“More Words on Worship: Focus!”
John 4:1-24
Six people were marooned on a desert island. Two were Jewish, two were Catholic, and two were of Reformed background. The two Jews founded “Temple Immanuel.” The two Catholics organized “The Church of the Holy Name.” The two Reformers built 1st Reformed and 2nd Reformed Church. Unity in anything is hard to describe. But what Roger Williams said back in the 1600’s is accurate: “We find not in the Gospel, that Christ hath anywhere provided for the uniformity of churches, but only for their unity.” That sounds great, but how does unity come about? As someone wisely pointed out, you can take a dog and a cat, tie their tails together and hang them over a clothes line; you would have union but not unity! Unfortunately many congregations, as they worship, experience union but not unity. The people are together because they need to be together, but they do not have a spirit of oneness. What does it take to experience unity in worship? From the words of Jesus we learn that UNITY IN WORSHIP OCCURS WHEN WORSHIPERS SHARE A COMMON FOCUS IN JESUS CHRIST. So let’s take a look at His words.
The first thing we discover is that WE ARE TO WORSHIP IN CHRIST. Jesus sat by Jacob’s well. A Samaritan woman came to get water 7-9). “Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’…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.)” It was a double scandal in the milieu of that day – a man speaking to a woman in public, and a Galilean speaking to a Samaritan. Galileans and Samaritans were bitter enemies and avoided each other like the plague. Yet Jesus talked to this woman longer than he often talked to any of the disciples, any of the accusers, or anyone else in His family. And Jesus said to 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.”
WORSHIP IS NO LONGER AN ISSUE OF PEDIGREE BUT UNITY. Worship is not a matter of heritage, background, denomination, or race. Worship is not about that which makes us different, but that which unites us. It’s not about reputations or character or degrees of sinfulness or holiness, but about the Sinless Holy One. It’s not about our past life, but about our present and future lives. Worship is about encountering life in Jesus Christ.
WE COME TO ENCOUNTER JESUS. In the book, The Pursuit of God, A. W. Tozer gives this interesting illustration: "Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship." (1)
And that tuning takes place as we encounter Jesus in worship. As Jon Walton wrote, “Where the gifts of Water and the Spirit are present, people can overcome their hostility, their separateness; finding peace and creating community because that is where the Water is flowing and that is where the Spirit is leading.” (2)
Therefore WE MUST PARTNER FOR WORSHIP. We must desire to worship with others who are different from us. Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey, in their book Fearfully & Wonderfully Made, wrote about the variety of cells within the human body. Then they applied it to Christ’s Body: “Just so, Christ's Body comprises an unlikely assortment of humans...Novelist Frederick Buechner playfully described the motley crew God selected in Bible times to accomplish His work: 'Who could have predicted that God would choose not Esau, the honest and reliable, but Jacob, the trickster and heel, that he would put a finger on Noah, who hit the bottle, or on Moses, who was trying to beat the rap in Midian for braining a man in Egypt and said if it weren't for the honor of the thing he'd just as soon let Aaron go back and face the music, or on the prophets, who were ragged a lot, mad as hatters most of them...? And of course, there is the comedy, the unforseeableness, of the election itself. Of all the peoples he could have chosen to be his holy people, he chose the Jews, who as somebody has said are just like everybody else only more so – more religious than anybody when they're religions and when they were secular, being secular as if they'd invented it. And the comedy of the covenant – God saying 'I will be your God and so you shall be my people' (Ex. 6:7) to a people who before the words had stopped ringing in their ears were dancing around the golden calf like aborigines and carrying on with every agricultural deity and fertility god that came down the pike.' (3) ...(Jesus said) 'You have not chosen Me. I have chosen you.'...Our crew of comedians from central casting is the group God wants...A color on a canvas can be beautiful by itself. However, the artist excels not by slathering one color across the canvass but by positioning it between contrasting or complementary hues. The original color then derives its richness and depth from its milieu of unlike colors. The basis for our unity within Christ's Body begins not with our similarity but with our diversity.” (4) Deliberate partnering in worship leads to unity.
The woman at the well raised another issue (verse 19): “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claimed that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” Throughout the Old Testament the place of worship was the key to worship. But now it was an issue which divided people of differing backgrounds and traditions. Jesus states that WE ARE TO WORSHIP IN SPIRIT. Jesus response (verse 21): “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ... true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit...”
WORSHIP IS NO LONGER AN ISSUE OF A PLACE BUT OF A RELATIONSHIP. We come to meet God’s desires, not ours (verse 23); “…for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” God is seeking us; He comes to us with gifts in hand, waiting to give to us; He is yearning to heal and strengthen us. God is far more expectant and ready to give than we are! So we come primarily to meet Him, adore Him, to commit to serve Him.
WE COME TO SEEK HIS FACE. The Psalmist wrote (27:7): “My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’ Your face, Lord, I will seek.” We come to be face to face -- to be in relationship -- with the almighty, all powerful, holy, loving God. Worship is an internal affair which employs external forms for its expressions. God is not as concerned with the external forms as He is the internal affairs. He seeks us so we will seek Him. We can perform the most perfect external forms, have the purest of liturgies, but never truly worship. Remember how Jesus spoke most harshly against the Pharisees and Sadducees? He told them repeatedly their forms were, in essence, fine, but that their hearts were not; therefore He would not accept their worship.
Perhaps you recall the story from many years ago about Thomas K. Beecher who once substituted for his famous brother, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. Many, of course, had come to hear Henry. Therefore, when Thomas appeared instead, some people got up and began to leave. Thomas calmly stood up and said, ”All those who came here this morning to worship Henry Ward Beecher may withdraw from the church; all who came to worship God may remain.” We are here to come face to face with God.
In contrast, remember the Wise Men. Matthew tells us (2:10-11): “When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child...and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts...” We are to come into the presence of God, in adoration and humility, ready to submit to Him.
THEREFORE WE MUST PREPARE FOR WORSHIP. If you knew you were coming face to face with a dignitary, would you not be sure you were totally prepared? How much more so with God! Two things I briefly mention in terms of preparation. First, we must come having had PROPER REST. What did you do last night? Yesterday? I sometimes think the Jews had it right – Sabbath begins at Sundown the night before! And what about the pace of life last week? You know why it’s so easy to drift off – and perhaps even catch a few winks – in church? Because for many it’s the only time all week they sit still and give their body any rest. God demands our best. With tired, worn out bodies we can only give what’s left – which often is not much.
Second, we must come with a PROPER RELATIONSHIP. It is your responsibility to be in tune with God as much as possible when you come to worship. The main focus of worship is to open up the doors of your heart to God. If walls are in place in your relationship the open doors will lead to nowhere. How we live during the week, whether or not we’ve walked daily with Christ, has a tremendous impact on our readiness for worship. We come seeking to be face to face with the One who is seeking us. That’s worshipping in spirit.
Jesus states, thirdly, that WE ARE TO WORSHIP IN TRUTH. Again, verse 21: “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.” The ‘time to come’ was a reference to the coming cross, to the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The core of worship is the cross of Christ. We come to worship because Jesus died on the cross for us. So we come to deal with the reality of God, not the issues and desires of our lives. WORSHIP IS NO LONGER AN ISSUE OF FORM BUT OF HONESTY. The woman said, “When (the Messiah) comes, he will explain everything to us.” Jesus replied, “I who speak to you am he.” I am the Son of God. To worship is to deal with me -- in total honesty. We are to be not only face to face but heart to heart.
WE COME TO OPEN OUR HEARTS TO GOD. We are to expose our hearts, the core of who we are, to God. To be heart to heart with God is to remove our masks, to lay ourselves bare before Him. God has paid a tremendous price for us; we belong to Him; He means business when we come face to face and heart to heart. That’s why Jesus confronted the woman (16): “Go, call your husband and come back.” He knew her heart condition! Until she was ready to be honest with Jesus, any talk of true worship was moot. Honest confession and a willingness to change are necessary for true worship. Anyone may come to a place and time of worship; but only those who come in total honesty before God truly worship. The Psalmist said it poignantly (51:17): “The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise.” If our hearts are closed the form of worship is irrelevant. When we are heart to heart with God we sing, with the hymn-writer, “Nothing in my hand I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling.” Jesus didn’t care whether people worshiped in Jerusalem or Samaria. He doesn’t care if we worship with high liturgy or no liturgy, with old music or new music, with organ or drums or no instruments – His only concern is that our hearts are clear when we come to worship Him. We must worship him in truth.
THEREFORE WE MUST PRAY FOR WORSHIP. First, we must PRAY FOR OURSELVES. Obviously, in light of what I’ve just said, we must confess our sins before God. Ever think of doing it before you entered the sanctuary, as part of your preparation? Whenever you do it, are you telling God you are ready to change and to obey Him? Since worship is a matter of the heart, it must begin with our hearts.
Then, and only then, can we PRAY FOR OTHERS. Pray for the worship leaders, for the person preaching, for the musicians, for the technical people; pray for the other worshipers. An amazing thing will happen – people’s hearts will be opened and worship will be moved to a higher level; and we will have taken our focus off ourselves and put it onto Christ. Suddenly places and forms and liturgies and styles of music fade into the background. That means we would worship in unity for we would be worshipping Jesus Christ. We would be worshipping in spirit and in truth.
Notice that Jesus said (verse 24): “...his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” This is not an option; it’s a must. “A young stranger to the Alps was making his first climb, accompanied by two stalwart guides. It was a steep, hazardous ascent. But he felt secure with one guide ahead and one following. For hours they climbed. And now, breathless, they reached for those rocks protruding through the snow above them – the summit. The guide ahead wished to let the stranger have the first glorious view of heaven and earth, and moved aside to let him go first. Forgetting the gales that would blow across those summit rocks, the young man leaped to his feet. But the chief guide dragged him down. ‘On your knees, sir!’ he shouted. ‘You are never safe here except on your knees.’” That’s the only way to worship. Through the cross, through loving and saving us, JESUS CHRIST LIFTED WORSHIP OUT OF THE CATEGORIES OF PLACE AND FORM AND MADE IT A MATTER OF THE HEART.
So HOW IS IT WITH YOUR HEART?
(1) Turning Point Daily Devotional, 2/23/04
(2) Jon M. Walton, Preaching John4:5-42
(3) Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth, (New York: Harper & Row, 1977( pp. 57-58)
(4) Dr. Paul Brand & Philip Yancey, “Fearfully & Wonderfully Made”, © 1980 by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, p. 29-31
