Who We Worship

John 4:7-26

After kicking off the year with a focus on prayer, we are going to shift our focus to worship. Worship and prayer can often be interchangeable. When we pray, our prayers that are lifted are often filled with worship, and when we worship the words that we sing can often be lifted as prayers. During the next four weeks we will talk about the essentials of worship, by answering the basic questions of who, where, when, why, and how we worship. I’m sure that when we get to how we will certainly remind you that worship is not limited to music, but I think it’s important we remind you of that right out of the gate. Everyone gets that right? Worship is way way way, way way way, more than music and singing.

Now beyond that we’ve titled this message WHO WE WORSHIP. If we phrased that as a question, Who do we worship? You would said God or Jesus. We believe God the father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are three in one. But I’m sure most of us are in agreement that we worship the God of the Christian faith. So what’s the point of a message like this one today?

The point of a message like this one today is that all of us have a unique view of God in our life that I believe is as unique as your dna or the snowflake where they say no two are alike. And to a degree that’s ok because it speaks to the fact that each of us have a personal relationship with Him. But there are also some things about God that we are allowed to differ in opinion on. By that I mean, that within the Bible God has revealed Himself to be and not to be certain things, so sometimes our view of Him can be skewed and needs to be re-oriented.

I could preach this particular message week after week with the same title and preach a different message for years because of the vastness of God’s character. Who do we worship? We worship God. We worship the God of creation, The God of Healing, The God of Battle, The God of Israel, The God of the Gentiles, The God of Peace, The God of Hope, The God of Love. Make sense? This morning God asked me to talk to you about the God of John chapter 4.

We’ve entitled this new series Spirit and Truth. The name for our series comes right from the text we will be looking at today in John 4, where Jesus would tell a woman from Samaria that true worshippers must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

Worship can be challenging and sometimes seem impossible because of our circumstances, unfulfilled hopes, pain, and suffering. At times it can be unclear on how Sunday morning worship relates to everyday life. True worship is both an attitude and action working together in divine unity. In John chapter 4 Jesus describes exactly WHO we should be worshiping, but the very story in which we read, His actions speak volumes about the character of the God that is to be worshipped. So let’s jump into our text and work through this story a little bit today.

Let’s start in verse 7, John 4:7 says this John 4:7–26 “When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 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.” 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.” He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 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.” “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

PRAY?

Let’s try to picture our story today… The sun is scorching hot, it beats down on the head of Jesus, the son of God. He sits down by the well, and a woman from Samaria walks up that he had never met. He says, “give me a drink.” The woman is amazed. How could this Jewish man, first be talking to her, let alone be asking her to provide Him something. Samaritans were marked as people to be avoided, not pursued in any way, they worshipped God at a different temple than the Jews, they were a much lower class, how could she give this Hebrew anything…

Jesus then reiterates His request… “If you knew, who was saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked Him to give you living water.” Jesus has now shifted from asking for a drink to offering her one. He then calls her out on her dysfunctional home life with incredible details. With this, the woman tries to move the conversation from her issues to cultural issues… “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain but you say that in Jerusalem is the place people should worship.” She was focused on the location while missing the object of true worship. Jesus expresses…

IF YOU KNEW… If you knew who you were worshiping?

If you knew… Who you had in your presence?

If you knew what I could do for you? You would worship me!

Jesus goes on “The hour is coming, and is right NOW, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.”

I want us to start off this morning with the understanding that…

GOD… DESIRES…. OUR!!! WORSHIP

Anyone like to be desired? In my notes right here I put, be-careful-Jonathan.

Whether it’s right or not so many marriages fall apart because one or both people no longer felt as though they were desirable to their spouse, and someone else gave them their attention. Or perhaps they even sought attention somewhere else. We long to feel wanted don’t we? We all perk up a little bit when someone compliments our outfit, our hair, maybe even our shoes, even though it’s just an item we purchased than anyone else can wear. There is this longing within us as humans to feel desirable. We will go to great lengths to become something that we believe other people will admire.

I’ll bet there’s someone in this room, no I’ll bet there is a large number in this room, that long to feel desired. Mind if I pause for a quick marriage moment? Thanks. Women, your man wants to feel desired. I was doing a hospital visit years ago, no one here, a 60 year old man had a heart episode and I’m sitting in the room there with him and his best friend and their two wives. The wives are talking about how they were looking at pictures the other day from 30 years ago and how their husbands used to have washboard abs and ripped biceps, heck yeah they did! They used to lift weights to start the day and play basketball or softball for 3 hours after work, all they did was workout. Then the wife of the patient said, yeah and look at him now. I thought man, that should get him right out of that hospital bed and make him want to go buy her flowers right now. His waist is a different size than it used to be, his hair has stopped growing in all the places that he wants it to grow, and it’s starting to grow in all the places he doesn’t want it to grow. All the confidence that you fell in love with in him is seeping out of him, and you need to remind him every once in a while that he’s… your… man. Don’t worry women I’ve got something for the men. Men, you have to tell your women you feel that way. Oh Gross right! Women your man probably hasn’t asked you if his jeans make him look fat lately has he? If he has please let me know so I can mess with him later. But we went from working out all day and now when I go to texas roadhouse and my waitress asks if I want bacon and cheese on my fries, I look at her and say I thought you knew me better than that… of course I want bacon and cheese, and don’t forget a side of ranch. I’m sorry sir but I am supposed to tell you there is a $1.49 upcharge. Which I of course response, ma’am when it comes to fries, money is no object. But we change, right men? But we want to feel like our wives want us don’t we? So why don’t we just tell them. Ha!Tell my wife how I’m feeling? I’m already feeling less masculine and now you want me to be mushy with my wife? Guess what men… Your vulnerability with your wife is what makes her know that YOU still long to be with HER. She desires that emotional connection with you, and you sharing your feelings with her helps know that she is safe with you because you are being open with her. End my attempt at marriage advice…

When Jesus decided to share this great truth about God longing for relationship with his creation, He shares this with a person that knew what it was like to not feel desired.

I know that divorce is not just a reality in our world but within the body of Christ. And regardless of how regular it is, it doesn’t make any instance of it any less tragic. Every time, it effects children, families on both sides, friends of either person, finances, social standing, perhaps careers, and living arrangements. I’ve come to understand that oftentimes through divorce, all that happens is that two people end up doing is keeping the worst parts of each other. And worse than that I’m sure as each person re-enters the world of dating or finding a new spouse that they feel less desirable than they did before. I certainly am not trying to awaken heartache this morning but instead paint the picture of what we have happening here. My heart goes out greatly to anyone that has had to walk through the process of being separated from their spouse. But our story today says this woman has been divorced four times, and is now living with another man.

She married because she felt desired by someone, and undoubtedly each time she re-married, her standards lowered as her longing to be desired and her belief that she was less desirable grew in an unhealthy direction. Time and time again she longed to be loved, longed to feel worth, until this fifth man, perhaps she doesn’t even bother going through with marriage because at this point she has convinced herself that being desired by anyone is no longer a reality. She reduces herself to what is most likely a transactional relationship where she is little more than an object of sexuality in exchange for basic food and shelter.

And this… is where she meets Jesus.

And Jesus says, I…want…you.

You… have worth to me.

I long to have a relationship with you.

I won’t hurt you. I won’t hit you. I won’t objectify you. I won’t be angry with you. I won’t ignore. My love for you is pure. You will be safe with me.

It’s unbelievable to her. Each time she re-married she undoubtedly felt the compulsion or perhaps obligation to tell the next man about her shameful past, she felt as though she was damaged goods. But in this case she meets a man that knows everything about her, and He says I’ve been looking for someone just…like…you.

To a woman that probably watched each marriage dissolve more quickly than the last, He says I’m offering you a love that is endless. That while others desire for you has diminished as time went on, my desire for you will only ever increase regardless of your performance in this life.

THE FATHER IS SEEKING PEOPLE TO WORSHIP HIM.

God is seeking people to worship Him. This woman had never heard language like this before. Her view of God is that He was one to be pursued by His creation, never that He would pursue His creation. And both statements are true. True intimacy in relationship comes when both parties long for and pursue one another. Her view of God shifts from a worthiness that she must achieve to literally a dream come true of something she has longed for. A back and forth loving relationship where each party is trying to out-pursue the other. Will you let that sink in this morning? You and God, God and You, pursuing one another all day long every day. You leaning into the work you see He is calling you to, and then meeting you there time and again lavishing you with His love, blessing you and making you feel wanted as you express your desire for Him.

You were born to worship God. You were saved to worship God. You were baptized to worship God. Your life is all about worshiping God. We were created to worship God. The fact that Jesus had this conversation with an outcast woman spiritually, politically, and culturally tells us something. God isn’t just seeking a select few worshippers, among the rich and famous. The politically right or left. The perfect denominational fit, or those who hold significant power or reputation in the world. God, The Creator of all the universe, The Father of all life is seeking people to worship Him. We chase after things that are important to us, we chase after things that hold value to us, and the same is true with God. He is pursuing worshipers, because He values us, and we matter to Him. We were created to Worship God and God is seeking people to worship Him.

Over and over again in scripture we see... The Father Is Seeking People To Worship Him

Response:

So the answer this morning to the question who do we worship is, We worship a God that has a great desire for us.

Let’s shift this morning into a time of response… Perhaps the three greatest words from this passage today were, IF YOU KNEW.

            Jesus was saying if you knew me ,you would know I’m seeking worshippers, He was saying if you knew me you would know you were created to worship me, He was saying if you knew me your worship would be focused on me and nothing else.

When a life comes to Jesus Christ it is changed. Jesus changes everything. Through the power of His Holy Spirit our lives change. The Holy Spirit turns haters of God into lovers of God. He transforms hearts that were once far from God to beat in rhythm with God. The Holy Spirit makes mockers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ into Ministers of The Gospel. He even changes lives that were once at war with God into worshippers of God.

God reveals Himself through the Bible. If we’re ingesting the Word of God with any regularity, it will fuel our motivation to genuinely worship God in spirit and in truth. The more we know Him the deeper and more meaningful our worship will be. Continual prayer and Bible reading are the foundation for true worship that pleases God. Limited knowledge leads to limited worship. And we can know that God's Spirit never operates independently of his Word... But, in the same way if you seek to obey the Word apart from the power of the Spirit, not only will your spiritual life be lifeless and dull, but you’ll also miss out on the help God wants to give you and the most exciting things he has planned for you.

STAND

Many worship in spirit OR truth. They get one without buying into the other. Are you worshipping in Spirit and truth? Do you know who it is you are worshipping? Now here’s the follow up. If we say we know Jesus, does our knowledge reflect our worship? And if our worship doesn’t really reflect that knowledge, can we say that we know Him?

It seems that throughout scripture that God has always been much more interested in responding to the desperate than the dignified. Let’s express our desperation for His presence in these next moments of worship PRAY

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