Real Worship

John 4:16-26

Introduction

·         The Copperhead—R. Thornton

·         Junior McCormick has seen many serpent-handling bites, and experienced them himself. None of those experiences have deterred him from answering his calling. "Some people were bit, and I believe God was ready for them and their time had come," he said. "I was bit 14 times, by rattlesnakes, copperheads, water moccasins, and I never used anti venom—all I had was just Jesus. I've been bitten badly, but I'll go back the next week and take them out [serpents] again."

·         We can engage in real worship without handling snakes.  I’m so glad! Aren’t you?

·         Real worship—that’s what God wants. Real worshippers are the folks the Lord’s looking for. From the lips of Jesus himself:

·         John 4:16-26 (Move thru text)

·         I love the way Jesus cut against the grain! Any fine upstanding Jewish rabbi wouldn’t have been caught dead in the heart of Samaria. Jews and Samaritans, to put it mildly, didn’t get along. Their feud went back a few hundred years. So during Jesus’ day, the straightest path north from Judea to Galilee was right up through Samaria. But “righteous” (self-righteous?) Jews crossed the Jordan River and went up and around through Perea. What does Jesus do? He marches right through Samara. And here in Samaria we find him talking with a woman in a public place—a well—at noon. She’s not just any woman. She has less than a noble reputation. How do we know that? Well, the word about her husband. And she’s here at the well during the noon hour seemingly to avoid the other women who generally fetched water at sunset.

·         He’s not just shootin’ the breeze with her. He’s teaching two most essential subjects—salvation (in the immediately preceding text) and worship.

·         Before we go any further, what is worship anyway? The verb form of the word translated “worship” in this passage is προσκυνέω. Two basic concepts are found here—to move toward and kiss. The picture—a person bowing and kissing the hand of a superior. It has to do with paying homage—with honoring someone. So when we speak of worshipping God, honoring him is the idea.

·         Real worship. That’s the goal. For a few minutes, let’s explore three basic truths about real worshippers. They worship . . .

1.    In spirit

·         God is spirit so we must  (not optional) worship him in spirit. But what in the world does that mean? Seems a bit mysterious. Here’s the deal. God is Spirit. By nature he’s a spiritual being—so the only way we can truly commune with him is spiritually. This spiritual connection—this human-divine nexus takes place deep within us. It’s a matter of the heart. When our hearts “touch” the heart of God. This can’t be seen directly. And herein lies the rub. We like our stuff to be tangible. If we can’t taste it, touch it, smell it, hear it—measure it, it bugs us; we have trouble getting a minds wrapped around the concept. We want to be able to measure it. I mean, hey, we measure just about everything else. The speed of our cars, the pulse of our hearts, the bulge of our waistlines, the quantity of our cash (or lack thereof). When it comes to worship, we often try to judge the quality of worship based on outward appearances—the stuff we can see—and maybe—just maybe measure—church attendance, for example.

·         When I was a kid, my mom ordered this nifty kitchen device call a Veg-O-Matic. (One of those TV deals.) It was designed to speed up the process of cutting-up veggies—potatoes, etc. The Veg-O-Matic hailed from an outfit called Ronco. Well, get this, years later I find my son watching one of the shopping channels (he’s weird) and there’s the guy on there named Ron Popeil. And I’m like, hey, that’s the dude—that’s the Ronco guy—the man who gave us the Veg-O-Matic! Now I’ve laughed for years at all the strange inventions that appear in late night TV ads, but I have to say, old Ron is a pretty savvy inventor. We might commission him to design with a spiritometer that we can hook up to our hearts and see how well we’re doing. Like show the quality of our spiritual worship on a screen/printout. Man, that would be an eye opener. But that’s impossible, right? You can’t measure what’s going on spirituality within a person’s heart.

·         Now that’s not to say that there are no outward manifestations of the inward happening of worship in spirit—It shows up in so many ways. Sometimes in a smile—tears, singing, silence, listening, a pat on the back, a visit to the hospital, a kind word . . .. But!

·         Just because some pretty good things show up on the outside doesn’t necessarily mean that the inside is ok. Jesus dealt with this time and time again during his ministry, quoting the prophet Isaiah at one point: These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. They look ok on the surface, but when you dive below, you find hollowness.

·         Frankly, it’s not too difficult to walk into any church on any given Sunday, and simply go through a religious routine. Smile, shake a few hands, sing a few songs, hear a few words from the preacher, and walk out the door and go home to a nice, juicy roast with mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade biscuits—you know what I’m talking about! And the big game—we sure don’t want to miss it. We can come here do the church thing and we go home, and nothing real has really happened. We appeared to have worshipped but we did not! How do I know this can happen so easily? Because it’s happened to me before!

·         Bottom line—two people know the real score about the reality of your worship—you and God. About the reality of my worship—God and me. At the end of our time here this morning, I won’t know for sure whether your heart has met with God’s heart, but you will—and God will. You won’t know whether or not I’ve truly met God either, but I will and so will God.

·         Wait a minute, Danny. You’ve been talking about worship in spirit—what it is/isn’t. You’ve been saying a lot about what and nothing about how! How in the world does it happen?

·         Uh oh. I’m afraid I’ve hit upon a difficult area in my own personal struggle as a believer. How DO I really meet God heart-to-heart—have a true spiritual encounter?

·         Here’s the conclusion I come to each time I ask that question. One word—surrender. Simple to say, but quite difficult for many to do. Independently hard-headed—I’m one of the biggest. Giving in doesn’t come so quickly. But that’s exactly what it takes. A simple surrender of ourselves to the sweet grace of God. God, I’m yours—touch my heart. Letting him take charge—letting him lead. Then it happens.

2.    In truth

·         But real worship is not just in spirit but in truth. You can’t have one without the other.

·         Authentic worship happens through the Truth of God. What’s that? Better—who? Jesus. God wrapped himself in flesh and (to use John’s language) pitched his tent among us. In the person of Jesus Christ, God came and lived with us for a while. He is the eternal Word made flesh. God’s ultimate revelation to us—Truth.  Bottom line—you wanna know what God’s like? Watch Jesus in action. You wanna know God’s truth? Hear him as he speaks. He’s what this book is about. We flip through theses pages and find story upon story about others, but ultimately this book is the story of Jesus.

·         Through Jesus (the Truth) we worship. In him and through him we stand in the presence of God. And here’s what happens: as we engage in worship in truth—that is through Jesus,—our minds will reflect his teachings. Real worship is not mindless. It’s not all heart and no head. It is informed by the life and ministry of Jesus. In order for this to happen—we must spend time with this book—as I’ve said, it is the story of Jesus—and if we are to truly know him—to get into his head, we can’t pick it out of the air. It has to come from here. Don’t just accept it when someone says, “Jesus taught so and so.” See what the bible says for yourself.

·         You see, the intricacies of biblical teachings are exploited repeatedly by so-called bible teachers out there—via TV, books, you name it. Here is what the bible says—here is what it means—they say. I’ll tell you what, I’m simply amazed at how much garbage is being taught in the name of Christ out there. Such mindless drivel. So much so-called biblical teaching that in no way reflects the meaning of the bible because in the first place it disregards what the bible says!

·         Study it—spend time with it—under (this is critical) the watchful eye of a faithful shepherd. Listen, the bible is simultaneously simple enough that a young child may grasp its message and yet so complex that it has baffled the minds of humanity’s most adept thinkers for centuries.

·         Even faithful shepherds need teachers

·         Check it out for yourself!! Bereans!! Ac 17:10, Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

·         Real worshippers worship in spirit and truth . . .

3.    Everywhere

·         Real worship shows up in all aspects of our lives.

·         In Jesus’ conversation with this woman, the issue of worship was a diversionary tactic. Jesus was asking about her husband(s). Instead she changed the subject. But, you know, that was ok with Jesus because what he does is use it as a teachable moment to give her clear instruction on real worship!

·         She knew of the centuries old debate between Samaritans and Jews over the place of worship.  The authoritative text on the matter was:  Deuteronomy 12:5 But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; NIV.

·         The place the Lord your God will choose is not specifically given here.  It’s at this point where the Jews and Samaritans disagreed.  The Jews located it at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah—but the Samaritans thought it was on Mount Gerizim overlooking Shechem.  It came down to this—the Hebrew version of Deut. 12:5 reads—the Lord your God will choose but the Samaritan version—the Lord your God has chosen—the difference based on the presence or absence of the “yod,” the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet.  The Hebrews looked forward to the building of Solomon’s temple.  The Samaritans looked back to the religious significance of Shechem—Mount Gerizim.

·         Check out how Jesus responds: “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

·         What’s he saying?  I’m not sure how old the adage in real estate—location, location, location—is. I’m not sure it was around in Jesus’ day. But I am sure that Jesus is saying jus the opposite: worship is not about location. Real estate isn’t the issue. To dwell on location is to miss it altogether.

·         Sure, some places lend themselves to worship more than others.

·         What happens in here must continue out there. Our worship must walk out the door with us and be with us wherever we are. That is we continue our communication with God in spirit. We continue our commitment to his truth. Wherever we go. Real worship bears fruit in the real world.

·         Preston—an ongoing dialogue with God.

·         At Wal-Mart. I have a love/hate relationship with Wal-Mart. Most of time it’s easy enough to find a place to park, get in and find what you want—it’s the getting out that I find the craziest—a gazillion check out counters and 2 of them open—unless they’re the self-checkout. Let me tell you, the self-checkout counters don’t like me. And I don’t like them. I admit that more than once I’ve uttered all kinds of threats of violent acts upon those self-checkout monsters to Ferrell as we’ve walked to the car after another fun-filled Wal-Mart adventure.  Walking in Wal-Mart in the spirit of Christ—that’s the goal—WOW!

·         In the car. Is it just me or can you identify with this? You’re late—you’re in a hurry—you’re cruising down I-20 and invariably there’s a line of slow cars in the right hand lane—it’s a no-brainer that you’ve gotta pass. But the traffic in the left land is moving no faster. Man!! And then one afternoon you’re easing down one of the nice and hilly country roads of our fair parish at a nice, moderate pace—in no hurry—just enjoying the road—and the next thing you know, there’s some dude riding so close to your rear bumper that you can see the whites of this eyes. Man!! Worshipping in the car? Yes, even there!

·         Plenty of opportunities to worship out there!! We’ve gotta take what happens in here out there. We must continue in the spirit of Christ in all we do. We’ve gotta see our work, our play, yes, even our shopping and driving, as expressions of our love for God. To honor him with our very lives.

Conclusion

·         Real worshippers worship in spirit and in truth—everywhere.

·         During our response time, here’s the challenge. Start now—surrender—meet the Lord.

Snake Handlers Hang On in Appalachian Churches

Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News

April 7, 2003

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. —Mark 16:17-18

For serpent-handling churches, these verses hold no symbolism—they are the literal words of the Lord that have inspired worshiping believers to handle poisonous snakes for a hundred years.

Serpent handling is always controversial and in many areas illegal, yet it shows no signs of disappearing from its traditional home in Appalachia, the mountainous regions of the Southeastern United States stretching from Georgia to Pennsylvania.


Junior G. McCormick is a serpent-handling pastor from Georgia. He explains that, for him, handling snakes is simply following the gospel to the letter. "Other folks don't do this because their churches don't believe, or it's just something they're scared of," he said. "They come to that scripture but want to jump over that part because it's a deadly thing."

(Practitioners, or self-described sign-followers, prefer the term serpent-handling to snake-handling noting that they incorporate poisonous reptiles not common snakes into religious worship.)

The practice began in the early 1900s. Its popularity has waxed and waned through the years. According to Ralph Hood, a professor of social psychology and the psychology of religion at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, serpent handling is currently at a fairly low ebb of popularity. Such fluctuations are characteristic of a faith that persists throughout Appalachia.

The perception that communities that practice serpent-handling church services are poor, isolated rural areas is simply no longer accurate, according to Hood.

"Historically that's where it emerged, but that's no longer the case," said Hood. "Some of these churches are near cities like Atlanta, Georgia, or Middlesboro, Kentucky—and the middle Appalachian region itself is less rural than it used to be. Serpent handling is no longer restricted to miners."

While a number of churches with small congregations around a dozen members survive throughout the heart of Appalachia, the faith is also practiced in adjacent states of Ohio and Alabama.

Family Faith
Churches survive and grow not by attracting new members, but because of enduring family traditions. "Serpent handling is maintained through powerful families whose children have carried on that tradition for up to four generations," Hood said. "There are a small number of converts, but they generally maintain themselves through these families, and by people marrying into the tradition."

While Junior McCormick's grandparents handled serpents, he said he came to the practice later, after a religious awakening that included baptism and scripture study. "I prayed for this, for God to give me the sign to do this because it was in the scriptures," he said. "I don't want to get out of it. I want to get further into it."

Churches that practice serpent handling tend to be wary of publicity. This desire for privacy stems, in large part, from negative media attention that inevitably follows the practice after injuries or deaths due to snakebite occur.

"There are over 100 documented deaths from serpent bites," said Hood. "In every tradition, people are bitten and maimed by them. They risk their lives all the time by handling them. If you go to any serpent-handling church, you'll see people with atrophied hands, and missing fingers. All the serpent-handling families have suffered such things."

"It's a misconception that these people believe they won't get hurt," Hood explains. "The Bible says to take up serpents, not that they won't be bitten. If they're bit, that's up to God. The issue is obedience to God. There's no magic power type of stuff. They know the reality of it because so many families have had people hurt and killed."

Junior McCormick has seen many serpent-handling bites, and experienced them himself. None of those experiences have deterred him from answering his calling. "Some people were bit, and I believe God was ready for them and their time had come," he said. "I was bit 14 times, by rattlesnakes, copperheads, water moccasins, and I never used anti venom—all I had was just Jesus. I've been bitten badly, but I'll go back the next week and take them out [serpents] again."

Higher Calling
What is it that inspires these worshipers to handle poisonous snakes? Like other Christian fundamentalists, serpent handlers' beliefs are rooted in a literal interpretation of the scriptures.

These activities don't dominate services, but play a limited role within more traditional worship. "In almost all serpent-handling churches, they don't handle them all the time. They usually don't even handle them every Sunday," Burton explained.

Tom Burton, a professor emeritus at East Tennessee State University, has attended many snake-handling services and studied the practice for over 30 years. He's the author of Serpent Handling Believers, an authoritative study of the belief. Burton says that much of what goes on at such churches would be familiar to other Christians. "If you were there when they were not taking up serpents, or even during other parts of a service where they did, it would be like many other Pentecostal groups," he explained. "There is singing, preaching, laying on of hands, praying, testifying, and that sort of thing. It's kind of an expressive church service where people freely share emotions, a very participatory service like most Pentecostal services."

But those anointed by the Holy Spirit answer the calling by taking up the deadly reptiles or by drinking poisons. Burton said: "Only certain individuals commonly handle serpents, and it goes without saying that they warn people: 'If you're not directed by the Holy Ghost to do this, you'd better not.'"

While few outsiders are drawn to the dangerous and controversial practice, Ralph Hood predicts that it's future is assured. "Since the beginning people have been predicting that it will disappear, but as long as there is Appalachia there will be handlers," he explained. "It's an integral part of Appalachian tradition and it's not going to fade away."