A THANKFUL HEART OF WORSHIP - Returning the Presence of God to Worship
November 18, 2018
2 Samuel 6:12-23 (p. 212) *Start with v. 12-15
Introduction:
Francis Chan in his book “Letters to the Church,” tells about a conversation he had with his daughter about her birthday party…it goes like this:
I asked my daughter how many kids would come to her birthday party if all we offered was cake. No games, no entertainment. They could come to the house to spend time with her and bring gifts to celebrate her, but we wouldn’t have anything else for them. She thought for a minute and said, “Maybe just a couple.” Then I asked her how many would come if I rented out Dave & Buster’s and let them have unlimited tokens, food and prizes. She laughed and said confidently that the whole school would show up.
So let’s say that for her birthday party I rent out the arcade and her whole school comes. They’re all going nuts, having the time of their lives. Imagine if I pulled her aside during the party, put my arm around her, and said, “Look at all the people who came to be with you!” Would she actually believe those people were there because they love her and want to spend time with her? Or would my comment actually be insulting?
Isn’t this basically what we do with God? We have learned that we can fill church buildings if we bring in the right speaker or band. Make things exciting enough and people will come. We say “God, look how many people are coming because they love being with You!” But do we really think God is fooled by this? Do we think God is pleased? He knows how many would show up if it was just Him. He knows there might be only a few if all we offered was Communion or prayer.
Most of us do this out of good motives, I think. We are just trying to get people to show up to His party. But based on everything you read in Scripture, does that seem like what Jesus would want? Again, if God had it His way, would He really want a bunch of churches desperate to entertain? Or would He want to be the reason people were coming, even if that meant a much smaller number of people?
A.W. Tozer said something really powerful about worshipping God. He said, “Nothing can save a meeting held in the name of an absentee God.”
Folks, I’m not saying that flashing strobe lights are evil, or that six background singers and amazing multimedia presentations are the work of Satan…but if the reason we show up for the worship party is for any other reason than Jesus then eventually we will create attenders, and consumers instead of worshippers…We begin to believe worship is confined to an hour on Sunday mornings.
The early church was built on the things that pleased God the most…His teaching, a powerful family dynamic, prayer and the Lord’s Supper…They were so powerfully connected to a risen and living Savior, it permeated their community of faith and their everyday lives.
So, what happens when the church begins to drift from doing the things that please God to the things that please people?
What happens when we make the experience of Sunday morning more important than His presence?
What we win people with is what we will have to keep them with. If our devotion isn’t to the core principles of God’s Word, His family, the Lord’s Supper and prayer, we will create consumers instead of making disciples.
“In our impatient culture we will create churches that want to experience biblical awe without biblical devotion.” (Francis Chan LTTC pg. 56)
In our text this morning King David is committed to restoring the presence of God among His people…The Ark of the Covenant has fallen into the hands of the Philistines and been held captive for 7 months…by the way, during that time God punished the Philistines with tumors and some horrible diseases…and David goes to war with them, defeating them and rescuing the Ark of the Covenant…It’s brought back to the outskirts of the land of Judah…to a man named Abinadab’s house…
Remember the Ark of the Covenant isn’t just some gold covered box containing Moses’ commandments with 2 angels on top of it with outstretched wings…2 Samuel 6:2 says, “This is the ark of God, which is called by the Name…the Name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the Ark.”
That place between the Cherubim was called “The Mercy Seat.” It’s where the presence of God rested…Inside the ark were the tablets of the law, Aaron’s rod, and a jar of manna…It was designed to be carried by the priests with poles. But the presence of God wasn’t to be taken lightly…His presence led them through the wilderness, brought victory over their enemies and parted the waters of the Jordan as they entered the Promised Land…God had warned His people about His holiness…and its power so when His warning was disregarded, there were consequences.
I. IT’S DANGEROUS TO COME BEFORE GOD ON OUR OWN TERMS
2 SAMUEL 6:3-9 (p. 211)
They hastily build a new cart to carry the ark…it’s not designed by God to be carried by a cart…It’s fitted with rings and poles and was to be carried on the shoulders of the priests.
But they are in a hurry so they place the ark on a cart carried by animals.
King David and all Israel are celebrating…the band is rockin’ it…castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums, cymbals…but the cart hits a rock…the ark sways and Uzziah grabs the ark to steady it…God’s anger burns…and Uzziah drops dead…the celebration turns instantly into a fearful funeral procession.
David’s afraid of the Lord…why…because sinful flesh can’t touch the holiness of God and live…You can’t carry God around on your terms…He’s angry because he’s guilty…Uzziah’s dead because David did it his way instead of God’s.
Bring all the musicians and the crowds you want, but if you don’t respect the presence of God and His holiness it's not worship, it's dangerous.
My fear is that we approach God in much the same way today…We want to carry Him on our terms and not His.
Because of this rash decision, the ark of God was left at the home of a man named Obed-Edom for 3 months…God tremendously blesses this home.
David hears of this and knows he must bring the glory and holiness of God back to the capitol city.
So he carefully researches how it should be done…I’m sure Uzziah’s death is on his mind…
The priests carry the ark with poles upon their shoulders, six steps at a time, and then they set it down and offer sacrifices to the Lord…
Six steps…blood is shed…the sacred presence of God is worshipped…It’s hard to even imagine the intensity of this journey to Jerusalem…I promise you it took more than an hour…
Please understand the Ark of the Covenant is the Old Testament’s picture of what happens to followers of Christ in the New Testament…Because of the shed blood of Christ we are saved…and the presence of God no longer rests on the mercy seat of the Ark…the presence of God fills the believer…A tent doesn’t house God’s presence…our bodies become that tabernacle…That temple in which God dwells.
The Apostle Paul reminds the Corinthians and us…“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” (1 Cor. 6:19-20)
Not just on Sundays (but every single day as we offer our bodies as living sacrifices). How many steps do we take without worshipping Him?
How often do we flippantly put God in a Sunday box and leave Him out of our daily worship…And even that Sunday box has very little power because it's more about our party than Him?
Isn’t it time we celebrate the presence of God more than we worry about what other people think?
I love that David is not dressed as a King but wearing a linen ephod…no battle gear…worship gear and He’s dancing before the Lord with all his might…Question: Have you ever done something with all your might? Left it all on the field…or court…or ministry? He’s not alone either…All Israel is bringing up the ark of the Lord…with shouts and the sounds of trumpets…
Listen:
2 SAMUEL 6:16-23 (p. 212)
Let me ask this question…
II. WHY WOULD ANYONE DESPISE OUR WORSHIP OF GOD?
This all comes down to the fact that Michal is Saul’s daughter…She is a King’s daughter…she grew up as a royal…she knew how kings were supposed to act…dignified…reserved…separated from the common folks…the little people.
She watches David leap and dance with the people…including the servants…and the daughter of Saul despises him to the core.
When David comes home to bless his family he’s met with these words…
“How the King of Israel has distinguished himself today…going around half naked in full view of slave girls as any low life would!!!”
You remember the Pharisees right…The religious royals in Jesus’ time? Their expectation of the coming King, the Messiah was vastly different than what they saw in Jesus.
Jesus welcomed everyone to worship God…with Him…and to worship Him as God…“When they saw this they despised Him enough to plot to kill Him…”
“Why does He eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? If He knew what kind of woman she is…a sinner…He would never let her touch Him…why would He have anything to do with a 5 time divorcee whose living with a guy and talk to her about true worship…She’s a Samaritan!!!
Maybe because He knew this truth: “A time is coming and now has come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth. For they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.” (John 4:23)
David says, “Michal, God chose me, not your father or anyone from his house…Because of that I will celebrate before the Lord.”
“I will become even more undignified than this…I will be humiliated in my own eyes but those servant girls you mentioned…they will hold me in honor.”
What would happen if our worship of God affected the world more than religious royals? What would happen if we became undignified for God on the streets…celebrating God’s presence with the “sinners and lost” more than “doing worship on Sunday mornings” in the “proper way.”
I’ll tell you what would happen…the church would birth lots of children instead of being barren to it’s death…
The presence of God doesn’t rest on a mercy seat on top of a box anymore…
The presence of God dwells in God’s people…A people who according to Peter are:
“A chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, so that they can declare the praises of Him who called them out of darkness into His wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)
