Introduction
BULLETIN: Church information, read only during the sermon. PEW: A medieval torture device still found in most churches. HYMN: A song of praise, usually sung in a key three octaves higher than that of the congregation’s range. CHOIR: A group of people whose singing allows the rest of the congregation to lip-sync. AMEN: The only part of a prayer that everyone knows.
This morning we are continuing our look at the song These are the Days of Elijah, to see what we can learn about revival from it. Obviously, I wasn’t here last week so you looked at something else, well at least obviously for those of you that were here. But here’s a quick reminder of what we have looked at before. We saw how Elijah declared the word of the Lord not only when it was hard to hear but also when it was hard to preach. No matter what else we do we need to be faithful to the Bible. Then we saw how John the Baptist prepared the way of the Lord, by urging the people to repentance and how we can also prepare the way for God in our lives through repentance. We looked at Moses and how he restored righteousness. We saw that righteousness was both a relationship with God and also a standard of behaviour. We didn’t need to meet the standard to come to God otherwise we’d all be doomed but we need to be willing to allow God to make the changes in our lives to bring it about. Then we looked at the year of jubilee. The year of jubilee is all about forgiveness and restoration. We saw how God wanted to forgive and restore us and how it was our response to forgive and restore others.
Now if you were hear for those sermons that should have reminded you where we are but if you weren’t it’s probably just really confused you. But that’s ok, because you don’t need to know it all to get to our topic today. The smart ones among you will no doubt have figured out what we are going on to talk about today from the Bible readings. We are going to be looking at lines “And these are the days of Your servant David, Rebuilding the temple of praise.”
Difference between singing songs and worship
Problems
Now the Biblical scholars among you or at least the ones who were paying attention during Sunday School, will see at least one small problem with this. David didn’t build the temple let alone rebuild it, his son, Solomon did. So is that is we just get to this part and say, well its nonsense there’s nothing to be learned here. Well, I suppose you could but that would be a very short sermon. Instead we are going to look at an incident in David’s life where he got about as close as possible to rebuilding the temple of praise. As we do this we are going to look at what is acceptable worship / praise to God?
The incident which we read about had to do with the return of the Ark of the Covenant from the Philistines and its instalment to Jerusalem but there was a hiccup, which we have read. Now I’m fairly sure that nearly everybody has heard of the Ark of the Covenant, even those people who have never read the Bible have seen the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. So I’m guessing most people know what the ark looks like. It was actually a wooden box. But it was covered with gold and instead of a wooden lid it had a solid gold lid with two golden angels on top. God commanded Moses to build it and put various things in side. It symbolised the presence of God and God sometimes used the ark when he did the miraculous. The most famous example is probably when Joshua came to the River Jordan at flood time and told the priests carrying the Ark to walk into the middle of the river and when they did so the water stopped and the people crossed. But what was the ark for, what was its purpose?
Purpose of the ark
God had forbidden idols, but people need symbols and foci. The ark represented the presence of God. It was the place of the shikina glory, which was the visible pillar of cloud and fire that initially went with Israel in the wilderness and eventually came to rest on the temple when it was dedicated. It was the meeting place between God and man, where the high priest came once a year to the holy of holies. It was the place of redemption, where once a year on the day of atonement, blood was poured over the lid, called the mercy seat to cleanse all of Israel from their sins. It was a symbol of God’s holiness, presence and power. It kind of stood for God. But the fact that it was a box not an idol reminded people it was not God. It contained relics from the past, not because they possessed power but that they were a reminder to the people. Firstly there was Aaron’s staff, which was used to part the Red Sea, provided water in the wilderness and kicked off a number of the plauges but it was symbol of the saving power of God, then there was a pot of mannah, the bread God provided in the wilderness to remind them of God’s provision, that he would take care of them and finally there was the stone tablets on which the law was written to remind the people of God’s requirements. Like a lot of the other stuff in the OT it was an object lesson and as opposed to some of the symbolism in the Greek Orthodox church [bit on Greek Orthodox church on rich theology but not communicated so people never learn it] it was to be taught to the children, the meanings behind it all, so they could get what it pointed to. Part of that lesson was how it was to be carried and the fact that no-one could touch it, to demonstrate the unapproachable holiness of God. But more on that later. It was essentially, the primary object in Israelite worship.
Why the ark was lost
But before we get into the story of David returning the Ark to Jerusalem, let first look at why it wasn’t there in the first place. This is the story we read from 1 Samuel 4. Why was the ark lost in the first place. The Israelites were involved in a war against the Philistines and it was going badly. So some bright spark remembered the ark and the miracles that had surrounded it in the past and thought that if they brought the ark to the front lines then surely they would win. But it failed and the ark was captured. The ark was not a magical thing that the people could make to work for them. If Indiana Jones or the government officials from Raiders of the Lost Ark had actually read 1 Samuel they wouldn’t have been worried about the Nazi’s getting a hold of the ark. The ark was not a guarantee of invincibility. It was following God in the past that had led to victory not the ark.
We need to learn something similar when it comes to worship. We are talking about revival in the church. To often when it comes to worship or more often a lack there of, or when we see the church in decline or just not growing, we think all we have to do is drag out the ark, it worked in the past surely it will work for us now. But unfortunately we often make the same mistakes as the Israelites made, it wasn’t the ark that made the difference it was the presence of God. The past was great, but we need to learn the real lessons from the past, not just copy the forms, or we’re just like the Israelites who dragged out the ark, rather than looking at their lives and seeing why God wasn’t there. Looking at the priests and seeing corruption. Instead of mending their ways they dragged out the ark.
In worship and church we can do this all the time. We can look at the great open air services of John Wesley. They brought great and tremendous response. I don’t think we quite appreciate nowadays quite how big an impact John Wesley had on English life and the number of ordinary people who were changed and became spiritual people. But if we think that that means that the way to successful evangelism is open air services, we miss the lesson of what John Wesley did. Firstly, it wasn’t just the services, but the prayer and holiness and lifestyle of John Wesley. It wasn’t that the services were open air that was important it was the fact that he was taking the message to the people where they were and in a way that the people listened to. He also did things that were roundly condemned by the church of the time because it had never been done before. Most people don’t realise that those great Charles Wesley hymns were originally sung to popular pub songs of the time and were roundly condemned as to worldly by the Anglican Church. They were sung to the popular music of the time.
Last week I was in Glasgow and we took the open top bus tour of the city. It really is something I recommend people to do, not just the open top bus tour of Glasgow but at least once in your life play the tourist in your area, it’s amazing what you can find out. Anyway one of the things I found out about was the religious heritage of Glasgow. Originally, it was one of the two most important centres of Christianity in Scotland and the original medieval city grew from the Cathedral. But anyway a bit later in history we were shown the first protestant church built in Glasgow. It was loudly condemned by a lot of the church goers of the time because it contained that most worldly and ungodly of instruments, the pipe organ.
So what’s the point I’m trying to make. Those old cherished traditions that we like to cling to, were once new and modern and rejected by a lot with in the church. The way to revival is not to replicate or cling to the outward trappings of success in the past, the methods or the music. It is to have that same burning all consuming desire for God that motivated everything. To have that same desire for prayer, that same commitment to holiness and godliness, that same emphasis on repentance and the truth of the Bible. To emphasise the presence of God not merely the symbols of the presence of God.
David and the Ark
But back to David. He thinks the time of the arks exile is over and he wants to bring it to Jerusalem where it can once again take that primary role in Israelite worship. So he puts it on a cart and sets out in a great celebration to escort the ark to Jerusalem. Unfortunately, the cart hits a pot hole and the ark looks like it might fall, so one of those guiding the cart, Uzzah reaches out a hand to steady the ark and God strikes him dead.
This is one of those stories which typically produces the response, that’s not fair. Wasn’t God being a bit harsh. After all the motive of Uzzah could only have been good. He wanted to protect the ark, to stop it falling. Surely he was doing the right thing. Unfortunately, he was disobeying God, as was David for transporting the ark on a cart in the first place. God had given strict instructions about how the ark was to be carried. It was to be carried on poles by a certain branch of priests. And nobody was touch it. This was part of the object lesson that God had laid down. The ark represented God’s presence and holiness. No-one was to touch it because no-one was holy enough to come into the presence of God without being destroyed. The high priest once a year was to sprinkle blood on it to atone for the peoples sin and this was the way they could come to God without his holiness destroying them, through repentance and blood. God has laid this down clearly, yet it had been ignored. Was it harsh?
Let me tell you what someone who has been to Bosnia had to say about the issue. In Bosnia there are areas of uncleared land mines. Most are clearly marked with warning signs. While in Tuzla I walked past several such areas. I was told that everyone in the area one night awoke to a huge explosion—an animal apparently stepped on one of the mines. In the Mosaic Law there were clear warnings about the Ark, but they went foolishly unheeded.
God does give us instructions about how we approach him and we ignore them at our peril. But I here you say, or at least think. That was the Old Testament, that doesn’t apply now. Well maybe but the story of Ananias and Saphira comes from the book of Acts where a man and his wife are struck dead for lying to God and the church. Or what about Paul’s warnings and teachings about communion. It’s usually the bit we don’t read at communion services but Paul says that because of the disgraceful way the church is having communion, people have fallen sick and died.
There is a proper way to approach God in worship but it has nothing to do with the instruments used, the songs sung, the location, the clothes we wear, the orientation of chairs or how like a church everything looks. It is a matter of attitude and respect. It is a matter of being aware of who God is and approaching him in the right way. It is one of those great tensions in the church, the awesomeness and reverence for God that we have and yet the free access and the fact we can call God, dad. I remember when I was growing up arguments between my youth leaders and some older people in the church. If you were going to see the Queen you would dress up, so why do you do less for the King of Kings, they said when my youth leader wore jeans to church. Yes, but if I was Prince Charles and the Queen was my mum then I would come to her without getting all scrubbed up was the reply.
What is proper reverence for God? How do we approach God in the right way. Different cultures have different ways of showing respect and how somebody aged 60 shows respect is different to how someone at 15 shows respect. The one might think the other is funny or not showing proper respect but showing respect is a function of culture not one of universal application. For Jews it shows respect when men cover your head, for an older generation of British peoples this is sign of disrespect. It differs and we shouldn’t expect everybody to show respect in the same way we do. But most important of all is how we approach God. We approach God through Jesus in acknowledgement that we only can approach God because he has forgiven us. I think that is the only way to maintain that intimacy and the reverence. We can be intimate, we can come as we are, but only because of what Jesus has done for us and only if we come in a repentant humble attitude.
The whole thing could be summed up in the words of Samuel to David’s forerunner Saul. God desires obedience rather than sacrifice. David and Uzzah could claim they were trying to honour God by bringing the ark to Jerusalem and setting it at the heart of Israelite worship again, but God says that’s all very well but I want you to obey me, rather than do things you think will please me. That is the key to worship. It is not a matter of the words or songs we use, whether we are formal or informal, old fashioned or modern, sombre or celebratory, what we must do is be obedient. God will not accept or worship if we come in sin and refusal to repent or if we come confident in our own worth. If we come in repentance and wanting God to transform our lives and trusting in Jesus. If we are obedient to God, then he will accept us and our worship.
Elisabeth Elliot, at Urbana 76, told of her brother Thomas Howard. Their mother let him play with paper bags she’d saved if he put them away afterwards. One day she walked into the kitchen to find them strewn all over the floor. Tom was out at the piano with his father singing hymns. When confronted, he protested, "But Mom, I want to sing." His father stated, "It’s no good singing God’s praise if you’re disobedient."
Conclusion
In conclusion we have
Worship is to feel in your heart and express in some appropriate manner a humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe and astonished wonder and overpowering love in the presence of that most ancient Mystery, that Majesty which philosophers call the First Cause, but which we call Our Father Which Are in Heaven.
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.
Now I’m not sure how many of these really apply or are important. While it would be nice if we all sang in tune, for some of us, its just not possible. But that last one is important. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself or any other creature.
We have learnt that it is not the outward forms that are important and we must resist the temptation to copy the successful forms of the past without also following the spirituality of the past. We see that true worship is only possible through Christ and what he has done for us and if we remember this and come to God remembering that we only come through Christ then our worship will be acceptable to God, no matter how out of tune we are.
