Find Freedom In Worship

All right, today we are in week two of a series. We're calling this series, "It Might Get Loud." That's the name of the series. Listen, listen, I tried to give you your cue and you missed it, everybody. And I don't think they missed it in Virginia Beach. I hear they are on point today at the beach, but here in Yorktown, a little slow, a little slow on the cue. I gotta tell you though, based on how I'm feeling about the sermon, it will get loud, all right? I'm just gonna warn ya, it's gonna get loud today. And this is a series that is all about worship. It's about worship, which is a bigger and broader concept than what most of us realize. In fact, we often think of worship as the songs we sing, like these are our worship songs, or the band that leads us. That's our worship band or the service we attend. This is the worship service. And worship can be those things. Worship can be the songs we sing and the band that leads us in the service we attend. But it's not limited to that. That's a very narrow view of worship. Worship will also be what happens in a few moments when somebody says yes to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Like 19 people did last Sunday, by the way. That's worship, all right?

That's worship. And it's gonna happen today. And worship will happen right now as we proclaim and preach and receive God's word. That's worship. Worship will happen at the end of the service when people generously give back to God because giving is an act of worship. Worship was happening before some of you even woke up this morning when somebody showed up at your campus to set cones out in the parking lot and cut donuts to feed you. And turn lights and cameras and sound on to be ready for you. Worship was happening then. I'm telling you, it's a broader term than what most of us realize. In fact, in fact, if I could even extend out worship to the broadest, the broadest term. I would tell you this, that worship happened in college football stadiums all across America yesterday. That was worship. And it got loud. And it got loud. If you watched it on TV in your living room, it got loud there too. Worship will also happen this evening when the Cowboys lose to the Packers.

Worship will happen then too. You know it's gonna happen. You know it's gonna happen. I'm telling you. And there will be worship. There will be, there will be worship because worship is this. Worship is our response to anything that gets our adoration and our affection and takes priority in our hearts and our lives. That's worship. And so when I say worship, I'm really talking about the way you live. And that's why I chose this title. It might get loud because I believe that your life should be lived loud with worship to God. I refuse to get loud for my football team on Saturday and get quiet for my Jesus on Sunday. I think you should get loud in worship of Jesus. And that's what this series is really all about 'cause he is worthy of worship. Let me show you what Jesus said. Jesus said this, love the Lord your God. Now look at how he explains this. He says, love him with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. In other words, Jesus says with all you got, with everything you have,

you are to love the Lord your God. How many of you know that when you love something or someone like that, when you love something or someone with all you've got, with all you have, you express it in extravagant ways. You don't keep it to yourself. That when you love something or someone with all you have, you're passionate about expressing that love. Somebody said to me one time, they said you really do love to pick on the Dallas Cowboys. You must really hate them. You know what I said back to them? I said, I don't hate them. I just know there are a bunch of you that really love them. (congregation laughs) Yeah, I don't even care about them, honestly. But I know there are a bunch of you that really love them. And so the greatest opportunity I have to get a reaction from you is to talk about the Dallas Cowboys 'cause I know there are a bunch of people that still are fans holding on to their winning season for 1992. But you have hope that they will come back again today and you're like, I'm gonna love them so much Have you noticed that? 'Cause they love, they love 'em that much. They love 'em, I talk about the Miami Dolphins. Nobody cares, you see it? Nobody cares.

So that's the point, that's that you love them so much you get loud for them, and Jesus, I think, says that's how you're supposed to love me. You love the Lord, you're God with all you got with everything you have, and when you love Him like that, you express that love in extravagant ways. That's why when we worship, it might get loud. In fact, I'll show you next level loudness. In the book of Psalms, the Psalms, which is, by the way, the biggest book of your entire Bible, which is really nothing, but a whole book about worship. It's a book of worship toward our God. The very last chapter of the Psalms describes for us some of the most demonstrative, passionate, loud expressions of worship you could ever imagine. This is what it says. "Praise the Lord, praise God in His sanctuary, praise Him in His mighty heavens, praise Him for His acts of power, praise Him for His surpassing greatness, praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise Him with the harp and the liar, praise Him with timbreal and dancing, praise Him with strings and pipe, praise Him with the clash of symbols, praise Him with resounding symbols, let everything that has breath praise the Lord." And I think you got breath. So it says, praise the Lord, all of us. By the way, you can't play those instruments

that the Bible just commanded us to play without making some noise. You can't praise Him without making some noise. It might get loud. Well, we'll pass through the church I grew up in. They told me not to get loud. The church I grew up in said, "We are supposed to be quiet in church." That we're supposed to be reserved in church. That we shouldn't act like this up in church. To which I would respectfully say to you, the church you grew up in was wrong. Tell him I said so. I'll show you, I'll show you that the Bible actually points us to a different picture of worship, maybe than what most of us experienced growing up. Now, I will say that according to the Bible, there's supposed to be order in church. That there should not be chaos in the church. That there actually will be some moment, certainly where we are still and where we need to be quiet to hear God's voice. But when we worship Him, when we praise Him, we're supposed to get loud. When Jesus entered the holy city of Jerusalem, what we now celebrate is Palm Sunday. This is what the Bible says. It says when He came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd, whole bunch of disciples began

joyfully to praise God in, look at this, in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen. They were shouting, blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Maybe they were singing peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees in the crowd, these would have been the religious people. These would have been the church people. They said to Jesus, rebuke your disciples teacher. Tell them to be quiet, tell them to act right, tell them to be reserved, tell them to settle down and be proper, but look at what Jesus says. Jesus says, I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will get loud. If they keep quiet, listen, Jesus said, I'm gonna get my worship from somewhere. So I will either get it from them or I'm gonna get it from another form of my creation. If they don't get loud, the stones are gonna get loud 'cause when I get worshiped, it gets loud. That's Jesus' point. And I don't know about you, but ain't no stone taking my place today. I'm gonna get loud and I'm gonna worship God for he alone is worthy. I'm gonna worship him with all I have, with all my might. Like Jesus said, with every thing you've got.

as Jesus entered the streets of Jerusalem, it said because his disciples praised him for the miracles they had seen. Think about that. They praised him, they got loud because of the miracles they had seen. And then it said that the Pharisees judged them and tried to tell them to be quiet when they got loud. And it just tells me that the Pharisees hadn't seen what the people who were praising had seen, that they hadn't experienced miracles like the people who were praising had experienced. And I just want to caution you about judging the way someone else worships. Perhaps they worshiped that way. They're that loud, they're that expressive, they're that responsive. Maybe because they've seen some things, experienced some things, carried some things, walked through some things that you have yet to see, that you have yet to experience that you haven't had to walk through, that you haven't had to carry. Maybe they're that loud because they've been set free from something that you haven't yet struggled with. Or maybe they're that loud, they're that expressive, maybe they worship like that because they've seen God do something in their life that he has yet to do in your life

and their loudness, their worship is meant to be a testimony that God still wants to do it in your life too. So don't be a Pharisee judging the way someone else worships. Be a disciple, bringing all you've got in praise and worship to him and it might get loud. If you were here in part one of this message series, you remember that last week I taught you about the ark of the covenant. In the Old Testament, the ark of the covenant was a box that represented the presence of God. It's where God's people met with God and where God met with his people. And it was holy. The ark of the covenant was sacred. In fact, God had given his people some very specific instructions about the ark of the covenant, about how to approach it, how to handle it, how to move it because it represented God's holy presence. And one of the things that God had expressly said to the people through Moses was this, do not touch it, do not touch the ark of the covenant because to touch the ark of the covenant would be to treat it like it was common, like it's some shoebox or something. So don't touch the box, don't touch the ark of the covenant. In fact, last week I told you that the ark was stolen by the Philistines in a battle and the presence of God left the nation of Israel. The ark was gone for a period of over 70 years.

The ark was gone, held captive by the Philistines, their enemies. The glory of God was gone until a man named David, the king, David, the one who the Bible says is a man after God's own heart. David decides, I wanna bring back the ark of the covenant. I wanna bring it back. And I wanna show you today two things that happened when David brought the ark of the covenant of God back. The first one, by the way, I warn you, is not good. All right, prepare yourself. The first thing I'm gonna show you is not a good thing. But the second thing that I wanna show you that happened when David brought the ark of the covenant back, it's a really, it's a really good, it's so good, it might get loud, even in Yorktown. It might get loud, even in Yorktown, it's so good. So just buckle your seat belt and wait for your cue 'cause the second thing is coming. But the first thing that happens is not good. I'll show it to you. The Bible says this, David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might. Notice again, this concept of everything they've got, they're bringing in worship with all their might before the Lord, with castanettes. Hello, did you bring your castanettes to church today? With castanettes, with harps, with liars, with timbrels and systems and symbols. In other words, it was loud, John.

These instruments, and they're worshiping with all their might. And when they came to the threshing floor of Naikon, Uza reached out and took hold of the ark of God because the oxen stumbled. So presumably the ark was tipping. And to keep it from falling, Uza ignored the command of God to not touch the ark. And Uza reaches out and touches the ark, and the Bible says the Lord's anger burned against Uza because of his irreverent act. And therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God. I told you it was not good. It was not good. I need you to know today that God is not impatient, that God is not unkind, but God is holy. And I'm showing you this today because I don't want you to misinterpret, it might get loud as it might get casual. That's not the way we approach God. It might get loud, so anything goes. No, no, no, no, no, God is holy, and we revere his presence, and we honor his word. And we don't casually stroll into the throne room of heaven and meet God there like he's a good old boy. Jesus is not your home boy. So we don't treat him like that. He is holy, and when you come into his presence,

we are overwhelmed by his holiness, which draws us to become more holy. Do you understand that everybody? This is not get casual before the Lord. The psalmist said it like this, "Who may ascend to the mountain of the Lord? "Who may stand in his holy place?" Here's who, the one who has clean hands and a pure heart. That's who gets to experience the presence of God. Those with clean hands and a pure heart. So we don't casually or irreverently come to worship. Please don't mistake in the sound of our worship for a lack of respect or honor, but our worship gets loud because it flows from a place of great respect and great honor. And that's why it gets loud. We're not casual, but we are loud. And then that takes us to the second thing, the good thing that I want to show you that happens when the ark of the covenant is brought back to God's people. 'Cause after Uza dies, nobody even wants to be near the ark. Right? I mean, he just reached out to keep it from falling and he dies. And so people find themselves afraid of the presence of God, scared to be in the presence of God.

And about three months pass. And finally, David gathers the people and together they decide, we need God's presence. Now, let me just stop here and tell you something about your life today that maybe, maybe you don't realize you need God's presence. Can I tell you something about the marriage that is struggling so bad right now? It's struggling because you need God's presence. Can I tell you something about that anxiety that you're struggling with every single day and you find it hard to just make it through a day? It's because you need God's presence. Can I tell you something about them, kids you're trying to raise? And you're like, oh Lord, they need something. You know what they need? They need God's presence, y'all. I mean, really, it's true. We got some parents on this side of the room we're like, yes, Lord. I'll tell you something about our church. Look at me everybody, you need to know this. We need God's presence. If you just showed up today for a quarter of a donut and some hot coffee and a little pep talk and a handful of mints on your way out the door, you're missing what you really need in your life.

We need the presence of God. And David knew it. David said, we need this. We can't go another day without it. We gotta have his presence in our life. I'm gonna tell you a little secret. I'm gonna get to the end of the sermon right now. I'm gonna tell you what it is. That's how you enter into his courts with thanksgiving and with praise. You want God to be in the Bible says this, he inhabits the praise of his people. That means you praise, he shows up. David knew that. David says we gotta get the presence of God. The presence of God was with the ark of God. And so the Bible says this, so David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed Edom to the city of David. And how did he do it? He did it with rejoicing. It was loud, it was loud. And when those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, how many steps everybody? Six steps. David sacrificed a bull in a fat and calf. We're gonna come back to that in just a moment, but I don't want you to miss it. They took six steps and they made a sacrifice. Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord

with all, here we go again, with all his might. While he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and with the sounds of trumpets. So it was loud, not an irreverent loud, but a holy loud. It's loud. And David's dancing and the people are shouting. And the trumpets are sounding because we're in the presence of God, we're bringing back the ark of the covenant to God's people, to the holy city of Jerusalem. We're bringing it back. And David in particular, who by the way, isn't some little weakling? David isn't some little sissy boy. You understand what I'm saying? David's a warrior. David's a fighter. David's a leader. David's the king for goodness sake. David's a man's man. If David were alive today, he would be a Cowboys fan. I'm just telling you, he'd fight you over it too. 'Cause that's how he's wired. He's wired to be audacious and bold. And he's out there on the edge, just guy named David. And David is worshiping God with all his God. He's singing, he's shouting. David's dancing, David's hitting the gritty right there in front of everybody. David's getting down with it. He's getting it on, y'all.

David's got rhythm. David is fired up because he's bringing back God's presence to God's people. And he's in the presence of God. And when David gets home, his wife, Michael, his wife named Michael is waiting for him. And when he walks in the door, whoo, she lets him have it. She gives it to him good. You can read about this in second Samuel chapter six sometimes, but she tells him a thing or two about how ridiculous he looked out there, worshiping like that. How embarrassing it was to her and to their reputation. That David would act like that with that exuberant worship. She told him how he needed to be more refined and more proper in worship. And she was particularly put out by the fact that David took out his outer garment. Did you catch that in the verse we read? He took out of his outer garment so he could be more free to express himself in worship. And Michael said, I cannot believe you acted like that. I can't believe you worshiped like that. I cannot believe you sang like that. I cannot believe you danced like that. I can't believe you made yourself that free in front of those people that you lifted your hands and clapped like that. I can't believe you, David. And I want you to see, I want you to see what David says

back to his wife. By the way, can I just say something to you? There aren't many of us who will go home and our spouse will talk about the way we worshiped. But there are a lot of us who in our own hearts and in our own minds, in our own heads, we will talk to ourselves about the way we worship. And we will talk ourselves out of responding in the presence of God. We will talk ourselves out of worshiping with exuberance in God's presence. And maybe we need to have the same conversation with ourselves that David had with his spouse. David says this, David says this, I didn't dance for you. I didn't celebrate for you. It was for the Lord who chose me rather than your father or anyone else from his house. When he appointed me ruler over the Lord's people, Israel, and David says, "I will celebrate before the Lord." And he says, "I will become even more." And say the word with me, everybody, even more undignified than this. That's what David said. I'm like, "Hey, you ain't seen nothing yet, lady." That's what he said. It's going to get loud because I don't worship for you and I don't sing for you and I don't dance for you. I don't clap for you. I worship for the one who is worthy of my worship and I can't control it and I can't help it when I'm in his presence. I got to do it because he's worthy of it. He's going to get loud. That's what David said. And I need you today to understand. I need you to understand there's some significance in that little word undignified that I don't want you to miss. So this is the part of the sermon where I really, where I really want you to lean in. In fact, there are some of you and I love you so much. But you were looking at me like, "Are you serious?" There are some of you. Give me the wide shot on the camera for just a minute. Give me the wide shot. I just want to make sure everybody can see this. There are some of you. Come on, give it to me right here. This one. Yeah, that one right there. You got my feet in it? There are

some of you. This is as far as you ever go and worship. You see the tap into the toe? That's as far as you go. And I know what you're thinking right now. You're thinking right now, preacher, there ain't no way that you're going to say anything today that makes me sing louder. There ain't no way. You're going to do anything today that makes me clap my hands. There's no way that you're going to do anything today. Lord, help me. There's no way you're going to get me to raise my hands and worship. There is absolutely no way I will not shout. I will not talk back. I will not even give you that little week. Wow. You told me to give you last week. I'm not doing any of that. There are some of you today and you're like, "That's this." I'm not doing it. And this is where I really want you to lean in. And I love you enough to challenge you from God's Word today. Because I do believe God wants, I do believe He wants you to go further in worship than you've ever gone before. To become even more undignified than this. Can you help bring me that little vest for just a minute? I just wanted to show them this example. This is a weighted vest. It must be very heavy because they're having a hard time bringing it out. It's very heavy. It is. It's very heavy. This is a weighted vest. People work out with this thing. I thought I would just show it. I know you're supposed to wear it a different way, but I'll wear it like this just so you get the point. This is the way most of us walk into worship. We're very reserved. We're very controlled. We're very put together. But that little word "undignified" teaches us two things that I think this vest helps us understand. I want to teach it to you. The word literally means "undignified." It literally means to make one's self lighter or to lightly esteem oneself. To make one's self lighter or to lightly esteem oneself. What David was literally saying when he said, "I'm going to become even more undignified than this." I'm going to make myself lighter before the Lord. That's why I took off his outer garment. I'm going to make myself lighter. I'm not going to take myself so seriously before the Lord. I'm not going to walk in with the rules and the regulations that keep me all put together before the Lord. I'm going to make myself lighter before the Lord. I'm going to become even more undignified than this because here's what he was saying. He was saying, "Worship is not about me." Well, well, you see, I'm just not really wired for all that loudness. That's not really who I am. I'm a quiet, dignified person.

But it's not about you. Yeah, but I don't really even like that song we sing today. You know that one that went so fast, I couldn't even keep up with the words. Yeah, but it's not about you. Yeah, but I don't really feel it today. You know, I just kind of -- it's kind of cold, you know, and I woke up. And the kids were having a hard time, and I got here, and I had to rush in. And the seat I usually sit in, somebody else was sitting in it for goodness' sakes. Don't they know that's my seat? I don't really feel it today. I don't really want to be engaged today. I know, but it's not about you. Here's what David was saying -- literally, look at me, everybody, you got to get this. David was saying, "I'm going to get over myself, I'm going to drop my ego, and I am going to get even more, and dignified than this. I will lightly esteem myself." Now, I learned something a long, long time ago about preaching, which is a form of worship, by the way. I learned that if I come out trying to protect myself, trying to create an image of myself, trying to impress you with myself, I will fail every single time. But if I decide somewhere back there, before walking out here, that this thing ain't about me, and I'm just going to let go and let God -- when I decide, "Hey, I'm going to bring His Word and let God do what He wants to do," when I get over myself and my own ego, you know what happens? I can deliver God's Word that transforms your lives. I got to lightly esteem myself. So let me say it the clearest, kindest, most direct way I know how, get over yourself. Get over yourself. Your little toe-tapping self, get over yourself and bring God's worship that He is worthy of receiving.

You've got to lightly esteem yourself in order to worship God in the way He wants. Let me teach you the second thing. I think about this little word "undignified," because it's not about you. But if you will worship the way David worshiped the way I'm describing today, I promise you something. Worship will lighten your load. Gosh, I want this so bad for you. I want it so bad for you because some of you, you do not know the freedom that comes in the presence of God. Some of you love Jesus, you've followed Him your whole life. Some of you are good, you read your Bible. You come every Sunday to church, you're on a volunteer team, some of you are in a group. That's awesome. You've been to the growth track. Heaven loves you for it. But you have yet to walk in the freedom that comes from worshiping God in His presence. In fact, I'll show you, put this back on again, because this is the way a lot of us live our lives, we're wearing a weight, and it is heavy. You're walking through some things, maybe somebody around you doesn't even know what you're walking through today, and you carried it in with you here in this place, and you live with it every day of your life, and you're like, "It's so heavy, it's so hard." This trial has burdened me. I'm way down with it, I understand, I understand, and that's why you should become even more undignified than this. Because when you are in the presence of God, worshiping God, literally the word means I'll become even more undignified than this, literally it means this, I will lighten my load. I will make myself lighter, and God has a way of meeting with His people, and in moments of worship, not when it's about you, but when it's about Him, in moments of worship you find a freedom you never knew you had, and your load gets light. So have you got a heavy burden today?

Worship Him. Worship your hands in worship to Him. If you've got a heavy burden today, lift your voice and speak the name of Jesus. If you've got a heavy burden today, if your weight feels heavy on your shoulders, then that's the moment you shout hallelujah. Our God reigns, He is worthy of all my worship. That's the moment that you enter His presence. 'Cause you gotta let the load off. (audience applauds) He's worthy of our worship. It'll lighten your load. One last thing. The Bible said that when David and the people had the ark, they're carrying the ark of the covenant of God there in God's presence. They're celebrating, they're rejoicing. They're coming now to the city of Jerusalem. They are fired up. And they are worshiping. They are rejoicing. And it's about an eight mile trek. They're going eight miles with the ark. And the Bible says they took six steps. Everybody remember it? They took six steps. And David says, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait. Put down the ark 'cause we're gonna build an altar. And we're gonna sacrifice a bull and a lamb and we,

we're a calve and we are going to worship six steps for eight miles. Let's sacrifice. So some scholars believe that they actually did this every six steps. Every six steps from where they were, the house of Obededim to the holy city of Jerusalem, they were so overwhelmed and overcome by the presence of God. Every six steps, they stopped, they sat down the ark, they built an altar and they sacrificed another animal. Every six steps, that's eight miles, 18,000 steps, three thousand sacrifices. Every six steps. Would you think about that with me for a moment? What would it look like in your life in mine? If we worshiped every six steps, not every seven days, no, no, no, no, no. If we worshiped every six steps, what would that look like? To which you might say, pastor Stu, hold up, wait a minute. If I worshiped every six steps, if I stopped every six steps to think about God, to worship God, to praise God, if I stopped every six steps, all I would be doing with my whole day and my whole life is worshiping God. Which I would say, maybe that's the point. Maybe that's the point of worship, that worship isn't some service we attend,

but that worship is the life we live. That's why it might get loud. 'Cause I don't wait until Sunday to worship. I'm gonna worship every six steps. I'm gonna worship Him in the morning and I'm gonna worship Him in the car and I'm gonna worship Him at the parking slops and I'm gonna worship Him in the traffic jam and I'm gonna worship Him at the front door and I'm gonna worship Him in the meeting and I'm gonna worship Him in the classroom and I'm gonna worship Him in the shipyard and I'm gonna worship Him in the operating room. I'm gonna worship Him every six steps. He's worthy of my worship. I'm gonna get undignified and worship Him today. Come on, you wanna count 'em out with me? Six steps, let's go. Here's one. ♪ Here's a new year to come ♪ ♪ Here's three ♪ ♪ Need it on the throne above ♪ ♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ It's mine ♪ ♪ I ain't just one chance ♪ ♪ God, we're running ♪ ♪ To master, master, master, master ♪ ♪ I'm gonna worship Him ♪ ♪ Here's a new year to come ♪ ♪ See it on the throne above ♪

♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪ ♪ Right, just one chance ♪ ♪ But who knows ♪ and going to one who was and is to come We'll see it on the throne of the Holy, Holy, the Christ has won and the shame is blood You prove to us, the Father's love Jesus Christ, we lift it up Who else is worthy, who else is worthy There is no one, only you Jesus, who else is worthy Who else is worthy, there is no one, only you Jesus There is no one, only you Jesus, there is no one, only you Jesus [Music]