Still Small, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with JD Greer. Our worship should physically demonstrate our admiration of God's greatness and our gratitude for his grace. David in the Psalm says constantly that when he worships he is aware that the nations are watching him and are learning about the value of God to him by the way that he worships. Do you ever think that the reason maybe that our community out there doesn't take God more seriously has something to do with the way we worship him in here? Hey, welcome back to another week of teaching here on Summit Life with Pastor JD Greer of the Summit Church in Raleigh, North Carolina.

As always, I'm your host Molly Vitovich. How many of you when you're at church and the music starts up, you notice a few different kinds of worshipers. Some people sing in solemn reverence while others raise their hands, dance a little, maybe even fall to the ground. Some people sing in solemn reverence while others raise their hands, dance a little, maybe even fall to their knees.

So is one way better than the other? Today, Pastor JD Greer addresses that question as he continues our study of King David titled Search for a King. If you've missed any of the previous messages, you can hear them online at jdgreer.com. Now here's Pastor JD with a second part of a message he titled Still Small. For some of you, they grew up in church. Worship was very subdued. It was reflective. For others of you, worship was more of the Pentecostal variety.

If the service was any good, somebody passed out. All right? I'm gonna show you that the subdued people are partly right and partly wrong.

I'm gonna show you that the energetic people are partly right and partly wrong. And some of you who aren't Christians are gonna learn what's going on with this craziness that we call worship. You need to be ready. So let's take it to Samuel chapter six. We're gonna begin reading in verse two. And David arose and went to bring up from there the Ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of Hosts, who sits enthroned on the cherubims. Verse three, they carried the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abenadab. And Uzzah, who was the son of Abenadab, was driving the new cart. Verse five, and David and all the house of Israel were making merry before the Lord with songs and they are having a worship service.

I mean, they're doing what you think they ought to be doing. Verse six, and when they came to the threshing floor of Nakhon, the oxen stumbled. And Uzzah put out his hand to the Ark of God to steady it. And God struck him down there because of his error. And literally in Hebrew what it says there is his irreverence. And he died there beside the Ark of God. Look at this next verse. Verse eight, and David was angry because the Lord had burst forth against Uzzah.

The Bible has been offending people for ages, including its writers. I had somebody recently who was struggling with their faith say to me, they're like, you know, it's not that I don't believe in God. I actually believe that he's here. I don't know how everything else would be here if he weren't there. It's just that I don't like him. I don't like how he set up the universe. I don't like the fact that he doesn't stop in justice. I don't like the whole judgment thing.

I don't like how he rules the world. David gets that. David was angry at God because of what he perceived as unusually harsh judgment. You're not the first one to be offended at God. The Bible's been offending all people in all places at all times. It's an equal opportunity offender. The point I'm trying to make is don't be an ignorant and arrogant American who assumes you're the first people in history to be offended just because you graduated with a UNC Chapel Hill education.

You're not. People have always been offended. You're like, well, why are you pointing this out? This is not helping me because they've found reasons to believe anyway. Bottom line is we think the punishment is more severe than the crime, don't we? You see, and when the punishment is more severe than the crime, a little tuning fork goes off inside of us that says injustice. And here we think that God is being unjust and our hearts accuse God of injustice and that angers us just like it did, David. Here's the Bible's premise, and I give it to you straight up with no apology. The punishment is not more severe than the crime.

That's the first problem. The second problem is a much even more serious problem than that one, bigger issue, and that is Uzzah is unaware of his own sinfulness. But the earth has never committed the blasphemy of rejecting God's authority. The earth had always obeyed the commands of God. It wasn't the ground or the dirt that would pollute the ark. It was the touch of man that would pollute the ark. Uzzah doesn't understand that, so he touches the ark. David doesn't understand that either, so he's mad at God for striking Uzzah dead. The reason we do not understand the judgment of God is we don't understand the wickedness of our sinfulness. The reason we do not understand the judgment of God is we don't understand the wickedness of our sinfulness, because when you love the wrong and you love injustice more than you love the right, that is a way of saying, God, I hate you, I hate goodness, I hate truth, and I delight more in the wrong than I do in the right. That is cosmic treason, and it deserves the just condemnation of God. Many people say to me, God loves people, doesn't he?

Why didn't God just let everybody into heaven? You don't want that. Imagine if somebody came here to our church and was an outspoken and known child molester, unrepentant child molester. You know, is what you want me to do? You'd be like, man, we're so glad, we accept you. Come in, have free Rome in our congregation. Hey, you wanna work in our kids ministry?

That's fine. I mean, that might be loving and kind in some very narrow, small kind of way, but that is not overall loving, is it? If God let sin into heaven, we would turn heaven into hell. We would turn heaven into what we've turned this place in down here, and God is so holy and pure, he cannot have injustice, pollute the place where he is. You're like, well, ha, I get it, though, but if that child molester repented, then we would accept him, you're right. We would accept him. He probably still wouldn't work in our kids ministry. He definitely would still wouldn't work in our kids ministry.

We would accept him, but see, here's the deal. People in hell never repent. People in hell never repent. I know that's surprising for some of you, but see, they go to hell because they hate God's authority in their life. And in hell, that never changes, because repentance is a gift that God gives. Uzzah touched the ark, and he died. Here's a question you oughta think about. This morning, many of you are holding the word of God in your hand. Why are you still alive?

You understand, see, this is serious stuff. Uzzah touched the ark, and Uzzah died. We got a problem with God's presence. Look at the next verse, verse 11. And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed, Edom, the Gittite, three months, so the Lord blessed, you gotta circle that word, he blessed Obed, Edom, and all its household. It's like God was sending a message to David that his intention is still blessing.

And so David's faith is rekindled. See, write this down, number two, the ark's gospel. The problem of God's presence, number two, the ark's gospel, verse 12. And 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. Verse 13, and when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, what, what, did you see that? Those who bore the ark of the Lord were the ark of the Lord, what's happening?

They're carrying it the right way now. Right, and then the next phrase says, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. He offered sacrifices. Listen, God had provided a way for his presence to be with his people safely.

And that was through the sacrifice that was offered once a year, and that's what you see David honoring here. You see, what would happen is the blood of that animal was gonna signify that one day God was gonna send someone to die for the sins of man and to take the wrath that God rightfully was directing at us into his own body, and that was gonna be Jesus Christ. All right, Oozah was struck dead for touching God's presence. Jesus was struck dead so that I could touch God's presence.

You get this? One to two ways you're gonna pay for your sin. Either you're gonna pay for it yourself in eternity, the eternal death, or Jesus suffers the death penalty for you. It's a gift that he gives to all who will receive and believe. David believes that gospel, and he's willing to obey God's word. Now, watch David's response.

Break this down, number three. David's response to the gospel. David's response to the gospel, number three. Verse 14, and David danced before the Lord with all of his might, and David was wearing a linen ephod. Some translations say naked there, but Hebrew scholars tell us that the phrase means that David had just stripped down to his undergarments to a linen ephod, which was the Hebrew version of like adult underoos or something. A linen ephod, they're actually quite comfortable. I'm wearing one right now, I've converted it over to that. You can get them at Target.

Boxers, briefs, or linen ephods. Verse 15, so David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn. And as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michael, the daughter of Saul, looked out of the window and she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord and she despised him in her heart. We'll come back to that. Verse 18, when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts.

I love this next, we're gonna come back to this too. Verse 19, and distributed among all the people the whole multitude, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat, a cake of raisins to each one, then all the people departed and went to their house. Isn't that just a random detail?

There's a very important reason why that detail's in there that we're gonna come back to right at the end. Verse 20, and David returned to bless his household, but Michael, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, well, how the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself before the eyes of his servants, female servants, as one of those vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself. You were like Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley on that dancing video. This is disgusting, you humiliated yourself. You look like a servant, David, all dancing in your underoos. You didn't look like a king. That's Saul's daughter.

Apple didn't fall far from the tree, did it? Saul was always worried about what everybody thought about him. Michael is worried about what everybody thinks about David. Well, David, who was pretty good with the smack talk, says back to her, verse 21, it was before the Lord who chose me above your father. Uh-uh. He did not just bring up her father-in-law.

Yes, he did, all right? And above all his house to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord, and I will make Mary before the Lord. I will make myself even more contemptible than this, and I will be a based in your eyes, but those female servants about whom you spoke, by them, I'm gonna be held in honor. In other words, he said, God chose me when I was nothing, and now that I am something, I'm gonna show people it's because God is something in me, now that I'm something in myself. Your father's problem, Michael, is that he wanted people to think a lot of him.

I don't want people to make a big deal out of me. I want him to make a big deal out of God. And so if I gotta be unglorified before people to put on display the glory of God, that's fine with me. And ironically, Michael, my greatest honor in the eyes of all these people that you're saying are gonna think I'm humility, my greatest honor is gonna be that I didn't point people to myself, I pointed them to Jesus, which is why we talk 23,000 years later about Saul, I mean, David and not Saul. Here's the biggest difference between Saul and David. Saul wanted to be a big deal in everyone's eyes, so he was destroyed. David wanted God to be a big deal, and if David was going to be destroyed, that was okay with him.

If he needed to be humiliated for that to happen, he was willing. David knew that looking small to others might help them see the largeness of God. Only one person can be a big deal in your life.

Only one, it's either gonna be you or it's gonna be God. And one of the ways that David did that was, well, get this, through his worship. David was aware that people were watching him as he worshiped, and they were learning something about the value of God to him by the way that he worshiped.

So here's my question for you. What does your worship tell people about the value of God to you? We'll return to our teaching on Summit Life with Pastor JD Greer in just a moment, but I wanted to tell you about our new featured resource this month. You know, it's really easy to get distracted around the holidays. For us as individuals, as families, and churches, it's essential that we keep our focus on Jesus as we enter this time of year. What we celebrate at Christmas, God coming to earth, was always part of God's plan. Throughout scripture, God changed everything for the people who truly encountered him, and it can change everything for us too. At Advent, God invites us to meet with him, to sit in his presence and remember his faithfulness from the beginning until today.

So we're offering you a 25-day Advent guide to help you prepare your heart this Christmas. It's called He Is Here, and it comes with your gift to the ministry right now, so give us a call at 866-335-5220, or check it out at jdgreer.com. Now let's get back to the conclusion of today's teaching.

Here's Pastor JD Greer. Worship is our response, whatever it is. Worship is our response, whatever it is, to the gospel. Worship is not just what we do and hear when we sing. Worship is how we live. Worship is how we spend our money. It's what we do with our time. It's the values we teach our children.

It's how we treat the poor. It's how we respond to the things that God hates, like sin and injustice and the lies that people from Westboro Baptist tell others about God, okay? Worship is how you respond to all those things. Worship is not just what we do and hear when we sing, but it certainly includes what we do and hear. When we come together as a community, we sing God's praise and listen to God's word, and the way that we do those things puts on display God's greatness and his glory in our lives. Now again, what should that look like? Write this down too.

Give me a lot of stuff to write down, I think you should. Your worship makes a statement to others about the worth of God to you. Our worship puts our hunger for God on display for the world to see. Our worship should physically demonstrate our admiration of God's greatness and our gratitude for his grace. David in the Psalm says constantly that when he worships, he is aware that the nations are watching him and are learning about the value of God to him by the way that he worships. Do you ever think that the reason maybe that our community out there doesn't take God more seriously has something to do with the way we worship him in here?

Because that's what David said. Now, some of you are like, well, I'm just not that expressive as a person. It's just not my personality, I understand.

And I'm not telling you you should be somebody else during worship. And I'll buy that, that you're not an expressive person as long as it is true. That if I walked up to you with an envelope with a million dollars in it and put in your hand and said, this is a gift to you. And you took that envelope and you opened it and you said, well, praise God. Thanks. If it's true that that is how you would respond, then I'll buy that.

Otherwise, I'd say it's probably the million dollars seems more valuable in your eyes than the salvation God has given you does. There was a woman who came to Jesus whom Jesus had forgiven in the middle of a dinner. She comes in and begins to weep. She lets her hair down. She breaks a bottle of perfume over his feet.

She begins to weep and wash his feet with her tears and wipe his feet with her hair. Can you imagine something more degrading and humiliating? And everybody around us, well, just run. This is not better homes and gardens approved right here. Okay, this is bad stuff. It's not Southern living. This is humility.

It's not how you play hostess. And Jesus said, don't you touch her, don't you talk to her. Because this woman gets something that all you dignified people don't get and she understands what it means to be forgiven.

And she understands that an appropriate response is to love like this and to express her love like this. And then Jesus made that statement, those who are forgiven much love much. And if you don't love and express that in praise, it might be a signal that you have never really understood the depth of the forgiveness that God has given you.

The Bible presents a range of emotions that are appropriate in worship. Sometimes you need to be on your face in the presence of God. Sometimes you need to stand in the presence of God in stunned silence. Sometimes when God's word is being taught, you ought to have a pen and notebook out, writing out things that God is saying to you. When your boss speaks to you at work, if he's a boss that you respect and trust, you pull out a pen and write down what he's saying so you get it right. Does your boss mean more to you than God does?

Right? Sometimes weeping over your sin is an appropriate response to God. Sometimes sitting in awe in God's presence is appropriate. Sometimes you need to clap your hands, all you people, and shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

Let me just put this really bluntly. Some of you need to repent of the dignity that you carry yourself with in church. We've got two pastors on our staff that told me this story this week and they gave me full permission to share this. One of them is named Daniel. He's a white guy, grew up in a Presbyterian household.

All right, kind of somber. It's his nature. Another one of our pastors is named Radell. He grew up in a Pentecostal household. All right, and he's Hispanic, so he got a double whammy on the whole emotion thing.

Right? And they got this argument, argument, and our offices about what is appropriate in response to worship. And Daniel said to Radell, he said, I'm just reflective, I'm just somber. That's how I show that to God. And Radell said, fine. As long as it is true that that's how you would respond in joy in every other area of your life, I understand that. So Daniel left the argument and said, he said, for two weeks I'm gonna watch myself how I respond in various situations, how I respond to my daughter when she walks in the room, how I respond to my wife when I haven't seen her in a while, how I respond when my favorite football team wins a game. And he said, what I discovered was that it was in the arena of the knowledge of God that was the only area where I did not express emotion and joy.

And he came back to Radell. And he said, you were right and I was wrong. There is a place that is very appropriate for me to express my emotion to God. And for me to express that back to him. Some of you guys feel like worship is girly.

Emotions and expressiveness and praise and joy. You're like, I'm not a singer. Singing's not what I do. My life is not a Glee episode. I've never looked at a sunset and burst into tears. A double rainbow, what does it mean?

I've never done that. A couple of things to say to you, okay? Number one, David killed a nine foot giant and cut off his head and carried it back to Jerusalem under his arm. He had songs written about him by teenage girls about how he had slain huge armies single-handedly. Does that happen to you, tough guy? You got any heads of any giants hanging around?

Girls that have written songs about you? The problem is not that worship is not manly. It's that you don't know humility and understand salvation like David does.

It's called what it is. Second, if I can just go ahead and get more personal and meddle in your life even more than I already am, this is what the problem is in some of you guys' marriage. You know how to express yourself. You're one of those clueless guys that think, you know, as long as I put food on the table, she's gonna know that I love her. Any Christian counselor will tell you that that is absolutely moronic. I had to learn that in my marriage. It's not enough for me to simply be a faithful husband. I have to express tenderness and affection to my wife and to my children.

That is not only good for them, it is good for me. There is a role to expressing your emotion to God. If you understand the depth of salvation, it results in overflowing praise. And if you're not a worshipper, it might be that you don't really understand the gospel.

So to my Presbyterian and Baptist friends, right, this is about putting God on display and some of you need to repent of the dignified way that you conduct yourself in worship. Now, some of you sitting there right now saying, don't you judge me? You don't know my heart?

You're right. I can't judge you and I don't know your heart. And the point is, nobody knows your heart. And you were supposed to put your heart on display in worship because the surrounding nations were supposed to learn about the value of God to you through the way that you worship.

And they're not because you don't ever put it on display. Your kids are not learning the value of God to you because of the way that you worship. And to my Pentecostal friends, this is not just emotion and frenzy. But we don't praise God when the choir hits a high note. This is a genuine response or I say something that's alliterated or I say something that rhymes.

That's not when you're supposed to yell. This is a genuine response of awe to the gospel that affects not just your singing, it affects how you do your taxes. How you worship on the other six days is just as important as what you do in here. That's worship, that's gospel centered worship. Now, real quick, here's the thing I skipped.

I told you I'd come back to it. I really need to, verse 19, look at this. David gives out all the cakes of bread, portions of meat, cake of raisins to each one.

All the people departed each to his own house. Raisin cakes in Hebrew culture are aphrodisiacs. That's why they all went home after David gave them to them. That's why it says that, seriously.

So when the time was right, they were right, okay? The point, listen, why is that detail in there? Why is that detail in there? The point is the gospel makes you fruitful. Worshiping the gospel produces spiritual fruit in your life. The way that you produce spiritual fruit is you get caught up in a moment of intimacy with Jesus Christ, swept up in awe and adoration for what he's given to you in the gospel and how glorious he is, and the fruit of that, the offspring of that, his love, joy, peace, kindness, long-suffering, gentleness, patience.

God can take even the most terrible things and make them beautiful. The gospel, that's the source of all true worship, and it's the centerpiece of everything we do here at Summit Life. We're in the middle of a teaching series on the life of David called Search for a King.

And if you'd like to hear the previous messages, you'll find them all free of charge at jdgreer.com. King David was one of the most prominent characters in the Old Testament, but even though he was the ideal king, David's story ends with a question mark because ultimately David was pointing forward to another king, one who would not only follow after God's heart, but would be God himself. Our prayer is that through the life of David, we would all learn to see Jesus as the ultimate king that we have all been searching for. And as we head into the holiday season, we celebrate that God's presence isn't volatile or fragile. It's an ever-present offer in the person of Jesus. So before the hustle and bustle of the season truly arrives, we're offering you a 25-day Advent guide to help you prepare your heart for Christmas. It's called He Is Here.

You can get it right now and be ready to start on December 1st. Call 866-335-5220 or give online and request your copy at jdgreer.com. I'm Molly Bidevich, inviting you to join us next time when we'll continue learning about the freedom that the gospel brings. Tuesday on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.