Genuine Worship- Part 1- Who We are and What We've Done...

    I shared this thought/message in the form of a sermon one Sunday night. To give it a little introduction, I was contemplating worship and I wanted to give it a personal definition to where I could really grasp what it is. Weeks went by, and I was preaching through a series with the youth entitled "Blueprint" where we covered the foundations of our faith, and the time came for "worship." So, I sat down and contemplated what worship is. The first draft of the definition was "When we realize who we are and what we have done, and then realize who God is and what He has done." It wasn't a bad definition...but still something was missing. Later, I was on the phone with my best friend, Jared Carter, and I told him the definition. Then we brainstormed and added a little more to the definition which, I feel, gave a strong ending to the definition. The revised definition was, "When we realize who we are and what we have done, who God is and what He has done, and we live accordingly." Then I wrote it down, and preached from 2 Samuel 11 & 12, which is the story of David and Bathsheba. This is a summarized version.

  GENUINE WORSHIP
     ''When we realize who we are and what we have done...'', what does that truly mean? This means that we must come face to face with our complete helplessness. Look at 2 Samuel 11:1...and I think we will see an example of just how sin can overtake our lives.

11:1     In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

That phrase, but David remained at Jerusalem. What does this tell us? David was not where he should have been.  The Kings were off at war fighting with the soldiers, but David remained in Jerusalem.

1. David was not where he should have been.
Often times, sin will overtake us because we are simply not where we should be...whether that be spiritually or physically.

2. David dwelt on temptation.
In verse two we see the temptation of the Enemy creep in.

11:2   It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful...David has a choice at this point. Bathsheba bathing on a roof was not an attempt on her part to lead the King into temptation, but rather she was simply taking a shower. This was not an uncommon practice in this time. David should have looked away and retreated. He had the choice to flee from sin, but instead we have verse 3...

11:3 And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

So David, being King, could have multiple wives...it is not a suggested thing at this time, but it is also not forbidden. He certainly had the means to support them. David is not desiring to sin at this point, it was common for a King to seek a wife. We see that sin was not his desire because he did inquire as to whether she was married or not. Then they tell him that she is the wife of Uriah the Hittite. This should have been where David dropped it. He should have said, "Ok," and walked away...but no. He chose to dwell on the temptation. Instead of taking Bathsheba as a wife, he now desired to simply take Bathsheba.

3. David caved to temptation.
We cannot control temptation...temptation will come. We can however choose to resist it by not dwelling on it. If we don't dwell on it and instead we seek God, then surely we will not cave to temptation. David, however, did the opposite. He dwelt on his temptation, therefore he caved.

11:4-5  So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. 5 And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

4. Sin has consequences.
In my own experience, I have seen and felt the consequences of my sin. I have felt the broken heart, the contrite spirit. I have seen hearts that I have broken because of my actions. I have been to the pit of despair. These experiences have served to teach me that my sin has repercussions. There is two ways to go about the consequences. 1.) Man up or 2.) Cover up. David has yet another choice. There is a great consequence to his sin in the form of a child. David can either say, "Yes. I had an affair. She is pregnant. I was wrong. I beg forgiveness. Now, I will raise this child," or he can say go with option 2 which is, "The baby is not mine. I am not the father. I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

THE COVER-UP
David knows he's in for some serious consequences, so he decides with the cowardly second choice. He calls in Uriah from the battlefield and tries to get him to have intercourse with his wife so that the conception will seem to be his. (This is a summary of verses 6-26). What David did not expect was that Uriah would be a man of character and integrity. He was a man who was not only loyal to his soldier-brethren and his nation, but also to his King, David. He would not, even while intoxicated, sleep with his wife while the other men were out fighting. David sent a death sentence (by way of Uriah, mind you) to the commander. The commander did as was told and withdrew soldiers and left not only Uriah, but other good soldiers, in harm's way. There Uriah perished along with other men.

5. Your Sin affects others
This is not longer David's secret sin. Men have now died. Bathsheba is mourning the loss of her husband. Now, before we begin to judge Bathsheba, remember that she could have been killed for refusing to have sex with David (yes...she could have refused...I got that). So she is mourning, the family of the other soldiers are mourning...and David still covers up. He takes her to be his wife quickly. Was this genuine or an attempt to look good to the public eye? We are not 100% sure, but it adds to his cover up. He did not reveal the truth.

We, like David, have fallen to the temptations of sin. We have caved just like Him. The first step in true worship is realizing who we are (fallen man) and what we have done (sinned against God).

PART TWO COMING LATER TONIGHT... WHO GOD IS AND WHAT HE HAS DONE!
READ 2 SAMUEL 12