THE WAY TO WORSHIP
JOHN 4:19-26
I know something about everyone of you and then there are some things that I don’t know about you. But there is one thing I know for certain, and that is that there is a vacuum in your heart that won’t be satisfied unless God is worshiped in your life. The things of the world won’t do it, only God.
A look at this woman at the well tells us how Jesus dealt with her heart. She tried to sidetrack Jesus to get the attention off her life. In these verses, we see her as the town outcast becoming the town theologian. Her trouble was that she tried many things to satisfy her life, but they had failed. Some said, if she had been living today, she probably would have gotten some type of Hollywood award for having five husbands.
But that day at the well was a blessing for her, for she met Jesus and He satisfied for deepest longings.
Today, we want to talk about real worship, worship that will please Jesus and satisfy our souls . NOT BORING WORSHIP,BUT SINCERE WORSHIP.
I heard about a man who had missing Church. The Pastor went to see him and encouraged him to get back attending Church. The man begin to make all kinds of excuses to why he had been missing such as, he had been visiting relatives, it was football season, and he had been sick., and it had been raining a lot. The Preacher replied, well its been might dry at the Church. The man and that another reason, its been too dry in the Church services.
I-NOTICE THE IMPORTANCE OF WORSHIP: 23 (Why Worship At All?)
A-Because God Desires Your Worship: 23B
for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
God desires our Worship. Notice Proverbs 23:26-”My Son, give me thing heart.”
We could give God our riches but would God be any richer? No, for God owns it all. He wants our Devotion.
What is the first duty of the Church? Spread the Gospel? It is important and we are commanded to do it. But it is not the first duty.
The first duty is found in Mark 12:20.It is Worship. Before we Witness, we must Worship.
God wants our presence , He wants us to draw near to Him worship and devotion. Hebrews 10:22-”Let us draw near with a true heart.”
There is a ridiculous story about a wealthy Texan who died, and his attorney gathered the entire family for the reading of the will. Relatives came from near and far to see if they were included in the bequests. The lawyer somberly opened the will and began to read:
"To my cousin Ed, I leave my ranch."
"To my brother Jim, I leave my money market accounts."
"To my neighbor and good friend, Fred, I leave my stocks."
"And finally, to my cousin George, who always sat around and never did anything, but wanted to be remembered in my will, I want to say, ’Hi, George.’"
Well God wants us to say more than Hi to Him ever now and then, but He wants our love and devotion.
I read the story of a little girl who loved her father and wanted to show her lover for him by knitting him a sweater. She spend days knitting it and neglected seeing him too much. When she gave it to him, he said I thank you for it but I would have rather had your daily presence. (God too)
B-Because God Deserves Your Worship: Ex.34:10
For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
The word Worship means worth-ship. He is worthy to be worshiped. I know how much God means to you by your worship Him.
God deserves our worship and when he does not get it, He is jealous. For most of the times when this happen, man is worshiping something else.
No ball player has a right to be jealous of another for they are not the only ballplayer. But God does, because He is the only true God.
Put yourself in God’s place. How would feel if you created this earth and saw man like in Exodus worshiping a frog, etc.?
Yet mighty as He is, He still wants and deserves our Worship of Him.
Collins, the freethinker or deist, met a plain countryman going to church. He asked him where he was going. "To church, sir." "What to do there?" "To worship God." "Tell me, is your God a great or a little God?" "He is both, sir." "How can he be both?" "He is so great, sir, that the heavens cannot contain him; and so little that he can dwell in my heart." Collins declared, that this simple answer from the countryman had more effect upon his mind than all the volumes which learned doctors had written against him.
C-Because God Demand Your Worship: Matt. 4:10
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Do you know why many of you are experiencing the power of God in your life? You are not obedience to God’s commandments and are failing to Worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
Even in our prayer life many times, they are give me prayers. They are not prayers of Worship. (Lord’s Prayer-”THOU”)
If you want God to work in your life , you need to start praising Him, worshiping Him and you will see Him to begin to work in your life.
Once an atheist gave a grand speech at open air meeting. No one stood to defend God or say anything about God. Then a little girl stood and begin to sing, Stand up, Stand up, for Jesus. As she sang the last verse, everyone was standing and singing except the atheist. He slipped out the side door. Worshiping God had defeated the devil.
II-NOTICE THE INGREDIENTS OF WORSHIP: 19
A-The Scope of Worship: 20-21
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
By this, I mean where should He be worshipped? We know that we should worship Him where his name is recorded, which is the Church.
Ephesians-”Give Him glory in the Church.
But are we confined to worship Him only on Sunday and Wednesday in His House? ADAM worshiped him in garden, JONAH worshiped Him in the belly of an whale, PAUL worshiped Him in a jail house, JACOB worshiped Him on a pillar of rock, and ZACCACHEUS up a tree.
Let me ask you a question where does God live? He says your body is the temple of the Holy Sprit. Thus everywhere you go is holy, because Christ lives in you. When we think of that, it ought to makes more careful of our behavior.
What we are saying is that real worship is not confined to a place but real worship is in a person anywhere, anytime. AND THAT PERSON IS GOD.
Martin Luther was a devout person. He believed his religious experience could be heightened by a trip to Rome. While crawling and climbing stairs in an attempt to gain favor with God, the scripture "..the righteous man shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17) echoed in his mind. The message came that place or personal sacrifice would not gain the worship experience he desired. It took faith because it is a matter of the heart.
B-The Spirit Of Worship: 24A
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit
Notice the translators do not capitalize this word spirit. It is almost unanimous that this does not refer to the Holy Spirit but the spirit of man. In the great commandment Jesus said, "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." (Mark 12:30). This command speaks to worship with the Spirit. It refers to your attitude and your humble submission to the Lordship of Christ.
A further explanation of spirit can be gained from Romans *:16. It says, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." Note the contrast between Spirit and our spirit. We are to worship with our spirit as we are led by the Holy Spirit.
(Dr. James McCullen)
I Believe everything should done in decency and in order. But we had better be careful, we are not to formal to the point that our worship dead.
Worship is not to mourn a corpse but to hail a victor.
WA Criswell said once he went to a Sunday night service in another state. He said it was boring and cold was ice. He went to café after the service to eat supper. He said there were some students there and they were singing, joyous, and were acting alive. He said, they didn’t give an invitation at the Church or the Café but if they had, he would have joined the café. (Of course he was making reference to being alive and not being dead in what we believe)
2 Corinthians 3:6-”Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.”
A preacher ought to preach like He is alive, a singer should sing like He is alive, a teacher ought to teacher like He is alive and a worshiper ought to worship him like He is alive. (Bro Clayton Shaw at convention, He is alive, He is alive)
RG Lee told a student once that he should preach to people’s heart. Everyone doesn’t have a head of knowledge but everyone had a heart that need to experience God.
C-The Sincerity Of Worship:24B
and in truth
Not only should we preach truth, but we must practice truth. In the pew and the pulpit, we must be truthful as we worship. And if we are not, we must confess our sins in order to have real worship.
An interesting phenomenon is occurring in our society. There is a high interest in salvation but a low interest in Christian living.
Recent studies show that church attendance on any given Sunday morning across this great land is at an all time high. There are more men, women, and children filling church pews on Sundays than at any time in our history. However, the same studies show that moral standards are at an all time low. Some of these same church-goers are divorcing mates, aborting babies, cheating on spouses, drinking liquor, gambling paychecks, and abusing children at an unbelievably high rate.
What’s the problem here?
In a recent class, the teacher may have given us a good hint as to what is happening. He stated, "More people today want to ’Get Saved,’ than want to ’Act Saved.’ (Stories for Preachers & Teachers)
III-NOTICE THE IMPLICATIONS OF WORSHIP:28
A-Worship Results In Being Satified:28A
The woman then left her waterpot,
But she met the Messiah and forgot all bout water. Her agenda was changed. Evidence that a person has worshiped is that they’re willing to forget self and focus on Jesus.
At the 1969 World’s Fair, a model of the City of the Future was on display. Some observers looked for the churches. The designers said, "In the future there won’t be any churches." Today when cities plan for urban renewal, they set land aside by churches because they have learned people need to worship. You and I need to worship. ONLY JESUS CAN SATIFY.
Christ made a promise to us. He promised us that He would sustain us day by day by day.
I like the way one little fellow expressed it. He was part of a Sunday School class. The children were told to choose a Bible character and then tell the rest of the class why you have chosen that character. One little girl chose Mary. She said, "Well, Mary was the mother of Jesus."
Another little boy chose Joseph because he was Jesus’ father, so he wanted to be Joseph. Another wanted David because, he said, David was really strong and brave and he fought Goliath and killed him. And yet another chose Jonah because he wanted to ride in a whale.
One quiet young man chose to be Lo. The teacher said, "I’m sorry but I don’t think that there’s any character in the Bible that’s named Lo. The little boy said, "Oh, yeah, there is. Jesus said, "Lo, I will be with you always."
B-Real Worship Results In Being A Servant: 28B-29
and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,
29: Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
Worship comes before work, but work does come after worship-Matthew 4:10b-Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
I once saw a cartoon depicting a group of shackled prisoners standing on a dock, waiting for a Roman galley that was pulling into port. "That’s a great ship," one mused. "I wonder what makes it go?" The sketch reminded me of the words of the apostle Paul: "Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ" (1 Corinthians 4:1). Paul used an unusual Greek word for servants. Literally, it means "under-rowers," and in that day it referred to the slaves that pulled the oars in Roman warships. (Daily Bread)
Archbishop Secker used to say, "God has three sorts of servants in the world: some are slaves, and serve Him from fear; others are hirelings, and serve for wages; and the last are sons, who serve because they love."
CONCLUSION
Many years ago a man conned his way into the orchestra of the emperor of China although he could not play a note. Whenever the group practiced or performed, he would hold his flute against his lips, pretending to play but not making a sound. He received a modest salary an enjoyed a comfortable living. Then one day the emperor requested a solo from each musician. The flutist got nervous. There wasn’t enough time to learn the instrument. He pretended to be sick, but the royal physician wasn’t fooled. On the day of his solo performance, the impostor took poison and killed himself. The explanation of his suicide led to a phrase that found its way into the English language: “He refused to face the music.” (Just Like Jesus; Max Lucado)
Today you can pretend to be a part of God’s orchestra by just blending in with the crowd and going through the motions. No one notices here, because you say the right things, go to the right places, and hang out with the right people. And you can enjoy the comfort of being accepted by the crowd of your choice. But there will come a day when you must face the music, one day you will be separated from everything. On that day you will stand alone before God and give an account for your life, your decisions, and whether or not you were taped into the living water.
