There Are No Substitutes - Night of Worship

Encounter Night of Worship June 6, 2021 John 4 - The woman at the well A Substitute is never as satisfying as the real thing ---------- (Coming out of worship)...Pray.... have a seat....love gathering together for worship.... There really is no substitute to worshipping God is there? I love it.... As we transition for a second I want us to keep the thought of worship forefront - I'm not going to talk long, This really isn't a fully baked, practiced sermon - but it's something that I've been praying through and realizing and I want to dig into a thought that might guide us for the rest of the evening and I think it's important.... And the topic is "substitutes".... Think about substitutes for a minute - Whare are some great substitutes? When I think of that I think food... A substitute is never as satisfying as the real thing.... (subjective) * Potato chips or veggie chips * Pulled pork vs. jackfruit Those are silly - think about some Deeper things * Virtual relationship vs. real relationship (son lives in west Lafayette - lots of phone calls / texts - had to go to breakfast with him) * Virtual event vs. being there in person - love that we got to experience a lot of virtual, but not a substitute for the real thing - being there in person * How ab out this one....Reading about God / knowing about God vs. actually encountering Him There is nothing better than developing a real relationship with God and encountering Him... understanding who he is, but also hearing from Him, looking to Him for guidance, trusting Him for answers in a messy world.... But there are times that, if we're honest - when I'm honest.... Substitutes creep in.... I want to look at an account in the book of John where Jesus and a woman have an encounter at the well... and as I was praying and considering this account I see three truths about substitutes from Jesus that have been helpful to me. I'm going to unpack it as we go through the account... Background - Samaritan woman.... They were unable to go to the temple to worship God - they actually had another location that they thought was right to worship - it was a substitute. She knew about a coming Messiah - she knew about the Torah - the first 5 books of our Bible. We also know that something was up with woman because she was gathering water at an odd time...middle of the day... Jesus encounters her... SHE KNEW ABOUT A COMING MESSIAH. John 4 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 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.) 10 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." 1 11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 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?" 13 Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 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." 2 1. True refreshment (satisfaction) comes from God The woman at the well, at the heat of the day, is having a dialogue with Jesus about the water and refreshment.... She's trying to be nice : 11 "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water. She's getting water, focusing on the refreshment that comes from it and she's not getting the point here that Jesus is highlighting the larger point that there is no substitute to refresh us - to satisfy us - than a relationship with Him. He says - but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. If we think of our own lives - at least from me - this is a really good reminder. Think of the things that you look to for refreshment - to be satisfied. * Vacation - think of the best vacation you've taken - they have been good , fun memories - but the refreshment only lasts a while... * If it's not a vacation, maybe you have another way to recharge - Whatever our 'fix' is - grandfather that drank scotch each day - was his comfort and refreshment * Some go to Friends / relationships fill you up - met with someone this week explained that but also internally exhausted - in reality wasn't filling them up.... Reality - God is the only one who can refresh us. God Satisfies * Jeremiah 31:25 - I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint. * Psalm 23:3 - he refreshes my soul. * Acts 3:19 - Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord There are no substitutes. Spending time with Him, worshipping Him - knowing His qualities and hearing His voice are the most refreshing things to our soul EVER! Jesus shares: the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." 3 (Pause and consider if you are searching for other things to refresh you outside of God) Jesus transitions from the water into this conversation - another truth that reminded me that there are no substitutes. 16 He told her, "Go, call your husband and come back." 17 "I have no husband," she replied. Jesus said to her, "You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 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." 4 Second thing to consider about substitutes - 2. True Love comes from Jesus Jesus knows this woman intimately because He is God. He recognizes her life that her view of love has created substitutes. Seemingly as she has tried to find everything true love has to offer, she has run to 5 other men - and those substitutes are not working. (I'm assuming that the 5th one isn't working either...) Good reminder for us - We try to substitute for the love we desire with things: * Self-love - ugh - HUGE thing now in GenX and Millennials... (and others). I have to love myself before I can really love God. NO. Self love has become a God unto itself - it's a substitute - you can love yourself, but when that becomes your focus you've substituted something! * Love from others - or Lust - wanting to get something out to self satisfy only satisfies temporarily. Reality Jesus is the best form of Love and there is no substitute * John 3:16 - 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life * 1John 4:8 - Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. * 1John 4:16 - And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. * God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.5 We are designed for LOVE - but the Love that we are designed for - the Love between God and us - there is no substitute! (Pause and consider - have you allowed substitutes to creep in related to Love) I want to hit the 3rd thing during this encounter with Jesus.... The woman shares... 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." Odd statement, but a reminder that the Samaritans did not go to the temple to worship - they went to another location that they thought was the right substitute. The woman is highlighting a difference in worship - that her ancestors worshipped someplace different - and it wasn't just a place - there were many things that were different about the Samaritans vs. the Jews back then... As I was considering this interaction in my own life what I realize is that for a long time I knew of God but my worship was directed in different locations * Worshipped work / effort / outcomes and $ * Worshipped self-importance & titles * Worshipped what the world had to offer Jesus shares this at the end of the interaction...could be speaking to many of us today... 21 "Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 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. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." 6 3. True worship is what God is searching for - Invite worship team up God is looking for true worship. True worship is from the heart - from you spirit - understanding that what the world has to offer is no substitute Do you know how freeing it is to just worship God? To worship what the Lord has to offer vs. what the world has to offer? It is so refreshing to give and receive Love from the Lord vs. what the world defines love as And When we worship fully - setting everything aside and focusing on who God is - it draws Him in - it's the worship that He is seeking. 1 The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Jn 4:7-10. 2 The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Jn 4:11-14. 3 The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Jn 4:11-14. 4 The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Jn 4:16-18. 5 The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 1 Jn 4:16. 6 The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Jn 4:20-24. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 1