Spending Time in God’s House

Grace, Mercy, and Peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

Throughout this sermon series so far, we have talked about Creation and the Fall, we saw Abraham and God’s Promises as God carried and led Abraham to the Promised Land with his family even in his old age, last week we saw Moses and the people of Israel given this promise of something for the future - their entrance into the Promised Land as they were sitting in the desert on their journey back from Egypt. And throughout each of these people’s lives and the Bible texts we find them in - God is consistent in making promises; and if we keep reading - we know that God is faithful to those promises. Today our focus is on the person of King David - the shepherd boy who was given strength by God to defeat the powerful person in Goliath with just some stones and a slingshot. King David was this person chosen by God to serve as King even when he didn’t have the kingly blood line or family connection. We know King David to the writer of many different psalms and praises to God. And today our text from 2 Samuel we see King David praising God for the promise that God gave him; the promise which stated that God would establish the kingly line through David’s family forever; that even after David is gone someone from his family will rule and reign in this kingdom forever. And the response of David is one of thanks, it’s one of praise, it is one of true worship to God for all that He has done in the past and all that He has promised to do! David in our passage - reveals what true worship looks like of our God. Based on the words of 2 Samuel - this example of David - true worship is sitting before God, laying down at His feet who you are, and expressing thanks for who He is.

True worship is sitting before God. Earlier in 2 Samuel, we see David as this newly appointed King for the people of Israel. His name and his power of being King was growing in greatness and support, He is still settling into the role of King. Right before our text for today, God approaches David through the prophet Nathan - and God gives David this promise that David’s offspring, David’s line, David’s family will have the throne established forever. But God also gives David this word of hope that David’s son would be the one to build a temple, a place of permanence for God’s presence among them instead of the constant traveling with the Ark of the Covenant. And David responds to this news, the message of hope and it says in the beginning of our text, that David went in and sat before the Lord. David went into the tent of meeting, the place where the Ark of the Covenant to be before the Lord. We in our culture, in our everyday lives we don’t have the attitude of sitting before the Lord. We often don’t make time to sit before God in the midst of our busy work weeks and social plans. We often find ourselves going from one to another - to busy to just sit before our God. Have you ever had the situation in your life when you are talking to someone on the phone - but in the background you can hear all this noise, you can hear all this activity in the background and you maybe begin to wonder - is this person listening to me? You begin to wonder - is this person giving me complete focus in our conversation? You begin to ask: Is this person putting my voice on in the background of all the other things that he or she has to get done? I think there are moments in our actual worship time at church or devotional - our minds start to wander and we treat God and His promises like noise in the background to all the other things that we have to accomplish. We may be physically present - but our minds and are hearts being pulled into other directions far away from Him. But in true, genuine worship - God invites you to be close to Him! He invites you to draw close to Him through the work of Jesus to experience and hear His promises of forgiveness and peace and love. He pulls you out of the struggles of the world, He pulls you out of the doubts and lies you hear - to come near to Him and receive His promises. Hear at church in public worship we have the opportunity to receive His sacraments the physical form of His promises for us! Are you able to sit before the Lord today? What distractions can you lay to the side? I encourage you to find opportunities to listen and hear the promises of Jesus as you sit before Him.

True worship is sitting before God, laying down at His feet who you are. Whether you are ready or not the Fall weather is upon us. And if even though we still have the occasional days of summer like weather - Fall means the leaves are going to start falling, and its going to get a lot colder. That means when you leave the house you have bundle and put on all these different layers to make yourself warm. You have to break out that scarf, that heavier jacket, and if you are going to be outside for a longer time you probably will need to wear and hat and gloves. But after you spend time outside and come back home - you don’t walk inside the house with all the Fall outdoors stuff on, but you take them. When you get into the house you take off the hat and gloves, you take off the scarf, and you take off the outer layers to keep you warm as you walk in the house. In our lives, we pile on ourselves and bundle ourselves with different titles or accomplishments, so people can see the best side of us. As we get ready to leave the house - we put on the title of boss or executive, as we get ready to leave the house we put on the title of wealth or importance, as we get ready to leave the house - we bundle ourselves with all the different things that we have done so we can be recognized. But as we come back home - in our place of comfort - we don’t have our families call us boss or executive, we don’t have our loved ones view us as wealthy or important, or look to all the things that we have done. But at home we remove the outer layers of who we are revealing who we truly are. And in true worship to God - we have the opportunity to lay down all these different titles and accolades at His feet revealing who we truly are. In our text today, we see David the King do this as He calls himself servant before God - David recognizes the greatness of God and sees himself not as a King but God’s servant. God invites you as He draws you close to Him in worship - to let go of everything we chose to cling to. He invites you set at His feet all the different things that we think give us status and importance. He invites you to claim the gifts He gives. It’s through Jesus Christ and His work on Calvary that He has made you new. Its through Jesus and His forgiveness that you are now a new person because of what has been done for you! What are things that we are clinging to? Is it our titles and careers, our wealth and our status or is it the new identity that Jesus gives you through the work on the cross?

True worship is sitting before God, laying down at His feet who you are, and expressing thanks for who He is. King David in our text hears the promises of God and expresses this great praise for the great power that God has shown. He expresses His awe of how God has worked in the past knowing and trusting that God will continue to work that way in the future! Our God has worked not just in life of King David, but He has made our power known in His world - by sending His Son Jesus to make His love known for you! He has sent Jesus to reveal His grace to you! Jesus has come to show you God’s amazing love! In our lives, we tend to make worship or spending time with God a chore. We say to others - “You have to go to church or we say my parents made me go to church!” We talk about reading the Bible as a chore - I just don’t have time or energy to read it today! Or we view worship of God as thing I do to receive something else. If I come to church enough, God will eventually bless me. God has made Himself known to you through His Word and work in the world, and true worship is a chance to express thanks for who He is. God doesn’t need your praise, He is still God without it, but worship is a chance to align your heart with the reality of the will of God. It’s a chance to say back to Him all that He has done - and give thanks for His work in your life and in the world.

King David gives a great example in our text, what worship looks like: sitting before God, laying down at His feet who you are, and expressing thanks for who He is. May we continue to bow before our Lord in worship towards Him - the One who loves and has saved!

Now may the grace of God the peace of God which surpasses all understanding may it guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.