 long poles covered with gold and set inside the rings to carry the Ark. The poles were never to be removed. In fact, when the Ark is placed in Solomon’s temple, the poles stuck out
Now, this was a lot of detail, but it mattered very much, because the Ark was the core of Jewish worship. Every year, faithful Jewish men would travel to Jerusalem because there, in Jerusalem was the temple, and there, in the temple, was the innermost place called the Holy of Holies, and there, inside the Holy of Holies, was the Ark – God’s presence. It doesn’t surprise me that God gives some very specific instructions about that Ark.
Understand – God has given us all precepts and principles by which to live. They touch on every area of life
• who we marry and what our marriage should be like
• how children should relate to parents, and parents should relate to children
• our thought life
• the words we speak
• what we place before our eyes
• how we should do our work
• how we should live in the household of God (the Church)
• what we should do with our material wealth
• how we’re to use time
• the way we treat our bodies
• the way we regard the poor
God gives us precepts and principles by which to live.
There were some other precepts God gave concerning the Ark:
(Numbers 4:5) When the camp is to move, Aaron and his sons are to go in and take down the shielding curtain and cover the ark of the Testimony with it.
(Numbers 4:15) After Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy furnishings and all the holy articles, and when the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites are to come to do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things or they will die. The Kohathites are to carry those things that are in the Tent of Meeting.
(Numbers 4:19b-20) Aaron and his sons are to go into the sanctuary and assign to each man his work and what he is to carry. But the Kohathites must not go in to look at the holy things, even for a moment, or they will die.
Now, these may not seem overly relevant, but they are for the rest of the story. It’s kind of like A Christmas Carol when Dickens starts it out by saying, “Jacob Marley was dead. You must understand this.” These were the precepts for taking care of the ark. You must understand this.
So, Israel did this. Whenever they moved the Ark, they did it the way God told them. It was in this way that the priests carried the ark up to the banks of the flooded Jordan River, and when their feet hit the waters, it parted. It was in this way that they carried the Ark around Jericho 13 times, and the walls collapsed. When it came to something as holy as the Ark of the Covenant, God gave some very specific instructions – precepts. How God is to be worshiped, how we are to relate to Him, is very important in His sight.
(II. For Us to Keep…)
The Ark traveled around with Israel in the desert for 40 years. It traveled with them right on into the Promised Land. Jerusalem hadn’t yet become the center of worship. Instead, the Ark was kept in the city of Shiloh, about 20 miles north of there. In I Samuel 4 we read about how the Ark was captured during a battle with the Philistines. Then, it was recovered and kept in the house of a man named Abinadab in Kiriath Jearim. Think of it – the most holy of all objects of worship – the place where God is – and it’s being kept in Abinadab’s garage! This went on for 60 years! All during the time Saul was king, there it sat. But David wanted better worship for the Lord. David prepared a place in Jerusalem to keep the Ark and said to Israel “Hey, let’s get the Ark!”
2 Samuel 6:1-5 David again brought together out of Israel chosen men, thirty thousand in all. He and all his men set out from Baalah of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark. They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.
Quite the parade! 30,000 people; music; celebration. The Ark is riding on a brand new cart. Ahio is in front; Uzzah in back. Sounds good. It seemed good. But God gives us His precepts for us to keep. Maybe there was a pothole. Maybe there were too many rocks in the road.
2 Samuel 6:6-7 When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The Lord's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.
I picture this scene like you scene in a movie when the music is blaring, people are dancing, and suddenly, it sounds like someone unplugged the record player:
God gives us His precepts for us to keep. When we break them, we should expect there will be consequences.
You’ve heard, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” That’s great advice when it comes to dealing with life’s little stresses. But sometimes we need help sorting out what is and what isn’t “small stuff.” Disregarding God’s precepts about how to treat holy things was no small stuff.
Ill - Jesus included this in a parable about a wedding feast in Mt 22. A king threw a wedding banquet for his son. When he came in to see the guests, there was a man there who wasn’t wearing the wedding garment. In 1st Cent. Palestinian weddings, every guest would be given a wedding garment as they came in the door. It was just part of the deal as a guest. For some reason, this guy had decided he wasn’t going to wear his. (Matthew 22:11-13) when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
When we accept God’s invitation to fellowship – when we come into His presence to worship – it’s no small matter. We can’t approach God on our own terms and disregard what God has said is the right way to do that. Jesus said that to properly worship God it has to be done in spirit and in truth. Well, David and Israel was worshiping God in spirit that day – they weren’t just going through the external motions – they were worshiping God with their whole selves. But they weren’t worshiping in truth. They weren’t worshiping according to what God clearly had ordered. And it cost Uzzah his life.
Notice David’s reaction: (2 Samuel 6:8-11) Then David was angry because the Lord's wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah. David was afraid of the LORD that day and said, "How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?" He was not willing to take the ark of the LORD to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed him and his entire household.
Angry. Afraid. Not willing. Like a child. Don’t we all tend to respond this way when we disobey and get burned? But what’s David’s problem? He didn’t obey. God has spelled out some things so clearly: don’t do this or you’ll hurt; do this or you’ll be hurt. So, what do we choose? We choose the wrong thing and what happens? Pain, anger, frustration, pouting. If only we would accept that God’s precepts are for us to keep we’d learn what David learned: that they are there…
III. To Keep Us Free…
When God’s ways of doing things are honored, there’s actually a great freedom.
3 months after the Uzzah disaster, David’s ready to try again. Sometime in that 3 months, David has been checking the instruction book on this thing. This time, he gives attention to the “small stuff.”
1 Chronicles 15:2 Then David said, "No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the LORD chose them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister before him forever."
1 Chronicles 15:13,15 It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the LORD our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.
15 And the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the LORD.
The other account of this same event is recorded in our text for today, II Samuel 6.
(2 Samuel 6:12-14) 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 up 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,
This time there is no cart. The only animals are there to be sacrifices. Isn’t it amazing what a difference shoulders and poles can make? What has happened? David has made a conscious effort to keep the Lord’s precepts – to bind himself with them – and now, he’s free to dance!
Look at v14 again. This is the picture of a person who’s living inside of God’s precepts and principles. As the NASV puts it he’s “making merry” – to the point that his wife sees it and doesn’t understand it at all. She’s offended. But David was freed because of his obedience.
So, notice what has happened here: what gets us from Uzzah zapped dead at the threshing floor of Nacon, David upset and afraid outside Jerusalem to the huge victory parade and David celebrating before the Lord with all his might? Attention to obedience.
We get so off-base about what it means to be free.
“I can’t wait till I’m 18 and move away. I’ll be free”
“If I get just quit having to keep the safety rules, I’d get so much more done.”
“If I were just free to look at what I wanted to look at, life would be so much more satisfying.”
“If I could just find a church that lets me believe what I want to believe – one that doesn’t try to restrict what I do – then I’d be happy.
Ill – I’ve mentioned our dog Buddy. Buddy likes to run, but he lives inside our backyard fence. To him, getting beyond the fence is the ultimate in freedom. Every time the gate opens, he’s ready to go. And that has happened a few times when it wasn’t supposed to. So, let’s say he gets out. Is he free? Well, yes, until he gets hungry and there’s no food, or he gets scared and doesn’t have us around to comfort him, or he tries to cross the street and gets hit by a car. Then he’s not as free as he thought he would be.
We too often accept the lie that being free means stepping outside of obedience. The fact is, real freedom can come only when we give attention to obedience. Life is the freest when it’s lived within God’s design.
• Someone’s always looking over his shoulder, straining to remember the last lie so that the next one will match it. How do you get such a person to peace and relief from stress and worry? Living by God’s precept to not lie.
• A person’s suffering from stress over money and getting into a bottomless pit financially. How does that person get to a place of being financially responsible and trusting in the Lord to provide? Living by God’s principles of good stewardship.
• Someone’s sneaking around, telling lies, and always being afraid of being found out. How does that person get to a fulfilling and guilt-free marriage? Living by God’s precepts of marital faithfulness.
• Some person’s always damaging others, getting into trouble at work and at home, and ruining relationships. How can he change to being appreciated and known as a person of good character? Learning to live by God’s principles about controlling anger.
• Find someone who’s always living in guilt and the fear of an unplanned pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease. How does a person like that become one with no more worry like that and no more guilt over it all? Living by God’s precepts about sexual purity.
• Take someone who’s always trying to be good enough to make it to heaven and never sure. Maybe that’s you. How do you get to the point of confidence in Jesus and His grace to save you? Understanding and living God’s principles that bring salvation.
Conclusion:
(Psalms 119:45) I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.
Maybe the day that David was in the Ark parade into Jerusalem he could say, “Today, I can dance in freedom, because finally I have sought out your precepts.”
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – God doesn’t give us His guidelines for life to suppress and shackle us. He gives them to us for the sake of keeping us free from things that hurt us. Life is the freest when it’s within God’s design. There’s freedom in obedience – great freedom.
Jesus was speaking to a group of skeptical Jews who already thought they were free when He said,
(John 8:34-36) "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Today, no matter how free you feel or how free you want to be, there’s only one way to be free indeed. That freedom comes when you conform your life to what the Lord has intended for it.
