Spirit and Truth
The Gold in the Pain
Welcome to The Well Community Church. I am so glad you’re hanging out with us today. If we haven’t met, my name is Brad. We’re continuing in our series called Monarchy, where we are highlighting four of the biblical monarchs: Kings Saul, David, Solomon, and ultimately King Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
If you were with us last week, we tried to chronicle the fifteen-year journey of desolation that David went through. We made the observation that David’s most formative seasons of life were typically the most painful. We invited you to reflect on your own life and ask: What have you been through? And what did God teach you about Him, yourself, or others in that season?
It’s interesting—when we look back, there are painful times we’d rather just leave alone. We say, “I don’t want to talk about that anymore.” But it is very true that the things we don’t own in our story inadvertently own us. There is something incredibly healing about going back and saying, “God, that was really awful, but I know You were with me. What were You showing me? What were You trying to grow in me?” As humbling as those moments of introspection might be, there is gold there because you can see the hand of God even in those awful times.
2 Samuel 5:10 (NASB)
David became greater and greater, for the LORD God of hosts was with him.
Establishing the City of David
David is going to learn another awful lesson today. The difference is that this lesson is going to cost someone their life. Before we get into chapter six, let’s look at how chapter five finished. David establishes a capital city called Jerusalem. He doesn’t just take the city; he builds a house for himself in the stronghold called the City of David.
If you ever go on one of our biblical study tours, you’ll see that one of the most significant archaeological digs today is the City of David. They know exactly where it is. They’ve found the palace. It is fascinating to see the Bible coming to life through modern archaeology. David becomes greater and greater—not because he read a good leadership book or found a cool podcast, but because the Lord God of hosts was with him. There is nothing like living in a relationship with God.
He forms an alliance with Hiram, the king of Tyre. Now, Hiram basically runs the Home Depot of the ancient world; he has all the lumber. David is going to need that because he’s building a palace for himself and, eventually, a house for the Lord. There are wars with the Philistines, David prays, and God delivers them. But this week, in chapter six, we see David’s interaction with the Ark of the Covenant.
2 Samuel 5:17-25 (NASB)
When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek out David; and when David heard [of it], he went down to the stronghold. Now the Philistines came and spread themselves out in the valley of Rephaim. Then David inquired of the LORD, saying, ‘Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You give them into my hand?’ And the LORD said to David, ‘Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.’ So David came to Baal-perazim and defeated them there; and he said, ‘The LORD has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters.’ Therefore he named that place Baal-perazim. They abandoned their idols there, so David and his men carried them away. Now the Philistines came up once again and spread themselves out in the valley of Rephaim. When David inquired of the LORD, He said, ’You shall not go [directly] up; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the balsam trees. ‘It shall be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall act promptly, for then the LORD will have gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines.’ Then David did so, just as the LORD had commanded him, and struck down the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer.
The Ark of the Covenant
The Ark of the Covenant was the most significant religious artifact in the Old Testament. It was a box built in the time of Moses according to God’s specific design. God said that He would meet His people there, from above the mercy seat between the cherubim. It looked like a piece of giant rolling luggage, but much fancier, overlaid in gold. Inside were the Ten Commandments, a jar of manna (like in a Ziploc or something), and Aaron’s staff that had budded with new growth.
What made the Ark significant wasn’t the construction; it was that the presence of God would descend upon it. There were very specific instructions for how it was to be transported. To move it from point A to point B, the priests and Levites would cover it, slide poles through gold rings on the sides, and carry it on their shoulders. This becomes critical for our story.
Where has the Ark been? It was established in Shiloh, but during the time of Eli, the people treated it like a lucky charm and took it into battle. They lost, and the Philistines captured it. But everywhere the Ark went in Philistia, people got plagues—specifically hemorrhoids—so bad that they finally said, “Send this thing back! It’s cursed!” It ended up in a place called Kiriath Jearim, in the house of a man named Abinadab, where it sat for twenty years.
Exodus 25:22 (NASB)
’There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel.
Passion vs. Design
Now David is king from Dan to Beersheba. He has his capital and his palace, and he wants to honor God. He says, “Let’s go get the Ark and bring it to Jerusalem.” He gathers 30,000 chosen men and goes to the city your Bible might call Baale-judah to bring up the Ark. It sounds like a great plan. However, a little parenthetical note in Chronicles tells us that they had not sought the Ark during the entire reign of Saul. For decades, the spiritual temperature of the people had been tepid.
David’s passion is evident, but there’s a problem: he allows his passion to override God’s design. Scripture says there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. We can choose to do life our way, based on our desires, or God’s way, according to His Word.
1 Chronicles 13:3 (NASB)
and let us bring back the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul.’
In verse three, they place the Ark of God on a new cart. You might think, “What’s the big deal? It’s a new cart!” But God didn’t say to use a cart. He said to carry it on poles. Why did they use a cart? Maybe it was convenience. Maybe they were copying the Philistines, who had sent it back on a cart. But the Philistines weren’t the people of God; they weren’t beholden to His Word. You are. Your obedience to God’s Word is far more important than your convenience.
2 Samuel 6:3 (NASB)
They placed the ark of God on a new cart that they might bring it from the house of Abinadab which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were leading the new cart.
The Cost of Irreverence
David and the house of Israel are celebrating with all kinds of instruments. They’ve got a garage band going, a parade, dancing—it’s a party. But here is the observation: Your passion for God does not supersede your responsibility for obedience. You can be as passionate as the day is long and still be wrong.
2 Samuel 6:4-5 (NASB)
So they brought it with the ark of God from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Ahio was walking ahead of the ark. Meanwhile, David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all kinds of [instruments made of] fir wood, and with lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets and cymbals.
The problem is that the wages of sin were, are, and always will be death. Sin always takes you farther than you want to go, costs you more than you want to pay, and impacts more people than you care to impact. As they reach the threshing floor of Nachon, the oxen stumble, and the Ark starts to tip over. Uzzah, one of the sons of Abinadab, reaches out to steady it. He chooses to touch the thing God said never to touch.
2 Samuel 6:6 (NASB)
But when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset [it].
In that moment, the anger of the Lord burned, and God struck Uzzah dead on the spot for his irreverence. This is an “oh dang” moment. David becomes angry—maybe at God, maybe at himself as the leader who allowed this improper transport, or maybe at the situation. They rename the place Perez-uzzah, meaning “the breakthrough of Uzzah,” to memorialize the place where God took a life because of irreverence.
2 Samuel 6:7-8 (NASB)
And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God. David became angry because of the LORD’S outburst against Uzzah, and that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day.
Right-Sizing Our View of God
David learns a valuable lesson that day: he becomes afraid of the Lord. We often think fear is terrible, but this was David “right-sizing” his view of God. The Hebrew word for fear here is yirah, which includes awe and reverence.
God is not your homeboy. He’s not your buddy or your pal. He is the Sovereign of the universe who spoke the world into existence. He is the God who shaped humankind from dust. He is holy. When the prophet Isaiah saw the throne room of God, his response was, “Woe is me, for I am a dead man!” That is a proper view of God.
2 Samuel 6:9 (NASB)
So David was afraid of the LORD that day; and he said, ‘How can the ark of the LORD come to me?’
God is not to be treated carelessly or casually. He is to be obeyed even if the details seem insignificant or impractical. He is to be obeyed even when His commands go against our personal preferences. Why? Because He is God, and we are not.
David leaves the Ark at the house of a man named Obed-edom for three months. During those ninety days, David hits the books. He opens the Word to find out what went wrong. He realizes, “We didn’t seek Him according to the ordinance.” Meanwhile, God is blessing Obed-edom’s house. His garden is growing, his livestock is thriving—God is still good! The problem wasn’t God’s character; it was David’s disregard for God’s design.
1 Chronicles 15:13 (NASB)
‘Because you did not [carry it] at the first, the LORD our God made an outburst on us, for we did not seek Him according to the ordinance.’
Passion Matched with Obedience
David decides to try again, but this time, he does it right. He brings the Ark up with gladness. He realizes that God’s design is actually for our good and for human flourishing. As the bearers of the Ark take six steps—carrying it the way they were supposed to—they stop and make an offering. Six more steps? Stop and sacrifice.
2 Samuel 6:12-13 (NASB)
Now it was told King David, saying, ‘The LORD has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, on account of the ark of God.’ David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness. And so it was, that when the bearers of the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling.
This time, passion is matched with obedience. David is dancing before the Lord with all his might, wearing a simple linen ephod. He doesn’t care what he looks like. His wife, Michal, is embarrassed by him, but David tells her, “I’m doing this before the Lord. I will be even more undignified than this to honor Him.”
2 Samuel 6:14-15 (NASB)
And David was dancing before the LORD with all [his] might, and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouting and the sound of the trumpet.
2 Samuel 6:21-22 (NASB)
So David said to Michal, ’[It was] before the LORD, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel; therefore I will celebrate before the LORD. ‘I will be more lightly esteemed than this and will be humble in my own eyes, but with the maids of whom you have spoken, with them I will be distinguished.’
The Four Quadrants of Faith
I want to get practical with us today. Imagine a grid. On the horizontal axis, you have Heart/Passion (Low to High). On the vertical axis, you have Obedience (Low to High).
If you have Low Passion and Low Obedience, that is Apathy. This is the cultural Christian who is bored with God and more interested in their phone than the Gospel.
If you have Low Passion but High Obedience, that is Legalism. This is dead orthodoxy. It’s all truth and no grace. It’s “obey or God will hit you.” Many of you grew up in churches like this, and it gave you a “tick” because it was so cold and pragmatic.
If you have High Passion but Low Obedience, that is Presumption. This is emotionalism. It’s the person who just wants a “feeling” or an “experience” regardless of what the Bible says. This is “all grace and no truth.” This is where our culture is currently sliding. People say, “My God wouldn’t call this a sin because I feel this way.”
But if you have High Passion and High Obedience, that is True Devotion. That is the authentic Christian life. It is obedience with joy.
1 John 5:3 (NASB)
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
The Way to Human Flourishing
In our culture today, we are seeing the fruit of living in the “Presumption” quadrant. We’ve had moral ambiguity long enough to see the results. People aren’t celebrating their “body counts” anymore; they’re mourning them. They’re realizing that sexual indulgence doesn’t bring the happiness it promised. We see the confusion surrounding gender and the pain of people realizing that redefining identity doesn’t lead to peace.
We are starting to realize that maybe God’s way actually is better. His Word is the “law of liberty.” Jesus said His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Obedience to God’s Word is the litmus test for an authentic believer.
1 John 2:3-6 (NASB)
By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
Jesus said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.” That’s convicting. What do you call a Christian who willfully disregards God’s Word to pursue a lifestyle in direct contradiction to it? I’m not sure what you call them, but you probably shouldn’t call them a Christian.
John 14:23 (NASB)
Jesus answered and said to him, ’If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
From the Head to the Heart
So, how do we move toward True Devotion? There are two moves. First, a move toward the head. We need to know what the Word says. We need to be people of the Book who read, study, memorize, meditate, and discuss the Bible. If you don’t bring a Bible to church, how do you know if what I’m saying is true? We need to renew our minds.
Romans 12:2 (NASB)
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
But the second move is the hardest: the eighteen inches from the head to the heart. You can’t make that move on your own; that is a work of the Holy Spirit. We have to say, “God, sink this Truth into my heart.”
Psalms 119:11 (NASB)
Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You.
When the Word is integrated into our hearts, we begin to live with both passion for God and obedience to His Word. That is what we’ve been about here at The Well for twenty-five years. We want to be a people who worship in Spirit and in Truth.
John 4:24 (NASB)
‘God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.’
Father in heaven, we come to You with humility because we are guilty. We thank You for Your grace. Meet us in our brokenness. Don’t let the Word just stay in our heads—that only makes us arrogant. Sink it into our hearts. Give us passion for You and obedience to Your Word so that we might truly be Your followers. In Jesus’ name, Amen.