Worship in Spirit and Truth
1. Why Is Worship So Important?
John 4:20-24
When I first became a Christian I saw the importance of prayer, and teaching, and evangelism, and Bible study. But I didn’t see the importance of worship. We did worship -- at almost every church meeting we worshiped by singing songs – but I didn’t understand what we were doing, it didn’t do much for me, and so I didn’t see its importance.
But over the years that has completely changed. From what I’ve seen in God’s Word, from what I’ve experienced of worship – I now understand that worshiping God is of the utmost importance.
Which is why we here at Mercy Hill are passionate about worship – here on Sunday mornings, in our own personal times with God, in our families, and with our home groups.
But some of you might not understand what this is all about – and others of you might need to be reminded about what this is all about. So we are going to take a few weeks to study what God’s Word says about worship – to help us understand why we worship God – and so we can more deeply experience worship of God.
So – let’s turn to John 4. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hands and we will bring a Bible to you. John 4 is on page 889 in the Bibles we are passing out.
Here’s background to this passage. Jesus and his disciples are travelling from Jerusalem to Galilee. They have been walking all morning and stopped at a well in Samaria. Jesus sent his disciples into town to buy lunch, and as He sits by the well resting a Samaritan woman comes to the well to get water. And Jesus talks to her about how he can give her living water, he raises the question of her marital history, and then she asks him a question about the right place to worship – on Mt. Gerizim in Samaria, or in Jerusalem.
Now to understand this question – and Jesus’ answer – we need some background about the Samaritans.
Before 722 BC Samaria had been populated by Israelites. But then the Assyrians captured Samaria and deported all those Israelis who owned property. Then Assyria sent in foreigners who took over houses and fields – and who intermarried with the Israelites who were left.
The result was that the Samaritans were no longer full-blooded Israelites, and they turned their backs on God, creating a terrible mixture of Old Testament and Assyrian religion. Many worshiped idols. Some even burned their babies as offerings to these idols. And remember that in the Old Testament God called his people to travel to the temple in Jerusalem to worship God. But the Samaritans wanted their own worship and their own spirituality – so they built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim. This became a huge point of contention between Israelites and Samaritans.
Which is why she asks the question she does in v.20 --
20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain [Mt. Gerizim in Samaria], but you [plural – the people of Israel] say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship."
So there’s the question. And in answering this Jesus gives us powerful teaching on worship. Look at what He says --
21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you [plural – the Samaritans] worship the Father.
22 You [the Samaritans] worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
So let’s start with this question -- How can Jesus say that both Samaritans and Jews worship? Did you catch that? Now it’s true that he said the Samaritans worship what they don’t know – but notice that he does use the word “worship” for what they do.
Look again at v.22 he says –
You [Samaritans] worship what you do not know; we [Jews] worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
So even though the Samaritans’ worship is wrong – Jesus still calls it worship. Why?
It’s because the Bible teaches that everyone worships something. The Old Testament says people worship the true God – but it also says people worship idols. Same word. And in Romans 1 Paul says that we’ve all turned away from God to worship other things.
To understand worship it’s crucial to understand that we all worship something. Not that we all go to temples. Or that we all believe in a deity. No. But we all worship something – because worship means seeking and experiencing and expressing ultimate pleasure in something.
Sunday mornings we gather to worship Jesus Christ. We seek Him – in prayer and by setting our hearts on the truth of who He is. As we do that we experience the pleasure of beholding Him as majestic, awesome, loving God. And then we express that pleasure by saying “We love you, You are awesome, we worship you!”
But even if someone doesn’t worship Jesus Christ – everyone worships something. People worship money, or career, or celebrities, or fine wine, or the 49ers.
Not that there’s anything wrong with enjoying the 49ers game. But some people live for that. They seek their pleasure in watching the game – they experience what they hope will be the pleasure of watching them win – and if they do well they express their pleasure by cheering, shouting, doing the wave, whatever.
Do you see how that works? Everyone worships something. We all worship. The Samaritans worshiped. But notice – Jesus says the Samaritans’ worship was wrong. So even though we all worship – we don’t all worship rightly. Worship can be wrong.
So what was wrong with the Samaritans’ worship? Jesus explains in v.22. Read it again –
You [Samaritans] worship what you do not know; we [Jews] worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
The problem with the Samaritans’ worship was that they worshiped what they did not know – which means they turned from the truth of the One True God – and worshiped something that was not God.
Think about that. There is one true God, who had clearly revealed Himself to the Samaritans –
- by creating the heavens and the earth
- by freeing Israel from Egypt with signs and wonders.
- by parting the Red Sea so Israel could walk across on dry land.
- by giving Moses the Law on Mt. Sinai with thunder and lighting.
- by bringing down Jericho’s walls.
- by revealing that there would be a way for our sins to be forgiven through the coming Messiah.
- and the list goes on and on.
The Samaritans had seen and known all this – but they turned their backs on God and worshiped idols of their own making.
And the Bible says -- that’s what we’ve all done. Before Jesus saved us and changed our hearts – you and me and everyone on the earth had turned our backs on the truth of God as revealed in Creation and through the nation of Israel and supremely in Jesus who lived and loved and worked miracles and died and rose again – we’ve all turned our backs on God and chose to worship things other than God.
Why would we do that? The Bible calls it sin. It’s tragic – but we all have in us a dark passion to rebel against the One True God -- to not bend the knee before Him -- to be independent of Him.
And so we’ve all turned our backs on God and refused to worship Him. And how does God respond? God is holy and righteous and just. And God could have simply chosen to destroy all of mankind. But that’s not what He does.
What did God do? Look at what Jesus says in v.23 --
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
Think of it. No one is worshiping God. So what does God do? He seeks people to worship Him. What does that mean? You might think it means that the Father is seeking to find worshipers – that He’s looking and hoping there’s some worshipers there.
But that doesn’t make sense of v.23. At the beginning of v.23 Jesus says there will be true worshipers. He’s certain of it. Why? Because God is seeking to find them? If you seek to find a million dollars – does that guarantee you will find it? No.
But this word “seeking” can also mean “seek to create” something. So what Jesus is saying is that even though all mankind has turned their back on God and refuses to worship God – there are and will be true worshipers – because God will create them.
God creates true worshipers who worship Him. That’s another way of describing salvation. When God saves someone – He turns them into a true worshiper of God. Here’s how this happened to me –
In high school I saw all of God’s revelation of Himself – but refused to worship Him. I turned my back on Him and worshiped popularity and surfing and fun. And I deserved God’s judgment forever. But in amazing mercy God sent Jesus to the earth – and when Jesus died on the Cross He paid for all my sins. And on the Cross He purchased a new spirit for me – which would own up to the truth and worship Him.
And then in the summer of 1972 – God brought His power upon me and gave me that new spirit. And I knew God was real – I knew Jesus was His Son – I knew I could be forgiven through trusting Jesus – and that Jesus would change me and satisfy me.
So I turned from all those other things I was worshiping – and trusted Jesus to forgive me, change me, and satisfy me. I owned up to the truth of Jesus Christ – and I worshiped. I worshiped in spirit – with a new spirit that loved the truth of Jesus Christ. And I felt joy in worshiping Jesus Christ infinitely greater than any joy I had ever known.
Every time God saves someone – He creates a worshiper. One way you can tell you’ve been saved is because you are a worshiper.
So God’s passionate purpose is to create worshipers who worship Him --
- God created a universe so there would be worshipers who worship Him.
- God revealed Himself to Israel so there would be worshipers who worship Him.
- God sent Jesus so there would be worshipers who worship Him.
- God saved us so we would be worshipers who worship Him.
- And the whole point of heaven is for there to be worshipers who worship Him.
God’s passionate purpose is to create worshipers who worship Him.
But why? Why is God so passionate about creating worshipers who worship Him? You could think it’s because He’s insecure and needs our affirmation. Or because He’s vain and just loves to hear compliments. Not at all.
One reason God’s purpose is to create worshipers is because God is love. The most loving thing God can do for you is not to make your life free from stress – not to get you a promotion – not to heal your sickness. He might do all of those – but none of those is the most loving thing God can do for you.
The infinitely most loving thing God can do for you is to create you into a worshiper who worships Him. Why is that most loving?
It’s because your greatest joy, pleasure, meaning, purpose, security – everything is found in worshiping God as revealed in Jesus Christ.
Last Sunday afternoon a young man in our home group came home from church. God has created him into a worshiper of Jesus Christ. And when he got home he just wanted to worship Jesus Christ. So he got out his guitar and started singing worship to Jesus Christ. He prayed. He sang.
Here’s what he wrote in his journal –
Christ, what an experience! After great lunch with home group, I came home and played some guitar and kept worshipping through singing. I kept singing in the dark, weeping for 2-1/2 hours, praying to be more intimate with Christ and have more joy in Christ.
The most loving thing God did for this young man was to create him into a worshiper of God. That’s why God’s purpose is to create worshipers – because God is love and the most loving thing he can do is to create worshipers who worship Him.
So everything God does is to create worshipers who worship Him.
- God created the universe so there would be worshipers who worship Him.
- God revealed Himself thru Israel so there would be worshipers who worship Him.
- God sent Jesus to die on the Cross so there would be worshipers who worship Him.
- God poured out His Spirit so there would be worshipers who worship Him.
- God brought His saving power upon you so there would be worshipers who worship Him.
- God calls you to share the Gospel with your neighbors so there would be worshipers who worship Him.
- God sends us to the nations so there would be worshipers who worship Him.
- God keeps us from falling away so there would be worshipers who worship Him.
- And God created a heaven for the redeemed so that forever there would be worshipers who worship Him.
That’s why worship is so important.
That’s why – if you are not a worshiper – I want to call you to turn and trust Jesus right now. Turn from whatever else you’ve been worshiping and turn to Him alone. Trust Him to forgive you through His death on the Cross, to change your heart so you want to worship, and to fully satisfy you as you worship.
And that’s why I to call you to spend time alone setting everything else aside to worship Jesus Christ.
To spend time leading your family in worshiping Jesus Christ.
To passionately enter in as your home group worships Jesus Christ – and as we worship Jesus Christ here Sunday mornings.
Which is what we are going to do now --