Physical intimacy

1. In 2006 the Ohio Court of Appeals issued a ruling about staring.

2. The case involved gawking at someone in the workplace.

3. The Ohio Court of Appeals issued an interesting ruling.

4. They said staring in and of itself is not enough to create a hostile work environment.

5. We know what staring is—it is some type of sustained eye contact.

6. Parents often say to their children, “don’t stare.”

I CALL OUR ATTENTION TO STARING BECAUSE IT IS CLASSIFIED AS A FORM OF PHYSICAL INTIMACY.

a) When most people think of physical intimacy, they think about actual contact.

b) Physical intimacy does involve actual contact, but it does not require two things to touch each other.

c) Physical intimacy can occur simply by being near someone or something.

d) It also occurs when people stare at one another.

2) Thursday night I heard the most interesting sermon of my life.

a) About 10 months ago a preacher within the church was shot.

b) The father of the son who died spoke Thursday night.

c) He came to the platform and just stood for perhaps 45 seconds.

d) Then he said some things like this:

e) “What do you do when arrows pierce your soul?”

f) “Who do you turn to when your life literally explodes”?

g) The father who lost his son still feels physical intimacy towards his son.

h) He can’t see him or touch him, but that intimacy still exists.

3) A similar thing is true concerning intimacy in the spiritual realm.

a) We cannot reach out and physically touch God; physical intimacy by personal contact is impossible.

b) Physical intimacy with God is, however, possible in a different way.

c) Under the Old Testament system, physical intimacy was a large part of the religion.

4) The people brought sacrifices, and these animals definitely interacted with the physical senses.

5) People could touch and smell what was being offered to God.

6) They could hand over their sacrifices to the priests.

7) Under the New Testament things are much different; we have no temple or special priests.

8) We do not have a special altar or animals to bring for sacrificing.

9) Though we have a much different (and better system), we still enjoy a form of physical intimacy.

10) Just as staring or being close to someone is in the realm of physical intimacy, so is our worship.

11) In Mt. 26 we have one account of Jesus instituting the Lord's Supper.

12) Jesus said He would “Drink it new with the apostles in His Father’s kingdom.”

a) This is not a reference to some future time; the kingdom has come; we are members of the kingdom.

b) Kingdom in Mt. 26 is used in the sense of the church.

c) When we gather for the Lord’s Supper, Christ is with us.

d) If Jesus is present with us, that presence meets one of the definitions for physical intimacy.

e) If He is present when we meet for worship, we have, on one level, physical intimacy with Him (deity).

13) We have the Lord's Supper each Sunday, and Mt. 26 helps us understand why we do it week after week.

14) If the Lord is with us when we have the Lord's Supper, how often do we want to have communion?

a) Would the answer not be “every Sunday”?

b) Who wants to meet for a Sunday assembly and not have Jesus present?

c) Jesus said He would be present when the Lord's Supper is served, and that day is Sunday.

d) What does this thus imply about groups that have the Lord's Supper less frequently?

15) What of the group that has the communion once a quarter, every six months of just once a year?

16) Do they not realize what Jesus said in Mt. 26?

17) Some have suggested that Jesus had in mind some future time in Mt. 26.

a) That is, He and His people will have the Lord's Supper in heaven.

b) Jesus did not mean that, and we know that because of 1 Cor. 6:12-13.

c) There Paul said God will at the end of time destroy both food and man’s ability to eat it.

d) There will be no “Lord's Supper” in heaven. The communion is for now.

e) When we partake, Jesus said He is in our presence. There is a type of physical intimacy.

f) This information reveals some things to us.

18) For instance, it shows us the Lord's Supper is not the most important item in our assembly.

19) Some have mistakenly concluded that the Lord's Supper is THE item when it comes to worship.

20) There have been cases where Christians have gone to a congregation, gotten the Lord's Supper, and left.

21) In a couple of instances people walked in to a building, got the grape juice and cracker, and left.

a) Others have waited till the Lord's Supper was served and then left before the service ended.

b) Bear in mind Mt. 26 (Jesus is present with us) and ponder this question:

c) When does Jesus “leave” the presence of His people with respect to our worship?

d) As we wrestle with that one, we can toss a second question into the mix.

e) When does He come into the presence of His people?

22) Since Jesus is deity He is omnipresent (knows what is going in all places).

23) Although He is present in all places and at all times, there is a special sense of His being present in worship.

24) Does Jesus just “show up” when we start passing out the communion elements?

25) Does He “duck out” right after the last person has observed the Lord's Supper?

26) Let’s consider a related text in Mt. 18:20.

a) When Christians try to resolve problems Jesus said, “there am I in the mist of them.”

b) These two passages indicate some type of special, unique, or extra presence of Christ with His people.

27) We know that Jesus does not show up for “part of the service” and then leave.

28) We say this will full confidence because of Heb. 13:15.

a) The Hebrew refers to the Lord and says, “through Him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise continually.”

b) The writer speaking of singing. He said our singing somehow goes through Christ.

c) If we sing before we have the Lord's Supper, Jesus has to be involved in the process.

d) If Jesus is involved in the process, then He is present before the Lord's Supper is offered.

29) If He is present before the Lord's Supper is offered, what should be true of us?

30) We do not want to show up just for the communion.

31) We want to be present when the Lord is here. According to Heb. 13 He will be present when we sing.

32) His presence is one more reminder that we have a type of physical intimacy with God.

33) I Jesus is present with us when it comes to singing and the Lord's Supper, what about other items?

a) In our assemblies we pray.

b) In the New Testament we find a lot of information about prayer.

c) In Eph. 3:12 Paul said we have “access” through Christ.

d) Based upon Eph. 3 we may ask another question.

e) What if our “access” (Jesus) is not present?

f) Without Christ, our prayers are not going to be heard.

34) Many of us have gone to a place where someone was supposed to meet us with a key.

35) We got to the appointed place and the person was not there.

36) Or, someone came and forget the key so access to something was impossible.

37) If Christ is our access to God, He must be present so we can have that access.

38) When we realize Christ is our access, we know something about intimacy with God.

a) There is a sense in which we have physical intimacy with Him.

b) When it comes time to worship, this is a time God is especially near to us.

c) We see that in our singing, the Lord's Supper, and the prayers that are led.

39) All these things relate to one of the verses we know all so well.

40) In Jn. 14:6 Jesus said “no one comes to the Father but by me.”

41) We are to be so close to the Lord that we can regard our relationship as physical intimacy.

42) This intimacy is very special designed to last a long, long time.

a) Only one passage will be read for this lesson and it comes from Rom. 5.

b) This chapter opens with a statement about faith – we are “justified by faith.”

c) We have “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

d) Then Paul said this in verse 2 – READ.

e) Those who are saved “stand in the grace of God.”

f) We know what it means to “stand in the sun” and “stand in the rain.”

g) Paul said Christians stand in the grace of God.

43) When Teresa and I saw our parents at the end of last year my dad wanted to show me how some things had changed.

44) We visited a sub division where my family had lived more than 30 years ago.

45) Still standing on a home owner’s property was a small shed.

46) Children sometimes used it to avoid standing in bitter weather waiting for a school bus.

47) God’s people stand in heaven’s grace.

48) If we stand in the grace of God, there is a very close level of intimacy with God and His people.

49) Standing in God’s grace is pursuing the type of intimacy being described today.

a) Our worship brings us close to God.

b) Singing helps us remember who God is and why He is important to us.

c) Prayer is a means of getting and staying close to Him.

d) The Lord's Supper reminds us of God’s great love.

e) Teaching is another means of helping us draw closer and closer to God.

f) Even the contribution is a tool related to physical intimacy.

g) Like singing it is a physical act whereby we make an offering to God.

50) When money passes through our hands in life , it is generally due to some type of relationship.

51) The relationship may be between us and some type of service (NIPSCO, Verizon, Comcast, etc.).

52) Relationships may be distant and new or close and perhaps well established.

53) Most relationships have some element of contact that meets the general definition of physical contact.

54) With God we literally reach out to Him in several ways, especially during worship.

55) We can be close (intimate with God) in many ways. It is our choice.

56) Heaven holds out this option but we must be willing to accept and obey it.