True Worshipers worship God in spirit and truth

Introduction

Tonight we have a very familiar passage before and most of us would have heard sermons, teachings and encouragement from this very passage of scripture. But permit me to share with you on this passage for yet another time. This service is an evangelistic one but the Gospel is relevant for all people, whether saved or unsaved. The Gospel is what we live by. So I trust you came tonight, not just to support the preacher and dismiss the word as irrelevant because you may think so. But you are here to hear God’s word.

For the next few nights we will be in John chapter 4:1-45 and because we will be here a few nights, it’s important to lay a foundation from which we can build.

Tonight’s topic is: True worshippers worship God in spirit and truth.

Body of the Sermon

Background: In chapter 2 of this Gospel according to John, Jesus was at a wedding where he turned water in wine. You would have thought that those who saw this miracle would believe in him but the bible tells us that after all that his disciples were the ones who believed in him. After this, Jesus and his disciples went to Capernaum, with his mother, and his brothers where they stayed a few days as stated in verse 12 of chap. 2. In this same chapter, Jesus then went into the temple and drove out all those who were selling animals and conducting business in the house of God. Chapter 3 then tells us of his encounter with Nicodemus and practically embarrassed him for not understanding how one enters the kingdom of God. At the end of chapter 3, John’s disciples were complaining to John that Jesus had more followers than he. John’s reply was “He must increase, but I must decrease.” So then that brings us to chapter 4 where John explains why Jesus is on the move.

Verse Analysis:

Jn. 1-2 Jesus left Judea because the Pharisees learnt that he was baptizing more than John. Perhaps he wanted to avoid the Pharisees and not get into any unnecessary conflict.

Jn. 3-4 Samaria. Capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, identified with the hill on which the village of Sebastieh is located. (Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible

SAMARITANS [Heb haššōmĕrōnı̂m (הַשֹּׁמְרֹנִים)]. The people who dwelt in Samaria, particularly in the tribal regions of Manasseh and Ephraim, and who have maintained a unique identity to the present. Subsequently the form of Israelite religion that developed in the area centered around Mt. Gerizim. AYBD

1. Monotheism. The Samaritan concept of God has shaped itself in the direction of the rigorous monotheism of Islam rather than the dispersal suggested by the Christian Trinity or the emanations of Gnosticism. They borrow the Muslim slogan, “There is no God, but God” for use in their services and writings. El or Elah is most commonly used for God (akin to Islamic Allah). The tetragrammaton, YHWH, is in regular use. Samaritans, like Jews, avoid making images and are even reluctant to apply the anthropomorphic concept of “Father” to God, whom they see as the ineffable and incorporeal creator and sustainer who has entered into unique covenant with Israel. AYBD

SAMARITANS A group of people who believed they were the true descendants of Israel and keepers of the Torah. During the time of the New Testament, their chief religious site was Mount Gerizim. The Samaritans believed that the Jerusalem temple and priesthood were illegitimate. LBD

A primary difference between Samaritans and Jews is that they believed that Yahweh should be worshiped in Shechem rather than Jerusalem. Jesus’ encounter with a Samaritan woman in the Gospel of John highlights this difference (John 4:20–21). The Samaritans’ preference for Mount Gerizim was related to the primacy of the Pentateuch. They contended that Mount Gerizim was sacred because it was the site where the patriarchs made sacrifices, and where the Israelites made the first sacrifice upon arriving in Canaan. The Samaritan Pentateuch declared that God’s people should worship Him in Shechem, thereby making the worship in Jerusalem illegitimate (Purvis, “Samaritans and Judaism,” 89).

The Samaritans had a messianic hope modeled after Deut 18:18. They believed their messiah would be a “prophet like Moses.” Dositheus, a first-century Samaritan, applied this passage to himself. The Samaritans, like the Qumran community, had a Nazirite movement and rituals. LBD

Jewish-Samaritan Conflicts and Polemics

Jewish-Samaritan polemics emerged in the postexilic period, from time to time exploding into violence. Because of these hostilities, Jewish pilgrims from Galilee often crossed over to the East Bank of the Jordan River in order to detour around Samaria. Those who chose to pass through Samaritan territory did so at great risk. According to Josephus, “Hatred also arose between the Samaritans and the Jews for the following reason. It was the custom of the Galileans at the time of the festival to pass through the Samaritan territory on their way to the Holy City. On one occasion, while they were passing through, certain of the [Samaritan] inhabitants of a village … joined battle with the Galileans and slew a great number of them” (Ant. 20.6.1 §118; see also J.W. 2.12.3 §232).

Some Jews regarded the Samaritans with contempt, considering them fools (Sir 50:25–26; T. Levi 7:2) and idolaters (Gen. Rab. 81:3 [on Gen 35:4]), who were killed with divine approval (Jub. 30:5–6, 23). Later traditions in rabbinic literature regard Samaritans as apostate, wholly unclean and destined for Gehenna. [C. A. Evans] DNTB

John: An Introduction and Commentary Additional Note: Jews and Samaritans

The roots of the animosity between Samaritans and Jews go deep into history. In the eighth century BC when the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians, the majority of the population was carried into exile. To repopulate the area the Assyrians brought in peoples from other parts of their empire, and these intermarried with those still left in the land, resulting in a mixed race of peoples later known as the Samaritans.

An Exegetical Summary of John 1–9 4:4

QUESTION—Why was it necessary for Jesus to go through Samaria?

1. It was probably necessary because this was part of God’s plan for him [AB, CH, Kn, IVP, NTC, NICNT1, TH, WBC; NET]. The route through Samaria was not the only route to Galilee [TH]. The strict Jews avoided going through Samaria because of their dislike of the Samaritans. To do this they could cross the Jordan and travel north that way. Less conservative Jews however were not so fussy. The more probable reason Jesus went through Samaria is that he was compelled by a divine sense of God’s will [NICNT1]. Jesus sensed an inner necessity to go to Samaria [CH].

2. It was probably necessary because Samaria was geographically on the way to Galilee from Judea [CAR, EGT, HTC, ICC, Lns, My, NICNT2, Rd]. Samaria lay on a direct route between Judea and Galilee [EGT]. Josephus records that the shorter route through Samaria to Galilee was the preferred route by the Jews [CAR].

3. Both 1 and 2 are the reasons he went through Samaria [BAR, BECNT, TRT]. It may have been necessary because of God’s plan but it was also geographically advised since the route around it was less direct [BAR, BECNT].

Romans

Romans 3:9–18 ESV

What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Jn. 4:5-7

4:27 Contempt for Women

Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman.

The disciples astonishment was not only because of the non-intercourse of the Jews and Samaritans, but also because it was unusual for a Jewish teacher to converse with a woman in a public place. Women were not to be saluted or spoken to in the street, and they were not to be instructed in the law.

Freeman, J. M., & Chadwick, H. J. (1998). Manners & customs of the Bible (p. 514). North Brunswick, NJ: Bridge-Logos Publishers.

Jn. 8-16

water. A symbol of life and purification, the visible element of *baptism. In the biblical literature it is closely associated with divine acts of creation, judgment and deliverance (Gen 1; 7; Ex 14; Josh 3; 1 Pet 3:20–21).

Water has many symbolic usages in Scripture. It is used in ceremonies of purification and cleansing. The consecretion of the priests involved washing with water (Lv 8:6); parts of the animal sacrifices were washed (1:9, 13).

The righteous man is like a tree planted by streams of water (Ps 1:3; Jer 17:8). The longing of the soul after God is likened to thirst for water: “My soul thirsts for thee; … as in a dry and weary land where no water is” (Ps 63:1). “My soul thirsts for thee like a parched land” (Ps 143:6). Jesus fulfills this need and declares, “If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink” (Jn 7:37). “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4:14).

The Word of God is presented as water by which spiritual cleansing is effected. The Lord speaks of the cleansing of the church by “the washing of water with the word” (Eph 5:26) and in Titus people are saved “by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit” (3:5).

This renewing was symbolized by baptism, which was performed where “there was much water” (Jn 3:23). This figure is also used by Paul in Romans 6:3–4. Peter uses the escape of eight persons from the flood as a parallel to baptism, but “not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Pt 3:21).

The Holy Spirit himself is spoken of in terms of water. Jesus proclaimed, “He who believes in me, … ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water’ ” (Jn 7:38) and the Gospel indicates that “this he said about the Spirit” (v 39).

In the closing chapters of the Bible the Lord declares: “To the thirsty I will give from the fountain of the water of life without payment” (Rv 21:6). Even in the description of the heavenly Jerusalem there is mention of water—the river of the water of life, “bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city” (22:1, 2). The final invitation of Scripture is couched in similar terms: “And let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price” (v 17). BEB

Isaiah 55

Isaiah 55 ESV

“Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. “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; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. “For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

God is seeking True Worshipers!

John 4:19–29 ESV

The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on 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 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. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”

The woman is not just babbling some religious knowledge. She actually believes what she is saying. She knows what she is talking about. She perceives that Jesus is a prophet and this goes in line with the beliefs of the Samaritans.

The Samaritans had a messianic hope modeled after Deut 18:18. They believed their messiah would be a “prophet like Moses.” Dositheus, a first-century Samaritan, applied this passage to himself. The Samaritans, like the Qumran community, had a Nazirite movement and rituals. LBD

But a religious knowledge of God without actually getting to know God, will never be call true worship.

The woman then brought up the old conflict between the Samaritans and the Jews in verse 20 even after Jesus had confronted her sinful lifestyle.

True worship is not about a place as indicated by Jesus’ statement in verse 21.

Jesus then asserted that the woman’s worship lacked knowledge and that the Jews don’t lack knowledge of God. God is seeking true worshipers which will neither be focused on a particular place or building but on true worship. True worship is in spirit and truth. John 3:1-8 teaches us that no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born again. In 1 Cor. 12:13, Paul teaches us about the one body and the one Spirit. So “in spirit” refers to being born again and entering into the body of Christ. In truth refers not just to truthful knowledge but to the one who is the very truth - Jesus Christ (John 14:6). Unless one repent from their ways and turn to Jesus Christ, they are yet in their sins and hence they cannot be true worshipers.

Jesus went through Samaria to get to Galilee because He had a divine appointment with this woman. The Father chose her for salvation and also many Samaritans as stated in verse 39.

The woman all through this story had not recognized that Jesus was the Christ. This express her lostness and her need for salvation.

True worshipers are born again people who have believed in the Christ.

Acts 2:38 KJV 1900

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

John 4:39-42

In the previous verses Jesus explained to the disciples the reason why they were in Samaria. There was a harvest to be reaped and they (his disciples) would be the one to do so.

The Bible tells us in verse 39 that “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.” What was her testimony “He told me all that I ever did.”

We live in a time where truth is under attack. Those who bears the message of truth seen as hateful and unloving. When a preacher preaches against homosexuality, he is being seen as a hateful person. Truth not only is under attack, but truth have become relative. So your truth and my truth is based our own experiences. What the Bible says has little to do with it. It all depends on how you look at it. I saw a post recently of two females getting married. One of the females seemed to be a famous person as a lot of comments were made about her recent life changes. Apparently, she recently divorced her homosexual partner and now she has a new partner. The comments went along this line: “we should be happy for her, as long as she is happy, that’s all that matters” “ you go ahead and live your life, you have found love again” If any commented on the immorality of her life and her sinfulness, then the comments would be like missiles coming after you.

Jesus confronted the woman concerning her sin of adultery. He did not dismiss her sin as if it’s not important but he pointed it out. The Bible teaches us that the one who hides his sins will not prosper.

The woman’s testimony/word was that Jesus told her all about her sinful live. So many live religious sinful lives and yet want to be call children of GOD. It doesn’t work like that. This woman’s testimony was about what Jesus had done in her life. Let’s talk about testimony. In the church, in our pentecostal circle that is, have you realize that our testimonies have changed. Before out testimonies resembled this of the Samaritan woman but now the focus has shifted from Christ saving me from a wretched life to Christ blessing me.

1 Timothy 6:9–11 ESV

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

Matthew 6:19–21 ESV

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So many are like the characters in the story of the “prodigal son”.

Some are like the people whom followed Jesus in Jn. 6:25-27

John 6:25–27 ESV

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

John 6:26 ESV

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

Luke 12:15 ESV

And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

How many have believed in Jesus because of your testimony about how God blesses you with material things? If they do then your testimony has attracted false disciples because if every time our testimony is about material blessings that what you are actually doing is saying that Jesus primary concern for you is to bless you materially. Our greatest testimony is that Jesus took all our sins and nailed them to the cross. He took our sins and we receive his righteousness. What an exchange?

So I ask the question tonight, what about your testimony? True worshipers become witnesses of his grace. Are you a true worshiper?