Last week was very cool. So many people coming to the altar to pray for our church, some giving their life to Jesus, it was just an amazing moment for our church. But I must say, I was a bit discouraged as well. The reason for my discouragement was that it had never happened before, no one really came to the altar. I just figured this just isn’t “come to the altar kind of folks”. However, after our cool moment last week, many of you came up to me and said, “it was so great that the altar was open this week!” What? The altar is open every week, or at least I thought so. Then it hit me, I had not done a great job at inviting you to the altar. I had not been clear or communicated well. In other words the problem wasn’t you it was me! So, this week I was on a mission to correct that. I want to be better at giving altar calls. So, I began studying the altar, invitations, altar calls, all that good stuff in Scripture.
I think I first need to describe what an altar is. Many of us know, but an altar is a structure that people (primarily in the OT) built or went to in order to pray to God, or offer sacrifices to God.
This was an interesting journey God took me on. I wanted to see some Biblical examples of people praying at the altar and why they did so. I wanted to see Jesus doing an altar call that would give me a model to work from so I could improve my altar call skills. However, what I discovered, is that Jesus takes away the need for an altar. We don't need to meet God anywhere, Jesus makes it possible to talk to God anywhere, we carry Him in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. We don’t need an altar to offer sacrifices, Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. The point I’m making here is that I could not find what I was looking for in the Bible; no model, no examples, nothing. The way we do altar calls today in church is just not supported in Scripture (or so I thought).
Here is where the journey gets interesting.
I was preparing to do a sermon that essentially does away with the altar call here. To preach it's not in the Bible, there is no need for it. It is an Old Testament thing. Then, I felt God impress upon me, and I mean strongly impress on me “you're wrong,” it's there. Although many of you may already know this, to me it was a revelation. After following God’s leading, I discovered people did go to the altar, Jesus had regular altar calls, it just looks a little different. Many times Jesus says; come to Me, fell at Jesus’ feet, fell at His feet asking forgiveness, fell at His feet praising Him, fell at His feet wanting to to be saved. Then it hit me, Jesus did not do away with the altar, He became the Altar.
With that in mind let us look at a story in Scripture that I believe displays the importance and power of coming to the new altar, the altar that is Jesus.
Luke 8:40-48
On the other side of the lake the crowds welcomed Jesus, because they had been waiting for him.
This was not an unexpected visit, they were waiting, people were expecting the arrival of Jesus. Jesus was at rockstar status at this point. So this was a large crowd all wanting a glimpse, a touch of Jesus.
Then a man named Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come home with him. His only daughter, who was about twelve years old, was dying. As Jesus went with him, he was surrounded by the crowds.
So Jesus is going to go and heal this girl. No doubt Jairus was trying to clear the way but everyone is surrounding Jesus. Here we see one of the examples, Jarius FELL AT HIS FEET
A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding, and she could find no cure.
This woman is suffering from menstrual bleeding and has been for 12 years. This is important to know; when a woman was menstruating, she was considered unclean, she was not allowed to participate in the rituals of faith, nor was she allowed in the synagogue. She was considered unclean and so anything she touched was also considered unclean (remember this). So not only did this affect her medically, but spiritually as well. She was in all affects shunned, she was treated much like the lepers we read about
Coming up behind Jesus, she touched the fringe of his robe. Immediately, the bleeding stopped.
She’s healed.
4“Who touched me?” Jesus asked. Everyone denied it, and Peter said, “Master, this whole crowd is pressing up against you.”
I picture this being like a crowd at a major sporting event. The crowd is thick, everyone is crammed together trying to get at Jesus. I get confused here. It says everyone was denying it, but Peter says EVERYONE is touching you. Like “dude were in a mob, everyone’s pressing against you!”
But Jesus said, “Someone deliberately touched me, for I felt healing power go out from me.”
At this point Jesus stops. Now here’s the thing, do you believe Jesus DIDN’T know who touched Him? Of course He did, I mean the guy felt power leave Him, He obviously knows!
When the woman realized that she could not stay hidden, she began to tremble and fell to her knees in front of him. The whole crowd heard her explain why she had touched him and that she had been immediately healed.
Why was she trembling, because remember, she was considered unclean, her cover was blown. Touching someone else made them unclean and was a problem, but touching a rabbi and making them unclean was real bad… like get out the stones and start throwing bad. But again we see she fell at His feet and testified to what had happened
“Daughter,” he said to her, “your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
This is the only time we ever see Jesus use the term “daughter”, obviously a term of endearment and love
There are a few lessons we get from this story…
The Woman’s Covert Operation
Many times going to the altar is not easy
People struggle with thoughts of being embarrassed or judged
But the fact is, it’s so worth it
This woman had to plan this just right considering her condition
She had to conceal herself and go to an area that Jesus would be that no one knew her
This wasn’t easy
But in the end, she got a miraculous healing, was blessed by the Savior
Going to the altar is similar, it may not be easy, but it’s always worth it
Similarities/Differences Jairus and Woman
They both needed help
And Jesus was going to help them both
But there are some differences
Jairus waits on Jesus from the shore/ the woman has went to where Jesus is
Jesus goes to help Jairus/ Jesus halts everything for the one who came to Him
Not Ashamed
Why did Jesus call her out
To test if she was ashamed
She passed, even though the fear of being stoned was there she passed
Others denied touching Him
Do not be ashamed when Jesus tugs at your heart to come to the altar
Another reason was for her to testify, it was for the crowd
Many times when Jesus is wanting you to come to the altar it for someone else
There are other people who aren’t as strong in their faith, who don’t know Jesus, that by you coming it will encourage them
Coming to the altar is not embarrassing or anything to be judged about
It’s the opposite, it’s the strongest people with the strong faith that come to the altar first
Stops everything
There’s no doubt that others were sending silent prayers and thoughts to Jesus
I’m sure others wanted or needed a miracle
And it’s not that Jesus didn’t hear them or anything
But in this story we see Jesus stop everything for the one that came to him (women)
Jesus halts His Emergency call to a dying girl to acknowledge the one that came to Him
It’s not that the girl or anyone else wasn’t important
But this woman was special enough that everything got put on hold for her
And the only difference we see is that she came to Him
That’s what going to the altar is about, not waiting on Jesus to come to you, but you going to Him
He says power left Him when that woman touched him
He didn’t say that about Jairus, or anyone else who touched Him
But the woman who reached out and touched Him in faith, the one who came to Him, that one got power
If you’ve ever been to this alter in faith you know exactly what Jesus is talking about
There is power that comes from kneeling down here
When you come to the altar, you are coming to Jesus and He will give you some of His power
The altar is more personal
We see a difference here in the dying girl and the bleeding woman
It’s a distinction Jesus makes
A couple verses later Jesus gets to the little girl and she’s dead
No problem for Jesus, he raises her from the dead
And says get up my child
He calls the girl child, but the woman He calls daughter
Daughter is more personal, and it’s not a term Jesus uses loosely, this is the only time He calls anyone daughter in all of Scripture
It's more personal, its more endearing
I can call about any kid here child but there’s only 2 I can call daughter
This does not imply that Jesus loved one more than the other, but it may imply that the woman loved Him more than the child
Coming to the altar is an act of obedience, an act of faith but it’s also an act of love for Jesus
It's more personal
Anyone can sit in their pew and pray or do whatever, but to come at the feet of Jesus, the feet of our New Testament altar, is only done by someone who wants to get personal with Him, who has a deep passionate love for Him
We no longer offer animal sacrifices but when you come to the altar you are offering yourself to God.
Today, if you need some power, some healing or just need to get more personal with Jesus, I encourage you to come to the altar. Come and touch the hem of His garment by kneeling down at the the altar today.
