I. Introduction
A. Ths is the second of three sermons in a series on worship.
B. Introduction to the story of the woman at the well in Samaria in John 4.
1. Jesus comes to a city in Samaria and the disciples leave him in the town square to go fetch some lunch. He approaches a woman at the well and asks her for some water to drink.
2. This surprised her: “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?”
3. Jesus goes on to tell her that He can give her living water. But then he begins to talk about her family and it becomes obvious to her that Jesus knows things that he could only know if he was a prophet.
4. This leads the woman to change the subject and ask a question about the proper location of worship.
C. Read John 4:19–24
II. Explanation of John 4:19–24
A. The Samaritans rejected the Jewish location, Mt. Zion (Jerusalem), as the right place to worship God. They insisted that their mountain (Mt. Gerizim) was really the proper location. So when the woman realized that Jesus was a prophet, she asked his opinion about this theological question. Where IS the correct place to worship?
B. All of us have been asked questions when the answer is complicated because we’re in the midst of a transition. Ask Rachel Fitz Gonzalez where she lives. Well, that’s not an easy question. She lives in Centreville, but very soon she’ll be moving to England. Things are very much in transition.
C. It was the same when the woman at the well asked Jesus this question. It was an OT question, but unbeknownst to this woman the OT era was in the process of coming to an end and the NT period was dawning.
D. So He gives her the OT answer in v.22 “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.” In other words, Jerusalem is the correct OT answer as to the right place to worship.
1. But then He tells her that everything is about to change: “The hour is coming, and is now here, when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father, 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.”
E. Many things were affected by the shift from the OT to the NT. Worship is just one of them.
1. The things which changed at the coming of Christ were not random changes just for the sake of change. They were all very meaningful and purposeful changes.
2. All the changes were in the same direction. They were changes away from externals, away from rituals, away from holy and unholy objects and holy and unholy people and holy and unholy foods, and toward truth and toward the things of the heart.
3. And so it is with the worship changes: from worship in the glorious temple of Jerusalem with all the trappings of curtains, laver, lampstands, golden table, showbread, utensils, ark of the covenant, incense, incense altar, animals, altar, priests in their priestly garments to the simplicity of worship in spirit and truth.
F. Worship in spirit: What did Jesus mean?
1. What is meant by spirit? Human spirit = everything we are that is not our body (man is comprised of body and soul/spirit)
2. In the OT, worship was locational, because it was physical.
a. There was a place to worship: the tabernacle and then the temple
b. There were things/objects to worship with.
c. There were actions of worship.
d. But now when Christ comes worship changes. It becomes more spiritual and truth-oriented.
e. Let me illustrate: when children are little, we teach them to kneel down, fold their hands, and close their eyes while we pray. Now we know that kneeling isn’t praying, and folding your hands isn’t praying, and closing your eyes isn’t praying. But they’re not old enough to understand that praying is actually communicating from your spirit to God. They’re not mature enough to understand what spiritual means. They can only think concretely.
(1) And so it was in the OT. (I preached on this on Aug.24: The Danger of OT Christianity, from Gal.4:1-11, where Paul uses this analogy of a small child and a grown child to describe the difference between God’s dealings with His OT people and His NT people. We talked about how God’s people were allowed to hold to elementary beliefs which now must be discarded. And a significant part of these elementary beliefs was that the visible, physical things were real. But now that Christ has come we’ve learned that the invisible things are the more real – 2Cor.4:18.)
3. It’s not that there are no worship “props” anymore, but they have been greatly reduced and the true nature as mere “props” has been clarified.
4. True worship is worship in spirit and not with our bodies primarily.
a. In the OT there are many actions of worship, outlined in the book of Leviticus and elsewhere.
(1) the blood sacrifices
(2) the grain offerings
(3) the incense offerings
(4) priest sprinkling the blood on the ark of the covenant
b. (OT contained a system of types and shadows which passed away with the coming of Christ.)
c. But now we know that the actions of worship aren’t the essence of worship.
(1) Otherwise a paralyzed person couldn’t worship, could they?
(2) And those who have gone on couldn’t worship until the last day, since they don’t have bodies.
(3) True worship isn’t mechanical, it is spiritual.
d. We sing, which is physical. We kneel, we lift our hands, we read Scripture aloud. But none of that is the essence of worship. Worship takes place in the spirit, in the heart.
e. Whereas worship in the OT was much more outward-focused, the emphasis in NT worship is on the inward: worship in spirit.
5. Worship is not done with things but with hearts.
a. There were many objects involved with OT worship.
b. In many religions worship is wrapped up in “holy” objects.
6. But “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24)
a. God will not have a body, even in glory. He’s a spirit, and so we relate to Him in our spirit.
7. And, of course, it is the Holy Spirit who moves our hearts to worship, who draws us to the Father, who opens our hearts to Jesus. This may well be part of what Jesus meant by worship in spirit.
G. Worship in truth
1. True worship is not in feeling, it is in truth.
2. It is also not in signs: things we see, but in what we know, what we know to be true. “We walk by faith, not by sight.” (2Cor.5:7) We also worship by faith, not by sight.
3. Worship according to what we know to be true:
a. What we know to be true about God
b. What we know to be true about our sin and our need
c. What we know to be true about what God has done
d. What we know to be true about what God says
e. What we know to be true about God’s promises
4. What is the source of this truth? God’s word
a. In John 8:31–32 Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
b. That’s why worship needs to be founded upon and saturated in God’s word.
5. All true worship is in response to the things God has said to us.
a. Our joy in worship, our awe in worship, our experience in worship all spring from the truth about Jesus in the word of God.
6. And the miracle of worship is the Spirit of God working through the word of truth in the spirit of a sinner to produce and increase faith.
H. So true NT worship is worship in spirit and in truth.
1. All worship has forms, of course. We use hymnals, musical instruments, offering baskets and projectors in our worship. And we worship in a building.
2. But the point is that the essence of worship isn’t in the forms.
3. For instance, whereas in OT worship there were many, as we mentioned earlier, there are only three Biblical objects which are given for use in NT worship:
a. Wine
b. Bread
c. Water
4. The only instructions about how to do worship in the NT are very simple: e.g. Eph.5:19-20 “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Cf. Col.3:16)
5. NT worship isn’t about statues, or crosses, or icons, or holy vessels, or incense, or candles, or religious vestments, or buildings, or ceremonies, or holy objects or fog machines.
a. It isn’t about the quality of the music. It isn’t about the size of the congregation.
b. It isn’t even about the Bible as a holy object as opposed to the Bible as the source of truth.
I. 23a “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth,”
1. This implies that there are many worshipers who are not TRUE worshipers.
2. In a large body of worshipers, some, maybe even most, are not actually worshiping. Oh, they look like they’re worshiping. They’re doing the same things everybody else is doing. They’re kneeling down and closing their eyes during prayer, they’re singing the songs and maybe even raising their hands. But in their heart of hearts there’s no broken and contrite spirit, there’s no embracing and cherishing and adoring, there’s no drawing near, there’s no crying out, there’s no “Abba Father!”, there’s no joyful melody of the heart.
3. Jesus talked about people like this when He said, “These people honor Me with their lips but their hearts are far from Me.” (Matt.15:8; Mk.7:6)
4. It’s so easy to fall into this trap.
a. No one else can tell.
b. I’ve been telling people I want to write a book entitled I Used to be a Christian, Now I’m a Pastor.
c. Or how about this: I Used to Be a Worshiper, Now I’m on Worship Team
d. Or Now I’m an Usher or Now I’m an Elder...
5. There’s a lot of great stuff to enjoy in worship even when it’s not in spirit and truth.
a. Good friendships
b. People’s musical talents
c. Rich singing
d. Interesting ideas to think about
J. 23b “...for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”
1. God is not looking for beautiful buildings or for eloquent preachers or for spectacular choirs or for clever gimmicks to attract people. But He is looking for something. He scours the earth in search of something. What’s He looking for?
2. Think about how great it would be for someone to find a cure for cancer or even the common cold. Think about how wise leaders who could create peace and stability. But again, that’s not what God is looking for. He’s not looking for inventors or scientists or artists or engineers or educators or great parents. He’s looking for worshipers. He’s looking for people who worship Him in spirit and in truth.
3. And that’s not just out there across the face of the earth, it’s also right here in the context of the congregation. We notice what people look like and what they sound like. We notice what people wear and what they do. But God notices what goes on in their hearts toward him.
4. Man looks on the outside but God looks on the heart. (1Sam.16:7)
5. And what about when God finds what He’s looking for?
a. Well, what does Luke 15 tell us about what God does when He finds what He’s looking for?
b. That’s the chapter where it talks about a party in heaven being thrown and all of heaven rejoicing.
c. Do you believe it? Little people like you and me can bring real joy to the heart of God, just by worshiping Him in spirit and in truth.