True Worship
Pastor Rod Thompson
Midland SDA Church
July 25, 2020
Over the last several months we have been doing this series of sermons on personal and church growth. Today we have the last part of that series as we talk about true worship.
In John 4 you have the story of Jesus talking to the Samaritan women at the well of Jacob. It is a story that we are all familiar with. Let’s pick up the story. Jesus offers her living water and she says, give it to me so that I no longer thirst and no longer have to come to this well.
Read John 4: 16-24
In 1976 when the billionaire Howard Hughes died, his company’s public relations director asked the casinos in Las Vegas, where Hughes owned multiple casinos, to show him respect by giving him a minute of silence. For an uncomfortable sixty seconds, the casinos fell eerily silent. Then a pit boss at one of the casino’s looked at his watch, leaned forward, and whispered, “Okay, roll the dice. He’s had his minute.” (From the book, Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years, cited in “Our Daily Bread,” 11/77.)
I wonder if sometimes we treat God as those gamblers in Las Vegas treated Howard Hughes. We interrupt our busy schedules once a week, rush into church, give God “His hour,” and then forget about Him and get back to what we’d rather be doing.
John MacArthur was certainly correct to title his book on worship, The Ultimate Priority [Moody Press, 1983]. God created us for the ultimate priority of worshiping Him. “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
It’s no accident that the longest book in the Bible, Psalms, is all about praising and worshiping God. When we get to the end of the Bible, we see the saints and angels in heaven falling on their faces and worshiping God (Rev. 4:10-11; 5:8-14; 7:9-11). Since worship will be our ceaseless activity and greatest joy in heaven, we ought to be practicing it now.
But that really begs of the question – what is worship? Here are a few definitions of worship:
John MacArthur: “Worship is our innermost being responding with praise for all that God is, through our attitudes, actions, thoughts, and words, based on the truth of God as He has revealed Himself” (The Ultimate Priority [Moody Press], p. 127). Or, he gives a simpler definition: “Worship is all that we are, reacting rightly to all that He is” (ibid., p. 147). (Non denominational pastor)
William Temple: (“To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, and to devote the will to the purpose of God” (cited in MacArthur, ibid., p. 147).
My definition is not so eloquent: Worship is an inner attitude and feeling of awe, reverence, gratitude, and love toward God resulting from a realization of who He is and who we are.
I want you to notice, “Worship, by the way, is not music. Worship is loving God. Worship is honoring God. Worship is knowing God for who He is, adoring Him, obeying Him, proclaiming Him as a way of life. Music is one way we express that adoration.” As Paul states (1 Cor. 10:31), “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Thus all of life is to be oriented “God-ward,” permeated with a sense of His majesty and glory.
Jesus’ words about worship to this unnamed Samaritan woman occur in the context of His witness to bring this woman to saving faith. We might not think that witnessing is the right context to talk about the priority of worship. But Jesus takes her implicit question (4:20) about whether Samaritan worship or Jewish worship is correct and uses it to zero in on the aim of the gospel: that is to turn sinners into true worshipers of God.
We learn: Since God is seeking true worshipers who worship Him in spirit and truth, we should make it our priority to become true worshipers.
Jesus tells this woman that a significant transition is about to take place (4:23), “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.”
Jesus’ presence began this change from the old covenant to the new. Under the old way of worship, place was significant: all Jewish males had to appear before God in Jerusalem for the three annual feasts (Deut. 16:16).
But in the new way which Jesus inaugurated, He is the new temple (John 2:19-21). Believers are being built into a holy temple in the Lord (Eph. 2:21; 1 Pet. 2:5). Thus where we gather to worship is secondary. How and whom we worship is primary.
Unbelievers, such as the Samaritan woman at this point, often mistakenly think that if they go through the proper externals of “worship,” then things are okay between them and God. As long as they go to a church building and go through the weekly rituals, they figure that everything is fine.
But they haven’t dealt with God on the heart level. They haven’t repented of their sins of thought, word, and deed. So Jesus tells her that it’s not the externals that matter as much as the internal. We must make it our priority to become true worshipers of God in spirit and truth.
Note three truths from these important verses:
1. God is seeking true worshippers
He is seeking worshippers who will bring Him glory, not just for an hour on Sabbath, but every day through all their activities. We can’t properly worship God on Sabbath if we’re not worshiping Him throughout the week. You begin that process by repenting of your sins and trusting in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. You grow in that process as you bring every thought, word, and deed under His lordship.
Note two things: First of all, the fact that God is seeking true worshippers implies that there are false worshippers.
False worshipers either worship something other than God or they may attempt to worship the true God, but do it in ways that actually dishonor Him. But either way, sincerity is not the only criterion for measuring true worship.
All true worshipers are sincere, but all sincere worshipers are not true. For example, there are devout, sincere worshipers of Allah or Krishna or Buddha or the Mormon god or the Jehovah’s Witness god. But they are sincerely wrong, because they are not worshiping the only living and true God, who has revealed Himself in the Bible.
There are also Christians who are sincere, but their worship is man-centered. Sometimes it’s patterned more after the entertainment world than after the Bible. It draws attention to the performers, but not to the Lord. Or, on the other end of the Christian spectrum, some go through ancient liturgies week after week, but their hearts are not in submission to God.
They mistakenly think that because they went through the rituals, they’re good for another week. They’re like the Jewish leaders of whom Jesus said (Matt. 15:8, citing Isaiah 29:13), “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” So we need to be careful not to fall into the category of false worshipers.
The second thing we should take note of is that if God is seeking true worshippers then becoming one should be of utmost importance to us. It should be our priority.
In verse 24, Jesus says that these true worshipers “must worship in spirit and truth” It’s a necessity. It isn’t optional; it’s essential.
I want you to notice three musts that are identified in the gospel of John
1. In John 3:3 & 3:7 Jesus is talking to Nicodemus and He says – You must be born again
2. In that same chapter 3:14 Jesus says, “The Son of Man must be lifted up”
3. And then here in chapter 4:24 He says, we must worship in Spirit and in Truth
The first concerns the Holy Spirit, who imparts the new birth. The second concerns the Son, who was lifted up on the cross as the atonement for our sins. And the third concerns the Father, the object of our worship. And the order is important. First, you must be born again by trusting in Christ’s death for you. Only then can you worship God properly.
So the first point is that God is seeking you as a true worshiper. If you haven’t yet put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, start there. If you have trusted in Christ and perhaps have drifted off course, come back to this as your priority: God wants you to become a true worshiper.
2. The true worshippers that God seeks worship Him in Spirit and in truth
Jesus repeats this twice so that we don’t miss it
Read 4:23-24
To be true worshipers, we must worship both in spirit and in truth. To worship in spirit without truth is to worship false gods. To worship in truth without spirit is to fall into dead orthodoxy. We may be doctrinally correct, but we’re lifeless. And, the Father must be the focus of our worship.
Jesus emphasizes three times to this Samaritan woman that it is the Father that we are to worship (4:21, 23 [2x]).
And, He explains to her that God is spirit. This is His essential nature. It means that God does not have a material body. He is invisible to human eyes (John 1:18; 1 Tim. 1:17; 6:16). The fact that He is spirit means that He is not confined to one locale at a time. He is omnipresent. He has existed as spirit for all eternity, before He created the material universe
And this is important for us to understand - When we’re born again, we possess human spirits (John 3:6), which can worship Him. Because He is the only omnipresent spirit, we can worship Him anywhere and know that He is there.
Look at this woman at the well - First she says, “Our father Jacob” and then she mentions the location – we worship on this mountain
But notice how Jesus shifts the focus of this woman at the well away from the earthly to the heavenly. He shifts her focus from her earthly father (Jacob) to her heavenly Father.
To worship in spirit is to worship from the heart or from within. It’s opposed to formal, ceremonial, external worship by those whose hearts are not right with God (Matt. 15:8). Thus the most important factor in becoming a worshiper is to guard and cultivate your heart for God. John Calvin (Calvin’s Commentaries [Baker], p. 161) says that worship in the spirit is the inward faith of the heart which produces prayer, purity of conscience, and self-denial, leading to obedience.
I believe that worship in spirit is, in part, emotional or felt. This is not to say that we should pump up our emotions with music or crowd fervor. Genuine emotions for God stem from focusing our minds on the truth of who He is and what He has done for us at the cross.
But if your worship never touches your emotions, something is wrong. It’s like my love for my wife. My relationship with her is not built on my feelings, but rather on my commitment to her. But when I think about all that she means to me, I feel love for her and I ought to express that love in some outward manner that shows her that I love her.
We must, not only worship in Spirit but also in truth
God has revealed Himself to us in His Word of truth and supremely in His Son, who is the truth (John 1:18; 14:6; 17:17). To worship God in truth means that we worship Him for all that He is in the majesty of His attributes as revealed in all of Scripture.
We worship Him for His love, but also for His justice and righteousness. We worship Him for His kindness, but also for His severity (Rom. 11:22). We worship Him for His sovereignty and for His grace. We worship Him when He gives, but also when He takes away (Job 1:20-21). We worship Him for all His ways. The Bible is our only guide for worshiping in truth. As I said, worship in spirit flows out of worship in truth. Feeding your mind on the truth of God moves your spirit to praise and love God.
Since God is seeking true worshipers who worship Him in spirit and truth … that leads us the third truth that we find in John 4
3. We must make it a priority to become a true worshipper
This applies in three directions
1. If I’m not growing as a true worshiper, I’m not in line with what God is seeking to do in my life.
As we’ve seen, personal worship is not restricted to a few minutes on Sabbath mornings. In the context of 1 Corinthians 10:31, where Paul mentions glorifying God through eating and drinking, he is talking about relationships that do not cause offense to others, whether to unbelievers or believers (10:32).
So how we treat others should be a matter of worship.
Evangelistic or missionary efforts are a matter of worship (Rom. 15:16).
Giving to support Christian workers or to help fellow believers is a matter of worship (Phil. 4:18; Heb. 13:16).
Godly behavior is a matter of worship (Eph. 5:10; Phil. 1:11).
An attitude of praise and thanksgiving is a matter of worship (Heb. 13:15).
The point is, you can’t live a self-centered, worldly life all week long and then come to church on Sabbath and worship.
2. If we’re not growing as a worshiping church, we’re not in line with what God is seeking to do in this body.
Why do you come to church? If your focus is to get something out of the church service, you’ve got it wrong. Your focus should be to give praise and honor and thanks with all the saints to the God who gave His Son for you.
Often a congregation views itself as an audience, watching the worship leaders and the pastor give their presentation or performance. But the truth is that the congregation is actually the cast of actors, with the worship leaders and the pastor acting as prompters, giving cues from the wings.
The real audience is God and the entire presentation is offered to Him, for His pleasure and glory. So the issue when you come to church is not, “Did I get anything out of it?” but, “Did I give God the heartfelt praise and thanks and glory that He deserves?” That’s our aim as a church.
3. IF WE’RE NOT SEEKING TO HELP OTHERS LOCALLY AND GLOBALLY BECOME WORSHIPERS, WE’RE NOT IN LINE WITH GOD’S PURPOSE.
John Piper wrote (Let the Nations be Glad [Baker], p. 17), “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is.
Missions exist because worship does. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.” His words apply not only to missions in other countries, but also to our efforts to reach the lost in our community.
Our aim is to turn sinners into worshipers. That was Jesus’ aim with this sinful Samaritan woman.
So let me close by giving you seven practical ways to become a true worshipper of the Father
1. Make sure that you truly believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior
2. Establish a daily time alone with God in the Word and prayer
3. Eliminate all of the garbage from the world that hinders your growth in worshiping God
4. Prepare your heart Friday night for corporate worship on Sabbath morning
5. Put away distractions on Sabbath mornings and don’t be a distraction to other worshippers
6. Ignore others around you and remember that God is the audience
7. Spend time worshiping God in His creation
Read Romans 1: 18-21 Scripture reading
There are 3 truths that we have discovered this morning
1. God is seeking true worship
2. We must worship in Spirit and in Truth
3. We must make it a priority to become true worshippers
Is that the desire of your heart?