Spirit and Truth
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Context
Context
I know I said we were going to be starting a study on David, but I think that it is important to cover something this morning. We are going to talk a little bit about Israel, and its significance to us. There is a lot going on in our world today, and as Brother Bobby pointed out last week we need to be focused on our mission. I picked John 4:21-24 to help us understand something about Israel. This is a portion of the interaction between Jesus and the Samaritan women, the women at the well. Now to completely understand what we are going to be talking about we need a little history lesson. We will start with God’s promise to Abraham and then move to Jesus time, and then see where we wind up in our time.
1 And Yahweh said to Abram, “Go out from your land and from your relatives, and from the house of your father, to the land that I will show you.
7 And Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” And he built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.
This is a recent map of Israel. This is the land that God had promised to Abram, to give to his offspring. We can see very early on there is a significant connection to the physical ground that is now Israel. This promise carries on down through the generations to a point.
7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
We see God’s call to Moses to start the exodus to the promised land the land where the nation of Israel would eventually live. There is a lot that happens before Jesus arrives in Israel in human flesh, but we do not have time to cover all of it. I just want us to understand that at one point in time the land where Israel was and is, had great significance for Yahweh’s people. Lets fast forward to Jesus time, and look at our main text.
20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
First off lets look at the significance of this conversation, 1 it was with a women, 2 she was a Samaritan. The woman is trying to start a debate with Jesus about the proper place to worship (the legitimate holy places), but Jesus quickly stops this and gets back to what is truly important.
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
The time is coming when the place of worship does not matter. If Israel was still as significant to the church we would all be traveling there to worship. But we don’t, why is that? This question can be answered with one word, Jesus. He changed everything. They were on the crest of a pivotal moment in history, where everything changed.
22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
The Samaritans did not know God, that is they did not have the full revelation of God, and therefore could not worship in truth. However the Jews did have the full revelation of God, the OT, it is because of this they knew the God they worshiped. The truth of God’s salvation came to them first and then through them to the world. That is through Jesus who was a Jew. The OT is full of the gospel message and God’s redemptive story through the Messiah.
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
Jesus speaks of a new time of worship, that He is ushering in. Only those who believe in the Son will worship the Father in spirit and truth. It is no longer about the temple, it is no longer about a geographical location, it is about true worship done through a relationship with Christ.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
True worship involves an inward change of the heart, not just outward observances. God’s true followers worship Him in complete sincerity. The point Jesus is making to this Samaritan women is that there is only one true way to worship, and it doesn’t matter where you are. Many of the Jews had missed it they chose to reject Jesus, and there are those who still do today, Jews and Gentiles alike.
22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
This is speaking about the new Heaven and the new earth, the new Jerusalem has no temple, because God is the temple. The true worship of our LORD is not confined geographically in a place or a building.
Spirit and Truth
Spirit and Truth
Why do I bring this up, well when you see what is going on in our world today there are many people who for one begin to panic, and secondly they begin to assume things about what is going on. What is truly important for us to know is that God sent His Son to pay the price for our sins, He died on the cross and rose again, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father. Thirdly He has given us something to do, we are called to be Christ’s ambassadors here on earth, we are called to share the gospel with the world around us, teaching, and discipling. If we are consumed by fear, we are ineffective, if we are consumed with prophecy, the things to come in the future we are ineffective. Are we eagerly waiting for the day our LORD returns, Yes, but what are we doing in the mean time. Are we worshiping in spirit and truth. Are we loving our neighbor as ourselves. As Brother Bobby pointed out last week we have lost our focus. We should not be worried about what will come in the future, we already know, we should be worried about what we are doing in the right here and now of God’s kingdom.