Second to One in Worship

Part three in our series.

So far we have looked at the concept of being Second to One, that this means we deny ourselves in preference to Christ, seek first his kingdom, and put others first. We have then looked at how we conduct ourselves in our relationships, the interactions with others.

I’m a Pentecostal Pastor. So I believe int he empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes what I see as described as the the Holy Spirit is not that at all.

When we say, “I didn’t get much out of worship today,” whether we like hymns, liturgy, tongue speaking, hand clapping, chorusses, laughter or weeping, we have fallen into the trap of worship being an act of self-indulgence.

So today we are going to look at being second to One in Worship and look a moment in history when those three mistakes were made. Hopefully we will enjoy new freedom in worship as a result.

2 Samuel 6: 1-21: David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. 2 He and all his men went to Baalah in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark. 3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.
6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.
8 Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.
9 David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” 10 He was not willing to take the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household.
12 Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. 13 When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, 15 while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
16 As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.
17 They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. 18 After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. 19 Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.
20 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!”
21 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. 22 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 honour.”
23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

1. Worship Puts God in the Right Place!

Any legitimate definition of worship that aspires to be biblical must first acknowledge that worship is defined as a celebration of one’s covenant relationship with the Holy Lord God.

We also know that when we worship we like to have some evidence of God’s presence.

God understands, as humans, that we need some kind of tangible evidence of His presence. The Lord provided that especially in the O.T. When the Israelites were brought up out of Egypt God showed His presence by leading them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

Then in Ex. 25-27, while they were in the wilderness, God gave the Hebrews directions to make a place of worship called the tabernacle which was a simple tent structure. Toward the rear of the tent there was a section called the Most Holy Place. In this section stood the Ark of the Covenant. Now under Saul’s reign the permanent tabernacle in Jerusalem had deteriorated, worship itself had become virtually non-existent and the Ark was gone.

David wanted to renew his people’s reverence of God and revive their spiritual fervour. In order to do that it meant gathering the scattered articles of furniture and arranging them in the order God had given them years before. The most important piece among all those furnishings was the Ark of the Covenant.

The Ark was a chest that was gold plated inside and out. Inside were the two tablets upon which God had written the 10 commandments, (the restored tablets that God re-issued to Moses). It also contained the rod of Aaron which had miraculously budded in the wilderness and some manna which God supernaturally fed the children of Israel.

The Ark had a pure gold lid which held two angelic figures of hammered gold. Their wings spread out over the lid and the area beneath those wings was called "the mercy seat," where God’s presence was the most evident. The Ark was the heart of Jewish worship & extremely valuable.

The idea of worshipping together is more than just singing songs. We have to worship God out of our covenant relationship with Him. When David recovered the Ark of the the Covenant, the symbolism was clear - God was coming home! The people were about to be blessed.

Now in the N.T., God uses a different strategy to show His presence to us. Those that are God’s people today, followers of Jesus, no longer need icons like the Ark. For God promises all those who accept Jesus as Saviour & Lord will have His presence living within them.

We no longer look to a vessel of wood as His residence but now every believer’s heart is the abode of God.

Acts 17:24:The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.

1 Cor. 6:19: .Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.

2. Worship Puts Us in the Right Place

That place is a place of obedience and Second to One!

God still expects our obedience in worship, not our preferences to styles of worship. This means that every church can worship God in different styles, some with hymns, smells and bells, singing only Psalms, happy celebration, tongues etc. What is important is that we come before him with clean hands and a right heart.

God had given clear instructions about how this was to be done in transporting the Ark of the Covenant - see verses 6-11.

David, with his men get the Ark to bring it to Jerusalem.

They put it on a new cart (3).

They celebrate with all they have (5). It’s a party! Choirs are singing, musicians playing songs of praise on every sort of instrument, people cheering.

Suddenly amid all the exultation, the cart is jolted when one of the oxen stumble. It looked for an instant as if it would tip over, so, a man named Uzzah who was helping guide the cart grabbed the sacred chest to keep it from crashing to the ground.

It was the last thing Uzzah ever did. He fell dead behind the cart. He had, in his haste, well intentioned as might have been, ignored the clear and explicit edict that had been given by God in Numbers 4:15: they must not touch the holy things or they will die.

Most of us that read this passage find it hard to understand why Uzzah was struck down. What was it that he had done that was so bad? After all he simply tried to keep the Ark from falling in the middle of the worship service!

We need to understand this situation completely because it teaches us an important truth and that is that obedience to God is not optional. It is something that He demands down to the smallest detail!

So, let’s take a close look at this incident. Because it’s common to ask, “Was the death of Uzzah cruel and unusual punishment?” “Was God too harsh in this incident?”

The fact is, David and Uzzah himself, as a Levite, were at fault for this tragedy. If David and the Levites would of obeyed God’s detailed instructions about how to carry the Ark, Uzzah would of never, ever had to worry about saving it from falling.

In their haste to get the Ark back to Jerusalem they didn’t do their homework:
They had the wrong escort. Uzzah and Ahio were Levites but God had said that only Priests should escort the Ark, neither Uzzah or Ahio were priests.
They also had the wrong transport. God had given very specific instructions on how to transport this sacred chest. On each side of the Ark of the Covenant there were gold rings. And through these rings were to be inserted poles and God said specifically in His law that the Ark was to be carried, never carted (Ex. 25:10-16). They’d chosen preference over obedience.

When Uzzah reached out and touched the Ark of the Covenant he just climaxed a whole series of direct violations of God’s commands and he was struck dead.

At the heart of our worship is a placing ourselves Second to One. We are not the object of worship, neither is worship for our benefit. There are benefits that come as a result of worshipping God but these are secondary to the command to worship.

Today our worship is based on a new covenant - that which Jesus offers us through His death and resurrection.

Hebrews describes Jesus as the Great High Priest - the one who has entered before us to allow us access to the Father’s presence:

Hebrews 4: 14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

We approach God with confidence because Jesus has made the way for us. To Try and worship without acknowledging jesus’ Lordship and Priesthood is at best singing songs, at worst committing Uzzah’s sin.

3. Worship Puts Our Homes in the Right Place

6:10 He was not willing to take the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household. 12 Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing.

How interesting is this! They place the Ark of the Covenant - the place where God had said he'd meet his people at that time, in the home of Obed-Edom.

They didn't put it in the shed or the garage, but in the home. For the next three months Obed-Edom could not handle the blessing that come his way. Business deals worked out. His kids were obedient. His wife stopped nagging. Everyone around knew about it. Eventually someone tells King David and he realises his mistake.

This little incident reminds us that if we put the worship of God central to our home life then we will discover blessings we can’t handle. Remember, we don’t worship to be blessed, but when we worship in spirit and in truth (John 4: 23) we will discover our lives will be transformed.

All too often we have adopted the lie that says we can be at home and worship and not go to church. You’d think this account bears this idea out. Eventually the Ark of the Covenant is removed and Obed-Edom has to go and join the corporate worship like everyone else!

Note too that our home life of worship reeds into our corporate worship and our corporate worship feeds into our home life worship:

1 Corinthians 14: 26 What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.

How can this be true, that each one has something to bring, if we are not spending time in worship at home?

4. Worship Puts Our Lives in the Right Place

When we put the worship of God in the centre of our lives we discover new freedoms!

13 When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, 15 while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

16 As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.
Freedom is a bi-product of obedience.

The better you comprehend where you stand before the Lord the freer and more confident you will be. When David paraded the Ark, this time in obedience, he celebrated with total freedom.

1 John 5:3: In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.
Freedom produces celebration.

Did you get a sense of the unrestrained freedom of David and the Israelites? The huge crowd rejoiced with shouts and the playing of trumpets and danced, celebrated with all their might before the Lord. That kind of exuberant freedom ought to be evident when we worship.

What is your attitude when it comes to worship on Sunday? Do you see God as forcing you to be obedient, so you come to Church with a grudging spirit or out of some misplaced obligation? Or do we treat our corporate worship with disdain, and turn up when we feel like it? Do you know the freedom that comes from celebrating with an attitude of "I’m so grateful to God that I am thrilled to have the chance to praise my Creator and Saviour!"
Our freedom should be expressed primarily to God.

2 Sam. 6:17-18 tells us that once David got the Ark into it’s proper place that he went alone and expressed his joy to God and then came back out and celebrated with the people some more.

So often when good things happen to us we celebrate with everyone else and seldom if ever give God our gratitude.

God first others second.

Wrapping This Up:

When we come to worship God we are doing something that is bigger than ourselves. We are placing ourselves and our preferences second to the worship of God.








We can do this with vibrancy and excitement as long as we are focussed on Him and not ourselves.