The Cost
Todd Blansit
September 12, 2021
Our prayers should be out of a place of desperation for God to move!
2 Samuel 24.18-25 NIV
David Builds an Altar
18 On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
19 So David went up, as the Lord had commanded through Gad.
20 When Araunah looked and saw the king and his officials coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.
21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”
“To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped.”
22 Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take whatever he wishes and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood.
23 Your Majesty, Araunah gives all this to the king.” Araunah also said to him, “May the Lord your God accept you.”
24 But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them.
25 David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered his prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.
David didn’t want to offer worship that cost him nothing.
Worship comes at a cost.
When you tell your flesh, ‘No, you will not have your way,’ you are worshipping. If you are married and you walk away from a person who is flirting with you, that is worship. When you walk away from a group of people who are gossiping and speaking evil, ungodly things, you are worshipping.
In the end your greatest offering of worship is you!
Romans 12.1
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
You never know the impact of your worship.
David was obedient in his worship, it wasn’t about the OX and the yokes, it was about the obedience.
1 Samuel 15.22-23
22 But Samuel replied,
“What is more pleasing to the LORD:
your burnt offerings and sacrifices
or your obedience to his voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.
23 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft,
Look at the result of David’s worship.
2 Chron 3.1-2
1 Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah
a the Jebusite, the place provided by David.
2 He began building on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.
God used the place of David’s obedient worship as the site of the temple where his presence lived!
Your obedience in worship matters.
No act done in true worship is too small.
If this message spoke to you today and you would like to respond, would you click the link below and let us know? We want to pray for you.
Tap here to let us know that you raised your hand