Aren’t Good Motives Enough? Part 2

As we saw in the last post on this subject, David was doing a good thing, for a good motive, but he was doing it the wrong way. In other words, his “good intentions” were not enough to please God. He needed to do the job God’s way. Again, this speaks to methods. Many brethren today will say that the methods used by many “seeker-friendly” churches are acceptable because they “mean well.” David meant well, and Uzzah died.

Let us look at look at a few more details about this “bringing back the ark”. The Ark of God represented the presence of God with the people of Israel. God had promised to “dwell between the cherubim” on the mercy seat of the ark. Exodus 25:22 Inside the ark were three different items:

1) The broken tablets of the Law (representing God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness)

2) Aaron’s rod that budded (representing life-giving, resurrection power)
3) A pot of manna (representing God’s provision) Heb. 9:4

David and the people of Israel wanted the presence of God to return to their midst. I share that sentiment today with many others. Many are looking for evidence of the presence of God by numbers in attendance and “success” in the ministry, i.e. larger church facilities, etc. But God’s presence is promised to His church when they meet together with Him in obedience to His commands. Matthew 18:20 states, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. ” The context is a church meeting together for “church discipline” per the command of the Lord.

So, David heads out to retrieve the ark. He has the ark put on a new cart (only the best for the Lord, you know), and then he proceeds to have a “praise and worship” service to mark this great occasion. 2 Sam 6:5 But, the Bible says that the oxen stumbled, Uzzah tried to steady the ark by touching it, “And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.”

We need to ask ourselves a few questions here:

1) Why did David choose to carry the ark on a new cart?

2) Why was God so angry?

3) Is God still angry when we do things in an unscriptural way or using an unscriptural method?

We will look at these questions in the next post.

In Christ,

Pastor Art Dunham

Grace Baptist Church of Woodstock, VA

Aren’t Good Motives Enough? Part 1

One of my great concerns in Fundamental Baptist churches today is the tendency to accept a particular person or persons with bad doctrine or practice because they “mean well”. This is particularly true in the area of church music today.

A very powerful and poignant story in the Old Testament sheds some light on this particular attitude concerning “good motives”. The account is found in 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chronicles 13. It is the story of David bringing back the Ark of the Covenant to the City of God, Jerusalem.

The Bible tells us that:
1) David wanted to do a good thing (bring back the ark)
2) He did it for the right reasons, I believe. Read 1 Chron. 13:1-3
3) But, he did it the wrong way or method.