The Heart of Worship and the Heart of God

INTRODUCTION

§ Continuing series on worship

§ We want to look at worship from many angles

§ Last week looked at to the very definition of worship

§ We saw the intricate relationship between worship and the gospel through the book of Romans

§ It culminated in Paul’s exhortation to “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

§ We saw that acceptable worship rests on understanding the profound change that occurred in your life through God’s intervention through Jesus Christ

§ I want us to focus on this topic a bit more as we focus even more on what it means to be a NT worshipper in the church

§ To do that, I want us to look at another definitive text on worship—one that really exposes the immense shifts that took place as the old covenant passed away and God established the new covenant.

§ The passage is John 4:1-26

§ But before we look at it, I want to start out by asking you a question:

What is it, do you think, that God desires most of all?

§ At the heart of this passage is this assertion:

“An hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshippers.”

§ This drives down to the very heart of God

§ What is it the Father is after? What is it he wants?

§ The Father wants true worshippers—real, genuine

§ Worshippers who engage with him on his terms and in the manner he has made possible

§ We want to be that kind of worshipper

§ We see in this text how God prepares just such a person as Jesus interacts with the most unlikely character and prepares her to become a true worshipper of the Father.

CONTEXT

John 3:1-21 – Interaction w/ Nicodemus

§ Necessities to enter kingdom

§ Regeneration required—the work of the HS

§ God is sovereign & man has no part in it

John 3:22-36– John’s final testimony

§ Jesus’ disciples baptizing larger numbers than John

§ John responds to Jesus’ critics—points to Jesus

§ Faith in Jesus results in eternal life—don’t reject him

SETTING

4:1-2 Jesus becomes aware of Pharisees’ knowledge

§ Baptisms = disciples/converts to Jesus

§ Baptisms = threat to political/religious establishment

§ A political/religious fight appears imminent

4:3 Jesus departs for Galilee

§ Wants to avoid political scandal/confrontation

§ This would only distract and deter him from his work

§ Departs Judea for Galilee

4:4 Had to pass through Samaria

§ Judea to Samaria = 3-day travel

§ Direct route: through Samaria along ridge route

§ Alternate route: coastal route or across Jordan River

§ Some Galileans known to travel through Samaria to Jerusalem for annual feasts

§ Many Jews preferred alternate routes to avoid contact with Samaritans

§ “Had to” is verb connected in John with divine plan

4:5 Stops for a rest in Sychar

§ 1st part of journey

§ Stops in small town near ancient site of Shechem

§ Located near plot of land bought by Jacob

Ø Gen 33:18– Jacob bought field

Ø Gen 48:22– Jacob gives field to Joseph

Ø Josh 24:32 – Joseph buried there

4:6 Rests beside a well

§ Travel was arduous—needed a rest

§ Sits beside “Jacob’s well”

Ø Apparently a well dug by Jacob

Ø No reference to it in the OT

Ø Well recognized at time by Jews and Samaritans

Ø Well-preserved and reliable archaeological record

Ø Spring that ran approx. Sept. through May

§ “Sixth hour”—noon, hottest part of day

§ Peculiar time for what will transpire

All of this sets the stage for an unexpected conversation.

This conversation becomes a definitive foundation for what lies at the heart of New Testament worship.

THE HEART OF WORSHIP (4:7-30)

4:7 Woman arrives at the well

§ Samaritan woman from the town

§ Arrives carrying her water pot

§ She arrives in the middle of the day

Ø Peculiar time to draw water

Ø Customarily morning and evening (Gen 24:11)

§ She travels to this well

Ø Other sources of water existed closer to town

§ Jesus asks for a drink

4:8 Disciples had left to buy food in town

§ Jesus was all alone

§ Otherwise his disciples would have asked

4:9 Samaritan woman is surprised by request

§ Men never spoke to women publicly

§ Rabbis were forbidden to speak to women—especially immoral women

§ Jews neversocialized with Samaritans

Ø Jesus had boldly broken social customs on numerous levels

Ø 4:11 indicates he had no pot—he was expecting to use her jar to drink from

§ John makes parenthetical note that Jews and Samaritans “had no dealings”

Ø Lit., shared nothing in common

Ø Could mean generically did not associate together

Ø Could specifically mean did not share items that would render Jews unclean

JEWISH/SAMARITAN BACKGROUND

§ Relations had been hostile for 500+ years

§ Northern Israel exiled in 722 BC by Assyria

§ Some Israelites remained in land

§ Babylonian and Median colonists brought in

§ Intermarriate occurred creating mixed Jewish/Gentile people

§ Designated by Jews as immoral foreigners

§ Animosity seen in Samaritan attempts to thwart rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls during leadership of Nehemiah (Ezra 4)

§ Samaritans came to see themselves as “keepers” of religious faith—refused to recognize Jerusalem or Davidic line

§ Permitted to construct temple on Mt. Gerizim by Alexander the Great

§ Temple eventually destroyed by Jewish leader in 128 BC

§ All this fueled a bitter political/religious animosity between Jews and Samaritans

4:10 Jesus turns the tables

§ Jesus responds by turning the tables on the woman

§ “If you had known” – implication is that she didn’t

§ Jesus presents himself as the source of a different kind of water

§ “Living water” – draws on rich OT theological metaphor

Ø Prophets talked about “living water”

Jer 2:13 – For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water

Jer 17:13 – O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame…because they have forsaken the fountain of living water

Isa 12:3 – Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation

Isa 44:3 – I will pour out water on the thirsty and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring and my blessings on your descendants

Isa 58:11 – The Lord will continually guide you and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

Zech 14:8 – And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem…

Ø Psalmists talked about “living water”

Ps 36:7-9 – How precious is your loyal love, O God! And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of your house; and you give them to drink of the river of your delights. For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.

Pss 78:15 & 114:8recall historical event where God provided water out of the rock for Israel during their wilderness wanderings

Exod 17:6 – God provides water from rock

1 Cor 10:4 – And all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking rom the spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.

§ So the whole of the OT uses the metaphor of “springs” and “fountains of water” and “living water” as a vivid picture of the gift of salvation offered by God.

§ It is a salvation that, as Isaiah 44:3 makes clear, intimately connected with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and, according to Zech 14:8, the arrival of the Messianic age

Expanded translation of 4:10:

“If you had known what God’s gift was and the identity of the one asking YOU for water, you would have instead asked HIM for water and he would have given you living water—the gift of salvation and regeneration!”

§ But her reply makes it clear that she didn’t understand

4:11 Woman misunderstands metaphor

§ Jesus has made a metaphysical shift in the conversation

§ But she is still stuck in the physical

§ She notices he doesn’t have a bucket—how can he access this water he speaks of?

§ The well is deep—he can’t scoop it with his hands

4:12 Comparison to Jacob the Patriarch

§ She phrases question expecting negative answer

§ Jesus can’t be greater than the patriarch Jacob

§ Yet even Jacob had to drink from this well

Why doesn’t she understand what he’s talking about?

§ Her misunderstanding reveals her spiritual illiteracy

§ Samaritans rejects all but the Pentateuch

§ Yet all of the “living water” ref. come from the Prophets and the Writings—the books they rejected

4:13-14 Jesus clarifies/expands his assertion

§ Jacob’s well provided temporary satisfaction

§ She’s have to return when she was thirsty again

§ Jesus offers a water that satisfies eternally

§ You won’t need to return to the well because the well will be inside you

§ A river will “spring up”—verb used in OT 4x in ref. to the work of the Holy Spirit (Judg 14:6, 19; 15:14; 1 Sam 10:6, 10)

ILLUSTRATION: Like going to the doctor in pain and the doctor gives you a choice—take these pills for the rest of your life to manage the pain, or have surgery to deal with the problem for good. Which one are you going to choose?

4:15 Women asks for water—tables completely turned

§ She uses same phrase Jesus’ used: “give me a drink”

§ Jesus brought her to a place where she realizes that SHE is the one parched and weary and he has something SHE needs!

§ She recognizes the superiority of the water he offers

§ She opts for the surgery

4:16 Jesus gives first taste of living water

§ Jesus knows her situation

§ Leading her to understand her spiritual condition

§ “In response to her request, Jesus gives her now the first draught of the living water by causing her to face her guilty life and bring it to Him. He cannot give the water before thirst for it is awakened. The sure method of awakening the thirst is to make her acknowledge herself a sinful woman.”

§ Coming to drink of spring of living water requires confession and forsaking sin:

Isa 55:1 – Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you who have no money come, buy and eat.

Isa 55:6-7 – Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

4:17 Woman deceptively evades confession

4:18 Jesus exposes her guilt

§ Woman has been spiritually stripped naked

§ She tried to hide her past, but now everything is exposed

Having been dragged face to face with her life and guilt, she puts her guard down and immediately turns her attention to how and where she can go to make things right with God.

THE MANNER OF WORSHIP (4:19-26)

4:19 Woman recognizes he is a prophet

§ His insights are clearly supernatural

§ She can’t hide now

4:20 Woman inquires about proper place for worship

§ This isn’t a tangent or diversion

§ This is the natural response of someone who knows they need to meet with God

§ Her dilemma lies in this:

Ø She recognizes he is a prophet

Ø But he’s also Jewish

Ø So where does she go to meet with God?

§ “This mountain” – Mt. Gerizim

Ø Location of Samaritan temple constructed during reign of Alexander the Great

Ø Destroyed in 128 BC by Jews

Ø Was the rival place of worship between Jews and Samaritans

Ø Ruble of temple most likely still visible during conversation at foot of mountain

§ “Jerusalem” – religious center of Judaism

Ø Rejected by Samaritans

Ø Claimed Jews altered the Pentateuch to justify Jerusalem religious center

Ø But Jews claimed it alone was God’s temple

4:21 Jesus introduces shift in manner of worship

§ “Hour is coming” – radical shift is imminent

§ Both locations are in the process of being rendered outmoded and obsolete

4:22a Samaritan worship based on ignorance

§ Not based on knowledge

§ They don’t know the object of their worship

§ They’ve rejected God’s revelation (full OT)

§ They’ve rejected God’s people (Jews)

§ Samaritan worship is false worship

§ It did not submit to God’s terms for how he was to be approached under the Mosaic Covenant

4:22b Jewish worship was based on knowledge

§ Jews had received the law

§ They had form of worship acceptable to God

§ Nevertheless, it was being superseded

4:23 True worship involves shift in manner of worship

§ Even Jewish worship was being superseded

§ Modality of worship was shifting as Christ conducted his ministry

§ OT worship as expressed in the Mosaic Covenant had become outmoded at the revelation of Jesus Christ

Old Testament Worship:

§ Always holistic—involved totality of life

§ Involved giving homage to God in faith and hope of his promises, and in gratitude for his power to save.

§ Involved life-encompassing total dependence on God expressed in faith, gratitude, and obedience

§ Involved serving God as his redeemed slave—they were his people, individually and nationally—and they owed him absolute allegiance as their sovereign

§ Involved reverence and respect by walking obediently according to his word

§ Jewish cult—rituals, ceremonies, and sacrificial system—were always understood to be expressions of what was expected in the totality of life

§ Yet the cult stood at the center of religious life under the old covenant

§ It was God’s terms for how Israel was to engage with him

With Christ’s coming, the ritual and cultic aspects of worship were being shown for what they were—“shadows of the good things to come” (Heb 10:1).

§ “True worshippers” – genuine/real worshippers

§ “worship in spirit & truth”

§ “Spirit” – inner person

Ø Worship no longer dependent on location and ritual and the “shadows”

Ø It now reflected the reality of the spiritual shift that was taking place as Jesus was realizing what everything in the Old Covenant pointed to—the priests, the sacrifices, the temple itself

Ø And as the believer became a temple with the Spirit indwelling him, and a priest offering up sacrifices, worship was no longer bound by location

Ø Worship now took place through Jesus

§ “Truth” – in accordance with truth

Ø Consistent with Scripture and reality

Ø Christ’s incarnation marked a shift away from the symbolic to the real

Ø OT worship was no longer “in truth” now that Jesus had arrived and revealed the fullness of God

4:24 Reassertion of true worship

§ “God is spirit” – invisible/nonmaterial

Num 23:19– not a man

Lk 24:39– not flesh and bone

Col 1:15– invisible

1 Tim 6:16 – no man has seen him

§ “Spirit and truth” – worship must reflect the knowledge of the revelation of the invisible God in Jesus Christ

Ø God’s nature hadn’t changed

Ø But Jesus had revealed fullness of God to men

Col 1:15– image of invisible God

John 1:18– he has explained God to man

Heb 1:3– exact representation of his nature

“New-covenant worship is essentially the engagement with God that he has made possible through the revelation of himself in Jesus Christ and the life he has made available through the Holy Spirit.” David Peterson

APPLICATION

So what does this look like at a practical level?

§ Fill your mind with Scripture (Col 3:16)

Ø Your concept and understanding of God does influence how you worship

1 Cor 14:33 – God is a God of order not confusion—so let everything be done decently and in order (14:40)

Lev 10:1-3 – holy God

Exod 32 – Jealous God who is transcendent and ineffable and sovereign and has the right to decide how he is represented.

God is holy—he expects holiness from believers

God is omniscient/omnipresent—obedience can’t be faked just in public—private life is open before God

§ Recognize that every part of life is lived as worship

Ø That’s worshipping in spirit

Ø No limitations on locale

Ø You are the priest and you are the sacrifice and you are the temple

Ø And you are engaging with God through Jesus the new temple

Ø Thus, every part of life is engaging with God, either in acceptable or unacceptable worship

§ This even affects our worship through music!

Ø Worship in truth means focusing primarily on the content of the song rather than its style

Ø “Too often we can be tempted to choose songs because of the music rather than the theological content. We need to realize that when words are combined with music we can be deceived. Music can make shallow lyrics sound deep. A great rhythm section can make drivel sound profound and make you want to sing it again…. If the words on the page are theologically shallow or vague, music won’t add anything. It will only give the illusion that the words are actually substantive.” Bob Kauflin, Worship Matters

Ø “Show me a church’s songs and I’ll show you their theology,” Gordon Fee

Ø Music is important also…poor music represents poor theology

Ø God is orderly—thus music requires order and thought and organization of thought

Ø God is beautiful and creative and intentional—thus music should reflect that as well.

Ø “God is too great and the human experience too complex to think that one kind of music will always best express the dynamics of our relationship with a living God.” Bob Kaulfin, Worship Matters