This morning, I would like to begin a new series of messages which will take us through the winter months. When I choose a series like this, I look at several things – I pray and ask God to guide, I look at what part of the Bible we have looked at recently and then as I read some of the books of the Bible, I listen for God’s leading. As I read I & II Chronicles, there were some ideas that struck me as important and relevant for our congregation at this time. So for the next few months, we will be looking at these two books. We will not, however, be doing an exegetical series in which we examine the whole of both books. Instead, I have chosen to do a biographical series in which we will look at the lives of some of the kings of Israel and discern what God is teaching us from the stories of their lives. The central concept will be an examination of our relationship with God. We recently did the healthy church survey in our congregation. The element which came up as weakest was passionate spirituality. The part of that element which was especially low was that we do not have a sense of God working in our midst. It seemed to me that the stories of the lives of the kings in I & II Chronicles dealt with the same issues and so my prayer is that as we examine these stories, we will grow in our sense that God is truly at work in our midst and that we have would an expectation that He will work.
I recently purchased a book for our church. The title is “Worship Walk” it is written by Gareth Goossen. After I have finished reading it, I will put it in the church library and will encourage you, especially those who are involved in leading worship, to read it. In the book, he discusses the question, What is worship? Some of the answers he gives to this question are, “worship changes who we are as we pursue who God is.” “Music and worship are not synonymous. True worship changes us when God draws us into his presence.” “At the moment of meeting God…We want nothing for ourselves…This is romance which is totally focused on the object of our affection. Self is consumed within our desire to please him.” “Worship encompasses all of us (who we are): our emotions, our intellects, our relationships, our working lives.”
I think we see some of that kind of worship in King David. He is well known for the Psalms and therefore known as a man of worship. In this first message, I would like to look at I Chronicles 13-17 in which we have a number of stories that teach us about worship from the life of a man of worship.
I Chronicles 13:1-4; 14:8-17
If you turn in your Bibles, to I Chronicles 13, the story begins with the determination of David to bring the ark to Jerusalem. The story of David begins earlier and tells us of how he became king, how he conquered Jerusalem (11:4-9) and made it the capital city of the nation. The ark of the covenant, which he wanted to bring back was the box which God had Moses build, which would represent the presence of God in the midst of His people. This ark had been captured by their enemies, the Philistines, but they had trouble with it because they were not prepared to handle the presence of God and had no right to it. They sent it back on a new cart led by a team of cows separated from their calves. For about 70 years it had been in Beth-Shemesh at the house of Abinadab.
Now David wanted to bring it to the capital city. His reasons were not political, but spiritual. Notice what he says in verse 3, “Let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we did not inquire of it during the reign of Saul.” He did it because he had a desire to restore the practice of inquiring of the Lord. It was a way of indicating that it was his intent to listen to God. So he consulted with the people and they agreed to this plan.
We will pick up how that all worked out in a moment, but before we do, I would like to look at another story. In I Chronicles 14:8-17, we have a story in which the Philistines, the perennial enemies of Israel, were attacking God’s people. When they came for war we notice how David responded. He prepared for battle, but then, we read in verse 10, “David inquired of God…” He wanted to know from God, how to handle this situation. When he won the battle, David said in vs. 11, “God has broken out against my enemies…” Later the Philistines attacked again and we read in vs. 14 that “David inquired of God again…” Once again God gave them victory.
When we notice this phrase “inquired of the Lord” 3 times in 2 short chapters, it is something that we need to take as significant.
Inquiring of the Lord seems like such an obvious thing. It simply means that we ask God for help. Asking God and expecting God to act seems so simple and such a right thing to do. Yet, during the days of Saul, Israel did not do it. Do we do it? I would suggest to you that more often we are self sufficient or we find some person to help us and our desire to seek the Lord is a last resort which we use when the situation gets really serious. When we are out of practice inquiring of the Lord, we soon drop it all together. The reason this is included in the Bible and the reason that these stories are remarkable is because David determined to inquire of the Lord and made inquiring of the Lord a natural and every day part of his life.
To inquire of the Lord involves some pretty significant assumptions. It assumes that God exists – do you really believe that God exists? It assumes that God is able to help us – do we believe that God is the creator of the universe and that “He owns the cattle on a thousand hills?” If we want to ask God for something, we assume that He is listening when we ask – do we live with the understanding that God always hears our prayers? Inquiring of the Lord also assumes that He loves and cares for us. It assumes that we truly believe that the very hairs of our head are numbered – do we believe that?
Inquiring of the Lord can break down at any one of these points, but when we believe these things and know that they are true of God, we will inquire of Him. When we inquire of the Lord, we will also be worshipping Him, for in acknowledging that God exists, is able, listens and cares, we are recognizing who God is and praising Him and trusting Him.
Bruce H. Leafblad says, “Our greatest need today is to recover the priority of God in our worship and in the whole of life.” When we follow the pattern of David’s life and make it a habit to inquire of the Lord, this will happen.
I Chronicles 13:5-14; 15:1-15
A moment ago, we talked about David’s desire to bring home the ark. After getting agreement from the people, he assembled representatives from all of Israel and they prepared a great procession which would be accompanied by a great celebration.
They put the ark on a new cart and, accompanied by musical instruments, they celebrated before God with singing as they began to make their way to Jerusalem.
As they made their way along, they came to a piece of uneven road and the oxen stumbled. In order to prevent the ark from falling over, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady it and God immediately struck him dead.
When David saw this, the whole processional stopped. It must have been like a phone call announcing the death of a loved one which is received in the middle of a great party. All of a sudden the party was over. David was angry because God’s wrath had broken out and he became very afraid of God. For three months, the ark stayed right where it was with the family of Obed-Edom and that family was greatly blessed.
In I Chronicles 15 we read that, David had made buildings for himself but he also set up a tent as a place for the ark. He still wanted to bring it to Jerusalem and he still wanted to inquire of the Lord.
After 3 months, he was ready to try again and this time, he called together all the members of the priestly families – the Levites. He planned more carefully and discovered, as we read in 15:13, that he had made a serious mistake in the way he had transported the ark previously. We wonder where he got the idea to use a new cart. Was it from the way the Philistines had sent it back? The instructions for moving the ark were very clear in Numbers 4:5,6,15. Only members of the priestly families could move the ark and they were to carry it on poles.
This time David knew about this requirement and the ark was brought to the city of Jerusalem with great celebration.
This is a difficult story. Why did Uzzah die? Why was God so demanding about how the ark should be moved? One thing is clear, Uzzah died, David was angry and became afraid because he failed to take note of the holiness of God. The rules about moving the ark were not arbitrary rules but a way for God’s people to know and understand that God is a holy God. Because of Jesus, we have been taught to call Him a friend and “daddy.” That is a great privilege, but we must be careful not to presume on that privilege. When we approach God, we cannot forget that He is a holy “daddy.” He is set apart in every way and our approach to God must always honour Him and we must come on His terms, not on our terms.
David wanted to inquire of God because he knew it was the right thing to do and he sensed a need to do so and yet when he encountered the holiness of God, he feared to bring “Him” closer. It is right and good to inquire of the Lord and to seek Him. However, our worship must be on God’s terms, respecting His holiness. W.C. Kaiser in “Hard Sayings of the Bible” says, “Good intentions, with unsanctified minds, interfere with the kingdom of God. This is especially true of the worship of God and the concept of his holiness.” We can’t worship God with a careless familiarity.
Ordered Celebration With Abandon
I Chronicles 15:16- 16:43
So as they learned about the holiness of God, they chose to bring the ark into Jerusalem in the right way. As they did so, we also notice that there was great celebration that went along with the procession into the city.
David appointed various Levites, members of the priestly family, to make music. There were singers as well as those who played lyres, harps and cymbals. There were other musicians who blew trumpets before the ark of God(15:24). Please look at chapter 15 beginning at verse 25. Notice in verse 26 that they made sacrifices, which was one way in which they worshipped God. There were choirs singing (15:27) and musical instruments being played(15:28). They shouted (15:28) and David danced and celebrated (15:29).
David even wrote a Psalm for this occasion, which is recorded in 16:8-36. If the words of this Psalm sound familiar, we should not be surprised, since they come from three of the Psalms which are in the Psalter. Verses 8-22 come from Psalm 105; verses 23-33 from Psalm 96 and verses 34-36 from Psalm 106:1, 47, 48. It is a great Psalm of praise acknowledging all that God has done in redeeming His people. In it God’s people are invited to “sing to the Lord,” to “ascribe to the Lord glory,” to “tremble before Him, and to “give thanks to the Lord.” It gives many reasons to thus respond to God because of “the wonders He has done,” because “splendour and majesty are before Him” and because “He is good.” With this Psalm and with much celebrating they set the ark up in the tent built for it and gave glory to God. What a great day of worship that must have been!
As they came into the city, Michal, David’s wife, saw what David was doing in the procession and 15:29 says that “she despised him in her heart.”
When they had come into the city, they sacrificed some more and David appointed Levites to care for the ark and to inquire of God. Notice in 16:4 the specific job that they had. They were to “minister before the ark of the Lord, to make petition, to give thanks, and to praise the Lord.” In 16:37-43 we see how worship and seeking the Lord were established in Jerusalem before God at the ark of the covenant.
During the holidays, I read a book from our church library called “Trailblazer for the Brethren.” It is a story of one man who was a founder of the Mennonite Brethren church. It was interesting to read about the spiritual renewal that was happening at that time in the Mennonite colonies in Russia. It was also very interesting to read about the debates they had. One of the problems of this new Mennonite movement was about how the worship of God should be expressed. There were some who recognized that they had a marvellous new relationship with God and that this relationship needed to be expressed with great joy. Some wanted noise, celebration, unbounded joy because there was something to be joyful about. They feared that the lack of expression would be an indication of a lack of joy in the heart. Others feared that the “unbounded joy” would go overboard, and promoted a more quiet worship.
Growing up in the MB church at a time when the celebration of God was quite staid and quiet, I was surprised that this debate had already been there at the beginning of the movement. It is a debate that I have heard since then from people in the charismatic movement and those criticizing it. It actually sounds a lot like some of the debates I have heard even in our church in regards to using musical instruments like drums and those who want to raise their hands and even those who would like to move a little more in their worship and, on the other hand, those who are uncomfortable and even critical of this freedom in worship.
I believe that this passage from David’s life gives us some important teaching about this debate and I hope it will encourage us in our worship.
In this story about David, we see that worship involves a proper order. David appointed the musicians. He prescribed an orderly way of organizing worship in which certain people had certain responsibilities and they were to carry them out in a certain way. David also did not simply express words freely, but actually wrote out a Psalm which was to be used in worship. There is order and beauty of expression in this Psalm. This tells us that there must be order in worship, as even I Corinthians 14:40 says, “…everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”
However, we also see that worship involves a genuine expression of joy that must not be put down. There was noisy music, shouting and even dancing, which David himself did. Michal’s response is instructive. It asks the question, “what is an appropriate expression in worship.” Michal thought David’s expression was in appropriate. However, in Samuel, we are told that God punished Michal because of her response. David’s worship was honestly expressed praise to God and appropriate and Michal’s attitude, her criticism of it was sin.
The lesson for us seems clear. We must be careful not to criticize those who express themselves freely in worship – raising hands, even dancing. We must open our hearts to genuinely respond to God. A stifled response to God is dishonest and restrictive. When our response is so restrained, one can question whether there is something genuine of God in our hearts. I would invite you to have freedom to genuinely express what you are feeling to God. We can’t leave it in our mind only. I rejoice that young people are expressing their worship to God with instruments, drums and so on. They are in a solid Biblical tradition and criticizing them may find us in the line of Michal instead of David. I suspect that I, we, tend to lean pretty heavily on the side of formality and I have to ask myself if God is really in my life and if I am willing to express that openly.
Gareth Goossen has some good things to say about this debate. He writes, “When our focus deteriorates to style, preference and format, it is no longer worship…When we critique and ostracize people for their heartfelt worship in a style that is not our preference, we are not acting as God’s children.”
However, when we get to the place of having that freedom to worship, then it is important to remember that freedom in worship is not all there is. WE must also give consideration to love for others and to order. Just as David prescribed an ordered worship, so we must also have order in our worship. Freedom in worship must not violate love for others, order and it must be a genuine response to God and not done for show.
I Chronicles 17
After David brought the ark to Jerusalem, life continued as normal. But as David prospered and built houses for himself he became aware that the tent in which the ark of God was housed was quite shabby. So he wanted to build a house for God. He discussed this with Nathan, the prophet of God, and Nathan encouraged David to go ahead.
However, that night God spoke to Nathan and indicated that David was not the one who would build the house for God. Instead, God made a very unique promise to David. He told Him, in 17:10, “I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you.” The promise contains powerful messianic imagery and a promise that God’s kingdom would continue through a descendant of David. Solomon, David’s son, did build a house for God, but the reference here is to a much greater event. It is a reference to the house God would build, which was a house not built with hands. It is a reference to the temple of God, which is the temple of His people built on the foundation of Jesus Christ.
After David heard this message, he prayed and in his prayer accepted God’s plan.
David had a plan that involved a physical building. God had a plan that involved His people and, in fact, all the nations of the earth. God’s plans were much bigger than David’s.
As we worship God, a part of worship is to submit to God’s greater plan. We may want to be people who don’t look at evil and who are honest and loving. God has a plan by which He wants to transform us into His image. He wants to build us into a house in which we display the glory of God because of what God has done in us. We want to build a house of obedience because we are good people. God wants to build a house in which He is glorified because of the amazing thing He has done in our lives. Are we willing to worship Him by submitting to His greater plan?
So the lessons on worship which we have learned today from the life of David are that it is good to inquire of the Lord, we need to acknowledge His holiness as we do, worship involves a balance of order and abandon and we need to be open to God’s greater plan.
I like what the book “Worship Walk” says, “The essence of worship is a focus on God – to love him, to know him, to desire what He desires and participate in what He is doing.”
May our focus be on God, as David’s was. May we desire that God will be glorified and may we learn more of what it means to express our praise freely, but also to live our praise of God in daily life. As we learn these things, we will worship God well.
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