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2001
29th April (am) - Raiders of the Lost Ark!

Even if you are not remotely interested in sport, I'm pretty sure that you would be familiar with what happens when the FA Cup or some other major trophy is brought home by the winning team to their home town - the cup is paraded through the town in a great procession, with the team on an open-top bus, and the streets lined by ecstatically excited fans. Just imagine what Ballyclare would be like if, by some miracle, the Comrades were to bring home the Cup, or a member of the Golf Club were to win the British Open, or the Ladies Hockey Club were to win the senior Irish Cup Final and bring home the silver ware, as happened for Ballymoney last week-end!

Now, with that picture in your mind, try to transfer all the excitement of such an occasion into a religious context - it's hardly imaginable, is it - that people could get so excited, and so worked up, about their faith or about their church life - especially not sober Presbyterians, like ourselves!

And yet this is exactly the kind of excitement that we read about this morning - on those, two, occasions when King David, as he now is, set out to bring the Ark of God up to Jerusalem - the excitement was huge, the atmosphere was electric, the religious celebrations were unrestrained and almost out of control! Celebrating with all their might before the Lord.

Maybe to understand what was going on, we need to remind ourselves about this Ark of God was - what was it, where had it been until now, why was it such a wonderfully important day when they brought it to Jerusalem?

The Ark of God was a wooden box, covered in gold - when the10 Commandments were given to Moses, he had also received instruction from god about the making of this special 'box' in which he was to place the tablets on which the Commandments were given, as well as a pot of the manna the people had eaten in the wilderness, together with Aaron's staff. The Ark was seen as the vital reminder of God's presence with his people - symbolised by the gold, angelic cherubim whose outstretched wings formed the top of the Ark - a sort of symbolic throne for God their King. The contents of the Ark were clearly a powerful reminder of God's rescuing and leading love for his people - he had rescued them from Egypt - and he had given them his Word to be obeyed through the commandments. When the people entered the Promised Land, the Ark was carried before them by the priests. So it was clearly a focal point for their faith and hope in God - it stood for all that it meant for God to be their God, and for them to be his people.

However, for many years the Ark and much of what it stood for had been neglected, if not completely forgotten. At one stage it was captured and held by the Philistines - even when it was returned to the OT people, it was left at the private house of a man called Abinadab, and during the years of Saul's reign it is not even mentioned.

However when David eventually became King, accepted by all the people after 7 years of being king over part - David made Jerusalem his capital - and he was determined to return the Ark of God to its proper place of centrality and importance - as king, he wanted the Lord their God to be recognised as their real King - his aims and intentions were very good. However as we read today, he needed 2 goes at bringing the Ark to Jerusalem, because the first one ended in tragic failure and fear. Let me remind you:

Attempt 1 David took 30,000 men down to where the Ark was - they placed it on a new cart drawn by oxen and they began the 9 mile journey towards Jerusalem - celebrating with all their might before the Lord with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.

However, somewhere along the road the oxen stumbled and Uzzah, one of the men guiding the cart, put out his hand to make sure the Ark didn't fall off and get damaged - just what anyone would do! But, to our surprise and dismay we are told that for doing so, Uzzah was struck dead by the Lord, because this was an irreverent act!

It is extremely difficult for us to even begin to understand why Uzzah should have been struck dead for doing his best to protect the Ark - that is until we read about:

The 2nd attempt - this time they didn't put the Ark on a cart drawn by oxen - rather it was carried by the Priests and the Levites, which was actually the way the Ark was supposed to be transported, according to the original instructions given to Moses when the Ark was first constructed - as the parallel story in 1 Chron. tells us. If this had been done the first time, there would have been no oxen to slip, and no need for Uzzah to touch the Ark.

So the death of Uzzah was not because he tried to save the Ark from falling to the ground, but because the sacred importance of the Ark, and all that it stood for, had been forgotten - the clear laws of God had been neglected - and Uzzah paid the tragic price for the irreverence of all the people.

At the second attempt, David and his people got it right - the Ark was carried with the utmost care, in the prescribed way, with the most profound awareness of God's awesome holiness and the deepest possible sense of God's judgment that was to be feared.

And so as the procession made its way to Jerusalem, the celebrations seem to have been even more unrestrained than the first time - David danced before the Lord with all his might, while the entire house of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

The Ark was installed in a specially prepared place in Jerusalem - David continued the celebrations with his people - offering sacrifices to God and sharing festivities and food with the people ........ and, it seems, the only person in Jerusalem who didn't join in was David's wife, Michal, who we are told watched from a window, and despised David in her heart - unable to accept all this religious fervour and the spiritual frenzy that seemed to taken hold of David and everyone else - for her it was just too much - she felt that all dignity and decorum had gone out the window.

Now I want you to take that very old story of the Ark and apply it to a very modern question - because just as David and his people, and David's wife, Michal, didn't easily get it right, so there is an equivalent matter which we often do not get right either.

This story of the Ark can maybe help us to think about the vexed question of what way we ought to express our faith and bring our worship to God - how to get the right balance between essential reverence and lively celebration and life in our worship.

I know that this is often a controversial topic - it's a big question in almost every church I know - and it's one where we don't always look for the best answers, but sometimes, rather for the answers that suit our own particular preference. Therefore I want to ask you to think very carefully with me, as we try to learn a couple of basic, but important points - and I suspect that no-one will hear me saying everything they would like me to say. I'll probably get 'clobbered' by everyone!

To start with, think about the first Ark attempt - It was a worship occasion that was full of excitement but lacking in substance. Their intentions were good, their motives were sincere, but they hadn't thought very clearly about what they were doing, or if they had, they didn't take it seriously enough.

Yes, they began the journey with mighty celebration - with exuberant praise offered to God - with great excitement in their hearts - but it all ended in tragedy because they had not really come to terms with the awesomeness of God - with his holy importance - with the commandments he had given them when the Ark was first made - with the obedience required from those who would worship him.

This first attempt to bring the Ark to Jerusalem was full of excitement but lacking in substance - this worship was bubbly, frothy, superficial - deep down reverence and serious willingness to obey was lacking.

Here is where I put my neck on the chopping block - while this can be a problem in any style of worship, perhaps some contemporary, modern worship styles of worship are most vulnerable - most in danger of falling into the trap of worship that is exciting but lacking in substance - where the emphasis is that it must always be exciting, lively, informal - enjoyable to the point of almost becoming entertainment!

Now, don't shoot me before I finish! By no means all contemporary worship is like this, nor does it need to be - I firmly believe that we must make sure that our worship styles are relevant and appropriate to the generation in which we live - but we do need to remind ourselves, very clearly, that when we meet to worship God, our first priority is not to 'enjoy' ourselves, but rather to recognise his awesome glory and holiness, to realise our own awful limitations, and to submit ourselves to him listening ears that lead on to lives of substantial loyalty and obedience.

Our praise will be a very important part of this worship - it ought to be enthusiastic and inspiring - it ought to be enjoyed - it ought to help us express our thanks to God and our trust in Christ in ways that help us to show real enthusiasm - but it has to be even more than that - it has to help us to submit ourselves to who God is, and to what God wants us to hear for our lives from his Word - there must be substance as well as superficial excitement.

Now, I am not saying that any of us do not worship God with substance - I am simply making this point that it is possible to worship superficially without substance - it can happen in any kind of worship - older or newer, but maybe the risk is especially there for those of us who prefer more lively contemporary worship - let's always make sure that the substance is also there - the solid worship of God and the serious listening to his Word - because it was as a result of not listening to God's Word that the first journey with the Ark ended in tears.

Before I get shot by the younger half of the congregation, let me move on to be shot by the older half! There is also an equal and opposite point to be made - a reverse danger to be aware of.

The second, successful attempt to bring the Ark to Jerusalem was a was a worship occasion that was full of excitement, but greeted with sourness.

David and the people tried again - this time the Ark was carried by the priests - after the first six steps were taken they stopped and offered sacrifices as an acknowledgment of God's holiness and importance - and then they made their way up to Jerusalem, and, if anything, the excitement and celebrations of this worship occasion were even more unrestrained than before: David ....... danced before the lord with all his might, while the entire house of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

But there is a very strong note of sourness as they reach Jerusalem - a critical spirit by someone who just could not accept this lively, celebratory style of worship - Michal, the daughter of Saul and one of the wives of King David, watched from a window, appalled by what she saw, unwilling, unable to enter into that worship occasion - with sourness, we are told, she despised David in her heart - she saw the whole thing as far too demonstrative, far too undignified for the King, totally unacceptable. She greeted this excited worship occasion with sourness.

Now I am afraid that it is also possible for us to make that same mistake.

Just as it is possible for our worship to be full of excitement but be lacking in substance, so it is possible for our worship to be rightly full of life and celebration, but greeted with sourness. Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that proper substance in worship must mean that worship should always be sombre, passive - even dull - that it is doubtful and dangerous if we begin to express our faith too actively in our worship - we confuse the serious purpose of worship with thinking that the atmosphere and emphasis of worship must always be serious and sombre. We confuse reverence and substance with seriousness and formality and dullness. We almost get to the point where we are worried if there is too much of an enjoyment and celebratory note about worship.

However, if we look at this description of God's people from God's Word, we get a picture of worship that was full of excitement, exuberance, expression of faith in lively, participating ways - and perhaps we need to learn to express ourselves a little bit more like that!

Personally, I find that a little difficult - by nature, I'm not a very demonstrative person - I can't see myself, or maybe some of you, singing and dancing before the Lord, as David did!

However maybe this is where we need to recognise the strengths in contemporary worship, and learn from a younger generation who have grown up with this style of worship, and who express themselves more easily in this way - not necessarily that we must become like them, but that we learn to appreciate and encourage the genuine way in which they express their faith which is just as reverent and serious in purpose as ours.

Sometimes, I look at us worshipping and I see dull, lifeless expressions - a sit back or stand up and watch approach, rather than an enthusiastic entering into worship - whether it is more traditional or more contemporary.

We must never ever think that sitting or standing quietly and respectfully, while others lead worship, sing praise or teach God's Word is the same as really worshipping God ourselves, with heart and soul and strength.

Even if our preference is for more traditional patterns of worship, we must not greet lively, participatory styles of worship, with the sort of sourness with which Michal greeted the arrival of the Ark and the celebrations of David and his people.

Of course the key word is balance - choosing the very best of traditional and contemporary, of quiet and of lively, of singing lively praise and of listening carefully to serious teaching.

I hope that you will help us as we try to do that, for the good in faith of all.

It's no good at all simply making up our mind because of personal preference - that is the very opposite of what worship is about. Let me instead conclude by offering you 3 simple priorities that we should all have, always, in all of our worship - 3 key tests which we can apply to any worship occasion:

It must help us to appreciate God's awesome greatness in a way that grips our hearts and humbles us in his presence.

It must help us to celebrate God's mighty love and hope in a way that releases us to praise and worship him with all that is in us.

It must help us to communicate God's truth and way to our lives, and to our world, in a way that is so clear and relevant that it sends us out to live as people for whom Christ. really is Lord.

If we get these priorities established and agreed, then i think we'll have fewer problems in our churches over different styles of worship!