A Beautiful Collision
John 4:23-24
Intro: I love football, as you know.
I watched it most of my life, but I remember really seeing my first game and getting into it when the Steelers beat the Cowboys in the Super Bowl back in 1976.
I went on to play pewee football and a little bit in high school.
When I got into college I continued playing intramurals and pick up games after band practice…and a plus of being in the band was getting to attend all of the football games.
I love all aspects of the sport, and to be honest, I love it when a great hit is made.
We have one of those DVR’s at home that can record what you are watching while you are watching it…and it sometimes drives my wife nuts when I’m watching football.
If someone makes a good hit, you know one of those crunching hits that takes a second or two to recover from, I will call her and the kids into the living room to gather around the TV and witness it with me…over and over and over again.
It’s a beautiful thing!
Part of the reason I enjoy a good solid hit in football is because of my experience from playing.
When I played high school football my position was left guard and one of my primary roles was that of pull blocking…explain.
My sophomore year in 1987 I had the opportunity to play in my first high school game, I was the back up and we were playing McKinley High out of Baton Rouge and we had a big enough lead that they felt comfortable with leaving us in for the remainder of the game.
We had a little drive going and they called a 35 Belly…explain the play.
It was a beautiful collision in football terms, the end stood straight up and wasn’t expecting this little guard to come around…and I took him out.
We got back into the huddle and the WR’s switched and the play was 35 Belly again…and the same thing happened, first down.
Another WR switch and our QB laughed when he gave us the play, 35 Belly again.
You would think by now this end would have figured out someone might be coming after him and not stand up straight…but guess what: he didn’t.
Bubba stood straight up as if to say “Hit me!”, so I did.
Transition: Now, not every collision is something we would call beautiful; in fact most are not.
If you have ever been in an auto accident or witnessed one…there is nothing quite as disturbing as the crunching of metal and fiberglass at the point of impact.
Another disturbing sound for many is the collision that takes place in a fall, when the human body just collapses onto the ground.
And I’m sure there are many others, but this morning the collision I want us to speak of is truly a beautiful collision….and it is unlike any other.
This beautiful collision is what should be taking place when we come into this worship arena.
It is the beautiful collision that takes place between us and God as the mortal and the immortal meet; the heavenly unites with the earthly for a time of fellowship; a truly beautiful collision.
Let’s read about it together in the teachings of Jesus.
Read John 4:23-24
Background: We now this passage as the dialogue between Jesus and the woman at the well.
The woman is a Samaritan, considered a “half-breed” because she was from a Jewish and non-Jewish heritage and considered the lowest of the low by Hebrew standards; sadly not so much for what she had done as much as for what her parents or grandparents might have done.
Jesus is sitting at the well around noon time according to vs. 6 and this Samaritan woman came by.
Now this was an usual situation because women generally did not get water in the middle of the day…it was generally a task done at the beginning of the day before the heat became unbearable.
But here she came at noon time, probably because of what Jesus addressed with her.
After asking for drink of water from her, Jesus offered to give her the living water to drink from and then she would never thirst again.
Of course this peaked her interest and Jesus encouraged her to go get her husband and her reply in vs. 17 was “I have no husband”.
Of course you know how the story goes, Jesus then explains to her that He knows she has had 5 husbands and the man she is with is not even married to her…the word for that is adultery and it is violation of 7th commandment.
Jesus was confronting her with her sin so that she might see that she too needed the forgiveness that only the Savior can offer.
And what does she do when confronted with her sins…same thing we all do, tries to change the subject.
For us we might say “I’m Baptist” or “I’ve been baptized”, she said in vs. 20, “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, you Jews say it should be in Jerusalem…let’s have a worship war instead.”
I like hymns, you like worship choruses…somebody’s wrong, what say you?
And that is when Jesus said this to her, Read vs. 21-24.
What Jesus does for her and for us is paints a beautiful picture of a beautiful collision.
He educates us on what worship is, what we need to know for that first level of commitment…which is life together.
The easiest thing for us as born again believers should be to gather together for a time of worship, and that is what I want to address this morning this simple stop of life together.
3 Truths from our passage I want us to consider.
First of all…
1. God is Spirit
This is Jesus’ way of saying that when we gather for worship a proper understanding of God is required.
Sounds simple enough, but in reality it isn’t.
First of all we need to understand God’s nature.
That He is Spirit, He is not flesh and blood.
He is eternal, He is transcendent…He is all knowing, all powerful; and add to that His holiness, justice, righteousness, grace, mercy, etc; and you have a truly amazing God.
That is the God we worship.
And that is the God who is worthy of our praise.
He is not some figment of our imagination or an exalted man, nor is He an object of creation…but He alone is the creator.
And Jesus wants us to see that when we worship, we have a good understanding of who He is and why we worship Him.
But not only that, I think this needs to be taken a step further for us.
All too often we attempt to place God into a box, it is one fashioned by our own hands and fits neatly into our own wills.
On a theological aspect we may understand and accept all of the truths about God…but we still try to mold Him and make Him into what we would want Him to be.
The Bible addresses that, in the second commandment when God says “Make no graven images.”
You see when we say “God can’t do that” or “I don’t believe that about God…” even though the Word of God says different, we are not worshipping the true God.
“I just don’t believe that a loving God would allow people to spend eternity in Hell…” you just made a graven image.
“I know that the Bible says I should witness, but I don’t think God wired me that way…” you just made a graven image.
“Well, I don’t think...” what are you thinking about God?
Are you making a graven image?
Let me encourage you today, seek out the God of the Bible…not the one you can wrap your hands around and make you feel better about yourself.
Worship Him, and worship Him alone.
Know who it is you are worshipping and why, and then worship Him!
So, God is spirit…we need to worship Him for who He is and have a proper understanding of that.
The 2nd truth is…
2. God alone is to be worshipped
Jesus uses and interesting phrase there, “True worshippers”: who are they?
AT Robertson points out that the Greek word used here, “Proskunētēs” is only used in this form once in the NT… and its here.
It is in reference to the true or the genuine worshippers of the true living God.
That means those who are true followers and true believers are the only true worshippers.
Anyone can attend a worship service, but only the born again believer can truly worship God.
Did you get that? Let me repeat.
God is to be worshipped for who He is, but it can only be done by those who are truly know Him.
Worship is an opportunity for us to stop and brag on God…and you can’t brag on what you haven’t experienced.
ILLUS: Imagine someone coming to you and tell you all about a steak from Ruth’s Chris Steak House…how tender it is, how it is naturally seasoned and cooked to the right temperature and then cooked to the right temperature to get those flavors sealed in.
They tell you how you will never eat a steak quite like a Ruth’s Chris steak…and you wipe the slobber from your mouth and ask them when did they enjoy this event of a meal only to find out they never had.
They are just repeating to you what they heard on a commercial.
How can you brag on something you have never experienced?
You can’t…and you can’t brag on God when you have never experienced His gift of mercy and salvation.
If you are here this morning and you have not yet accepted the free gift of grace and mercy we call salvation, you may be here attending worship…but you are not truly worshipping.
Worship is something that can only be accomplished by those who have come to an awareness in their life that they had a need that can only be met by Christ.
That need is forgiveness and grace…we are all like Isaiah in that we are thrust into the presence of a God who is holy, holy, holy when we see that we are unclean and we are wanting.
And our response should be “Woe is me…I need forgiveness, I need salvation!”
And when God does the work of salvation in us, which is something that only He can do…we can never do it; we should respond in the worship that He is due.
So let me ask you, are you a true worshipper…or are you a worship attender?
There is a difference, and it is as different as life and death.
Those with life and life more abundantly can enter into the presence of the God who is holy, holy, holy and worship Him…those who are dead in their trespasses and sin are only allowed into the outer courts and can only view the worship.
Today, I want to invite you in.
You accept this invitation when you admit you have sinned, believe that Jesus Christ died, and confess Him as Lord.
Where are you today? On the outside looking in, or are you in the presence of God by His grace?
So, true worship is for the true believer who truly worships God for who He truly is, and this takes us to our final truth this morning when Jesus said…
3. Worship Him in Spirit and Truth
The John Gill commentary says this statement means worship, “which is suitable to his nature, and agreeably to his will.”
When we are in a right relationship with God which means we know Him for who He truly is as true believers, we then have the opportunity to worship Him in spirit and truth.
Too often some people will approach this verse the way the woman at the well did…wanting to make some kind of worship war out of what is “real worship”.
And how sad is it that our churches have such a combination of words as “worship war”…but we do:
• It can only be with this style of music
• It can only be with this translation of scripture
• I can only be this…or that
And when it is all said and done God is the one being left out of the equation.
It’s not so much about style or technique as it is attitude.
It’s not about music, time or location…it’s about attitude and heart.
You see, when we come into the worship arena, God isn’t concerned about what we bring to the alter as much as our attitude, the “why” factor…is your heart into it?
Read Romans 12:1-2
It is an offering of ourselves to God for His honor and His greater glory alone.
And notice how our text states it, we MUST worship Him…“Must” expresses the necessity of it.
This is not an option for us.
God has called us to worship.
Not to go to church.
Not to attend church.
Not to even participate in church events.
He has called us to worship and we must worship Him.
Not to play music, not to sing songs…not even to hear preaching; but to worship Him.
Experience Him.
And that is what worship is, an experience.
Let me ask you, have you experienced God recently?
Have you experienced Him today?
When it doesn’t happen, it is easy for us to blame everyone else.
• The music isn’t what I like…
• The pastor preached too long…
• There was a child distracting me…
You notice the center of those statements?
Three people: Me, myself and I.
Worship isn’t about me, it’s about God.
It’s about me offering myself to God as an offering…and that is worshipping in spirit and in truth.
Conclusion:
Once again, are you a true worshipper?
It begins with being a born again believer…if you do not have a saving relationship with Christ that can only come by faith and repentance; I want to invite you to stop being a worship attender and become a worshipper today.
If you have already accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior…are you living a life of worship?
Do you need to take things to the next level today?
