Volume 26, Issue 1
WisconsinChristianNews.com
Page 15
Lessons From the Life of David... (Continued From Page 14)
ple what it would take to get them to come to church. Once the data is analyzed, the church
One last item I want you to see in this passage. Verse 20 tells us of Michal’s disgust with her husband. This pictures for us the truth that even though we may diligently seek God’s presence and His glory in our lives, there will be those who stand in opposition. See how this de- velops. David is “jazzed.” He has glorified God and experienced His presence by bringing the Ark to Jerusalem. He has blessed the people and sent them home to celebrate. Now he comes to his own home wanting to bless his family and gets a bucket of cold water on the head. There will always be someone who says, “don’t get too crazy or wrapped up in the God thing.” They might tell you “it’s ok to go to church on Sun- day but do you have to read your Bible all the time and pray everyday?” Notice the outcome of all those who attempt to sidetrack those who desire to diligently seek the Lord’s glory – verse 23 – they will be barren. Misery loves company, as they say, and those who are spiritually empty cannot stand being in the presence of those who are spiritually full. Let me share this real story with you. In his book, “The Unquenchable Worshiper,” Matt Redman, who has written so many wonderful praise and worship songs, tells the story of how he came to write the song, “The Heart of Worship.” The church Matt attended had been incredibly blessed with some fan- tastic musicians and composers. The worship was incredible. But after a time, something went missing. As the bands became more proficient and the sound improved, the sense of God’s presence diminished. In Matt’s words, “The fire that used to characterize our worship had some- how grown cold.” Where once people would enter in no matter what, we’d now wait to see what the band was like first, how good the sound was, or whether we were ‘into’ the songs chosen.” The pastor, Mike Pilavachi, decided to take some radical steps to turn things around. So one Sunday when the congregation arrived, they dis- covered the sound system had been removed and there was no one to lead worship. Mike said, “When you come through the doors of the church on Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God? What are you going to sacrifice today?” The first few meetings after that were awkward, as people struggled to learn that true worship means offering one’s heart to God. Giving ex- pression to that was difficult at first, but over several weeks, people re- alized worship is about more than singing songs. It didn’t take long before the power and presence of God was renewed as they gathered to worship. Over the next weeks they added the instruments back in. Matt shares, “Out of this season, I reflected on where we had come to as a church and wrote this song:” “When the music fades, All is stripped away, & I simply come; Longing just to bring something that’s of worth That will bless Your heart. I’ll bring You more than a song, For a song in itself Is not what You have required. You search much deeper within Through the way things appear; You’re looking into my heart. I’m coming back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about You, All about You, Jesus. I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it, When it’s all about You, All about You, Jesus.” Brethren, there is one thing God desires for us to carry into this world. It is not our fancy clothes, fancy houses, or expensive cars. It is a changed life by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a testimony about the goodness of God verified by a heart that seeks Him above all else. That is the Gospel message of salvation in His Son that is written on our hearts. When we seek God’s presence in our lives and are diligent to live for His glory, then His joy and enabling power to live for Him comes washing through our souls like a refreshing river. That is my prayer for you, my readers. As we walk this journey together may we be an en- couragement to one another in godly living. Dr. Mike Spaulding P. O. Box 3007 • Lima, OH 45807
morphs into whatever the survey says. People today are looking for en- tertainment in a church so the pastor becomes a comedian and the serv- ice becomes a fast moving collage of drama, songs, skits, and sermonettes all designed to satisfy the pew consumer. When numbers become the goal, God is not glorified. David assem- bled 30,000 worshippers and they were all shouting and singing and playing instruments, but notice that God was not being glorified because He was not being worshipped the right way and so disaster struck. It was a great religious show but it was void of God. Here it was physical death. Today it is spiritual death. People are coming and going through the doors of our churches dead spiritually because they are not hearing the life-changing Word of God. People cannot be saved by meeting their “felt needs.” Salvation comes through recognition that we are sin- ners saved by grace. I remember John Courson talking about this church growth/marketing phenomenon. He spoke about a group of churches uniting in a cam- paign to reach their city. So they got a steering team together. Sort of an ad hock board. This board was comprised of some movers and shakers in the community. They decided that what they needed was a big wheel, a name, or several names to come into town and show folks how “cool” it was to be a Christian. The implication was, of course, that anyone could be as successful as they if they would become a Chris- tian. Courson concluded his story with this comment – “boards and big wheels. That’s a perfect description of a cart.” Brothers, God will not bless our carts. He will not bless our slick programs, our techniques and methods that we’ve co-opted from the world. You know, the Levites carried the Ark of the Covenant around the Sinai desert for nearly 38 years and never stumbled. They carried the Ark through dry river beds, over rocky terrain, and never stumbled. The Levites carried the Ark around the city of Jericho for seven days and never once stumbled. God didn’t need a cart then and He doesn’t need one now. God says to His people – “you carry Me.” You shoulder Me in your hearts and you carry Me everywhere you go. In verse 13, we see a picture of David’s right understanding of the ho- liness of God. I’ve already mentioned that Kiriath-jearim was 9 miles from Jerusalem. Can you imagine how long it would take you to walk 9 miles if you stopped every 6 steps and offered a sacrifice? Why did he do this? A few answers have been offered but I believe that the literal and symbolic meet here to provide us an answer. The number 6 is the number of man in Scripture. I think David was proclaiming be- fore God symbolically and literally that man alone can not come before a holy God. It is only through the blood. In order for mankind to be reconciled to God we must approach Him in the prescribed manner – through the blood of Jesus Christ. In verse 14, we read that David danced before the Lord with all his might wearing a linen ephod. What is that telling us? It means that David gave all to God and that he did so as a man, not as a King. The same must be true of us. We do not approach God on our own merits. We might be a business owner, a wealthy merchant, an important polit- ical figure. God says that we will take off those robes of importance and approach Him as every other person. We can understand “dancing with all our might” within a context of dili- gence. Hebrews 11:6 says, “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Jeremiah 29:13: “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Proverbs 8:17: “I love those who love Me and those who seek Me dili- gently will find Me.”
Verses 16-23, Michal was David’s first wife given to him by King Saul as a gesture of goodwill for David’s heroic military conquests. When God removed His blessing and anointing from Saul one of the first things he did was give Michal to another man as a wife. She obviously believed her husband acted inappropriately before the “common people.” What does this chapter, this singular event in the life of David have to tell us? What can we take away from this that will help us in our personal lives and in our responsibilities to our families and our church? More impor- tantly what is this story telling us about the heart of a person who wor- ships God? The first thing we can say is that the person who worships God must have a passion for His presence. David’s heart was aflame with a desire to have God’s presence near. This is what motivated him to go get the Ark in the first place. But here lies our first warning as well. It is not enough to have the right motivation. David certainly had the right moti- vation. Our motivation must be coupled with a right method. This is where David went wrong. David neglected the Word of God that gave specific instructions on how the Ark was to be transported. Notice that the Israelites built a brand new cart to haul the Ark. Why did they do that? Partly because none of the priests knew God’s Word enough to say “hey wait a minute, David. God says only the Levites are to trans- port the Ark and they must bear the burden on poles. It cannot be touched.” The other reason is that they were quick to mimic what the Philistines had done. This enemy of the Israelites had sent the Ark away from them on a cart and thus the Hebrew people didn’t think a thing about utilizing the same method. Brethren, the cart in this chapter represents the world’s ways. David was guilty of copying the world in approaching God. We must under- stand that God is not impressed with our good motives fulfilled in the wrong ways. The old adage is right – the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Notice the results in Verses 6-11 of doing things the world’s way. When we do things the world’s way, there will be death. People will be hurt. If we want God’s presence, we must do things God’s way. If we want God’s blessings then we must join together our right motives with God’s prescribed method of approaching Him. Some people read this account of Uzzah’s death and say that God is unfair or that He is unduly harsh. They rationalize that Uzzah was trying to do a good thing. He was trying to help God by preventing the Ark from falling to the ground. The problem with that thinking is that people overlook a fundamental truth – God doesn’t need our help. How often do we think that we need to reach out our hands to steady a “work of God?” How often are we tempted to lend a hand to God because His glory and honor are slipping or falling in the world’s eyes? Notice a second result of seeking God’s presence using the world’s methods – it results in anger and bitterness toward the Lord. David was one of those people who thought God was totally unfair to do what He did. This wrong attitude, in turn, led to fear. David became afraid of the presence of God. What started out as a good thing – desiring the presence of God and setting in motion plans to accomplish that, turned into a disaster which led David away from the God he longed to be near. I see a very vivid picture of the Church in this section of David’s story. The Church says that they desire the presence of God more than any- thing (Well, some churches say that). The motives may be right – desir- ing the presence of God – but the method is terribly wrong. So many churches today employee “Madison Avenue” marketing techniques that are completely foreign to God’s Word. Many churches today look at peo- ple as consumers. So the goal for many churches today is to satisfy their “customers.” Churches conduct polls and surveys asking lost peo-
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