(this message is a re-working of the 40 Days of Purpose message on worship)
SERIES: “THE GROWTH FACTORS”
TEXT: JOHN 4:20-24
TITLE: “THE EXALTATION FACTOR”
INTRODUCTION: A. We’ve been studying in our series “The Growth Factors” for quite some time
--we’ve been looking at how God’s design for growing in number and in spiritual
maturity
1. We started this series with a message that surveyed the five basic purposes of the
church
2. We’re going to conclude the series by taking a little deeper look at those five
purposes
3. Please turn to the backside of your bulletin insert and let’s read those five purposes
together
B. One day Jesus was asked this question: “Lord, what’s the most important command in
the scriptures?”
1. Jesus basically says in reply, “If you don’t get anything else, get this. This will
summarize the whole Bible.”
--His answer is recorded in Mt. 22:37-38 – “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the
first and greatest commandment.”
2. Worship is the primary reason we exist.
--The other four purposes flow from this one.
C. In our scripture today, Jesus has an encounter with a Samaritan woman
1. In this encounter, the woman asks a question about worship
2. John 4:20-24 – “‘Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that
the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.’ Jesus declared, ‘Believe me,
woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this
mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we
worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and
has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth,
for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his
worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.’”
D. Jesus referred to “true” worship by referring to “true” worshipers”
--That implies that there is a phony, false, counterfeit worship that also happens
1. To some people, worship is this regular routine that they go through each week
--They come to a church building, sing a few songs, go through the motions, but
they never really expect anything to happen
2. For others, worship has become synonymous with style
--To them, worship means a certain kind of music
3. For many, worship has no real connection with God
--it’s rote, it’s routine, irrelevant empty, boring ritual
E. Phony, false, counterfeit worship has existed since the very beginning and God has
rejected it from the beginning
1. Remember Cain and Abel - the children of Adam and Eve?
a. Cain offered worship to God - a sacrifice - but the Bible says that God “did not
accept Cain and his offering” (Gen. 4:5).
2. Several times, in Isaiah and in Amos, God says flat out that he’s tired of phony,
counterfeit worship.
3. Mal. 1:8-10 – [God says]“ ‘When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not
wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try
offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept
you?’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such
offerings from your hands, will he accept you?’-says the LORD Almighty. ‘Oh, that
one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on
my altar! I am not pleased with you,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘and I will accept
no offering from your hands.’ ”
a. Malachi prophesied in an age of spiritual apathy.
--The people who were supposed to be the people of God continued to go through
the motions of worship but in their hearts were no longer in it.
b. I wonder how many times we’ve come into this place and lit “useless fires” of
worship?
F. We belong to what is called the Restoration Movement
1. There were some men in the 1800’s who began to evaluate what was happening in
their churches and in their own lives and could not square it up with the New
Testament
2. They made a commitment of their lives to restore the New Testament pattern for
churches and lives
3. We speak about restoring the name and the organization of the early church and
that’s great
--It needed to be done
a. But I think that we’ve failed in one primary area: completely restoring the
worship of the first century church
--the worship exhibited in the first century church was dynamic, evangelistic,
transforming
b. To think that we have finished this restoration of worship, to use the words of
Marvin Phillips, “is about like bringing home a muffler, fender, headlight and
battery from the dump and calling it a car!”
G. Corporate worship, the body of Christ, gathering to worship together is not something
that is outdated or unnecessary
--it’s extremely important
1. Heb. 10:25 – “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of
doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day
approaching.”
--Even toward the end of the first century, some Christians were starting to miss the
weekly assembly on the first day of the week. They began to think it unimportant
2. Sometimes while driving, you’ve probably noticed surveyors along the road
a. They’re looking through this gizmo thing on a tripod and there’s a fellow a fair
distance away holding a big tall marker
b. Worship is like that: it gets us back in line
--worship orders our priorities, it gets our life in focus
3. If it’s so important, what are the marks of true worship?
--let’s look at three
I. WORSHIP IS FOCUSING MY ATTENTION ON GOD
A. It’s focusing my mind, my thoughts, my attention on God.
1. The truth is, God wants us to worship Him thoughtfully.
2. We have to get our mind focused on God.
--Not just going through the motions, but really, really thinking about it.
a. Have you ever prayed on “auto-pilot”?
b. Have you ever “zoned out” in church?
B. Do you know why God wants your focus?
--God wants your focus because He’s focused on you.
1. Ps. 139:1-3 – “O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I
rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are
familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.”
--God has focused his attention on you.
2. God’s focus is eternal; it never stops
--Our focus is fallible and finite. We don’t hold focus for very long.
C. How do you focus on God?
1. First of all, realize that you get distracted easily
--Why do we get distracted easily?
a. 1st reason: We’re self-centered by nature
--a paraphrase of Rom. 8:7 – “Focusing on yourself is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone
completely absorbed in self ignores God, and ends up thinking more about self than God.”
b. 2nd reason: We live in a self-centered culture
--Rom. 12:2 – “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind..”
D. In reality, worship is my response to God’s love
--Rom. 5:8 – “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died
for us.”
1. Worship should be an expression of thanks and appreciation
--He creates us. He saves us. He forgives us. He blesses us. He protects us.
2. We recognize God for what He has done
--and we respond with a deep expression of gratitude
II. WORSHIP IS EXPRESSING MY AFFECTION TO GOD
A. This is what Jesus talks about when He teaches to love God with your heart and soul.
1. For some of you, this is kind of difficult because you grew up in families that weren’t real
affectionate, weren’t real expressive, didn’t say I love you a lot.
2. Maybe you’re kind of the silent type.
--It’s not real easy for you to express affection to God without feeling weird or kind of kooky about
it.
3. You’re going to have to learn how to grow, how to develop, how to say “I love you God”.
a. Do you remember the first time you ever said “I love you” to somebody not in your family?
b. Probably scared to you death.
--You had sweaty palms, stomach was in a knot. You were all nervous…are they going to accept
it or are they going to reject it; because you were worried about – are they going to say it back to
me?
4. The great thing about God is He’s taken away the risk.
--He said it first. God said, “I love you.”
1). 1 Jn. 4:19 – “We love Him, because He first loved us.”
2). Hos. 6:6 – “ I don’t want your sacrifices -- I want your love! I don’t want your offerings -- I
want you to know me!”
5. Almost two weeks ago, it was Valentine’s Day.
a. Valentine’s Day is not just important at my house because it’s Valentine’s Day
--It’s also Anna’s birthday
b. What would happen if I walked up to Anna on that day and say, “Honey, here are some flowers for
you. I’m giving you these flowers for three reasons: Point No. 1 – I am your husband. Point No.
2 – It is Valentine’s Day and your birthday. Point No. 3: Husbands are supposed to give their
wives flowers on Valentine’s Day. So here.”
c. Wouldn’t that just thrill her to death?
--I don’t think so
d. She wants me to love her passionately.
--She doesn’t want duty. She wants desire.
1). God doesn’t want your duty.
--He wants your desire.
2). God doesn’t want ritual and religion and rules and regulations.
--He wants a relationship.
III. WORSHIP IS USING MY ABILITIES FOR GOD
A. God wants us to see Him with our minds. He wants us to sense Him with our heart and soul. And he
wants us to serve Him with our strength.
--Love is a lot more than thoughts and feelings. It also includes action
1. Col. 3:23 – “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”
a. If you get this verse, it will absolutely revolutionize your life.
--You’ll never be the same once you understand this verse.
b. Listen to it again: “Whatever you do” – that means anything – “work at it with all your heart, as
though you were working for the Lord and not for people.”
2. Worship is not just something that happens on Sunday
--It’s something we carry with us every day of our lives
B. Worship is giving back to God
1. Rom. 12:1 – “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living
sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.”
a. God is merciful and loving to us and that our reasonable and spiritual act of worship is to offer our
bodies as living sacrifices
b. He gives to us and we give back to Him
2. How do we do that?
a. We mentioned Jesus’ answer earlier concerning the greatest commandment. Mark records Jesus
on this issue in Mk. 12:30 – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, all
your mind, and all your strength.”
b. We show our love to God in return for His love three different ways:
1). First, God wants me to love Him thoughtfully – with “all your mind”
--In other words, He wants you to think through your love, to not just do it without thinking.
2). Second, God wants me to love Him passionately - with “all your heart and all your soul.”
--God says, “I want you to love Me passionately, because I passionately love you.”
3). Third, God wants me to love Him practically – “all your strength.”
--He wants you to use all of your effort to love Him
3. William Temple: “…worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of
conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by
His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose—and all of this
gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable..”
CONCLUSION: A. We gather as the church to offer something to the Lord; not to get something out of the
Lord.
1. Ps. 115:1 – “Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of
your love and faithfulness.”
2. Jesus words to the Samaritan woman give us great insight into worship
a. Worship God: the right object of worship
b. Worship in spirit: the right attitude of worship
c. Worship in truth: the right message of worship
B. Church in Watford, England called Soul Survivor.
--always had a great focus on the music end of worship
About nine years ago, they found that their worship service had lost its spark
Senior minister Mike Pilavachi says, “We seemed to be going through the motions, but I
noticed that although we were singing the songs, our hearts, were far from Him.”
They became too focused on what they liked about the worship service and had forgotten
that they were not the audience. God is the audience.
Pilavachi says, “We were challenged to ask ourselves individually, ’When I come
through the door of the church, what am I bringing as my contribution to worship?’ The
truth came to us: worship is not a spectator sport, it is not a product molded by the taste
of the consumers. It is not about what we can get out of it; it is all about God.”
They did away with the usual format. Even did away with the musicians. They began
to focus on things that would please God. People began to participate in the worship
instead of just being a spectator.
Pilavachi comments, “The excitement came back. We were not having Church; we
were once again meeting with God. With all the comforts stripped away, we worshiped
from the heart.”
He tells that after the lesson was learned, they brought the musicians back. It was at
that point that their worship leader, a young man by the name of Matt Redman,
introduced a song that he had written out of this experience
Listen very closely to the words:
When the music fades,
All is stripped away, and I simply come
Longing just to bring
Something that’s of worth
That will bless your heart
I’ll bring you more than a song
For a song in itself is not what you have required.
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear;
You’re looking into my heart.
I’m coming back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about you
All about you Jesus.
I’m sorry Lord for the thing I’ve made it
When it’s all about you,
All about you Jesus.
King of endless worth
No one could express
How much you deserve.
Though I’m weak and poor
All I have is yours, every single breath.
I’ll bring you more than a song
For a song in itself is not what you have required.
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear;
You’re looking into my heart.
I’m coming back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about you
All about you Jesus.
I’m sorry Lord for the thing I’ve made it
When it’s all about you,
All about you Jesus.
