Today I want to look at John chapter 4:20-24. This very familiar portion of Scripture tells the story of the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. And in that encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, our Lord gives us great insight into the theme of worship.
Over the next week, I am going to examine three things: the importance of worship, the source of worship, and the object of worship. Today, the importance of worship.
In verse 20, John writes, “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain.” These are the words of the Samaritan woman. She’s referring to Mount Gerizim where the Samaritans held their worship. She says, “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people...that is the Jews...say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” She is endeavoring to figure out where is the appropriate place to worship. Is it here in Mount Gerizim, the Samaritan place, or is it Jerusalem, the Jewish place?
To which, Jesus responds. Verse 21, “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall you worship the Father. You worship that which you do not know. We worship that which we know for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.’”
Now that is just amazing! Our Lord is saying there was a time when a place served as a focal point of worship. There is coming a time when worship will have nothing to do with a place and everything to do with an attitude. Worship in spirit and in truth. There is much in the words of our Lord that begin in verse 21 that helps us to understand worship. And so, I want to look a little bit intently at this portion of Scripture and pull out some elements that relate to worship.
Let’s go back to a basic definition just so we don’t assume anything. When you say you worship, you simply are saying you give honor to God. It comes from an old English word “worthship” and it was to ascribe to someone value, to ascribe to someone worship. And so when you say you worship God, you are simply saying God is worthy of honor...God is worthy of praise...God is worthy of glory. Worship is giving honor to God. And it is a life-dominating attitude. It is based on truth because how can you give honor to God unless you know God? And the more you know about God, the more you are able to honor Him for who He is. Because God is infinite perfection, you can continue to be exposed to the increasing understanding of His infinite perfection and thus your ability to give Him honor for who He is increases as well. That is increased worship.
And what is the greatest misconception about worship? It is not simply a matter of song. It is not simply a matter of corporate praise. Giving honor to God is not just saying that He is worthy of honor, but it is living a life that in itself demonstrates that you respect Him. To say, for example, that you worship God and you honor God, and you glorify God and then you disobey Him and you bring reproach on His name and you follow patterns of sin is to make yourself simply a hypocrite. If you believe that God is worthy of supreme honor and He is, if you believe that God is the one to be honored above all, then that will of necessity demand that you live a life that brings honor to God. This is true for any person at any age. So when we’re talking about worship, we’re not talking simply about an expression in a song, or a corporate worship, we’re talking about personal commitment to give honor to God all the time everywhere in every circumstance, which then calls us to always do that which we know honors God. True worship is a life. It is not something that happens on Sunday or Wednesday. This is merely a verbal expression of a true worshiping heart. The music is how you find words and how your emotions are released in a God-designed form so that the joy that you feel as you worship God can be expressed. But the worship is deeper than the verbal expression.
One of my professors used to always tell me: the worship informs and motivates that verbal expression. But when we say we offer to God worship, we are simply saying we not only with our mouths but with our lives do everything to honor the One who is worthy of all honor. It is giving to God honor.
Now we started with a kind of obvious beginning, talking first of all about the importance of worship. Let's look back at the Scripture for a moment. How important is worship? Go to verse 23. There it says, at the end of verse 23, “The Father seeks worshipers.”
How important is worship? It’s very important, it is what God is doing redemptively. God is seeking worshipers. And the seeking here is what theologians would call efficacious seeking. That it is not some kind of random hope-so kind of seeking, but an effectual seeking that brings about a real salvation. You could parallel this with John 6. “No man comes to Me except the Father draw him.” It is the same as the Father drawing. I've preached several times out of this passage the past few weeks. The Father seeking is an effectual seeking, it is an effective seeking, it is a saving seeking. It is the Father drawing your soul to Christ. Whew! That makes me exuberant!
And what is the Father doing in that? He is drawing a worshiper. He’s seeking true worshipers. In other words, the point of redemption is that we become true worshipers, that we live lives totally and utterly devoted to the worship of God in the fullness of who He is. This then is our priority and will be our priority forever and ever in heaven, where our worship will be made perfect. Whether we hear the Apostle Paul say, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice as an act of spiritual worship,” or we hear Peter say that, “You are a spiritual priesthood offering up spiritual sacrifices to God as an act of worship,” it is the same thing. We have been saved to become worshipers. Not ministers, worshipers.
Now let me get you excited! Jesus is saying that worship is an internal experience. And worship is the priority. We must understand that. We talk a lot about ministry. We talk a lot about service and it is important. But ministry or service is that which comes down to us from the Father through the Son by the Spirit in the believer. Worship is that which goes up from the believer by the Spirit through the Son to the Father. Ministry descends, worship ascends, and both are critical. But worship prevails. Worship is first and ministry follows. Don't be like so many who mix the order. You have been redeemed to be a worshiper!
Parts 2 & 3 to come later this week!
pcraig
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