Shownotes
We all wrestle with wanting to look put-together, protect our pride, or control how others see us, especially in spiritual spaces. Sometimes, our desire for image or comfort keeps us at arm’s length from both God and authentic connection with each other.
In this message, Pastor Jonathan shares how King David’s bold, “undignified” worship was less about outward display and more about letting go of his right to curate his reputation. Through David’s missteps and learning curve, we see God wants more than surface presence or spiritual routines.
No one has to perform or hide—just show up, expect God to work, and know there’s a place for you in this journey.
Scriptures Referenced
2 Samuel 5:11–12; 2 Samuel 6:1–23; 1 Samuel 18:20–23; Numbers 4:15; 1 Chronicles 13:3; 1 Chronicles 15:13–15; Ephesians 4:31–32
Key Insights
- God values a humble heart much more than religious performance or outward appearance.
- Carrying God’s presence means both joyful celebration and careful responsibility, not imitating shallow shortcuts.
- Bitterness and past pain can cloud our worship, but honesty and compassion open the way to healing.
- It’s okay if worship looks different for you—obedience and honest surrender matter more than external styles.
- Letting go of protective images and expectations makes room for God’s deeper work in us and the church.
Key Sections
00:00:06 - Welcome & Announcements
Brief logistical updates cover upcoming student ministry events, time changes for services, and transitions in children’s ministry leadership to help families navigate what’s next at church.
00:04:03 - Embracing Humility and God's Presence
Moving beyond pride and self-driven achievement, Pastor Jonathan highlights how David’s kingship points us to a life where God’s presence is the true prize, resetting our definition of success and centering worship on surrender.
00:09:43 - Returning to Real Relationship
People can easily slip into treating God’s presence as a tool for power or a background assurance, but the invitation is to move from complacent proximity to actual intimacy, being present with God and each other with authenticity and openness.
00:17:32 - Learning Careful Obedience
David’s attempt to use worldly strategies (“new carts”) for God’s work leads to disaster, teaching us that shortcutting process or ignoring God’s direction—even with good intentions—cannot replace following God’s way, so faithfulness must precede convenience.
00:30:14 - Responding to Correction and Growth
When mistakes happen, slowing down to seek God’s instruction in community fosters careful obedience; David’s return to Scripture, true responsibility, and joyful, sacrificial worship signals how transformation happens after failure.
00:32:27 - Surrendering Image for Authenticity
David’s “undignified” worship invites us to lay down our image, pride, or the need to maintain control—reminding us that God honors humility more than performance and that every person’s context and struggle matters in worship.
00:36:43 - Finding Compassion and Room for All
By seeing Michal’s pain and bitterness in context, the message urges us toward compassion—for ourselves and for others—so that both celebration and struggle are welcomed, and everyone can approach God with honesty, hope, and a willingness to let go.
https://springhouse.captivate.fm/episode/even-more-undignified
Subscribe & Follow the Podcast
Gathering Times
- Sundays, 9:00 AM
- Sundays, 11:00 AM
- Wednesdays, 6:00 PM
Contact Info
Springhouse Church
14119 Old Nashville Highway
Smyrna TN 37167
CCLI License 2070006
Transcripts
A couple of housekeeping things before we move forward with the Word, which
Speaker:I'm very excited about. We have an opportunity
Speaker:today, if you have a 5th grade child going into the 6th
Speaker:grade, moving up here in about a week, we have a
Speaker:meet and greet for you, for your— the parents, for the child,
Speaker:immediately following this gathering. If you will make your way upstairs
Speaker:with the youth, We are going to just let you get to know
Speaker:us a little bit and introduce your child to that space,
Speaker:to some of the people. And we would love for you to join us. And
Speaker:if you do not know how to get up there, we will have somebody posted
Speaker:there, correct? We'll be yelling, hey you, over here! You
Speaker:know, just wave and we'll make it very obvious. But take your teen
Speaker:and let them be introduced to the youth department.
Speaker:Oh, ooh, it sounds ominous when you say it that way, huh?
Speaker:We're excited about that. Next week we begin the
Speaker:service change, the time changes. So
Speaker:if you come at 11, you will have missed worship, or at least part of
Speaker:it, and you don't wanna do that. So it'll begin at 10:30 next
Speaker:week. God is so faithful. I'm excited about that. And I'm excited about the
Speaker:Wednesday night as we press into the Word on the following week as we
Speaker:begin our midweek gatherings again, but we begin them on Wednesday night.
Speaker:And the final thing I wanted to share with you, you know, I have been
Speaker:in this house Since the 1900s.
Speaker:Wow. I know. Hey, you're on staff. You can't say that
Speaker:like that. You—
Speaker:ow, et tu, Brute?
Speaker:Since 1992. And what I have seen in these
Speaker:decades is the faithfulness of God in the ministries in this house.
Speaker:When I came here, we had Pastor Margaret for the longest time. What
Speaker:a blessing to our children. We had Pastor Kim,
Speaker:a blessing to our children's ministry. And we have had Pastor Shari
Speaker:O'Day, who has been a blessing to our children's ministry.
Speaker:And one of the things that Pastor Kevin and Pastor Shari have both done
Speaker:so amazingly is that they created teams in this house
Speaker:so that there was no lack. And so while many of us
Speaker:are not surprised, it is— Pastor Shari
Speaker:will be operating— ooh, that sounds ominous. Pastor Shari
Speaker:will be moving We're believing with Pastor Kevin as they sow into a season
Speaker:at LCA. Pastor Kevin and Pastor Shari, for as long as I
Speaker:have known them, have ministered as a team, and that's
Speaker:something that the Lord has anointed them to do. And so I'm excited
Speaker:for their opportunity in sowing into LCA. And with
Speaker:that, there has been no lack left in this house because you guys
Speaker:know, Christa— I mean, Come on, Krista.
Speaker:Amen. We have
Speaker:such a dynamic team, and if I do this, I'm gonna do what I did
Speaker:when I forgot to list all the pastors' names. But there are about 8
Speaker:of them that I could name, and every time I mentioned their names, you would
Speaker:go, oh, absolutely, absolutely. Because Pastor Kevin and Pastor
Speaker:Shari were so mindful in creating teams that could serve this
Speaker:house so that, like all of us, And I know that all of us, every
Speaker:single one of us, when the Lord says, now I want you to shift into
Speaker:something else, we leave no lack in the house. So I'm excited
Speaker:about what God has for children's ministry in this time. And I ask that you
Speaker:continue to pray for Pastor Kevin and Pastor Shari as they step
Speaker:into a new season in their lives. And now, as if he has
Speaker:not done enough this morning, we're gonna invite Pastor
Speaker:Jonathan back because he didn't sing and dance enough. And
Speaker:he's gonna bring the Word. So thank you, Pastor Jonathan.
Speaker:Thank you. Ah, this guy again,
Speaker:so soon. Thank
Speaker:you.
Speaker:Let's pray. Holy
Speaker:Spirit, would you help us to
Speaker:open our eyes, open our ears, open our hearts To your
Speaker:word, Lord. We
Speaker:exist as a fellowship that has come to hear from
Speaker:you, Lord, that has come to exalt
Speaker:you, Lord. I thank you that you've given
Speaker:us the calling and the gift to be
Speaker:image bearers of Christ to the world.
Speaker:And I pray, Lord, pray Holy Spirit, that you would help us to do so.
Speaker:Amen. joyfully, carefully, and
Speaker:compassionately. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Speaker:So Pastor Barbie asked me if I would close our Worship Anyways series
Speaker:this week on the very well-known story of David dancing before
Speaker:the Ark of the Covenant and saying, I will become even more
Speaker:undignified than this. I will be humiliated or humble
Speaker:in my own eyes. And that verse sits near the very end of one of
Speaker:my all-time favorite passages or chapters in scripture,
Speaker:2 Samuel 6. So if you brought your Bible, go ahead and turn there
Speaker:today. We're going to spend a lot of time there. And getting
Speaker:to that verse of, I have become even, or will become even more
Speaker:undignified than this, is our destination. But every destination
Speaker:has a journey we must take to get there. And this journey for the people
Speaker:of God is exactly what makes this one of my all-time favorite
Speaker:stories. in scripture. It's important for them then, and
Speaker:it's important for us today. The context is that
Speaker:David has officially been appointed king of Israel. His
Speaker:first act as king was to take back the city of Jerusalem, which
Speaker:he does so successfully, and then it is renamed the City
Speaker:of David in his honor. Now, many powerful
Speaker:leaders all throughout time, all throughout history, even in modern day,
Speaker:When they officially take that seat of power, that position
Speaker:of power, they will begin often making changes that make sure,
Speaker:to make sure that everybody knows exactly who is in charge. They
Speaker:might put up monuments and memorials to themselves.
Speaker:However, King David is very different in this
Speaker:regard. 2 Samuel 5 tells us that although
Speaker:David, by all external accounts, is becoming
Speaker:visibly greater and greater, the city was fortified and growing.
Speaker:An allied king sends these resources and these artisans to build
Speaker:him a house. There is a moment that happens in verses 11 and
Speaker:12 that paints a beautiful picture of David witnessing
Speaker:all this gain around him, and this is what it says. David realized
Speaker:that the Lord had established him as king
Speaker:over Israel, and that God had exalted his kingdom
Speaker:for the sake of his people Israel. That word realize is the
Speaker:word yada, which means to perceive or know in your mind,
Speaker:in your heart, in a different way than you had, in a
Speaker:way that you hadn't seen before. So this moment of appointment
Speaker:for King David is nearly 20 years after he was
Speaker:first anointed by Samuel to become king, and he is now
Speaker:witnessing that word unfold in his life.
Speaker:And we remember that David went through some really challenging
Speaker:things in that period of time. We, of course, we remember Goliath, but he
Speaker:was also figuring out what it means to serve faithfully under this
Speaker:leader who is actively trying to hunt him down and have him killed
Speaker:at the same time. Um, all of that can be really
Speaker:crushing to a person, but we know through all of that, he had this
Speaker:relationship with the Lord. He is a man after God's own
Speaker:heart, but at this moment, he's perceiving something
Speaker:different. That God, through all of that, was actually leading him
Speaker:holding him and forming him through every
Speaker:trial, every suffering for a
Speaker:purpose. And I wonder, has anyone in here ever gone through
Speaker:something where the challenge surrounding it
Speaker:were so great, the sufferings that you went through were so great that when you
Speaker:got to the other side and you looked back in whatever,
Speaker:uh, uh, in whatever kind of fashion you were in, whether you were
Speaker:standing or you just made it through, you're crawling through, you look to the other
Speaker:side and you look back and you go, the only reason reason I'm here is
Speaker:because I was being held together by the grace of God.
Speaker:Amen. Something like that appears to be happening in King
Speaker:David's heart and mind at this moment. He's realizing
Speaker:all these blessings, all this gain, his home, his
Speaker:kingdom, his kingship, it's all been established
Speaker:not by him in his own strength, not by his own understanding, but by
Speaker:God alone. for the purposes of
Speaker:God. And that leads David into
Speaker:a lower place of humility, a deeper
Speaker:place of worship, and for the very
Speaker:important decision to bring the Ark of the Covenant into the City of David
Speaker:to be the spiritual center of the kingdom. And the Ark
Speaker:of the Covenant in the Old Testament represented the manifest presence
Speaker:and power of God dwelling among his people. It's where his people
Speaker:would go and receive mercy. For me, it is an Old
Speaker:Testament picture of he must
Speaker:increase, I must decrease. It's what David's
Speaker:doing here. David came to realize what Paul would later proclaim about
Speaker:Christ, that all things are from him, through
Speaker:him, and for him. Jesus is not only our source
Speaker:of power, Jesus is our life.
Speaker:Jesus is the reason we have life. And
Speaker:Jesus— exalting Jesus is the purpose of our life. Can
Speaker:you imagine what that would look like if the
Speaker:church, the believers, really took hold of that and we were
Speaker:so moved by God that we
Speaker:would be moved to just exalt him in everything, all of our
Speaker:conversations, Let's
Speaker:read what making that decision looks like for us. 2 Samuel
Speaker:6:1-5. David again gathered
Speaker:all the chosen men of Israel, 30,000. And David arose and went with all
Speaker:the people who were with him from Baale-Judah to bring up from
Speaker:there the Ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of
Speaker:hosts, who sits enthroned on the cherubim.
Speaker:And they carried the Ark of God on a new cart. And I want you
Speaker:to remember that, highlight it, circle it, underline it. On
Speaker:a new cart, brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the
Speaker:hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were
Speaker:driving the new cart. There it is again with the Ark of God. And Ahio
Speaker:went before the Ark, and David and all the house of Israel
Speaker:were celebrating before the Lord with songs, lyres, harps,
Speaker:tambourines, castanets, and cymbals. This was a rocking praise service.
Speaker:Yeah. This is a joyful moment for the people
Speaker:of God because this is a restoration of his presence among
Speaker:them. This is a restoration of the fullness of joy
Speaker:that's found in his presence. I say a restoration because
Speaker:1 Chronicles 13:3 says that before this
Speaker:moment, the Ark was not sought in the
Speaker:days of King Saul. who was David's predecessor.
Speaker:Can we just stop and think about that for a
Speaker:moment? The manifest presence of God
Speaker:in our midst, nearby,
Speaker:within reach, but never sought
Speaker:after. The people never moved to move in
Speaker:closer.
Speaker:I hope that breaks our collective heart to the point where we
Speaker:are prompted to ask the same question: how
Speaker:did God's people get to the point of such
Speaker:irreverence and indifference to his
Speaker:presence? And I think we
Speaker:find that answer by understanding just how the
Speaker:ark wound up there in Abinadab's house in the first place. 1 Samuel
Speaker:details a battle between the Israelites and the Philistines where the Israelites
Speaker:just get demolished. They get their tails handed to them,
Speaker:and they go back, they regroup, they lick their wounds, and they try to figure
Speaker:out what, what went wrong here. And they're thinking about the stories of old, and
Speaker:they go, I got it. You know, the problem is, is we didn't have the
Speaker:presence, and where there is no presence, there is no
Speaker:power. So let's go get the Ark of the Covenant.
Speaker:and we'll bring it before us in battle and we'll show these guys
Speaker:who, who the boss is. And they go and do that and something
Speaker:miraculous happens. They go into battle and they get their tails
Speaker:handed to them again. God allows them
Speaker:to be defeated, and even worse, the Philistines take the Ark as
Speaker:their prize, but they start to pass
Speaker:it around among their villages, and everywhere
Speaker:the Ark goes, they wake up the next day and their idols are broken
Speaker:in the presence of the Ark. It's
Speaker:catastrophic, so catastrophic for the Philistines that they go,
Speaker:we gotta send it back. We can't deal
Speaker:with this. So they fashion a cart and they put
Speaker:the Ark of the Covenant on a cart, and they have the cart pulled by
Speaker:2 cows who have never been yoked before. And this was kind of a setup
Speaker:for the Lord, because cows that have not been yoked, not trained, would
Speaker:not be able to get that cart back to where it needed to be. But
Speaker:the Lord guides it exactly where it needs to be, and
Speaker:it's clear that the Lord has been involved in all of this
Speaker:the whole time. Based on those
Speaker:stories, one possible out— uh, answer to the
Speaker:question of how God's people find themselves in that place of
Speaker:indifference, for his presence is that they care more
Speaker:about the presence or the power of his presence than they do about
Speaker:cultivating real relationship with his presence.
Speaker:They care more about what they could get from God rather than what they could
Speaker:give of themselves to God. And that
Speaker:is a condition of the heart that I see
Speaker:in relationships all over society.
Speaker:Spouses, children, friends, whatever it is. We enjoy
Speaker:the fruit and the spoils of intimate relationship,
Speaker:but we don't often love the responsibility of self-sacrifice
Speaker:that comes along with it. The responsibility
Speaker:of self-sacrifice that is required to be truly present, setting
Speaker:aside my plan, setting aside my agenda, giving my full heart,
Speaker:giving my attention. I love my
Speaker:kids. I want to be present for my kids. And when they ask
Speaker:me to play outside—
Speaker:I don't need to say anything else. Okay. They want
Speaker:me to get down in the dirt with them. They
Speaker:want me to see their faces and pretend with them. And my
Speaker:go-to is, why don't you guys go play outside? We'll, we'll keep the
Speaker:screen door open so that I can hear your voices.
Speaker:That's the illusion of presence. That is not being truly
Speaker:present. As Pastor Wayne would say, that is proximity, not
Speaker:intimacy. And when I'm in proximity
Speaker:to my children like that, something fascinating
Speaker:happens. I can hear that they are saying
Speaker:words. I can hear that they are speaking, but I'm
Speaker:not close enough to hear What they are
Speaker:saying. I can't hear the
Speaker:fine details of their voice. The same is true in our relationship
Speaker:with God and his word. If we love him and his word, but we spend
Speaker:no time with him or his word, then we can both know
Speaker:without a doubt that he has spoken, but we will have no idea what he
Speaker:has said. So David is
Speaker:declaring in this moment God's presence will no longer be
Speaker:an afterthought for his people. God's people will
Speaker:no longer be content with just knowing his presence is around if
Speaker:we ever need him. God will be the joy of his
Speaker:people, and his people will be diligent and purposeful to exalt
Speaker:him in everything that we do, because that is the glory and honor
Speaker:and praise that he deserves. Amen.
Speaker:Our undivided attention, our full worship.
Speaker:Let's continue to read, uh, verses 6 through 11. And
Speaker:when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah
Speaker:put out his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it, for
Speaker:the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against
Speaker:Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there
Speaker:beside the Ark of God. And David was angry because the Lord had broken
Speaker:out against Uzzah, and that place is called Perez Uzzah to this day.
Speaker:And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, how
Speaker:can the ark of the Lord come to me? So David was not willing
Speaker:to take the ark of the Lord into the City of David, but instead took
Speaker:it aside to the house of Obed-Edom. And the ark of the Lord remained in
Speaker:the house of Obed-Edom for 3 months, and the Lord blessed
Speaker:Obed-Edom and all of his household. And I'm just blown away by
Speaker:that, because as a father with 2 small children, if someone comes to
Speaker:my house and dropped something off that just took out a man because he
Speaker:touched it, I'd be like, get that thing out of here!
Speaker:I, I won't be able to keep them alive in that instance.
Speaker:Oh, but Edom has control of his household, let me tell you that.
Speaker:Hello. And later on in scripture, he's actually elevated into full-time
Speaker:Levitical ministry to minister to the Ark
Speaker:there. So The start
Speaker:of the journey, joyful, celebratory. The Ark was at the top
Speaker:of the hill, and it's all gone downhill rather quickly.
Speaker:What happened? David gives us more detail in 1 Chronicles
:13, which is kind of a parallel telling of this
:story. It was because of you, the Levites,
:did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out
:in anger against us. We did not inquire of him
:about how to do it, in the prescribed way.
:They just didn't ask. Numbers 4:15
:says this. This is the prescribed way. When Aaron and his sons have
:finished covering the holy objects and all the furnishings of the sanctuary,
:when the camp is to set out, after the sons of Kohath
:shall come to carry them by the poles so that they
:will not touch the holy objects and die. These are
:the things in the tent of meeting that the sons of Kohath are to
:carry. So we remember from earlier, the Philistines
:brought the Ark of the Covenant back on a cart, and David and the
:people are now attempting to move the Ark of the Covenant on
:a cart. How many of us know that the church is not
:called or created to carry presents using
:the methods of the world? Amen. Amen.
:And this tragedy happens at the threshing
:floor. This is a place where separation
:happens. Separation of the wheat from the chaff,
:separation of the fruitful from the unfruitful, the godly from
:the worldly. And this is, this is
:a hard lesson for King David. Of course, it's a hard lesson for
:us. The presence of God is not simply a privilege
:to enjoy, but it's also a
:holy responsibility to carry.
:And we should carry his presence carefully.
:We have been indwelled with the Holy Spirit. We have been given the gift and
:responsibility of reflecting Christ in the world
:in the way the word of God says. Not with our best
:ideas, not with the world's best ideas, but with
:his. Yet we see the church
:often attempting to carry his presence on these Philistine carts
:time and time again. It can look like clever marketing.
:Uh-oh. It can look like catchy songs. It can look like softening
:truth. Why do we do
:this? I find that
:we yield faster results. We can get there quicker, but
:maybe in a superficial way. It requires less faith.
:It requires less dependence on God. So the problem
:is not the methods themselves, it's just the heart
:posture behind them. Have we actually gone to God
:to say, God, what do you want us to do in this? Have
:we gone to his word? It's not necessarily malicious.
:We often have the best intentions of reaching people and exalting
:Christ. That's what it's all about. When, uh, but our best intentions
:do not replace God's instruction. Come on. They are
:meant to form our best intentions. His ways
:are not our ways, and his ways are better. And I'm
:sure that this is personally humbling to David as a
:leader, but he specifically says
:We did not inquire of him the prescribed way.
:Yeah. And there's something to be said about our collective responsibility
:as a fellowship, collective responsibility to
:carefully and be word-friendly
:carriers of God's presence. That's the idea of iron sharpening
:iron. So rather than place full blame on King David as a leader, I'm
:not gonna go there because he doesn't go there. He says we, so
:I'm gonna look at kind of all the characters involved in that, which I think
:shows us something important. Uzzah, who touched the ark and died,
:was the son of Abinadab, where the presence— where
:the ark, uh, was in his house all those years. He grew up
:in this house. King
:David is actually known as someone who has good
:communication with the Lord. He's not known as someone that doesn't talk to the
:Lord. So there is a sense here that they collectively
:represent seasoned believers who should know
:better, but just get a little careless
:here. And that perspective gives me some nuance that's very
:identifiable for me personally, and it's instructive for me. And
:I wanna show you this, uh, 2 Samuel 5:17-25.
:The Philistines come to fight David in the Valley of Rephaim
:twice, and each time David goes
:to the Lord and asks, should I go fight? And the Lord tells
:him yes each time, but he gives him different
:instructions both times. First time, go in
:head-on. Second time, go around the back.
:That speaks to me because I believe We are the most prone
:to ask God for help and direction when we are facing
:battles. Our natural instinct when there is uncertainty
:in front of us. However, we are usually the most likely
:to move forward in our own wisdom when we have this mix
:of good intention and this mix of experience of
:witnessing God moving in a certain way over a length of
:time, and we just get comfortable. It would be a
:disservice to you guys if we have an amazing worship service
:and I think, wow, those 5 songs really worked in that
:order. I don't do that.
:I have to go to the Lord and say, Lord, what this week? What
:do you have? And the Philistines getting
:the Ark of the Covenant back is enough to tell me that just because God
:allows something to happen doesn't mean his blessing is on it.
:Sometimes that's just his kindness, allowing his people another chance to seek
:him, another chance to depend on him, another chance to
:walk in his will for our lives.
:There were some first-time visitors who were visiting our church
:a couple of years ago. And anyone who knows me knows I have a
:terrible history with first-time visitors, because when I get in
:conversations with people for the first time, it's as if I've never spoken a
:day in my life. To a person. So,
:uh, and I think it was a setup because somebody very, uh, somebody wanted
:me to be the one that met them. So I go out into the foyer
:before service and we introduce ourselves to each other, and they tell me in
:transparency, they go, uh, it was a husband and wife and they
:had just gotten out of a recovery program. And they said what
:was very important to them was to find a church that had an
:altar time at the end where they could pray with elders.
:Springhouse has a rich history of doing that here. For 15
:years, it's happened quite a bit. That's how long I've been
:attending. So I'm thinking, okay, this is good. We keep talking, but
:they didn't know that we were at the tail end of a 4
:to 6 week series on the Holy Spirit. And each series
:was either like, uh, gifts of the Spirit or fruit of the Spirit. And every
:single week in this series, We had incredible altar
:times, not only during worship, but at the end of service,
:multiple times, both services. So I'm
:thinking, oh yeah, you want altar calls?
:We got them. We got 4 or 5 a day, you know.
:In my mind, I'm thinking this. Not only that, but this particular
:service was titled Holy Spirit.
:My expectations were at an all-time high.
:So now, have you ever said something and when it left your mouth you're like,
:I wish I could put that right back? This is what I
:said. I promise you
:there will be a time at the end of service for you to pray with
:somebody. Praise the
:Lord, I didn't actually have to come out for the last song. I was standing
:right back there behind that curtain when one of our pastors got
:up to close the service, which would've been the altar time. And this
:pastor, I'm not gonna name who they are, but they are known
:for having a prophetic gifting and hearing from the Lord with
:accuracy. And she has the
:audacity.
:She has the audacity to get up here and
:say, the Lord's telling me We're gonna do something different today. And
:I was like, of course we are! You know? This is
:crazy! I'm back there, I'm just going, oh my gosh.
:Oh my gosh. She said,
:the Lord's showing me something different today. I feel like we should just sit in
:our seats instead of our prayer time and just
:Sit in the presence of the Holy Spirit. So that next week,
:miraculously, that couple is back at our church in
:a foyer. And as I'm walking up to them to apologize,
:they are literally laughing at me.
:Literally laughing at me. And they said, don't worry about it.
:The Lord really used that. We were in tears the whole time.
:And I said, well, I was too, but for a different reason.
:Only the Lord can use a situation or orchestrate a
:situation that can both heal somebody and correct a different person at
:the same time.
:That's why his ways are better. Amen. We have
:no chance to come up with something like that.
:I have been doing this long enough, and my theology was well-formed enough for
:me to know I cannot guarantee what
:is only for the Holy Spirit to offer.
:I had taken what God had been doing in previous weeks, mixed it
:with my good intentions that I wanted for these people.
:Assumed he would do it in exactly the same way.
:And I say that to say it can happen that quickly
:if we're not careful.
:Help me, Lord. Let's
:see how David and the people put this into action.
:We'll continue reading verses 12 through 15. And it was told
:King David that the Lord had 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. And when those who bore the
:ark of the Lord had gone 6 steps, he
:sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal, and David danced before the Lord with all
:his might. So we can see now They're bearing
:the Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders. 1 Chronicles 15
:tells us that David had actually pulled together the correct, correct
:Levitical families to carry the Ark. So evidently
:they took that 3-month period to do a Bible study.
:Hello. Before they made their decision, before they made their next
:steps. Can we just agree that it's a good thing
:to slow down? And do some Bible
:study. Yes. They are finally
:understanding the weight and
:the feeling of the weight of the calling they have been given.
:They're carrying his presence now, not only joyfully but
:carefully. And I love so much that it says
:they made sacrifices after 6 steps.
:That tells me we cannot allow ourselves to get too far along
:in our day, too far along in our decision-making, so focused
:on our goals that we forget the one whose presence
:empowers us to make them.
:As King David and the people are finally bringing the Ark into the city,
:David is dancing with all of his might. He's taken off his kingly garments.
:He's wearing a linen ephod with, um, that
:more closely resembles what a priest would wear. This is the Old Testament
:type and shadow of our High Priest and King
:Jesus, who would empty himself and humble
:himself in obedience to the point of death.
:And David begins blessing the people and distributing food to them because
:When we have truly tasted and seen the goodness of
:God, that is something that we are prompted to
:share. What a blessing.
:David was unaware that when he was coming into the city, his
:wife Michal was watching from a window, and it
:says that she despised him in her heart.
:Which brings us to this final exchange in our text today.
: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, going around half naked
:in full view of the slave girls of his servants, as any vulgar
:fellow would. 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. 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. And Michal, daughter of Saul, had no children
:to the day of her death.
:It seems like there's bitterness there. I've heard
:some teachers simply say, simply describe her
:as a jealous woman, just unwilling to enter into
:worship. Sometimes I'm prone to come to scripture
:and go and just look for the black and white, the right and wrong, the
:good and bad, but that doesn't really do
:justice to the nuance of life. To
:the nuance, nuance of the human heart.
:So I began to ask, like, what— is there more to that story
:there that reveal— that would reveal something a little bit
:deeper? And I kind of went back in the scriptures, 1
:Samuel, just to see, you know, their life together. And this is 1
:Samuel 18. Listen to, uh, 20 through 23. Listen to how
:important these first words are. Now Michal, Saul's daughter,
:loved David. So something
:traumatic has happened there. How can she go
:from loving him to despising him?
:And it goes on to say, when they told Saul that she loved
:David, the thing was agreeable to him. Saul thought, I will give her to him
:that she may become a snare to him, and that by the hand of the
:Philistines And, and the hand of the Philistines will be against him. Therefore
:Saul said to David for a second time, you may be my son-in-law today.
:Then Saul commanded his servants, speak to David secretly, saying,
:behold, the king delights in you, and all the servants love you. Now therefore
:become the king's son-in-law. And David says, is it trivial in your
:sight to become the king's son-in-law? I am a poor man
:and lightly esteemed. So that word in the Hebrew,
:lightly esteemed, is the same as undignified.
:So that means Michal once
:loved David for the very thing she now despises him
:for.
:This is what I see through their story.
:Her dad Saul used her as a
:pawn in the game, in his game.
:That's hard stuff. Later on, scriptures
:tell us that when her dad was coming to have David killed, she helped him
:escape. And then her father married
:her off to another man. That's really difficult.
:And when David finally becomes king, he Demands that she be
:brought to him. And we learn as she's being brought, her husband is
:actually following her and crying.
:Worship team, you can come out. When I see all
:that context—
:let me say this about context. Context is so important for us. Yes.
:When there's a groove in a song, in a worship song that hits just
:right, it gets a little something going in me.
:And if you didn't know anything about me, you might look at me and go,
:that's really distracting that he's up there doing that, or trying to—
:what? It's not called dancing, I guess.
:Or it could be encouraging. Some of you might not know
:that I have a scar on the back of my neck. That's
:about this thick. Oh
:yeah. From a car accident.
:And the surgeon who went in said that I was
:centimeters from being paralyzed.
:So with that context,
:this becomes a miracle Yeah. Regardless
:of how it looks. Context
:is important here because I don't see her simply
:as a jealous woman that should just get over it
:and worship anyway. And
:that's not what we've said during this whole time. We're not saying worship anyway
:and be dismissive of anything. We're saying,
:see the greater glory, the bigger picture in
:Jesus. I see the heart of a person that has been
:dealt a very difficult hand, and when her suffering is brought
:into view, it allows me to have compassion that I
:didn't have before. And
:compassion is important for the image bearers of Christ
:to have, because it was compassion that moved
:Jesus To minister to those 5,000 hungry
:souls, and his compassion that will move us
:to minister to the lost, to minister to the brokenhearted.
:And I believe that is what moves and ministers to
:the heart of God and glorifies him, which is our goal.
:Could I have a few Would 2 people come up that would be willing to
:pray since I can make that decision today?
:Suffering and bitterness is not just something that we're going
:to help others get through.
:Suffering and bitterness was— will test us as believers as
:well. Suffering was in David's life, but it led
:him to humility. And the danger
:of bitterness that I see revealed in this text is this: when I see
:Michal despising David for the very thing she used to love
:and not even acknowledging the presence of God at all— she
:can't see it— that tells me that bitterness can cloud
:our vision from what is true and pull our focus
:away from Christ. When I see her hiding
:behind that window, I see A heart that has created
:a hardened but fragile wall of separation,
:an image of herself that must be maintained so that she does not
:have to be hurt again. And maintaining that
:image is exactly what is keeping her from
:the grace of God that's in her midst.
:So King David, in shedding of his kingly garments in
:this undignified way, is teaching us Any
:image that we have taken on that does not reflect Christ or
:pulls our focus from Christ or restricts our worship is not worth
:maintaining and must be surrendered.
:31-32. Let all bitterness
:and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from
:you, along with malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
:forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
:The way we come overcome the great
:trauma of suffering and bitterness is we look to the
:greater glory and forgiveness given in Christ.
:And I imagine during a service here on any given week,
:we have a picture, that same picture of hearts
:Here, hearts that are overflowing with praise like David,
:and hearts that are fighting to get there
:as well. There is room
:for both here to worship
:anyway, in any way you can, with all your might.
:Worshiping with all your might doesn't have to look
:externally the same as it did for David.
:It is not measured externally. It is measured through obedience and
:surrendering. For Jacob, who was at the end of his life,
:worshiping with all his might looked like bowing on his staff.
:For the woman who struggled with the issue of blood, worshiping with all of her
:might looked like fighting through the crowd just to To touch
:the garment of the one who could heal her.
:For the widow, worshiping with all of her might looked like bringing the last 2
:coins that she had as an offering.
:So this morning, if you need prayer, please come.
:If you want to take time to kneel in the altar and surrender to
:Jesus what has been restricting your worship, please come. Amen. Come on.
:Let's spend some time these last few moments
:just exalting Jesus, because Jesus
:is the only one with the power, power
:to make a sorrowful heart always rejoicing.
:Amen. Let's worship. Would you stand, please?
