God’s Positioning System: David’s Story (January 24th)
2 Samuel 6:1 – 15
1.) When you buy a GPS unit it is because you desire some physical direction in life. Those four features, map, location, route, direction are all related to a physical journey. So, when you are on a physical journey and you take a wrong turn what does the GPS unit do? It tells you. Someone was telling me a few weeks ago that GPS units say in a nice voice to turn around, to go back, that you made a mistake. You are not yelled at but spoken softly that you are headed in the wrong direction, you are off track.
God’s Positioning System, uses scripture to teach, instruct and inspire us. At times God’s voice reminds us that we are off track in our lives. God might speak with a comforting voice of correction but not always.
May the Lord use David’s story to correct and re-direct us as we need it.
2.) When I was thinking of David’s life a number of different roles or identities came to mind. When I mention David, what story or role comes to your mind? Here are the roles that I thought of. David was a:
Shepherd (He watched his father’s sheep.)
Warrior (He was a leader of the army, he killed Goliath.)
Musician (He played the harp for Saul.)
Worshipper (He wrote lots of songs and prayers)
King (He was the King of Israel, anointed as leader, was blessed with a special covenant by God for the Kingdom.)
Adulterer (He initiated a sexual relationship with Bathsheba, a married woman, and then had her husband killed, trying to cover up the affair.)
Friend (He was a close friend of Jonathon)
3.) We can read about David in these various roles and stories in the scripture. David was blessed by God to rule over the covenant people of God. David unified the Kingdom and made Jerusalem the capital and center of their life.
God has a special role for David and as a King wanted a ruler. From this Kingly lineage would come a ruler that would reign and rule forever, fulfilling God’s promise.
We understand the importance of David’s throne and rule as we realize that Jesus came from the family line of David. That is the reason that David was and is a focal point of Jewish life.
The aspect I want to focus on in David’s personal life is that of a worshipper.
4.) 2 Samuel 6 describes the Ark of the Covenant coming to Jerusalem. The Ark of the Covenant was a symbol of God’s presence. When the ark was to be carried God commanded that only priests, Levites, were to be carrying it. Those were God’s rules. David had it on a cart, and it began to fall because some oxen had stumbled. A man named Uzzah reached out to hold the ark but God was angry and struck Uzzah down and he died. This incident teaches us the Holiness of God is real and how we need to obey God. That story reminds us of a Holy God. I want to focus on a part of the story before and after this incident.
5.) We read that David worshipped this Holy God. We read in 2 Samuel 6:5, “David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.”
When David is moving the ark again we read these words, “David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.” (2 Samuel 6:14, 15)
Both scriptures give us two insights in how David worshipped. David worshipped with all his might and with the house of Israel.
David gave his all, his self in worship with other people. David would tell us today that to be a worshipper you must do so with all our might and with others.
6.) a.) A short definition of worship is “giving worth to God.” Another way to think of worship is the phrase “worth-ship.” When we worship we give worth to the Lord. When we worship God we increase our attention to God and decrease the focus on our self.
b.) David worshipped by singing and playing music, dancing and shouting. He had abandon in his worship. He was offering his “I love you,” to the Lord. He was letting go of his self to give worth to God.
David was in community when he worshipped. He grew closer not only to God but to other people and was strengthened by others around him.
c.) We need to understand the importance of being worshippers. We worship with our might and we worship together with the people of God.
It is so vital that I want to share with you what happens to us when we don’t worship with all of our might and we don’t worship with the people of God.
7.) When we don’t worship you get “self-focused” and less God centered in your life. You give worth to your self, in a sense, you worship yourself. Here are three things that can and do happen.
*When that happens you are setting yourself up for disappointment. If you are relying on your “self” it will eventually disappoint you. Our human spirit can only do so much. All we have to do is read the news for a week to discover the recent “scandals, sins, problems,” that people have committed. It seems like we are reminded of humanities flaws, sins and struggles on a daily basis. The self cannot conquer the human condition.
*If you rely on your self you will shrink your soul, it will get smaller. Your soul is meant to be filled with God. There is a God’s sized hole in your soul and if you fill your soul with self you are shrinking your soul.
*You will also experience the loss of Godly relationships in your life. You will not be in relationship with people of God in a worship setting. Your relationships will be filled with people who don’t worship God.
8.) Worship is so important to a growing disciple of Jesus Christ that as a pastor I struggle emotionally and spiritually when I see and say hi to people in the community who are not in worship on a regular basis. I struggle personally and spiritually as a pastor when youth who have joined the church through confirmation quit being worshippers.
I hurt when I see some of you worshipping without your spouses. I pray with some of you about your grown children that are not worshipping anywhere.
I know that your self will disappoint you at some time. I know that a soul that is small is not a God designed life. I know that when you don’t have Godly people in your life you are headed down a path of darkness instead of light.
9.) David, a man who worshipped with all his might with others, wrote a lot of the Psalms. The Psalms are great and I recommend them highly. I have grown in my relationship with God and in worship through the Psalms. The Psalms are not all songs of praise, there are some pretty earthy words included. There are Psalms with angry words, bitter words, critical words, confusing words, doubting words, along with the praise of God in worship. (Psalms 35:4, 55:4,5)
The words of David, in the Psalms, are words, expressed to God, in the midst of his life in good times and tough.
10.) David was a worshipper. David was human who sinned at times against God and others. Yet, God’s faithfulness was near to David as he sought to keep God close to his heart.
We too live a life of human struggles. As we learn from David’s life we realize that when we are in a place of worship we are in a good place. When we worship God with all of our might and with God’s people we are in the right place.
11.) As we think about David let me ask you, how do you best worship? We are all different ages, men and women, have different personalities, have different preferences, have varied perspectives, traditions and needs. The simple answer is that we worship in different ways.
How can we as a congregation offer worship to a variety of people? We offer different expressions and elements of worship. It means that we create new worship services, we try new elements, we seek to help people worship, give worth to God, in a ways that they can be worshipping with all of their might.
12.) I want to lead us singing the chorus, “Alleluia.” I want you to give worship to God, give God worth. When you sing, let your self focus dissipate and diminish. We will sing Alleluia, then You are Holy, We will praise you, and then Alleluia.
