Sermon Overview

Scripture Passage: John 4:3-24

Our greatest need, privilege, and supreme duty as Christians is to worship God; it is the very reason we were created. We are invited, commanded, encouraged, and empowered to worship God because we become like what we worship.

Adrian Rogers says, “If you want to be utterly miserable, turn your life inward. If you want to be filled with joy, turn your life upward. Look into the face of God and learn to worship.”

In John 4, Jesus met a woman who had been blinded by Satan, broken by sorrow, and bound by sin. What Jesus shares with this Samaritan woman reminds us why it is important to be faithful in worship.

First, Jesus taught her the meaning of true worship.

It is easy to fall into the trappings of idolatry, insincerity, and iniquity. But, as Adrian Rogers says, “True worship is all that we are, responding to all that God is. It is the adoring contemplation of God revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. We worship according to the worth we place on God.”

Second, Jesus tells us how to practice the true method of worship.

John 4:23-24 says, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

We must be regenerated by the Father. We cannot worship a God that we don’t know; we must make certain that we have been born into the Father’s family. We must be activated by the Spirit; it is impossible to honor God apart from being filled with the Holy Spirit. We must also be regulated by the Word; true worship is linked with studying the Word of God, for we worship in spirit and in truth.

Finally, Jesus reminds us of our motives as worshippers.

We go to church not primarily for what we can get but for what we can give. We glorify God when we bring our worship to church; it reveals that He is of the utmost importance in our lives.

 

Apply it to your life

What does your worship life say about how much worth you’ve placed on God? Consider the meaning, method, and motive of true worship as you glorify God in your faithfulness to Him.