Enthusiastic Worship
II Samuel 6
Nearly two hundred and fifty years ago the founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, printed a hymnbook. At the beginning of the book he included these "Directions For Singing":
1. Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.
2. Sing them exactly as they are printed here without altering or mending them at all.
3. Sing all. See that you join with a congregation as frequently as you can, let not a slight degree or weariness hinder you.
4. Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength.
5. Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation so that you may not destroy the harmony.
6. Sing in tune. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it, do not run before or stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move there exactly as you can; and take care not to sing too slow.
7. Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing.
Singing is just one of the ways we have to express joy and excitement in our worship to the Lord. We believe that it is good to praise the Lord with devotion and enthusiasm. How would we do this? In addition to singing, people who are enthused may: smile, laugh, shout, make music on an instrument, jump up and down, dance, party or play. We think that all of these are appropriate as worshipers praise the Lord with enthusiasm.
In this regard, it’s interesting to note that around the same time as he published the hymnbook, Wesley also preached a sermon he titled, "The Nature of Enthusiasm". (Sermon XXXII) The starting text for this 39 point sermon was Acts 26:24, "And Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself."
Here’s an excerpt from points 11 an 12 of Wesley’s sermon: "As to the nature of enthusiasm," Wesley said, "it is . . . a species of madness; of madness rather than of folly: seeing a fool is properly one who draws wrong conclusions from right premises; whereas a madman draws right conclusions, but from wrong premises. And so does an enthusiast suppose his premises true, and his conclusions would necessarily follow. Every enthusiast, then, is properly a madman. Enthusiasm in general may then be described in some such manner as this: a religious madness arising from some falsely imagined influence or inspiration of God; at least, from imputing something to God which ought not to be imputed to Him, or expecting something from God which ought not to be expected from Him." He then went on to catalogue a number of sorts of enthusiasm.
This of course may surprise us, seemingly contradicting the idea that it is good to praise the Lord enthusiastically - we have come to believe that enthusiasm is a good thing. However, it’s understandable that there would be some ambivalent feelings about this matter. There are many in the church who believe that when we worship there should be a quiet, peaceful atmosphere - we should be serious and reverent. To think of worship in terms of joyful, enthusiastic, exuberant, expressions - hand clapping, loud rhythmic praise songs, shouting, laughing and even partying - that would be out of the question. People who feel such to be unholy, could point to the OT story of the worship of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32). Describing what happened during the time when he was on the mount with God, Moses wrote, "And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up to play." (Exodus 32:6) The Apostle Paul, referring to this story, called them idolaters. (I Corinthians 10:7)
However, the problem with the Old Testament wilderness worshippers was not "how" they worshipped, but "who" they worshipped. They were worshipping the god of Egypt, claiming they had been delivered from bondage by a cow!
On the contrary, there are numerous examples in the Bible where joyful, enthusiastic expressions are very much approved.
1) After the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, there was exuberant praise ("And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances." Exodus 15:20 - KJV)
2) Joyful praise is encouraged in the Psalms:
"Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness." (Psalm 30:11)
"Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp." (Psalm 149:3)
"Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs." (Psalm 150:4)
3) Enthusiastic worship was predicted by the prophets ("Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow." Jeremiah 31:13)
4) In the New Testament, at the wedding at Cana, Jesus produced the best wine. (John 2)
5) When He told the story of the returning son, Jesus included the part about the party. (Luke 15:25 - there was "music and dancing")
6) Jesus defended the enthusiastic outbursts of the children, and scolded the indignant priests and teachers by reminding them that "`From the lips of children and infants [God has] ordained praise.’" (Matthew 21:15,16)
7) Watch the man healed by Peter and John. As he entered the Temple, he was "walking and leaping and praising God" probably for the first time in his life. (Acts 3:8)
8) While in a Philippian jail, Paul and Silas sang songs at midnight. (Acts 16)
Did you notice that several times there was mention of dancing? Yes, expressing sorrow for our sins is necessary, but even as there is a time to weep and mourn, there is also a time to laugh and dance. (Ecclesiastes 3:4)
What then is this dancing? Most of what the Bible means with the use of this term is what the formerly lame man did when he was healed outside the Temple gate - he leaped. Adam Clarke defines it this way: "unpremeditated and involuntary skipping . . . the effect of sudden mental elation." This leads us to consider the story of David, recounted in II Samuel 6 and I Chronicles 15.
In those days, the Ark of God, which Moses had made in the wilderness, represented the presence of God among His people. Having been captured by the Philistines, it had been moved from place to place, first sitting in the pagan temple where the god Dagon had fallen down and was found broken into several pieces. From there the Ark was moved to two other Philistine cities, resulting in affliction and panic before it was finally returned to Israel seven months later; it was carried on a wagon laden with gifts of gold, pulled along by two oxen without a driver. The Philistines believed that if the oxen independently took the cart back into Israelite territory, that would be proof enough that it was the God of Israel who had caused them all their troubles. (I Samuel 5,6) Several years later, after one aborted attempt (II Samuel 6 and I Chronicles 13), the ark was finally brought into the City of David, Jerusalem. It is during this processional that we learn of David’s dance before the Lord. (II Samuel 6:13-23)
Follow this simple sketch organized according to the verse numbers:
14. David wore a linen ephod and danced with all his might.
15. There were shouts and trumpets.
16. Michal, daughter of Saul, scorned her husband David.
17. There were sacrifices and offerings.
18. A blessing was pronounced on the people.
19. Gifts of bread, dates and raisins were given to each in attendance.
20. David went home to bless his family - Michal accused him of lewd behavior.
21. David defended his behavior, and
22. Predicted a future with more of the same behavior with honor.
23. Michal remained barren.
There are three important lessons in this story:
1) Being aware of the presence of the Lord called forth from David an enthusiastic response.
If the "Ark" symbolized anything, it represented the presence of God among His people. According to Hebrews 9:4, in it were the bowl of manna, a reminder of God’s faithful provision; the staff of Aaron which budded, demonstrating God’s approval on his priestly leadership; and the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments.
2) David not only blessed the people with both words and gifts of bread (staff of life), dates and raisins (added blessings), but he also brought the blessing home.
David was not content to only minister in the assembly, he also wanted to minister to his family.
3) Not everyone was pleased with David’s enthusiastic response to God’s presence.
When David danced before the Lord, his wife Michal not only despised him in her heart, but went out to meet him as he returned home, accusing him of lewd behavior. But this wasn’t true, David had a priest’s robe on, he wasn’t "disrobed" at all. It seems Michal was displeased with the enthusiasm David displayed, but didn’t want to be heard criticizing that, so placed the attack elsewhere.
In a way, Michal may have had other reasons to despise David. Perhaps she was still upset about being taken back from her second husband, Paltiel (II Samuel 3). After all David had several wives, and he may have been acting in opposition to the law which indicated a man could not take back a wife who had gone to be with another man (Deuteronomy 24).
What is also of interest is David’s defense:
"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.’" (II Samuel 6:21,22)
It was "before the Lord" that David danced - it was not for his own pleasure, or for the benefit of others;
He recognized that his position as king was due to the Lord’s choosing; and
He was not doing this for any prideful reason.
Finally, the Scripture indicates that Michal was not able to bear children, obviously suggesting that the Lord was not pleased with her. For us, this could mean that those who criticize others for their enthusiastic worship will become spiritually barren. To turn it into a positive statement, those who do enthusiastically enter into praise to God will be spiritually fruitful.
We believe that in the present day the ark of the Lord, the very manifest presence of God, is being brought back into the city of God, which for us is the church of Jesus Christ. How will we welcome this? With the scornful, bitter response of Michal, or with the enthusiastic response like that of David?
When John Wesley preached his sermon on "The Nature of Enthusiasm," he obviously wasn’t saying we should not be enthusiastic in our worship. He was trying to guard against the deception where people claim to be filled with the Spirit but are not.
Certainly we agree that we should not merely put on a show of enthusiasm, but rather be prepared to respond to the presence of the Lord by worshipping the Lord with our entire being, enthusiastically praising the Lord with body, soul, and spirit.
