Please turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter 6. 2 Samuel chapter 6. We looked at this passage last week and as we considered it, we ultimately noted just various attitudes or responses in worship. This morning, we want to look at this same passage, but we want to this week consider the idea of celebration the idea of of joy in worship. So note as we read through this how this theme of celebration unfolds. Second Samuel Chapter 6 is found on page 355 to 357 of the Bibles there in your rows. Let's once again give our diligent attention to the reading and hearing of God's word. And David gathered all the choice men of Israel, thirty thousand. David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baal, Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is called by the name the Lord of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. So they set the ark of God in a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was on the hill, accompanying the ark of God. And Ahio went before the ark. Then David and all the house of Israel played music before the Lord and all kinds of instruments of firwood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on cistrums, and on cymbals. When they came to Nacon's threshing floor, Uzzah put his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error, and he died there by the ark of God. And David became angry because of the Lord's outbreak against Uzzah, and he called the name of the place Perez-Uzzah to this day." David was afraid of the Lord that day. And he said, how can the Ark of the Lord come to me? So David would not move the Ark of the Lord with him into the city of David, but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 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. Now it was told King David saying, the Lord has blessed the house 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 gladness. And so it was when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep. Then 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, with the sound of the trumpet. Now as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michael, Saul's daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord. And she despised him in her heart. So they brought the Ark of the Lord and set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And when David had finished offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. Then he distributed among all the people, among the whole multitude of Israel, both the women and the men, to everyone a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed, everyone to his house. And David returned to bless his household. And Michael the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, how glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself. So David said to Michael, it was before the Lord who chose me instead of your father and all his house to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord and I will be even more undignified than this and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservant of whom you have spoken by them I will be held in honor. Therefore Michael the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death. Remember the grass withers and the flower falls but God's word abides forever. What are some ways that you like to celebrate? What are some ways that you like to celebrate? Well, it wasn't too long ago that we came out of the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year season, and that's oftentimes an occasion for celebration. coming together with family and friends in order to enjoy the time of season, the time off from work, the opportunity to just be relaxed and to enjoy various things that otherwise you wouldn't be able to do so. It's also an opportunity to reflect and give thanks to God for the blessings that He's given through the course of the year as well as the celebration of the Incarnation. There's times in which we also have personal celebrations. Some of you may be celebrating the fact that most of the snow is gone, and as a result, it's just warm weather and an opportunity to open windows and send the kids outside and not have to deal with them in such tight spaces. And that is a personal victory. celebrations for birthdays, even anniversaries, occasions that mark times of remembrance. And how do you mark those times? I guess as you get older, you don't mark birthdays with much celebration. But you do mark them with Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving that God has allowed you to be on this earth for as long as you've been, to see then the blessings unfold in your life with your children and your grandchildren and even more. Those of you who are younger, birthdays are celebrations, right? It's one year older. It's that opportunity to hit a certain level. I remember when I was a kid, it was something to go from one digit to two. Did you guys have that as well? And it was always exciting to be able to have a big party, invite friends and see what gifts they might bring your way. And it was an occasion for great joy. And it was an opportunity to just simply gather together and have things that you didn't normally get to have with people that you didn't normally get to be with in an occasion that you only celebrated or observed once a year. We've been looking at a series on worship, and we've been considering the way in which God's Word unfolds different ideas regarding worship. And through the first few parts of this, we've been looking at what God notes and what He said, and how we're called to come together in order to honor Him. And now we've kind of turned the tables to look at certain things in relation to us. And this morning we want to note how we're ultimately called to celebrate. Because every Lord's Day, every time we gather for worship, is an occasion for celebration. It's an opportunity to remember what God has done in your life and in the lives of His people, what He currently is doing, and ultimately what He will accomplish. And so worship then is an occasion for great celebration. This morning from 2 Samuel 6, as well as from Acts chapter 3, there's basically four concepts or four ideas that we want to see in relation to this celebration. That it's a joyful celebration, it's a loving celebration, it's a visible celebration, and it's also then a God-centered celebration. Worship is ultimately an opportunity to come together in a joyous occasion in order to be before God and with His people with an opportunity to magnify God's name by means of great joy. We do see that it is an occasion for joy. The idea of celebration is noted here in our text. If you look at verse 5 and then again in verse 21, we see how David and all the house of Israel came before the Lord. And they show this by means of music. They show this by means of their size and their numbers. David noted again in verse 21 that it was before the Lord that he came in order to worship, and therefore he said, I will play music before the Lord. He's noting that he will celebrate. Interestingly enough, the root word for celebration is laughter in the Hebrew. The point being is that in coming together in praise, It is an occasion that we actually come with a sense of true happiness. That we come with an expression of thanksgiving and joyful praise. We ultimately come in praise because we know that we can come before the living God of heaven and earth through the Lord Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. And if the triune God is willing to not only meet with us, but engage us and enable us and bring us before Him, then if that doesn't get you excited, I don't know what will. David notes, as we heard last week, that he's coming before God. He tells Michael that. My intention, my purpose is to be before God. And yet as he's there, did you note how he was behaving? Did you note his activity? Look at verse 14 and 15. David danced before the Lord with all his might. 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 trumpet. Think about this for a moment. We heard last week that worship is ultimately being before the presence of God. It's the opportunity whereby God allows us to come before His very presence in a special manner so that we then have opportunity to meet with Him as it were face to face. He demonstrates this by means of the ark. God had noted that that is where he dwelt. And therefore, David wanted God's presence among his city. Remember, he's been king for about seven and a half years. He's defeated the Philistines. He conquered over his enemies. There's now a time for peace in his country. And yet, as that occasion for peace is present, he wants to remind the people that peace doesn't mean anything without God. And so he then wants to bring the place where God chose Himself to be and to the heart of the nation so that they in turn would respond in worship and praise. And so as he then wants to meet with God, as he notes this occasion where God then is coming into their midst, he does so through a celebratory fashion, shouting, Music. Loud music. Lots of music. And even an occasion for dancing. What does this tell us? It tells us that as these individuals engaged in this opportunity, they were not passive in their involvement. They weren't mumbling under their breath. They weren't distracted by other things. They were engaged. After all, this was a magnificent display set before them. God Himself is with them. God Himself is there. And it caused them then to see this and consequently to say, wow! And with the entirety of their being, they simply said, Lord, You're worthy. Lord, You're deserving of praise. Just so we would see that this isn't a one-time occurrence, isn't this the same thing that happened in the lame man's life in Acts 3? We're told that he had been lame from birth And in Acts chapter 4, we're told that he had been lame for over 40 years. That he had never walked, he had never used his legs or his feet as a means of being able to put weight on them and take a step or two. This didn't happen by means of an accident or an illness or an injury. It had been the note of his entire life. And so daily he was taken to the temple so that he might then beg for money and hope that people, as they're thinking about worship and prayer, might be motivated or more motivated to give. And so here then he meets with Peter and John, and Peter says, hey, I'll do what I can, and it's not with money, but rather I will then extend unto you the promise of healing and wholeness through Jesus Christ. And what do we see? Immediately the guy is healed, immediately he gets up as Peter grabs him by the hand and just says, hey, stand up, let's go. And up he is and he's immediately and fully able to walk. And how does he respond? Leaping and praising God. He shows that he was fully healed. He shows that it had had an effect or impact in his life. He was able to be balanced and coordinated in his steps so much so that he could jump up and down and he was whirling before the people as he headed into the temple to say, praise God. He had an occasion for joy because God had intervened and now he could go and be before the living God to sing praises unto Him and to offer the sacrifices appropriate. Listen, when we come for worship, we have an occasion for joy. It's not simply a false joy or something that we put on as an affront. It's not a joy that is necessarily reflected the same way by each person. Not all of us would be like David and dance through the midst of the streets. There were 30,000 other people with him. And the author here doesn't tell us that all 30,000 danced with David. It only highlighted him. So joy does not have to be expressed exactly the same way, but it must be present in each and every person's heart and life as they come before the living God in order to praise Him and honor Him. And yet the question becomes, why ultimately should we even have joy? Why did David have joy? Why did the lame man have joy? Why should you have joy? Because we have opportunity to meet with God. And yet note how much greater our opportunity is. Remember, David's dealing with a box. David's dealing with having walked that box forward after six steps and making animal sacrifices. David gets into the city and what does he do? He brings further sacrifices of animals. We have no altar here. We have no place where we're keeping livestock out back so that we then too can follow after David's example. Why? Because we have Jesus Christ. We have occasion for great joy because Jesus has fulfilled the types and shadows, and He has said, come unto Me, the way is open to the Father. Anyone who has ultimately heard and known and been touched by the message of salvation through Jesus Christ, our Lord assures us that the Holy Spirit enables in that one the outflow of joy. And therefore, it's not simply some artificial or falsely engaged emotional response. but rather the natural responses of the saved individual who understands the greatness of what God has given through Christ. Some of you may be saying, how do I get this joy? Look unto the Lord Jesus. Look at what God has noted in His Word concerning His Son that He has sent Him to be born of the Virgin, to walk within this world, to live a perfect life, to die on the cross as a satisfaction for sin, that all who would look to Him would be saved. Those of you who believe that and remember that message, remember it each time that you come to engage in worship. For in it, it will help to keep your heart from coldness. It will turn your... It will renew your love for God once again. For you will recall what God has done for you in Christ. Remember what the psalmist notes in Psalm 103, all the blessings that God has given. But beyond that, remember the blessings that Paul speaks of in Romans chapter 8, that God is for us and none are against us. That God offered his own son as a means by which you may be reconciled unto him. that God assures us that there is no charge that can come against us because of the fulfillment of all that has happened through the Lord Jesus, and therefore nothing can separate us from His love. You are a child of the King. You are loved by God. You are assured of His favor and promise to His eternal hope as you are united to Jesus Christ by a true and living faith. And therefore, you gather together with the saints who have received those same things, and you then cry out unto God with joy and worship. And you do so with the outflow of your heart in response to Him. This really helps us then to see that it really is a loving celebration. If you truly understand all that God has done for you in Christ, how can you not love Him? And how in turn can that not then be brought forth in this time and occasion for celebration? Think about the love that you have for your spouse. How often do you tell them that you love them? I know I have to be careful here. Those of you who are German, you love your spouse so much, you almost tell them. Those of you who are Dutch, note, I told you I loved you the day that we got married, and if it changes, I'll let you know. So I'm an equal opportunity offender. But aside from that, even if you don't verbalize it, don't you show it? Don't you allow it to be seen? Don't you do it in the little things as well as in the big things? As your love has increased for your spouse, have you expressed that love more? Or do you just simply go through the motions? Yeah, good morning. Love you, dear. Do you show more love for your spouse than you do for God? How much more has the Lord done for you than your spouse? And for some of you, it would have to mean that the Lord has done an awful lot, because your spouse has done wonders. But ultimately, what are we getting at here? If you come before God with the recognition of joy and appreciation because of all that He's done for you in Christ, Then what? We would love Him. John tells us we love Him because He first loved us. And worship is the opportunity for you to be able to verbalize. Worship is the opportunity for you to be able to express. Worship is the opportunity for you to be able to testify of that love that you have for your God. You do so by showing up and being identified with His people. It's in love that we identify with one another, for we are bound in love. It's in love that we gather together in order to hear God call us to come. And as we hear His voice, we don't run in fear or scared or hurt, but rather we hear it and our heart then builds up and it steps up excited to know that I am my Beloved's and He is mine. His banner over me is love. And with it then we sing out in love. We listen to God's Word in love. We pray with love. Because it's the opportunity to have the ultimate heart expression before God. David ultimately notes that even as his wife challenges him concerning his activities, that he says, this is my action before the Lord. And notice what he said in verse 22, I will be even more undignified than this and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken by them, I will be held in honor. Why? because they saw that His expression of joy and love before God was such that it was outflowing in His whole being. Our loving celebration in worship engages the entire person. Our thoughts, our mind, our will, our emotions, so that we might then cry out unto God, and in turn have others be filled with wonder and amazement at what is occurring in our life. And yet this joyful celebration and this loving celebration is truly visible. David didn't simply say, oh how I love Jesus. David didn't simply say, oh how I would love to have God present in our city. David didn't simply just think of the idea or even write it down, but he visibly brought it forward. There were instruments, there was offerings, there were sacrifices, there was shouting, there was noise, there was even eating. The lame man's response could be seen. So much so that Luke tells us that the people saw it and said, What's going on? And then they realized who it was and they were filled with wonder and awe as to what they had an opportunity to see. Paul notes the call for order in worship so that even as others might come into our midst, they would be able to recognize that God is among us. Our celebration is one that is ultimately tangible and is evident. Worship cannot be inexpressive. There must be some sort of response. There must be something that is present. so that our love and our joy can be seen and experienced by all, so all may benefit and be encouraged and strengthened. Yes, it gives help to you. But when you come in ready to praise God, your brothers and sisters are that much more encouraged. Think about how powerful and amazing it is that when we come together in worship, one of the first things that we do is sing. Singing has opportunity to ascribe praise and glory to God, but it also has opportunity to truly strengthen each other by means of the loudness of our voices and the utterance of our praises. There's a benefit. There's a help. There's an encouragement as we express these things. And this is one reason why our visible celebration must be in the context of God's people. Notice David doesn't do this privately. He could have, but he doesn't. He has 30,000 people with him as he's dancing in the streets. His blessing is for all the people by giving them food and drink and other things. You lose something when you decide to do church by yourself. You lose something when you're not in church with God's people. What you lose is the opportunity to express outwardly your love corporately for God. but also you miss out on God's people encouraging you as they outwardly express their love for Him also. We also see opportunity that our worship is ultimately God-centered. Six times our text mentions that David is before the Lord. Notice here that this worship isn't simply about experience, or being worship-centered, or having the opportunity that, well, I really want to come because it makes me feel good or it helps me with this. Yes, there is the by-product of the experience that occurs that as a result encourages and strengthens our hearts. But it's not worship for the sake of worship. It's worship for the sake of the God who hears and sees our worship. And therefore, as we've heard before, our worship then becomes Word-centered and Bible-driven and Gospel-focused. It means then that we ultimately note that we can even more so come as we are informed, as we are directed by God's Word to be confident of that which we are bringing before our God, as we hear and obey Him and apply His Word in the corporate context, we can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we won't have a situation like Uzzah experienced. But instead, we'll have a situation as David did, as he followed God's precepts, and had the particular Levites carry the ark on a set of poles and they marched forward in celebration and in the expression of love that God would be in their city. This does mean we need to think about a few things in addition to what we've already heard. If we are worshiping before the Lord And God is our focus. We shouldn't be so concerned about our neighbor around us. Sometimes we get somewhat timid being in worship because we're afraid what others think if we might say, Amen. Or we might start swaying a little bit because we're so moved in terms of what we're singing. or we might shed tears because we've been so touched or so struck by the message of the song or by the preaching of the Word that our emotions just overcome us and we then heartily respond to God with that sense of enthusiasm or that sense of sorrow or that sense of delight. God's our focus, not one another. And therefore, don't fear. Don't worry. Don't necessarily restrain yourself simply because you're concerned about what others are going to say. But it then does mean that we need to be considerate. We need to be considerate as to how we come into worship. We need to be considerate as to how we engage with one another prior to worship versus afterward. We ought to be mindful as to how we conduct ourselves coming into this particular space of not being overly noisy or overly distracting. We should make sure that we don't have our phones on so that it might then go off in the middle of the service and as a result distract others from the opportunity that we have to express joyous, loving celebration and obedience to God's Word for the praise, honor, and glory of our King. It also means that we need to be mindful of the noise levels that are produced from ourselves or our families. Again, not because we don't want children and not because we can't handle noise. But we need to be overly mindful or conscientious so that we then in turn can be considerate. And yet even those of you who are without kids right now might also then be mindful and considerate of those who are dealing with such. That we all are coming together in order to be able to praise our God. And if God is our audience, and we have opportunity to express love and joy to Him, we should do so throughout the service. There ought not be occasions in which we leave towards the end of the service unless there's some emergency. But otherwise, we should stay. We should be here. Even if we have other duties and responsibilities through the course of the day, remain in the context of corporate worship For by it, you're adoring your God and giving opportunity and occasion to be able to celebrate with His people in the joy that you have through the Lord Jesus Christ. We have great occasion for celebration. We love celebrations. Opportunities to remember birthdays and anniversaries and national holidays are wonderful times. times with family, times with friends, times to give thanks, times for reflection, times simply just to party. Corporate worship beats it all. Corporate worship is an occasion that is far greater and far better. Because in the celebration, we have God Himself saying, I am with you. I love you. I am keeping you. I've given you my Son. And what better occasion to give praise and rejoice can there be than that? May God fill our hearts with love. And may we express it every time we come together with His people. It may be a reflection of our hearts crying out in celebration and in wonder.