Sermon Tone Analysis
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(ESV)
Introduction:
Meaningful Worship
24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price.
I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.”
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
Introduction:
I went down to Debbie Dinsmore’s store to buy some flowers for my wife for our anniversary.
She loves red roses.
Debbie had some roses that were near the end of their life and in her eyes, did not meet up to the standards she uses when she sells flowers.
They looked good to me.
She offered to give them to me.
I insisted on paying.
Getting free flowers for my wife for her anniversary would feel like stealing cemetery flowers and giving them to her.
They cost someone something, but not me.
We bartered a deal and I walked out with some beautiful roses.
When I read this passage, I felt blessed.
I had accidently acted in the spirit of the worship that David had toward God.
David had commanded a census.
There is something wrong with what David did.
I am unsure of his exact sin.
I do know that David sinned.
He said so in verse 10.
(ESV) —10 But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people.
And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done.
But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
David realizes his sin and wants to give God an offering.
He offers Araunah a good price for a threshing floor.
A threshing floor was a hard piece of ground suitable for separating the seed from a plant.
It was too hard to grow anything, but perfect for pounding out the seed.
David realizes his sin and wants to give God an offering.
He offers Araunah a good price for a threshing floor.
A threshing floor was a hard piece of ground suitable for separating the seed from a plant.
It was too hard to grow anything, but perfect for pounding out the seed.
Araunah didn’t want to sell this price of land.
He was willing to give him oxen for the sacrifice and cut up the threshing sledges and yokes that the oxen wore for the wood for an altar.
David insisted on buying this small plot of land.
(ESV) —24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price.
I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.”
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
Meaningful worship can be measured by the sacrifices we make.
Meaningful worship, meaningful love, meaningful participation can be measured in part by the sacrifices we make.
David illustrates the principle that true worship involves cost.
How much do you love your husband or wife?
Ephesians measures the love of a man for his wife by his willingness to sacrifice for her as Christ did for the church.
How much do you love your children?
Many parents will put their own lives on hold in order to sacrificially help their children get ahead academically, in sports, in jobs.
Some will help a child with student loans or give the down payment for the first home.
Some will refuse to work overtime so they can have time with families.
How much do you love your job?
Those who love their jobs are apt to sacrifice family and children in order to succeed.
How much do we love God?
If I were to ask you to identify someone you know who loves God, I will guarantee that you will identify a person who has made sacrifices because of their worship of him.
David wanted his worship to be meaningful.
He wanted to pick up the whole cost.
This is not a universal principle.
Sometimes it is right to share the cost of worship with another person.
This passage is a reflection of David’s heart.
He wants meaningful worship and wants to be the one who pays the cost.
Problem:
We face two problems when it comes to meaningful worship.
The sacrificial aspect of this worship is difficult and it is difficult for two reasons.
First, it goes against our nature.
Second, it not only goes against our nature, but our nature often wins the battle.
Christ:
Jesus was able to maintain keep a strong and positive relationship with his Father.
Jesus was temped in all ways like we are, yet without sin.
He faced the dangers of self and he knew the battle first hand.
How hard was it humanly to minister to crowds when he and his disciples tried to get away from the crowds?
How hard was it to return to Nazareth, his home city to his home synagogue and be blasted by the home crowd?
Several elements came into his life that caused him to stand strong.
I want to mention two of them.
First, he always wanted to do the Father’s will.
(ESV) —38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.
Second, he was willing to be humbled.
(ESV) —8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Why?
One reason is because it is the will of his Father to die for us.
He was willing to do this Father’s will.
He was willing to do his Father’s will even if it meant humiliation.
He was willing to do his Father’s will even if it meant death.
What we must do:
If we are going to engage in meaningful worship, we must let Jesus be Lord of our lives.
As Jesus always did the will of the Father, we must also do the will of Jesus.
He is Lord whether or not we “make him” Lord.
Yet the fact that he is Lord doesn’t automatically mean that we are living like he wants us to live.
We sing the song, “I have decided to follow Jesus…” David realized his sin and he said, “I need to change.
I need to go in a different direction.
I’ve blown it.
I need to come back to God and let him know that I know I am wrong and then make it right.”
Jesus has paid for all of our sins.
We are in his family.
We don’t need to offer up sacrifices to God.
Jesus did that for us.
But in order to enter into a meaningful relationship with God we need to let Jesus control our lives.
Second, we need to respond to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
Have you ever been thinking about something and had a verse of scripture, a line from a sermon, or a verse from a song come into your head?
Listen carefully.
That is God talking to you.
Jesus is trying to tell you something.
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