Crazy Love

 

January 17, 2021                      NOTES NOT EDITED
Crazy Love
2Samuel 6:12-23

SIS—“Crazy love” is the only “sane” response to a God’s immense majesty and absolute holiness. 

In English “crazy” means, “senseless; impractical; totally unsound, such as a crazy scheme.” Informally, the English word means, “intensely enthusiastic; passionately excited, as in, crazy about baseball.”

However you define it, “crazy,” definitely refers to something “out of the ordinary.”  I want to talk about a “crazy love” for God this morning as I see an example in our text in 2Samuel 6.  David’s response to the return of the Ark of the Covenant qualifies as “crazy love.”  It is a bit impractical, seemingly unsound (at least in the world’s eyes), and definitely intensely enthusiastic and passionately excited.  I think when we examine this text together we will see that “crazy love” is the only “sane” response to a God’s immense majesty and absolute holiness.

The longer I live, the less I am satisfied with simply “going to church”—even a great church like ours.  As I contemplate the immensity of God, I can’t help but recognize my own cosmic insignificance.  A great theologian once wrote, “No one is ever truly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God” (Sproul).

This is the point of our text.  The Ark of the Covenant was the most significant artifact in the life of the nation of Israel.  It was a gold-plated chest standing as the crown jewel of the Tabernacle, and later the Temple.  It sat alone, veiled behind a curtain in the Holy of Holies---the innermost section of the Holy Sanctuary.  In this Most Holy Place, a priest could only enter once a year, after a strict protocol assuring his righteousness before God.  Should any part of the ritual of Yom Kippur be violated, the High Priest would be struck dead.  And, nobody could go in to get him.  So, they would tie bells to his priestly garment and a rope to his foot.  If the bells stopped ringing, they would pull his dead body out.

The lid of the sacred Ark of the Covenant was place where the very Presence of God resided—God’s awesome holiness rested between two golden cherubim on the lid of the Ark, called the Mercy Seat 

It is impossible for me, or any human, to explain the power and holiness that the Ark of the Covenant represented to the people of Israel.  It was this awesome sense of the Presence of Almighty God that led to David’s “crazy” behavior when the Ark of the Covenant returned from the house of Abinadab where it had been parked for two decades.  While David’s behavior seemed crazy to some of those in the crowd that day, it becomes clear from our text that “crazy love is the only sane response to the awesome majesty and absolute holiness of Almighty God.”

Let’s read this text together:  2Samuel 6:12-23.

Our text provides us a glimpse into why “crazy love” is the only sane response to the immense majesty and absolute holiness of God.  There are three realizations that develop this theme of crazy love: It acknowledges the Imcomprehensible MAJESTY of Almighty God; it acknowledges the Absolute HOLINESS of Almighty God; and it acknowledges the Inevitable SCORN the world has for those that radically, passionately and publicly display love to Almighty God.

In order to fully appreciate our text, let’s briefly scan the history of the Ark of the Covenant, and it’s place in Jewish life.

The Ark was commissioned, along with the Tabernacle, by Yahweh as His people “exited” bondage in Egypt and entered the Wilderness on the way to the Promised land.  The Ark was instrumental in the Conquest of the Land of Canaan by Joshua.  The most important battle, the Battle of Jericho, was accomplished by the Israelites simply by blowing horns while marching around the wall carrying the Ark.  In time, the Ark would be captured by the pagan Philistines (1Sam. 4).  It was carried off to the Philistine capital of Ashdod, but the Philistines discovered they would have been better off not messing with it. The morning after the Ark was placed in the temple of the pagan temple of Dagon, the Philistines found their idol face down.  The set Dagon back up, but the next morning they found the idol decapitated.  A few days later the people of Ashdod were struck with a plague.  They moved the ark to another city in Gath (Goliath’s hometown), but every where the Ark went, the people were struck with plagues.  After seven months, the Philistines decided to send the Ark back to Israel, along with gifts of gold.  For over 70 years (some estimated as long as 100 years) the Ark had been cared for at the home of a man named, Abinadab.  That is where we pick up our story today.  The Ark’s journeys are not yet finished. As it was being moved from Abinadab’s house to Jerusalem, Uzzah, Abinadab’s son reached out to steady it on the cart and was summarily struck dead by God. This shocked everyone and for a brief time the Ark rested at the home of Obed-edom.  In Jerusalem David made a tent for the Ark.  The Ark would then be moved into the First Temple (Solomon’s).  During the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon, no mention of the Ark is made in the inventory of Temple items carried away.  Many theories have been advanced in regard to the Ark being hidden away somewhere beneath the Temple Mount.  The ancient Ethiopian church claims they have the Ark.  The Rebuilt Temple (Second Temple) makes no mention of the Ark being in the rebuilt Holy of Holies.  The same is true for the Temple at the time of Herod (Jesus).  The Holy of Holies was an empty room. 

So where is this Holiest of Holy Artifacts?  A fabrication so holy that it decapitated a pagan god and brought plagues upon pagan people who brought it disrespect?  Did it crumble into the dust of history, forgotten by God and man?  As I said, it disappeared at the time of the Babylonians. The Ethiopian Church says they have the Ark which is sequestered in a tent guarded by a monk called, “The Keeper of the Ark.”  This claim has thus been impossible to verify, for no one but the monk is allowed into the tent (copied). Contrary to the popularity of Indiana Jones, nobody has ever located this Sacred Chest. 

Archaeologist Leen Ritmeyer, who has conducted research on the Temple Mount and inside the Dome of the Rock claims to have found the spot on the Mount where the Holy of Holies was located during the First Temple period. In the precise center of that spot is a section of bedrock cut out in dimensions that may match those of the Ark as reported in Exodus. This section of the mount, incidentally, is the one from which the creation of the world began, according to midrash (T. Kedoshim, 10). Based on his findings, Ritmeyer has postulated that the Ark may be buried deep inside the Temple Mount. However, it is unlikely that any excavation will ever be allowed on the Mount by the Muslim or Israeli authorities (copied).

It is important to trace the history of the Ark to understand how significant it was—and, I believe still is—to the Jewish people.  It is in this context that David expresses what can only be described as “Crazy Love” when the Ark arrives in Jerusalem.  Now, let’s examine more closely just what “Crazy Love” really entails.

1.  First, Crazy Love acknowledges the Incomprehensible
     MAJESTY of Almighty God

Now, when it comes to describing God’s majesty, words simply are not adequate.  The word, “incomprehensible” is one attempt.  You can add, “unfathomable, impenetrable, inexplicable, inconceivable, stunning, or perplexing” and you will still not capture the essence of God’s majestic glory.  You could add, “immense, vast, enormous, immeasurable, incalculable, or colossal,” and still come up short in trying to describe God’s majesty. 

In fact, even if you could collect everything that exists in the cosmos (or ever has existed or ever will exist) and you presented this before men you would not have fully described God’s majesty.  It always brings me back to “incomprehensible, or immense.”  

The fault of people, all people including those who have been saved, can be directly correlated to a faulty or incomplete view of God.  If we truly comprehended the awesome majesty of God even for one second, it would radically alter our worship and service to Him.  We get just the ever so slight glimpse of God’s majesty in the powerful Presence of God associated with the Ark of the Covenant.  Go back a to verse 5 and see at how the Ark of God so impressed people:

⁵ David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with all kinds of fir wood instruments,  lyres, harps, tambourines, sistrums,  and cymbals. 

Then, look at verses 12-15 

¹² It was reported to King David: “The Lord has blessed Obed-edom’s family and all that belongs to him because of the ark of God.” So David went and had the ark of God brought up from Obed-edom’s house to the city of David with rejoicing.  ¹³ When those carrying the ark of the Lord advanced six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.  ¹⁴ David was dancing  with all his might before the Lord wearing a linen ephod.  ¹⁵ He and the whole house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of the ram’s horn. 

When the Ark of the Covenant representing God’s majesty and power came upon the scene, an almost riotous celebration erupted.  David, the stately King of Israel, could not contain himself.  He threw off all but his undergarments and danced in the street. He cast off the royal robes of a king and danced as a commoner.

The people recognized the awesome, incomprehensible majesty of God and they could not contain themselves.  David’s view of God, and the people of Israel, was such that they could not contain themselves in His Presence.

Nothing is more overwhelming than to simply examine the “majesty” of God’s creation.  From the immensity of the cosmos to the intricacy of the quantum world of the atom, God’s majesty is on display.  This is why the Psalmist declared:  “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands.” (Psalm 19:1)

Man simply does not have the capacity to grasp the “Immensity” of the Work of God’s hands.  Scientists roughly estimate that the universe contains 100 billion galaxies, each a million-trillion miles wide! The number of stars is estimated to be over a billion-trillion. Travelling at the speed of light (186,000 m/s) we could circle the earth seven times in one second.  Travelling at the speed of light it would take over 28 billion years to reach the edge . . . and science tells us the edge is always expanding.  If our visible universe is so absolutely “incomprehensible,” how could we ever believe we could comprehend the God Who created it.

And think of the incomprehensible power of Almighty God.  According to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, E-mc², just the energy contained in one grain of salt would power an average household for nearly half a year!  Consider also the incomprehensible majesty of God’s wisdom. 

George Church and Sri Kosuri, a bioengineer and geneticist at Harvard’s Wyss Institute have successfully stored 5.5 petabits of data — around 700 terabytes — in a single gram of DNA, smashing the previous DNA data density record by a thousand times.

That is roughly the equivalent of 1400 times the information available on a typical, full computer hard-drive on 1 gram of DNA!

The Ark of the Covenant represented the real presence of Almighty God—a God of absolutely “incomprehensible majesty!”  How is it possible that anybody experiencing God’s Incomprehensible Majesty could do anything but express “Crazy Love!”

Now, contrast that with how most church services go.  It’s a little depressing.  We seem to settle for so little.  We seem to be so content for just a hor d’oeuvre when God wants to give us a full course meal 

When you consider God’s Incomprehensible Majesty, would you not agree we need a little more “crazy love” expressed for God in our lives and in our worship?   Second, Crazy Love acknowledges

2. the absolute HOLINESS of God (6:6-11)

It is possible for a person to be awed by the incomprehensible majesty of Almighty God, but not fully acknowledge the absolute holiness of God.  This is a grievous error.  This is an eternally fatal mistake.

One of the hardest stories in all the Bible is found in 6-11:

⁶ When they came to Nacon’s threshing floor, Uzzah reached out to the ark of God and took hold of it because the oxen had stumbled. ⁷ Then the Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah,  and God struck him dead on the spot for his irreverence,  and he died there next to the ark of God. ⁸ David was angry because of the Lord’s outburst against Uzzah, so he named that place an Outburst Against Uzzah,  [Perez Uzzah] as it is today. ⁹ David feared the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?”

For many people it might seem like God “over-reacted” a little bit in this situation.  Uzzah meant well.  He was sincere.  He actually did a good thing to keep the Ark of the Covenant from crashing to the ground, didn’t he?  How could God punish him by striking him dead?

This story underscores the seriousness of understanding the “holiness” of God.  This text highlights the “carelessness” of mankind in regard to disobedience and sin.  People tend to have an “entitlement” mentality when it comes to God.  Many people seem to think that since God is All-loving, He has to give them a pass on their sin.  There is a common saying from Latin that has become a part of our daily communication.  The Roman historian, Seneca The Younger said, “Errare humanum est” meaning, “to err is simply human.” Later the phrase, “ignocere divinum est,” or “to forgive is divine,” came into common usage. In other words, “sin is not big deal.”

This is a quaint statement oft-repeated, but full of grievous error.  It represents a cavalier attitude toward sin and a careless attitude in regard to the holiness of God.  This passage highlights the danger of a careless attitude in regard to our responsibility to a Holy God 

David was careless.  The Ark should never have been placed upon the ox cart.  The Law of God was very specific in regard to the Ark’s transportation  (Exodus 25:12-14):

¹² Cast four gold rings for it and place them on its four feet, two rings on one side and two rings on the other side. ¹³ Make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. ¹⁴ Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark in order to carry the ark with them.

There is no mention of using an “ox cart for convenience.” 

Uzzah was careless.  There was a strict admonition that nobody but a ritually clean priest in the performance of his duties could touch the Ark—under penalty of death.  No loopholes.  No amendments.  God said the penalty for violating this command would be death.  We need to be reminded often that the “penalty for disobeying God is death—physical and eternal.  Romans 6:23 says,

“The wages of sin is death”—all the years of inflation have not changed the wages of sin one iota.

Uzzah was careless in regard to God’s holiness.  He decided that God did not mean what He said.  He disobeyed a direct order of God and paid for it with His life.

Those who presume upon God’s goodness thinking God will “overlook” their sin have a rude awakening coming.  Likewise, those who believe that God’s “love” somehow trumps His “holiness” are in for a rude awakening.

This passage provides a “short course on the holiness of God.”  In verse 5 we see that holiness is the true foundation for “real happiness.”  In verses 6-7, and 13, bestows upon us a serious responsibility. Verses 10-12 show us that holy living brings tremendous blessings to our families.  In verse 17-19, we learn that holiness facilitates true fellowship with both man and God.  This entire passage is a short course on the holiness of God and the extreme importance God places upon holy living.

Make no mistake about it:  carelessness in regard to your responsibility to a Holy God has devastating consequences—often eternal consequences.  The Bible says 

^{Hebrews 10:    26} For if we deliberately sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,  ²⁷ but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.

Then, in verse 31 the Word reinforces the warning in regard to carelessness about God’s holiness:  ³¹ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!

People who truly come to understand that an absolutely holy God, has made provisions to deal with our sin so that we would not have to pay the penalty of eternal death, tend to be “crazy about loving God.”

Crazy Love develops when one understands the incomprehensible majesty of God, and the absolute holiness of God.   There is another realization that surfaces in reading this text in regard to “Crazy Love.”

3.  Crazy Love endures the inevitable SCORN of the world.

The prospect of the Ark being returned to Jerusalem, the City of God, caused joyous pandemonium as we read earlier.  In particular, David went a little crazy when he realized the Ark was coming home to Jerusalem which would forever seal that City as the City of God.

The Ark had been captured by the Philistines years earlier as I pointed out a few minutes ago.  For over 70 years, the Ark had been in the residence of a man called, Abinadab.  When Saul was King, he simply left it there.  Now, under David the Philistines were no longer a threat, and David wanted to return the Ark to Jerusalem, his headquarters.  I’ve mentioned the joyous celebration that was taking place over the return of the Ark, but I’m not sure we totally grasp how “crazy” this made the children of Israel—especially David. 

But, not everybody was into the celebration.  Look at verse 16:

⁶ As the ark of the Lord was entering the city of David,  Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.  Then in verse 20 we read what happened when David got home:  ²⁰ When David returned home to bless his household,  Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him. “How the king of Israel honored himself today!” she said. “He exposed himself today in the sight of the slave girls of his subjects like a vulgar person would expose himself.”

Let me pause a minute on those two words, “expose himself.”  Michal meant this as a derogatory remark, but I think there is an application we can make in regard to a positive aspect of our worship of Almighty God.  In order for us to truly worship God we have to “expose ourselves,” that is, we must become a little bit “vulnerable” to God before others.  Many people are too uptight to even raise hands, let alone “dance in a sheer linen ephod.” 

The word “expose” literally means to “take off, like removing a garment.”  But, there is a spiritual application here also.  To expose oneself can mean to “make oneself vulnerable.”

Worship is a matter of vulnerability—of being completely open to God; of even looking a bit “crazy” to others.  This is not something I’ve seen in many worship meetings in the U.S.  I did see it when I was a member of a church in Hawaii.  I did see this type of complete openness to God when I was ministering in a slum in Guatemala.  But, I don’t see a lot of “exposing of ourselves” in our worship services today.  

In his book, “Crazy Love,”  Francis Chan says:  “I hope [this book] affirms your desire for ‘more God’—even if you are surrounded by people who feel they have ‘enough God.’”

The fact is many people are like David’s wife, Michal.  They are offended by the openness that some people display in worship.  Michal represents one of the “enough God” type of people and David represents the “more God” type of people.  I currently find myself acting like an “enough God” person when a deeply desire to be a “more God” kind of person.  But, like many, I have inhibitions!  I don’t want people making fun of me or calling me a “Jesus Freak” or a “religious fanatic.”

Funny how being a “fanatic” is great when it has to do with NASCAR, football, or other past times—but fanaticism is out of bounds when it comes to Jesus.  We don’t want anybody to think we are “crazy in love” with Jesus.

It is interesting that when people were attacking Paul he referred to being “crazy in love” with Jesus (2Cor. 5:12):

¹² Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. ¹³ If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit (NLT)

David’s wife, Michal (who had been given to David by her father Saul when he was king) objected to David’s “foolish” (some translate this word, vulgar) activity of dancing in the streets like a commoner for all to see wearing only a thin linen ephod.  King’s did not usually dance in the street.  It was considered, undignified.

I’m afraid that the pendulum has swung too far the other way in regard to most modern worship:  I think we are too dignified.   I can guarantee you that if you decide to practice “crazy love” in your relationship with Jesus two things are going to happen:  1) God is going to immensely bless your life and bless others through your life, and 2) religious people are going to criticize you.

It’s inevitable:  living a life of crazy love for Jesus and the world will give you its scorn and condemnation—especially those who are religious.  Here’s something else even more troubling:  if you catch fire with a “Crazy Love” for Jesus, the first to scorn you will likely be those in the church.

Throughout the Bible, God’s leaders (those who accepted the call to be the foot soldiers for God) have endured scorn from others.  Each time, scorn resulted in punishment.  In our passage today, Michal scorned David, and would never bear a child because of it (v23).  In Genesis, Miriam scorned Moses and Aaron.  She was struck with leprosy. Some youth scorned and made fun of Elisha the prophet.  A bear came out of the woods and ate them (*****).  Being “crazy in love” with Jesus will bring you the scorn of the world.  You need to trust that God will take care of the scorners on your behalf—you just keep dancing in the streets for Him!

I wish I had more time to really get into this message on “Crazy Love.”  There is so much I’d like to say.  Fortunately, Francis Chan has already said much of what needs to be said in that regard.  I’ve made available copies of his book in the back.  It would be a great read if you aren’t afraid of getting your “religious feelings hurt” a little bit.

Crazy love” is the only “sane” response to a God’s immense majesty and absolute holiness.

Let’s go crazy together.