7.10.2022 Worship Service - Worship Center

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So, right off the bat, let’s get this elephant out of the room. There will be some who will say, why do we need to have a sermon on worship? The simple answer to this is, we all at least need a tune-up on worship. If we ever think we have arrived at how we worship our God, He is going to humble you very quickly.
For some, this may be a gut-punch. I remember when I heard what I felt was a wake up call to the way I came into worship, and my attitude towards it. I had it all backwards. I was coming into the worship service thinking about what I could get out of it instead of what I was bringing to God.
Pray
We must realize our worship must be God-centered. If we come to God with anything less, our worship is in vain.
Matthew 15:8–9 CSB
8 This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 9 They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands.”
This morning we will be taking a look at this by looking at what happened in the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. There is so much ground here to cover, but what a great example of how to worship our God. We will be going back and forth through their conversation to get a clear picture of what our worship needs to look like.
So, let’s set the stage for our text.
John 4:1–9 CSB
1 When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were), 3 he left Judea and went again to Galilee. 4 He had to travel through Samaria; 5 so he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property that Jacob had given his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, worn out from his journey, sat down at the well. It was about noon. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. “Give me a drink,” Jesus said to her, 8 because his disciples had gone into town to buy food. 9 “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” she asked him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.

Worship for the purpose of Godliness

As we read here, we see that Jesus and his disciples were leaving Judea to go to Galilee. Normally Jewish people would take an indirect route to avoid going through Samaria.
The Samaritan people were actually originally part of Isreal. However, when the Jews were taken into captivity and were forced to leave Isreal, the forces left a group of people who they felt would slow them down on their journey and wouldn’t be any worth to them in exile.
This group was left in the land to fend for themselves. As different groups came through and took over this section of land, this small group began to marry into those groups. They not only did this, but they also began to infuse some of the religious practices into their own faith. There were many different groups that came through the land during this time, so there were a lot of other influences and a lot of marriages outside of the Jewish faith.
Because of this, the Samaritans were highly despised by the Jewish people when they returned to the land of Isreal. The Samaritans were not welcome within their community. They were not welcome at the temple in Jerusalem for any of the festivals, feasts, or sacrifices. As a matter of fact, the religious leaders wouldn’t even help them get back to doing these rites either. They were more or less on their own.
So, when Jesus asked this woman for a drink, she was shocked He would even talk to her, much less ask her for help. She knew how her people had been treated by the Jewish people, so she was in utter shock.
In order to actually worship our Heavenly Father, we must have a relationship with the Holy Spirit. How do we do that?

Worship is done in spirit and in truth

John 4:10–26 CSB
10 Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask him, and he would give you living water.” 11 “Sir,” said the woman, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this ‘living water’? 12 You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.” 13 Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.” 15 “Sir,” the woman said to him, “give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.” 16 “Go call your husband,” he told her, “and come back here.” 17 “I don’t have a husband,” she answered. “You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’ ” Jesus said. 18 “For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 “Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus told her, “Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Jesus told her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”
Jesus begins a Gospel conversation with her. He is trying to get her to recognize who He is.
In order for us to be able to actually come and worship our God, we must have a personal relationship with Him.

We have to have accepted the gift of salvation.

Jesus through His conversation with the woman begins to tell her of the living water He can supply her with. He also tells her of some of the sins she had committed in her life including currently living with her boyfriend for lack of a better term here.
We’re going to get back to the middle part of the conversation here in a minute. When the conversation started getting a little personal and difficult, she did what we all do. She tried to divert the conversation in another direction. Jesus, instead of taking the bait used it to continue the conversation.
He continued this conversation with her to help her see who He was to the point, we end the verse with her speaking of the coming Messiah, and Jesus tells her He is the Messiah.
Jesus brought her to the point where we will see she accepts who He is.
We have to have accepted the gift of salvation and received the Holy Spirit to worship our Father.
John 4:24 CSB
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”
The first step in actually worshipping our God is to have this personal relationship with Him.

Worship is done in spirit and in truth

Please notice there is a second part to this. We won’t get into specifics this morning, but we talked about how the Samaritans had infused other religions within their practice of worshiping God. Their worship had plenty of spirit within it, but there was no substance to it.
Let’s take a look at the verses where Jesus was talking about this.
John 4:19–23 CSB
19 “Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus told her, “Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him.
The Samaritans were worshipping God out of what they could remember from the past. They had no leadership to guide them. They were simply coming and going through all of the motions, but once again, they had no knowledge of what they were doing. They had plenty of feeling in their worship, but it was all misdirected.
The Jewish people had plenty of knowledge, but they had no feeling in what they were doing. They knew what they were supposed to do. They came in and filled out the requirements of what they were supposed to do and left. The rites they performed had no outward effect on their lives whatsoever.

The tale of two different types of relationships

Going out with someone and enjoying the time together immensely, but never really getting to know the person.
Going out with someone and doing things out of duty, not out of love.
This describes the two types of worship which were going on.

There must be a balance between Spirit and truth.

These two elements should complement each other.

Worship is focusing on and responding to God

Within these same set of scripture, God has to be in the center of it all.
The Samaritan woman flat out asked where it was appropriate to worship God. The Israelites worshiped God at the temple in Jerusalem while the Samaritans worshiped God at Mount Gerizim. They were so hung up on where to worship, they were missing the point of worship. They put more emphasis on the actual place of worship and what went on during the worship, they never truly worshipped.
They were too busy noticing pastor was wearing this Sunday. They noticed there was one person sticking out in the Praise Team while they were singing. The sound man missed a cue and the computer guy couldn’t keep up with the slides. They noticed this person wasn’t there, and they wished they could have heard the sermon because it was directed straight at them. Even the priest was busy noticing there were people gone and wondering where they were.

When we come to worship, we must do our best to leave everything else out to focus on God and focus on what the Spirit is trying to do in our lives during this time.

Psalm 95:6 CSB
6 Come, let’s worship and bow down; let’s kneel before the Lord our Maker.
Luke 4:8 CSB
8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.
This is a battle. It doesn’t come easy. Satan will do everything he can to distract us from what we are supposed to be doing while we are in worship. If Satan can keep us from focusing on God, and get us distracted, that is huge. To me even more than that, if Satan can get our minds of off focusing on what the Holy Spirit is trying to either convict us of in our lives or show us a better way of living during a service, he has won a battle.
Pray yourselves up before you enter the worship center. Be an active participant during the service. The only way you are going to stay focused is through an active participation within the service itself.
What I tell kids about classes they don’t like.

Responding to what the Spirit is doing is a testimony to others around you as well.

What did the Samaritan woman do once she and Jesus had finished their conversation?
John 4:28–29 CSB
28 Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
When we share what God is doing either by going forward in response, or even sharing with those at the dinner table when we get home, it does two things.

You are sharing what God is doing in your life.

What a great way to show the power of the Holy Spirit by sharing what He is doing in your life. For those of us who have been in the faith longer, what an encouragement to those who are younger in the faith to know that God is still shaping you.
Once again, there were things which happened when the woman shared with the people of her town what had happened.
John 4:39–40 CSB
39 Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of what the woman said when she testified, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.

It also holds us accountable.

Another great thing about sharing is we now get to demonstrate what He is doing in us as well.
Responding is such an important part of our coming to worship our Father as well.

Worship is expected both corporately and privately.

While we can get so hung up on where we worship, there is importance in meeting together as a body of believers. We are told in Hebrews not to forsake the meeting of the brotherhood.

Corporate Worship

As we come together in worship, (go to the verse)
Hebrews 10:24–25 CSB
24 And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.
While we have an online presence, still the best way to experience worship is in person.
Please understand me when I say this. I have an aunt right now who is unable to be here with us. When she is able, she watches online. I am so thankful she has that opportunity. It is a way for her to keep involved with her local church while she isn’t able to be here. There are several other families out there who are going through the same thing. We have the technology to do this, why wouldn’t we?
However, if you have the capability of being here in person, you should be. There is so much more you can get out of a worship service when you are here with us in person than what you can get from home.

Private Worship

This can take on many different forms. I think of David so many times and the different psalms he wrote. Reading about David’s life and the different places he worshiped God.
I think of Jesus and the times He went away from everyone so He could pray and worship His Heavenly Father.
We need to do this as well.
My time is in the morning. I have a devotion I do. Most of you know I am basically blogging my morning devotion on my facebook page as well as the church’s. I read it, and then I put my own spin on how God spoke to me through it each morning. During my morning time, I will also spend time talking with God about my day ahead and thanking Him for the many things He has blessed me with. I will talk about my concerns for the day as well. During the summer, I get to sit on our back porch and spend that time. It is so easy to worship God in the creation He has given us. During the school year, I still do my devotion in the morning, but I get ready for school, and pray as I’m driving to the school. I also try to get to the school at least 15 mins early so I can have time to sit in my room for a bit of quiet time between God and I.
I think our private time in worship has to do with our attitude in life. How do you see your world around you? Even in the midst of storms and trials in life, there are so many things to be thankful for. We need to make sure we are taking the opportunities we have to praise and thank our God for them.

As we grow in our private worship, it will ignite our corporate worship.

As we grow in the area of our private worship, we will find it easier to come into our time of corporate worship and focus on our Lord and be obedient to what His Spirit is trying to do in our lives.

Worship is a discipline to be cultivated

Growing in the way we worship God is important as well. We need to make sure we continue to be open to the Spirit and how He is teaching us to worship our Lord.
Romans 12:1 CSB
1 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.
You can also refer back to the verses in Hebrews where God is telling us to help each other to be better.
Revelation has so many references to worship and the way we will see it in heaven. I think it can’t even come close to describing what we are actually going to experience. I think when it comes to trying to describe heaven, we are using human terms to describe something God-sized. I don’t know that you can do it, but John gave it his best shot with what God told him to write. Revelation 4:8-11 gives a good glimpse of what I’m talking about.
These images of worship are what we are to strive for. Will we ever attain it? Not this side of heaven. That is the reason the discipline of worship must be a process that is ongoing. We do our best while we are here trying to attain what we will witness in heaven one day.

Will you commit to a daily time of worship?

I put a daily lesson out on fb each morning on my personal page and our church’s fb page. I’m not saying I have any particular talent at this. I usually use my daily devotion to springboard me into what I write. If you’d like, you could do the same thing. Read what is written and use this as a springboard into your own private time of worship.
There are so many devotions you can find online. There are also many you can order if you like having a book in your hand. If you need help finding something, we can help you with that.
What does this take?

Time and commitment

Once you start, you will not want to stop. I can speak from experience. My daily time with God started when my nephew started college and trying to send him little inspirational messages. This has now grown into my personal worship time with God as well a ministry. Never would I have dreamed how God would’ve grown this and me.

Will you and are you willing to put actual worship into your acts of worship?

Are you going to allow the Holy Spirit to begin doing a work in your life that will change the whole way you look at things?
What are you going to do with what the Holy Spirit has been doing in your heart during this service?
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