Worship…. What it says about your heart
2 Samuel 6 is where I’m going to focus much of the attention to make this point. The Ark Brought to Jerusalem 6 Again David gathered all the choice men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is called by the Name, the Lord of Hosts, who dwells between the cherubim.3 So they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. 4 And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, accompanying the ark of God; and Ahio went before the ark.
First thing I have to do some background on the passage of Scripture before diving right in so that you get the full understanding. First of all, what is the ark? The ark is a wooden box overlaid with gold with two cheribum on each side the God command the Israelites to build after leaving Egypt. The ark was the symbol of where God’s presence was contained. For practical purposes for this post, basically it is kind of where God lived and traveled with the Israelite people. Why was the ark gone? The Israelites took the ark into battle in 1 Samuel 5 thinking if we take the presence of God into the battle there’s no way we can lose, so guess what happened, they lost, the ark was taken by the Philistines. Why are they getting it back? God caused tumors and mice to the overrun the Philistine people so they decided it best to give it back. Which bring us to the Ark being brought back to Jerusalem. The ark is being brought back and verse 3 says they set the ark on a new cart. Where was the ark? The ark was being transported by the Philistines on a cart behind some oxen. The Israelites transfer it over to a new cart and begin transport. Uzzah and Ahio are the two transporting the ark.
5 Then David and all the house of Israel played music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments of fir wood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on sistrums, and on cymbals. David and all 30,000 men are joining in playing of music before the Lord. They used all kinds of instruments. I’m not being a legalist here but you ever been in a church where all you heard was an organ or piano. You’ve got to admit there is a certain stirring of the Holy Spirit when you break from the tradition of the 1940’s and begin using a drum set and electric guitar….just saying. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go to a church where they have it and try it out.
6 And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God. 8 And David became angry because of the Lord’s outbreak against Uzzah; and he called the name of the place Perez Uzzah to this day.
Side point: Does this seem unfair to you. Does this seem like a cantankerous God whose severe punishment seems unfit or extreme for such a minor offense? David even sees it this way, David gets angry. Why is this just on God’s part? Well if you go back in Numbers there are specific instructions on how God told the Israelites were to carry the ark. The ark was to be carried on men’s shoulders, specifically Levites. There were rings on each corner of the Ark that long poles were to run through so they could carry it. The ark was also to be covered to specifically avoid situations like these. How are they carrying the ark in this passage…..they are carrying the ark on a cart pulled by oxen…where did they learn this from….the Philistines. So they rebelled against how God specifically said they should carry the ark first of all. Secondly, Uzzah reaches out to steady or catch the ark before it touches the earth. Uzzah makes the mistake of thinking He needs to step in for God, that God integrity needs to be defended, like God needs Uzzah help. Uzzah made the mistake of thinking the earth was “dirtier” than the sin that infested his own body. The earth was made by God and has never transgressed against God, but God can’t touch the sin that infects each one of us. Uzzah is unaware of his own sinfulness. This passage should settle for all time the notion that some have that says “I can come to God however I want, I will worship God in my own way.” God determines how He will be worshipped in His presence and how we get to come to know salvation. God is not a mountain where we get to choose whatever paths we best see fit to make it to the top. The reason we don’t understand God’s judgement is because we don’t understand the wickedness of our own sinfulness.
9 David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”10 So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the City of David; but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household. 12 Now it was told King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness. 13 And so it was, when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep.
David is afraid of the Lord and so instead of having the ark brought to his place he sends it to Obed-Edom. David realizes that through messengers that God’s point in all this was blessing, so his passion for God is now rekindled. He arranges to have he ark brought to Him. Notice now how the ark is being transported, the right way, the way God instructed in the first place, not the way the Philistines did it.
14 Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.
David danced before the Lord with all his might. He’s basically dancing around in his underwear. I want to point out a few things here… David is not concerned with what everyone else thinks, he is only worried about worshipping God and what naturally flowed out of this was dancing, singing, and shouting. When you get to a place where you see the beauty of God like David did you will become vulnerable, your insecurities will become less in your heart than the approval of the one true King: Jesus. Many of us need to repent of our dignified way in which we carry ourselves all the time when we are worshipping. When you see what Jesus has done for you how can you not give all your worship to the King of kings instead of to the false god which is the approval of people. Many times our dignified ways are not because we are trying to pay reverence to God but trying to keep those we know from thinking we look like we’re crazy.
16 Now as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. 17 So they brought the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. 18 And when David had finished offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. 19 Then he distributed among all the people, among the whole multitude of Israel, both the women and the men, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed, everyone to his house. 20 Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”
David gets back home and is reprimanded by his wife Michal [daughter of Saul] She said you look like an idiot dancing around in your underwear in full view of the whole kingdom. Saul’s daughter Michal had the same problem Saul had, she like him was always worried about what everyone else thought instead of worrying about what the one who matter most thought. David gives her however some of her own medicine and says,
21 So David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord. 22 And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor.” 23 Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.
David says God chose me when I was nothing, even over your father, and now that I am something I am going to show the people that God is something in me, not that I am great in and of myself. David says if necessary I will be even more undignified than this. This is interesting, what is the opposite of being dignified, being undignified. Next point, what happened to the person who chose to remain dignified in this account? Michal never bore children. This may not mean much to you and me in modern day America but in this time this was a woman’s reputation. Women were to bear children, this was her livelihood for the future, and this was her status symbol. Notice how the bible keeps calling her [the daughter of Saul], why does it do this…we know who she is, it has already said it several times. The bible points this out in order to give the contrast between the kind of king David is and the kind of king Saul was. Michal bears the same trademark faults that her father did. David is basically saying to Michal, your father’s problem was he wanted everyone to make a big deal out of him, but I want everyone to make a big deal out of God, so if I have to dance around in my underwear singing and praising God to give God the glory, that is fine by me. The greatest honor we can have in the eyes of others is to let them see us glorifying God and not ourselves. David was willing to be small in order for others to see the largeness of God. He was willing to be humiliated before others in order for God to be praised. Only one person can be glorified in your life: you or God. One of the ways David did this was through his worship. David was a aware that people were always watching him. I mean he’s the king, it is like being the president in America, we are always watching him. If he picks his nose we notice! Since David knew he was constantly being watched by others he took that opportunity to show others the value of God to him by how he worshipped.
What does your worship say to others about the value of God?
First let us break down worship. Worship is anything you give ultimate worth to. Worship is the action or response in which you give away that worth. Worship is how you demonstrate that worth to whatever it is. Is worship dancing like David? Singing? Shouting? Sometimes it is. Worship is our response to the Gospel. Worship is a lifestyle, how we live. It might be how we spend our money, how we spend our time, the values we teach our children, how we treat others, how we respond to sin. Worship is not just what you do on Sunday morning inside a building, but certainly includes what you do inside that building. When you step inside that building on Sunday and sing, shout, dance, listen, take notes, fellowship and care for one another that puts on display the greatness of God to a watching world.
What should worship look like?
You might be thinking… he is going to tell me that I need to strip down and dance around in my underwear to worship God. No that is illegal in most places and will be hard to do in the winter time. You worship makes a statement especially to an unbelieving world about the worth of God to you. Our worship should at times be a physical demonstration to a watching world. We perceive worth through the way people act, our actions say a lot about our heart. Read through the Psalms sometime, David is constantly saying the he realizes that the surrounding nations are his audience.
Common objections….
Well it’s a personality thing, I’m not very expressive as a person. I completely agree to a certain degree, but this reason has to be true in every other aspect of your life. If publishers clearing house walked up to your door with ten million dollars and you said Praise the Lord with no emotion no screaming, no jumping up and down, I’ll buy that then. Otherwise I would say your heart worships money more than it does God. Jesus once was at a dinner and a woman came in weeping, washing his feet, completely humiliating herself in front of everyone. The Pharisees at the table said he wouldn’t be letting her do that if they knew what kind of woman she was. Jesus said in reply “those who have been forgiven much, love much.” Maybe you don’t worship with a heart of gratitude is because you have never grasp the measure of greatness of which you have been forgiven.
You may think we should be very solemn and in awe struck during your time of worship, that’s what is important. I agree there are times the Bible says that we should be awestruck and that a different range of emotions are appropriate. Sometimes we should be listening to the sermon intently writing down the words the Holy Spirit speaks to us. Sometimes we need to be standing in stunned silence at what God has done fore us. Sometimes we need to be down on our knees praying. Sometimes we need to be crying because of our sin. Sometimes we need to clap our hands, stomp our feet, dance, and shout the victory of the Lord.
Some [mainly men] seem to think that showing a bunch of emotion is humiliating. I’m above all that, I don’t sing well, I don’t let my emotions over take me. Singing, dancing, and expressiveness is not just a women thing. David was manly, he slayed one of the biggest men on the planet and cut off his head. He had songs written about how he had slain 10,000’s. He killed a lion and a bear. He also danced before the Lord with all his might. Showing joy and praise to God during your worship is not about looking macho, but being willing to drop your pride and come to God with humility. Jesus was beaten, spit, on, mocked, crucified, would you call that wimpy? The problem is not that worship is not manly but that you don’t understand humility and understand what you have been delivered from.
Some people say I’ve only been a Christian a little while, I’m new to this, and I’m just getting my feet wet. I am an analogy freak so allow me an example for a minute. Picture your 6 year old riding their bike in the driveway. You’re getting groceries out of the car or otherwise preoccupied. Your child rides into the street mistakenly, a car is coming and it’s certain your child is going to get hit by the car. Your neighbor who’s your good friend sees this and pushes your child out of the way of the car. Your child is safe but your neighbor gets hit by the car saving your child, but crushes both his legs. Could you / would you in some miniscule way worship him? Not worship him as God but admire him at least, thank him, give him praise repeatedly, pay his doctor bills, fix him dinner, be hospitable to him. This is obviously an example but even if you are new to someone saving your child’s life the natural response to that was worship. How much more of a life of worship do we owe a God who gave himself for us in every way. Your neighbor and friend who saved the child, did he ask you to worship him? No, it’s a natural response for someone who saves your life or the life of someone who cares for you. Some may say it’s the way I was raised.
We should worship the Lord with reverence, we should be dignified. Dancing, singing, and shouting, like David, are distracting. This tends to be the most prominent objection especially in the Bible belt south. Maybe we need to really search our heart over and think, could I be more worried about how my denomination does worship that how God sets the example in the Bible for doing worship? Could I be more worried about what other people think that what God thinks? You are probably setting there, hopefully not, thinking “you don’t know me, you can’t judge me, and you don’t know my heart.” That’s the whole point though isn’t it, nobody knows your heart, and nobody knows how you feel about God. How you worship tells the world about how great God is in your life. Your kids need to see how you feel about God through your worship, not just your church attendance.
To those who lean towards the charismatic movement. Charisma is great, but it is not only an expression that happens when the music builds to a crescendo. Worship is a lifestyle that happens the other six days of the week also. Worship is how you file your taxes , how you tithe, how you repent of your sin, how you admit you’re sorry to your wife in front of your kids. Your life points others in the direction of how great and awe inspiring your God is not how great you are.
What does it say about your heart….
You ever heard the old phrase… actions speak louder than words? That is obviously a partial truth. People can’t hear the gospel, how Jesus was the substitute for their sins if words aren’t spoken. How Jesus died for them, how He loved them, how He lived the life we were supposed to live and took the punishment we deserved without words. Your worship however is a sign that points to how great and majestic God is. A sign points beyond itself to something greater, your worship points beyond itself to something much greater, God! Have you ever wondered about the correlation between how serious we [Christians] worship God verses how serious the world takes God? Your worship points out to an unbelieving world how much God means to you. If you don’t take God serious, why would they! If God is only to be worshipped minutely, tediously, tirelessly, with melancholy, then why would they want to worship Him at all! There is joy in the gospel. If you can’t find joy in the gospel then you clearly don’t truly understand it. If there is no joy in worship you may not fully understand the gospel. Psalm 16:11 “In thy presence is fullness of joy” Psalm 98: 4 “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Worship is done with a heart of joy and gladness. If I were to ask you, could you identify a person’s mood or attitude based on their actions, what would you say? We do this all the time in everyday life do we not? We somehow exclude this type of reaction though when it comes to church and watching others worship. You may not want to judge another “believers” heart by their worship but I can assure you of this, the watching “unbelieving” world does. You worship however that may look is on many accounts how unbelievers may first see the beauty of God. They watch your worship, your lifestyle and realize you have something they don’t. What do you have a great and wonderful saving relationship with a God who loves you beyond measure. How can they ever see this if your worship looks as pathetic and miserable as their life looks to them in that moment. Believer you have something they don’t have, act like it, express it, sing about it, let your worship point to it, let your boldness point to it.
Weird fact…
19 Then he distributed among all the people, among the whole multitude of Israel, both the women and the men, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed everyone to his house. Raisin cakes in their culture were an aphrodisiac. The people departed. If you will ever notice they mentioned the women and the men, the women even before the men. Women were rarely ever mentioned in the Bible, women were not highly, if at all, ever regarded in the Bible. Why mention now? The Bible wants you to know that they [men and women] went home after eating an aphrodisiac. I am not trying to be crude. I posted about bearing fruit in another post, read if for reference. Notice, Michal because of her refusal to worship God, her worry about what others thought, she never bore fruit [children].
Worshiping with reverence and joy…?
The Bible several times seems to contradict itself. I will go over one seemingly blatant contradiction with regards to worship. I believe the Bible was written by a perfect God with 40 different authors, so any time I see what appears to be a contradiction I dig deeper having faith that through study, scholars, and Holy Spirit interpretation the contradiction will work out to be coherent and understandable. I can’t list them all but the Psalms and other places in the Bible tell us to worship God with what seems to be undignified actions. [At least by American standards]Psalm 98:4 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises. Psalm 100:1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Psalm 100:2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Psalm 16:11 In thy presence is fullness of joy. Psalm 89:7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints,
And to be held in reverence by all those around Him. Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. How can we worship God joyfully and with fear and reverence? We have severely distorted what reverence looks like in the American church. We have made reverence into a crumbling, shaking fear of God that threatens us with hell if we mess up. If this is your idea of reverence then you have completely misinterpreted the Bible. God is love, 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. If you understand the love of God for you, your attitude of reverence will not be one dominated by fear. Reverence within the church today has also been turned into a mentality of sit down, be quiet, and don’t cause any commotion that could draw attention. That is not reverence! That is called people who care about what other people think of them. The best description I can think of for worship is awe mixed with intimacy. God gives us a picture or shadow of this with our earthly fathers. Kids think their dad can do anything, they think he’s superman, they are in awe of him, they know though that they can come to their father and ask for anything. They also fear him enough to know that he will discipline them, that he will guide them in the right direction that he is to be respected. I heard it put like this by a pastor, in the Himalayan mountains, super snow storms can arise literally out of nowhere, they can dump 2 – 3 feet of snow within hours in the upper elevations. Imagine you are a mountain climber and one of these storms arises unexpectedly, the wind is blowing 60 – 70 mph dumping snow on you. You happen to find a small little cleft in a large rock to hide out in. You can see the storm from your position in the in the crevice of the large rock that protects you. You have a feeling of awe, admiration, and wonder of the power and shear force of the storm but also a profound sense of fear that you would never want to tangle with such a force that could kill you quickly. This is the reverence with which you worship God, you are in awe of His power, you fear the storm, but you rejoice within your cleft in the rock because you are safe, you are covered by the righteousness of Jesus in whom you have believed.
2 Samuel 6 is where I’m going to focus much of the attention to make this point. The Ark Brought to Jerusalem 6 Again David gathered all the choice men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is called by the Name, the Lord of Hosts, who dwells between the cherubim.3 So they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. 4 And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, accompanying the ark of God; and Ahio went before the ark.
First thing I have to do some background on the passage of Scripture before diving right in so that you get the full understanding. First of all, what is the ark? The ark is a wooden box overlaid with gold with two cheribum on each side the God command the Israelites to build after leaving Egypt. The ark was the symbol of where God’s presence was contained. For practical purposes for this post, basically it is kind of where God lived and traveled with the Israelite people. Why was the ark gone? The Israelites took the ark into battle in 1 Samuel 5 thinking if we take the presence of God into the battle there’s no way we can lose, so guess what happened, they lost, the ark was taken by the Philistines. Why are they getting it back? God caused tumors and mice to the overrun the Philistine people so they decided it best to give it back. Which bring us to the Ark being brought back to Jerusalem. The ark is being brought back and verse 3 says they set the ark on a new cart. Where was the ark? The ark was being transported by the Philistines on a cart behind some oxen. The Israelites transfer it over to a new cart and begin transport. Uzzah and Ahio are the two transporting the ark.
5 Then David and all the house of Israel played music before the Lord on all kinds of instruments of fir wood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on sistrums, and on cymbals. David and all 30,000 men are joining in playing of music before the Lord. They used all kinds of instruments. I’m not being a legalist here but you ever been in a church where all you heard was an organ or piano. You’ve got to admit there is a certain stirring of the Holy Spirit when you break from the tradition of the 1940’s and begin using a drum set and electric guitar….just saying. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go to a church where they have it and try it out.
6 And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God. 8 And David became angry because of the Lord’s outbreak against Uzzah; and he called the name of the place Perez Uzzah to this day.
Side point: Does this seem unfair to you. Does this seem like a cantankerous God whose severe punishment seems unfit or extreme for such a minor offense? David even sees it this way, David gets angry. Why is this just on God’s part? Well if you go back in Numbers there are specific instructions on how God told the Israelites were to carry the ark. The ark was to be carried on men’s shoulders, specifically Levites. There were rings on each corner of the Ark that long poles were to run through so they could carry it. The ark was also to be covered to specifically avoid situations like these. How are they carrying the ark in this passage…..they are carrying the ark on a cart pulled by oxen…where did they learn this from….the Philistines. So they rebelled against how God specifically said they should carry the ark first of all. Secondly, Uzzah reaches out to steady or catch the ark before it touches the earth. Uzzah makes the mistake of thinking He needs to step in for God, that God integrity needs to be defended, like God needs Uzzah help. Uzzah made the mistake of thinking the earth was “dirtier” than the sin that infested his own body. The earth was made by God and has never transgressed against God, but God can’t touch the sin that infects each one of us. Uzzah is unaware of his own sinfulness. This passage should settle for all time the notion that some have that says “I can come to God however I want, I will worship God in my own way.” God determines how He will be worshipped in His presence and how we get to come to know salvation. God is not a mountain where we get to choose whatever paths we best see fit to make it to the top. The reason we don’t understand God’s judgement is because we don’t understand the wickedness of our own sinfulness.
9 David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”10 So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the City of David; but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household. 12 Now it was told King David, saying, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness. 13 And so it was, when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep.
David is afraid of the Lord and so instead of having the ark brought to his place he sends it to Obed-Edom. David realizes that through messengers that God’s point in all this was blessing, so his passion for God is now rekindled. He arranges to have he ark brought to Him. Notice now how the ark is being transported, the right way, the way God instructed in the first place, not the way the Philistines did it.
14 Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.
David danced before the Lord with all his might. He’s basically dancing around in his underwear. I want to point out a few things here… David is not concerned with what everyone else thinks, he is only worried about worshipping God and what naturally flowed out of this was dancing, singing, and shouting. When you get to a place where you see the beauty of God like David did you will become vulnerable, your insecurities will become less in your heart than the approval of the one true King: Jesus. Many of us need to repent of our dignified way in which we carry ourselves all the time when we are worshipping. When you see what Jesus has done for you how can you not give all your worship to the King of kings instead of to the false god which is the approval of people. Many times our dignified ways are not because we are trying to pay reverence to God but trying to keep those we know from thinking we look like we’re crazy.
16 Now as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. 17 So they brought the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. 18 And when David had finished offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. 19 Then he distributed among all the people, among the whole multitude of Israel, both the women and the men, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed, everyone to his house. 20 Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”
David gets back home and is reprimanded by his wife Michal [daughter of Saul] She said you look like an idiot dancing around in your underwear in full view of the whole kingdom. Saul’s daughter Michal had the same problem Saul had, she like him was always worried about what everyone else thought instead of worrying about what the one who matter most thought. David gives her however some of her own medicine and says,
21 So David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord. 22 And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor.” 23 Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.
David says God chose me when I was nothing, even over your father, and now that I am something I am going to show the people that God is something in me, not that I am great in and of myself. David says if necessary I will be even more undignified than this. This is interesting, what is the opposite of being dignified, being undignified. Next point, what happened to the person who chose to remain dignified in this account? Michal never bore children. This may not mean much to you and me in modern day America but in this time this was a woman’s reputation. Women were to bear children, this was her livelihood for the future, and this was her status symbol. Notice how the bible keeps calling her [the daughter of Saul], why does it do this…we know who she is, it has already said it several times. The bible points this out in order to give the contrast between the kind of king David is and the kind of king Saul was. Michal bears the same trademark faults that her father did. David is basically saying to Michal, your father’s problem was he wanted everyone to make a big deal out of him, but I want everyone to make a big deal out of God, so if I have to dance around in my underwear singing and praising God to give God the glory, that is fine by me. The greatest honor we can have in the eyes of others is to let them see us glorifying God and not ourselves. David was willing to be small in order for others to see the largeness of God. He was willing to be humiliated before others in order for God to be praised. Only one person can be glorified in your life: you or God. One of the ways David did this was through his worship. David was a aware that people were always watching him. I mean he’s the king, it is like being the president in America, we are always watching him. If he picks his nose we notice! Since David knew he was constantly being watched by others he took that opportunity to show others the value of God to him by how he worshipped.
What does your worship say to others about the value of God?
First let us break down worship. Worship is anything you give ultimate worth to. Worship is the action or response in which you give away that worth. Worship is how you demonstrate that worth to whatever it is. Is worship dancing like David? Singing? Shouting? Sometimes it is. Worship is our response to the Gospel. Worship is a lifestyle, how we live. It might be how we spend our money, how we spend our time, the values we teach our children, how we treat others, how we respond to sin. Worship is not just what you do on Sunday morning inside a building, but certainly includes what you do inside that building. When you step inside that building on Sunday and sing, shout, dance, listen, take notes, fellowship and care for one another that puts on display the greatness of God to a watching world.
What should worship look like?
You might be thinking… he is going to tell me that I need to strip down and dance around in my underwear to worship God. No that is illegal in most places and will be hard to do in the winter time. You worship makes a statement especially to an unbelieving world about the worth of God to you. Our worship should at times be a physical demonstration to a watching world. We perceive worth through the way people act, our actions say a lot about our heart. Read through the Psalms sometime, David is constantly saying the he realizes that the surrounding nations are his audience.
Common objections….
Well it’s a personality thing, I’m not very expressive as a person. I completely agree to a certain degree, but this reason has to be true in every other aspect of your life. If publishers clearing house walked up to your door with ten million dollars and you said Praise the Lord with no emotion no screaming, no jumping up and down, I’ll buy that then. Otherwise I would say your heart worships money more than it does God. Jesus once was at a dinner and a woman came in weeping, washing his feet, completely humiliating herself in front of everyone. The Pharisees at the table said he wouldn’t be letting her do that if they knew what kind of woman she was. Jesus said in reply “those who have been forgiven much, love much.” Maybe you don’t worship with a heart of gratitude is because you have never grasp the measure of greatness of which you have been forgiven.
You may think we should be very solemn and in awe struck during your time of worship, that’s what is important. I agree there are times the Bible says that we should be awestruck and that a different range of emotions are appropriate. Sometimes we should be listening to the sermon intently writing down the words the Holy Spirit speaks to us. Sometimes we need to be standing in stunned silence at what God has done fore us. Sometimes we need to be down on our knees praying. Sometimes we need to be crying because of our sin. Sometimes we need to clap our hands, stomp our feet, dance, and shout the victory of the Lord.
Some [mainly men] seem to think that showing a bunch of emotion is humiliating. I’m above all that, I don’t sing well, I don’t let my emotions over take me. Singing, dancing, and expressiveness is not just a women thing. David was manly, he slayed one of the biggest men on the planet and cut off his head. He had songs written about how he had slain 10,000’s. He killed a lion and a bear. He also danced before the Lord with all his might. Showing joy and praise to God during your worship is not about looking macho, but being willing to drop your pride and come to God with humility. Jesus was beaten, spit, on, mocked, crucified, would you call that wimpy? The problem is not that worship is not manly but that you don’t understand humility and understand what you have been delivered from.
Some people say I’ve only been a Christian a little while, I’m new to this, and I’m just getting my feet wet. I am an analogy freak so allow me an example for a minute. Picture your 6 year old riding their bike in the driveway. You’re getting groceries out of the car or otherwise preoccupied. Your child rides into the street mistakenly, a car is coming and it’s certain your child is going to get hit by the car. Your neighbor who’s your good friend sees this and pushes your child out of the way of the car. Your child is safe but your neighbor gets hit by the car saving your child, but crushes both his legs. Could you / would you in some miniscule way worship him? Not worship him as God but admire him at least, thank him, give him praise repeatedly, pay his doctor bills, fix him dinner, be hospitable to him. This is obviously an example but even if you are new to someone saving your child’s life the natural response to that was worship. How much more of a life of worship do we owe a God who gave himself for us in every way. Your neighbor and friend who saved the child, did he ask you to worship him? No, it’s a natural response for someone who saves your life or the life of someone who cares for you. Some may say it’s the way I was raised.
We should worship the Lord with reverence, we should be dignified. Dancing, singing, and shouting, like David, are distracting. This tends to be the most prominent objection especially in the Bible belt south. Maybe we need to really search our heart over and think, could I be more worried about how my denomination does worship that how God sets the example in the Bible for doing worship? Could I be more worried about what other people think that what God thinks? You are probably setting there, hopefully not, thinking “you don’t know me, you can’t judge me, and you don’t know my heart.” That’s the whole point though isn’t it, nobody knows your heart, and nobody knows how you feel about God. How you worship tells the world about how great God is in your life. Your kids need to see how you feel about God through your worship, not just your church attendance.
To those who lean towards the charismatic movement. Charisma is great, but it is not only an expression that happens when the music builds to a crescendo. Worship is a lifestyle that happens the other six days of the week also. Worship is how you file your taxes , how you tithe, how you repent of your sin, how you admit you’re sorry to your wife in front of your kids. Your life points others in the direction of how great and awe inspiring your God is not how great you are.
What does it say about your heart….
You ever heard the old phrase… actions speak louder than words? That is obviously a partial truth. People can’t hear the gospel, how Jesus was the substitute for their sins if words aren’t spoken. How Jesus died for them, how He loved them, how He lived the life we were supposed to live and took the punishment we deserved without words. Your worship however is a sign that points to how great and majestic God is. A sign points beyond itself to something greater, your worship points beyond itself to something much greater, God! Have you ever wondered about the correlation between how serious we [Christians] worship God verses how serious the world takes God? Your worship points out to an unbelieving world how much God means to you. If you don’t take God serious, why would they! If God is only to be worshipped minutely, tediously, tirelessly, with melancholy, then why would they want to worship Him at all! There is joy in the gospel. If you can’t find joy in the gospel then you clearly don’t truly understand it. If there is no joy in worship you may not fully understand the gospel. Psalm 16:11 “In thy presence is fullness of joy” Psalm 98: 4 “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Worship is done with a heart of joy and gladness. If I were to ask you, could you identify a person’s mood or attitude based on their actions, what would you say? We do this all the time in everyday life do we not? We somehow exclude this type of reaction though when it comes to church and watching others worship. You may not want to judge another “believers” heart by their worship but I can assure you of this, the watching “unbelieving” world does. You worship however that may look is on many accounts how unbelievers may first see the beauty of God. They watch your worship, your lifestyle and realize you have something they don’t. What do you have a great and wonderful saving relationship with a God who loves you beyond measure. How can they ever see this if your worship looks as pathetic and miserable as their life looks to them in that moment. Believer you have something they don’t have, act like it, express it, sing about it, let your worship point to it, let your boldness point to it.
Weird fact…
19 Then he distributed among all the people, among the whole multitude of Israel, both the women and the men, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed everyone to his house. Raisin cakes in their culture were an aphrodisiac. The people departed. If you will ever notice they mentioned the women and the men, the women even before the men. Women were rarely ever mentioned in the Bible, women were not highly, if at all, ever regarded in the Bible. Why mention now? The Bible wants you to know that they [men and women] went home after eating an aphrodisiac. I am not trying to be crude. I posted about bearing fruit in another post, read if for reference. Notice, Michal because of her refusal to worship God, her worry about what others thought, she never bore fruit [children].
Worshiping with reverence and joy…?
The Bible several times seems to contradict itself. I will go over one seemingly blatant contradiction with regards to worship. I believe the Bible was written by a perfect God with 40 different authors, so any time I see what appears to be a contradiction I dig deeper having faith that through study, scholars, and Holy Spirit interpretation the contradiction will work out to be coherent and understandable. I can’t list them all but the Psalms and other places in the Bible tell us to worship God with what seems to be undignified actions. [At least by American standards]Psalm 98:4 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises. Psalm 100:1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Psalm 100:2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Psalm 16:11 In thy presence is fullness of joy. Psalm 89:7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints,
And to be held in reverence by all those around Him. Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. How can we worship God joyfully and with fear and reverence? We have severely distorted what reverence looks like in the American church. We have made reverence into a crumbling, shaking fear of God that threatens us with hell if we mess up. If this is your idea of reverence then you have completely misinterpreted the Bible. God is love, 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. If you understand the love of God for you, your attitude of reverence will not be one dominated by fear. Reverence within the church today has also been turned into a mentality of sit down, be quiet, and don’t cause any commotion that could draw attention. That is not reverence! That is called people who care about what other people think of them. The best description I can think of for worship is awe mixed with intimacy. God gives us a picture or shadow of this with our earthly fathers. Kids think their dad can do anything, they think he’s superman, they are in awe of him, they know though that they can come to their father and ask for anything. They also fear him enough to know that he will discipline them, that he will guide them in the right direction that he is to be respected. I heard it put like this by a pastor, in the Himalayan mountains, super snow storms can arise literally out of nowhere, they can dump 2 – 3 feet of snow within hours in the upper elevations. Imagine you are a mountain climber and one of these storms arises unexpectedly, the wind is blowing 60 – 70 mph dumping snow on you. You happen to find a small little cleft in a large rock to hide out in. You can see the storm from your position in the in the crevice of the large rock that protects you. You have a feeling of awe, admiration, and wonder of the power and shear force of the storm but also a profound sense of fear that you would never want to tangle with such a force that could kill you quickly. This is the reverence with which you worship God, you are in awe of His power, you fear the storm, but you rejoice within your cleft in the rock because you are safe, you are covered by the righteousness of Jesus in whom you have believed.