David and Michal from Stephen Sizer on Vimeo.

Do you like dancing? Hands up if you like dancing. Hands down. Hands up if you have never danced in your entire life? We all dance when we are children don’t we? Its natural?

But what happens when we begin to grow up? We begin to get self-conscious. We think we have two left feet. We worry about what other people might think. And we say “I can’t dance” which roughly translated means “I won’t dance.”

When do you feel like dancing? When you have something to celebrate? When there is some dance music playing? When other people are dancing? When you come to church? Hands up if you are comfortable with dancing in church? Any kind of dancing or only some kinds of dancing? Dancing is popular in many different cultures isn’t it?

Would you be comfortable with this kind of dancing at Christ Church? Hands up. How about this one? And this one? We all have different opinions don’t we? What matters? Why we are dancing? Are we dancing for the Lord? Or are we drawing attention to ourselves? I’m a little embarrassed to show you this picture, but I wanted to prove that I can dance too.  Do you want me to show you? Maybe not… I don’t know what Joanna thinks, because she hasn’t seen the picture. It doesn’t really matter now because we have all our children …

In our Bible story David and Michal couldn’t agree on dancing either could they? What was the difference between King David and his wife Michal? Verse 16. He was dancing. She was despising. Why was David dancing? Why wasn’t Michal dancing? See verse 15-16. The text says “the entire house of Israel were bringing….” But they weren’t were they? David was worshipping. All the people were worshipping. But Michal wasn’t worshipping. She was watching. They were worshipping. She was watching. That is why she was bitter in her heart.

What was David thinking of? What God had done. What was Michal thinking of? What David had done. Who was David thinking of? The Lord not himself. Who was Michal thinking of? Herself, not the Lord. See how David replied to Michal when she criticised him when he came in for supper.

Read 2 Samuel 6:21-22. David was willing to humble himself before the Lord his king, in order that he be honoured by his subjects. Michal did not honour God or humble herself and that is why became sad and bitter. How can we apply this lesson? And that is why it doesn’t matter what kind of dancing we have at Christ Church. Or if we do dance or if we don’t.

It doesn’t matter if you do like dancing or don’t like dancing. It doesn’t matter if you do like singing or don’t like singing. It doesn’t matter if you do want to raise your hands or don’t want to raise your hands. What matters is our motive not our moves. What matters is not what other people think but what God thinks. The lesson here doesn’t only apply to dancing. It can apply to what we wear? Who did you get dressed for today? Who will you go to school for tomorrow? Who will you be working for tomorrow?

Who do you relate to most in our story? With David or with Michal?

The Apostle Peter learnt this lesson the hard way, after he boasted about what he would do for Jesus, before he understood all that Jesus would do for him: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” (1 Peter 5:6)

Let’s make it our prayer today and maybe our memory verse for the week. So that whether we are dancing with praise to the Lord on the outside, we are dancing with praise to the Lord on the inside.