Chico Alliance Church
“True Worship”
Introduction
For several weeks now we have joined the disciples in a most intriguing journey journaled by the Apostle John. In this account of their travels, John first introduced all of the themes he would illustrate from his journeys with Jesus. John revealed His purpose for writing toward the end of his writing. (John 20:30-31 )
The events recorded came with a purpose. John wrote to inspire and confirm belief that Jesus was and is not just and ordinary historical figure but the Christ, the Son of the living God. John wrote to enlighten readers of every generation concerning the gift of eternal life. So far we have watched with wonder when Jesus turned water to wine at a wedding. We stood with amazement when he took on a temple full of merchants during Passover. We listened with eager interest to a most powerful conversation between Jesus and an insightful Pharisee named Nicodemus. We received John the Baptist’s powerful testimony concerning Jesus. As we move to chapter four of John’s personal journal, John tells us that Jesus was not pleased with the political maneuvering taking place around Him. The purpose for leaving Judea was to avoid an unhealthy competition between Jesus and John. The destination was Galilee. Yet in between, John records a familiar yet monumental moment from the ministry of Jesus. God often slides some of our greatest teaching moments on our journey to totally different destinations. This wouldn’t be the first time God turned aside to respond to the faith of a woman of questionable history. God stopped waylaid the destruction of Jericho while he responded to Rahab’s faith. To this highly unlikely person, in a highly unfavorable place, Jesus discloses the deep secrets of abundant life. What a contrast with the encounter of the previous chapter. Nicodemus was a Jewish man of high moral character and formal education. Jesus now engages a Samaritan woman of low moral character and little education. He calls her attention to vital truth that served to transform not only her life but also the lives of many in her city. John alone includes this event most likely to highlight both the desire and ability of Jesus to save them both. In this limited encounter with a loose woman, Jesus touches on some of the most significant truths ever taught.
The shortest route from Judea to Galilee passed through Samaria. Jesus and His disciples arrived in Sycar, a city of Samaria at about six in the evening although some believe it may have been 12noon. Nevertheless, the text indicates Jesus was tired and probably hungry. So the disciples left Jesus to rest by a well while they trudged into town for food. It is interesting to note that in God’s economy or way of doing things; some of the most dramatic spiritual experiences develop out of the direst of circumstances. Jesus ignored two fundamental obstacles to effective ministry in order to minister to this thirsty soul.
First, he ignored physical barriers.
The text indicates he was weary. John uses a word that indicates the kind of weariness associated with long hard labor.
Second, he ignored significant social barriers.
He dared interface with the socially undesirable or at least socially suspect. This was so characteristic of Jesus. He came to serve the needy wherever and whoever. Jesus kept a divine appointment with just one individual who continually wrestled with the burden of three insurmountable social barriers.
• One – She was a Samaritan.
• Two -- She was a woman
• Three – She was a woman with a bad reputation.
Jesus here took the initiative to engage this woman in conversation much to the distress of the disciples when they returned. In this encounter we watch life transforming truth poured out to accomplish its objective. It reminds me of an Old Testament promise recorded by Isaiah.
'For I will pour out water on the thirsty and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring, and My blessing on your descendants;
And they will spring up among the grass like poplars by streams of water.'
"This one will say, 'I am the LORD'S'; and that one will call on the name of Jacob;
And another will write on his hand, 'Belonging to the LORD,' and will name Israel's name with honor. Isaiah 44:3-5
"Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Isaiah 55:1
Based on the principle that proper perception leads to proper response Jesus first urges this woman of Samaria to pursue a proper perception followed by an opportunity to practice a proper response.
I. Pursue a proper perception
There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. John 4:7-8
Jesus began with a simple request for a drink of water. Not a problem. He wasn’t asking her to do something difficult. He intended to launch a meaningful dialogue. The mere fact that He would even speak to a woman, let alone a Samaritan woman seized her attention.
The Samaritan woman therefore said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) John 4:9
Jesus now begins the mission to move her heart ignorance to enlightenment. He draws here to contemplate at least two vital truths able to virtually transform. We covered this aspect of the passage back in September so I will only touch on them here and spend more time on the necessary response. Jesus makes a statement intended to peak her curiosity and draw her into a deeper understanding of his identity.
If/then clause
This is an “If and obviously you didn’t” kind of conditional clause. If you only knew two basic fundamental truths, you would respond appropriately. We must keep in mind that this woman knows nothing about who Jesus is and most likely has little working knowledge of the true God.
Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." John 4:10
There are two basic truths communicated here.
If you only had known
• The gift of God
• The one who ask you for a drink.
John traces the answer to these two questions all through his book. He talks about God’s gift of eternal life through His only begotten Son.
A. Know the gift of God
In the context of this passage it appears that the gift of God is a reference to the life giving Spirit of God springing up to the continual experience of eternal life. What Jesus is saying is, “If you knew what could be yours as a free gift and who it is that offers that gift, you would respond accordingly.” Today, people do not respond to God because they don’t really know Him or the gift of eternal life He so freely offers. Many times the church misrepresents both the gift and the giver. If people genuinely perceived God and the wonder of His gift to sinful man they would abandon their own efforts and pursue Him for life. Let’s be clear on both the gift and the giver. Jesus offers this woman living water; not stagnant well water but the refreshing, thirst quenching water from an artesian well. Jesus freely offers this woman that which will alone quench her spiritual thirst. He draws her to seek a new avenue for the unfulfilled longings of her heart. She had obviously tried many of the dead end streets. Jesus now points in an entirely new direction. Here’s a guy standing by a well asking for water and then offers a special water that will eliminate the need for any other water. She not only has questions about the gift but who it is that is offering this water.
"But sir, you don't have a rope or a bucket," she said, "and this is a very deep well. Where would you get this living water? And besides, are you greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his cattle enjoyed?"
Jesus then gently draws her to the next level of understanding concerning both the gift and the giver.
"People soon become thirsty again after drinking this water. But the water I give them takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life."
The water is beyond anything on this earth. Yes I Am greater than your ancestor Jacob who gave you this well. I am the source of this water. I don’t think even today we understand the nature of what God offers.
• He offers that which sustains real life.
• He offers that which quenches deep thirst.
• He offers that which refreshes.
• He offers that which satisfies one’s deepest and most basic longings.
Jesus offers God’s gift of life. If we only understood the gift of God, we would ask Him alone for the water that eternally quenches our thirsty soul. The enemy has so deceived us and offered his soul deadening substitutes. He has blinded us to the gift of God and offered us things that look like they will give life but actually bring damage. Life is not found in the things of this world. Only through Christ can we find the water that truly satisfies the deepest thirst of our soul. Jesus encouraged this woman to long for something beyond her present temporal experience.
B. Know the giver (The person of Christ)
Not only don’t we turn to God for life because we fail to perceive the gift but also fail to perceive who it is that continually tugs at our heart. Jesus not only led this woman to a greater hunger for the gift but also a greater interest in who He was. Her understanding progressed from a mere man sitting by the well to a prophet to the promised Messiah.
II. Practice a proper response
We find some interesting responses through the rest of the story of the woman by the well.
A. Proper perception leads to potent petition.
"If you only knew the gift God has for you and who I am, you would ask me, and I would give you living water."
If you only knew the gift and the giver, you would ask him for soul satisfying water. Here is the heart of Jesus teaching. The better you understand, the more you trust. If you only knew! I think this is a simple picture of faith. The more we understand the gift and the giver, the more we are powerfully motivated to invite Christ to be the only source of life.
To ask Him to indwell your life is an acknowledgement that He is who He said he is and will do what He said he would do.
Without faith it is impossible to please God for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that seek Him ( ask him) Hebrews 11:6
Trust His character.
Trust His promise.
B. Proper perception leads to honest confession
Jesus came to deal with sin and leads this woman to deal with her past.
He said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly." The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. John 4:16-19
This woman was willing to own up to her present condition when confronted by Jesus. She offered no excuses, no defense, only acknowledged that Jesus was right about her. And her perception of him changed from an interesting man by a well to a prophet of God.
C. Proper perception leads to genuine worship
Confronted with one who knew the dark details of her life, the woman became interested in true worship. Some think that she perhaps sought to divert Jesus from further exposure of her life. I think this was an honest attempt to understand the nature of genuine worship. I think there was a longing in her heart to be right with God. Now in the company of one she perceived as a spokesman for God, she seeks an answer to her confusion.
Jesus made it abundantly clear that worship has nothing to do with place but a person. In order to worship one must know the giver and posses the gift of the spirit. The bulk of the words used for worship both in the Old Testament and New Testament boil down to two basic concepts.
1 – to bow down in reverence or respect. The word used here means to “kiss toward”
2 – to serve or obey out of respect or reverence.
Genuine worship or response to God centers in the truth concerning the Him and manifests from a heart made alive by the spirit. Since God is spirit, genuine worship must be in Spirit and in truth. Nothing else will do.
What kind of worship do we practice? Is our worship the result of a deep knowledge of the gift and the giver? If we only knew the gift of God and who it is that calls to us we would respond appropriately. Do we respond to God out of a heart stirred by the Holy Spirit and moved by truth about God? Or is our worship the result of an external manipulation of the emotions and senses having no basis in the truth. Worship is a life style of response to a renewed perception of God enflamed by the Holy Spirit that results in actions that demonstrate obedience and reverence for who we perceive Him to be. Genuine worship has at least two elements according to Jesus. The Holy Spirit generates response to God in our spirit on the basis of deeper perception of the truth about God. That Spirit generated response may manifest in any number of psycho/physical actions. Singing, believing, crying, bowing, lifting holy hands, dancing, tingling, serving, obeying, working, committing, speaking, praying, falling, kissing, silence, shouting..
These by themselves are NOT worship. Only when they are the result of a renewed perception of truth about the God we serve. If we only knew the incredible nature of the gift of God and the awesome nature of the God who gives it, we would believe, we would confess, we would respond in genuine worship.
Worship is not what we think.
God wants us to more deeply perceive his person.
Understand His awesome power, His infinite love, His unsearchable wisdom, His amazing grace, His perfect wrath, His absolute holiness and righteousness, His self-sufficiency, His self-existence, His unchangeable attributes, His faithfulness toward us, His incomprehensible nature.
When the Holy Spirit illumines our finite mind regarding the incomprehensible nature of the God we serve, we should respond.
When Peter understood the absolute power of Christ to fill the boat with fish out of a sea that turned up nothing all night, he fell face down in the fish and proclaimed his unworthiness. After losing everything, Job understood the absoluteness of God’s sovereignty and mysterious nature of his works and fell down and worshipped. By the end of the ordeal he put his hand over his mouth in silent submission to the rule and majesty of God. Others lifted their hands and voices in praise of God’s greatness. Some danced and played instruments to express their response to God.
Worship is saying WOW to his person; an expression of wonder and amazement.
God wants us to more deeply perceive his purpose and work
At the death of the baby conceived in sin with Bathsheba, King David realized the right of the all-powerful God to execute consequences for sin, washed up, entered the temple and worshipped. At the great worship gathering in glory at the end of time, all creation will gather to sing and shout “Worthy is the Lamb” giving praise for the perfect purpose and work of God.
Worship is saying YES to his purpose both in the world and us.
God wants us to more deeply perceive his presence
Although God’s presence is everywhere at one time, He chooses to manifest that presence in mysterious and marvelous ways. What causes God to manifest his presence in a place?
Is it the quality of the music? Is his presence felt more because we do certain things?
God’s inhabits the praise of His people.
God delights to reveal Himself to the humble of heart.
God desires obedience rather than sacrifice.
The early church after praying for boldness to testify concerning the resurrected Christ in the face of persecution experienced the presence of God in the shaking of the place and the all kept feeling a sense of awe and spoke the word with boldness.
Worship is saying “woe is me” followed by “Abba Father” in the light of his presence.
The two common denominators in all revivals have been a renewed sense of our sinfulness and His greatness driving us to a renewed hunger for His truth.
God actively seeks worshippers who will worship in spirit and in truth.
You will not experience genuine worship if you are not operating in the Holy Spirit.
You will not experience genuine worship if you are not learning and responding to truth.
You will not experience genuine worship if you are not living in obedience to God.
Worship has to do with service
Worship has to do with perception of honor and greatness.
Genuine worship is a life style of response to a renewed perception of God, his person, his purpose and work, his presence, enflamed by the Holy Spirit that results in actions that demonstrate obedience and reverence for who we perceive Him to be.
Come let us worship the King of kings and Lord of Lords.
