Does God care how we Worship

John 4:21-24

Introduction: In 2023, there was a church in Tulsa, OK called Transformation Church that went rather viral for their Easter service. This service was titled “Ransom” and consisted of a play that was a take on the Easter story. In this play, there was smoke, flashing lights, dancing characters, crude jokes, covers of pop singer Kesha, and dance scenes of the crucifixion. The church did receive backlash online, as this was a rather unconventional easter service. The response given by the pastor was this: “Usually Easter is where we come to cheer with the people who are already on the team. That’s called practice, I want to go after the people who haven’t signed up to play the game yet. I want the person who feels lonely and isolated and like God doesn’t care. I want them to see how amazing Jesus actually is and what God actually did for all of us.” - Michael Todd. Essentially Mike Todd felt that the way the Easter service went was helpful and acceptable, as he was going after those who were outside the faith. As worship, he felt that his churches goal to spice up the story of Easter was a means for evangelism. This begs the questions: Does God prefer creativity in worship? Should we be thinking through how we can praise God in an unconventional, more fun, new, and exciting way? Should we worship as we fell led? Or does God explain worship in Scripture? The answer might surprise you. Please turn your bibles to John chapter 4.

Background:

We pick up this passage in the middle of the conversation Jesus has with the woman at the well. This would be an unusual conversation for a Jewish man to have, as the woman was a Samaritan and was considered an outsider. In this time period, the Jews and the Samaritans had contempt for one another, so much so that Jews when traveling to Galilee would often take the long route through the Jordan River twice just to avoid Samaria. Samaria in Old Testament times was the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The region of Samaria worshipped in a way that mixed worship of the God of Israel with the pagan religions of their Assyrian conquerers. Samaritans held to only the Pentateuch as inspired by God, and had an altered version of it in some areas. Today, we pick up in a spot where Jesus explains what true biblical worship looks like to a Samaritan woman. Let’s read

John 4:21–24 LSB

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Prayer

Proposition: In this section Jesus gives 3 distinctives of true worship so that you might praise God as He desires.

The first is this:

Worship based not on a place but on a person (v.21) -

Let’s begin from verse 16. In this section, we have an unexpected exchange where Jesus has indirectly confronted this woman on her marriage situation.

John 4:16–18 LSB

He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come back here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.”

This was certainly something that even a Samaritan would understand was wrong. She was confronted by her sin. And she does something that many sinners including Adam and Eve did. She shifts the conversation.

John 4:19–20 LSB

The woman said to Him, “Sir, I see that You are a prophet. “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”

The Samaritan woman brings up a controversy that Jews and Samaritans strongly disputed. She makes the conversation topic about which mountain is the place of worship. One of the distinguishing marks of the Samaritan belief was worship upon Mt. Gerizim. Because they rejected the record of God authorizing Solomon to build the temple in Jerusalem, the took Mt. Gerizim as the place of worship based on certain modified verses from the Pentateuch. Additionally, Mt. Gerizim was close to the place where Abraham built an altar in Genesis 12:7 and the place where the blessings were to be proclaimed to the Israelites after taking the promised land as stated by Deuteronomy 27:12. She brings up the argument with Jesus a Jew.

Look down at His Response: John 4:21

John 4:21 LSB

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

Jesus calls her woman, a polite address for the culture, and shifts the conversation from which mountain to the topic of worship. He states that the hour is coming when neither mountain will be relevant to the discussion. Now notice, Jesus does not answer in an expected way. It would make sense that Jesus would either shift the topic back to her sin, or to engage her in the argument. After all, she was completely wrong about Mt. Gerizim. Jerusalem was the correct site of worship in the Old Covenant. This woman was saying what was unbiblical. Yet he focuses on something different. He centers in on the topic of worship knowing that something deeper is going on.

This is an important reminder when speaking to those who disagree with the scripture. It is tempting when speaking to a Roman Catholic to argue about infant baptism, or when speaking to a liberal Christian to argue about feminist issues. We do not want to get lost in secondary issues when there are primary problems. I do not care about infant baptism if I am talking to someone with a wrong view of the Gospel. I do not want to argue about gender roles in the church with someone who believes that the Bible is a corrupted book without authority. Additionally, Jesus does not press her on the issue of her marriage situation. He sees a worship problem, and chooses to engage this. Engage people with critical issues rather than superficial ones.

Maybe you today have some very obvious sin issues. Maybe there is unfaithfulness in marriage in some way. Maybe you have secret sin issues such as anger, impurity, or deceit. Maybe there are some more obvious areas of your life were you are running away from God. But maybe under all of that, your biggest problem today is a worship problem.

This is what Jesus calls out. He sees not just a worship location problem, but a heart problem. This was improper worship deeper than the external.

He states that “the hour is coming”

This is the hour that Christ would accomplish salvation. When the phrase the hour is mentioned in John’s Gospel, it refers to the Passion. Christ’s mission was to die to pay for sin, and to rise again defeating sin. This effect that Christ was going to accomplish was also going to change worship. before he was arrested, Jesus says this in the Upper Room.

John 17:1–2 LSB

Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.

This hour is clearly talking about his crucifixion. Because of this can see that True worship is centered upon the work of Christ. We boast in the cross. We boast in his resurrection. We praise God in a Christ centered way.

Worship is not based on a building or a time or a location, it is based on the person of Jesus Christ.

Cultural Issues: It is quite a danger for conservative Christians like ourselves to miss the point of worship. I certainly complain about and poke fun at churches that have interpretive dancing, speaking in “tongues”, and a club type of atmosphere. Yet what is the major problem with most worship. A lack of focus on Christ.

This should be the primary problem we have with the transformation church Easter service. Michael Todd began the Easter service stating that he desired to not have the same old boring “He got up” service. It seems that the preaching of the resurrection of Christ without the smoke was not enough. This is at the core of the problem

To bring back the topic of the someone who is new to church, what should their impression of church be? It is very simple, they should be confused by all this boasting in the cross. They should be taken back by a church that cannot help but obsess about the hope of the resurrection. They should be surprised by lives dedicated to the praise of God.

We do love to talk about what a church should do different, and criticize worship styles but ignore personal worship. Are you someone who worships entirely based on what Christ has done. Do you enter worship service with a cross centered mind, and hope of the resurrection?

With this cross focus in mind, we Now must also realize that the bible does speak about what worship should look like in an outward sense. This brings up the second distinctive of biblical worship.

Worship based on special revelation (v.22)

Look down: John 4:22

John 4:22 ESV

You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

In this back and forth between the woman at the well, Jesus does address her error. But even here, he does so in a more general sense. Look down, he shows a contrast between the Samaritans and the Jews. He states that “you” plural being the Samaritans worship in ignorance. The Samaritans were worshipping in a way that clearly was not biblically supported. They altered scripture, they rejected much of the Old Testament, and they rejected the temple as the place of worship. This was against what God has spoken.

In this sense, the people of Israel were correct. And Jesus does correct the error of this woman. Romans 3:2 explains the people of Israel as being entrusted with the oracles of God. Jews were right to strongly disagree with Samaritan worship on Mt. Gerizim. we do here through this conversation see extension of the Gospel to those outside of the nation of Israel. And very practically, we see Jesus acknowledge that there is a biblical way to worship, and an unbiblical way to worship in outward expression.

What do we do this information? It seems that although primary issues must be addressed, it is fair to be careful to worship according to biblical prescription. For example, we today primarily worship through song, the public reading of scripture, and the explanation of scripture. All these means of worship have strong biblical support from both the Old and the New Testament. As we see from this verse, we do not have biblical freedom to worship how we feel. Jesus did not say: “You worship on your mountain and I will worship on mine. We all worship the same.” We cannot say that we for example feel that interpretive painting should be added to the service just because we feel it on our hearts. The worship as you feel led attitude of today is not a biblical one. Just because you feel that doing the worm during singing is a way to worship God does not mean that it is acceptable worship.

Even though this is a conversation about what should external worship look like, This is not disconnected from the first point of worship centered upon Jesus. A couple years ago, there was a social media trend where youth pastors would have worship songs that were written in Gen Z slang sung at their youth groups. “Your love is bussin” was a particular song that came to mind. Now these youth pastors would say: “Isn’t it so cool that we have written songs that speak to the young people? They are worshipping in their own way!” What is wrong with singing a song about Jesus through the modern culture? Well, when you watch videos of these youth groups, does it seem there is a Christ centered attitude? No, everyone is laughing. It seems at these youth groups that the love of Jesus is hilarious.

This is because when you go off script from the bible in worship, you will go off target in worship. Neglecting the specifics about biblical worship leads to a loss of focus on recipient of worship, God.

Worship in Spirit and Truth (v.23-24)

Jesus gives two striking characteristics of the type of worship God seeks. The two are in Spirit and in Truth.

John 4:23 LSB

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

Hour coming and is now here

We have already covered what the hour is. In the New Covenant, worship no longer relies on a physical location.

True Worshippers

This is the central point of this section. What does a true worshiper of the Father look like? What type of worshiper does God seek for Himself? Two characteristics, the first is in spirit.

Spirit

Not the Holy Spirit, rather it is talking about the human spirit. This is another way of saying the affections or the emotions. In a similar way to saying: “my spirit has been lifted” or “my spirit has been broken”. This is often how the word spirit in Greek language would be used.

This points to the fact that worship involves being affected by the object of worship. True worship goes beyond the external, but to the heart. In the Old Testament, things like making sacrifices, keeping the civil law given in the Torah, and even outward acts of generosity would have been considered outward worship. Today, things like service to the church, bible reading, prayer, and kindness towards others are often considered worship. Yet the striking truth of John 4:23 is that if these acts did not reach the spirit, then this was not the type of worship that God desires. And not just now, but in the time period that Jesus speaks, this was countercultural.

Explanation: It was common at the time for the people of that day to see worship as an outward ceremony. Both in Jewish and Roman religion, close care was paid to physical details and words during a worship ceremony. However, the OT reveals that God desires more than physical worship. The prophet Isaiah 29:13 states: “Then the Lord said, ‘Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,’”. Scripture is consistent in what it teaches. I say to you today, that God has no desire for lip service. It is of no value to you or God to simply worship God in a way that has no internal significance. True worship to God is leaving your pretense at the door. Jonathan Edwards says it this way: “Who will deny that true religion consists, in a great measure, in vigorous and lively actings of the inclination and will of the soul, or the fervent exercises of the heart? That religion which God requires, and will accept, does not consist in weak, dull, and lifeless, wishes, raising us but a little above a state of indifference.” Sadly, indifference would describe the worship of many who claim faith today.

Illustration: Dodger fan

One dodger fan shows up to the game with all the gear, jersey, hat, flag, but falls asleep.

Another fan shows up in normal clothes, but loses their voice from screaming and cheering as they closely watch every pitch and at bat.

Which is the true fan?

Implication/application: Worship God in your spirit. Seek biblical change in spirit and not just performance. Do not be a Pharisee, a whitewashed tomb. Let worship come from your heart.

Imagine you are invited to a friends house for coffee. You say to your friend: “I really appreciate the invite.” The friend says: “Oh of course, I know that you don’t have a lot of friends, and I felt sorry for you. You are welcome.” What is the problem here. Your friend invited you over gave you free coffee, why are you mad?

Maybe this is how you treat God. You show up to church and if you are honest, it is because you are in the habit of it, or you feel obligated, you would feel guilty if you did not go. Maybe you read your bible because it is good for you, it is like eating spinach. Maybe you pray because if you don’t, you are worried you might have a bad day. Change your worship life today. Praise the Lord in spirit.

Truth

Consistent with Scripture, we cannot truly worship God if our worship is not based in the truth. One cannot make up how to worship God, but receives this instruction from the scripture. This is living in the truth of scripture when we worship to the Lord. If you sing to the Lord, worshipping God, singing of His greatness, while living a double life, this does not please the Lord.

Romans 12:1 LSB

Therefore I exhort you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Jesus further explains, God is Spirit

John 4:24 LSB

24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

God is not like a human, but is Spirit. He is not confined to the physical world, and because of this, does not want simply physical worship. The folding of hands or the taking off of the hat is not worship to the extent which God desires.

One of the most difficult topics for the atheist to explain is why a human has emotions, a conscience, and relational tendencies. Why humans desire relationship with others. This is because we are as the Bible says, made in the image of God. God is a relational being as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Because of this, God does not desire merely physical, outward, fake praise.

Given this, it seems foolish the type of fake worship that we give God. Imagine trying to fool the God of the universe by lifting your hands in worship, when you are not being sincere. Do you think that worship of God through song while living a life sin will deceive God?

Conclusion:

Have you ever noticed yourself to be similar to that of the woman at the well? Confronted with her sin, she shifts to talk about external worship location? Listen to how different the attitude of the psalmist is in Psalm 95 saying:

Psalm 95:1–3 LSB

Oh come, let us sing for joy to Yahweh, Let us make a loud shout to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us make a loud shout to Him with songs of praise. For Yahweh is a great God And a great King above all gods,

This is the type of worship that pleases God. It a worship that sings for joy, not one that sings out of apathy. This is worship that is in spirit and sings because of the truth that Yahweh is a great God. A great King above all.

Consider true worship today. Do you worship God in spirit? Is there pretense in how you come to God? Do you think that your outward signs of Christianity are acceptable to a God who knows the heart? Secondly, do you worship God based on the truth of Scripture? Do not be self centered like the world in your life of praise? Many people will say, I choose to worship God in this way. I urge you today, let God choose. To God be the glory. Let’s pray.