SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Alderwood Community Church Sermon Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: Join us as we are in the second movement of our David series called Forged by Fire.
SPEAKER_00: In these chapters, David is shaped not in the comfort of success, but through adversity.
SPEAKER_00: Through friendship, patience, worship, and deep dependence, David learns what it means to trust God when nothing makes sense.
SPEAKER_00: Let's jump in.
SPEAKER_01: Do you want to be in the presence of God?
SPEAKER_01: Is it a good thing to be in the presence of the Lord?
SPEAKER_01: We just saying, Holy Spirit, you're welcome here.
SPEAKER_01: Come flood this place, fill the atmosphere, this request for God's presence to be here with us.
SPEAKER_01: And so you might think this is a silly question.
SPEAKER_01: Like you're here at church, after all.
SPEAKER_01: Like, of course, you desire to be in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_01: And yet we have a really interesting story this morning in the book of 2 Samuel.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be in chapter 6, and you can turn there if you want.
SPEAKER_01: It's a story that complicates that question just a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: Because it turns out when you open up your Bible and you start reading, especially in the Old Testament, you find that there are some characters who might beg to differ with the idea that it's a good thing to be in God's presence.
SPEAKER_01: And we encounter one of those characters this morning.
SPEAKER_01: His name is Uzzah, and he has something to teach us about the reality of who God is and what it even means to be in the presence of God.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna learn something profound, something really important actually about who God is this morning.
SPEAKER_01: And it's gonna teach us this that God is both more dangerous and more good than we think.
SPEAKER_01: And if that strikes you as a weird thing to say, I don't blame you.
SPEAKER_01: It's weird to think of something being dangerous and good.
SPEAKER_01: And yet that's exactly what this passage is teaching us about God.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you don't quite know what to make of that yet, that's okay.
SPEAKER_01: Lean in this morning and see what God has to show us through his word.
SPEAKER_01: We're in 2 Samuel chapter 6, and we're in this series in the life of David, and we've gotten to really kind of the peak of the story of David's life.
SPEAKER_01: We're in the middle of the story, and there's about six chapters in a row here, where things are actually going really well for David and for the kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: David was promised as a young man that he was gonna become the king of all Israel, and yet there was this like 20-year waiting period for that promise to be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: There was a ton of hardship, of patience, of trials, of mistakes, of bad decisions, of all of that.
SPEAKER_01: But that's now in the rearview mirror.
SPEAKER_01: David is the king.
SPEAKER_01: He has all the allegiance of the people.
SPEAKER_01: God has given him success.
SPEAKER_01: He has the respect of the neighboring nations around him.
SPEAKER_01: He's been given victory in battle over the Philistines.
SPEAKER_01: One of his allies just built him this fancy new palace, and he's living in that, and like things are just going really well.
SPEAKER_01: And David is actually in a really good spot spiritually as well at this point.
SPEAKER_01: He is going to God frequently.
SPEAKER_01: He's asking for God's input and for direction.
SPEAKER_01: He's submitting to God's will.
SPEAKER_01: And in this kind of high point, this moment where God has blessed David in so many ways, our story this morning is about David's desire to honor God in response, to praise God for God's goodness and to make God the most important thing in his life and in the life of the nation.
SPEAKER_01: And the way that David decides to do that is he decides to move something called the Ark of the Covenant into the capital city of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: This is where our story picks up.
SPEAKER_01: This is 2 Samuel chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: It says, then again, David assembled all the fit young men in Israel, 30,000.
SPEAKER_01: He and all his troops set out to bring the Ark of God from Bala, Judah.
SPEAKER_01: The Ark bears the name, the name of the Lord of armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim.
SPEAKER_01: So if you want to understand this chapter at all, we have to understand what this is talking about.
SPEAKER_01: The Ark of God.
SPEAKER_01: It bears God's name, the name of the Lord of armies, and God himself is enthroned between the cherubim.
SPEAKER_01: What on earth are we talking about?
SPEAKER_01: This is an image of the Ark that's being described here, the Ark of the Covenant.
SPEAKER_01: God gave his people specific directions to build uh this symbol, and it was built to be the one of the holiest, the most significant uh artifacts of worship for God's people.
SPEAKER_01: When he became their God uh in the wilderness after he delivered them from Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, he appeared to Moses on the mountaintop, and then Moses brought down the Ten Commandments, and God was gonna go with these people.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the ark is where God dwelt with the people.
SPEAKER_01: Uh it lived in this in this tiny space called the Holy of Holies, which was within the tabernacle, which was this mobile temple tent thing.
SPEAKER_01: And this Holy of Holies was this place that no one could go in because that's where God's presence was.
SPEAKER_01: And and inside that was the Ark of the Covenant, and once a year the high priest would go into the Holy Holies and make an atonement for the people, the sins of the people.
SPEAKER_01: And God's presence was between these angelic figures, the cherubim on the top, and that's where God would meet the high priest.
SPEAKER_01: When you think about the ark, think about God's presence.
SPEAKER_01: That's what it's all about.
SPEAKER_01: The ark is a box.
SPEAKER_01: Inside the box are these things that that again symbolize who God is and what God has done for his people.
SPEAKER_01: The stone tablets with the Ten Commandments on them were inside the ark.
SPEAKER_01: Uh there was a jar of manna, which was that bread that God miraculously provided his people when they were hungry in the wilderness, and that's inside the ark.
SPEAKER_01: And then Aaron's staff, which miraculously budded and symbolized God's presence and power and authority, that was inside the ark as well.
SPEAKER_01: And all of this is just like it's the most important symbol of worship for the people.
SPEAKER_01: It's where God's presence dwells with them.
SPEAKER_01: And so David is gonna move this into the capital city.
SPEAKER_01: It's really interesting that at this point in the story, uh, as important as the Ark is, the Ark has actually kind of been forgotten about.
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's been in this place, Bala Judah, which is this kind of no-name backwater place.
SPEAKER_01: It's not an important place at all.
SPEAKER_01: It's been at someone's house, this guy named Abinadab.
SPEAKER_01: And it hasn't been really a part of the life of God's people for like 20 years.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason is because the the former king, Saul, uh, he wasn't all that interested in God's presence, if we're honest.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't really want to follow God or ask God's advice on anything or submit to God.
SPEAKER_01: And so the ark had just kind of been in storage for a while, and no one had been doing anything with it.
SPEAKER_01: And David now wants to fix that.
SPEAKER_01: He wants God's presence to be central to his life, to the life of the people, and so it's gonna come to the capital city, and just like it was supposed to be, God's presence is gonna dwell right there with his people.
SPEAKER_01: And so, how how do you move the Ark of the Covenant?
SPEAKER_01: You know, what does David do to bring it to Jerusalem?
SPEAKER_01: He can't just call the moving company and have them box it out.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and so he decides that they're gonna have a huge celebration, a worship service, if you will, a mobile worship service, a national kind of uh parade.
SPEAKER_01: So he gets those 30,000 troops, and it's kind of a military parade, and thousands and thousands of people come.
SPEAKER_01: And this is what it says next: that they set the Ark of God on a new cart and transported it from Abinadab's house, which was on the hill.
SPEAKER_01: And so they're gonna drive this thing all the way from Abinadab's house into Jerusalem, and it's a new cart that's never been used as a way of honoring God.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and this whole thing is uh uh it's a giant party.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's loud, it's a worship service.
SPEAKER_01: Uh David and the whole house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all kinds of fur wood instruments and lyres and harps and tambourines and sistrums.
SPEAKER_01: I had to look that up, it's like a rattle kind of thing, and cymbals.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, so we're they're singing, they're dancing, there's loud music, they're praising God for his goodness, and they're trying to honor him with this parade into the capital city.
SPEAKER_01: You want to kind of think about like what would it be like to be there?
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, one thing that we just did that might be kind of a similar feel.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, did anybody go down to Seattle for the parade for the Seahawks when they won the Super Bowl?
SPEAKER_01: Like, this is kind of that moment, you know, like the the crowds are pressing in, uh, the parade is happening.
SPEAKER_01: You can imagine, like, instead of, you know, Sam Darnold on the top, it's the Ark of the Covenant, and and everybody is praising God.
SPEAKER_01: And my guess is that the Seahawks parade had a little bit more alcohol and cursing than this this event did in our passage this month this morning.
SPEAKER_01: But that's the vibe, right?
SPEAKER_01: Like, huge celebration, all the people, and it's going fantastically well.
SPEAKER_01: Uh they they leave uh Benadab's house, they're well on their way to Jerusalem, but then they hit a small snag.
SPEAKER_01: This is what it happens in verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: When they came to Nakon's threshing floor, Uzzah reached out to the Ark of God and took hold of it because the oxen had stumbled.
SPEAKER_01: So you can kind of picture this, like, you know, the cart's moving, and we're on dirt roads, right?
SPEAKER_01: And uh no pavement, obviously, and who knows what the oxen tripped on, but tripped on a root or something, and an oxen goes down, and the cart is like the center that everybody's looking at, and the ark is on top of it, and the cart wobbles, and the ark wobbles, and you can imagine this is a big problem, right?
SPEAKER_01: How like how embarrassing would it be if in the midst of this national celebration of God's power and goodness and blessing, if the ark of God fell off of the cart into the mud, right?
SPEAKER_01: And that and like the top opens up and the tablets are in the dirt.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, like, just think about how horrible that would be.
SPEAKER_01: But thankfully, Uzzah is right there, and he just he he grabs the cart, doesn't let that happen, he kind of studies it, and you're like, crisis averted.
SPEAKER_01: Uh thank you, Uzzah.
SPEAKER_01: Except, then you keep reading.
SPEAKER_01: Then the Lord's anger burned against Uzzah, and God struck him dead on the spot for his irreverence.
SPEAKER_01: And he died there next to the Ark of God.
SPEAKER_01: You've heard the phrase, I don't want to rain on your parade.
SPEAKER_01: Uh this is quite a bit worse than rain on the parade.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we should change the saying, probably.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh imagine being there.
SPEAKER_01: Like everyone's singing and dancing and worshiping, and there's this little thing that happens, the ark wobbles, and then it probably looks like Uzzah trips and falls down, and people go to help him up, and there's no helping him up because he's dead.
SPEAKER_01: And suddenly people are kind of piecing it together that he's dead because he touched the ark, this was God's judgment towards Uzzah, and word starts to spread through these thousands of people who are there, and suddenly the music stops playing, and the trumpets stop playing, and the singing and the dancing's done, and now there's this just total change of tone of the whole thing.
SPEAKER_01: You know, this this worship service becomes a funeral.
SPEAKER_01: And people are just wondering, like, what on earth just happened?
SPEAKER_01: Why did God do this?
SPEAKER_01: How could God do this?
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're asking that question right now, like, why would God do this?
SPEAKER_01: Uzzah was trying to help, wasn't he?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he was just he was just trying to keep the the ark from falling into the mud.
SPEAKER_01: Why would God kill Uzzah over that?
SPEAKER_01: See, this moment, it really changes the way that David views God for the rest of his life.
SPEAKER_01: And as as hearted as it is, as tough of a day as this was, it actually is teaching David and all the people something really important about who God is and what it means to have a relationship with this God.
SPEAKER_01: What they're learning right here is that God's presence is far more dangerous than we think.
SPEAKER_01: See, God's power, his holiness, holiness is one of the words the Bible uses to describe this, this idea that God is totally separate from us.
SPEAKER_01: He's totally other, that we're not on the same plane at all, that we can't just walk into God's presence and hang out with him because he's holy and we're not.
SPEAKER_01: Like that there's something about who God is that actually makes it a danger to us to be near him.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: I asked you, like, is it a good thing to be in God's presence?
SPEAKER_01: Well, depends who you ask.
SPEAKER_01: If you ask Uzza, he probably wouldn't say yes.
SPEAKER_01: It's dangerous to be in God's presence, apparently.
SPEAKER_01: Why is that?
SPEAKER_01: Why would God kill Uzza just for coming and touching the Ark?
SPEAKER_01: I was watching this documentary series on HBO a couple weeks ago called Chernobyl.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder if any of you have seen it.
SPEAKER_01: It's really well done.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it just recounts, you know, uh the whole story of the 1986 uh nuclear disaster when reactor number four at the Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded and created this radiological disaster that affected millions of people.
SPEAKER_01: This is a real photo of uh reactor number four at Chernobyl.
SPEAKER_01: And the the real problem of the Chernobyl disaster was actually not the explosion.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you can see the explosion was significant, but it wasn't a nuclear explosion.
SPEAKER_01: The real problem was that this explosion exposed everyone to the radioactive materials of what was happening inside the core, and radioactive material spread all over for thousands of miles.
SPEAKER_01: And this radioactivity is incredibly dangerous to anyone who comes near it.
SPEAKER_01: There were areas within the plant at Chernobyl where if you were there for just 90 seconds, you could get a fatal dose of radiation.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, people didn't really realize that that danger was real, at least at first.
SPEAKER_01: You know, when the explosion first happens, the plant manager is just sending workers, like in their street clothes, to just go check things out.
SPEAKER_01: And they're they're receiving these fatal doses of radiation, not even realizing it.
SPEAKER_01: When the fire department shows up, they just start trying to put out this fire like any fire.
SPEAKER_01: And all these firefighters get this incredible dose of radiation and end up dying.
SPEAKER_01: Like people don't realize how dangerous and how powerful what they're dealing with actually is.
SPEAKER_01: And when you think about that reality, it can show you how something can be actually good and dangerous at the same time.
SPEAKER_01: Because why was this radioactivity so dangerous to people?
SPEAKER_01: Is it because it was bad?
SPEAKER_01: Is it because we would be better off if that kind of radioactive thing didn't exist in our world?
SPEAKER_01: Well, no.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we can have a policy debate about whether nuclear energy plants are good or bad, but no one can debate that the physical forces at work are good.
SPEAKER_01: Like the strong and weak nuclear force that makes a nuclear reactor possible are the same things that make the sun possible.
SPEAKER_01: So, like if you're a fan of the sun, uh then we're pretty glad that these things exist.
SPEAKER_01: It's actually like this reality is a part of God's good creation.
SPEAKER_01: We couldn't exist without it.
SPEAKER_01: It's very good.
SPEAKER_01: It's just so powerful that if a human being approaches it without the right protection in the wrong way, it's not gonna go well for us.
SPEAKER_01: And see, we're learning something about God in this story that's very similar.
SPEAKER_01: God is good, his presence is good, but he is so powerful that you can't just walk into his presence however you want to.
SPEAKER_01: It won't go well for you.
SPEAKER_01: And see, the more powerful something is, the more precautions you have to take place that have to take place for you to engage with it.
SPEAKER_01: And it's true, like in the nuclear power plants, right?
SPEAKER_01: The reason why the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl happened was not because uh people didn't know how you should engage with it, it's because there were all kinds of rules in place to make sure that this powerful thing was good for people and not bad.
SPEAKER_01: And the people working there just they ignored them.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't follow the rules.
SPEAKER_01: So that's why the explosion happened, that's why the disaster happened, and all of that.
SPEAKER_01: And that's actually exactly what happens in this story.
SPEAKER_01: See, God knows that he's holy and we're not.
SPEAKER_01: He knows that he's perfect and pure and we're sinful and finite.
SPEAKER_01: And so God actually gave all kinds of rules to say, this is how you're to come into my presence, for my presence to be a blessing in your life, for it to be a good thing and not a bad thing.
SPEAKER_01: And what happened in this story was that the people, that David, even though they had good intentions, they ignored all of God's rules.
SPEAKER_01: And it happened way before Uzzah touched the ark.
SPEAKER_01: See, God said only one group of people is actually supposed to move the ark.
SPEAKER_01: It's the the priestly tribe of the Levites.
SPEAKER_01: And the Levites, uh, they don't put the ark on a cart.
SPEAKER_01: That's actually how the Philistines move their religious things around.
SPEAKER_01: Uh God said, actually, no, the Philistines, or the Levites, I should say, they only are gonna carry the ark on poles.
SPEAKER_01: You saw those poles in the photo that I showed you.
SPEAKER_01: And every time the ark is out of the Holy of Holies, it needs to be covered so that no one is looking at it and no one can accidentally touch it.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the way that you're to honor me as we move the ark from one place to the other.
SPEAKER_01: And now, David, he wants to throw this huge worship service, this national parade, and he just doesn't listen.
SPEAKER_01: He puts the ark on a cart, it's uncovered.
SPEAKER_01: The Levites aren't anywhere to be found.
SPEAKER_01: And all of these dis you know, disregarding of the rules, it finally ends in Uzzah being able to reach out and touch the ark itself, which he never should have been able to even do.
SPEAKER_01: The ark should have been covered completely.
SPEAKER_01: And God strikes him dead for his irreverence.
SPEAKER_01: It's not that Uzzah's intentions were bad.
SPEAKER_01: It's that the people had forgotten who God is.
SPEAKER_01: They had forgotten how powerful, how holy, how other God is.
SPEAKER_01: And the reality that his presence actually is dangerous.
SPEAKER_01: That you can't just walk into God's presence however you want to.
SPEAKER_01: And that the truth about who God is.
SPEAKER_01: It's not an easy thing to come to terms with.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not easy for David.
SPEAKER_01: David has, you know, his whole day ruined uh by this thing, right?
SPEAKER_01: And you know, the celebration is turned to mourning, and he looks pretty bad, and uh and he's mad at God.
SPEAKER_01: This is what it says next.
SPEAKER_01: He gets angry.
SPEAKER_01: David was angry because of the Lord's outburst against Uzzah, so he named that place outburst against Uzzah, as it is today.
SPEAKER_01: In Hebrew, that place gets named Perez Uzzah, which in English is like the place Uzzah got smoked.
SPEAKER_01: Like that's that's what it becomes named for.
SPEAKER_01: And David names it that in anger.
SPEAKER_01: He's mad at God.
SPEAKER_01: Because David thinks kind of like you and I think.
SPEAKER_01: He thinks that God should chill out.
SPEAKER_01: Like he's like, God, we meant well.
SPEAKER_01: This was for you, God.
SPEAKER_01: We were worshiping you.
SPEAKER_01: We were trying to make you look good.
SPEAKER_01: And like, look at what you did.
SPEAKER_01: Like, why would you do this?
SPEAKER_01: David is angry at God first.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe you've never thought about getting angry about God's holiness, but actually, I think we we do get angry because of God's holiness sometimes, even today.
SPEAKER_01: God's otherness, his purity.
SPEAKER_01: Like, sometimes when we when we think about the way that God demands that sin has a consequence, that he doesn't just say, like, forget about it, let's not worry about it, that he that he actually insists on sin having a consequence.
SPEAKER_01: We can be angry about that, especially when we face consequences to our sin.
SPEAKER_01: Like when we think about the reality that God's holiness, it means that not everyone is going to experience life in eternity with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That there are going to be people who reject Him and are cut off.
SPEAKER_01: Like, especially when you think of people you know who've rejected Jesus, people you love that you may not be with in eternity, like that can make us angry towards God.
SPEAKER_01: When we think about some of the things that God allows in this world that we would never allow, like if we were running things.
SPEAKER_01: We wouldn't let these things happen, and yet God, He's other.
SPEAKER_01: He's different.
SPEAKER_01: He's not like us and He does things differently.
SPEAKER_01: We can get angry towards God because of who He is and how He is.
SPEAKER_01: And that's where David is right now.
SPEAKER_01: He's angry that God would ever let this happen.
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_01: And then pretty quickly, his anger turns to fear.
SPEAKER_01: And David was afraid of the Lord that day.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, How can the ark of the Lord come to me?
SPEAKER_01: Do you get what he's asking?
SPEAKER_01: He had this whole plan, right?
SPEAKER_01: Where the ark and the presence of God was going to come into the capital city and be with the people.
SPEAKER_01: And God's presence and the people were going to be together, and it was this joyous thing.
SPEAKER_01: But now his whole view of God has changed.
SPEAKER_01: And he's saying, like, how is that ever supposed to work?
SPEAKER_01: Like, if God is so holy and so dangerous that people are dying just by being near God, like, how are we supposed to be together?
SPEAKER_01: How is the ark supposed to come live with us?
SPEAKER_01: How are we supposed to be in God's presence?
SPEAKER_01: He's afraid now of God.
SPEAKER_01: And so he just gives up on the whole thing.
SPEAKER_01: The parade is over at that point.
SPEAKER_01: And he said, We're not gonna do this.
SPEAKER_01: So David was not willing to take the ark of the Lord into the city of David, but David took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.
SPEAKER_01: The parade breaks down, and there's some guy's house who's just there in the middle of nowhere, and they just dump the ark on him and call it a day.
SPEAKER_01: And David, he's doing it out of fear.
SPEAKER_01: He's doing it because he doesn't think it's safe to be with God anymore.
SPEAKER_01: He's now viewing the ark like Chernobyl a bit.
SPEAKER_01: Where it's like we we can't have this around the people anymore.
SPEAKER_01: And I actually think, again, we experience this today, that God's holiness actually can make us afraid of God at times.
SPEAKER_01: Especially when we're in sin, when we know that we're not living how God wants us to live.
SPEAKER_01: And we just think, I don't want to come close to God right now.
SPEAKER_01: He must be angry at me, he must want to punish me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to think about what God's asking of me.
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to think about how God feels about where I'm at right now.
SPEAKER_01: Like it would be better for us just to stay apart from each other.
SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of times when we are in a season where we're not praying, and I've been there, and I know that you've been there when you just don't want to.
SPEAKER_01: It's not comfortable to be in the quiet with God.
SPEAKER_01: The reason why that happens a lot of the time is fear.
SPEAKER_01: It is just not wanting to know what God might have to say to you because you don't think it would be good.
SPEAKER_01: And that's where David is.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, okay, fine, like this is this is over.
SPEAKER_01: We're just gonna stay distant from one another now.
SPEAKER_01: And so he dumps the ark off at Obed Edom's house.
SPEAKER_01: And I would love to know how that conversation went.
SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Obed-Edom is home, and he gets a knock on the door, and it's King David, and King David's like, hey, like, can I leave something with you?
SPEAKER_01: And Ob Edom's like, okay, like, is it big, small, you know, it's pretty big, and uh, and okay, like, so what is it?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's the Ark of the Covenant.
SPEAKER_01: Um and Obim's like, okay, like I I can move the dining table over, like we'll make a spot in the living room here.
SPEAKER_01: And and David, like, I thought, didn't you want the Ark of the Covenant?
SPEAKER_01: And David's like, no, I can you can have it.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and you know, Obinim's like, well, like, why?
SPEAKER_01: Like, why don't you want it?
SPEAKER_01: And you know, David's like, no reason really.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I just I wouldn't touch it, and uh best of luck, you know?
SPEAKER_01: Um, and David leaves, and and he thinks probably this is the last time that he's ever gonna see Obed Edom because he just left like a nuclear disaster at his house.
SPEAKER_01: And David goes home, and it's several months that pass by.
SPEAKER_01: But then something happens that David doesn't expect, and again, it completely changes David's view of God for a second time in this story.
SPEAKER_01: Because the ark ends up not being dangerous to Obed Edom, it ends up being completely the opposite.
SPEAKER_01: The ark ends up being a blessing to Obed Edom.
SPEAKER_01: And what he learns, and what David comes to realize, is that it may be true that God's presence is more dangerous than we think, but it's also true that the presence of God is far more good than we think.
SPEAKER_01: Like we don't think about this reality enough.
SPEAKER_01: The reality that literally every good thing in the world is the result of God's presence.
SPEAKER_01: Everything you've ever enjoyed in life, your very capacity to experience joy itself, is a gift from God.
SPEAKER_01: Every good gift is given from our Father in heaven who delights in us.
SPEAKER_01: Like, God made us to be in his presence, he delights in us being in his presence, he wants us to experience his presence as a blessing and as a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: It's far more good to be in the presence of God than we realize.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what happens to Obed-Edom.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, he is blessed.
SPEAKER_01: What we're told in verse 11, the Ark of the Lord remained in his house three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and his whole family.
SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't really say exactly how or exactly what that looked like, but apparently he was blessed in such a way that everybody noticed, right?
SPEAKER_01: So, like, I don't know, his crops are growing better than ever, and his tricky marriage has turned around, and it's going really well, and his kids are listening to him, you know, and he and he put on an old coat and found 20 bucks.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure exactly, but like he's blessed because the ark of God is there.
SPEAKER_01: And people are talking about it.
SPEAKER_01: And eventually, word reaches David.
SPEAKER_01: Like, did you hear what happened to the guy that you left the ark with?
SPEAKER_01: It was told to King David, the Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him because of the Ark of God.
SPEAKER_01: And David, he's taken abath by this.
SPEAKER_01: And he his mind is really spinning now.
SPEAKER_01: What are we supposed to think about God?
SPEAKER_01: It kills Uzzah and it blesses Obed-Edom.
SPEAKER_01: God is both more dangerous and more good than I realized.
SPEAKER_01: And David has to learn something that we have to learn as well, which is how do you have a relationship with a God like that?
SPEAKER_01: How do you worship a God who's dangerous and good?
SPEAKER_01: And what David learns is that to worship God, we must come to Him with humility and boldness.
SPEAKER_01: You have to come to God with the humility of recognizing who He is.
SPEAKER_01: He spoke things into existence.
SPEAKER_01: He always has been, He always will be.
SPEAKER_01: You could never ever deserve to be in His presence.
SPEAKER_01: You have to come with that humility, but also the boldness to say, okay, but God, if you're inviting me in, I'm coming.
SPEAKER_01: Like you are good, and I need you.
SPEAKER_01: Like I need to be with you.
SPEAKER_01: I need to worship you.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna be humble, but I'm gonna be bold.
SPEAKER_01: And that's exactly what David does.
SPEAKER_01: He changes his mind again, and the parade is back on.
SPEAKER_01: And they move the ark into the city.
SPEAKER_01: And first, what changes is the humility changes.
SPEAKER_01: The second time around, they listen to all the rules.
SPEAKER_01: The Levites are back in, they're carrying it by poles, uh, they're doing it the right way because they're not gonna cross the God of the universe.
SPEAKER_01: But then what's interesting is like I think I would expect the second parade to be a little bit more subdued than the first one.
SPEAKER_01: You know, the first one didn't go very well.
SPEAKER_01: We were all dancing and singing, then somebody died.
SPEAKER_01: Like the next time I'm showing up in my church suit, you know, like we're gonna we're gonna be reverent, we're gonna be quiet before the Lord and just like watch quietly as it comes by.
SPEAKER_01: That's not at all what happens.
SPEAKER_01: The second party is bigger than the first party.
SPEAKER_01: It's louder, it's it's noisier, it's like it's more raucous.
SPEAKER_01: David is dancing with more energy than he danced the first time.
SPEAKER_01: It's humble, but it's it's every bit as bold in declaring who God is and worshiping him for his goodness to them.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it gets so out of hand that the way the story ends is what we're told when the Ark makes it into Jerusalem, one of David's wives is looking out the window at the party.
SPEAKER_01: And I think it's telling that she's not at the party, that she's she's in the palace looking at it.
SPEAKER_01: And she's looking at David, and David, in her eyes, is making a fool of himself.
SPEAKER_01: He's dancing with the common people.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, he's not dressed like a king, he's not being kind of you know reverent and dignified like kings are supposed to be.
SPEAKER_01: Um he's going crazy worshiping God.
SPEAKER_01: And when he gets home that night after this amazing day, uh she lets him have it.
SPEAKER_01: She goes, You're an idiot, basically, you know, like you made a fool of yourself, like some king, you are just dancing like a fool with all of the people.
SPEAKER_01: And David's response is it's that humility and that boldness.
SPEAKER_01: He says, What you think I'm supposed to be honoring myself in the presence of God?
SPEAKER_01: Like I was dancing before the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go crazy.
SPEAKER_01: Like I'll dance more than this, I'll be more undignified than what you've seen.
SPEAKER_01: I'll humiliate myself, like I'm not going to act like I'm important when the day is about God Himself.
SPEAKER_01: See, to worship God, you have to come to Him with humility and with boldness.
SPEAKER_01: And ultimately, the only way that we can do that, the only reason why you can come to God humble and bold is because Jesus made the way for that to happen.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the one who appeased God's wrath, who dealt with our sin, who dealt with that gap, that separation, that distance between God and us, who made us a child of God, who clothed us with his righteousness, so that we can come into God's presence.
SPEAKER_01: I love how this is described in Hebrews chapter 4, where it says, Jesus is our high priest, and therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
SPEAKER_01: Do you see the humility and the boldness in that verse?
SPEAKER_01: Like, you're don't don't forget, you're you're approaching a throne.
SPEAKER_01: He's the king, he's the creator of everything.
SPEAKER_01: But you can come in with boldness because Jesus has taken care of your sin.
SPEAKER_01: He's taking care of your rebellion against God, He's taking care of any ounce of God's wrath towards you.
SPEAKER_01: And so you don't have to be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to keep God at arm's length.
SPEAKER_01: You can come in and be with him once again.
SPEAKER_01: And I wonder what you need to be reminded of this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we forget about who God really is.
SPEAKER_01: We forget the humility that we need to come into his presence.
SPEAKER_01: See, we don't have to be afraid of God anymore, but it's not because God is any less holy than he was then.
SPEAKER_01: He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
SPEAKER_01: He is every bit as deserving of our reverence and awe as he's ever been.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we we don't think about that.
SPEAKER_01: We think like it's really just not that big of a deal if I listen to God or if I don't, how I talk in front of God, what I do in response to God, like whether I think about God very much, or like I just it doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_01: He'll always forgive, that's his job, and I just don't have to think about it.
SPEAKER_01: And like, if that's where you've been, I've been there, man.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, let this story remind you of who it is that we're worshiping.
SPEAKER_01: It's the God of the universe we're talking about.
SPEAKER_01: And and even today, he will not be mocked.
SPEAKER_01: We need to come to him with humility.
SPEAKER_01: But maybe you need to remember the reality of God's goodness.
SPEAKER_01: That even when you've sinned, that even when you know you've messed up, when you know you haven't been living with him, you still don't have to be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: That in his incredible goodness, he did send Jesus for exactly that reason.
SPEAKER_01: And even now, he is inviting you in with open arms.
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to stay away, you don't have to be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: You can come in and receive grace and mercy in your time of need.
SPEAKER_01: And I hope you'll do that even this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Would you uh remember this reality?
SPEAKER_01: God is God.
SPEAKER_01: He's beyond us, he's dangerous, but he is so, so good.
SPEAKER_01: And he made you to be in his presence, and he delights in you coming into his presence.
SPEAKER_01: And he wants to bless you as you come into his presence.
SPEAKER_01: Let's get ready to give him the glory for that together this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Would you bow your head?
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we are so grateful that though you would be justified in keeping us out, that though you would be justified in simply judging us for our sin, that you are so good.
SPEAKER_01: And you chose another way.
SPEAKER_01: That you paid the penalty for our sins, that you restored the relationship that we broke.
SPEAKER_01: And so would you help us to experience that truth this morning by the power of your spirit that's offered to us through Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: And God, would we worship you fully, fully for who you are, holy and powerful and other than us, and yet would we worship you with an intimacy that we can be at your throne because of Jesus with boldness?
SPEAKER_01: We want both of those things, God.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to live in a way that makes the reality of who you are clear to the world around us.
SPEAKER_01: Help us to invite people in to receive your mercy and grace like we have.
SPEAKER_01: We ask all of this in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to the Alderwood Community Church Sermon Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: As we witness David, we're reminded that God uses both triumphs and trials to shape us into people who trust him fully.
SPEAKER_00: To learn more about Alderwood or catch past sermons, visit alderwood.cc