Shall We Dance?
And David danced before the LORD with all his might...
--2 Samuel 6:14
Today, I heard a spectacular sermon preached from 2 Samuel 6:12-23. My family was in town for my birthday, and it made it that much sweeter. This passage speaks accurately of a man who truly knew God; his actions provide the evidence.
Allow me to mention some of these actions:
Vs. 12-- David brought the ark of God to the city "with rejoicing".
Vs. 13--David offered a special sacrifice of an ox and a fattened animal with every six steps taken.
Vs. 14--"And David danced before the LORD with all his might..."
Vs. 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."
Vs. 16--King David was seen "leaping and dancing before the LORD..."
Vs. 21--"...and I will make merry before the LORD."
Vs. 22--"I will make myself yet more contemptible (in other translations, "undignified") than this..."
By the end of the sermon, I was left asking the following question:
How "undignified" am I when it comes to worshiping God in all that I do in life?
When I read through this text, the image of a man dancing in the field sprang to mind. This is so "unnatural"! The rest of the world would deem this behavior to be totally foolish. The sad thing is that 98% of those who attend our local churches every morning would feel the same way. Yet this is the behavior we see out of David, the man after God's own heart. What is more, according to verse 20, David was dancing before the Lord with such tenacity that his clothes began to fall off! Why?
According context, the ark of God was being returned to the city of David's kingship. This was to show that the presence of God Almighty was returning. This was a MAJOR turning of events! If satelite TV existed back then, this story would be on every station!
Yet here we are today, with the presence of God DWELLING WITHIN US! And how do we typically respond? The sad thing is that we often DO NOT RESPOND--AT ALL. We just exist. David danced before the Lord until his clothes ripped at the seams, and I turn my nose up at the Lord despite the fact that He consumes every molecule of my physical body.
David danced HARD in gratitude at the thought of God's ark coming to his city, whereas WE HAVE THE PRESENCE OF GOD IN US NOW. The Christian life is a life that should be danced hard, FOR GOD HAS COME BACK TO HIS CITY! Is it undignied? Yes. Is it foolish to the world? Most certainly.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. --1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Church, shall we dance??
posted by Russ at 9/18/2005 10:57:00 PM
9 Comments:
Amen, Brother Russ! Great post!!
One relatively accurate barometer of our commitment to the King and His Kingdom is our willingness to step beyond our "natural" inclinations and inhibitions to obey Him, even at the cost of being criticized by those who look at us without knowing Who motivates our actions.
That does not mean, or course, that we should pursue overt weirdness for the sake of being overtly weird, or try to stand out in order to draw attention to ourselves. Indeed, that's the opposite of what we should do, because it is driven by our attention to the people around us. But it does mean that we should pay more attention to God's expectations for us, than those imposed us on us by our observers!
Right on, brother. The gospel should make us want to cut-a-rug!
Very good post, Russ. As followers of Christ we should be excitedly willing to do whatever the Lord has called us to do, and not be ashamed of the ferocious joy we possess in Christ our risen Savior. Very good point about comparing David's celebrating the Ark returning with the Spirit of the Living God dwelling within us --we have an eternal relationship with Him... we should be busting at the seams!
By the way, happy belated birthday! Hope you had a great time with your family.
Hello Russ! I must say that I very much enjoyed this post. It is a really good point that we have God within us and how do we respond in gratitude? Never as we should, that's for sure. Keep encouraging.
I hope all is well!
I heard a story about this issue from a preacher some time back. Here's how it went:
A missionary home on furlough was speaking in a church that supported his ministry. After the service, there was a question and answer session. One well dressed lady apparently had taken exception to the nature of the worship the missionary described at the mission church. She asked in a very pointed tone, "Is it true, my dear sir, that in your worship services you actually . . . DANCE?"
The missionary replied is a similarly pointed manner, "And is it true, my dear madam, that in your worship services you actually DON'T?!"
Hmmmmmmm . . .
You guys are incredible! I love these comments! Anonymous, I enjoyed that story tremendously. If you have a blog, let us know where we can find it.
Reminds me of Brazil. The picture and your post. Good stuff, Soma.
I preached a sermon on this text about six months ago and was richly blessed. What I found most powerful was the link between what David was doing and what Christ did. That is, David ushered in the presence of God back to Jerusalem - something that had been neglected during the reign of Saul. He was dancing as an act of worship wearing a linen ephod (representing his priestly status) and was despised by the woman he loved for worshiping God rather than being seen as "proper" in his worship. Christ also ushered in God's presence, ultimately, on the cross. He fulfilled the Prophet, Priest, and King offices that were shadows in David - but substantially in Jesus.
I came across your posting as I was looking for more information about the purpose of dance in worship. Last Sunday I had an incredible urge to go to the back of my church and spin and spin and spin. I spun around so fast I thought I'd throw up and then I laughed. For the next 30 minutes I was dancing, leaping, twirling, acting like a 5 year old and enjoying this time so very much. This was a first for me and I felt the love of God overwhelm me. For two days after my calves were so sore I could hardly walk flat-footed. Praise God for sore calves. I encourage those who have never completely abandoned them selves to the urge of the spirit to dance...to do so. You will probably never be the same. God loves it when we are extravegant with Him!
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