True Worship- John 4
God is spirit, and thus He must be worshipped in spirit. Spiritual
worship is that which takes place in the spiritual realm. No one who has not
trusted in Christ as Messiah can truly worship, for they are ‘devoid
of the spirit,’ (Jude 19, cf. Romans 8:9). While religionists view worship
in terms of ceremony, true worship is a matter of the spirit, prompted and
produced by the Holy Spirit.
Further, worship must be within the confines of truth. The Samaritans
worshipped in ignorance. They worshipped "that which they knew not"
(verse 22). Samaritan worship consistently deviated from the revealed truth
of God. One particular truth upon which worship must be based was the fact
that salvation was to come from the Jews. The Messiah was to be a Jew, not
a Samaritan. It is never enough to be sincere; one must be in accord with
truth to be a real worshipper of God. To worship a god who does not conform
to the truths of Scripture is to practice idolatry.Worship concentrates both
upon truth (doctrine) and devotion prompted by the Holy Spirit.
We should be able to discern that if worship is to be pleasing to God, it must be in keeping with principles set down for its observance in this age. Nowhere are these principles set down more clearly than in John’s account of our Lord’s conversation with the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4. As a Samaritan,19 this woman believed that the central place where God was to be worshiped was on Mount Gerizim (John 4:20). Although she, as a Samaritan, looked for the coming Messiah, she worshiped in considerable ignorance for the Samaritans rejected all the Old Testament books save those books of Moses, called the Pentateuch. Even these Scriptures were altered to conform to the Samaritan preoccupation with Mount Gerizim. In the light of her Samaritan misconceptions, our Lord reveals to this woman the essential principles of worship in this Age.
The clear implication of our Lord’s conversation with this woman was that her worship was not acceptable before God. She worshiped in ignorance and not according to truth. Her worship was not essentially spiritual. The purpose of our Lord’s conversation with her was to lead her to true worship of Himself.
We know of other instances where false worship was condemned. Paul corrected the erroneous worship of the Athenians (Acts 17:16-31) and taught that false worship was the basis for man’s eternal condemnation (Romans 1:25). The Old Testament prophets continually rebuked the nation of Israel for turning from true worship. In our times, men seem to feel that the only qualification for worship is that it be sincere, but much sincere worship is unacceptable to God, as we shall soon see.
Though men may seek religious expression, no one seeks after God (Romans 3:10f). The words of our Lord to the Samaritan woman indicate that it is the Father who actively seeks true worshipers (John 4:23). When we turn back to the first verses of this account, we learn that our Lord made it a to pass through Samaria (4:4). Our Lord was seeking this woman and her fellow countrymen to be His worshipers.
God has initiated our worship of Himself in several ways. First, He has revealed Himself to us in human flesh, in the person of Jesus Christ. When men recognized Him as God’s Messiah, they worshiped Him (e.g. John 9:35-38). Secondly, He has accomplished redemption through the work of Jesus Christ. The sin which alienated us from God has been paid for by the death of Christ. Finally, He has given us the written word which instructs us in true worship.
As we have seen from Romans 11:36, all things are “of Him and through Him and unto Him.” Just as God has initiated worship, so He continues to enable us to worship through the agency of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26; Philippians 3:3).
To put it in a slightly different form, all acceptable worship is God-centered. Worship is rightly focused on the Father. God was worshiped through the Son while He was on the earth. In ancient times, God forbade the use of images or idols because they could not begin to adequately represent God to men. But Jesus Christ is the full representation of God to men; He is the express image, the perfect likeness of the Father (Colossians 1:15). Our Lord could say that those who had seen the Son, had seen the Father (John 14:9).
Worship is God-centered in another sense as well. Worship centers around God and His perfection, and His desire for praise and adoration. All too often we try to modernize worship, to update it and make it more meaningful and relevant to us. Now, of course, worship should be ‘relevant and meaningful’ to us, but we must see that worship is first and foremost for God’s sake rather than our own. We have placed far too much emphasis upon what God will do for us rather than upon our duty of devotion to God.
Here we find one of the very practical aspects of what has been called Calvinism. In its simplest form, Calvinism stresses the sovereignty of God over all things, including our eternal salvation. For those who in ignorance espouse Arminianism, true worship would be far more difficult, I would imagine, for they never view God as being in complete and uninterrupted control of things. Calvinism is God-centered and rightly so. No one should be a better worshiper of God than a true Calvinist. Those Arminians who are true worshipers of God (and there are many) are simply inconsistent in their theology at this point.
Worship is not purely an academic exercise. It is a loving relationship with our Creator, involving our whole being (body, mind and soul). Because we love Him we will do His will. The Holy Spirit inhabits us and empowers us to do His will as we release ourselves more and more to God’s control and live in constant communion with Him. If we live according to the direction of God’s Spirit then we will live a worshipful life.
When our Lord told the Samaritan woman, “ALL those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (vs. 24), He did not intend us to put a capital “s” in spirit. The Samaritan woman, as did many Jews, thought that worship was essentially a matter of externals. She was preoccupied with a central place of worship: “this mountain” (verse 20). The Jews thought of worship in terms of sacrifices, rituals, observances and holy days. The essence of true worship is internal (in spirit) not external. This is necessitated by the nature of God Himself. God is a spirit being; thus, we must worship consistent with His nature.
Israel’s worship under the Law consisted of many ceremonies and rituals, but even then God was concerned with what went on in the spirit of those who worshiped. Over and over again the outward forms and motions of worship were condemned by the prophets (Isaiah 1:10-17; 29:13; Matthew 15:8-9; Mark 7:6-7). This is why an unbeliever can never worship God; his spirit has never been quickened. He is dead in his trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).
Even today there is so much emphasis on externals. The sight of stained-glass windows and magnificent cathedrals, the stirring sound of massive choirs and expensive organs, the eloquent oratory of the preacher, the dignity of liturgy and so on.
Let us not become preoccupied with these externals, but rather with Communion with God in our spirits, as the Holy Spirit works to communicate between our spirit and God’s (1 Corinthians 2:10ff.).
‘God is Spirit and those who worship God must be led by the Spirit to worship Him according to the truth.’ John 4:24 (CEV)
We know and acknowledge God for who He is according to the way He is portrayed in His Word. Jesus, especially in John’s gospel, is the truth. Hence, we come to the Father through the Son who is the truth.
‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ John 14:6 (NIV)
As countless others, the Samaritan woman worshiped in ignorance; she worshiped “what she knew not” (vs. 22). Acceptable worship can never be that which we deem best; it must be a response to the divine self-disclosure of God. Our Lord Jesus personified God’s truth (John 14:6) and so men could worship Him in truth. If our worship today is not firmly based on the truth of God revealed in the Scriptures, it is ignorant worship, unacceptable to God.
One of the striking contrasts between the worship of our age and that under the Law is the freedom which we are given. When we seek to find the word ‘worship’ in the epistles, we rarely find it. This is not because it is nowhere to be found, but because worship was so integral a part of the life of the church it was almost assumed. We find worship in the epistles wherever we find the fundamental ingredients of worship. It is this freedom in worship which our Lord communicated to the woman at the well, but a freedom restricted to what was revealed as truth.
We do ourselves a great disservice when we think of worship only in stereotyped terms. But we also would be in error in assuming that spontaneity is spirituality. C. S. Lewis put his finger on the distractiveness of novelty when he wrote:
Novelty, simply as such, can have only an entertainment value. And they don’t go to church to be entertained. They go to use the service, or, if you prefer, to enact it. Every service is a structure of acts and words through which we receive a sacrament, or repent, or supplicate, or adore. And it enables us to do those things best—if you like, it ‘works’ best—when, through long familiarity, we don’t have to think about it. … The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God.
But every novelty presents this. It fixes our attention on the service itself; and thinking about worship is a different thing from worshipping. …
… Novelty may fix our attention not even on the service but on the celebrant. You know what I mean. Try as one may to exclude it, the question “What on earth is he up to now?” will intrude. It lays one’s devotion waste. There is really some excuse for the man who said, “I wish they’d remember that the charge to Peter was “Feed my sheep, not try experiments on my rats, or even, Teach my performing dogs new tricks." C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer, pp. 4-5
Novelty, or we may say spontaneity, seems to have been the problem with the worship of the Corinthians. This is why Paul had to remind them that orderliness was next to godliness (1 Corinthians 14:40). We must, in worship, maintain the balance between freedom and frenzy, between cold ritualism and reckless spontaneity.
By way of reminder, let me reiterate the principle that worship is our highest calling. In the Larger Catechism we are told “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully enjoy Him forever.” Worship is the occupation of eternity.
In a time when we are encouraged to work for God, let us be reminded that our highest calling is to be worshipers of God and then to be workers. Never let your work for Him come before your worship of Him.
Some have said that men can be so heavenly minded they are of no earthly good. This can never be the case with worship, for we are of no earthly good until we have become pre-occupied with worshiping Him. That true worship will always bear the fruit of service.
What then is acceptable worship? When and where do we worship?
Our worship today is the way we live our lives every moment of the day. We please God by our obedience to His Spirit, as the He leads us deeper into the truth of Jesus as found in the Bible.
‘Believe me, the time is coming when you won’t worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem.’ John 4:21
‘Later, Jesus and His disciples were having dinner at Matthew’s house. Many tax collectors and other sinners were also there. Some Pharisees asked Jesus’ disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and other sinners?” Jesus heard them and answered, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. Go and learn what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘Instead of offering sacrifices to me, I want you to be merciful to others.’ I didn’t come to invite good people to be my followers. I came to invite sinners.”’ Matthew 9:10-13
Today, God wants us to live a life of love and mercy to those around us, and a life of love, respect and obedience towards Him. We honour God and show that we love Him by following the example that Jesus set. We need to take our worship to the streets by loving, socialising with, caring for and meeting the needs of those around us.
Artistic expression is not an end in itself; it is a tool to reach, preach, teach, challenge and to encourage those around us.
‘Artistic ability and creative gifts are only a medium; a tool God has given us to achieve a greater purpose. It is my desire to take people beyond their passion for their natural gifts (the medium) to a of discovering and developing their spiritual giftings (the purpose). A passion for artistic performance and professionalism is only fruitful when it supports a greater vision to serve and extend God’s Kingdom through the active expression of our spiritual gifts.’ Peter Shurley
This lesson excerpted from "Worship Today" by Marty Kendall kendall@student.qut.edu.au www.bible.orgThe Measure of a New Testament Church by Bob Deffinbaugh Biblical Studies Press 1998