This is the manuscript for the sermon preached at Christ Church Los Angeles January 14, 2024.
Scripture Reading:
John 4:13-26 NIV [13] Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, [14] but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” [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.”
Introduction
The conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, part of which we read today, is one of the high points of John’s gospel, and included in this conversation is a priceless revelation concerning true worship.
Notice that this encounter did not take place in a hushed, sacred setting, but in Samaria of all places, and to a woman whose life was jaded with moral sin!
When you read the entire passage, which starts at verse 1 of John 4, it tells us that Jesus had to pass through Samaria as He was going from Judea to Galilee. This, in and of itself, was uncommon for Jews to do, as Samaritans were part Jew and part Gentile, and greatly disliked by both parties.
Most times Jews took the long route around so they wouldn't have to go through Samaria. The usual route between Galilee and Judea was along the Jordan River. While longer, it was chosen purposefully in order to not pass through Samaria.
It was about noon when this woman came to the well. It was
the heat of the day and most people during that time would have been resting. Most women would come early in the morning or late in the evening to collect water.
She has been married 5 times, and is currently living in sin, by living with her boyfriend.
John 4:16-18 NIV [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.”
These circumstances, of her personal life, point to her desire to avoid the shame that would come by coming to draw water when other women were present. And yet, Jesus, in His divine intentionality sought to meet this specific woman at this specific time, even though it was culturally unacceptable for a man to speak with a woman privately.
But Jesus didn’t follow the prejudices of his day regarding gender and ethnicity. Surely this was part of his appeal. People used to being dismissed, ridiculed, and rejected were suddenly talking with someone who both saw them and loved them.
This is the glory and beauty of God’s truth: It knows no limit of time or place or person. It is revealed to those who are ready to receive it, whoever they are and wherever they are. So by God’s Spirit the truth was revealed to this Samaritan woman.
Actually, she tried to change the subject as Jesus began to probe deeply into her life. To try to change the subject she asked “Where is the proper place to worship—in Jerusalem or on this sacred mountain in Samaria?” Jesus did not ignore the question. He used it as a springboard from which to reveal to her the classic Christian definition of worship, the pattern for all true worship and our text for today
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.”
Jesus was talking about the difference between man made worship and God-centered worship.
I. First of all, Jesus talks about man made worship.
A. Three basic weaknesses of man made worship are revealed in Jesus’ words to the woman. First, man made worship is contrived. It is the result of people adding a little here and taking away a little there until they have turned the Scriptures into a monstrosity.
This is what the Samaritans had done in their insistence that true worship must be conducted on that particular mountain which a study of Scripture will identify as Mount Gerizim, which is the biblical Mount Moriah.
John 4:20 NIV [20] Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
Mount Gerizim is important because According to Genesis 12:6–7, Abraham built an altar there,
Genesis 12:6-7 NIV[6] Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. [7] The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
and in Genesis 33:18–20 it indicates Jacob constructed an altar there as well.
Genesis 33:18-20 NIV [18] After Jacob came from Paddan Aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem in Canaan and camped within sight of the city. [19] For a hundred pieces of silver, he bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. [20] There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.
For the Samaritans, Mount Gerizim had been a sacred site for the worship of God for centuries. On this mountain the Samaritans had built a temple to rival the Jewish temple in Jerusalem.
They had also adjusted history to suit themselves by insisting that it was on this mountain that Abraham had been willing to sacrifice Isaac, and that it was here that Abraham had paid tithes to Melchizedek.
Furthermore, they tampered with the Scriptures themselves when they taught that it was on this mountain that Moses first built an altar and sacrificed to God in preparation for the entry of the Israelites into the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 27:4 clearly states that it was Mount Ebal, not Mount Gerizim.
Deuteronomy 27:4 NIV [4] And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster.
Every cult has done this same thing in twisting and distorting the Scriptures. A contrived gospel is a false gospel and will lead people to destruction. We've been talking about that in our Bible studies.
B. Not only is man made worship contrived; it is also ignorant of the truth.
Jesus said to this woman, “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know” (John 4:22 NIV).
The Samaritans accepted only the Pentateuch. That’s the first five books of the bible Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They rejected all of the great messages of the prophets and all of the beauty and inspiration of the Psalms. They had a partial revelation of the truth. A fuller revelation was available to them, but they would not accept it.
There is no excuse today for believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to be ignorant of what they believe or of the basic teachings of God’s Word. There was a time when people were ignorant of spiritual things because they did not have the full revelation of God. But that time is no more;
Jesus has come and has revealed God’s true nature to us. We have the completed Word of God with the ministry of the Holy Spirit available to interpret it to us.
Hebrews 1:1-3 NIV [1] In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, [2] but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. [3] The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
John 14:26 NIV [26] But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
C. Man made worship is also superstitious. The Samaritans had adulterated the pure worship of Jehovah by recognizing the pagan gods of the foreigners who had come to dwell among them. They had mixed in with their worship of Jehovah all of the superstitions of the pagans.
Many Christians have allowed superstition to become a basic part of their worship. Some will attend church not out of a genuine sense of need, nor out of any real desire to meet God in a worship experience, but because they are afraid not to!
They feel that if they do not go through the motions of worship, something bad will happen to them. They may even contribute to the church and pay tithes because they are afraid some calamity will befall them if they don’t. This is worship out of fear, and such an attitude is synonymous with superstition. A true worship experience is motivated by love for God and by gratitude for what God has done in one’s life and family.
II. Those are characteristics of man made worship addressed by Jesus in His conversation with this woman. Then Jesus talked about a God-centered worship.
In telling the Samaritan woman about a God-centered worship, Jesus gave her the eternal formula for true worship, which is our
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.”
A. The first thing Jesus said about God-centered worship is that it is God-initiated. God makes the first move toward people in establishing a true worship experience. People do not have to seek after God or beg and plead with him to meet them in worship.
This is what the prophets of Baal did on Mount Carmel in that famous contest with Elijah. They begged and cried and worked themselves up into a hysterical state—finally cutting themselves and shedding their own blood in their fanatical frenzy—trying to attract and coerce Baal to hear them and answer their call.
1 Kings 18:25-29 NIV [25] Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” [26] So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. [27] At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” [28] So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. [29] Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
But what did Jesus say?
John 4:23 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.
People do not seek God; God seeks people. In other words, when we come privately or when we come together in our worship assemblies, God is waiting, eager to meet us! He is seeking us in order to enter into the worship experience with us.
B. But not only is God-centered worship initiated by God, it is a spiritual experience.
John 4:24 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.”
What do we mean when we say that “God is a spirit”? Is he a vague, impersonal, exquisite being, indescribable to man? Not at all! Rather, because he is Spirit, he is free; he is not confined to any one place or time.
For thirty-three years, in a union humans cannot comprehend, God entered human flesh in the person of his sinless Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, in an even greater miracle, God died in the person of his Son and rose again the third day. But even during that amazing time of identification with man, God was still omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.
Because God is spirit, his omnipresence makes it possible for me to worship him anytime anywhere. In the privacy of my room, I can worship God; in the midst of the mundane affairs of the everyday world, I can worship God. I can anticipate the blessed privilege of assembling together with my brothers and sisters in Christ at the appointed times, as we are exhorted to do in the Scriptures, and enter into an experience of corporate worship.
I can blend my voice both audibly and silently in the midst of the congregation! Yes, God-centered worship is a spiritual experience that is expressed both privately and publicly within the blessed togetherness of God’s people.
C. Not only are we to worship in spirit, but also in truth.
Jesus invoked the Father on our behalf when he prayed His prayer which encompasses the entire 17th chapter of John
John 17:17 NIV [17] Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
I cannot read God’s Word properly without having a worship experience every time I do. God’s Word, which is the truth of God, is the compass of the church. It keeps both the individual Christian and the church as a whole in the pathway of righteousness, always attuned to the leadership of its head, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 1:22-23 NIV [22] And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, [23] which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
And not only this, but when I neglect God’s Word, I find that I grope through my days, here and faltering there, unsure at this point, blundering at that decision. Only as I make my way back to the Book and to the altar of prayer in sincere worship doI find my life once more on an even keel.
Conclusion
What is the worship of the church? If it is a man made worship, it is bathed in ignorance of the true message of God’s Word, and it is permeated with all kinds of false ideas and superstitions. But if it is God-centered worship, then it is always initiated by God. He is ever seeking his children to enter into a worship experience with them.
It is a spiritual experience that transcends the earthly, the mundane, the worldly; and it is Bible-centered, because God’s Word is truth. Worship is genuine when God’s people find a friendship and an intimacy with him, who ever seeks us and longs to have fellowship with his redeemed people.
Sermon Audio
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