EG Service-Authentic Worship-Jn. 4:21-24
Hook: EPIC-4 core values, Encounter God, Passion 4 God and People, Invite seekers, Connect w/ His people.
Encounter God-Authentic Worship-
Key Idea: X calls us to Focus on the Big Picture. There is one way to God through X, and it is through Him (the truth) & the Spirit that He sent that we come to worship God in all of life.
Intro: SEMP Creative Initiation
One of the best examples of a creative initiation of a conversation leading to sharing the gospel. Jn. 4-Read vs. 1-24
This conversation sets in sharp contrast to the previous conversation John had recorded in chapter 3, X’s conversation w/ Nicodemus.
Nicodemus was a Jewish man, a religious leader in Israel who would have done everything he could to keep the law who came to talk to Christ.
Now it was X beginning a conversation with a Samaritan Woman, who had little if any regard for the law since she had been married 5 times and was currently living with a man who was not her husband.
But verse 4 tells us that X intentionally made it a point to go through Samaria so He could have this conversation.
Under normal circumstances a Jew would have crossed over the Jordan and gone up the other side in order to avoid going through Samaria. A much longer route but that was how much the Jews hated the Samaritans.
Historical background.
The problems date back to just after the reign of Solomon as king.
-divided kingdoms, eventually the northern kingdom conquered by Assyria and resettled with foreigners, which meant a loss of both racial and religious purity for those still living there, as far as the Jews remaining in the Southern kingdom were concerned.
-religious divide was deepened when the Samaritans built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim around 400 BC.
-by the time of X the Jews believed that all Samaritans were unclean.
- vs. 9 that phrase ‘for Jews refuse to have anything to do w/ Samaritans” could also be translated “Do not use dishes Samaritans have used” because a Jew would have been considered ceremonially unclean if they used a drinking vessel that had simply been handled by a Samaritan.
X steps out, crosses cultural barriers, initiates a conversation with the Samaritan woman by asking her for a drink.
And this leads into some of X’s most basic teaching on the subject of worship,
Jn. 4:21-24-Background Woman @ Well– Living water. Then X confronted her w/ her sin & how did she respond?
She tried to change the subject! She began to argue about differences in religion! “Where should we worship?” “Which religion is right?”
As she tries to distract, X brings her back and keeps her focus on the Big Picture-There is one God and one way to Him through X
Vs. 21-A time is coming (cf. v. 23) referred to the coming death of Jesus which would inaugurate a new phase of worship in God’s economy. In the Church Age, because of the work of the Spirit, worship is no longer centered in temples like those on Mount Gerizim and Mount Zion. X changes everything. Worship is not a matter of location or style or preference. It is all about a relationship w/ God through X.
Jesus pointed out that the important thing is knowing the Father, and this can be done only through salvation, and salvation is of the Jews.
Jesus once again revealed her spiritual ignorance: she did not know who to worship, where to worship, or how to worship! He made it clear that all religions are not equally acceptable before God, that some worshipers act in ignorance and unbelief. There are not many ways to God only one .
Vs. 22-When Jesus said, Salvation is from the Jews, He did not mean that all Jews were saved or were especially pious. “Salvation is from the Jews” in the sense that it is available only through Jesus, who was born of the seed of Abraham.
4:23. With the advent of the Messiah the time came for a new order of worship. True worshipers are those who realize that Jesus is the Truth of God (3:21; 14:6) and the one and only Way to the Father (Acts 4:12). To worship in truth is to worship God through Jesus. To worship in Spirit is to worship in the new realm which God has revealed to people. Because it is only through X that we receive the Spirit of God.
The Father is seeking true worshipers because He wants people to live in reality, not in falsehood. Everybody is a worshiper (Rom. 1:25)we were all created to worship God, but because of sin many are blind and constantly put their trust in worthless objects. It’s not a matter of if we worship, but what we worship. We all worship something, what is the object of your worship.
X calls us to Focus on the Big Picture. There is one way to God through X, and it is through Him (the truth) & the Spirit that He sent that we come to worship God in all of life.
She had talked simply of “worship”; our Lord brings up before her the great Object of all acceptable worship—“the Father.”
What keeps us from truly being a people of worship. X points out 3 things that can keep us from true worship.
1. wrong practices-The woman at the well shows us this. Until her heart was made right w/ God true worship could not happen for her. This was Israel’s problem in the OT, they assumed that if the externals of worship were in place God would be satisfied. He was not, and is not today.
Amos 5:22-24 – I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won’t even notice all your choice peace offerings. 23 Away with your hymns of praise! They are only noise to my ears. I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is. 24 Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry.
Not implying that worship is only possible for perfect people, but when we come to worship we must come in sincere and humble dependence on Him and come w/ a genuine commitment to live in obedience to Him.
Ps. 51:17 “The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise.”
2. wrong priorities-second hindrance to worship
This is the core of the conflict she refers to in vs. 20. stuck in a debate over the location of worship and missed the presence of the Messiah. It is to easy for us to fall into the same trap. Get caught up in style issues, style of music, posture. This issue is not the form that our worship of God takes, Jesus brings us back the real issue, the content of our worship, the big picture-worship is about God the father who we can come to only through His Son Jesus X.
3-wrong perceptions-third hinderance
Wrong perceptions about who God is and our rel. w/ Him. As we come to God, our worship of Him needs to be based on what He has revealed about Himself in the Bible, and the relationship we now have w/ Him through X, “in spirit and in truth” because X is the truth (Jn. 14:6) & it is through Him that we receive the Spirit of God (Jn. 7:37-39)
Finally in these verses we are given the supreme incentive to worship God. Vs. 23-God is looking for those who will worship Him. As incredible as that seems, our worship matters to God. It matters so much that He gave His only son to make it possible.
We want to use these times we’re going to be sharing on Sunday nts. For that purpose to be worshipers that the Father seeks. We want this to be a place of authentic worship. Requires a team-app. In program. Fill out and turn in.
-worship-posture up to you
Give as an act of worship
Participate as you feel led.
