Sunday, May 25, 2025

SERMON: Who is God to you?

 


Naylor Community Christian Church

Naylor, Georgia

 

I.  Introduction

-- turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel 6:1-9

 

2 Samuel 6:1 David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. 2 He and all his men went to Baalah in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark. 3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets,[d] harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.

 

6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.

 

8 Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.

 

9 David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?”

 

There’s an old joke that pet owners fully understand -- A dog looks at you and thinks: “You feed me, you pet me, you love me. You must be God.” But a cat looks at you and thinks: “You feed me, you pet me, you love me. I must be God.”

 

-- For the last several weeks, we’ve been going through a sermon series on the “I Am” statements of Jesus to help us answer the question that Jesus asked His disciples and us, “But who do you say I am?” – and I think it’s fair to say that most of us have answered that question the same in here

            -- we know Jesus as our Lord and our Savior – as the One who died on the cross for our sins and who rose the third day from the dead – and we know and believe that if we put our faith and trust in Him and if we repent of our sins and ask Him to forgive us our sins, that we will live with Him forever

            -- I don’t think any of us would disagree with that statement – that is what we say and believe when we call ourselves Christians – when we have a personal relationship with Jesus – this is the foundation of our faith

 

            -- but answering the question, “Who do you say I am?”, in that way is only the beginning of our walk with Christ – for we can answer that question correctly – we can believe this with all our heart and soul and mind – but still not fully understand or know who God truly is

            -- this marks the difference between an immature believer and a mature believer – between someone who knows who God is in a very basic way – a way certainly sufficient for salvation – and someone who knows God in a deeper way – who has a mature faith in the Lord and who has come to know Him and trust Him in ways entirely different from younger believers – who recognizes God as both Lord and Savior – God and King – and relates to Him in that way

            -- moving from a place of immaturity in our faith to a place of maturity is part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives, as He works in us and through us to grow us in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

            -- we see an example of this in action in the life of David – the man after God’s own heart – in this passage from 2 Samuel 6

 

II.  David’s Faith Matures (2 Samuel 6:1-19)

-- look back now at 2 Samuel 6:1-5

 

2 Samuel 6:1 David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. 2 He and all his men went to Baalah in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark. 3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.

 

 

            -- as this chapter and season of David’s life opens, we find him as the newly appointed king of all Israel – Saul has passed away – David has conquered the Jebusites and established his kingdom in the city of Jerusalem – and he has ushered in a time of peace and prosperity following the wars of Saul

            -- as part of this new season of peace and prosperity, David sought to bring the Ark of the Covenant – the physical symbol of the presence of God – from its place in Baalah or Kiriath Jearim, where it had resided since being returned from the Philistines

            -- so, David went up with all the able young men of Israel to retrieve the ark of God and bring it back to the capital of his kingdom in Jerusalem – David did this for two reasons – the first was certainly political, because moving the ark to his capital would consolidate the worship of God in Jerusalem with the authority and power of David’s army and throne – making Jerusalem the seat of political and spiritual power for the nation – but also, David wanted to move the ark because of his faith in God and his recognition that God had placed him on the throne, as He had promised when Samuel anointed him so many years ago – he wanted God near him because he knew the blessings and successes he had in life were all from God

 

-- David was certainly a true believer in God – his faith was true and certain – he knew God and he relied on God – that’s why the Bible describes David as a man after God’s own heart – he trusted God with all his heart from the time when he was very young – we see this clearly in the account of David on the battlefield in the valley of Elah, when he comes up against the giant Goliath and he goes against the giant with just five stones and a sling, defeating him in the name and power of the Lord

            -- up to this point in David’s life, all he had experienced was success after success after success, which he rightly attributed to God’s goodness and His blessings in his life – and we see in the scriptures that God’s blessings did indeed cover and permeate David’s life – through God, David had killed the lion and the bear who threatened his flock – through God, David had protected the sheep in his care and fulfilled the role for which he had been called -- and through God, David overcame Goliath and won the victory for Israel that day

            -- but while David certainly had a faith greater than many around him, his faith was not completely mature at this time – he only knew God as the giver of good things – and David’s life and all the blessings and successes he enjoyed were an example of that

            -- his approach to God at this point in his life reminds me of the story of “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein

 

            -- in case you are not familiar with this story, “The Giving Tree” is the story of a boy’s relationship with an apple tree – “In his childhood, the boy enjoys playing with the tree, climbing her trunk, swinging from her branches, carving "Me + T (Tree)" into the bark, and eating her apples -- However, as the boy grows older, he spends less time with the tree and tends to visit her only when he wants material items at various stages of his life”

-- and every time the boy came to the tree with a want or desire, the tree did all it could to meet those desires – giving parts of it for the boy that he could transform into material items – such as money from the tree’s apples when he was younger – a house from her branches when he was a young man – and a boat from her trunk when the boy was middle-aged

            -- it is only much later in life that the boy realizes the consequences of his greedy desires and the way he only looked to the tree as a source of goodness and blessings – he returns as a tired elderly man to meet the tree once more – but the tree tells him she cannot provide him shade, apples, or any materials as in the past – but the boy – now an old man – has realized the true depth of the relationship the two had shared, and he tells the tree all he wants is a quiet place to sit and rest – and the story ends with the boy and the tree resting in each other’s presence1

 

            -- the way the boy approached the tree throughout the story is exactly the way David approached God in his early life – it’s the way many of us approach God in our lives – we look to God only as the giver of good things – as the One who exists only to bless us and to pour out His goodness on us – and when we only relate to God in this way, we come to see Him only as the Giver and not as He truly is – it makes us see Him as less than He is – sometimes, it makes us take Him for granted

            -- David did that in this passage – having experienced God only as the giver of good things in his entire life – David continues to expect God to act in this way in the future – he worships God and relates to God in this way, taking God and God’s presence in his life for granted – he forgets the holiness and the authority and power of God – and does not regard the presence of God in a reverent manner

            -- so, even though David is leading Israel in worshiping and celebrating the moving of the ark to Jerusalem in such an extravagant way, he forgot the commands of the Lord – rather than having Levites carry the ark on poles, as God commanded Moses, David puts the ark on an oxen cart – and tries to carry it back to Jerusalem this way

            -- it’s certainly easier than carrying the ark on poles – and remember how David viewed God – as Someone who existed to serve and bless him – so whatever was easier for David – whatever David wanted – however David wanted it – had to be the right way

 

            -- verse 6-11

 

2 Samuel 6:6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.

 

8 Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.

 

9 David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?”

           

10 He was not willing to take the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household.

 

            -- as David is taking the ark back to Jerusalem on the cart, the oxen stumble and the ark evidently rocked within the cart – Uzzah reached out to take hold of the ark and steady it – to keep it from tumbling over or even off the cart – but when he touched the ark of God, the Lord’s anger burned against him, and God struck him down on the spot

            -- most of us have heard the story of Uzzah before, but I don’t think we’ve really heard it – we know it – we’re familiar with it – but I’m not sure we’ve realized the lesson that God intends for us to learn from this episode

            -- when Uzzah died trying to protect the very symbol of God’s presence from harm, David was rocked – this was completely out of anything that he ever imagined – remember, God was a God of giving and blessing – of prosperity and wealth – not a God who would kill someone who was just trying to help prevent the ark from falling

                                                

            -- in verse 8, we read that David was angry because of the Lord’s wrath against Uzzah – and in verse 9, we read that David was afraid of the Lord – these were new emotions for David, because he had seen God work in a way he never had before – and what he knew of God – the immature faith he had in God that looked to God as only the giver and blesser – didn’t line up with what he had just witnessed

            -- it’s like the interchange between the Pevensie children and the Beavers in the Chronicles of Narnia – as they are explaining to Susan and Lucy who Aslan is, they tell them he is “the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea...the King of Beasts -- Aslan is a lion--the Lion, the great Lion.” – Lucy and Susan ask, “Then is he safe?” – and Mr. Beaver replied, “Safe? Of course He isn’t safe.  But He is good”

 

            -- that is what David is just now realizing – that the God he thought he knew is more than he realized – that God is not just the giver of good things – not just someone who exists to bless us and do good in our lives – but that God is the Lord God Almighty – the Maker of Heaven and Earth – our Lord and our King

-- and while He is a God of love and goodness – of mercy and grace – He is also God -- our Creator and King -- and if we disregard His holiness – if we disregard His presence -- if we fail to honor Him with all the honor and glory and praise He deserves and obey His commands – if we take Him and His holy presence for granted -- then His wrath may fall upon us – just as it did Uzzah

            -- David was learning that God is good, but God is not safe

 

            -- when Uzzah died, the party stopped – figuratively and literally – David had them take the ark to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite because he was afraid of God – he was afraid of God’s power – and so, he wants to keep God distant from him – David says, “Don’t bring the ark to Jerusalem – leave it here” because he was afraid to have God close -- he was afraid to go into His presence

– David’s immature faith cannot grasp what he has just witnessed as God showed more of Himself to David and those gathered there than anything David had experienced before – this is a God that David doesn’t know – this is not the God of the giving tree – this is God in His holiness

 

            -- our churches today are very much like David in the start of this story – our faith and our knowledge of God is immature and shallow – it may be a saving faith, but it is not a mature faith – it is a faith that assumes that God is always on our side and that God exists only to meet our wants and our desires – to lift us up – to make us great and powerful in His name

-- a lot of our churches and a lot of Christians today know God and relate to Him as the great giving tree in the sky – we have a consumer mindset, and we emphasize in our worship and in our evangelism only the blessings and goodness of God – we have forgotten His holiness and righteousness

-- we assume that God just wants us to be happy and prosperous – and that is the way we approach life – that is the way we approach God

– taken to the extreme, this type of faith leads to prosperity theology and feel-good preachers who promise that God wants nothing more than to shower down health and wealth and prosperity in our lives here on earth

– but even if we don’t go as far as that, we are still in danger of adopting a faith that only looks to God for what we can get from Him – a type of faith that assumes all the promises of God are for our glory and not His – a type of faith that makes us resemble the cat in the old joke I opened with – “You feed me, you pet me, you love me. I must be God.”

-- of course, none of us would ever say that we are God, but when our faith and religion are focused on God only as a source of blessing and goodness in our lives, we are living a shallow faith with an incomplete understanding of God

-- If the God we serve looks just like us and thinks just like us and wants the same things we do, we aren’t serving God.  We have made ourselves into God – we have formed God in our own image

 

– but that’s not who God is -- and when God acts differently than we expect, like He did with David here – when the blessings don’t come – when life interrupts our perfect Christian model and we are faced with trials and tribulations and a reminder that there is a God and we are not Him – then our faith is challenged and we can get confused and angry and afraid and we don’t understand what to do with this God we don’t recognize

-- that’s what happened to David in these verses

 

 

-- verse 12-19

 

2 Samuel 6:12 Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. 13 When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, 15 while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

 

16 As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

 

17 They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. 18 After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. 19 Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.

 

-- David hears the news that God is blessing the household of Obed-Edom and everyone around him because the ark had been left with him – even though Obed-Edom was not a Jew, I guarantee you that he treated the ark and the presence of God with great respect and honor because of what happened to Uzzah – he certainly didn’t want it to happen to him – and so, God was given the honor and respect He deserved – and God responded by blessing Obed-Edom and his whole household

-- David is reminded of why he wanted the ark in Jerusalem in the first place – he is reminded of the goodness of God and is encouraged by the fact that God’s goodness and blessings are still there and haven’t been replaced by wrath – so, David decides to try to bring the ark of God into Jerusalem again

-- but this time, he approaches the ark and the presence of God differently – rather than taking God and His holiness for granted – rather than assuming God served him – David approached God reverently and humbly and in accordance with God’s word

-- he has the Levites carry the ark on poles, as God commanded, and offers sacrifices of bulls and fattened calves all along the way, accompanied by praise and worship

-- and because he has approached God correctly – because he has remembered who God is and how God should be approached – God allows the ark to be carried to Jerusalem, where David places it in a tabernacle that he made to house the presence of God

-- David’s faith and his understanding of God grew through this experience – he knew God in a different way now – he understood God more – and he realized that his previous flippant behavior and attitude towards God was a sin deserving of God’s wrath and punishment

-- as Skye Jethani wrote, “The important thing to recognize is how David’s vision of God transformed his worship of God. At the beginning of the chapter, David was fixated on God’s goodness and blessings. He saw YHWH as the one who elevated him to the throne, defeated his enemies, and gave him a new capital. David was filled with gratitude, and his worship was celebratory, but it was also dangerously self-centered and casually irreverent.” – “[Now – after Uzzah] -- David came to understand that God was both good and holy, and this fuller vision was reflected in his joyful but deeply reverent worship. David’s worship [changed from an immature faith and worship] – “I am who matters” -- to [a more mature and appropriate faith and worship] – “you, God, are who matters”2

-- this event marked a changing moment in David’s relationship with God – as we see in the rest of his story in the Old Testament, David continued to grow in his faith and his knowledge of God – learning more about who God is and how God wants us to approach Him in humbleness and reverence

 

III.  Closing

-- there’s a lesson for us here that we need to understand and apply in our churches and in our individual lives – too often, we take an approach to God in our lives that is careless and flippant – that does not afford God the reverence and awe and respect that He deserves

-- it’s too easy to approach worship and the things of God in the same way we approach the rest of our lives – with a consumer mindset and with the idea that the customer is always right

-- how many times have you left a worship service and said, “I didn’t get anything out of that?” – I know I’ve said that myself – forgetting that our worship should be God-focused and not self-focused – forgetting that it’s not about what we can get out of the service, but the offerings and sacrifices and worship we should be bringing to God

-- we demand God’s blessings – we expect God’s goodness – but we fail to live our lives in accordance with His holy standards or approach Him with awe and reverence as we should

-- in many ways, we have taken God for granted – and our lives have suffered as a result

 

-- for eight weeks now, we have been discussing Jesus’ question to His disciples, “But who do you say I am?” – the answer to that question has to be more than words – it has to be reflected in our lives and our faith and how we approach God

-- I want to encourage you today to take some time and think about your relationship with God – with how you approach God – with how you know God and interact with Him

-- it’s all too easy to get careless in our faith – to mumble the same prayer over our meals in such a way it’s just repeated words to an empty room – to come to worship services looking for what we can get out of it rather than coming to sacrifice ourselves to Him in praise and worship – to go through our lives seeking only the blessings God can give instead of seeking to abide in His presence – we need to learn to see God as He truly is and to give Him the worship, respect, and awe He deserves

-- to quote Skye Jethani again, “It’s worth asking, what does your worship, or the worship of your community, reveal about your vision of God? Do you carry the narrow…assumption of consumer Christianity that says God exists to fight your battles, advance your agenda, and bless your dreams, resulting in worship that is celebratory but ultimately self-centered, comfortable, and convenient? Or are you learning a more [mature type of] humility that puts God at the center, respects his holiness, and rejoices in him as both deeply desirable and also reveres him as mysteriously dangerous?”2

-- let’s take some time this week to answer those questions

-- with that, let us pray

 

 

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giving_Tree

2 Skye Jethani With God Daily devotionals: “Apr 3, 2025, The Tension Between God’s Goodness & His Otherness” and “Apr 4, 2025, Feline Worship & Canine Worship”

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