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FAITHFUL IN OUR WORSHIP -- JOHN 4:3-24
We have been studying faith, and an outgrowth of faith is our faithfulness to God. So this morning we are going to segue from FAITH to a subject I mentioned last week in Sunday School as well as in the worship service, and that subject is WORSHIP. As I said last week, as a pastor of one of the Lord’s churches I am constantly concerned about our worship. I want our worship to be pleasing to God, led by His Holy Spirit, and according to His Word. I want our worship to offer all who come here a little taste of Heaven on earth. To learn to worship God as He desires is the ULTIMATE PRIVILEGE of a saved person. Worship is also our GREATEST DUTY, and as believers it is our DEEPEST NEED. Why is learning to worship God properly so important? Psalm 115:4-8 teaches us that we become like the thing we worship. First, the man molds the idol, then the idol molds the man. If we worship idols, we will become like the idol. (Ever see a teenager worship some actor, sports star, or musician?) If we will worship the Lord, then we’re changed from glory to glory to the same image. II Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” True, biblical worship will make us more like the One we worship. Dr. Adrian Rogers said, “The problem with the modern church today is that we have forgotten how to worship.” Some say if you want to build a great church you have to talk to people about their needs, about what they like and then give them what they like and meet their needs. Now they’re talking about psychological, emotional, and physical needs and ignoring the greatest needs – the spiritual. Much of the “worship” in America today is designed to please man, not God. (We have gone from theology to "me-ology.”) Rather than worshipping God, we have turned our eyes inward and upon ourselves. If you want to be utterly miserable, focus your life upon yourself. Mark 8:35-37 -- "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. 36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” But if you want to be filled with joy, focus your life on God and the Lord Jesus. Notice what vs. 4 of our text says of Jesus: “And he must needs go through Samaria.” This was not a geographical need. It would have been much easier (and more pleasing to the Pharisees) to cross the Jordan River into Arabia, bypass Samaria, and cross back into Galilee. This was a spiritual need. I believe Jesus knew He would meet this woman at Jacob’s well. This Samaritan woman was miserable. She had never learned to truly worship. She was self-centered. She had been blinded by Satan. Not only blinded by Satan but broken by sorrow. (Life may have thrills, but it has no joy apart from the Lord Jesus. Proverbs 20:17: “Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.” And she was bound by sin. She was “religious,” but her “religion” had never helped her. She had some ideas, but they were not from God. She had a “form of godliness,” but there was no power in it. (That is why Jesus taught her about true worship.) God made us, primarily, to worship Him, to know Him, to fellowship with Him, and Him with us. I John 1:7: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” God created mankind for His pleasure and His enjoyment, and until we fulfill that purpose, we will never know real fulfillment. Take a fish out of the sea and put him in a tree, and he’s an unhappy fish. Take a bird out of the air and put him in the water, and you’ll have an unhappy bird. Take a person who is made for God and immerse him in the things of this world apart from God, and he will have no fulfillment. Acts 17:28: (Speaking of God) “For in him we live, and move, and have our being . . . ” Until we learn to worship, we’ll be like a fish out of water. Here we see that:
I. WE MUST LEARN THE TRUE MEANING OF WORSHP – VS. 22.
II. WE MUST PRACTICE THE TRUE METHOD OF WORSHIP – VV. 21-23.
III. WE MUSTHAVE THE TRUE MOTIVE OF WORSHIP – VS. 23.
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By JWHWe have been studying faith, and an outgrowth of faith is our faithfulness to God. So this morning we are going to segue from FAITH to a subject I mentioned last week in Sunday School as well as in the worship service, and that subject is WORSHIP. As I said last week, as a pastor of one of the Lord’s churches I am constantly concerned about our worship. I want our worship to be pleasing to God, led by His Holy Spirit, and according to His Word. I want our worship to offer all who come here a little taste of Heaven on earth. To learn to worship God as He desires is the ULTIMATE PRIVILEGE of a saved person. Worship is also our GREATEST DUTY, and as believers it is our DEEPEST NEED. Why is learning to worship God properly so important? Psalm 115:4-8 teaches us that we become like the thing we worship. First, the man molds the idol, then the idol molds the man. If we worship idols, we will become like the idol. (Ever see a teenager worship some actor, sports star, or musician?) If we will worship the Lord, then we’re changed from glory to glory to the same image. II Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” True, biblical worship will make us more like the One we worship. Dr. Adrian Rogers said, “The problem with the modern church today is that we have forgotten how to worship.” Some say if you want to build a great church you have to talk to people about their needs, about what they like and then give them what they like and meet their needs. Now they’re talking about psychological, emotional, and physical needs and ignoring the greatest needs – the spiritual. Much of the “worship” in America today is designed to please man, not God. (We have gone from theology to "me-ology.”) Rather than worshipping God, we have turned our eyes inward and upon ourselves. If you want to be utterly miserable, focus your life upon yourself. Mark 8:35-37 -- "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. 36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37 Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” But if you want to be filled with joy, focus your life on God and the Lord Jesus. Notice what vs. 4 of our text says of Jesus: “And he must needs go through Samaria.” This was not a geographical need. It would have been much easier (and more pleasing to the Pharisees) to cross the Jordan River into Arabia, bypass Samaria, and cross back into Galilee. This was a spiritual need. I believe Jesus knew He would meet this woman at Jacob’s well. This Samaritan woman was miserable. She had never learned to truly worship. She was self-centered. She had been blinded by Satan. Not only blinded by Satan but broken by sorrow. (Life may have thrills, but it has no joy apart from the Lord Jesus. Proverbs 20:17: “Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.” And she was bound by sin. She was “religious,” but her “religion” had never helped her. She had some ideas, but they were not from God. She had a “form of godliness,” but there was no power in it. (That is why Jesus taught her about true worship.) God made us, primarily, to worship Him, to know Him, to fellowship with Him, and Him with us. I John 1:7: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” God created mankind for His pleasure and His enjoyment, and until we fulfill that purpose, we will never know real fulfillment. Take a fish out of the sea and put him in a tree, and he’s an unhappy fish. Take a bird out of the air and put him in the water, and you’ll have an unhappy bird. Take a person who is made for God and immerse him in the things of this world apart from God, and he will have no fulfillment. Acts 17:28: (Speaking of God) “For in him we live, and move, and have our being . . . ” Until we learn to worship, we’ll be like a fish out of water. Here we see that:
I. WE MUST LEARN THE TRUE MEANING OF WORSHP – VS. 22.
II. WE MUST PRACTICE THE TRUE METHOD OF WORSHIP – VV. 21-23.
III. WE MUSTHAVE THE TRUE MOTIVE OF WORSHIP – VS. 23.