Expressing Worship
2 Samuel 6:12-23[1]
6-12-05
Into
I want to begin this morning with a video clip from the movie “Hoosiers”[2].
Begin in Ch 30 at 01:47:00 and End at 01:49:33
Without question those people were fully engaged in that basketball game. Their expression of joy over that victory is unmistakable. Can you imagine that movie concluding with the final basket winning the game and then everyone nonchalantly saying, “Well that was nice”? (I sat in a lazily in and chair and said the words in an indifferent tone).
A greater victory has occurred than any basketball game ever. Two thousand years ago Jesus defeated the Devil on the cross and rose triumphant from the grave. That victory has profound implications for you and me. Our whole future depended upon the outcome of that contest. If ever there was a victory worthy of passionate celebration it is the victory of the cross.
I want to speak with you this morning on the subject: Expressing Worship. We have talked extensively in previous messages about worshipping God from the heart.[3] Jesus said, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."(John 4:24)
When people just go through outward motions but their hearts are not in it, all you have is dead ritual.[4] True worship springs forth from relationship with God and genuine gratitude for who He is and what He has done for us. We want to build upon those teaching today. How do we express our love to the Lord in our worship? C.S. Lewis said, “We praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.”[5] Expression of worship is important in our relationship with God.
Is our expression of worship left up to our own personal taste and preference? Or does the Bible give us some instruction about worship? Are there specific imperatives about worship in the Bible? Are there examples of how to worship in Scripture?
I believe we have an example in our text that teaching principles about expressing worship. In 2 Samuel 6:12-23 we see David’s exuberance in worship to the Lord. We see his wife’s response to that worship. And we see David’s answer to her response. It is all very instructive about worshipping the Lord.
In 2 Samuel 6 David is bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. The Ark of the Covenant was a rectangular box that God told Moses to make. It was 3¾’ long and 2 ¼’ wide and high. It was covered inside and out with pure gold. On top of the box was the mercy seat and on each side of the mercy seat was a golden cherub. On its molding were golden rings where poles were inserted so the Levites could carry it.[6] Hopefully that helps you picture what we’re talking about.
But the real significance of the Ark of the Covenant is found in 2 Samuel 6:2 “He and all his men set out from Baalah of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark.” The Ark represented the presence of God. Listen to what God said to Moses after He told him how to construct the Ark of the Covenant. Ex 25:22 “There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.”
That helps us understand the spiritual significance of what David is doing here in our text. He is ushering in the presence of God.
In the first half of this chapter He made some serious mistakes about how to go about doing that. You may remember the story of Uzzah trying to steady the Ark and being struck dead in the process. The problem in that case was that David was not following God’s instruction on how the Ark was to be transported. God had said that the Ark was to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites.[7] Instead David had it on a new, shinny cart—the way the Philistines had done. The lesson David had to learn about ushering in the presence of God was “obedience is better than sacrifice”[8]. Do it God’s way. You can’t just do it any way you want to. You can’t look at the world and find out how to do it.[9] You have to look at the Word of the Lord and do what He has said to do.
So by the time we get to verse 12 David has worked through all that and is doing it right this time. And there is tremendous joy in the process. 2 Sam 6:12 “Now King David was told, ‘The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.’ So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing.”
I see three prominent attitudes in the heart of David in this text.
1st He is filled with joy. The joy stands in contrast to what he was previously experiencing. Two emotions became prominent in his earlier attempt. Verse 8 says he was angry at God. Verse 9 says he was afraid. Fear and anger are a very different set of emotions compared to joy. What was the difference? In the first attempt he was disobedient and presumptuous. In the second attempt he did it God’s way.
2nd He is reverent. Verse 13 says that every six steps a sacrifice is offered to the Lord.[10] If you had been there the day Uzzah got fried you would have done that too. David has a healthy fear of God in this situation. But this is important to see: there is no inconsistency between great expressions of joy and reverence to the Lord. Some people think reverence means stoic and silent. Reverence is an attitude of the heart. In his first attempt David was presumptuous and insensitive to the holiness and authority of God. Here he treads softly and reverently—yet joyously and passionately.
3rd He is humble. He is not concerned about looking a certain way before other people. He is not trying to impress people. He forgets about all that and gets caught up in the joy of the Lord—so much so that it upset his wife, Michal.
Look at the way David expresses worship and celebration of the Lord. He lays aside his pompous, kingly robes and wears the simple attire of a Levite. He forgets about position and worships on level ground with fellow believers.[11]
verse 14 says that he “danced before the Lord with all his might.” First notice that it does not say that God supernaturally came upon him and made him dance. It was the joy of the Lord in his heart that was being expressed. But God didn’t dance in David. David danced “before the Lord” “with all his might.” With that expression I think it’s fair to say that David was really into what he was doing. Remember the enthusiasm you saw in the video clip at the beginning of the message. David was every bit as enthused about His God. He was wholehearted in his worship.
Is it right to dance before the Lord? That expression of praise is actually commanded in the Psalms. Ps 150:4 “praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute.” Ps 149:2-3 “Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King. 3 Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp.” In Ex. 15:20 Miriam and the women of Israel celebrated their deliverance at the Red Sea with singing and with dancing. Dancing is an appropriate expression of worship. No wonder people get bored in church. They don’t do the stuff they’re supposed to do.
Their worship also had instruments. Look at the end of verse 14 “and the sound of the trumpets.” Yes, they were making melody in their hearts.[12] But that melody came out in various expressions of worship. Later when Solomon brought the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple there was all kinds of music to celebrate the presence of the Lord. 2Chron 5:12-13 “All the Levites who were musicians-Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives-stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: ‘He is good; his love endures forever.’”
When they did that the glory of God filled the house. Verse 13 “Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud, 14 and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God.” It doesn’t appear to me that God is displeased with their exuberance. I think He is pleased when we get wholehearted in our worship.
Listen to Ps 150
“Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. 2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, 4 praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, 5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.”
There is a lot of precedent in the Bible for this kind of worship.
Back in 2 Samuel 6, notice that their worship got loud. Verse 15 “while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.” Some people think that kind of worship is irreverent. But God is honoring their worship because it is a genuine expression of their heart to God. In fact, we are told to shout in the Psalms. Psalm Ps 33:1-3 “Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. 2 Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. 3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.”
I am amazed at people who will cling to Psalm 23 with their dying breath. They will claim the blessings of Psalm 1 and the protection of Psalm 92; but then reject verses like this as outdated and no longer valid. Friend, it’s all good. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for instruction.[13] It’s not our prerogative to tip toe through the Psalms and pick and choose what we want and reject the rest. Psalms is the inspired book of worship. It instructs us on how to do it. Why should we shout? It think Isa 12:6 gives a good reason, “Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you."
While we’re talking about expressions of worship, let me give you some Scripture for a couple of other things we do around here.
(1) Clapping our hands before the Lord is an expression of joy. Ps 47:1 “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.”
(2) Bowing before the Lord is especially mid-Eastern. But it is also commanded in Scripture. Ps 95:6-7 “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; 7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.” The Hebrew word shachah (shaw-khaw’) that is commonly translated worship has the connotation of bowing down.[14]
(3) Standing before the Lord is a posture of involvement. Why don’t we just sit and relax during worship--because worship is not a spectator sport. Worship calls for our participation. What happens when you get excited at a ball game? You jump to your feet. You outwardly express what is in your heart. The king sits on his throne, the subjects stand or bow. When the judge enters the courtroom, everyone stands. Watch the Presidential news conferences and you will see everyone stand when the President enters. A greater than President Bush is in our midst. I’m not presenting this as some legalistic thing to be done; but a natural response of involvement. If there are physical reasons you can not stand, please do not feel condemned for sitting. I’m just explaining why we often stand during the worship. 1 Kings 8:22 “Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven.”
That verse touches on one other expression of worship.
(4) We don’t lift our hands just because it is a Pentecostal tradition. We do it because of the examples and instruction in Scripture. Ps 134:2 “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
and praise the LORD.” David prayed in Ps 141:2 “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.” In 1 Tim 2:8 “I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.”
The point of all this is not to defend a certain style of worship. I do want to show some Scriptural basis for some of the things we do in our worship here.[15] But what I want us to see this morning is the significance of physical expressions of worship. There is a link between what is going on in our hearts the physical activity. Jeremiah wrote in Lam 3:41 “Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven...” Even the secular world recognizes something they call “body language”. There is a relationship between our physical posture and our mental state. If I want to lift my heart to God, it might be helpful to lift my hands as a part of that process. I have ministered a number of times on the importance of worshipping in spirit and in truth. Certainly just going through the outward physical exercises is not enough if our heart is not in it. That’s a whole message in itself. But today I want you to see that if our heart is really in it, then our body should be as well. Rom 12:1 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.” That verse doesn’t say, “Just worship God in your heart.” No, our bodies are to be yielded up to God as well. Worship calls for total involvement of my being. I want to give God a living sacrifice in my worship—not a half-dead effort—not the leftovers of the week. I’m not going to wear myself out playing on Saturday and then say I’m too tired to give wholehearted worship to God on Sunday. He deserves our very best and He deserves our full involvement.[16] If I don’t know the song, I’ll learn it. If I don’t like the style I’ll get used to it. It is my desire to worship my King with all that is within me.
Now before we conclude let’s go back to 2Samuel 6 and look at Michal’s reaction to
David’s worship. 2 Sam 6:16 “As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.”
Why was Michal upset? Her pride was disturbed. She liked the pomp and glory of her position. David didn’t look kingly as he danced before the Lord in public. Michal was more into image. You can see David’s heart in verses 17-19. He was so happy in the Lord he just wanted to bless everybody. Doesn’t God’s presence do that to you? You get to rejoicing in the Lord and you get generous toward everybody. Look at David’s mindset as he comes home from that glorious service. 2Sam. 6:20 “When David returned home to bless his household...” Conflict was the last thing on his mind as he walked through that door. He wanted to share what he had just gotten. Well sometimes our bubble gets a bit busted at times like that. He comes in to bless and Michal (the daughter of Saul)(and she’s behaving like the daughter of Saul here) Michal meets him with an attack. Listen to her sarcasm in verse 20 “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!” It wasn’t that he was being vulgar. He was dressed in the Levite attire. It was just that he had condescended to the level of the common people and his actions were not dignified in her opinion. Oh the blessing she missed that day. Verse 23 tells us the judgment she brought upon herself by her attitude. She was not fruitful because fruitfulness comes out of God’s blessing on our lives. Michal almost got blessed that day. David had come home to bless her. How many blessings do people forfeit because of a prideful, critical attitude?
David’s answer to her is very revealing of his heart. First, he tells her in verse 21, “It was before the Lord ...” that he expressed his worship. Worship must never be a performance for other people. If we stand stoic in order to please other people we miss a blessing. If we dance in order to impress people with our spirituality we miss it. Worship must be done as an expression to the Lord—for His eyes regardless of who else is there or not there. “It was before the Lord ...” “I wasn’t trying to impress you and I wasn’t trying to impress them. I was just enjoying my God.”
Let me quickly summarize what we’ve seen here and bring the message to a close. David is ushering in the presence of God. The Ark of the Covenant represents God’s presence. As he does that with a sincere heart—as he acts in obedience to God—his heart is filled with joy. And he expresses that joy through physical action like singing and dancing and leaping before the Lord. When Michal criticizes his worship he explains to her that his expression of worship was “before the Lord” and not as a performance for people. That seem to me to set a good example for all of us. I want to be a true worshipper of God like David was. I want to be obedient to God—I want to enjoy God—and I want to learn how to express my love to the Lord in passionate worship. May God help us to live in that kind of liberty[17].
Pray[18]
TEXT: 2 Sam 6:12-23
12 Now King David was told, "The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God." So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. 13 When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, 15 while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets. 16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart. 17 They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the LORD. 18 After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. 19 Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes. 20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"
21 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. 22 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." 23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death. (from New International Version)
Richard Tow
Grace Chapel Foursquare Church
Springfield, MO
www.gracechapelchurch.org
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[1] Text is provided at end of this manuscript. All Scripture quotes are from New International Version unless otherwise indicated.
[2] MGM Home Entertainment 2005, 1986 Orion Pictures, starring Gene Hackman.
[3] For example: “Worship Remembrance” preached 3-27-05 and “Delighting in the Lord” preached 5-29-05 both available at www.gracechapelchurch.org
[4] Matthew 15:8; Ps 9:1; 51:6; Isa 29:13
[5] Bill Brian sermon entitled “The Impact of Worship” available at www.sermoncentral.com
[6] J.P. Payne, “Ark of the Covenant” in Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible Vol. A-C, gen. ed. Merrill Tenney (Grand Rapids: Regency, 1976) 306. Also see Ex. 25:10-22.
[7] Numbers 4:15 and even the Kohathite Levites were forbidden to touch the ark.
[8] 1 Sam. 15:22
[9] See 2 Sam 6:1-10 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
[10] Ibid. Keil & Delitzsch conclude that a sacrifice was offered in the space of every six steps but that the procession did not stop at each sacrifice.
[11] Someone has well said, “The ground is level at the cross” and it is important that when people come together for worship that they do so as brothers and sister in Christ without respect of persons (James 2).
[12] Eph. 5:19
[13] 2 Timothy 3:16. While I am pointing out a hermeneutical inconsistency I do recognize the need to distinguish normative principles from cultural description. What’s interesting is that all these expressions of joy are readily accepted in our culture today.
[14] See Strong’s Concordance # 7812.
[15] Although I am presenting these verses as at least Scriptural authorization for such expressions of worship, I do realize that by far the greater issue is one’s heart attitude toward God.
[16] Mal. 1:8-14
[17] 2 Cor. 3:17
[18] In first service instead of using clip from “Hoosiers” at beginning of message used clip from “Sister Act 2” (00:59:23 to 01:04:44).
