This is the manuscript of the sermon preached at Christ Church, Sunday October 29, 2023.
John 4:23-24 NIV [23] Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. [24] God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
To worship God in spirit and truth means loving Him with heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Matthew 22:34-38 NIV [34] Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. [35] One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: [36] “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” [37] Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and greatest commandment.
Jesus said that it's the truth that makes us free.
John 8:31-32 NIV To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 4:15-26 NIV [15] The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” [16] He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” [17] “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. [18] The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” [19] “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. [20] Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” [21] “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time 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, for salvation is from the Jews. [23] Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. [24] God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” [25] The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” [26] Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
Text
John 4:23-24 NIV [23] Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. [24] God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The scripture that I read this morning and our text for today was from part of a conversation that Jesus had with a woman at a well in Samaria. In the conversation, Jesus revealed that He knew this woman had been married five times, and the guy she was living with now was not her husband. This made her uncomfortable, so she changed the subject from her personal life to religion, asking why the Samaritans worshiped at Mount Gerizim and the Jews at Jerusalem. Jesus’ response was that a day was coming when it didn’t matter WHERE a person worshiped God. What mattered was HOW they worshiped Him. Jesus said that they must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
The definition of worship is “the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity”. To worship then, is to show reverence, adoration and honor. The deity we are talking about is of course God Almighty.
To worship God in spirit and truth means loving Him with heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Matthew 22:34-38 NIV [34] Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. [35] One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: [36] “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” [37] Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and greatest commandment.
True worship must be “in spirit,” engaging the whole heart which is the source of our emotions. Unless there’s a real passion for God, there is no worship in spirit. At the same time, worship must be “in truth,”. We must know who we worship. Unless we have knowledge of the God we worship, there is no worship in truth. We get that knowledge of the truth from the Bible, God’s Word.
Jesus said that it's the truth that makes us free.
John 8:31-32 NIV To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
That freedom is what allows us to worship in spirit and truth.
That is what we should all be striving for but so many of us are just playing church. We are just going through the motions we aren’t really worshiping in spirit or in truth.
We often hear people say” You need to stop playing church”.
Well, what does that really mean?
It doesn’t mean those times when we were children and we would set up the chairs and somebody would get up and sing, somebody would get up and pray, and somebody would preach. The kids I played with would really be imitating the adults in the church. A lot of times one of the kids would pretend that they got what we used to say “the Holy Ghost”.
Then we would all get bored and start another game. Playing church was fun, when we were kids, but it’s not fun or funny now that we are adults and call ourselves Christians.
Let me let you in on a little secret. Every Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday whatever day, churches are filled with folk “playing church” playing games with God.
People show up to watch the show and if it’s good enough they stay and even come back occasionally, some even come every week. But when they are no longer entertained then they stop coming or find another show.
Playing church isn’t a new phenomenon. Folks have been playing church for centuries.
When Moses led the Israelites from Egypt and God changed them from a ragtag group of former slaves to the nation of Israel, He gave them instructions on how to worship Him. That’s what the entire books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy are about.
In other words, He told them how to have church. If they did it the way He wanted them to the results would be blessings that couldn’t be described in human terms.
The 28th chapter of Deuteronomy verses 1-14 give a list of the blessings that would come to them if they obeyed. There’s also a list of things that would happen if they didn’t obey. That list is in verses 15-44. Notice the list of curses is much longer than the list of blessings.
When our actions don't match the guidelines set forth for Christians in the Bible, then we are reduced to just being religious or "playing church."
There's an enormous difference between being religious, which is what many people think about if you go to church, and being a Christian.
Being religious is simply following a certain list of dos and don'ts, usually whenever it is convenient, and usually because you have been taught or trained that it is the proper or acceptable way to behave. But living that way is just playing church. And if you think that pleases God, you're only deceiving yourself.
Being a Christian means that everything you do or don't do is because you genuinely love the Lord and care whether you are pleasing to Him. Being a Christian means that you want to be like Christ and serve His purposes. Being a Christian means leaving your selfish, worldly desires behind and staying focused on Jesus, what He wants you to do, and who He wants you to become.
There's a world of difference between being a Christian and just playing church.
“Playing church” is serious business to God.
This is what God said through the prophet Isaiah about Israel playing church.
Isaiah 29:13-14 GNT [13] The Lord said, “These people claim to worship me, but their words are meaningless, and their hearts are somewhere else. Their religion is nothing but human rules and traditions, which they have simply memorized. [14] So I will startle them with one unexpected blow after another. Those who are wise will turn out to be fools, and all their cleverness will be useless.”
They were just going through the motions. It’s like singing loud and dancing during Praise and Worship yet not loving your neighbor as we love ourselves or not acknowledging God as our source.
Here's another example of Israel “playing church” and the results from that.
Isaiah 30:8-14 GNT [8] God told me to write down in a book what the people are like, so that there would be a permanent record of how evil they are. [9] They are always rebelling against God, always lying, always refusing to listen to the Lord's teachings. [10] They tell the prophets to keep quiet. They say, “Don't talk to us about what's right. Tell us what we want to hear. Let us keep our illusions. [11] Get out of our way and stop blocking our path. We don't want to hear about your holy God of Israel.” [12] But this is what the holy God of Israel says: “You ignore what I tell you and rely on violence and deceit. [13] You are guilty. You are like a high wall with a crack running down it; suddenly you will collapse. [14] You will be shattered like a clay pot, so badly broken that there is no piece big enough to pick up hot coals with or to dip water from a cistern.”
In this instance they were doing what we see a lot of today, when a church congregation wants their leaders to make their sermons the kinds of messages that speak to the desires and preferences of the people, rather than preach from the Bible something that’s unpopular like homosexuality, or fornication, or adultery, or racism. They don’t want the hear the whole story of the God the Bible, but only of a God of grace that allows for any and everything. Grace isn’t a license for immorality but when you’re “playing church” that’s what you want to hear.
In verse 14 of the scripture I just read, God said that He would shatter their iniquity like pottery that had been smashed to bits.
Let me read it again;
Isaiah 30:14 GNT [14] You will be shattered like a clay pot, so badly broken that there is no piece big enough to pick up hot coals with or to dip water from a cistern.”
Well, you might say that’s just Old Testament stuff. Okay, you want the New Testament? Let’s look at what Jesus says about “playing church”
Matthew 15:1-9 GNT [1] Then some Pharisees and teachers of the Law came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked him, [2] “Why is it that your disciples disobey the teaching handed down by our ancestors? They don't wash their hands in the proper way before they eat!” [3] Jesus answered, “And why do you disobey God's command and follow your own teaching? [4] For God said, ‘Respect your father and your mother,’ and ‘If you curse your father or your mother, you are to be put to death.’ [5] But you teach that if people have something they could use to help their father or mother, but say, ‘This belongs to God,’ [6] they do not need to honor their father. In this way you disregard God's command, in order to follow your own teaching. [7] You hypocrites! How right Isaiah was when he prophesied about you! [8] ‘These people, says God, honor me with their words, but their heart is really far away from me. [9] It is no use for them to worship me, because they teach human rules as though they were my laws!’”
You want more? What about;
Matthew 7:21-23 GNT [21] “Not everyone who calls me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do. [22] When the Judgment Day comes, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord! In your name we spoke God's message, by your name we drove out many demons and performed many miracles!’ [23] Then I will say to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you wicked people!’
Every Sunday, churches are filled with people who are simply “playing” games with God. They come to watch the “show”. If it is good enough, they stay and even come back occasionally. However, if it is not entertaining, they will drift off to play some other game.
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