The Presence Of God

Joy In His Presence

The Presence Of God – Psalm 48 - Joy In His Presence

Start With Hudson Taylor

I read recently about a Minister who used a particular phrase over and over again. In any dialogue this phrase would find it’s way into every sermon and every conversation. It also become the title of his book. It a phrase that might not mean much to many Christians until they begin to encounter God and know the Joy of His presence. The phrase is this: “Everything flows from the presence of the Lord” (Elliff, Presence Centered Church, 10).

Our lives are only truly lived when it proceeds from His presence. This is the only way we can truly we live proceeding from his presence. The answer to all of life’s greatest questions is found in the presence of the Lord. Everything our hearts long for is found in the presence of the Lord. It’s what Jesus meant in

John 15

when he said that he is the vine and we are the branches. We were created to be completely dependent on his presence. And, as Jesus also clarifies in

John 15

, our experience of his life is dependent on our daily proximity to Jesus. In all my life I have never met anyone who walked intimately with Jesus who was disappointed. That is because in his presence we find everything our hearts long for.

Psalm 48

is a celebration of God’s presence. It is a reminder of the centrality of God’s presence. It reminds us that everything flows out of his presence. More specifically, it shows us that our only source of life and our primary mission are found in the presence of the Lord.

Psalm 48

begins with an exclamation of praise: “The Lord is great and highly praised.” With this line, the tone of the psalm is immediately set. This is a psalm of exuberant worship. Much like

Psalm 48:1

reminds us that the degree of our praise is determined by the degree of God’s greatness. If God is infinitely great, then he deserves our greatest praise. As verse 10 reminds us, “Like your name, God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.” God’s name is great, and our praise should reflect that.

The sons of Korah are not rejoicing in a place; they are rejoicing in a person. There is a celebration of Zion, not because of Zion’s natural beauty but because the temple was there. If the temple was there, the presence of the Lord was there. The exuberant praise in

Psalm 48

flowed from the joy and sense of significance that come from the presence of the Lord. The sons of Korah had tasted the presence of the Lord and found their greatest satisfaction and their greatest significance there.

What Does It Mean to Be in the Presence of God?

Adam and Eve had intimate fellowship in the presence of God before the fall (Genesis 3:8). Since that time, sin has prevented our ability to be in the physical presence of God (Exodus 33:20).

Now only the holy, sinless angels are in the physical presence of God (Luke 1:19). But Christians have the presence of God within us by virtue of His indwelling Holy Spirit (John 14:23, 15:4), and that indwelling presence comes only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are aware of the reality of this presence from our obedience to His Word. ‘We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praise of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light (1 Peter 2:9).

Note that Peter says that ‘we are chosen people … belonging to God.’ If we belong to Him, will He not be present among us?

We never lose the reality of God’s presence, no matter how badly we fail; we never sin so much as to lose our salvation; we never sink so far as to banish the Holy Spirit forever.

We can anger God because of our sin, but true believers never lose the presence of the Holy Spirit. While we will never lose the reality of God’s presence, we might well lose the ‘sense’ of His presence.

Joy In His Presence

Exalting Jesus in Psalms 1–50 Everything Flows from the Presence of the Lord

Everything Flows from the Presence of the Lord

God’s presence has always been central to our lives. From the first creation to the new creation(Adam and Eve), God’s presence has been a central theme

First, we were created to find our life and satisfaction in his presence. The glory of Eden is that Adam and Eve were able to live in the uninterrupted presence of God.

The great effect of sin is that Adam and Eve were removed from the presence of God. But God has always desired his people to experience his presence.

He established the tabernacle so that no matter where his people went, God’s presence would go with them (Exod 33).

It was not just symbolic of God’s presence among them; it was God’s presence among them, and they knew that their only hope in life was his presence. After the people entered the promised land, God gave them the temple so that his presence might dwell among them permanently. When the temple was dedicated, the glory of the Lord filled the temple (2 Chr 5).

In the New Testament, the glory of the Lord was in Jesus Christ, as he came to tabernacle among us and display God’s glory (John 1:14).

He declared that true life and satisfaction are only found in him (John 7:37). After Jesus’s ascension, the presence of the Lord descended on the early church, and they were filled with his presence (Acts 2).

Now, God’s people are the temple of God, and his presence dwells in us (1 Cor 6:19). In the new heavens and new earth, God will restore us back to a life in which we live fully in his presence (Rev 21). The emphasis of the Bible has always been on the truth that all our life and satisfaction come from his presence. There is no life outside of his presence.

Second, the emphasis has always been on God’s desire to see his presence spread to the ends of the earth (Beale and Kim, God Dwells, 29ff). Even before sin entered the picture, God’s desire was that his presence would spread from Eden so that the whole world might be filled with his glory.

From the tabernacle to the temple to the filling of the church in Acts 2, God’s desire has always been that his presence spread to all people (Hab 2:14).

So the emphasis on God’s presence is both our own satisfaction and our own mission.

God’s Presence as God’s Help — God being “with” someone denotes God helping someone.

In his presence, both of these things become clearer. What flows from his presence is our own satisfaction—found as we experience him, and our own significance—found as we fulfill his mission. Psalm 48 celebrates both of these working together. In his temple God makes himself known (v. 3).

In His Presence We Find Our Only Satisfaction

Since we were created not only by God but also for God, we can only find true satisfaction in God. Psalm 48 reminds us that everything the heart truly longs for is found in the presence of the Lord. Verse 3 says that the Lord is a “stronghold,” which means that our protection is found in him. Verse 8 says the Lord’s kingdom is established forever, which means that our hope is found in him. Verse 9 says in his presence we discover his “faithful love,” which means that love, acceptance, approval, and affirmation are found in him. Verse 11 says, “Mount Zion is glad. Judah’s villages rejoice,” which means that our joy is found in him. And verse 14 says, “This God, our God forever and ever—he will always lead us,” which means that our direction is found in him. Everything we need is found in him.

In Psalm 48 Zaphon stands for all the idols in our lives that try to steal away our hearts and affections. Externally they might appear more glorious, but in reality they are just empty promises. Only Mount Zion, where the presence of the Lord dwells, can truly satisfy.

Mount Zaphon is always there, trying to take the heart, mind, and affections away from the Lord. This is a reminder and a warning that all of us need. The enemy constantly tries to lead us away from true satisfaction in Christ by showing us the “glory” of Zaphon. We must see beyond the external beauty, and by faith we must continue to give our hearts to the Lord alone. Jesus alone is the sovereign and satisfying reality of life.

In His Presence We Find Our Primary Mission

Psalm 48, in all its talk about the satisfying reality that is found in God’s presence, also reveals to us the central mission that is found in God’s presence. It is God’s presence in which we have our hearts captured by the mission of God and find our place in that mission. In verse 10 the psalmist says, “Like your name, God, so your praise reaches to the ends of the earth.” This is the mission of God: that the praise of God be spread to all peoples.

The compelling vision of every church should be the one found in Revelation 7. It is the vision of every nation, tribe, people, and language gathered as a great choir, standing before the throne and worshiping the Lamb. In that vision the church finds its true mission: to make sure that the praise of Jesus “reaches to the ends of the earth” (Ps 48:10). In God’s presence we discover that Zion alone, and not Zaphon, is worthy of our lives and our praise. That discovery should compel us to spend our lives making sure that the ends of the earth know that Jesus alone can save and satisfy.

Emphasis on enjoying the presence of God is not at conflict with emphasis on the mission of God. These two go hand in hand. Those who have experienced the satisfying reality of God’s presence will be the most compelled by God’s mission.

In God’s presence our hearts begin to beat with his. In his presence we are motivated to make sure that every nation, tribe, and language hear about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and are given an opportunity to respond (Rom 10:8–18). We exist not only to enjoy his presence but also to invite all peoples to come and enjoy his presence (Ps 67).

The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott James Hudson Taylor (Chinese: 戴德生; pinyin: dài dé shēng; 21 May 1832 – 3 June 1905) was a British Baptist Christian missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission (CIM, now Overseas Mission Fellowship International)

James Hudson Taylor was a British Baptist Christian missionary to China and founder of the China Inland Mission(1865). Taylor spent 54 years in China.(1400 workers around the world today)

In 1870 Hudson Taylor wrote, “A few months ago my home was full, now so silent and lonely—Samuel, Noel, my precious wife, with Jesus; the elder children far, far away, and even little T’ien-pao (Charles) in Yang Chow. Often, of late years, has duty called me from my loved ones, but I have returned, and so warm has been the welcome. Now I am alone. Can it be that there is no return from this journey, no home gathering to look forward to! Is it real, and not a sorrowful dream, that those dearest to me lie beneath the cold sod? Ah, it is indeed true …”

Three months later he wrote: “No language can express what He has been and is to me. Never does He leave me; constantly does He cheer me with His love.… His own rest, His own peace, His own joy, He gives me.… Often I find myself wondering whether it is possible for her, who is taken, to have more joy in His presence than He has given me.”

Exalting Jesus in Psalms 1–50 God Makes a Way for Us into His Presence

Psalm 15 ends in a rather hopeless way. David has reminded us that we were created for God’s presence and will only experience the fullness of life in God’s presence, even while making it abundantly clear that absolutely none of us can enter God’s presence. If a pastor closed in prayer and sent everyone home right here, this would be a hopeless sermon.

In some ways Psalm 15 should stir up a bit of hopelessness in us. Verses 2–5 should actually terrify us. When we read these qualifications, we should realize that they are not here to help us but to condemn us. What if that’s actually the point of Psalm 15? What if this psalm serves to remind us that we will never be the kind of people who can enter God’s presence? What if this psalm exists to make us cry out for mercy? What if this psalm was meant to point us beyond ourselves to the only one who is qualified to enter God’s presence? This is exactly the point of Psalm 15.

There is only one man who has ever met the qualifications to enter the presence of God. Only one man has been pure in all his thoughts, motives, actions, and responses—the man who knew no sin, Jesus Christ (2 Cor 5:21). Jesus is “the one” of Psalm 15:5.

The truth of the gospel is that we were created for God’s presence, but like Adam and Eve, we were removed from God’s presence because of our sin. The problem is not just that we have committed sins but that we are sinful people to our core.

None of us can ever be “the one” who is qualified. So God, who longs to restore humanity back into his presence, sent Jesus to live a perfect life and die a criminal’s death. He died, not for his sins but for ours, so that through his perfect life and sacrificial death, and through our faith in him, his righteousness might be credited to our accounts (Rom 4:22–25). That means we will never enter God’s presence by our righteousness but by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus entered the “holy mountain” so that through faith in him we also might enter.

Conclusion

As we see this picture of Mount Zion contrasted with Mount Zaphon, we are first confronted with a crucial question: Is Christ, the King of Zion, the center of our lives, or have we been led astray into the worship of something inferior (Zaphon)? Which one has our minds, hearts, and affections? Psalm 48 confronts us with the reality that our hearts are easily led astray into worshiping something of lesser value than Christ. This psalm calls us to believe by faith that only Jesus can satisfy us and, in response, to give ourselves fully to him.

Second, this text calls us into the mission of God. Psalm 48 reminds us that the heartbeat of our God is to see all people worshiping him. We were created to enjoy him and to make him known.

May God’s grand vision of the whole earth praising King Jesus propel us into aggressive missions.

First, we must receive the righteousness of Christ. We must confess our sins, feel the weight of condemnation, and throw ourselves at the mercy of God. We must call on the name of the Lord and ask him to forgive us of our sins and give us his righteousness.

We must also rejoice in the righteousness of Christ. We must see Jesus as our only hope and the ultimate picture of God’s love and desire for us. When we see ourselves as we truly are and Christ as he truly is, we should sing like never before and rejoice with all our might because of the goodness of God.

Finally, we must rest in the righteousness of Christ. The righteous requirements of the law were fully met in Jesus (Rom 8:3–4). God’s affection for you is not based on how well you did on the qualifications test of Psalm 15. God’s affection for you is based on the fact that he sees you through the perfect righteousness of Christ. You cannot win his favor or earn his favor; you must simply rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ on your behalf. This is what it means to have faith in Jesus Christ.

Reflect and Discuss

1. If Mount Zaphon is a symbol of idols and false gods that steal away our affection from Christ, what are the Mount Zaphons in your life? What are the things that tend to become idols in your heart?

2. To discover what you truly worship, look at what controls your heart, mind, and will. Look carefully at those three areas and see if you are truly worshiping Christ daily.

3. How does time in the presence of God compel us into the mission of God? Is the vision of Revelation 7 compelling to you? How are you engaging in God’s mission on a regular basis? How can you more faithfully engage in the mission?

1. Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness as David does in Psalm 15:1? Do you remember specific times when you have felt an overwhelming sense of longing for God? If so, how did you respond to that? How should you respond to that?

2. Although verses 2–5 are not given for us to try to meet the requirements, they still point us to the Christlike character we have been called to imitate. Look through verses 2–5 carefully and ask the Lord to reveal any areas of your life in which you might be walking in sin.

3. Carefully consider areas of your life that you need to ask God, and others, to help you with. For instance, as you look at verse 3, do you tend to slander others or take up an offense against someone else? If so, confess this to the Lord and a trusted believer who can hold you accountable, and ask the Lord for help to change.

PRAYER

Being A Presence Centred Church

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