The Cost of Presence

Hebrews 10:25 NASB95

25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Key texts: 2 Samuel 6; Hebrews 10:19–25 Big idea: The presence of God is worth more than results, feelings, or dignity — and it is worth gathering for.

Two aims to keep in view while you preach:

People leave wanting to sit with Jesus even if nothing happens they can measure.

People leave seeing gathered worship the way David saw the Ark — not as an event, but as the place they refuse to live without.

Opening

Most of us want God’s presence for what it does. Guidance. Peace. Breakthrough. A word. David wanted the Ark because of who was there. If you only come when you hear or see something, you have not yet valued presence. You have valued outcomes.

The Ark stories teach the difference.

1. Presence is the gift, not the byproduct

Exodus 25:22; 40:34–38; Leviticus 16

God does not say, “There I will perform for you.” He says, “There I will meet with you.” The cloud fills the tent and Moses cannot enter. The high priest goes in once a year, and not without blood.

The first cost is this: God sets the terms of the meeting. You do not come to manage him. You come because he is there.

Aim this at the first hunger: If the meeting is the point, silence is not failure. An unanswered prayer is not an empty room. The Most Holy Place was still the Most Holy Place when no one spoke.

2. Presence cannot be used — and it cannot be replaced by a feeling

1 Samuel 4–6; Numbers 14:42–45

Israel said, “Bring the Ark, that it may save us.” They wanted the box as a weapon. They lost the battle, the priests, and the glory. Ichabod is what happens when presence becomes a tool.

Beth-shemesh asked the right question: “Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God?”

We treat time with Jesus as successful only if we feel him, hear him, or leave with a takeaway. That is still using him. David later refuses that deal. When Absalom rises, he will not drag the Ark along to force an outcome: “Here I am; let him do to me what seems good to him” (2 Samuel 15:25–26).

Aim this at the first hunger: Wanting Jesus when he is quiet is how you know you want him. The presence is the most important thing. The word, the feeling, the assignment — if they come, they come. If they do not, you still stay.

3. David learns that presence is worth the cost of dignity — and worth gathering around

2 Samuel 6; 1 Chronicles 13–16; Hebrews 10:19–25

First trip: a new cart, sincerity, Uzzah dead. David is angry, then afraid: “How can the ark of the LORD come to me?” He leaves it with Obed-edom. That house is blessed for three months. Presence, hosted as holy, does good without a parade.

Second trip: poles, Levites, sacrifices, a king dancing in a linen ephod. Michal despises him. David answers: “I will make myself yet more contemptible than this.” He will look foolish before people if that is the price of being near God.

This is the second aim. David does not retrieve the Ark for a private devotion. He gathers thirty thousand. He pitches a tent in the city. He appoints singers. He writes a psalm so the whole assembly can answer. Presence, for David, creates life for His people.

Hebrews 10:19–25 is the same movement on the other side of the cross.

We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus (v. 19). The cost has been paid. The veil is open.

Draw near (v. 22). That is the personal aim — come, even when your heart is not loud.

Hold fast (v. 23).

Consider how to stir one another up (v. 24).

“Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (v. 25).

The blood that opens the way to Jesus also makes a gathering. You cannot say you prize his presence and treat the assembly as optional. David would not leave the Ark in Kiriath-jearim and call it contentment. Hebrews will not let us leave the meeting and call it maturity.

Say it plainly: Private time with Jesus is not a lesser thing. It is the first thing. But if the Spirit has made you love the presence, He will also make you love the people who gather around it. That is how David loved it. That is how Hebrews commands it.

4. The presence you gather around is no longer a box

Jeremiah 3:16–17; Hebrews 9:11–12; Matthew 27:51

Jeremiah said a day was coming when no one would miss the Ark, because the throne of the LORD would not be a chest in a room. That day arrived when the veil tore. Christ entered the true holy place by his own blood. We draw near to a Person.

So the cost has changed shape.

You no longer die for touching the Ark.

You still die to the need for results, the need to look spiritual, and the habit of staying away.

Confidence and reverence belong together. Draw near. Do not treat the open door as a casual one.

Closing

The glory departed when Israel wanted the Ark without the Holy One. The glory stays when a people want Jesus more than what Jesus does — and will not neglect the gathering where his presence is honored among his people.

You may hear nothing today. You may see nothing. Stay. That is not empty. That is faith learning to value the Presence himself.

Then come back to the room where others are staying too. David would. Hebrews says you must.

Two questions — use them as the invitation, not as an add-on

Give people silence after each one. Do not rush the first to get to the second.

1. How has the Holy Spirit been prompting you to spend time with Jesus? Not “what have you been getting out of it.” Where has he been asking you to stay — a chair, a walk, a morning, a quiet commute — even if you do not hear or see anything?

2. How has the Holy Spirit been leading you to join or start something around gathering together? A table. A living room. This church’s worship. A prayer night. Something you have been circling and postponing. Hebrews 10:25 is not only “go to service.” It is: do not neglect the meeting he is already putting in front of you.

If you want a one-sentence send-off under the questions:

Stay with him when it is quiet. Gather with them when it would be easier not to. That is how you tell the truth about what his presence is worth.