WORSHIPING IN SPIRIT
II Samuel 6
Whenever a discussion takes place about worship, it seems that it will inevitably find its way back to music. Hymns and Praise Choruses. Traditional, contemporary or modern. But one thing we know for sure, regardless of what preference you align with. . .both sides have an upper hand on Country Music. Modern worship songs, or 18th century hymns do better than this stuff. Just listen to some of these actual country Music song titles. . .
If You Can¡¦t Live Without Me, Why Aren¡¦t You Dead?
I Went Back to My Fourth Wife for the Third Time and Gave Her a Second Chance to Make a First Class Fool Out of Me
I¡¦m Ashamed to Be Here, but Not Ashamed Enough to Leave
If My Nose Was Running Money, Honey, I¡¦d Blow It All On You
You Were Only A Splinter As I Slid Down The Banister Of Life
I Would Kiss You Through the Screen door but It¡¦d Strain Our Love
I Wouldn¡¦t Take Her to a Dogfight, Even if I thought She Could Win
Isn¡¦t it good to know that no matter what your preference in worship music, we¡¦ve got an upper hand on Country?
Two weeks ago we looked at Five ¡§W¡¨s of Worship. This is an incredibly frightening experience for a pastor, but let¡¦s see how many of them we remember.
Who ¡V God
What ¡V Surrender
Where ¡V Everywhere
When ¡V Always
Why ¡V Because He is Worthy
Great, and one of the passages we looked at came from the book of John, and Jesus encounter with a Samaritan woman. I want us to use that passage as a backdrop for our next two weeks taking a look at worship. Biblical, authentic worship.
You may remember that in that passage, Jesus tells the woman that ¡§the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.¡¨
This verse really highlights two extremes that were being modeled in worship back in that day. On one side, you had the Samaritan religion which was characterized by enthusiastic, lively, and highly emotional worship. It was a very stimulating kind of worship that often left the worshippers feeling good, but they were missing something.
Their worship did not have information about God and the Messiah that had come. They lacked the basic truths of God that should motivate us to worship Him in the first place.
The Jewish people had the opposite problem. They believed the truth as revealed to them by God and literally built their entire culture around this truth. Unfortunately, this kind of belief became as routine as lacing their sandals or washing their hands. They lacked a spiritual, emotional experience that should accompany knowledge of such great truth.
The same kind of thing is happening today in worship. Some people worship totally in the spirit. Sincere worship that begins within the depths of a person¡¦s heart and overflows into every area of life, bringing blessing and joy to those around them. But with all this emotional charge, it¡¦s easy to set our emotions above God, and actually enter a place with the danger of making an idol out of worship itself.
On the other hand, and where I want us to focus today, are people who worship primarily in truth. They know God as revealed in His Word and cannot be swayed in their beliefs.
They live with purpose and confidence. Their faith is a rock for them in times of trouble and they provide strength for those around them. Their thinking is clear and untainted by emotion. But they can easily be hindered in their worship when they become so afraid of feelings that they emotionally disengage.
That is what I want us to take a look at today. Worship that is grounded in truth, but is so disconnected from heart and emotions that it becomes sterile. . .safe. . .even insincere.
Turn with me to the book of II Samuel chapter 6. We are going to take a look at a bit longer passage today, because I want you to have plenty of background of what is taking place when we hit the focus of our time together today. II Samuel 6 (read verse 1 through 11).
So you have this picture of the ark of the Lord being moved, coming off kilter, Uzzah reaches out to balance it, and is immediately struck dead. David can not believe this, and literally becomes afraid of the fact that they are moving the ark of God. So he stops the move, places the ark in the home of Obed-Edom, and leaves. And for the three months that the ark is in his home, Obed-Edom is richly blessed.
Verse 12 (read through verse 16). In a very literal sense, this leaping and whirling type dancing would have almost looked like a top spinning as David is going round and round. For the NASCAR fans in the crowd, all three of us, it would be like the post race celebration where the driver hits the infield grass, and goes round and round in his car.
And this is a very passionate dance. Notice what it says, ¡§David danced with all his might.¡¨ Put in 2004 church service terms, this is not the kind of half-hearted hand clapping. I mean, this guy is into this. He is physically putting his all into this expression of worship to the Lord.
Verse 17 (read through verse 23). Now as we look at this idea of worshipping in Spirit, we have an interesting contrast of views here. First, let¡¦s look at. . .
Michal¡¦s Take on Worship
Michal is the daughter of Saul, former king of the land, and is now the wife of King David. She is apparently sitting in a location where she has a view of this procession of David coming into the city with the ark, and is looking out the window at this dance of worship. And immediately we see something beginning to brew in her heart. Verse 16 (read).
Then in verse 20, we get a fuller picture of what is going on in Michal¡¦s spirit (read verse 20).
Three quick things that are a part of Michal¡¦s take on worship. First, she. . .
I. Confronts others¡¦ actions with sarcasm
¡§How glorious was the king of Israel today.¡¨ What a display? Didn¡¦t you play the part of the fool?
Have you ever found yourself doing that? Ever watched someone worship and said, ¡§What¡¦s with them? Why are they raising their hands? Why are they bouncing up and down? What are they, charismatic or something?¡¨
Or how about on the other side of the coin, ¡§What¡¦s with them? Can¡¦t they even get into it a little? Boy, they sure look passionate about God. If they were any more excited, they might have to check for a pulse.¡¨
Sarcasm. Judgementalism. Viewing the worship action of others with some kind of hoity-toity, above all that kind of response. That was how Michal confronted David¡¦s worship.
Second, she. . .
II. Confuses the audience of worship
She indicates how David appears ¡§In the eyes of the maids of his servants.¡¨ She thinks the people watching are the audience. Kind of like looking at a praise team as performing for the congregation. Confusing the audience of worship, which is God, but confusing it to be those around us.
And a third thing Michal does is she. . .
III. Cares for her own image
She says, ¡§As one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!¡¨ And when you read her quote here, I don¡¦t think it is reading too much into it to sense that she really isn¡¦t worried about David presenting himself as a base fellow. She is worried about the fact that this is her husband. She is the king¡¦s wife. What will this do for her image to have her husband behaving like this?
Now don¡¦t miss out on where Michal¡¦s take on worship leads her. My dad always said, ¡§Whenever there is a therefore, find out what it¡¦s therefore.¡¨ Well in verse 23, it is there to show you the direct connection between Michal¡¦s take on worship, and the fact that she was barren until her death. An extreme consequence of warping worship.
Michal¡¦s take on David¡¦s worship led to her life of bareness.
And an interesting note here, what was David in the process of returning to do? He was coming to bless his household. To bless Michal. As he comes in to town celebrating, he makes sacrifices to God, and then he heads home to bless his home, and presumably the inhabitants there of. . .including Michal. But her stubborn, self-focused, heart of hatred towards David¡¦s worship takes her from blessing to bareness.
And I believe the same can happen for a church. I believe God desires to bless His body, His church, and His people. But if they choose to confront the worship of others with sarcasm, with a perform for me mentality, and with a focus on self-image. . .the church will be barren. God will not bless it.
So what about David¡¦s Take on Worship
David is overwhelmed by the Spirit of God and by his emotions so he has cut loose and begins to dance with all of his heart before the Lord. And we learn a few things about David¡¦s take on worship. First, it. . .
I. Displays passion for God
He danced with all his might. He was shouting, leaping, whirling. He offered offerings and blessed the people. He displayed a passion for God. It was not to put on a show. It was not to satisfy the bystanders. His actions were not for pleasing man, but rather for pleasing God.
It was David¡¦s deep love for God that caused him to dance, and he was not embarrassed to worship God before anyone!
Now, I¡¦m not going to stand up here and tell you how to express passion. But I do want you to reflect on your own life. How do you express passion for the Kentucky Wildcats? How do you express passion for your spouse? How do you express passion for hunting, fishing, camping? How do you express passion when your child does something stupendous? At the greatest pinnacle of joy in your life, how do you express that passion?
Then ask yourself, do I ever utilize a similar expression to communicate passion to God? Do I ever just applaud God? Do I ever let out a shout of praise? Do I ever weep tears of joy for His blessings in my life? Do I ever reach up to embrace Him? Do I ever raise my hand to declare my vote that He is Lord? Do my expressions of passion for everything else in this world; ever find their way into my worship of God?
Second, David¡¦s take on worship. . .
II. Displays a desire to please God
What was first point David makes to Michal? ¡§It was before the Lord¡¨ that I was worshiping. Not for the maidservants, not for the people of the nation, not for your name and dignity. . .it was for the Lord.
You see, it is heartfelt worship which pleases the heart of God. Real, authentic, Biblical worship must flow from the heart. It can not just simply be a routine action. John 4:24 says, ¡§God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.¡¨
You can¡¦t separate the spirit from the truth. It doesn¡¦t matter if you are saying all the right words, singing the most deeply theological hymns, memorizing the lyrics, harmonizing the parts, or reciting the history of the songs. If you do not worship God in spirit, you are not authentically worshiping Him.
God is pleased by our worship when it combines truth with spirit.
Third, David¡¦s take on worship. . .
III. Displays a humility free from public perception
David¡¦s worship was marked by his unashamed devotion. He wasn¡¦t concerned about protecting his dignity. David just cut loose and worshiped in undiminished delight.
I have been there in my life, so I am going to guess that some of you would have to honestly say, if you looked deep down inside yourself, you would have to honestly confess that there have been times you desired to clap your hands, or raise a hand, or sing out with all your might, or sing out a new song to the Lord during song transitions or between verses. . .but you allowed yourself to ask the question, ¡§Who is watching?¡¨ ¡§Who is listening?¡¨ ¡§What will they think?¡¨
Hear me today, I¡¦ve been there. I¡¦ve been in every type of church you can imagine. Nazarene churches where you better not raise any hands. Baptist churches where you can raise one hand, just not both. Fellowship Bible Churches where you can raise both high, one high and one low, two low, or any other combination. And charismatic churches where it didn¡¦t matter what you did, as long as you didn¡¦t just stand there. You had to do something.
So I know what it is like to have my spirit be stirred up with a desire to express my passion to God, but to be stifled by those around me, the worship leader, or even sinful pride and self-image maintenance.
But David understood that for him to worship in authentic passion, meant worshiping in humility that was free from public perception.
So that leads us right into the practical application of our time together today. Let me give you a few quick ways to. . .
Find Freedom in Our Worship
First ¡V Remember the Who
Not the classic rock band. The Who of Worship ¡V God. It¡¦s all about Him. David got it, Michal didn¡¦t.
Second ¡V Stop Taking Yourself So Seriously
David was the king! He was the man! If one ever had the title to go with an ego, it was David. Every other instance that talks about such dancing mentions only women. No men, and certainly not the king. But David got it, and Michal didn¡¦t.
So he comes into town wearing an ephod. . .which by most accounts is believed to be a garment that would only cover from your shoulders to your waist, and he is spinning, turning, dancing, shouting, and celebrating the arrival of the ark of the Lord into the city.
In his book, The Life You¡¦ve Always Wanted, John Orteberg writes;
Sometime ago I was giving a bath to our 3 children. I had a custom of bathing together, more to save time than anything else. I knew that eventually I would have to stop group bathing, but for the time being it seemed efficient.
Johnny was still in the tub, Laura was out and safely in her pajamas, and I was trying to get Mallory dried off. Mallory was out of the water, but was doing what has come to be known in our family as the Dee Dah Day dance. This consists of running around and around in circles, singing over and over again, ¡§Dee dah day, dee dah day.¡¨ It was a relatively simple dance expressing great joy. When she is too happy to hold it in any longer, when words are inadequate to give voice to her euphoria, she has to dance to releases her joy. So she does the Dee Dah Day.
On this particular occasion I was irritated. ¡§Mallory Hurry!¡¨ I prodded. So she did ¡V she began running in circles faster and faster and chanting ¡§Dee Dah Day¡¨ more rapidly. ¡§No Mallory that is not what I mean! Stop with the dee dah day stuff and get over here so I can dry you off. Hurry!¡¨
Then she asked a profound question; ¡§Why?¡¨
I had no answer. I had nowhere to go, nothing to do, no meetings to attend, no sermons to write. I was just so used to hurrying, so preoccupied with my own little agenda, so trapped in this rut of moving from one task to another, that here was life, here was joy, here was an invitation to the dance right in front of me ¡V and I was missing it.
So I got up and Mallory and I did the Dee Dah Day Dance together.
Do you know what? I don¡¦t dance nearly enough. I find sometimes more of Michal in me than I do David. I don¡¦t celebrate the way I ought to celebrate each and every day.
I find that I take myself too seriously and that I don¡¦t take God seriously enough. Stop taking yourself so seriously.
Third - Come to Celebrate
There are more than 60 references in Scripture to celebration and all but one or two of them are positive. Most of them are divine commands to go party. Exodus, Deuteronomy and Numbers read like a string of invitations to a non stop party.
Celebrate The Feast of Unleavened bread; The feast of harvest; The feast of weeks;
The Passover; The feast of Tabernacles; The day of atonement; CELEBRATE!
And please understand this; these were not quiet, well mannered, sedate little tea parties. No, they were loud, crazy, shout at the top of your lungs, dance in the streets week long blow outs.
How many have been to a basketball game at Rupp arena, or a football game at Commonwealth Stadium? These environments are not quiet. I remember marching with the drum and bugle corps at the United States Naval Academy. Our performances were dynamic, strong, and powerful. 20,000 people don¡¦t show up every year at Ichthus because it is elevator music. And Can It Be in Estes Chapel is not inspiring because you can hear yourself think during it. It is powerful, celebratory, dynamic worship.
The roar of the crowd and the booming of the music at sporting events! Venues where there is an attempt to build celebration, energy, emotion. An attempt to enliven things and stir up some external passion for the teams, musicians, focus of the event, or Lord willing. . .for God Himself.
So why do we so often think that church and worship are supposed to be sedate, peaceful, easy, or even comfortable environments? Worship, like work and play has to be a venue in which we can offer God our love using all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. This is the first and great commandment of Jesus.
We cannot say that we¡¦re to give everything to God everywhere except in worship. David got it, Michal didn¡¦t. Many churches suffer the potential for death - and worship may be one reason for that. It¡¦s happened before. Michal died childless and unhappy. She was not productive, and that same thing can happen to a church. God does not want passionless singing. He wants worship from our hearts.
Some of the very people under my voice can let down all their self-defenses and party with the best of them at a birthday party, a family reunion, a sporting event, or a rock concert. But when we get to church, we become the frozen chosen, unable to let loose and express our love and adoration for God. When you come to church, come to celebrate.
Celebrate the dedication of beautiful new babies. Celebrate the surpassing of a missions goal. Celebrate the recommitment of lives to Christ. Celebrate new friends, new relationships, new opportunities for growth and ministry. If you can¡¦t think of anything else, celebrate your risen Savior.
Church, it is time to party like it¡¦s the kingdom of God. It is time to
Celebrate ¡V like we are on the winning team ¡V because we are
Celebrate - like are sins have been forgiven because they have been
Celebrate ¡V like God will keep His promises because he will and he has
Celebrate ¡V like you are a child of the king because you are
Celebrate ¡V like you are headed home to a place of no more; pain, sin, tears, death
Because Jesus is coming back to take us there
I remember growing up, and singing a hymn that I always had a little bit of a problem with. It says, ¡§When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus, we¡¦ll sing and shout the victory.¡¨ I¡¦m sorry, but I was not raised to believe that I had to wait until heaven to rejoice, sing and shout. We can get started now, and celebrate here.
I envision a church where people are free to worship. If you want to be still sometimes, you can be still. If you want to clap, you can clap. If you want to sit and listen and let music overwhelm you, you can do that, without any criticism. If you want to say ¡¥amen¡¦, you can do that. If you want to quietly stand and sing, you can do that. That is a church that will be vibrant and growing.
God seeks people to worship Him in spirit. I urge you to look into scripture and to draw what God tells us about worship from there. Even if it means you have to leave behind some ideas, traditions, thoughts that you may have lived by that you find out are not from God. This is the Christian quest - to allow God to challenge us and to change us. It¡¦s not always easy, but it¡¦s always great!
Let me close with this. I have been reading a book entitled Lead On by Wayne Schmidt, senior pastor at Kentwood Community Church, a Wesleyan congregation in Grand Rapids. For each of the core values that they have, they list out Ventures and Vampires.
One of their core values is Worship. They define it like this, ¡§We believe that we were created to worship God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We worship God as we come together in public services, in smaller settings, and in private devotional times. We worship God when we submit ourselves to Him. The focus of our worship is not ourselves but God.¡¨
They go on to list Value Ventures and Value Vampires related to Worship. The Value Ventures would be those items that you can look at to determine if you have a David take on worship. How would you evaluate yourself with these Worship Value Ventures:
„X I spend time alone in worship ¡V reading God¡¦s Word, praying, listening to Christian music, meditating, and so on.
„X I come prepared to enter into times of public worship.
„X I engage in all dimensions of worship ¡V celebration, reflection, repentance, etc. ¡V regardless of personal preference.
„X I attend public worship almost weekly, making it a priority.
Ventures, an undertaking involving some risk in expectation of gain. Do you take a Venture. . .a David approach to worship?
Then they provide Value Vampires related to Worship. The Value Vampires would be those items that you can look at to determine if you have a Michal take on worship. How would you evaluate yourself with these Worship Value Vampires:
„X I am a spectator and critic, evaluating how well the people up front are doing.
„X I leave a service asking ¡§Did I like it?¡¨ rather than ¡§What did I offer to God today?¡¨
„X I limit my expressions of worship to the comfortable and familiar rather than seeking what God desires of me.
„X I demean forms of worship that I experience as less meaningful even if others experience them as significant.
Vampires, something that sucks the life blood out of something living. Do you take a Vampire. . .a Michal approach to worship?
Pastor Schmidt writes, ¡§By providing a list of ventures and vampires for each value, we offer each member an opportunity to evaluate the degree to which that value is present in his or her life.¡¨
I hope you will take that opportunity throughout this month long look at worship, and even beyond that into the future to evaluate the degree to which worship is present in your life. Evaluate whether you are prepared to dance in the streets, or watch from the window.
