In this sermon, the speaker discusses the story of Uzzah and the Ark of the Covenant. Uzzah reaches out to steady the Ark when it hits a rock, but God strikes him down for his error. The speaker emphasizes the importance of obedience and consecration in approaching God's presence. He also highlights David's example of wholehearted worship and encourages listeners to have an emotional connection with God. The sermon emphasizes the need for reverence and obedience in approaching God's presence.

Second Samuel, chapter six. Jerusalem is now in the hands of the people of Israel. David conquered the city of Jerusalem, as we saw last time in Second Samuel, chapter five. And now David's heart is to bring Israel together in great focus upon the Lord and His presence and His glory by bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. We're going to see several things this morning. We're going to see, first of all, David bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem and how important it was for him to do that God's way. We're also going to take a look at David's exuberant dancing before the Lord and consider the place of emotion in our walk with God. And we'll also see some of the criticism that came David's way in the midst of that. But let's jump right into it. Verse one, again, David gathered all the choice men of Israel, 30,000, and David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baal, Judah, to bring up from there the Ark of God, whose name is called by the name the Lord of Hosts, who dwells between the Cherubim. You know, I have the distinct advantage of knowing that many of you have an idea in your minds of what the Ark of the Covenant is like. Most of us have seen that movie from many years ago, Raiders of the Lost Ark. And it's really not a totally inaccurate depiction of what the Ark looked like. We're given pretty specific dimensions in the word of God. It was something like three feet, nine inches long, two feet, three inches wide and two feet, three inches high. It was a wooden box overlaid with gold. It had a elaborate and fairly significant, solid gold lid on top of it. And there were artistic designs or sculptures of cherubim upon the lid. Along the sides, it ran two poles by which the Ark of the Covenant was to be carried. And the Ark of the Covenant was very important in the spiritual and national life of Israel because it represented the presence and the glory of God in the midst of Israel. Now, we want that. We want to live daily with a sense of the presence of God and the glory of God in our midst, don't we? Wouldn't you love to have that sense that here at Calvary Chapel, when you walk into this room and you just sense the presence of God and the glory of God and there at your home, in your home, your home doesn't have an atmosphere of strife or tension or discouragement or despair. But wouldn't you love it if your home had that atmosphere of the presence of God and the glory of God? Well, the Ark of the Covenant at this time in Israel's history had been hidden away for many years. Some people speculate for as many as 70 years, the Ark of the Covenant, who did not stand at the Tabernacle. A matter of fact, we have reason to believe that the Ark of the Covenant was was carried away. We know it was by the Philistines in battle. And then it came back in the land of Israel. But at that whole occasion, when the Israelites were defeated in battle, we have reason to believe that the Tabernacle in which it stood was destroyed or significantly ruined. Well, David had a heart to rebuild the Tabernacle and to bring the Ark of the Covenant, the representation of the presence and the glory of God, to bring it out of obscurity because it was just sitting in a guy's house for many, many years to bring it out of obscurity and to bring it back in the center of Israel's national life. David wanted Israel's national life to be centered around the presence and the glory of God. And don't you want that? You want that for your own life, don't you? You want it for our church. You want it for your home. You want it for your individual life. So look at how David did it. Verse three, it says, So they set the Ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart and they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill accompanying the Ark of God. And Ahio went before the Ark. Then David and all the house of Israel played music before the Lord and all kinds of instruments of firwood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on cistrums and on cymbals. You get the picture in your mind, this is a great parade, it's an elaborate procession. Let's bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem. And how do you do it? Well, you get together and you think, you know, this has got to be a pretty big procession. This is going to be like the Rose Parade or something like that. Let's get the marching bands and get all the instruments and everybody's ready. You get a lot of people. We saw back in verse one that David brought together 30,000 of the choice men of Israel, those strong, studly soldiers there just to add the air of grandeur and also to protect it. You don't want the Ark of the Covenant being snatched in a terrorist attack or something. And so, you know, it adds to the whole weight and the gravity of the whole event. You get together two guys, the two sons of the household where the Ark of the Covenant had been for many, many years. Again, some people think as many as 70 years when these two fellows, Uzzah and Ahio, were born, the Ark of the Covenant was already in their house. There it was in the garage under a tarp. Dad, what's that in the garage? That's the Ark of the Covenant. Why is it here? Well, they set it in our house a long time ago. How long is it going to be here? Well, we don't know, but it's just sitting here. So let's get these guys. They're most familiar with it. It's been in their house for a long time. Let's put them in charge of the procession. And best of all, you saw out there in verse three, let's get a new cart. No, not an old cart for the Ark of the Covenant. No way. Brand new. They built a brand new cart and they brought it before David and they brought it before Uzzah and Ahio. And they all know that this one isn't good enough. This is the Buick of new carts. We need the Cadillac of new carts. Come back and bring it elaborate. We want everything fine. We need a fancy brand. And no, no hay, no manure, no anything on this car. Brand new cart. That's the only thing that's fitting for the Ark of the Covenant. And man, they're ready, aren't they? They put the Ark of the Covenant on the cart. They're driving the oxen. You've got Uzzah and Ahio out front. It's kind of interesting, too. And I just found this out yesterday with the meaning of the names of Uzzah and Ahio are. Uzzah means strength. Ahio means friendly. And don't you want that? You want strength and friendliness out there leading the cart. And this is like how we want to do church. You want new things, you know, the cutting edge technology, everything polished. You want the new cart, right? And then what do you want in your church? You want what you want strength. You want strong leadership. And then you want friendliness, the friendliest church in town. You know, you get those things and all that business together. Then you get all the musicians because you've got to have a great worship service. And the music's great. And it's a great procession. It's a big event. The only problem was that was totally out of the way. The will of God. That amazing. Now, this is David, David, the man after God's own heart, planning this big event, but he neglects to seek God's revealed will in his word. And there's going to be bad consequences from this. Now, was it a bad thing to bring the Ark of the Covenant from Abinadab's house to the city of Jerusalem? No, that was a good thing. David wants to do a good thing, but he's doing it in the wrong way. Sometimes we comfort ourselves too much. With the knowledge of our good intentions. Now, I hope your intentions are good, but might I say good intentions aren't enough. God wants good intentions and obedient actions. They both need to go together. And I believe every intention in David's heart was good. I believe his intention was good. Ahio's intention was good. Abinadab's intention was good, but their actions were wrong. And look what's going to happen here as we approach it in the next set of verses here. The music's playing. The procession is going. It's a grand old time. Verse six. And when they came to Nahon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it. For the oxen stumbled. You can picture that in your mind, can't you? The cart, the brand new cart. It hits a rock. There's a pebble. There's something. And it lurches forward. And maybe the ox stumbles a little bit and you don't know what's going to happen. And, whoa, it's sliding. Maybe the Ark of the Covenant is going to fall out. You can't let it fall on the ground. I mean, this is the Ark of the Covenant. So what does Uzzah do? He reaches out his hand and he's just quick as a flash. He's reaching out his hand there to touch it. And what happens? And the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah and God struck him there for his error. And he died there by the Ark of God. Well, the music stopped pretty quick, didn't it? Everybody rushes around, does it? Take his pulse, see if he's breathing. Is he alive? He's dead. What? Did he have a heart attack? No, no, it happened as soon. God has struck this man down. The the big event came crashing to an end. Touching the Ark of God was strictly forbidden. Matter of fact, in Numbers chapter four, verse 15, it says they shall not touch any holy thing lest they die. And Uzzah touched it. A matter of fact, there was a lot that they were doing wrong here. It's on a new cart and the new cart's shiny and bright and really nice. But God specifically commanded in the book of Exodus that the Ark of the Covenant was never to be transported by a cart. It was only to be transported on the shoulders of men and not just any men, but on the shoulders of priests and not just any priests, but the priests of a specific family of Kohath, these specific priests of the specific family. They were the one charged with the responsibility of caring for and transporting the Ark, never on a cart, not just by anybody. Now, do you see what we mean here when we see at the end of verse seven, where it talks about where it talks about, excuse me, not the end of verse where it says there at the end of verse seven, the error of Uzzah. It says the Lord struck him there for his error. You see, Uzzah erred in thinking that it didn't matter who transported the Ark, but it did matter because God said only priests of the family of Kohath. And Uzzah erred in thinking that it didn't matter how the Ark was transferred. What's the big deal? It's just logistics. Get it from point A to point B. Let's give a new cart, a nice new cart, gold trim, wood paneling, go the whole distance. No, no, no. It matters everything because God said it should only be carried on the shoulders of men. Uzzah erred in thinking that he knew all about the Ark. You know, man, it's been in our household for years and years. I know all about this. No, he didn't know all about it. Uzzah erred in thinking that he could take care of the Ark of God himself and that God couldn't take care of it. Well, I've got to help God and help the Ark. But most of all, let's say what Uzzah's greatest error was. Uzzah erred in thinking that the ground of Nakhon's threshing floor was less holy than his own hand. Well, I can't let it fall to the ground that would desecrate the Ark. That would be a disgrace. Let me tell you something, Uzzah, that ground of Nakhon's threshing floor, that ground, it never rebelled against God. That ground never put its hand to evil, that ground never rebelled or sinned against the Lord in any way. But you have, Uzzah, it would have been better for the Ark of God to crash to the ground than for Uzzah in disobedience to put his hand to it. When he did, he was struck down dead and the music stopped. Isn't it interesting that it happened on the threshing floor? Do you know what a threshing floor is? That's where they take the stocks of wheat and they crush them in some way and they crush them so that the grain of wheat can be separated from the chaff. And God was separating the wheat from the chaff on the threshing floor of Nakhon, wasn't he? The big production, fine, good, but if it wasn't in the will of God, if it wasn't in obedience to God and God wanted no part of it, it was chaff and not wheat. And God struck down Uzzah for his error. Now, look at how David reacts. You can imagine this, verse eight, it says, And David became angry because of the Lord's outbreak against Uzzah. And he called the name of the place Perez-Uzzah to this day. David was afraid of the Lord that day and he said, how can the ark of the Lord come to me? You sense David's frustration, don't you? Fine, God, you know, I just wanted to do a good thing. What's wrong? Couldn't you grant me a little bit of slack on this, Lord? Couldn't you just said, well, this is wrong and do it a different way? I think David kept asking that question, how can the ark of the Lord come to me? OK, God, how do you want me to do it? And you know, David found the answer to his question of all places, he found the answer to his question in God's word. Because, you know, God specifically says, he says, I never want you to put the ark of the covenant on a cart, carry it. I wanted to be born on the shoulders of consecrated men. I don't want just anybody to carry it, I want the priest to carry it. So David read this, he realized these, I got to go to the law and to the testament, I got to go to the word of God to see how to order this. And David did. And he found the answer to his question. How can the ark of the Lord come to me? It's got to come according to God's truth and God's word. Now, friends, we want the presence of the Lord here, don't we? We want to to shine forth with a glorious sense of God's presence and glory and power in our midst. But it's not going to come by new carts. It's not going to come through strength and friendliness. It's going to come by earnestly seeking God and his word and living in obedience to God and his word. You know, David wanted so much for the presence of the Lord to shine forth, for God to show up, so to speak. Don't we want that? Oh, Lord, we know you're here all the time, but just show up in power and glory. Let me tell you something. God did show up on the threshing floor of Nathan. Just not the way anybody expected him to. Well, David gets it right here in verse 10. It says, So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the city of David, but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite. The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite, three months. Now, I would have loved this conversation that David had with Obed-Edom. Obed, hi, this is David. David, you're my king. Thanks for calling. Obed, I've got a little problem I hope you can help me out with. I need a place to put the ark of the covenant for a few months. Well, sure, David, you're my king. What's up? I thought you were taking it to Jerusalem. Well, yeah, but you know, God struck somebody dead for touching it, and we're just kind of afraid to have it around. Can we keep it at your house for a few months? Well, Obed-Edom, he swallowed hard. He took it in and he's just waiting. You know, he's watching the kids for signs of illness and, you know, the the goat and the cow and all of that, you know, just wondering when's it going to come down upon us. Look at what happened again, verse 11, the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom, the Gittite, three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household. It was told King David saying the Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him because of the ark of God. And we don't know how the Lord blessed the house of Obed-Edom, I can say that the old Jewish rabbis used to teach that Obed-Edom was dirt poor when the ark of the covenant came to his house and God just poured upon him resources and blessing just beyond his expectation. And and it was absolutely spectacular. And so David heard of this. Well, we know that David did hear of the great blessing, whatever the blessing was. And they were all so excited, David realized, listen, it's not like the ark of the covenant is is somehow intrinsically cursed. No. David understood what we have to understand is that God wants to bless his people. You know, you don't you don't have to sort of talk God into blessing you. He wants to bless you very, very much. God is so concerned with blessing you. He wants you to be blessed and not cursed. You know, sometimes we get the feeling that God's looking for an excuse to curse us. He's looking for an excuse to bless you. But you need to align yourself with his will and with his word. And when David started doing that, you notice how the blessing came. Matter of fact, there's a sort of a connection that I make between this and First Chronicles 26, where it talks about a guy, Obed-Edom, and I'm not 100 percent sure of this. But from some indications I have in First Chronicles 26, I think that Obed-Edom was a priest of the tribe of Kohath, the exact men who were supposed to take care of the Ark. And that's the first thing David did right. He said, well, Lord, in your word, you say that this specific family of the tribe of Levi is supposed to take care of the Ark. I'll put it in his house. And God blessed him because of it. Isn't that great? All the blessing flowed. And so David figured, well, I guess the blessing of God is upon us. Let's bring it in. How are you going to do it this time? Are you going to use just anybody to bring in the Ark? No, no, no. Are you going to put it on a new cart? No, no, no. Notice the middle of verse 12. So David went and brought up the Ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David with gladness. And so it was when those bearing the Ark of the Lord had gone six paces that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep. And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. I want to contrast the first attempt with the second attempt. First of all, what was the same between the two events? Well, what was the same between them both was that it was a big production. David realized that the sin wasn't in the big production. And sometimes Christians get off guard on this. They they think that somehow there's something inherently spiritual in a big production like a big crusade or a big event. No, well, it's big. It has to be of God. No, not necessarily. But sometimes they get on the other extreme. They say, well, you know, the big thing can never be of God. It has to be small. No, it doesn't matter. David knew that the problem wasn't with the size of the production. The problem was that they didn't seek the Lord. They didn't obey his word. So it was a big production each time. I would suggest to you that the second time it was an even bigger production. But notice what else is different. First of all, the new cart, it's gone. Of course, he's gone. He's gone as well. No, now you have priests of the proper tribe. We know this from First Chronicles, Chapter 15, that David told the priest, listen, I know why this happened to us last time. It's because we didn't do what the Lord wanted to. This time the priests are going to bring it in. And friends, that's always how it is with the glory and the presence of God. Oh, we want to bring it in with a slick new cart or we're going to have strong and friendly out front and let everybody see it. And that'll bring the glory and the presence of God. But God brings his glory and his presence always upon the shoulders of consecrated because priests were consecrated, obedient because that's what they were doing. They were being obedient and praising because that's what they were doing. They were praising the Lord. God brings his glory and his presence in on the shoulders of consecrated, obedient and praising men and women, not new carts. Not strong and friendly, see this glorious work that the Lord was doing, he brought it in, I see the other things that are different as well, is that David commanded that be great sacrifice. Did you see that? One, two, three, four, five, six sacrifice. One, two, three, four, five, six sacrifice. I don't know how far it was from Obed Edom's house to Jerusalem, but anyway, you slide it. That's a lot of sacrifice. That's a lot of oxen. That's a lot of sheep. That's a lot of it's a lot of animals sacrificed. You know, we don't have any mention of sacrifice in the first attempt, do we? This time, David says, oh, I want this covered by atonement because sacrifice speaks of atonement. Sacrifice speaks of consecration and sacrifice speaks of grace. Speaks of fellowship with God. David says, I want all these things to be marked and it's almost excessive, a big production. Well, they sacrifice so many animals as we're going to see in a few verses that they had to have a big barbecue for the whole nation. But that's another another matter altogether. The third thing I want you to see that was different was not just what they didn't have, it's not what they did have in sacrifice, but it was also very significant that David was a part of this and he participated in the worship. You know, we don't have any mention of this in the first attempt. David was probably sitting back as the king. There he has the crown, the royal robes, the scepter. Yes, the ark. Yes. Bless the ark. You know, he's waving as it goes by. Send the ark to Jerusalem. Not this time. This time, David says, you know what? On this day, the glory and the presence of God is among us. And I'm not a king. I'm a I'm a worshiper. I'm going to take off my royal robes. I'm going to take off my crown and I'm going to go right down there with the other priests and I'm going to wear a linen ephod just like they wear. That was a priest's uniform. David said, I'm going to put on the priest's uniform and I'm going to get down there and be just with the priest and I'm going to do what they do. The priest saying I'm going to sing the priest play. I'm going to play the priest dance. I'm going to dance with them. By the way, this whole thing about David dancing. Don't think for a moment that David there was, you know, doing the old solo soft there. This isn't Gene Kelly singing in the rain or Fred Astaire, you know, putting on the little show. We know from from both ancient and modern pattern and custom, you know, think in your mind the kind of dancing that you would see Orthodox or Hasidic Jews doing. I've seen this, for example, at the Western Wall there in Jerusalem. There they are. You know, they got their arms around each other and they're singing and they're swaying back and forth. And it's just a great time of celebration for them. This wasn't solo dancing. David was among the priests, dressed like the priest, dancing with all of his might and with all of his heart before the Lord. David didn't want to hold back anything in his expression of worship. I think about that sometimes in my own life and in the life of our own congregation. David had a true, genuine, emotional link to God. I want to ask you, do you have an emotional link in your relationship with God? Some of us don't. Some of us have in our mind that the that the epitome, that the zenith of spirituality is for us to be some kind of spiritual Dr. Spock's from Star Trek, where we're beyond emotion or we're stoic and logical in our Christian life. But no, never emotional. That's not Christian. Friends, it's very Christian. God wants you to have an emotional link with him. When's the last time you were so happy before the Lord, not happy because your tax return came back and it was bigger than you thought, not not happy because your team won the game, you know, not happy because the kid brought home a good report card. I mean, when's the last time you were happy in Jesus so much that your heart would burst? When's the last time you wept before the Lord? A tear came to your eye because you were so burdened by your sinfulness or by a great need in your own life or in somebody else's. Do you have an emotional link in your relationship to God? Now, there are two great errors in this arena that we can make. The one error is making emotions the center of our Christian life. Can I say, by and large, in our congregation, we don't have to worry about that at all. But the other great error is in having an emotionally detached Christian life. And let me tell you, it's like two sides of the boat. One side is emotional excess, the other side is emotional detachment, and the devil doesn't care what side of the boat he gets you out on. Doesn't matter to him. He'll throw you out on one side just as much as the other. We don't think it's strange when the baseball player rounds the bases after the game winning home run. I remember it so clearly. It's impressed on my mind. It's impressed my mind so clearly because it's the last time the Dodgers did anything in postseason play when Kirk Gibson hit that game winning home run in 1988 in the first game of the World Series. And there he is circling the bases, pumping his fist, and they go around and everybody's dancing and jumping up and down around home plate. And it's a pure exuberance. Nobody thinks that's strange. Now, settle down there, men. You're getting a little out of control. Your child scores a goal in soccer or you see the winning touchdown and your hands go. Yes. Raise your hands in church. No, no, not on your life. You see the difference? There's a bit of a contradiction there. And I despise emotional manipulation. Oh, I hate it when people try to manipulate me emotionally. And I have it in my heart to never endeavor to do that. But just as much, we should we should get a little angry with ourselves about emotional detachment. Not manipulated, not detached, just natural and real before the Lord. That's how it should be. And that's how David was dancing in his linen ifad there with the rest of the priests. I also want to point out one more thing about David's dancing. Is that it was appropriate in the context, this was a parade with a marching band, this was a grand procession, David's dancing fit right in with what was going on that day. If David were to do this on the Day of Atonement, it would have been all out of place. And so his expression was good and right and glorious before the Lord because his heart was right in it and it was perfectly appropriate for the context. Well, we see how the whole event works out here in verse 16, it says, and as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michael, the Saul's daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord and she despised him in her heart. Well, that's interesting, right? Here's Michael looking down on the window or from the window, looking down on David, she sees him dancing, I don't like this. We'll get into that in a little bit because David has to deal with this in just a few verses. I have to throw in a quote from Charles Spurgeon, I haven't thrown one in yet, this message, and so we just like a day without sunshine, a sermon without a quote from Spurgeon. He points this out, preaching on this text, he says, no doubt there are particularly nice and dainty people who will criticize God's chosen if they live holy to his praise and they will call them eccentric and old fashioned and obstinate and absurd. And I don't know what else besides from the window of their superiority, they look down upon us. Friends, I don't know about you, but I'd rather be David than Michael. I don't want to sit up in that window of superiority and look down upon others, I'd rather be down in it, praising God just with everybody else. Well, the day went on, verse 17, they brought the ark of the Lord and they set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And when David had finished offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. Then he distributed among all the people, among the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women to everyone, a loaf of bread, a piece of meat and a cake of raisins. And so all the people departed, everyone to his house was a great barbecue. Despite besides what a wonderful time they had. And can you imagine, David, at the end of this day? I mean, he's so spent. He spent physically because he was part of this procession. He spent emotionally because, you know, he was thinking, God, please don't strike somebody else down dead today. We hope we're doing it right. And he was spent just spiritually because it was such an intense occasion the whole day. He comes home exhausted. He says, you know, I want to give a blessing to my household. I don't want to neglect my own household on this day. And so his heart is filled with blessing. Verse 20, then David returned to bless his household. Isn't it great, honey? I'm home. Let me bless the household. And Michael, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, how glorious was the king of Israel today? A little bit of sarcasm in that, don't you think? It's amazing how we can just cut each other with a sarcastic, critical remark. Poor David, what a great day it was for him. And he comes home all charged up and pow, the balloon is popped as soon as he walks in. He could have expected it. And not because Michael was some notoriously bad woman, but because that's just often how it is, you know, at a time of great spiritual highs, Satan wants to get in his dig any way he can. Spurgeon said that pirates look out for loaded vessels. And, you know, when you're just loaded down with a sense of blessing and joy, well, Satan wants to come along like a pirate and rob some of it from you. And, you know, David could have expected this. He could have expected under that principle that the cynic one said, you know, good deed goes unpunished. And so there's David, you know, after a day full of good deeds and he comes home and he gets this, Michael says, how glorious was the king of Israel today? Uncovering himself in the eyes of the maids of his servants as one of those base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself. And let me point this out very carefully, don't think that for a moment that the issue here was David's immodesty, although Michael would kind of like to paint it that way. David wasn't, you know, out there in the fruited looms worshipping the Lord. You know, that's always me, you know, tonight, Sunday evening service, you know, underwear dancing before the Lord. No, no, no, that wasn't the case at all. What Michael objected to was that David was dressed just like all the other priests. If you go to First Chronicles 15, you see that the other priests were dressed in linen ephods also. David was dressed just like the other priests. He had taken off his royal robes. He had taken off his crown. And Michael didn't like that because if David is just like everybody else, well, then I guess she is, too, because then she's not just the wife of a king. She's the wife of just one another. Guys, and she doesn't like that. So she criticizes David. Look at David's rebuke here. Verse 21. David said to Michael, it was before the Lord. Isn't that a great response? Listen, Michael, I've come home to bless you and I don't know why I get this instead, but let me just point this out to you. My dancing out there, it wasn't for you. I wasn't looking up to the window to see a thumbs up from you. I wasn't waiting to see the scorecard, you know, four, six, ten, nice pirouette, you know, let me score you on that one. No, no, not at all. It was for the Lord. It was before him. I did it for God, not for you, Michael. Now, let me point out that this needs to be the foundation of our worship. It's for the Lord. It's for him. We don't come to worship to please ourselves, we don't come to worship for whatever we might get out of it. We come to please the Lord, and you know the great secret of this, don't you? When you come to really please the Lord, who ends up greatly pleased? You do as well. Now, I think I also have to point out that this is not a justification for everything that might happen in the context of worship. Let's say somebody just really has a affection for whistles, you know, the kind of whistle a referee might use. And boy, it just it just shouts out praise to God for them when they hear that whistle blow. And so they bring a whistle into church here on Sunday morning, you know, just that time when they feel the Lord really moving and just their heart is awakened to worship. They start tooting on that whistle as loud as they can. And you go up to him, you say, brother, maybe you need to knock the maybe you need to swallow that whistle here, brother. And he looks at you and he says, it's for the Lord, it's not for you. Well, the problem is, is that it's not for the Lord, nor is it for you because it's not appropriate to the context. We remember that all that David was doing was appropriate to the context. I mean, it was a time for dancing and David was drawing no particular attention to himself by the dance. He was just being part of everybody else that was going on, and that's what offended Michael. In any regard, look at what else David says. He gets kind of biting here in verse twenty one. So David said to Michael, it was before the Lord who chose me instead of your father and all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore, I will play music before the Lord and I will be even more undignified than this and I will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken by them, I will be held in honor. David says, I'll be humble in my own sight. I'll be even lower than this. It's something to remember when you're stung by criticism. You know, criticism comes to anybody in life, especially anybody in leadership. I've known what it is to be criticized, and sometimes I thank God for my critics because they're right and I need to hear what they have to say. Other times I just find refuge in God from my critics because they're wrong and it stings and I just need to find some refuge in the Lord. But it's just part of the picture. Sometimes I joke around, you know, when another critic comes up, I feel like saying, well, take a number, the line forms to the left over there. It's just part of leadership. It's just part of life. It's not unique to leaders. One of the things I try to remember is this principle that David speaks of, I'll be humble in my own sight. Listen, there's there's nothing a critic has ever said about me that's worse than what I know about myself. You know, I know a lot worse on me than they do. So it's like, well, I know you say I'm bad. And even if it was true, what you say, I'm worse than that. Oh, but Jesus loves me and he's redeemed me and I have a great savior who's even greater than a great sinner. Did you see the conclusion of it in verse twenty three? Therefore, Michael, the daughter of Saul, had no children to the day of her death. What a tragedy. You know, the real tragedy of the person who's a critic, the tragedy isn't for the criticized, the real tragedy is for the critic. David moved on. Oh, well, I'll just dance to the Lord. It was for the Lord. Michael didn't. There was a barrenness in her life. Friends, I think you see that, don't you? In the life of people who are sort of chronic or habitual critics, there's a barrenness in their life, may not have been a unique work of God, may very well be that David just said either vocally or just in his heart to Michael, you're never coming into my bed again. She was barren the rest of her days. God save us from such barrenness and most of all, may God free us. From an emotionally detached Christian life. If somebody were to ask me, David, what from this chapter do you think applies most to us as a congregation? That's the point. I think that's the one thing. Why don't you spend some time with the Lord, not just as we worship the Lord after this and and not just, you know, as you're leaving, but this week, why don't you spend some time with God and say, God, have I been living an emotionally detached Christian life? Have I been trying to be the Dr. Spock of Christianity? No, thank you. We wanted to be real before God, not manipulated, but not detached, just real. That's where the glory of God shines. Father, once you pour out your spirit upon us, we think of David and his exuberance and how it just flowed in this glorious chapter. Lord, we want it to flow in our lives to. Not manipulated, but not detached, just real before you, God. In order to the context, but Lord, just flowing and real. Lord, we want you to do such a great work in our lives that we can't hold it in, that we just can't stop smiling or we're not hesitant to we make us more real before you than we've ever been. God, we we confess or perhaps it's I who confess before you, Lord, and everybody else with me of weakness in this area. Won't you come and meet me in my need? Be the God who reigns over all. We love you and praise you together. Thank you for the preciousness of your word and let your glory. And your presence be prominent among us in Jesus name. Amen.