Worship Right
Notes
Transcript
Worship Right
John 4:16-26
July 2, 2023
READ John 4:16-26
It is hard to jump right in the middle of conversations. Several weeks ago, we spoke about John 4, the woman at the well. Just to review, she was from a geographical location called Samaria. Those that lived in that region were hated by the Jews and considered half-breed pagans. The reason was that they intermingled with those who were moved to the region by Alexander the Great in 722 BC and they started to worship other gods. They mixed with pagan beliefs and only recognized the first 5 books of the Bible.
This caused the Jews to hate these people as much as they hated the Romans who ruled over them with an iron hand. In many cases, jews traveling from Jerusalem to Galilee in the north would walk extra distances to not pass through Samaria.
We discussed why Jesus “had to” walk through Samira last time. He had a purposed route for a purposed appointment, to deliver a purposed message. His meeting with the woman was intentional.
Today’s section of passage could take us in several directions, but to me, the passage's main point is often glossed over or even missed. The most important is often glossed over because it strikes a nerve in today’s church especially here in the US. Pastors want to walk softly on this because it is as sensitive as pastors speaking on tithing.
With that said, let’s dive right in. The first three verses of this section are usually what is preached on but this is the context being set for the second ¾ of the passage as Christ starts to set us up for real point of the encounter. Let’s see what our Lord has to say.
Vs 16: “Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband and come here. The woman answered Him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, you are right in saying I have no husband; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
There are some key points to clarify here. First, the word “husband” is not how we would define a husband. In Greek, it means “aner” or a male human being, a man [1]. This word further feeds the idea that she was discarded goods. During this time, it was the man’s position to file for diverse or to separate from a woman. A woman was not afforded that opportunity to divorce. The fact that she was with her 5thman means that she had been discarded four previous times, or she was a true prostitute. The one she was with now could be assumed that she was in an adulterous relationship.
Interesting though that Jesus hits this hard on pointing this out without pulling any punches. He goes right to the point for a reason. His actions confronts the idea or approach that we should never speak the truth, doesn’t it? But look closely at how He does it. Not in a way to hurt but in a way to get to the real issue and the heart of what this encounter was all about.
Vs 19: “The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.”
She knew that a prophet was coming. She had heard and been educated to some regard. Remember that the Samaritans accepted the first 5 books, and she was longing for and looking for the promise of the OT. The direct comment of Christ had the exact effect that caused her mind and heart to open to the real issue that Jesus wanted to get her to. The problem was that she was looking for the wrong answers in every part of her life. She was looking for intimacy in men who were not hers and spiritual salvation in a belief system that was not true.
And this is where our sermon today starts.
ANALOGY??
1. God alone is who we worship.
Vs 20: 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 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.
In this section of the text, we find the crux, the jest, and the main point that Jesus wanted to address. We find one word used over nine times in four verses. That one word is worship. Worship is a funny word. It rolls off your tongue easily enough but how would you define the word?
Worship: worthiness, respect, reverence paid to a divine being, a person of importance used as a title for officials, reverence toward a divine being or supernatural power, the expression of such reverence, extravagant respect or admiration or devotion.
I would ask you, turn your sermon guides over and write down one thing in your life that you respect so much that fits that category. Be honest! What is it in your life that takes all your time, energy, and finances? What consumes your devotion? A great way to see who you really worship, open your phone and your bank account. Does your screen time outweigh Bible time? Do your finances say that you support everything BUT those things of God?
Before we get to far into this, worship is NOT about signing! We say, let’s worship every Sunday as we sing but that is only a small part of our worship. We miss that because we really don’t understand what true worship is. Worse yet, we don’t understand who it is that we are worshiping. This is why Jesus spends so much time on it.
You see, there is only ONE thing we should worship but due to our poor understanding of that one thing, we fill that void with everything else. Oh, we will worship, but usually, it’s everything else besides what honestly deserves it. RC Sproul commented on this troubling trend during his life when he said that the reason why people don’t worship was that:
“Christians in the twenty-first century tend to have a woeful ignorance of the Old Testament. One of the most important problems that follows from an ignorance of the Old Testament is a profound ignorance of the character of God the Father. [2]”
You see, the OT is just as important as the NT. We learn the subject of our worship in the pages of the OT and the character of Him who will send the redemption of the world into the world in the NT. The two-go hand in hand. To only accept portions of the Word of God is an act of creating your own thing to worship. Many discount or disregard the OT because that is the grouchy God of the OT. But the issue is that the same God of the OT, is the one who fulfilled the OT in the NT. He is the same yesterday as He is today.
Legionnaire Ministries did a survey and found that among evangelical Christians, 53% believe that the Bible is made up of mythical stories. Over ½ of Christians actually don’t believe that this is the Word of God.
Who is it that should consume our worship then? Have you met God? Have you met Yewheh of the OT and of the world? In Acts 17:24 He is “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man”
He is NOT a man and should NEVER be treated as such! In Numb 23:19
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
He NEVER makes mistakes but is steady without moody emotions in Deut 32:4:
“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
There is NO higher power, deity, or authority in Deut 7:9
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,
He is the only one who is worthy to judge and condemn in Exodus 34:6-7
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
He alone is worthy to praise and of our worship! He alone is the ONLY one worthy of our 100% devotion, time, money, efforts, and resources. But, can I worship wrong? Can I go about showing my devotion wrong? Is there a way to get this wrong even if I “mean well”?
2. Worship must look a certain way.
There are two ways to conduct worship. One in the WRONG way and the other in the right way. Both are on display in our passage today in John 4.
Vs.22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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.
Jesus recognized that she was in fact a “worshiper”. Did he say, well if you have a good heart about it, it’s okay? Did he say, well, as long as you are trying, your good? Did he condone, or validate her efforts? No, he corrected her. That is so important for us to see. We like to give ourselves a pass for effort all the while missing the fact that our efforts sometimes are actually rebellion. We often like to hold onto our good efforts without finding out what right is so that we don’t have to DO the right thing.
“You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.” There are two forms of worship going on here.
A. Man-centered expression of worship:
Unfortunately, this is the form of worship we see in most American churches and congregations today. This form of worship is not just in our churches and meeting places, it is alive and well in our homes today. We call it worship but it is an act of rebellion that is viral to our Lord and ineffective. It spans over our music and our pulpits and our lifestyles. It creeps into our Sunday School classes and conversations around the dinner table.
The best way to describe “man-centered” is it is false worship. It is about us, all about what God can do for us, a warm feeling of self-satisfaction. It drives the focus onto me, not God and I’ll tell you something, God HATES it!
Gen 4: Cain attempted to worship God and brought his own version of worship but it was the wrong kind! He brought fruits of the field not a blood sacrifice. You say, well he was a farmer that should work. Did it?
Gen 4: 3-5
3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lordan offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.[3]
God had “NO REGARD” for Cain’s offering (worship). The writer of Hebrews explained this in Hebrews 9:22 where it explained that all things are purified with blood and without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. Cain’s actions reflected a heart that was not devoted to God.
Cain is not the only area where we see God reject man-centered or wrong worship. In Leviticus 10:1 we see Aaron’s sons burned strange fire for a sacrifice. The Lord responded by sending fire to consume them. They were still doing the sacrifice, just with the wrong hearts. God refuses to be mocked or changed. The issue is that a lot of churches today use their own version of worship to make it “relevant”, “attractive” or “contemporary” to appeal to the fans/people not to God and that is where God is NOT being glorified.
Please go to Malichi 1:6-8
6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ 7 By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised. 8 When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor; will he accept you or show you favor? says the Lordof hosts.[4]
Please allow me to make this applicable today. What do we offer in worship to God now? Do we offer our very best to God daily? Time? Effort? Money? To not, means we are polluting His table.
B. God-centered worship:
Now that we have talked about what worship should NOT be. What should true God-centered worship be?
John 4:23:
“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth…”
Our Lord is saying that our worship should flow from our inner core, our inner soul and our inner DNA. It must flow from our humble spirit to His spirit in utter desperation and appreciation. It must be God-focused, God-driven and God-centered. The word “spirit” does not refer to the HS but to the human spirit. His point here is that a person must worship not by outward conformity to a norm. But an inner spirit and a proper heart.
A humble teenage girl who offers herself to the will of the Father serves as our best teacher. Her recorded worship should center us around what right looks like.
Luke 1:46-55
Mary’s Song of Praise: The Magnificat
46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” [5]
Should I compare this song of praise and the heart in which it was delivered to the contemporary songs we hear on air 1? It would make a lot of you mad for me to destroy your favorite songs today, so I’ll leave that alone. But hear Mary’s heart. How does her prayer compare to yours or to mine? Hear her soul. Hear her plea. Hear her very nature cry out and magnify God. Hear Her worship God! Not worship herself worshiping God.
True worship takes the hearts of the believer to the top floor of heaven and shows them the world below. True worship takes believers to the foot of the cross where sin and shame are deposited and freedom is found. True worship is a heart issue NOT a talent issue. True worship is God-centered and God-focused.
Go back to John 4:23:
“worship the Father in Spirit and truth…”
That last word is the key. Truth. Never before has such a word caused such division and anger than now. That word is worse than any curse word used today. Gone are the days when you could say, it is true that there are only two genders. Or, it is true that you should not slaughter your unborn babies. To say those things today is offensive. The essence of true offensiveness is the exclusivity of Christ. TRUE worship, true salvation is found in the person and work of Christ Jesus.
John 14:6: I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except through me.”
Or 1 John 5:20:
“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”
We know when worship is right because it points to and is found in Christ Jesus. And church, this is the why. This God that we know, this God that we recognize is the reason we humbly throw our worship at His feet. A God who, in His mercy and in His Grace He provided a means for salvation through His Son. He offers justification and salvation from our rebellion. This is the why we thank Him for His Grace, Mercy, and righteousness.
3. The Father seeks such people that worship.
Vs 23 “…for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him”
The Father seeks: this is an active action of the Father! The Father is seeking and looking for true worshipers. Oh to be found! Oh to be sought after by the creator of the universe and be found IN Truth. In Christ.
Ezekiel 34:11
“For thus says the LORD God, ‘Behold, I myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.”
Or of Jesus:
Luke 19:10
“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
The Father is seeking those true worshipers to worship through the Son as He is the ONLY way. Hebrews 13:15 “Through Himthen let us continually offer up sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name.”
It is through Christ the Son that the only way true worship exists. Anything short of that is fake. It is the diet coke to coke. It is the great value of peanut butter to Jiff, it is the Hillsong to the song of Mary recorded in Luke.
True worshipers get it, don’t they? They will run from fake worship and call it for what it is. Even if they cannot “put their finger on it” and articulate it, they will know fake when they hear/see it and will naturally seek to separate themselves from it. There is a reason for that.
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me…”
Let’s get back to our passage as we get ready for the closing discussion with the woman at the well. I still find it very interesting that she has moved from indifferent, (“you a Jew asking for water from me”) to a discussion of worship that obviously was on her mind to the final comment, the messiah will tell us all things.
John 4: 25-26
“The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He”.
She obviously is somewhat educated. Commentators have suggested that she is calling to mind Deut 18:18
18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.[6]
The woman at the well was holding onto the OT promise that the prophet will speak all that God commanded Him and will tell us all things. He confirms it in one of the only direct and clear statements on His identity recorded in all of scripture. Simply put, “I’m the Messiah”. Not even His disciples get to hear this. Rather a reject, an outcast from Samaria receives the clearest self-description our savior offers.
UNBELIEVER Aside:
The unfortunate thing is that many claim they know the “truth” about reality. They are walking the streets of pride thinking that there is no need to worship anything because truth is a made-up construct in the mind of the holder. Let me ask you, unbeliever, what if you are wrong there? What if the truth is NOT made up in the mind of the individual? Worse yet, what happens if that truth is actually OWNED by someone that is seeking you?
Vs 26 “Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He’”.
Jesus, in a very rare and exclusive moment shares with her the very clear message of salvation. He is saying, I am that living water. I am the way to salvation. I am the one who came to save. I am the one who has come to speak all that God had commanded. Up until this point, Christ had not revealed so clearly his identity to anyone else except to an outcast prostitute in the middle of the day in the heat and dust. And because of that, we too can hear Him say, “I am He”.
This one statement is where we put our faith and trust. When we recognize this as true, in our spirits, in our core, we then truly worship the One worthy of our true worship. He is worthy of our praise! Call out to the salvation He is offering and you will be saved!
Conclusion:
When we know who He is it is a natural response to worship His great name. When we know who He is, we offer God-centered worship that is real. No more diet coke, great value peanutbutter or knockoff attempts. When His mercy and Grace is truly felt, seen and tasted, the natural response for the believer is to praise His name.
Psalm 145: 1-3, 8, 10, 13
[1]Souter, Alexander. 1917. In A Pocket Lexicon to the Greek New Testament, 23. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
[2]Sproul, R. C. 2009. John. St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary. Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing.
[3] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
[4] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
[5] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
[6] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2016. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.