Sermon Tone Analysis

Places of Worship Not Limited.

John

Jesus explained that the place of worship is not central to worship.

The Samaritan woman had said that their fathers worshiped in the mountain that they were in and that the Jews worshiped in Jerusalem.

She was basically saying that we have one kind of church and you have another kind of church.

Jesus told her that the location of the church didn’t matter it was more important to know who you worship and how you worship.

In the south you have a buffet of churches to choose from.

People usually choose churches based on personal preferences.

For instance the type of music, the types of programs, the people they know, the preaching style, and many other reasons.

There is nothing wrong with worshipping in a church that is “your style” of church.

It becomes a problem when you begin to believe that your church is the right church and all the other churches need to do it your way.

Just as the Samaritan woman was pointing out that there is a division among their two churches, Jesus points out that He is going to be the one that brings churches together.

Often times churches tend to focus on their differences rather than embrace the core similarities.

That being the gospel.

God loves us, we are sinners and need forgiveness (Need to repent), He sent His Son to save through his death burial and resurrection, He promises us eternal life by faith alone in Jesus Christ, and He is going to return to establish His kingdom.

It is the ancillary issues that we tend to disagree on and focus on.

I believe the church would be much stronger if we were more united rather than disjointed.

Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Churches that preach another gospel rather than the true gospel are to be avoided.

Some churches preach a message that there are many different ways to get to heaven and many different Gods.

(Universalism).

There are other churches that believe you must earn your way into heaven.

There are many other false gospels that need to be avoided.

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!

To worship God is to enjoy your place of worship and celebrate the fact that others are worshipping the same Christ you do!

Who You Worship is Important .

Jesus explained that the Samaritans did not worship the one true God.

The Samaritans did not know God.

They did not have the full revelation of Him, and thus could not worship in truth.

The Jews did have the full revelation of God in the OT; thus they knew the God they worshiped, because salvation’s truth came first to them (see note on Lk 19:9) and through them to the world (cf.

Ro 3:2; 9:4, 5).

The Samaritans were a cross breed of Gentiles and Jews.

These were the children of Jews that married outside of their lineage.

There was nothing wrong with marrying outside your lineage provided you held to the Jewish faith.

Samaritans did not they had a mixture of the Jewish god and Gentile Gods.

This is why Jesus said that they worship what they don’t know.

The Jews had the full revelation of God, because they had the entire OT Then what advantage has the Jew?

Or what is the benefit of circumcision? 2 Great in every respect.

First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.

They knew God because He revealed Himself in the OT.

This brings me to an interesting point.

Are we worshiping what we know about God or what we have made God out to be?

Some Things we know about God.

He created all things.

He is Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Sovereign, Holy, and Unchanging.

He is Loving, Patient, Kind.

He is wrathful against sin and unredeemed sinners.

He is a Judge.

He is a Savior.

Knowing God causes us to worship.

When we meditate and dwell on the things we know about God it ushers us to worship.

Some False Ideas about God.

He exist to give me everything I want.

All I have to do is ask and believe.

He is a moral policeman that is waiting for me to mess up so He can punish me.

He is someone that I can go to if I need Him.

Other than that I can do what I please.

He has saved me so I can now do what I want.

He has given me my life insurance policy to heaven.

He is not the only God there is.

There are other God’s that can get me to heaven.

He doesn’t exist.

These are false ideas about God that people believe and worship this image of God that they have made up.

God is who he has revealed Himself to be in the Scriptures.

Not what we make Him out to be.

Do you know the God of the Scriptures?

We Must Worship Him in Spirit and Truth

4:24 God is spirit.

This verse represents the classical statement on the nature of God as Spirit.

The phrase means that God is invisible (Col 1:15; 1Ti 1:17; Heb 11:27) as opposed to the physical or material nature of man (1:18; 3:6).

The word order of this phrase puts an emphasis on “spirit,” and the statement is essentially emphatic.

Man could never comprehend the invisible God unless He revealed Himself, as He did in Scripture and the Incarnation.

must worship.

Jesus is not speaking of a desirable element in worship but that which is absolutely necessary.

in spirit and truth.

The word “spirit” does not refer to the Holy Spirit but to the human spirit.

Jesus’ point here is that a person must worship not simply by external conformity to religious rituals and places (outwardly) but inwardly (“in spirit”) with the proper heart attitude.

The reference to “truth” refers to worship of God consistent with the revealed Scripture and centered on the “Word made flesh” who ultimately revealed His Father (14:6).

John 4:23

Worship God in Spirit.

spirit (God)-spirit (substance) n. — the transcendental, immaterial, rational existence that constitutes the essence of supernatural entities such as God, angels, and human souls.

God is not material, We cannot prove him in our senses.

We cannot see Him, touch Him, smell Him, hear him ect… Then how do we know he is real?

We see the evidence of His creation.

Just because we can’t see something doesn’t mean it is not real.

Can you see love?

Can you see fear?

Can you see passion?

Can you see wind?

These are things that we cannot see but experience and know to be real.

We experience God from Spirit to spirit.

Meaning God has given us more than just our physical bodies.

He has given us a living spirit.

It is at this level that we must start our worship of God.

worship - to worship ⇔ prostrate v. — to prostrate oneself in the presence of the divine or supernatural as a sign of deference and worship.

Too many times we put more emphasis on the external worship than we do the internal worship.

For instance the style of music.

We allow the songs that are played and sung to dictate our worship.

Or the preaching.