Living in the Presence

Introduction/Scripture

Intro stuff about me and family

This weekend the theme is Return to Form. What does that mean? Well that is inspired by Ephesians 4. “As a prisoner of the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” This is the intro verse to what I think is one of the most pivotal passages in scripture about the community of God. We will talk about each piece briefly but an easy formula to remember about this passage and a framework for our weekend is simply this:

Presence of God —> Gifts of God —> Truth of God (form)

Tonight we unpack the first part, the presence of God. Living in the presence of God.

Ephesians 4:4–6 NIV

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

We read this and we might think Paul is just writing something poetic or inspiring but he is doing something more than that.

The Shema

Deuteronomy 6:4 NIV

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Paul, the author of Ephesians is referencing this prayer from Deuteronomy. This prayer would be something that every Hebrew would pray multiple times a day. It is a prayer and reminder that there is one God and only one true God. the next verse is a command to love this one God. So Paul in referencing this is going to do something radical… he is going to include us with the one God.

There is now one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all.

Now we are brought into unity with the one true God.

By the waters of baptism, by the holy Spirit, by the hope and faith we have in Jesus Christ, we are now in unity with the creator of the universe.

Sounds nice doesent it?

Here is the problem, we do not know what it is to be one with God. We like the idea, but for many of us, we have not experienced the presence of God, or if we have it still seems like a temporary reality.

God feels far from our problems. Our struggles. Our anxieties. Our issues at home or school. Our parents marriage that is struggling, or that sin or addiction we are struggling with.

There is a passage in scripture that shows the desperate act of one woman to get into the presence of God. Quite literally…

Matthew 9:18–26 NIV

While he was saying this, a synagogue leader came and knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples. Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment. When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, “Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all that region.

pray?

Illustration of trying to get close to someone. Any sports fans in the room? I am a huge aggie football fan. When I was little, I had an opportunity to meet some football players but it was a small window. My dad helped me get down to the locker room entrance.

Context of the story

In our story, Jesus is really starting to ramp up his earthly ministry. He is calling disciples to follow him, he is teaching (sermon on the mount), he is healing (just healed a parlyzed man) and now in our text he tells a dead person to be alive again.

We worship a God of life. Preach this out. Not just forgiveness, but of life.

if you are here for social reasons

if you are here for some encouragement

if you are here to “feel” something.

Can I just say our belief in the power of Jesus has just simply waned in the church. We watch parents struggle in marriage, we watch the world panic in politics, we see churches care about things that dont really matter. Much of it is because we say we believe that Jesus heals and resurrects. And yet we settle for lives that do not reflect it. We cope with lonliness with relationships and porn and drugs and social media. We live with the status quo and come here hoping to feel something.

Jesus is headed to to tell a dead person to be alive again and he can and wants to do that for you.

But…maybe I believe that but it has not happened for me, or it isnt for me.

Maybe it is just for important people, or pastors, or worship leaders.

That is why the interruption to this story is so important.

interruption to your regular scheduling program.

On the way to resurrection

The story says that a synagogue leader came and told Jesus that his daughter died. So someone important comes to Jesus and asks him to help and do something. He asks boldly that Jesus would just come and put his hand on her.

He gets up to do it and then on the way there an unnamed woman who has been bleeding for 12 years.

This means that she was so sick that in this time she wasnt allowed to be around anyone. Jews believed that blood and sickness made you unclean and so you cannot go in the Temple and to touch anyone would make them unclean. For 12 years she has been ignored, felt alone, abandoned. Possibly unable to have family or to be around family. She is so desperate to be in the presence of God that she will abandon her reputation and disregard what anyone thinks of her or says to her just to get in the presence of Jesus.

Look right at me, until you abandon your care for what your friends think of you, or what your parents think, or what others might say, you will find yourself in the same vacinity of Jesus but not experience his touch.

It is possible to sit in the room with Jesus and miss him. This is my story.

Desperate enough the woman fights to get close and all she is able to do is touch the edge of his cloak. With one touch of the edge of her cloak she is healed.

And the best 5 words in the scripture, I think, is verse 22:

“Jesus turned and saw her”

Friends, maybe one of the most important things I can say to you is that Jesus sees you.

Notice that it doesent say that he saw her infirmity, or that he saw her lonliness, or saw her problems, or saw her brokenness. Jesus does not equate you with mistakes or life’s difficulties. Jesus sees you.

With one desperate act of touching the hymn of his cloak, this woman experienced the presence of God in a way that not even the disciples understood. The people that were with him, they didnt understand what it meant yet.

Young people in the room, in prayer this week for our time together. I felt strongly that God just wanted to meet with us this weekend.

Stories of healing:

hearing and tooth

Invitation: Who wants to meet with God right now? Who wants to fall at his feet?