How
to find intimacy in a crowd
Miracles Still Happen
03-16-14
Sermon
Mark
5:24-34
“Jesus is now walking with the ruler, Jairus,
to his house and many people followed Jesus. They were pushing very close around Him. A woman was there who had been bleeding
for the past twelve years. She had
suffered very much and many doctors had tried to help. She’d spent all the money she had but
she was not improving. She was
getting worse. When the woman
heard about Jesus she followed Him with the people and touched His coat. The woman thought, ‘If I can even touch
His coat, that will be enough to heal me.’ When she touched His coat, her bleeding stopped. She could feel in her body that she was
healed.
At once Jesus felt power go out from Him so
He stopped and He turned around and He asked, ‘Who touched My clothes?’ The followers said, ‘There are so many
people pushing against You and You ask, “Who touched Me?”’”
“But Jesus
continued looking around to see who touched Him. The woman knew that she was healed. So she came and she bowed at Jesus’
feet. Shaking with fear she told
Him the whole story. Jesus said to
the woman, ‘Dear woman, you were made well because you believed. Go in peace you will have no more
suffering.’”
What is God like?
John 14:9 “When you’ve seen Me
you’ve seen the Father.”
Colossians 1:15 “Jesus is the
visible expression of the invisible God.”
1. God is concerned with _____________________________________________.
1 Peter 5:7 “He is
always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.”
Romans 11:34 “God’s
wisdom and knowledge have no end.
No one can explain the things God decides or understand His ways.”
1 Corinthians 1:25 “Even
the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom.”
2. God connects with ______________________________________.
Jesus said, “Faith
touched Me.”
Romans 4:5 “But people
cannot do any work that will make them right with God. So they must trust in Him who makes
even evil people right in His sight.
Then God accepts their faith and that makes them right with Him.”
3. God changes lives where _____________________________________.
Ephesians 2:12 “Remember
that in those days you were living utterly part from Christ. You were lost without God and without
hope.”
How do we become
intimate with God?
James 4:8 “Come near to God and he will come near to
you.”
A – A___________________
the person I’ve been.
Mark 5: 26, 27 “But
instead of improving she was getting worse. When the woman heard about Jesus she came up behind Him in
the crowd and touched His coat.”
B – B____________________
with the faith that I have.
Mark 5:28 “If I could
just touch His clothes I will be healed,”
Matthew 17:20 “With
faith as small as a mustard seed you can move mountains, for all things are
possible with God.”
C – C_____________________
on God first.
Mark 5: 33-34 “Shaking
with fear she told Him the whole truth.
Jesus said to her, ‘Dear woman.
You are made well because you believed.’”
How
to find intimacy in a crowd
Miracles Still Happen
03-16-14
Sermon
The miracle that I’ve chosen
to teach on today is not one of the miracles that you first think of when you
think about miracles. It’s not the
flashiest. It’s actually in the
middle of two pretty fancy miracles.
It’s the story of the woman who has been hemorrhaging for twelve years
and she reaches out and touches the coat of Jesus and she’s healed.
This morning I pray that you
might have new eyes, that God would speak to you in a new way. This is an incredible, incredible story
of healing and really a story of intimacy.
Let me give you a little bit
of context of what’s happening and explain a little bit of who this woman
is. We are not given her
name. We don’t know where she
lived. We don’t know anything
about her family. What we know
about her is that she probably was a woman who lived with very little
hope. The Bible tells us that she
spent all of her money to find some healing and she wasn’t able to find
it. Can you imagine living with an
illness, hemorrhaging, for twelve years?
Not only was it a physical
illness but we also know that this was a social illness as well. She was considered religiously unclean
and therefore she could not worship in the temple. So she was kind of an outcast. People could not touch her and she could not go to church. She was what we might call
unlovely.
She meets Jesus on a very
busy day. He just got off a boat. He’d just come back from where the
Bible tells us He met a demon possessed man living in a cemetery. And after He does that He gets in a
boat and when He gets out of the boat immediately He’s met by a beggar. This beggar is no transient. This beggar is a high ranking religious
leader named Jairus. Jairus falls
at the feet of Jesus and says, “Jesus my
daughter is on the verge of death.
Will You heal her?” And
Jesus agrees.
That’s where we pick up the
event. I’m going to read to you
starting at verse 24. “Jesus is now walking with the ruler,
Jairus, to his house and many people followed Jesus. They were pushing very close around Him. A woman was there who had been bleeding
for the past twelve years. She had
suffered very much and many doctors had tried to help. She’d spent all the money she had but she
was not improving. She was getting
worse. When the woman heard about
Jesus she followed Him with the people and touched His coat. The woman thought, ‘If I can even touch
His coat, that will be enough to heal me.’ When she touched His coat, her bleeding stopped. She could feel in her body that she was
healed. At once Jesus felt power go
out from Him so He stopped and He turned around and He asked, ‘Who touched My
clothes?’ The followers said,
‘There are so many people pushing against You and You ask, “Who touched Me?”’”
I don’t know if you can
imagine the scene that is happening.
Everywhere Jesus went there was a crowd. They’re crowding around Him just like we would any star or
super type person. Jesus stops the
crowd and He looks around and He says, “Who
touched Me?” The disciples are
looking at each other saying, “Is He
serious? Who touched Him. I was trying to give Peter some flack. Maybe I touched Him.”
“But Jesus continued
looking around to see who touched Him.
The woman knew that she was healed. So she came and she bowed at Jesus’ feet. Shaking with fear she told Him the
whole story. Jesus said to the
woman, ‘Dear woman, you were made well because you believed. Go in peace you will have no more
suffering.’”
That’s a great story. The first part of what I want to talk
about is, what is God like? Some of you might be thinking, “You just read a story about Jesus. Now you’re talking about what is God
like. I’m not sure I get the
connection.”
The Bible makes it very clear
that God and Jesus are one. Jesus
says “When you’ve seen Me you’ve seen the
Father.” The Bible tells us in
Colossians 1:15 that Jesus is the visible expression of the invisible God. So what this tells you and me is that
when we study Jesus we’re really seeing the character of God. When we read about Jesus we’re really
getting a snapshot into the supernatural deity of God. That’s why we can say what God is like
based on what we see in Jesus.
So based on what we know
about Jesus let’s take a look at three qualities of God. I have to tell you that as we take a
look at these qualities they’re going to answer some fundamental questions that
every person in this room has asked.
Does God know I exist? Does
God care about me? With billions
of people in this world, does God know me? Does He care about my problems? Or are they too petty for such a big God?
What is God like? I’ve listed three
things.
1.
God is concerned with individuals in every crowd.
The
moment that Jesus was face to face with this woman there seemed to be nobody
there but Jesus and this unnamed woman.
It happened in the middle of a crowd yet Jesus forgot about the crowd
and treated her as if she were the only person in the world. She was poor. She was unimportant.
She was considered unclean.
Yet Jesus gave all of Himself to her.
Almost everyone in the crowd
would have wanted Him to continue and move on. They would have regarded this woman as unimportant. But Jesus saw somebody in need. And He withdrew from the crowd even in
the midst of the crowd. Sometimes
many of us are tempted to attach labels to people. And when we attach those labels to people we’re tempted to
treat them according to their relative importance. Bu Jesus never did this. He didn’t believe in man-made labels. And God doesn’t see labels. God sees a soul in need. God sees a heart in need. God sees individuals in every
crowd.
God loves each of us as if we
were the only ones for Him to love.
Please don’t miss that. God
loves each of us as if we were the only ones for Him to love.
1 Peter 5:7 “He is always thinking about you and
watching everything that concerns you.” Have you ever thought, How
could He be thinking about me when He’s thinking about you? How many of you have ever prayed
wondering if God could hear your prayer?
All of us have! Imagine
what must have been happening in the mind of Jairus. Jairus’ daughter is dying! Jesus, the Healer, is loitering with somebody that’s
unimportant. Jairus had to be
saying, “Jesus! My concern is greater than her concern. Come with me!” But the truth about God is that He has
the leisure of heart to feel for each one of us and love each one of us which
doesn’t neglect another. Attending
to the needs of one does not neglect the needs of another.
So how can God love each of
us as if there was only one of us to love? I have a simple answer: I don’t know. I don’t know how God can love me the
same way He can love you and the other billions of people that are here. But if God is limited to our intellect
He’s a small God.
The problem that we have is
we place our finite thinking on an infinite God and we try to figure Him out
and we make God too small. Romans
11:34 says “God’s wisdom and knowledge
have no end. No one can explain
the things God decides or understand His ways.” 1 Corinthians 1:25 says “Even the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom.” Just because we don’t understand it
doesn’t mean it’s not true.
God knows you exist and He
loves you as if you’re the only one to love. God zeroes in on individuals in the midst of a crowd. God
delivers His love to each of us as if we’re the only ones there to love. If that doesn’t make your heart pick up
a beat, check your pulse. Because
that’s good news. We could close
in prayer and go home right now and have had a good day!
But there’s other things to
learn about God. Not only is God
concerned with individuals in a crowd but…
2. God
connects with people of faith.
Faith is like a spark
plug. It gets things going. A spark plug doesn’t supply all the
power, but it starts the process for the power to flow and for the car to start
moving.
Without faith you can’t get
connected with God. You can’t get
the ball rolling. In the miracle
of the raising of Lazarus, God used people to get things going. He asked them to roll away the
stone. Why? Because it showed a little bit of
faith. We have faith in the possible then move on to faith that God
will do the impossible. We do the possible like when the blind
man washes the dirt out of his eyes in the pool of Siloam. We do the possible with faith that God
does the impossible.
In the midst of that crowd,
what got the attention of Jesus? Think
about that! In the midst of the
crowd what got His attention? Was
it the touch? No. It was her faith. There were people elbowing and shoving
and pushing (much like the opening of the doors of a mall on the Friday after
Thanksgiving) yet in the midst of that it wasn’t the touch. It was her faith. Jesus essentially said, “Faith touched Me.”
Romans 4:5 “But people cannot do any work that will
make them right with God. So they
must trust in Him who makes even evil people right in His sight. Then God accepts their faith and that
makes them right with Him.” That’s
what makes us right with God. Not
our works. Not your church
attendance. Not how much you
give. Those things happen as a
result of your faith. Faith makes
us right with God.
The third thing that we can
know about God based on this event…
3. God
changes lives where all else fails.
This woman came to Jesus at
the end of her rope. The Bible
tells us she had spent all her money.
She had tried everything else.
Finally she comes to Jesus.
If you think about it, Jairus
was no different. What people
forget when they read this story was that Jairus was a religious leader in the
synagogue. These were not people
who generally embraced Jesus.
These were not people that loved Jesus. These were people who probably despised Jesus, that wanted
Him eliminated. Yet Jairus had to
humble himself and say, As a last resort,
I’m going to go to Jesus. He
had tried everything else and it didn’t work. He was desparate.
I’ve been in ministry about 35
years and I’ve learned that one of the things we all have in common is that
we’re all looking for life. We’re all looking for life. No matter how hard I beg people and
tell them that they need God, it doesn’t matter what I think they need. They’ve
got to say, That’s what I need! Until somebody comes to the point that
they say, “That’s what I need!”
nothing else works. The truth
about God is that while people are looking everywhere else, when you’re ready
to come to God He’s ready to change your life. That’s the truth.
God is changing lives where all else fails.
People are asking different
types of questions. They’re asking
questions like How can I survive in my marriage? How can I be a better parent? How can I get on top of this financial mess that I’m
in? How can I survive this stress
my job puts me under? How can deal
with the health problems I am having?
These are the questions that people are asking!
Until people see that their
own answers and their own solutions are inadequate they typically don’t turn to
God. There are people who say, “I
tried God and it didn’t work!” These
people didn’t try God. They tried
God like a vending machine. They put
in a fifty-cent prayer, pushed a button, and expected the prayer to be answered
in their timing and in their way.
That’s not faith folks.
That’s called control and control runs in direct opposition to
faith.
Ephesians 2:12 “Remember that in those days you were living
utterly part from Christ. You were
lost without God and without hope.”
Circle “without hope.” Many people have this aching in their
lives and there’s this desperation.
They’re saying, I’m looking for
life and I just don’t know what it is. They have this God-shaped emptiness inside that can only be
filled by God.
Just say these words, “God, I need You. I’ve been looking for life
in people. I’ve been looking for
life in things. I’ve been looking for life in all the wrong places. I need God. That’s the aching that I need filled. Today I want to
discover what it means to be known by You and loved by You and have a
relationship with You. Amen.”
That’s a prayer that gets the
ball rolling that says, Yeah, I want to
have a relationship with God. I
need God.
I used the word “intimacy.” The title of the message is How to Find Intimacy in a Crowd. How
do we become intimate with God?
And why do I choose the word “intimacy” with the story of this
woman. It’s because this woman
wants to have a physical need met yet she left with an intimate moment with the
Savior. All of us in here are
looking for intimacy. We want
intimacy with people. While we
might have intimacy with others, we’re still longing if we don’t have that
intimacy with God. Yet on the
other hand, from what the scripture tells us, God wants to have that intimacy
with us. He knows us. He wants us to draw near to Him and He
will draw near to us. That’s what
he says in James 4:8.
I’ve listed some action steps
– A, B, and C. They’re not as easy
as A, B, and C. But maybe they’ll
help you remember them this way.
A – Admit the person I’ve been.
If you’re going to develop
intimacy with God you’ve got to admit the person you’ve been. What do I mean by this? There are three types of people in this
crowd as you study this passage. There
are the Watchers. These were the people who saw Jesus
moving through town in the crowd.
They didn’t follow. They
just kind of stood back and watched.
They leaned up against the Jerusalem Taco Bell with their friends there
and going, “There goes Jesus! He always draws a crowd doesn’t
he. They say He’s the Son of
God. He’s the self-proclaimed
Messiah. I don’t know if I buy
into that but there’s always a lot of people around Him.” They’re just kind of watching.
Then
there’s the Walkers. Those are the people who just kind of
like being a part of a crowd. “This is neat! A lot of people.
Seems like fun. They’re out
for a walk or something. There’s
energy here. This group is
moving. I don’t know where they’re
moving, but they’re moving. This is good.
I like it!” Something might happen and they want to be there if it
does.
But
then the Wanter emerges from the
crowd. One whoWants Jesus.
Which one are you? Who do you most identify with? This woman knew her condition if you
look at verse 26 and 27. It says “But instead of improving she was getting
worse. When the woman heard about
Jesus she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His coat.” She knew her condition. Then she made the next step.
There’s a lot of similarity
between those three kinds of people and the people that live in our community. There’s a lot of people that are
Watching God from a distance. A
lot of people living out there watching God. Maybe they’re even watching Forest Grove church. “I
drive by on the way to and from work.
There’s bunches of cars there on Sundays. They have snappy sayings on their church sign that make me
think. I ought to go in there
sometime.”
Then there’s the
Walkers. They’re a part of the
crowd that come here. They like the
music. There’s no dress code. It’s comfortable. Friendly people. A lot of friends come here. I come here because I hear they have an
incredible piano player and projectionist! It just feels comfortable here. Those are Walkers.
And then there’s
Wanters. They really want to know
Jesus. They want to draw close to God. They’re not perfect, they don’t claim
to be, but they want to know God and they’re going to do what it takes to
prioritize intimacy.
I’d also say that there are probably
people here that used to be Wanters that are now walkers. They’ve kind of fallen in with the
crowd. They’ve lost their desire
and their passion for intimacy with God.
As much as I hate to admit it, I understand that. I relate to that. Not now but at times I have. I’ve lost sight of the priority of
intimacy with God. There have been
times when I’ve fallen into being a Walker.
May I suggest to you that
intimacy only happens with those who want
it?
With those who make a
conscious decision to draw near to God.
There’s an old phrase that says if
you feel far from God, who do you think moved? It wasn’t Him.
His character is consistent.
But intimacy takes priority.
Wanters value the priority.
B – Begin with the faith that I have.
She thought, “If I could just touch His clothes I will be
healed,” it says in verse 28. Some
would say, “I hear about all these great people of faith but I don’t have that
kind of faith. That’s not me. This woman was such an incredible woman
of faith.”
You know what? She may have been incredibly
selfish. She wanted to be
healed. She’d tried everything
else. Her faith may have been almost
superstitious. “If I touch His coat I’ll be healed.” Maybe then she wanted to slip away and
become a walker again. Maybe that’s
selfish faith. You see, not
everybody has the same degree of faith.
The good news that I want to
say to you is that God responds to faith
no matter how feeble it might be.
When we believe, when we express even a little bit of faith, God shares
His power with us and the process of intimacy begins.
I know many Christians,
myself included, who in the early stages of their life were more consumed with
their own deep misery and wanting to escape their own personal hell than they
were with wanting to please Jesus.
That is often the beginning of intimacy. When I give a little bit of my faith, no matter how selfish
it might be, God works with that.
If the predominant motive of
your beginning faith is distinctly selfish, that’s ok. Because that will change with maturity
and intimacy. God meets you where
you’re at. No matter how
inadequately or imperfectly we come to God, God’s arms are open wide and ready
to receive us. What this means is
we don’t have to wait until our motives are all together good and pure. We don’t have to wait until our faith
is perfect. We don’t have to wait
until all our questions have been answered or our theology is correct. We come to God exactly as we are. And He meets us there with that little
bit of faith.
We do the possible with faith
that He will do the impossible.
You say, “I don’t have a lot of faith.” That’s ok.
Start with what you have.
Jesus said, “With faith as small
as a mustard seed you can move mountains, for all things are possible with
God.”
The last action step…
C
– Call on God first.
Do you want to be intimate
with God? Admit where you’ve been,
the type of person you’ve been. Then
begin with the faith that you have.
Then call on God first. Circle “first.” Because developing intimacy is not a
last resort type of relationship.
When an issue comes up in your life, when a problem comes up at work,
when a stress enters into a significant relationship, who do you call on
first? If your answer is you call
on anybody else but God, what you’re doing is you’re putting a Band-Aid on a
hemorrhage. If you go to other
people who have limited resources and
limited knowledge, who really can’t pull off miracles in your life anyway, and
you say, “Fix my need,” you’re
putting a Band-Aid on a hemorrhage.
Let me be a little more
practical. What does it mean to
call on God first? It means when
you wake up in the morning you say, “Good
morning, God!” and that’s how you start your day. As opposed to hitting the alarm clock and saying, “Good God! It’s Morning!” Give Him your first words. That might be what we call prayer. Give Him your first listening. Listen to God first in the morning.
What does it mean to call on
God first? When you have a
problem, your first conversation is with God. Why is it that when an issue comes up we go to other people? When something significant happens in
our life, a problem, why is it that we get on the phone and call other people, or
email other people, even other good meaning Christians? Why is that? It’s because we have more intimacy with people than we do
with God. Because we have intimacy
with people, the first person we think of, that’s who we want to talk to. I’m suggesting to you that if you
really have intimacy with God you call on God first. Intimacy requires priority.
Verse 33-34, the result of
what happened to this woman. “Shaking with fear she told Him the whole
truth. Jesus said to her, ‘Dear
woman. You are made well because
you believed.’” Why was she so
fearful? Her life had just been
changed. Was she afraid that Jesus
was going to take away her blessing or her healing? Was she afraid that Jesus was going to expose her as a
nobody?
Why didn’t Jesus just let her
slip away in the crowd? After all,
he was a man on a mission, He was on His way to Jairus’ house. He was on his way to pray for a dying
child. This woman had this problem
for 12 years, it wasn’t urgent, she wasn’t dying. Did Jesus just want to show the crowd that He had healing
power? I don’t think so. He’d just cast thousands of demons out
of a madman. He’s just about to
raise a twelve year old from the dead.
He was showing His power in plenty of other places.
I think Jesus didn’t just let
her slip away not for His sake but for her sake. I think Jesus wanted this woman to experience something more
than just physical healing. I
think Jesus wanted this woman to have a chance to look into His eyes and see a
friend and a savior. I think Jesus
wanted her to see the tenderness on His face and to hear His loving words of
assurance and restoration. By the
time He’d finished speaking to her, she experienced more than just physical
healing. She experienced an
intimate moment with the Savior.
He personalized it. He called her, “Dear
woman,” and a more specific translation says “Daughter.” It’s the
only time Jesus calls anybody daughter.
Daughter, you are made well [or
whole] because you believed. Other
people may think you are insignificant.
Other people may think that you are unclean. Other people may now know who you are. But I know who you are, you are my
daughter and I love you.
The results were
wholeness. He healed her. He gave her life. He made her whole. And gave her peace. Folks, my encouragement to you today is
to quit looking for wholeness and healing and peace in other places, in other
people. My encouragement for you
today is to figure out how to want Him more and how to be intimate with
Him.
In the midst of seven billion
people God wants to be intimate with you.
He wants you to know Him.
He wants you to give Him the faith that you have. He wants you to call on Him first. He wants a relationship with His
children.
I hope you walk out of here
today knowing that you’re loved.
You’re not one in a crowd.
You’ve made it to the head table with Him. Call on Him first.
Intimacy takes priority.
That takes time.
Prayer:
God,
may we be different people as a result of today. Thank You for Your love for us that we don’t
understand. Thank You for the way
that You care for us, that we are individuals to You. Thank You that You are accessible, that we can touch You,
that we can draw near to You.
Father, we don’t understand Your love. Yet we bathe in it.
We thank You that You love us not for what we’ve done but for who we
are. Father, I pray for those in
here that have been searching, that today have said, I’ve been looking in all the wrong places. I want to know You. That You would begin the process of intimacy. Bring people into their lives to help
them to grow and point them to You.
We love You today. In the
name of Jesus. Amen.
