The Worship of God
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Last week if you were with us, hopefully you remember what we saw from this first section in John, chapter 4...
It begins by telling us the story of Christ’s meeting with the Samarian woman, at the well...
And what we saw was how...
The Purpose of the Gospel is actuated when the person of Jesus Christ is embraced...
We saw how this samaritan woman did not know who Jesus was...
EXCEPT - that he was a Jew...
TO HER SURPRISE - Jesus asks her for a drink of water...
And what we saw was that - this woman’s MIND immediately went to - ALL the things that divided her and Christ...
She said to Jesus - “Why are you, a Jew, speaking with me…a Samaritan?”
“Why are you, a man, speaking with me, a woman?”
And it in Christ’s RESPONSE to her - that we find the PURPOSE and POWER of the Gospel!
Purpose - the purpose of the Gospel is to RECONCILE mankind (all things) - to God!
This woman CAME to the well - seeking RELIEF!
She THOUGHT that her ONLY need that day was - to get a drink
Jesus lets her know - that He was there - to give her FAR MORE than a cold drink...
FAR MORE than a temporarily satisfying drink of WATER...
And then Jesus said this...
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
And it’s here we see the POWER of the Gospel of Christ!
Jesus says - IF YOU KNEW WHO I WAS - the gift of God that was speaking with you now...
Your DEFAULT response would NOT HAVE BEEN - why are you speaking with me...
Her mind would NOT have gone to ALL that divided them!
Jesus says - If you knew who I was - you would have - ASKED ME FOR A DRINK!
You would have TREASURED ME so much, that those TRIVIAL things that divide us…those MANMADE things that divide us - wouldn’t even be on your mind!
That’s POWER!
To take a heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh!!
AND THEN - Christ elevates and compares physical water (the water the WOMAN came to retrieve) - with the LIVING WATER that He offers...
13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Think of the comparison -
What would have been needed for the woman to RETRIEVE the water from the well?
Effort - Work
Result? - Temporary satisfaction
BUT - if she would have NOT RETRIEVED - but RECEIVED - the living water…of Christ...
Result? - Eternal Life...
LIVING WATER - is faith!
37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
What does it mean to DRINK Christ?
38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
To drink of Christ is to HAVE FAITH in Him...
LIVING WATER...
And this INTRIGUED the woman at the well...
enough to say this...
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
And here we now have set the stage for our time today...
The woman says - Ok, well that sounds great...
I’ll have some of that Living Water...
I won’t be physically thirsty anymore...
AND - I won’t have to come and draw water anymore...
SOUNDS GREAT!
And so here’s what we’re going to see today...
We’re going to see - What it means to WORSHIP God…and the ROLE that Christ plays in the Worship of God.
SO - remember - 2 weeks ago - we saw that the Purpose and Power of the Gospel is Actuated WHEN the Person of Jesus Christ is Embraced...
And SO - today we’ll actually see what it means to - Embrace Jesus Christ!
(read v15 again) - (she’s thinking in a PHYSICAL MANNER)
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’;
18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
Now - SEVERAL things are going on here...
But overall - we see...
SLIDE: The Worship of God: Embracing Our True Need
The Worship of God
The Worship of God
The woman at the well - was interested in the water that Christ had to offer...
OF COURSE - she was EXPECTING physical water...
WHY - Because to her - THAT was ALL SHE NEEDED!
What Christ does - is He helps her understand more clearly what He’s speaking about -
by RELATING her need for water - to the ethics of her sexual activity.
And her response to him - reveals that she’s telling the TRUTH...
BUT - in Christ’s response to her - HER SIN is revealed!
Jesus calls for her to go get her husband...
She says - Well I don’t HAVE a husband...
Jesus says - You’re RIGHT…you don’t.
You’ve HAD 5 husbands...
and the GUY you’re WITH NOW - he’s NOT your husband...
BACKGROUND...
In Jewish Tradition, 3 husbands were permitted…and she was WELL beyond that!
But in her response…she stumbled into a necessary aspect of WORSHIP!!
But how would she respond to Christ’s EXPOSING of her deeds…?
Remember what John chapter 3 told us?
The Judgment has come into the world: The Light has come, and the people loved the darkness rather than the Light…lest their works be - EXPOSED...
How would she respond?
18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
What does she do here?
Listen - the time for TRUTH had come!
Her deeds had been EXPOSED by the Light of Christ...
What does she do?
She DEFLECTS!
“Let’s talk about something else...”
What is she trying to AVOID?
TRUTH!
She KNOWS it’s true...
She knows that Jesus just told her what He SHOULD not have known!!
AND YET - She deflects!
19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
And then she changes the subject:
20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
She doesn’t WANT to go where Jesus took the conversation...
She wanted to HIJACK the conversation…and take it to another place...
THE TEMPLE...
There had been a LONG-STANDING ARGUMENT between the Jews and the Samaritans concerning the TEMPLE...
The Jews had a TEMPLE...
The Samaritans had a TEMPLE...
Both Temples were built on mountains...
The Samaritan Temple on Mount Gerizim
The Jewish Temple on Mount Moriah
Now the Samaritans argued that THEIR temple was authorized by Moses
And what the woman at the well wanted to do was to - Get the Attention OFF of herself...
Basically… (we’ve all seen these no?)
SLIDE: I love my Church...
We’ve all seen these...
Well - she planted her sign right in front of Jesus...
SLIDE: I love my Temple...
She was saying - MAYBE you’re right…MAYBE I’M right...
*And we do the same thing today don’t we?
We don’t WANT to pursue HOLINESS...
We don’t WANT to be confronted - EVEN LOVINGLY…about my behavior...
And if you do...
I’ll just LEAVE - and go find another church down the street where they...
WON’T encourage me to pursue holiness
WON’T ask me to help out
WON’T encourage me engage the fellowship
WON’T CONTINUE to ENCOURAGE me to pursue Christ in His word...
AND THEEEERRREEEE - I’ll be able to RE-PLANT my sign once again - I love my church!!
Another way we do this same thing is by getting into CONVERSATIONS that - MISS THE MARK…MISS THE POINT...
Jesus wants us to PURSUE living in a CHRIST-LIKE way…and YET…we often get OFF TRACK
**Flat Earth Conversation on Facebook!
Not sure if you saw...
I was fine responding - UP TO A POINT..
And then when I realized the conversation wasn’t going to end...
I wanted to end it...
know why?
There’s a BIGGER, MORE IMPORTANT conversation to be had!
And the WOMAN AT THE WELL - was NOT interested in that BIGGER - more important conversation!
But Jesus DID NOT take the bait!
He actually DEFINES what WORSHIP truly is - and in DOING SO - he wipes her QUESTION about temples - off the table...
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
Jesus says - LISTEN - the hour is coming when neither YOUR TEMPLE or the JEWISH TEMPLE will be where the WORSHIP of the Father must come...
It’s NOT GOING to be about - This building or THAT building...
22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
Jesus proclaims - the MESSIAH is coming FROM the JEWS...
And you worship what you DO NOT KNOW!!
WOW - get that?
Worship can happen, and the worshippers THINK they’re worshipping God.
Jesus looks at this Samaritan woman and says = “You do not know God”…and let me show you why...
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
And it’s here that we see - True WORSHIP of God flows from an EMBRACE of - TRUTH
SLIDE: The Worship of God: Flows from the Pillar of Truth
The Worship of God
The Worship of God
Did the woman embrace TRUTH?
Before her meeting with Christ - this woman DEFINED worship as:
Going to the temple
Singing songs
hearing a message
After this encounter with Christ...
We now know that WORSHIP flows from:
Embracing Truth: Truth about ourselves…and truth about Christ
We see in scripture examples of people who BELIEVED themselves to be WORSHIPPING God -...
…and yet we find out that they weren’t!
Speaking to the Pharisees and the scribes…Jesus says...
7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8 “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
Think of what the Pharisees believed...
They believed that the LAW was their REDEEMER!
SIN wasn’t an issue in their mind...
They could WORK it off...
WHICH MEANS - they weren’t WORSHIPPING God - for God is worshipped in - TRUTH!!
Anyone who is trying to GET TO GOD - through the Law - HAS NOT embraced TRUTH!
TRUTH says - I am severed from Christ if I’m trying to work to get to God.
you know where this comes from?
4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
Anyone trying to GET TO GOD by being good enough - HAS NOT EMBRACED the truth of themselves...
that they are APART from God due to sin..
And they have NOT embraced the TRUTH of Christ, that ONLY through FAITH in Christ can we GET TO GOD...
But not only that!
What did Jesus say?
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
It’s not JUST about TRUTH...
TRUE worship is carried out in truth and “SPIRIT”...
SLIDE: The Worship of God: Flows From and Through the Spirit
The Worship of God
The Worship of God
And this is VITAL to Christianity...
**How many of you know Unbelievers - who are REALLY NICE people…?
Nice enough to - be people who give to charity
Nice enough to - be people who don’t cheat on their taxes
Nice enough to - be people who are committed in their relationships
Nice enough to - be people who are tremendous parents
OK, but remember - I said they’re UNbelievers..
SO - they do all the RIGHT things..
They might adhere to the LETTER of the LAW...
They might look - HOLY…Righteous...
BUT...
Problem...
They’re not WORSHIPPING God - because they don’t have The Spirit...
And God is ONLY Worshipped in Spirit and Truth...
When the woman at the well - CONFRONTED by her sin when speaking with Christ...
Shifted the conversation to - the Temple...
…she was wanting to get into a “MY LAW is better than your LAW” debate...
“My TEMPLE can beat up your TEMPLE” debate!
But Christ SHOWS her that - the WORSHIP of God entails more than just - RIGHT ACTIONS!
Do your friends KNOW this?
Do your family members KNOW this?
Your spouse?
Your kids?
Baptism - does not grant you a place with God
Going door to door - does not grant you a place with God
Partaking in the Lord’s Table - does not grant you a place with God
Following Religious Rules - does not grant you a place with God
NOTHING - but FAITH ALONE...
BY FAITH we are - SAVED
And ONCE SAVED - Christian - we are SANCTIFIED…IN THE SPIRIT...
6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
The majority of the world - RIGHT NOW - is trying to serve God according to the written code...
The Woman at the Well - was trying to serve God according to the written code...
Apart from Truth
And apart from the Spirit...
She didn’t, in the moment, accept who she was before the Lord...
She didn’t embrace truth...
THEREFORE - her worship was VOID of SPIRIT and TRUTH...
The Woman was all about the OUTWARD...
But Jesus is about the INWARD...
And throughout scripture we see this OUTWARD - INWARD comparison...
SLIDE: Outward vs. Inward
Physical Adultery - Lust
Physical Murder - Hatred
Sabbath Keeping - Delight in the Lord
Religiosity - Humility
And so for the unbeliever - FAITH is what leads to true WORSHIP - in Spirit and Truth...
And for the BELIEVER - I think we can so often fall back into trying to WORSHIP God by the written code...
And we let our ACTIONS ALONE dictate our PERCEIVED acceptance by God.
TO the extent that we’ll have these conversations with ourselves:
Well - I know I’m not going to Bible Study this time round....but I went last time, I’m good
I know I’ve never jumped in to help out in that ministry, but I know all I need to know about God
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
And so when looking at these things here...
THESE are FRUITS of the Spirit - lived out in the TRUTH of God...
Love for others - LIVED out - under the banner of WHO I once WAS before God!
Joy
Peace
PATIENCE with others - lived out - under the banner of WHO I ONCE WAS before God!
Kindness toward others - lived out - UNDER the banner of WHO I ONCE was before God!!
This is TRUE WORSHIP of God...
What have we seen today...
SLIDE: Summary
True Worship of God:
Embraces Our True Need
From and Through the Spirit
Worship must be vital and real in the heart, and worship must rest on a true perception of God. There must be spirit and there must be truth. . . . Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full (or half-full) of artificial admirers . . . . On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates shallow people who refuse the discipline of rigorous thought. But true worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of biblical worship.
Let’s Pray