Established In Worship

I AM GRATEFUL TO WORSHIP THE LORD WITH YOU ALL THIS MORNING. THERE’S A STORY I WANT TO TELL YOU WHICH I BELIEVE WILL BLESS YOUR HEART. YOU’LL FIND THAT SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS STORY IS QUITE COMMON AND FAMILIAR. SO, ARE YOU READY?

There was a woman who lived at that time when women were deprived of human rights; when women were viewed and treated as an “object” rather than a person. When women could not get into profitable employment, so they had to depend on their man to provide for their daily needs. At that time, divorce could only be initiated by the husband. And any man can divorce his wife for any reason. IF YOU ARE WATCHING THE MKR SEASON, it's on now, The HUSBANDS WHOSE WIVES PUT THEIR TEAM IN THE BOTTOM OF THE LEADERBOARD COULD FILE A DIVORCE. REASON: her cooking was bland. For a divorce to be granted, the man had to expose the wife in public. He had to publicly give reasons why this woman deserves a divorce. He had to say that his wife was unclean, that she was unlovable or incapable of fulfilling her duties, as a wife, and the wife had no say on the matter.

So as you can see, DIVORCE SHAME THE WOMAN. When we were treated unjustly and suffered injustice, our natural response is to protect ourselves from more hurt. That explains why this woman chose not to walk at the time of the day when she could be scrutinized by eyeing public because this woman had been divorced 5x. In short, this woman was publicly shamed and humiliated 5x, dumped 5x. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THIS WOMAN WAS UNFIT TO BE A WIFE, SOME SCHOLARS CONCLUDED THAT SHE WAS A PROSTITUTE, BUT THE FACT THAT SHE HAD TO FACE A PUBLIC SCRUTINY FOR HER FAILURES AND MISGIVINGS WAS UNMERCIFUL, UNJUST, AND INHUMANE. TO HUMILIATE SOMEONE IN PUBLIC WAS UNGODLY. Moving on, this woman now lives with another man who was not her husband, possibly for economic reason, and the fact that they were still unmarried, it was most likely, that she was not being treated well. Perhaps, she was again in another complicated situation. Whatever the case may be, she knew her life was not in order, she knew she was in a relationship situation that was unacceptable in the eyes of God and society.

One day, this woman went out of the house and headed to fetch water from a well. Again, this story happened when tap water in kitchen homes have not been discovered yet. Everyone would have to go to the well. And so she did in the middle of the day when the sun was up, and the heat was on. She probably thought that no one would be at the well by that time. To her surprise, when she got to the well, a man whom she never met before was at the well. And this stranger began to talk to her. A gesture that was not socially and culturally normal. She could tell, possibly by his accent, that this stranger was not a local, and definitely, not one of her people. This stranger even told her about her life, HER PAST, AND HER PRESENT. The woman didn’t know that HER LIFE WAS ABOUT TO CHANGE. SHE DIDN’T KNOW THAT she was up for an encounter of a lifetime. AND THE CONVERSATION WAS STARTING TO GET UNEASY FOR THE WOMEN, SO SHE ABRUPTLY SWITCH TO A TOPIC THAT WOULD APPEAL TO THIS STRANGER WHOM SHE PERCEIVED WAS A PROPHET.

I can imagine the woman saying,

“I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT MY PERSONAL LIFE.” LET’S TALK ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE. LET’S TALK ABOUT WORSHIP! To continue with our story, I WILL GET YOU TO PULL OUT YOUR BIBLE AND TURN TO JOHN 4; I WOULD LIKE US TO FOCUS ON VERSES 21-26. BY THE END OF THIS MESSAGE, MY PRAYER IS THAT WE WILL FIND OURSELVES ESTABLISHED IN WORSHIP. READ AND PRAY.

IN (v20) the Samaritan woman said: “our ancestors worshiped in this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

HER USE OF THE WORD “OUR” TO REFER TO HER ANCESTORS INDICATED THAT SHE WAS NEVER A PART OF THAT WORSHIP. She might have been in that place to attend, BUT The personal EXPERIENCE OF WHAT WENT ON IN THAT PLACE WAS REMOTE AND NON-EXPERIENTIAL TO HER. A GENUINE WORSHIP EXPERIENCE AFFECTS YOUR INNER MAN AND NOT JUST GIVE YOU AN EMOTIONAL HIGH.

V21) It shows how one worships is more important than where one worships. And this is not to say, that we should not come together in one place. Jesus said that He is coming back for the BRIDE WHICH IS THE CHURCH. The word “church” comes from the word “ekklesia” meaning “assembly. That’s why Paul reminded the church in Hebrews 10:25, not to neglect to assemble.