What's the Difference?
2 Samuel • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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And 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. And it was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing. And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. 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 horn. As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. And they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts and distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed, each to his house. And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” And David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord—and I will celebrate before the Lord. I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.” And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.
We are going to pick up right where Pastor David left off last week - literally. He spoke about the incident with Uzzah and the Ark and David’s anger over God breaking out against Uzzah for touching the Ark, and he left off by providing us with some key takeaways from that incident. One of them was:
God is worthy to receive our highest worship! We were left with a challenge last week. Maybe we need to improve the quality of our worship of God. Have we all thought about that this week? I have. And I think that the privilege we have to come together into His presence and worship Him is often lost on us.
Sometimes, we come here not to worship, but because it’s just what we do on Sunday morning.
Sometimes, Sunday morning worship is a “have to” for us - and we do it… even though we really don’t want to some Sundays.
Yet, if we knew that Jesus Himself was physically going to be here and had something to say to us and wanted to be worshiped by us, what would we do? We would all be here with bells on three hours early to make sure we get a good seat!
We sometimes lose the fact that Christ is here and this is exactly what we come together for every Sunday.
So are we here today to offer our Lord our highest worship?
Another takeaway last week was:
The Ark is a graphic illustration of the Gospel! Remember, the Ark represented God’s presence with His people. The place where the Ark was, was where they would come to offer their worship. God commanded them to come there to worship Him.
And in light of what happened to Uzzah, that is amazing! A perfectly holy God - a God so holy that even the slightest deviation from His commands means we deserve what Uzzah got - He wanted to be present with His people. And so He was present with His people.
And, of course, that can be a wonderful thing, or a terrifying thing. And often, it’s both.
And this is why we read at the end of that passage:
And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” 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.
David knew how wonderful it was that God was with His people. That’s why he wanted the Ark to be where he was in Jerusalem. But at the same time, he was terrified of God’s presence because God was so perfectly holy - and required holiness from His people.
And that sets up where we will pick up today. David sends the Ark to the house of a man named Obed-Edom, and we read:
And 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.
Who is this Obed-Edom? In 2 Samuel, he is mentioned only here in chapter 6 and we don’t know much about him. But the lack of any information makes one wonder why in the world did David choose this man’s house to send the Ark to?
Well, in 1 Chronicles we learn a little more about this man. We are told that he is a Levite. The Levites were given charge by God over the Ark. We also find out that he is a worship leader. As the Ark was brought to the city of David, Obed-Edom was one of the musicians David assigns to play music as they celebrated.
And we are told that once the Ark was in place in the tent, David commanded that the musicians minister before the Ark every day. Obed-Edom got to worship God this way every day.
But there’s more. Obed-Edom was one of two men David selected to be the gatekeepers of the Ark. He was the protector of the Ark. Just like he was for the three months it was at his house. He was able to remain the guard over the Ark. What a privileged position that is. He basically got to spend all of his time right there in the presence of God, worshiping Him.
But notice, before the Ark is brought to Jerusalem. Before Obed-Edom is assigned to play his lyre before the Ark. Before he is given the awesome task of being the gate-keeper of the Ark. Before any of this happens, just having the Ark in his presence was a blessing for this man.
And not just him, his whole family was blessed while the Ark was in his house. His whole family was blessed by the presence of God - by this graphic illustration of the Gospel. By the simple fact that God was with him and his family.
And it was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing.
David sees the great blessing of having God’s presence - represented by the Ark - with Obed-Edom and his family. And David wants that blessing. He wants all of God’s people to have that blessing.
So David decides once again to bring the Ark to the city of David. Only this time, he doesn’t put it on a new cart. He doesn’t just decide the most practical way to move the Ark from one place to another.
He obeys God and does it God’s way. And he offers God the highest worship.
And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. 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 horn.
Note something here. This wasn’t an “I have to but I really don’t want to” kind of worship for David or the people of Israel. They get the Ark to bring it to Jerusalem and rejoice at the opportunity to worship God and be in His presence.
David danced before the Lord - in the presence of God - with all his might.
And the whole house of Israel was with him and with the Ark shouting and celebrating. They celebrated that they were in God’s holy presence.
They all relished the opportunity to be in God’s presence and offer Him the highest worship. And that’s what they do.
Picture the scene! The Ark of God leaves the house of Obed-Edom, and after a few steps, David stops and sacrifices to God. He offers an ox and a fatted animal. He offers God the best offering. He offers God the highest worship.
And then the celebration is on. And as the presence of God goes with His people into the city, David dances, the people play music and shout, and they continue to offer praise to God.
What do we do when we come together as God’s people? How do we come into His presence to worship Him?
Do we come? If we come, do we come reluctantly? Or do we come because we “have to?”
Or do we come eager to offer God the highest worship? Do we come ready to offer Him the best of what we have? Do we come to relish His presence and celebrate that He is with us?
It is believed that David wrote Psalm 68 about the Ark coming to the City of David. Listen to some of what David wrote:
Psalm 68 (ESV)
God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him! As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God! But the righteous shall be glad; they shall exult before God; they shall be jubilant with joy! Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts; his name is the Lord; exult before him!
…Sinai is now in the sanctuary. You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there. Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up; God is our salvation…Our God is a God of salvation, and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death…
…Your procession is seen, O God, the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary— the singers in front, the musicians last, between them virgins playing tambourines: “Bless God in the great congregation, the Lord, O you who are of Israel’s fountain!” …Summon your power, O God, the power, O God, by which you have worked for us…
…O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; sing praises to the Lord, to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens; behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice. Ascribe power to God, whose majesty is over Israel, and whose power is in the skies. Awesome is God from his sanctuary; the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!
God’s presence with His people. His blessing for His people. The worship and praise due to Him and Him alone. This is what the people of Israel celebrated around the Ark. That’s how David lived.
And this is why we are here this morning.
And they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts
Oh, the blessing of God’s presence. Obed-Edom knew that blessing. David knew that blessing. The people of Israel knew that blessing.
Brothers and sisters, we know that blessing. We have it every time we come together to offer God our worship.
Did you come here this morning expecting to be blessed? That is exactly what we should expect.
There is something else I want us to notice before we move on. We are told that David offered sacrifices to God as the Ark left the house of Obed-Edom. We are told here that David offers burnt and peace offerings before God when the Ark arrives in the tent David made.
We are also told this. I don’t want us to miss this. Back in verse 14 we read:
And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod.
It is significant that David is wearing this linen ephod. The writer makes specific mention of that fact. Why? Because the ephod was the garb of the priests.
In Exodus, when God gives the instructions for what the High Priest should wear, we read of the ephod.
We saw at the beginning of 1 Samuel how Samuel was given an ephod to wear as he ministered in the Tabernacle with Eli.
We saw that when the priests of Nob were killed by Saul, the priests were described as those “who wore the linen ephod.”
When Abiathar escaped the slaughter of the priests, he came to David and we are told he brought with him an ephod. This is the ephod that contained the Urim and the Thummim that David would use to determine the will of God.
Here, David is wearing that ephod. He is wearing the garb of a priest.
And not only that, but he is sacrificing before the Ark, and offering the burnt and peace offerings, which God commanded only the priests could do.
So why is David wearing the ephod and offering the offerings? I’ll tell you why: it’s because David is a priest.
Now, how is this possible? David was not in the line of Aaron. He wasn’t even of the tribe of Levi. He was from Judah.
Well, like we saw a few weeks ago when David no longer needed the Urim and the Thummim to determine God’s will because David - now crowned king - was also a prophet - we see here that he is also a priest. God accepted him as a priest.
Because he points us forward to our great Prophet, Priest, and King, Jesus Christ. The ultimate High Priest Who made the ultimate acceptable sacrifice before God. The One Who brought God’s presence to His people.
And I don’t think that it is coincidence - because I don’t believe in coincidence - that this is the last time we read in the historical writings of Israel anything about the ephod. Because this is pointing us to the universal priesthood of God’s true people.
In Christ, this is us:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
In 2 Samuel 6, God’s presence visibly comes into the midst of His people and He accepts sacrifices from David who was not physically of the priestly line, but was nonetheless a priest.
And that means that it is no coincidence that the only mention of the ephod after this in the entire Old Testament comes from the prophet Hosea who predicted that those who were not God’s people would become His people, that those who had not previously received mercy would receive mercy. And that portion of Hosea ends with this promise:
For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.
This is talking about the captivity and the subsequent restoration of the remnant. They would be without the priesthood, and the Ark, and the sacrificial system. But when the restoration happens, they would seek these things in YHWH God and David their king.
But please note that there was no king who reigned in Israel after the captivity. Ever again. This isn’t speaking of God’s physical people any more than the physical requirement for priesthood was required with David. This is talking about Christ Who is YHWH God and Who sits on the throne of David.
And note that fear of God and the goodness of His presence that are together here. This is how we come into God’s presence in these latter days. This is how we offer the worship He alone is due.
Because God’s presence is here. We don’t need the Ark. We don’t need an ephod. We are the place of God’s presence when we come together on Sunday morning. We are holy ground. We are His priests and our sacrifices are spiritual.
Priests of God, are we here to offer the best of what we have to God? Are we here to offer our highest worship to our King?
That’s what David did.
David does the work of the priest - he wears the ephod, he offers the sacrifices, and he blesses the people - all the job of a priest. The Ark is now in the tent David made. Both David and God are home in Jerusalem.
But there’s more to the story.
As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.
David’s first wife Michal isn’t happy with what’s going on. And we see the reason she isn’t happy:
2 Samuel 6:20 (ESV)
Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”
Michal has a problem with how David worshipped. And that she says he uncovered himself before the female servants of his servants is sarcasm. She is saying that he embarrassed himself in front of everyone, even the lowest servants.
And she tells him that he honored himself in doing it.
In other words, Michal mistook David’s joy in his uninhibited and pure worship of God as him making a spectacle of himself. She thought he brought more attention to himself than to God.
But David corrects her, and he doesn’t do it gently:
And David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord—and I will celebrate before the Lord.
This was not a gentle: “I think you might be misunderstanding, honey.” David says that God has chosen him and he will celebrate in the presence of God.
And then, David brings Saul into the discussion. He is sure to point out that Saul and his house have been rejected by God. Don’t forget, Michal is Saul’s daughter. She is of the house of Saul. This is a bold move by David. I do not suggest to any man out there that you bring your in-laws into the discussion when you are having an argument with your wife, okay?
But what David is saying here, is that his worship - offering God the best, relishing in God’s presence through uninhibited worship, and still having a healthy fear of God - this is the right way to worship God.
And he is not so subtly saying to her that Saul did not worship properly, and that’s why God chose David as king.
So this - finally - brings us to the title of my sermon this morning. What’s the difference?
What is the difference between Saul and David? Well, according to David, it isn’t just the worship David offered God that Saul did not. It’s more than that. It is the fact that David was chosen by God.
In other words, David isn’t chosen by God because he worships properly, David worships properly because he is chosen by God. God chose him, then he chose to worship God. To offer Him the highest worship.
Let’s think back to 1 Samuel for a minute. The people of Israel sinfully demanded a king like the nations around them - they didn’t want to be different as God’s chosen people - they wanted - they chose - to be like everyone else in the world. And God gave them what they asked for. He gave them what they chose. He gave them Saul as king.
But, we saw, even as Saul was sitting on the throne, David was anointed by God to be king. David was the king that God chose. Before David did any of the great things we read about in the books of Samuel - before his great act of faith in the Goliath incident, before he displayed that great trust in God by not seeking vengeance against Saul, before he put on the ephod and sacrificed to God as His priest - God first chose him.
That’s the difference between David and Saul? God chose David. And because God chose David, David then chose to believe God and worship Him. You see, we don’t get to choose God or not. That choice is in God’s hands.
But once we are chosen by God - like David was - we then have a choice to make. Will we worship God His way? Will we offer the best of what we have? Will we live like God’s chosen?
David chose to do all of this.
But it goes much deeper than just how David celebrated and danced in worship before God. As we saw, David did the job of a priest here. He wore the ephod. He offered the sacrifice before God. We just read that he offered the burnt offering and the peace offering.
Does anyone remember what Saul did that lost him the kingdom?
Let’s go back in history from our passage today. Saul was crowned king, and not long after, the Philistines come against Israel. And Saul waits for Samuel to come and make the offering before God. But Saul gets impatient. And this is what we read:
So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
So Saul is told that because he called for the burnt offering and the peace offering, and he offered them before God, God was going to end his reign and choose a man after His own heart to be prince over His people.
Then, in our passage today, we read that:
And they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.
And though Michal doesn’t like how David worshiped, David says:
2 Samuel 6:21 (ESV)
It was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord
It is not a coincidence that David does the same exact thing that Samuel did when he lost the kingdom. It isn’t coincidence that David even uses the same wording that Samuel does to talk about God choosing him.
A difference is being pointed out here.
Saul offers the sacrifice, and God takes the kingdom from him.
David offers the same sacrifice, but it is only because he knows that God has established his kingdom.
What’s the difference?
David was chosen by God, and in response to that highest of callings, he chose to live like it.
David chose to live like God’s chosen.
Saul, on the other hand, did what he felt “had to” be done. And he did it for the wrong reasons, because he did without the right heart. He offered the sacrifice because he wanted to be victorious against the Philistines. He says “I was afraid the Philistines would come against me. So I forced myself to offer a sacrifice to God.”
Literally, that’s what he says. Go read 1 Samuel 13 again. Saul did what he thought was the practical way to worship God because he thought it simply had to be done, and because he did it selfishly. For Saul, it was about Saul.
But David… he did what he did because he knew the privilege he had to be able to do it. He offered highest worship to God because God chose him.
But there’s more. Because we have these two minor players in the story: Uzzah and Obed-Edom.
What’s the difference between these two men? One tries to protect the Ark, and God kills him on the spot. The other protects the Ark in his own home for three months and then for the rest of his life in Jerusalem, and we are told repeatedly that God blessed him.
What’s the difference between these two men?
Well, once again, Uzzah did what he felt was practical to do - what he “had to” do to get the Ark where it needed to go. He did not follow God’s will, but did things his way to achieve an end. To get the Ark to Jerusalem.
Obed-Edom, on the other hand, relished the presence of God, wherever that was. He considered it a privilege. And he enjoyed the great blessing of God’s presence. He guarded the Ark and his privilege of living in the presence of God. The Ark - God’s presence - it wasn’t an end for Obed-Edom - something to just get done. It was a reality he lived out, every single day.
So I ask us this morning: what’s the difference?
What’s the difference:
if we come here because we have to, or we do it reluctantly, or we do it with no expectations - what’s the difference between that and if we come here because we want to.
Because we want to be in God’s presence with our family in Christ and offer Him the highest worship? Because we come seeking the blessing of knowing Him and worshiping Him? Because we relish the opportunity to offer Him highest praise?
if we worship God His way or our own way? If we do it practically rather than according to God’s Word? What if the most important part of worship for me is the message, so if I miss the singing of praise and worship to God, I’m okay with that? What if the most important part is the fellowship so I show up near the end of the message? What if the most important part for me is serving, so I show up when I’m on for the worship team or for children’s church, but skip most other Sundays? What’s the difference?
if we choose to be like the rest of the world around us instead of choosing to be different as the chosen of God? What’s the difference if I worship God with an uninhibited worship for two hours every Sunday morning, but then choose to be like the rest of the world 6.91 days a week?
if the presence of God is evident in our homes? Like Obed-Edom whose whole family was blessed because the presence of God was so clear and evident. What’s the difference if it’s like that in our own homes or not? What’s the difference if my wife or husband or children or my friends see the blessing of having God among us? If they see how I relish living in His glorious presence?
whether we sacrifice what we have for the sake of Christ or not? Will it change anything? Will it change me? Will it affect my blessedness as one of the chosen of God?
Brothers and sisters, what’s the difference? What does it matter what choices we make as the chosen of God?
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Is anybody in this room really wondering what difference it makes?
We all know. The only question is, does that make a difference in our lives?
As I said: I think that the privilege we have to come together into His presence and worship Him is often lost on us. I think even more, the fact that we live every moment in His presence is lost on us.
And what a privileged position that is. What a blessing that is.
But I think we forget that our lives - every moment we live - is supposed to be lived as a sacrifice to God and as the highest worship we can offer. We need to relish the opportunity to be in God’s presence and offer Him the highest worship.
Every moment, every day.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Mind and body we belong to God. And our minds and our bodies - how we use them - how we live - should be a graphic illustration of the Gospel. Because we - each of us - are the Ark. We are where God dwells on earth.
How is that possible?
Because of Jesus Christ. Our King. Our Prophet. Our Priest. He made His sacrifice before God - He offered the greatest offering there is.
God the Son took on flesh, and then lived His whole life as highest worship to the Father. And He sacrificed Himself to make peace between us and God where before there was only condemnation.
His sacrifice turned us from an Uzzah, to an Obed-Edom. From a Saul, to a David.
Ephesians 1:3–4 (ESV)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
Brothers and sisters, God has chosen us to receive every spiritual blessing. He has chosen us for redemption by the blood of Christ. He has chosen us that we should be set apart - different from the world.
Are we choosing to live out what we were chosen for?
Here is what I want us to think about this week. I want us to think about how often our lives are lived in ways that are practical rather than as highest worship to God. I want us to think about every moment is lived in God’s presence, and then determine if we live like it.
I want us to think about whether or not our lives are a graphic representation of the Gospel. I want us to really consider whether or not our lives are a sacrifice unto God or not.
And realize, choosing to live our lives as we’re called is not easy. It isn’t really practical for living in this world. That’s why the Bible calls it a sacrifice.
But Christ did exactly that so we could live.
So I ask you, if you do not know Christ and are not living for Him, what’s the difference? Are all of the practical “have tos” of your life - and there are so many of those for all of us - but are they just a means to an end? Because without Jesus, what is that end?
Without Jesus, what’s the difference?
And for those who know Christ - are we living for Him? He chose to take on flesh for us. He chose to live that life of highest worship to God. He chose to lay down His life as the final sacrifice before God.
So how will we choose to live?
I ask you all, with all of this in mind: when we walk out of here today, what’s the difference going to be?