1 Chronicles 15: Obeying God According to His Word

Introduction

If you love the Lord, you serve him with zeal. You prepare the worship service, you lead the singing, you take part in the activities of the church, you pray for someone. The preacher of this dawn service at Osaka Onnuri Christian Church says it plainly: this zeal is not a bad thing. Yet he raises a question: if it is for God, is God pleased with just any way of doing it?

We sometimes think: "Since it is for God, it does not matter if the method is a little different. If the result is good, there should be no problem." The Bible teaches something else. In serving God, the goal matters, and so does the way God has shown.

In 1 Chronicles 15:1-15, David tries again to bring the ark of God up to Jerusalem. The first attempt, in chapter 13, ended with the death of Uzzah. But David did not stop there. He learned from his failure and, this time, he acts according to the Word. The message takes up the title of that day's Living Life reading guide: obeying according to the Word.

Outline of the Message

1. David's Desire Was Not Wrong

• David builds houses for himself in the City of David, prepares a place for the ark of God, and pitches a tent for it (verse 1). He wants to welcome God's presence into his city and build a kingdom with God at its center. It is a passion born of his love for the Lord.
• Yet we need to go back to chapter 13. David had placed the ark on a new cart. The oxen stumbled, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark, and the anger of the Lord burned against him. Frightened, David left the ark in the house of Obed-Edom.
• Why did this happen? Not because David did not love God. He loved the Lord more than anyone and sought his will in every circumstance. His desire to bring the ark to Jerusalem was not a mistake.
• The point to remember is this: even with a right goal, a right passion and a right motivation, you must follow the way God has set. This is what David learned through the death of Uzzah.

2. Zeal for God Must Be Adjusted by the Word

• In verse 2, David declares: "No one ought to carry God's ark but the Levites. For Yahweh has chosen them to carry God's ark, and to minister to him forever."
• The preacher tells about the youth retreat that has just taken place, three days from Sunday to Tuesday. He was struck by the young people's passion for the Lord and by their potential. The leaders prepared every detail with prayer and by sharing ideas, so that everyone could quiet themselves before the Word and so that newcomers, who arrive almost every week, could open their hearts and find their place. He did not give them detailed instructions: the worship, the meals, they carried everything in prayer. "They really did well."
• But if they said to themselves, "Since we are working hard for the Lord, it is fine," or "If the result is good, the method does not matter," they would lose the right direction. God does not look only at our zeal. What interests him most is whether we walk according to his Word.
• This applies to service in the church, to family life and to personal spiritual life. Working for the Lord and serving according to his Word are not necessarily the same thing.
• "Zeal is not a bad thing. What matters is that it goes in the right direction, the one that matches the Lord's will." Hence the need to come humbly before him and seek his will.

3. Returning to the Word After a Failure

• In verses 12 and 13, David gathers the heads of the Levite families. He asks them to consecrate themselves and to bring up the ark, saying: "For because you didn't carry it at first, Yahweh our God broke out in anger against us, because we didn't seek him according to the ordinance."
• David understood the real cause of his failure. He did not say he had been unlucky, that Uzzah had been a little careless, or that there was nothing anyone could do that time. He acknowledged: we did not follow God's way.
• When we fail, we quickly look for someone to blame: another person, the environment, the circumstances. Like Adam, like Eve. Because we are sinners, we do not put ourselves in question.
• The person who stands before God is the one who lets the Word examine them: "Lord, did I follow your Word? Did I follow your way of doing things, your thinking? Did I not act according to my own ideas? Was I not saying I was seeking you, when in reality I was imposing my thoughts and my plan?"
• There is hope here. David failed, he went through the tragedy of Uzzah's death, but he did not turn away from God. He resumed the preparation, this time in the way God had set.
• We also fail: we decide without praying, we put our ideas ahead of the Word, we hurt someone through too much zeal. But a failure does not force you to leave God's presence. What matters is to return before his Word. Then even the experience of failure and pain serves the growth and maturing of faith.

4. Carrying the Ark as God Commanded

• The priests and the Levites consecrate themselves, then "the children of the Levites bore God's ark on their shoulders with its poles, as Moses commanded according to Yahweh's word" (verses 14 and 15). This is the conclusion of the passage.
• In chapter 13, the ark was on a cart. This time, the Levites carry it on their shoulders: this is the clear way God had prescribed to Israel through Moses. David no longer moves forward with his zeal for God's presence alone. He leads his passion with obedience.
• To obey God is to let go of your own method and give priority to his. We often want God to adapt to our ideas, our passion, our plans: "Lord, here is what I want to do, bless it."
• The preacher points out that it is not forbidden to pray this way. But right prayer does not consist in asking God to approve our plan. It consists in receiving the knowledge of his will, his thinking, his way of doing things, shown by the Word and suggested by the Holy Spirit. And once his will is known, in adjusting our walk to his.
• Jesus says it in John 14:15: "If you love me, keep my commandments." If you have a passion to love God, that passion leads you to keep his Word. Loving the Lord and obeying his Word are inseparable. If you seek his presence, respect his way of doing things.

5. Putting This Into Practice Today

• When you read the Bible, do not read only to gain knowledge. Ask: "Lord, how should I obey this word?"
• When you serve in the church, do not look only for results or approval. Ask yourself: am I serving with love? Am I doing it in a way that matches God's will? Examine yourself humbly before him.
• When you have an important decision to make, do not ask yourself only whether you feel like it. Ask yourself, in prayer, what the Word teaches about it. How you use your money, your relationships, your work, marriage, family: the Word touches every area of your life.

6. The Preacher's Testimony: From Beijing to Osaka

• Looking back on his ministry, the preacher recognizes seasons when he charged ahead "for God," putting his ideas, his zeal and his plans before the way God wanted.
• He had received the call to become a missionary. More than ten years later, he was finally sent to Beijing, for a ministry among the Japanese living there, a mission in the Japanese diaspora. He was convinced it was the Lord's calling. The ministry was joyful and fruitful.
• From the third year on, visas became very hard to obtain. His wife and daughter had to wait six months in Japan without knowing whether the visa would be granted. He stayed alone in Beijing, visiting students day and night to tell them about Jesus. He was happy in this ministry.
• One day, God told him: "Go back to Japan." God showed him that his family was suffering in Japan while he served alone and joyfully in Beijing, and that this was not the mission he wanted. He had to return to rebuild his family.
• He protested: "You are the one who called me to Beijing, why stop me just when the ministry is expanding?" In the end, he yielded before God, made the decision in prayer, and went home. A year later, he went through the death of his daughter.
• "Nothing happened according to my thoughts or my plans." Coming to the church in Osaka was not his idea. When he was offered a full-time position, he hesitated and prayed: he did not want to give up his identity as a missionary. He chose not to cling to it: "If it is your will, I will follow you."
• Today, as the leader of the youth, he serves a generation the same age as his daughter and helps build the next one. God did not carry out all his plans unconditionally. He corrected his direction by his Word, every time, to show him that the Lord's thoughts, plan and way matter more than his own.

7. What God Seeks: An Obedient Heart

• The preacher sums up: zeal for God is adjusted by the Word; after a failure, we return to the Word; we obey as God commanded, and that is where the greatest blessing is found.
• "What God expects of us first is not brilliant results, it is a heart that obeys his Word." The Lord looks to see whether we have the attitude that says: "I obey you 100%."
• There is no need for a great work, or for recognition from others. It is about faithfully obeying the word received today. Through this path, God pours out his blessing, beyond ourselves and the church in Osaka, to society and the churches of Japan.
• The preacher suggests a prayer for every decision and every beginning of the day: "Lord, may my zeal not stray from your Word. Make me someone who follows the path you have shown, and not my own method."
• In the closing prayer, he asks to know how to deny ourselves and take up our cross, as the Levites carried the ark, and to obey even when God's will goes against our thoughts and feelings.

Key Takeaways

• A right goal and a right motivation are not enough: God also asks you to follow the way he has set.
• Zeal is not bad, but it must be constantly adjusted by the Word so that it goes in the right direction.
• After a failure, do not look for someone to blame: let the Word examine you and return before God.
• To pray is not to have God approve your plan, it is to know his will and adjust your walk to it.
• Loving Jesus and keeping his commandments are inseparable.

Personal Application

1. In which service or project have you thought: "It is for God, the method does not matter"?
2. At your last failure, did you look for someone to blame, or did you ask the Lord: "Did I follow your Word?"
3. In your prayers, do you mostly ask God to bless your plans, or do you ask him to show you his will?
4. Which upcoming decision (money, relationships, work, family) do you need to submit to what the Word teaches?
5. Which word did you receive today, and how will you obey it faithfully, even when no one sees?

Verses Cited

• 1 Chronicles 15:1-15
• 1 Chronicles 13:7-14
• Genesis 3:12-13
• John 14:15

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did the first transport of the ark fail even though David loved God?

It was not David's love for God that was lacking, nor was his desire to bring the ark to Jerusalem wrong. The ark had been placed on a new cart, whereas God had commanded that it be carried by the Levites. David acknowledges it himself in verse 13: we did not seek him according to the ordinance. Even with a right goal and a right motivation, you must follow the way God has set.

Is zeal for God enough to please him?

No. Zeal is not bad, but working for the Lord and serving according to his Word are not necessarily the same thing. God does not look only at our fervor: what matters most to him is that we walk according to his Word. So our zeal must be constantly adjusted by the Word so that it goes in the right direction.

What is right prayer according to this message?

It is not asking God to validate our own projects. It is, in prayer, receiving the knowledge of his will, his thinking and his way of doing things, shown by the Word and suggested by the Holy Spirit. Then, once his will is known, adjusting your own walk to God's.