Active Worship

Have you ever been to a Rock Concert? Thousands of people screaming at the top of their lungs, shouting praises to these people who can engage their heart with a melody and some words. Or how about a Football game. Again, a stadium packed with people cheering because someone allowed them to feel a part of a special moment. These and many other events draw huge crowds and tons of attention, but would anybody consider them worship events? Probably not, at least not in the sense that we think of worship, yet in some ways there is so much more worship going on here than ever goes on in our churches. There are people at these events that desire to be like the ones they are cheering for, that emulate and pattern their lives after them; people that want to show them how much they are loved and adored. They shout, they sent letters and gift5s, they wear their emblems on their clothes. They want to be associated with them. How is that not worship? But do we react that way toward God?

This morning I want us to see several things about worship, and then I want to address one major issue that may keep us from worshipping God as we should. Now of course, we have been going through much of the life of David for some time now, and we will see that one of the major aspects of David’s life that showed that he was “a man after God’s own heart” was in his worship. So as we set the stage, we must recall that David had been crowned the King of Judah, but had not yet been declared king of all Israel. One of Saul’s sons, Ishbosheth, had been the king but was assassinated, leaving the throne vacant for David. Finally, the whole nation came and proclaimed him as the anointed King of Israel. David then captured the city of Jerusalem and decided to make it the capital city for the nation.

So the first thing he wanted to do, was to bring the ark of God into the capital city. Now it had been residing for 20 years at Kiraith Jearim in the house of Abinadab which is about 9 miles west of Jerusalem. So he began the trek to bring the ark into Jerusalem, but he failed to recognize that God gave specific instructions as to the proper way to handle this holy vessel, and someone got hurt. So the stopped the journey, regrouped, learned the proper way to handle this situation, and began to bring the ark into the royal city. So we pick up the story in verse 12.

It was told King David, "The Lord has blessed the household 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 rejoicing;
Notice first the attitude of David when he went to get the ark. Was this a chore for him? Was this simply another task of drudgery that he had to do as king? Was this something that he simple did matter-of-factly, with businesslike decorum? NO. He went rejoicing! Now what does that mean, we will get a little better description in just a few verses, but I hazard a guess that he was glad to be there, and glad to be doing this. He was excited and excitable! The first order of worship then is to rejoice!

[13] and when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling.
The next aspect of worship that we see is sacrifice. What have we to sacrifice? What have we to bring to honor the Lord? After all, that is what the sacrifice is all about, giving to God! So what do we bring when we come to worship? I will let you ponder that one, but it is clear that we must bring something. Thirdly, how do we come to worship?
[14] David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod.

David came dancing. And not just a little side to side sway. No. He danced with all His Might! He danced with all he had. We have youth trying to have a good time by going out to dances, they should be having a good time by coming to dance at worship! David did his dancing in the presence of God! Yes, although it may surprise or annoy many uptight Christians, dancing is not of the devil, but is can be part of worship to God!

Notice also how David was dressed. He was dressed in his Sabbath Best. The linen ephod was a priestly garment that he was allowed to wear on this occasion as the Lord’s anointed. He came dressed for the occasion, because it was a special occasion.

[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.

This was not a funeral procession, this was a parade! They had dancing, whooping and hollering, trumpets blaring; this worship was an event. Can you imagine coming to worship and seeing all of this. Man I can. Honestly, I would love to see this every week. I would love to come to church and have an event where people were excited, shouting, dancing, playing music to the Lord and having a wonderful time. I have been in churches like that and I can am uplifted in an environment like that. And the thing is, that is exactly what the Methodist church has been.

In the early days when Methodism was sweeping the nation, it was partly because of our revivalistic enthusiasm that people came to know the Lord. We were called “Shouting Methodists.” That is what we were known for. Being excited about the things of God! A Song about Methodists appeared in a hymnbook in 1807 entitled “The Methodist” that has these words.

The World, the Devil, and Tom Paine
Have tried their force, but all in vain.
They can't prevail, the reason is,
The Lord defends the Methodist.
They pray, they sing, they preach the best,
And do the Devil most molest.
If Satan had his vicious way,
He'd kill and damn them all today.
They are despised by Satan's train,
Because they shout and preach so plain.
I'm bound to march in endless bliss,
And die a shouting Methodist.

This was considered a good thing! A defining aspect of our religion. But what did it mean to be a shouting Methodist? At the very least, it meant that Methodists did not sit quietly but interrupted the preacher with calls of "Praise the Lord," "Hallelujah," and "Amen." But Methodist “shouting” was also a special way of singing that included clapping and dancing. It was filled with enthusiasm and joy, almost demanding that God was gonna be praised by his people. This is right in line with David’s idea of worship.

But why is this so far from our usual experience at worship? Why is it that as the Methodist Church continues to decline, this enthusiasm is far from us? Is God just as worthy to be praised as he was then? Is Jesus no longer on His throne? Do we no longer need a Savior like we once did? What has changed? Of course there are many answers, but one may be the same as the problem that David faced. Not everyone was excited enough to dance. Not everyone looked with glee on David as he humbled himself before God. Let’s look at verse 16

[16] As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.
Now I have to admit that this is how I feel some people would look at me if I started dancing around the table. I am almost sure that some people would despise me, or think me a fool and an embarrassment. Perhaps I am wrong, but that is how I feel I would be recieved. And probably many of you feel that way too. So together we sit in relative silence, preparing for the rocks and trees to cry out in praise in our stead.
Still, there are a few more aspects of worship we see in verse 18-19.
[18] When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, [19] and distributed food among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people went back to their homes.

We see the giving of offerings as a part of our worship, then we see a blessing of all the people in the name of the Lord. You see this is where God meets us in our worship. For us it is often the giving of the Word and the sermon, it is the bread and the cup, it is in the benediction and the pouring out of the holy Spirit, but each of us are to be blessed by participating in worship. That begs the question, do you feel blessed when you come to worship? God is here to meet us and to bless us, and we should feel blessed by being here and worshipping Him.

There is one more aspect of worship, the distribution of food and drink to everyone who comes to participate in worship. We usually associate this with Communion which has been given special significance by Jesus, yet the early church did more than break bread and drink the cup. They would often share food around the table with their fellow worshippers. This is part of the blessing, to be able to share together with God’s family, with those who unite around the worship of God. We are to be blessed by being in worship.

But the story of David and worship is not done yet. For we still have the lesson to learn. We have seen what worship looked like to David, and we have seen that not everyone appreciated that kind of worship. But what of it? Isn’t each one entitled to their own opinion? When David returned to his house intending to Bless Michal he was accosted by her declaring her disgust and remarking how shameful David had been. She was concerned with what everyone would think of the King, her husband prancing around like a fool. David declares to her that he was not dancing for anyone but the Lord and that he would gladly be humiliated in the eyes of the world as long as he honored the Lord. You see that is the bottom line. Michal was concerned with other people thought, David was concerned with what God thought.

Why is it that we don’t dance or shout, or get “carried away” because we are afraid of what everyone will think. Well shouldn’t we be afraid of what God will think when we say to him, “Well I just didn’t want to be embarrassed.” Hogwash. I was too proud is what we are saying. I couldn’t humble myself like that! Surely God would expect a little more decorum than that. All God expects is that you give him all the love and adoration you have to give, however it is that you have to give it. If it is shouting, shout, if it is singing, sing. If it is playing the trumpet, play. If it is serving, serve. But God wants all the worship we have to give. If we can shout louder for a Super Bowl touchdown than for our Savior who died on the cross, which one do we honor more?

Michal never received her blessing. She never engaged in worship. And although David even brought the blessing home to her, because of her pride, all she got was cursed. We need to let our pride fall down, and learn to worship with all that we are, or we aren’t worshipping at all.