Spirit and Truth - John 4:19-24

Spirit and Truth John 4:23-24 (c)Copyright November 8, 2020 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche In John 4 we have the story of Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman. It was also a wonderful illustration of the grace of God that transcends not only ethnic barriers but also reputation barriers. Rick will circle back to this story when he is off quarantine. Today we are going to take a closer look at just part of this conversation. 20 So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?" 21 Jesus replied, "Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. 23 But the time is coming-indeed it's here now-when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. 24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth." This may seem like a mere difference between Jews and Samaritans but it is actually a passage that serves as a corrective to a feeling-centered worship that is often popular today. It may seem at first that Jesus is saying it doesn't matter how or where you worship but that is really not what He is saying. He is saying there is something more important than location; it is the heart! If the heart is right then it doesn't matter where you worship because you will be worshipping God, appropriately, wherever you are. Jesus says the time is now here when TRUE worshippers will worship in Spirit and in Truth. Worship That Isn't Worship Jesus talks about TRUE worshippers. This is to distinguish them from FALSE worshippers. All through the Bible we see people who worshipped idols or merely went through the motions. They looked good on the outside but on the inside their hearts were far from the Lord. In Isaiah 1 we read these words, 11 "What makes you think I want all your sacrifices?" says the LORD. "I am sick of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle. I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 When you come to worship me, who asked you to parade through my courts with all your ceremony? 13 Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting- they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings. 14 I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals. They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them! 15 When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look. Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims. 16 Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways. 17 Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows. It is possible to sing hymns and choruses, take communion, sit through a sermon and even completely "enjoy" the worship and still not worship in a way that pleases and honors the Lord. "Good" worship is not measured by how much people enjoy it or "get out of it" but by how much the Lord is honored. The devil does not mind us being happy as long as he can keep us from true worship. We often see several extremes in worship: one is a ritual that leads you to be disengaged. You recite what you need to recite but your heart is unmoved. Sometimes we sing songs this way. This worship would be described as cold and wooden or devoid of feeling. Another extreme is a worship that seeks to generate good feelings. In other words, worship that plays to the audience. This is self-centered or this world centered. It is about us . . . not Him. Therefore it is not really worship of God . . . it is more a worship of us! The third kind of worship is more of a classroom. It is academic. People come in, take notes, and come away with more information (often GOOD information) but no worship actually takes place. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote, If we are only engaged intellectually, and if we are only concerned about ideas of salvation, and if we are only interested in doctrine in and of itself, then we are not worshipping at all. The value and the purpose of all knowledge and all doctrine and all thought is to bring us into a living communion with God, and merely to come to listen to sermons is not worship. It ought to aid worship, it ought to end in worship, it ought to promote worship, but it is not worship in and of itself. And there is no question whatsoever but that the perilous state of the Christian church today, and therefore the state of the world, is due, on the one hand, to a mechanical, lifeless worship composed of forms and externals and, on the other hand, to an intellectualization that has turned the faith into a philosophy.(Living Water Loc. 1024) Genuine worship is when our hearts and lives bow before God in worship and adoration. It is when we give God the honor He so rightly deserves. Jesus Identified true worship as that which is in spirit and in truth. God Is Spirit The statement that God is Spirit is vitally important. God is not like us. He is not honored in the same way we are honored. As humans we feel honored by awards, kind words, and gifts that are given. God is different. Mere words do not work. God cannot be flattered or bought off with religious performance. God looks at the heart. He seeks sincerity, genuineness and a depth of reverence that goes beyond the superficial. God sees what is in our hearts. He is not impressed with a performance, only humble adoration. Truth And Worship Because God is Spirit we must worship Him, according to Jesus, in spirit and in truth. Let's start with truth. The first thing this means is we must be directing our worship to who God truly is. This is not as obvious as you might think. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. Jesus did not sugar-coat anything. He said the Samaritans were worshipping a God they did not know. It is as if He said, "You don't know anything about your God and therefore you are merely going through the motions; a mere sham of a time of worship." Another way of looking at it, they were worshipping the god they hoped was there. It is easy to worship a God of our own imagination. You will hear people say at times, "My God is . . . " and then they will explain the way they view God. That is not worshipping in truth! God has revealed Himself to us in His Word. He is the Creator, the Sustainer, the Ruler over all things. He is consistent, unchanging, all-knowing, and all-powerful. He is Holy and righteous and also merciful and loving. He is the initiator of our salvation and is the One who, through the Holy Spirit, will lead us to eternal life with Him. God is eternal. He was here before there was anything else, and will be here when everything else is burned away. Sometimes we have been involved in the church all our lives. We have always "believed" and as a result we have never really stopped to ask, "WHAT is it that we have always believed?" We don't really KNOW God, we just know that we should worship God. He is somewhat generic and non-descript. Some people approach worship as somewhat of an insurance policy. They believe if they show up and "do their devotions" (pay their premiums) God will make sure nothing bad happens to them. It is like we are trying to keep God happy. If we understand who God truly is, it should result in a very humble attitude as we approach Him. God is NOT our "good buddy." He is our superior and should be approached in that way with great reverence and honor. And this leads to the second element of what it means to worship in truth: we must worship Him in the way He requires. The Old Testament goes into great detail about what should and not be done in worship. In fact, there are so many details that it gets a little overwhelming at times. There are different kinds of sacrifices and the tabernacle was built with great attention to every detail. Though these details are lost on us, we should recognize that God cares about HOW we worship Him. There is a right way and a wrong way. Of course, we are no longer offering animal sacrifices. Jesus was the one and only sacrifice that needs to be made. However, we can learn some things about worship from all of this. First, we should approach worship with a sense of awe and respect. Every regulation was to remind us that we, as sinful people, are approaching a Holy God. We should also approach Him prepared. We should mentally prepare for worship. This is one of the advantages of coming together for worship (as opposed to just watching preachers, or us, on TV). Having to actually go somewhere to worship is an act of preparation. Taking time to be silent before God before you even leave home is a good start to the right attitude for worship. Part of our preparation for worship is making time to confess our sin. In other words, we take time to be honest and right before God. We cannot worship God in truth if we are harboring sin in our hearts. We cannot worship God honestly if we are trying to deceive Him at the same time. It is like your child telling you that they love you while they are trying to hide a dent they put in your car or while they are stealing from you or slandering you to others. Such an expression of love is empty of meaning. We are to worship in a way that is appropriate for the One whom we worship. It is not about us, it is about Him! Worship in Spirit What does it mean to approach God in Spirit? Jesus is telling us that true worship is Spirit-led worship. It is realizing true worship cannot happen unless the Holy Spirit leads us into worship. This requires humility, and openness. Some people think Spirit-led worship is about singing. Some even call the time of singing, praise and worship. Singing can certainly be part of Spirit led worship, and hopefully our singing leads us into Spirit-led worship, but it is not the singing that is worshipful, it is the Holy Spirit leading us that is worship. The best music does not equal the best worship! Spirit-led worship leads us to being lost in wonder. It is when we are filled with gratitude and experience a sense of freedom that is uncommon. We find a new attentiveness to the Word of God. That which at other times may have been purely academic, now becomes like our lifeblood. The Word of God is like food to a starving person when the Holy Spirit is leading. We hunger for it. But this is more than being enlightened by the Word of God. Spirit-led worship is when we are led to hunger deeply for the Lord himself. It is about intimacy, not knowledge. It is about connection rather than performance. Such worship, at times, is about silence. It is standing in awe of God. It is about opening our minds and our hands to be led by God's Spirit. Sometimes in genuine worship you will lose track of time. Your prayers are no longer recitations of a list of desires. They become a cry of the heart; a yearning for more of God. Our intercession becomes something more than religious platitudes, it is seeking the heart of God on behalf of another. In its purest form, it is allowing the Holy Spirit to pray through us. It is prayer that is comes from somewhere deep inside of us. It is informed and driven by God's Spirit. Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever heard the unmistakable voice of God's Spirit? Have you ever found yourself standing in stunned silence before Him? Have you ever been brought to tears by lyrics of a song because they allowed you to see God with clearer eyes? Have you ever been wiped out by the wonder of God's love? Have you ever lost track of time as you worshipped Him? Have you ever felt "hugged by God"? I think these are all signs of spirit-led worship. This is not about having an emotional experience. You can have an emotional experience and still not worship God. By the same token, you can truly worship God without getting all emotional. The point is, spiritual worship is deep and always leads us to bow before God and be open to what He wants us to do. How Do We Move Toward This Kind of Worship? Let's conclude with some steps to more effective worship. 1. Enlarge Your View of God. Before we can ever hope to worship appropriately, we have to enlarge our view of God. We must see Him as the awesome, creator, ruler, sustainer that He is. We must abandon all views of God as our "good buddy" and start showing Him the respect, deference and awe that He warrants. 2. Redefine "Worship" A husband has to learn early that showing love to his wife is about more than getting her a card on Valentine's Day and saying nice things on her birthday. Loving your spouse is about how you relate to them regularly. It is seen in the little things you do consistently not just when you are "supposed to be nice." It is the same with the Lord. We must see worship as the way we view God all the time, not just on Sunday. Sunday is special, but it is not the only time we worship the Lord. 3. Make time for worship. You cannot hurry worship. You cannot just "fit it in" to your schedule. That is like saying to your spouse or the person you are dating, "I can squeeze you in during this hour this week." Your supposedly significant other would not feel very significant. They would feel marginalized, like they should feel honored that you found any time to meet with them at all. I have to think God feels dishonored by our willingness to put so many things in our life ahead of Him. One of the most effective ways to show how much you value another person is by giving them your TIME. 4. Prepare for worship. Reading Scripture regularly will prepare us for worship. Carefully and attentively reading the Psalms can prepare us for worship. Listening carefully to the words of some songs will prepare you for worship. Pause before you pray to consider what you are about to do and whom you are about to address. Worship more than once a week. Worship needs to take place daily and constantly. It is just like prayer . . . true prayer is a conversation that is carried on with God throughout the day. It is listening as well as speaking. 5. Adopt the right attitude for worship. Worship begins with a humble and grateful heart. It does not demand, it adores. It does not approach God selfishly but with an attitude of service. It does not come brashly, but reverently. Worship is our privilege. It is our chance to express our love to the God who has loved us since the creation of the world. And Jesus wanted us to know if we are going to express that love effectively, it is not where we worship or what we do in worship - it is all about honoring God from our hearts, in spirit and in truth. 1