Lesson 13

True Worship

John 4:20-24

Let's return to John 4 and the story of The Bad Samaritan. We met her and heard most of her story this morning. I told you that there are five important lessons to be learned from this event. We covered three of those lessons already. The fourth lesson is about worship.

The subject of verses 20-24 is worship - the word in its various forms is used ten times in five verses. Although admittedly this whole section of the conversation is an attempt on the woman's part to distract Jesus away from her sin - she wants to talk religion -about the differences between Jews and Samaritans - there are some very important things for us to learn on the subject of worship.

Frankly, worship is one of those most neglected subjects. We don't fully understand worship and what we cannot understand, we tend to ignore. I believe that it is a very, very important topic for us to study and just to think about.

Who We Worship

What is worship? We call what we do at church a "worship service" but is it really? Maybe. Sometimes. But the truth is that you can go to church regularly, you can go through all the motions of worship - singing, praying, reading the Bible, listening to the sermon, and still never really worship God. I have come to the conclusion that much of what we do at church is not worship. It may be instructional and educational to us - we may be learning religious facts and Bible truths; it may be entertaining - we may enjoy the special music, the interesting Bible study, the fellowship of believers; it may even be challenging - we may be brought to a place of conviction and decision to change something about ourselves; it may be one or even all of these things. These are good things. But they are not worship. Church services seem to be designed mostly to be people-centered - teaching, fellowship, a music program are all people-centered. Worship is God-centered.

What we do in church - singing, praying, teaching, preaching, fellowshipping - it is all intended to turn our attention, to fix our focus, to prompt us to think about - not primarily ourselves or each other - but primarily to think about God. It is my contention that most of what happens at church causes us to think about ourselves or each other and not necessarily about God.

People drop out of church or else they start looking for another church and often they say, "I'm just not getting anything out of church." Guess what? The primary purpose of a church worship service is not for you to get something (that's people-centered) it's for you to give something to God - praise and honor and glory and worship. Singing is done to recognize that God is great (not the singer, the musician, or the song - but God). Praying reminds us that that God is good - He personally cares for us and meets our needs. Preaching and listening reminds us that God is gracious - He saves, He secures, He satisfies. Even giving an offering is a reminder that God is generous to bless us and give good things to us. We must make our worship services to be worship services - God centered not people centered. That seems to be especially difficult in this present self-centered, people-centered age. Jesus said it, "We worship we know not what " (v. 22). The truth is - we worship ourselves. But the text tells us to "worship the Father" (v. 21)

Did it ever occur to you that this is what God wants us to do? Jesus said, "The Father seeketh such to worship him" (v. 23). God seeks, desires, wants us, longs for us to worship Him! What an incredible thought!

How We Worship

Jesus pointed out two essential ingredients in worship, v. 23-24. Here is another one of those "musts" in the gospel of John. Ye must be born again. The Son of Man must be lifted up. He must increase and I must decrease. He must needs go through Samaria. We must worship in spirit and in truth.

Notice, God is a Spirit, capital S. They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit (small S) and in truth.

In spirit means with the right attitude and in truth has to do with the right knowledge or information. In order to worship God (the Father, the Spirit) you must have the right attitude (spirit) and the right information (truth). It is possible to worth the right God, the wrong way. We must worship with a mind that knows the truth about God and a heart full of love, a heart that has the right attitudes about self, others, and about God.

Who Can Worship

The question of who can worship really gets to the issue of this Samaritan woman. She regarded worship as only an issue of where. Her Samaritan heritage said to worship in this mountain in Samaria, but the Jews said that you had to worship in Jerusalem, v. 20.

But where is neither the only nor even the most important issue of worship. Jesus told her prophetically that the time was coming when men would worship God neither in Jerusalem nor in the mountain of Samaria, v. 21.

Jesus said that in worship the first and greatest issue is not the location of your body but the condition of your soul. In verse 23, He spoke of "true worshippers". The implication is that not everyone is a true worshiper. At this point, this woman is an unsaved person. An unbeliever cannot be a true worshiper. True worship can only come from the heart of one who truly knows God. And the only way to know God is through Jesus Christ His only begotten Son. Phil 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. The real issue is one word in verse 22 - "salvation". The worship of the Samaritans was meaningless - not because of its location but because of the condition of being unsaved. Even in her attempt to divert the conversation, Jesus calls her, He invites her to be a true worshiper.

When We Worship

This is an urgent matter. That's what the phrase "the hour is coming and now is" means. The key word is the word "now." Now is the time for you to become a true worshiper of God the Father. John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart. Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.