2 Samuel 6
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. If you will grab a Bible and go to Second Samuel, chapter six. We're working our way through the book of Second Samuel. We're going to go through all of chapter six today. Every culture and people throughout human history has had things that they considered sacred, things that they considered hallowed, that they revered. Our culture is unique in this regard because American culture kind of doesn't. We don't have a whole lot that we really revere, not culturally. America itself doesn't give that to you. You may say that you have something that you consider sacred, or this other person has something considered sacred. And we're taught that that's okay for them, but. But we aren't taught that we have to have anything that is sacred. And when it comes to politics and science and school and the things that you kind of enter into in the public sphere, you're basically told, like, hey, keep that to yourself. That's not for this place, for us to have things that we hold as sacred. And I think our culture thinks that they've successfully done that. The problem is that when you remove the pinnacle, if you take God out of that place, something still has to go there. And so what our culture has placed there is humanity. We consider man sacred. Another way to put that would be the sanctity of the self. That's the culture that we live in. Those are the lines you can't cross. Those are the things that are untouchable is your self. What do you believe about what you want for life? What's inside of you? This is why we don't look to God to direct our lives. We look in our hearts, we sing a song. Sometimes animals help. And then we go express ourselves. We go find out what's true about us. And we, you know, export that to the world. And the only real rule is that I can't stop you from being yourself and you can't stop me from being myself. What's right for me is right for me. The only problem is I can't have something that crosses the line into harming you. Carl Truman, in his book the Rise of the Modern Self, he says it this way. He says the only moral criterion, it's the rise and triumph of the modern self. Sorry, I realized I said that wrong. The only moral criterion that can be applied to behavior. So how do we know something is right? How do we know something's good is whether it conduces to the feeling of well, being in the individuals concerned. Does it feel right? Does it make you happy? And if what you're doing makes you happy, then good, as long as you're not making someone else unhappy. That's the place where we have conflict. But we've all agreed that the self is central. The reason I'm saying all of that is because in this text today, we're going to see the conflict in two instances between a self centered, a man centered view of the world and a God centered view of the world. Not only we're going to see it in the text, but if we're, I think, honest while we're working through the text, we're going to feel it in the text, we're going to feel it in ourselves as we go through. There's going to be some places where we realize that because of the culture that we're in, we are in tension with this text. And my hope for you, for all of us today, is that we will leave less self centered and more God centered, that we will have removed ourselves and rightfully see God there. And if you love Jesus, you want that, so you should be on board with what we're trying to accomplish today. And if you are not a Christian, you need that. Even if you don't like the idea, it's actually better. So hopefully that's enough to make you want to read the Bible with me. Let's go. Second Samuel, chapter six, verse one. David is king. He set himself up. Now he's in the city of David. It says,
> Again David gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.
> And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the LORD of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim.
Okay, this is the first time we've learned about the Ark of the Covenant. Read about the Ark of the Covenant for 20 years now. For us, it was last fall sometime. But for those of you who have had a hard time with first and Second Samuel, it may have felt like 20 years ago, I don't know. But we, we were in 1st Samuel at the beginning. If you'll remember where the Ark was, it was in the tabernacle when Samuel was little. And then Hophni and Phinehas decided to use it as like a good luck war totem. And so they took it into battle to secure victory, which is a. An incorrect use of the ark, unless God tells you to use it that way. So God did not honor this. Hoffney and Phinehas die, Eleazar dies. Then the. The ark is taken. The Philistines take it, and they're going to use it as a trophy, which is an incorrect way to use the ark. So it goes really poorly for them, and God begins to curse them. So they start swapping it from town to town, being like, hey, you use the trophy for a while. Let your people die. And then eventually the town say, stop, we're not going to accept it. Send it back. So they put it on a cart and hook it to cows. And they just said, if this really is God at work, the cows will know where to go. They begin to bellow, and they walk uphill immediately back to Israel, and they're like, oh, they knew where to go. This was from God. So they send it back. When it gets to Kirioth Jearim, which is also baal, Judah town with two names, they uncover it, which is an incorrect use of the ark, and many of them die. So they cover it back up. They stick it in Abinadab's house, who is a Levite, and they don't mess with it for 20 years. And I think part of the reason they don't mess with it is I don't think Saul cared about it because it didn't help win. Oh, this is. This would have been longer than 20 years. It's been gone for a long time. It didn't help win. But David cares because it's not just about war. He goes to get it, to bring it back because he's setting up the city that's going to belong to God. He wants the ark there, so they go to get it. Okay, that's what we're doing. It's been in Abinadab's house,
> They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill.
> And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, and Ahio went before the ark, and David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.
So this is how it made it to that town. So they put it on a cart and they're bringing it out. That's how it got here. That's how they're going to leave with it. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab were driving the new cart with the Ark of God. And Ahio went before the ark, and David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. So stringed instruments, percussion instruments, instruments. And they're all celebrating loudly. This is a. I mean, a procession excitedly working their way towards Jerusalem. They have the ark. They're going to move it. There's thousands of people here. This is a big deal. And they're celebrating. It's loud, it's festive. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nakin, Uzzah put out his hand to the Ark of God and took hold of it. For the oxen stumbled and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah. And God struck him down there because of his error. And he died there beside the Ark of God. Loud, festive, joyful, marching along. We're going to take it up to Jerusalem. The oxen stumble. Uzzah, who's walking along with the ark, steadies it or catches it and then dies. The text does not tell us whether or not he just fell over dead, like his life just left him, or if there was this was accompanied by some sort of noise or display, whether this was loud or quiet. David is going to call it Perez Uzzah. They rename that place, and that Perez means breach or outburst, which could be referring to God's anger, but could also be referring to what it was like when it happened, or both. Whether he touches it and just falls, or whether he touches it and something happens, the music stops, everyone stops, the procession stops. And suddenly it's like, what. What just happened here? And David has a response that I think is very common and that we see culturally quite often as well. It says this.
> And David was angry because the LORD had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzza to this day.
David's response is anger. And I think we see that all the time. I think we feel that at times that even if you've read this story before, I think sometimes what happens if you've grown up in the church or you've been around the church for a while, if you've read a lot, you just kind of sometimes move past this stuff. Like you start reading, you know what's going to happen, you just kind of work your way past it. You don't really think about it. But there is something in us that goes, He, he touched the ark to help was going to fall. Doesn't it feel a little like God overreacted? Should he die for that? Now I will say the ark should not have been on a cart. Uzzah and Ahio were Levites. They should have known that you carry the ark. That's in the law. They should have known that Levites carry the ark. They're often referred to as the those who carry the ark, not those who haul the ark on a cart. It's a. It was built in. It had poles. I think it had the poles on it, because otherwise they would have had to have touched it to get it on the cart. They just didn't carry it. They were traveling with it the way the Philistines had traveled with it. David was king. He should have known this. He was supposed to have a copy of the law that he made himself for himself so that he would know the law, so that he would follow the law. But they are not doing what they're supposed to. But there's still something that goes, yeah, but should he die? And I think culturally, we feel that a lot. And you'll hear people say stuff like that about God. They'll say, well, if God's like that, I'm not going to follow him. If that's the way he treats people, if that's the way he is, who does he think he is to act that way? I've seen interviews with famous people where they said, you know, interview. He said, you're a famous atheist. What happens if you die and you see God? He said, I'll start by saying, how dare you? And there's this general tone of who does God think he is? And the reason sometimes we feel that or think that is because we have placed humanity as central. And therefore God has rules he must follow in regard to us. We're first, we're primary. So God can't step over bounds when it is in regard to us. Not he's first, he's primary, and we have rules in regard to him. We. We read this, and we didn't immediately go, don't touch the ark. We went, don't kill Uza. Because there's something that we think is sacred, and it's not God. It's. It should baffle us. It should resonate with you. It should. It should bother you that we think that Uzzah should have more consequences from touching a hot stove than from touching the ark of the covenant of the Lord who sits enthroned above the cherubim, That we think there should be more consequences to simple things in life than to crossing a line to where God in His holiness has made his presence known. So he responds with anger. And I think that's a normal response. I don't think it's the correct one. Then
> And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and he said, "How can the ark of the LORD come to me?"
He responds in the way that I think is the appropriate response. And David was afraid of the Lord that day. And he said, how can the Ark of the Lord come to me? This is when the Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That when you realize he's different than you, bigger than you, more glorious than you, more dangerous than you, you've begun to understand the world. That's why it's the beginning of wisdom. And so David, they now all of everybody's eyes. In everybody's eyes. The Ark of the Covenant is different now. Everybody has backed up and now everyone is treating it with respect and reverence. This isn't the same type of celebration anymore. And David says, how? How can it come to me? We're not taking this to the city of David. If Uzzah is going to die, I'm not. I can't. If he dies for touching it, I probably can't get within 10. He just says, I'm not. So then it says this, which I find humorous and maybe I shouldn't.
> So David was not willing to take the ark of the LORD into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
> And the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months. And the LORD blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that he had.
I just. I wonder how that came about. This thing is dangerous. Hey Obed, we got something for you. You're going to need to store this. Don't touch it. I don't know if Obed was with him. We do find out in First Chronicles he's a Levite. That doesn't seem to apply here or matter. Maybe that's why they picked him. But if that's why they picked him, they don't tell us that in Second Samuel. It just seems like David was like. And then they were just somebody's house was close and they were like, here you go. And they give it to him. So that's what happens.
> And it was told King David, "The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him because of the ark of God." So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing.
So they said, hey, just want to let you know Obed edom's doing great because of the ark. And he's like, let's go get it seems as if he was worried that maybe God was going to punish. God was upset about how they'd handle it. It was going to go poorly. He gives it Obed edom. It goes well. And he goes, oh, well, then we can. That can we can get that into the city. They do. Beginning of chapter, verse 13 is very important, says this.
> And when those who bore the ark of the LORD had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling.
When those who bore the Ark of God, they're carrying it this time. So in that three month interim, they learned what they were supposed to do, or they knew it immediately and said, we shouldn't have been doing this. But we just know that this approach is different. They are now carrying the ark and it is accompanied with sacrifices. This whole procession seems more worshipful this time around and at least is trying to follow the guidelines given. So that's what's happening. It's accompanied by sacrifices. And they're going. And
> David danced before the LORD with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod.
David is celebrating. It's still worshipful, but he's dancing before the Lord with all his might. A lot of dancing, aggressive dancing. You've been at a wedding before where you saw someone dance with all their might. Like all that they could muster to dance, they were doing that. That's what David's doing. He's wearing an ephod, which is what priests wore. It's normal priestly garments. They're actually at times described as those who wear the ephod. So he's wearing priestly garments. This whole thing is more worshipful and the people would have recognized it as a priestly garment. The same way that you can, you know, play a game called Spot the Nun. And it's easy because of the way they dress. Same kind of thing. All right.
> So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the horn.
So still celebratory, joyful, and this time, though I think more worshipful. As the Ark of the Lord came into the city of David,
> Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart.
David's coming in, leading this procession, leaping, dancing with all of his might. She sees him and she hates him. Now we'll quick note to married couples, be careful the types of thoughts in your heart that you harbor towards your spouse. Be mindful of the way that you talk to yourself and think about your spouse. They are going to do annoying things at times it will feel like that's their main thing they do. But it's up to you to consistently seek good and joy and hope and love for your spouse. That's not what this passage is about, so I'm going to stop talking about it, but I just thought I'd give you that little aside.
> And they brought in the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
> And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts.
> And he distributed to all the people, to the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread and a portion of meat and a cake of raisins. Then all the people departed, each to his house.
> And David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, "How the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the servants of his servants, as one of the vulgar fellows would shamelessly uncover himself!"
> And David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the LORD—and I will celebrate before the LORD.
> I will be more lightly esteemed than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the servants of whom you spoke, by them I shall be held in honor."
> And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.
And they brought the ark, brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it. So it's been in. It had been in the tabernacle, which is a tent. David sets up a tent for it in the city of David. The tabernacle still is set up somewhere else and they don't come together until they build the temple. So just so you know, the tabernacle still somewhere else with all the instruments of the tabernacle. But the ark now is in the city of David in a tent. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. So this whole thing is worshipful. And it's unclear. We don't know if it would have been approached the same way the first time, but it certainly is now. And he blessed the people and distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed, each to his house feeds everybody bread, meat, cake of raisins. Which I learned this week that a cake of raisins is not cake with raisins in it. It is just raisins smushed together, which they loved. It was a treat to have it's high, high calorie food that they were excited about. Some of you don't like that because you don't like raisins. But they were pumped. But it's like David has this and then he gives everybody like a half rack of ribs, some cornbread and banana pudding. He just feeds everybody. It's a celebratory moment. That's what's happening here. And so they just highlight that David feeds everybody instead of just sending them home.
And David returned to bless his household. So he's blessed the people he's now going to go back bless his household. But Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet him. So he's coming back joyfully going to bless his household. She comes out to meet him and said, now we're going to read what she said in a second. But this is our second instance where we're going to see the self centered view, the man centered view, coming in contact and conflict with the God who centered view. It's on a different level than the situation we saw with Uzzah. But it's the same kind of thing at work here. And so we're going to see what she says. She says how the king of Israel honored himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants, female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself. Okay, so she says, well done. Made a big deal of yourself today, how you've honored yourself today. That's sarcasm. She doesn't mean it. Then she says, you've uncovered yourself like a shameless, vulgar fellow in front of the eyes of your female servants. Sorry, your servants. Female servants. Now, we were told what he's wearing, which is an ephod, he's not scantily clad. Ephods aren't like highly revealing outfits. It wasn't like when you went to see the priests. They were all not wearing much. They were wearing ephods. But ephods are thin linen garment, a very simple linen garment. And it was something that priests wore. It was not something a king should wear. We're also told earlier in the text when she saw him leaping and dancing, she despised him. It doesn't say when she saw him almost naked. So it's not just what he's wearing. That's what she's saying to him. But there's something else about the leaping and the dancing. And the whole thing is just dishonoring in her viewpoint. Now, I think to a king, it would look odd to see a king in an ephod. And I think in her eyes it would be very odd. It's a little bit like, because it's not a revealing outfit. But I'm going to try to help you have a connection point here. My grandmother, both my grandmothers would wear a house coat. My mom sometimes would wear a housecoat. And then if someone came around or if you went in, they'd say, I'm sorry, I'm in my house coat. Or, I can't do that, I'm in my house coat. Or, oh no, my house coat. Like that. Now a housecoat starts here Goes to here and then all the way down to your ankles. It's one of the least revealing pieces of clothing that you could possibly wear, but it feels like underwear somehow. And you don't want people to see you in your house coat. To be fair, I wouldn't want any of you to see me in a house coat. So I understand the. You know, but I think that's a little bit. What's happening here is. It's not revealing as much as what are you wearing? What is this? You're the king. And in her mind, it says that she's the daughter of Saul. It doesn't call her the wife of David, which it could say calls her the daughter of Saul. And I think that's to try to help us key in on how Saul would have handled this and how she would have understood what a king is supposed to do. That's how she's framed it up in her mind. This was a day to honor David, and oh, my goodness, how he's dishonored himself today. It was a day to put on display his kingliness. Bringing the ark to the city was to establish more of his power and his control and his position and his kingliness. And what he's doing done, wearing an ephod and really flopping around, dancing and bouncing and whatever that was. Oh, my. What on earth. That's what she meets him with. What are you. What. What. What are you doing? You look like a shameless fellow. What a. What a moron. Nobody wants to see their king jumping around like some goon in the street. That's what. That's what she's coming at him with. So he responds.
And David said to Michal, it was before the Lord, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as a prince over Israel. The people of the Lord and I will celebrate before the. The Lord. She says she was viewing it through the eyes of servants. What did the people think about what's happening? That's what she was doing. And David says, irrelevant. Don't care. That's not who I was dancing for. It was before the Lord. I will celebrate before the Lord. It's about his eyes, not anybody else's.
I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. He said, oh, you're going to think worse of me, but the female servants of whom you've spoken, by them I shall be held in honor. So she's dishonored him, disrespected him. He said, it's going to get worse. I'm going to be more abased. He said, but the people that you're worried about, they'll hold me in honor of.
And Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child to the day of her death. Which is an interesting note at the end of that story, because it doesn't tell us why. Which is a thing that people do, though, when they tell you a story. Sometimes they'll be like, buddy was never seen again. Yeah, but he never came back to that side of town. Yeah, but they broke up after that. And it's like, what does that mean? It's like just saying that's what this feels like. It is accomplishing that there will be no grandson of Saul on the throne. So him marrying into the Saul's lineage is. That's not going to continue. So that's accomplished. You can then infer either a rift between her and David or God not blessing her from this point on, because their. Their understanding was that children certainly were a blessing from God, and God oversaw that whole process. And so it just makes the note. And then you're like, why'd you write that? And it's like, all right, let's talk about chapter seven. It's just in there now. She comes to David and says, the point of today was to honor yourself. The point of today was like, you've dishonored yourself. Because in her mind, it's. It's. You're putting yourself on display in front of people. And David says that this is about the Lord. The day was for the Lord. I'm in front of the Lord. This is before the Lord. That stuff doesn't matter. And there's a way. This is why I said it's. It's Michal's interaction with this self versus the this man center versus God center is lower than the one when we're considering Uzzah. Because when we're considering Uzzah, we're considering are there sacred things, lines that God can't cross? But Michal's, on a much more practical basis of what's the point of today? Who's the point of today? What's the point of worship? What's the point of celebration? How often have you walked through life with Michal's lens on, which is, what do other people think of me? How am I being viewed in the eyes of other people? It's really interesting when you can begin to see this in children. Sometimes children for a long time are just kind of free. They're just doing whatever the heck they want. And then you'll see them start being able. And it's real obvious, but they're thinking about how you're thinking about them or how these people are thinking about them. They begin to be more aware of the eyes of the people on them. And there's something to Paul talks about, like, work as unto the Lord, not as unto your boss. There's a way for us to live as if my goal, my highest hope in life is to enjoy life, have life, be good and have everyone else around me, affirm me and be excited about me. And what I'm doing is actually putting myself on display to them. And there's a way to walk through life where it's about God is the one viewing me and he's the one who matters. And let me live in a way that honors him, let me live my life before Him. And one of those puts him central and one of those puts us central. So that David seems genuinely like, what are you. This today was about the Lord. It's not about anything else. It's not about me. Bringing the Ark of the Covenant to, to this city shouldn't be about me. Okay, so I said my hope was that we would begin to move ourselves out of that central position. Because there are distinctions between a man centered viewpoint and a God centered viewpoint. A God centered viewpoint says that God comes first, that he created everything and that there are actual morals that come down to us, that we are to live in line with the way he's designed the world and we're to relate to him the way that he tells us to. A man centered viewpoint says, no, we I get to decide. And if there is a God, he has to respect my boundaries. Which just so you know, the I'll decide what's right and wrong began in the garden. That was the first sin of humanity. Will be the ones who have the knowledge of good and evil. Thank you very much. We'll be the ones who choose what's right and wrong. So this idea that we'll pick, we'll decide what's good, we'll decide what's bad, we'll decide what's right. And God has to. And you'll hear people at times say things like, well, God couldn't do that because. And then their reasoning is some, some way that he would cross a boundary with us. There are times even where you're reading a text and they'll go, well, God can't do that, because he can't do. And it's like, well, he just did it. So you maybe need to go back to figuring out how you understand God. It says he does that. And there's part of us that doesn't want that. We don't want a God who chooses. We don't want a God who chooses winners and losers. We don't want a God who gets involved in life. We don't want a God who steps in and does things. We don't want a God who respects and defends his own holiness. There's a lot of things that bother us as humanity, and it's because we're trying to sit on a throne that's designed for him. That's why we don't like it. There are things God doesn't do, but it's because of who he is, not who we are. We're downline from Him. And then on a much more daily basis, there's a way for you to just walk through everything like it's about you. There's a way for you to show up in worship this morning like it's about you. You can get in the habit where you don't sing songs you don't like. Why are we singing? You can hang out there and go, yeah, I don't really. I'm not, you know, singing is not my thing. So you hang out and come in a little later. And your thing is people. So you talk to people. They're trying to sing or whatever. Hey, it's good to see you. You sit there, you get your phone out, you do other things because you're confused about why we're. There's a way for us to do that in our community group. And you'll hear it. You need to listen to yourself. You can hear it. Sometimes you'll say, yeah, I just am not really getting what I need out of that. What. What you need out of it is obedience and an opportunity to serve people. Doesn't sound like you're getting that. I'll agree with you. What you get out of that is belonging to the people that God tells you to belong to. But there's a way to show up to your group and be asking, are they treating me the way I want to be treated? Not am I treating them the way I want to be treated? Which is the way Jesus says it. I don't feel like they care about me enough. I don't feel like they love me enough. I don't feel like they do this enough. You find this one. It's real easy to not show up to your group meeting times. Because I just had some stuff going on, right? Because that group's about you. It's not about the other people who need you there so that you can love them, so that you can serve them. You're complaining about your group instead of making things better. Usually when you're frustrated with your group about something, it's an area that you're good at. And I'm thankful to Jesus that you're in that group so that you can make it better, not tell them that they're the worst. There's a way for you to exist in church family. Like, this is about you, and you're confused. And I'll add, probably miserable, because that's a terrible way to go through life. Michal had a day that could have been joyfully worshipful. She's miserable. Have you ever felt that? Have you seen that in yourself? You're just upset with everything, frustrated about everything. I'm willing to tell. My guess is that you're trying to sit on a throne that's too big for you and in a seat that doesn't belong to you, and therefore you're miserable because you weren't ever supposed to be there. But if you get in a position where everyone just annoys you, everyone bothers you, everyone falls short of your expectations, I will tell you who is central in your life and who matters the most. And I will tell you that you're wrong and you won't find joy there. We hear this stuff all the time. People will say things like, well, God just wants me to be happy. As if he centered that in his viewpoint for how life would work, our individual happiness. The reality is he does want you to be happy, but you don't know how to get there. You've picked something that won't actually accomplish your joy. It's actually only found in Him. It's only accomplished by Him. It's only carried out by Him. It's only kept by Him. And that when he calls us to him, he's actually calling us to joy. But when you read your Bible and you go, well, I know it says that, but I know that God wouldn't want me to be unhappy, so I get to do whatever I want. You're wrong and you've centered the wrong thing. In a moment, we're going to take communion together, which is a celebration of what Jesus has accomplished for us, that he died on a cross to rescue us, to pay for our sin. We're. We're going to. At the Last Supper, he said, this is my body broken for you. As he broke bread, he said, this is my blood poured out as a new covenant for you. That we would be forgiven, that we would be redeemed. But if we don't understand the glorious, unapproachable holiness of God, then we won't see the beauty of the gospel. You won't. You won't be able to wrap your mind around what you're getting to partake in. That he came as someone who could be touched, that he came as someone who died for us. If you've centered humanity, then you'll put it somewhere in like, well, of course he would. You won't see his humility, you won't see his suffering as glorious. You won't see it as wonderful. You won't be captivated by it. It won't break your heart and make you fall in love with him all at the same time. If we don't understand how big and how glorious he is and how much he did not have to come save us, except for the fact that he is really, really good and really, really loving. And he chose to redeem and to rescue people who did not deserve to be redeemed and rescued. And it is only by his grace and glorious goodness that we are welcomed in, not by some sort of centered excellence of humanity that he had to come get us. The band's gonna come back up. We're gonna sing in a moment. We're gonna take communion first. I want you to just ask the Lord, where have I centered myself? Is it in my philosophy? Is it on a high level in the way that you're supposed to interact with humanity as a whole? Or is it just in my daily life? Where have I failed to see that I'm supposed to live out in front of you and just talk to the Lord and then repent and then celebrate that we are saved by grace and grace alone, through the work of Christ and not through our ability to get this right, That God in his goodness, graciously removes us from the center. We have a hope in Him. Let's pray, Father. As we come to the table, as we come to partake in something more glorious than the ark of the covenant, that your Son would come and die to rescue us, to bring us hope, to bring us life and that we might celebrate together and remember together his sacrifice on our behalf. Lord, we pray that we would come in a way that helps remind us that you are central so that we might have the joy of self forgetfulness. In Jesus name, Amen. If you are not a Christian, we. We would ask you to refrain from participating in communion, but we would invite you to come know Christ as your savior. When you're ready. Let me take.