A third-grade boy had just heard the story of Abraham
and his young son Isaac going to Mt. Moriah to offer sacrifice to God. Of course the part of that drama which would stick in the mind of a boy
that age would be the fact of Isaac’s starring role – Isaac was the sacrificial
lamb! The next Saturday it was really
pretty weather, so the family decided on a picnic. They drove up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and found
a clearing to put their blanket on the ground.
Everything was going fine until the Dad said to his son, “C’mon Junior,
let’s go get some firewood.” The boy
whined, “Why, Daddy, why?”
Do we know why we're here?
"Why" questions are important. I have a friend who says that he has an alarm
clock to tell him when to get up, but some days (particularly on Mondays), he
needs one to tell him why!
Why should we worship; because Daddy said so, or
because Momma and Grandma always did? Is
God some self-centered infant that needs the positive strokes of all us mere
mortals bowing and scraping? Why should
we worship?
John 4 gives us the "whys" in the incident
known as "The Woman At the Well".
The first 19 verses describe the encounter of Jesus with the woman of
Samaria at a well dug in ancient times by Jacob. Jacob was even buried nearby.
The Samaritans and Jews had a centuries-old feud that
centered-around religious judgment.
Around 720 BC, Jewish Samaria had been conquered by the Assyrians. Most of the people had been carried off in
captivity. Those who remained in the
land intermarried with the foreigners who moved in. This made the Samaritan descendants
half-Jews, totally unacceptable to the "racially pure" Jews of
Galilee.
Because Of His Sovereignty
20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that
the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21Jesus
said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is
coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in
Jerusalem. John 4:20 - 21 (NRSV)
The Sovereignty of God's Nature
Sovereignty indicates complete control. God is sovereign, and has complete control in
the entire universe. The nature of God,
therefore, is unbounded by dimensions as we experience them. Time, space, height and depth are only
meaningful to God as He chooses. The
Bible tells us that one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as but
a day[1]. God transcends dimensions.
God is worthy of worship just because He is so much
higher than us. If there had never been
a cross, a tomb and an Easter resurrection, God is still worthy of worship
because He is God.
The Sovereignty of God's Actions
As the creator and sustainer of all life, God is
worthy of worship. One author said,
"Worship is an end in itself, and it requires no further justification
than that God is God. We do not go to
church simply to receive benefits from the Lord; we also go to give him the
honor due his name."[2]
A sovereign God can't be figured out, placed in a
three-volume set of commentaries placed on an appropriate shelf -- God must
simply be worshipped because He is sovereign.
How then shall I honor and worship a sovereign God?
And without faith it is impossible to please God, for
whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards
those who seek him. Hebrews
11:6 (NRSV)
John MacArthur said, "Worship is all that we are
responding rightly to who He (God) is."[3] The woman at the well said her ancestors
worshipped at Mt. Gerizim, and the Jews held that worship should happen at
Jerusalem. Jesus countered with the
right response for all of us, in that true worship recognizes the
sovereignty of God, not some local address.
The act of genuine worship, ascribed to a holy, sovereign Lord, is
taking the local address of our heart, and offering it to Him in faith; nothing
less, nothing more.
Theologian Karl Barth described a scene during the
war, in a monastery in Alsace. The monks
were chanting "The Magnificat."
("My soul doth magnify the Lord..."). They were aligned in perfect rows,
concentrating on lifting up praise to God.
A French bombshell suddenly tore through the roof and exploded in the
rear of the church. When the smoke and
dust had cleared, the monks were still there, chanting the Magnificat. God is never thrown off course by
circumstances, but His heart is touched by those who bend the knee to an
absolute sovereign. We also worship...
Because of His Salvation
22You worship what you do not know;
we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. John
4:22 (NRSV)
This is an interesting exchange. Jesus seems to be condescending to the woman,
telling her she just doesn't know what she's doing in worship; salvation is
from the Jews.
Actually, Jesus is pointing to the shortcoming of both
Samaritans and Jews. The Samaritans
limited their holy library to the first five books of our Bible, the
Pentateuch, or law. They worshipped God
sincerely, with fervent hearts, but they chose to ignore parts of scripture
with which they disagreed.
On the other hand, the Jews indeed had the truth, for
God had chosen to reveal Himself to the world through the nation of
Israel. They had Moses' Pentateuch, and
the history of Israel and the prophets.
They had truth, but worshipped like tombs full of dead men's bones. They were empty and blind. When the embodiment of truth, and the full
revelation of God stood before them on the very next Passover, they shouted
"Crucify him!"
It is empty to have only one part of the equation in
focus. Later Jesus would say to the
woman that you must worship in Spirit and truth. It is good to be enthusiastic in worship – but
without having that enthusiasm based and founded in essential doctrinal truth,
you will wind up with emotionalism that only seems right when it
"feels" right.
But there is also the risk of orthodoxy without
genuine heart worship. For instance,
some churches major so heavily on evangelism that a new convert could get the
idea that there is nothing else involved.
He might even start to believe that worship is a matter of maintaining
his salvation through doing evangelism.
In Kentucky a little boy heard his parents say they go
to church to "waarship." From
that point on he told his friends that he was going to church to "warsh
up!" It is certainly true that
there is a cleansing effect to worship, but that throws the focus on us, not
Him. Worship is for God alone. The salvation He brings is not for sale.
How then shall I worship the God who saves me?
1I appeal to you therefore,
brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Romans 12:1 (NRSV)
The correct response to God who saves is to place all
you are at His disposal -- all the time.
Continual, consistent worship is the evidence of truly being saved. The "Easter & Christmas" crowd
comes to church to pay dues, do the right thing, or please Mama. Don't you be that way. Come with your Bible open, having studied,
willing to have an open mind for the things of God. Come with your heart open, so there will be
enthusiastic worship which leads to compassionate and joy-filled service.
We worship because of His sovereignty, salvation,
and...
Because of His Seeking
23But
the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship
him. John 4:23 (NRSV)
What God is seeking
Please note that God is seeking true worshippers. God is in the people business. God is building a kingdom of the Spirit. If He wanted more things He'd just create
them with a thought or a wave of his hand.
What He is seeking in you and me, is the true worship of spiritual
response. He wants our hearts.
What God expects to find
Does God judge our worship? Yes, indeed!
Jesus said the hour now is, of true worship – in spirit and truth. We have all the revelation of truth we will
ever need. Jesus said I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No man
cometh unto the Father but by Me.
We are in the age of true worship -- not perfect worship (that will only
be in heaven).
We are expected to worship with our whole heart. The reality is that worship occurs from the
inside out. Only God is equipped to
judge that! For that reason, we must be
ready to make room for every one who walks through the doors of this place to
worship. Why? Because God is constantly seeking for those
who will worship Him. He is constantly
the holy God meeting with profane man.
Jacob was a profane man, a deceiver, a street-wise con
man. God met with him at Bethel. Jacob went to sleep and had a vision of
angels ascending and descending on a ladder that reached to heaven. And in the morning?
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he
said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. --
Genesis 28:16
When a profane man meets a holy God, something is
going to give. Our business in God's
service is to be ready to cooperate with holy God as he seeks to meet with
profane men to change them.
We worship because of His sovereignty, salvation,
seeking, and...
Because Of His Spirit
God is a Spirit:
and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. --
John 4:24
The Nature of God is Spiritual
William Barclay has it:
"If God is spirit, a man's gifts to God
must be gifts of the spirit. Animal
sacrifices and all man-made things become inadequate. The only gifts that befit the nature of God
are the gifts of the spirit -- love, loyalty, obedience, devotion. A man's spirit is the highest part of
him."[4]
Oswald Chambers wrote "My Utmost For His
Highest." This same thought is
contained, that it is the spirit alone within us that can truly commune with
God. It is a devoted spirit that God
seeks, not some automated robot who attends church 156 times per year and gives
the tithe of his income, accurate to the twelfth decimal place.
Money, things, comfort and entertainment are important
to us because they are human symbols of what we can accomplish. God doesn't need or want these. He wants our love. Whatever material things or works of
obedience He may require are symbolic to Him of that love. Beloved, if you love God, He will have your
time, your service and your wallet. Love
responds in the realm of spirit to Spirit.
The Nature of worship of a Spiritual God is spiritual
3For it is we who are the
circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. Philippians 3:3 (NRSV)
To worship in spirit and truth means the spirit
reveals truth to us, and we accurately reflect that back to God in the way we
live. The word "truth" has its
root in a sense of unveiling. That is
what God did for us. He unveiled Himself
in a manger two thousand years ago. He
spoke our language so we'd understand.
He lived as a man so we could see clearly. Then He died as only a perfect man could -- a
sacrifice for you and me. Jesus revealed
perfectly God.
I have been asked before, "Are you one of
those?" The questioner wanted to
know if I was a Jesus person. I have to
answer yes without hesitation. I worship
Him with my spirit, because His Spirit has revealed truth to me. What truth?
The woman saith unto him, I know that
Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all
things. Jesus saith unto her, I that
speak unto thee am he. John 4:26
On that day at the well, the woman said, "I'm
waiting for God's man, the Christ."
To the woman that day Jesus said, "eimi" (Greek meaning: “I am”)
Jesus gave her so much more than that for which she bargained. She was waiting for a messenger from God,
Jesus said "I AM." That was
what God spoke to Moses.
Beloved, realize your opportunity with your
spirit. You have truth abounding.
·
You know God who
spoke the stars and planets into existence.
·
You know the God
of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph
·
You know Moses'
God of the burning bush.
·
You know God who
can part the Seas with his breath and crumble Jericho's walls with only
trumpets.
·
You know God who
uses a shepherd boy's slingshot to bring down any giants in any life.
·
You know God who
whispers so a Solomon writes ageless wisdom.
·
You know God who
overshadows a virgin and brings together the holy and profane in spiritual
victory.
·
You know God who
healed the lame, the deaf, the blind.
·
You know God who
is Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, God's only Son.
·
You know God who
told us in words that He loves us.
·
You know God who
told us in suffering on the cross that he loves us.
·
You know God who
told us he loves us by ripping death and Hell apart on Easter morning.
Who are we to
not worship a God like that?
Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations
These are 5 practices and that
word implies action, doing, breathing in and out. If we want to be fruitful, obedient to our
God we must be:
·
radically-hospitable,
welcoming people in Jesus’ name,
·
extravagantly
generous as we invest in ministry,
·
intentional about
stretching our faith so we develop into disciples
·
willing to risk
to serve others and fulfill our mission
·
and passionate
about worship, because He is worthy!
Father,
help us be passionate. Too often we are
guilty of counting the ceiling tiles until the service is over. Help it to be that fire is lit in this
congregation for worship. Complete what
we need to be people who worship in spirit and truth. You’ve been seeking us; may we be found. We pray in the Name of the Father, Because of
the Son, Cooperating with the Spirit…Amen!
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