The Requirements of Worship

Lesson #72

In the last lesson we learned that location of worship was not important, but who the people were who were worshiping and their connection to the true God was. Only believers, through the person of Jesus Christ, can approach God in true worship. Then in John 4:23 Jesus points how one is to worship: “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him” (ESV). Up until now the temple in Jerusalem has been the place of worship, but now with the coming of Jesus worship is to focus on him.

Jesus has come to provide the way of salvation and only through him is the way to the Father and as a result through Jesus is the only way to true worship and that worship is to be in spirit and truth: “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24 ESV). To clarify the focus even more, we have learned through our study that Jesus is God who is seeking the worship of God, but who is able and willing to worship Jesus? Those who believe in him and are born again. The one who is truly saved is the one and only one who can truly worship. It is impossible then to separate being saved and God being worshiped. In similar fashion the believer does not truly love apart from obedience. We will cover that in a later lesson.

To worship in spirit implies the presence of spiritual life and thus being born again. Anyone can worship anything they want, but it is false worship. Only the one who is spiritually alive can understand and approach the living God and only the worship of the living God is true worship. To worship in truth implies spiritual life that understands the requirements of true worship. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is our pass to the Father, but He and the Father are God and before them we bow in true worship. In Romans 3:11, Paul supports this by saying, “there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God” (NET). Only the one who is spiritually alive is able to experience true worship.

To this the woman replies with, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things” (John 4:25 ESV). She acknowledges his understanding of things to which Jesus replies, “I who speak to you am he” (John 4:26 ESV). This Messiah who she says is coming, Jesus identifies as himself.

Prayer

Father, until this lesson I have never really thought about true worship, its requirements, and its uniqueness. I can also see that true worship is invisible to the spiritually dead. Spiritual life provides the light that brings true worship into focus and the more holy my life is the stronger is the light and the clearer is my worship. Father, I am overwhelmed by what is available to me from my relationship with Jesus Christ. How thankful I am for these studies in John to learn more about you and your Son and the life you want me to experience.

True Worship

Lesson #71

As we work through these verses we come to John 4:22: “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews” (ESV), which I find rather difficult to clearly explain. The verse has three parts. First, “You worship what you do not know.” It is not where the Samaritans worship that is the problem, but they don’t know whom they worship. I don’t think the Jews did either because in John 8:19 the Pharisees began asking Jesus who or where his father was. Jesus answered, “You do not know either me or my Father. If you knew me you would know my Father too” (NET). Jesus is suggesting that their understanding of who God is, is wrong and therefore their worship is not true but false worship.

Second, “we worship what we know.” I already suggested that the Jews were also guilty of false worship, but they are closer to the truth than the Samaritans. To understand this we need the third part of the verse, “for salvation is from the Jews.” The Jews understood that there was coming a savior into the world. They were identifying him as the Messiah, the Son of David, and the servant of the Lord. The Jews knew the coming Messiah was an important element in true worship, but they were not able to accept that Jesus was the one.

There are many religions in the world, but only one is true and it is the one that embraces Jesus as the Savior who came to die for sinners and then to rise again to become the Mediator between God and man. The uniqueness of Jesus that we have been learning about makes the Christian religion unique among all religions and unless a person comes to Jesus in belief and is born again, that person is unable to worship in truth. To see the uniqueness of Jesus in relationship to the Father and thus to true worship, look up John 8:19, 5:23 and 5:42 – 43. Anyone who does not know who Jesus really is and honor him for who he really is, and love him for who he really is does not know or honor or love God and is thus unable to truly worship Him. It is impossible to worship what you reject and thus if you deny who Jesus is then your understanding of who God is, is incorrect and thus the one you worship is not the true God. I believe that many in the western church are dangerously close, if not already there, to worshiping a false god.  

We are going to have to leave verse 23 for next time to allow more room to express some thoughts.

Prayer

Father, this lesson reveals a very important concept about true worship and is rather difficult to grasp. I pray that what is covered in the next lesson will bring greater clarity to the concept expressed here. As I see the shift in music from a focus on God to the worshipper and less emphasis on Jesus in our teaching, I am concerned that we may be headed down the path to false worship. Father, protect me by keeping me close to Jesus.

We are to Worship the Father

Lesson #70

The section we are working on is John 4:15 – 26. In particular we are looking at verses 20 – 22.

Trying to move the conversation away from the sin problem in her life she responds with, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem” (John 4:20 NET). At this time Jesus doesn’t try to turn the conversation back to her sin, but he does take control of where this conversation will go. Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father” (John 4:21 ESV). Her response was in a physical location, but Jesus comes back and tells her that neither on the mountain or in Jerusalem will be the place of true worship. Jesus is not going to argue with her over which location is best but is hinting at something better. He adds who you will worship which moves the conversation away from location.

Why did Jesus introduce the worship of the Father? In his sermon titled, “Not in This or That Mount, but in Spirit and Truth”, John Piper gives three reasons. Since you have the link to the details I will only summarize his reasons. First, “God is ‘the Father’ of Samaritans”. From John 4:12: “Are you greater than our father Jacob” (ESV) and John 4:20: “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain”, Jesus knew that father was important to her. Jesus wants to lift her focus from earthly fathers to the Father who is to be worshiped.

Secondly, “God is ‘the Father’ of Children Who receive Him”. Being a father requires God to have children. “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12 ESV). Jesus wants her to understand that it is not the place of worship that is important, but whether you are a child of God, thus making him your Father. She needs to understand that she must to be born again through belief in his Son.

Third, “God is ‘the Father’ of the Son, Jesus Christ”. Jesus wants her to understand that the Father has one unique Son and he is standing before her. The Father is to be worshiped, but true worship will not happen apart from Jesus Christ. It is not where you worship, but who. We will look at this in our next lesson.

Prayer

Father, how often our worship is focused on God without understanding the role of Father and Son in true worship. Father, I have notices that as we distance our self from Jesus our worship seems to become less personal and more in terms of God without the important connection to salvation in Jesus Christ. Father it seems that as a result Christianity is becoming more like a religion and less of a personal relationship. Father, I pray concerning this apparent drift away from the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus as Prophet

Lesson #69

In the conversation with the woman at the well, Jesus penetrates to her heart when he asks her in verse 16 to go and get her husband. To her response that she has no husband, Jesus responds with precise information about her relationship with men by saying, “you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true” (John 4:18 ESV). The woman, desperate to turn Jesus away from that which is causing her so much pain, responds with “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship” (John 4:19 – 20 ESV).

The woman felt trapped and in an attempt to get the spotlight off from her sin, which she has been careful to hide away in darkness, she responds with an entirely different topic. In response to what Jesus said, she calls him a prophet, but then quickly brings up the topic of worship. Most of us would respond by ignoring this new topic and go back to the conversation about her husbands and her adultery because that is where her need is that Jesus can help her with. But he does not do that. Notice that again her response is connected to external things; where they worshiped (on this mountain) and where the Jews worshiped (in Jerusalem), but once more Jesus is going to try to bring her back to spiritual things by saying, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father” (John 4:21 ESV). The place of worship is not going to be important but how we worship.

Before we go any further with this new topic, we need to draw out from all we have said so far some main points. In versus 1 – 15 we learned that Jesus is the living water that the woman so desperately needs but totally misunderstands. Then in verses 16 – 19 we learned that Jesus is the prophet that can penetrate and lay open our soul and see what is inside and still love us. On this point consider Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (ESV). The common interpretation is that this verse refers to the Bible, but “word” in “the word of God” comes from the same Greek word that refers to Jesus in John 1:1, 2, 14 and 1 John 1:1. If “word” in this Hebrews verse referred to Jesus then it would harmonize with what Jesus did with the woman. Jesus is living and active and he can pierce deep into our soul and discern our thoughts and intentions. We see Jesus fulfilling Hebrews 4:12 with this woman at the well and he does the same with us and still loves us beyond our comprehension. We now come in our study to where we will see Jesus as the one who will help us understand what true worship is.

Prayer

Lord, you are the source of so many things we need. You are eternal life that overcomes death, light that removes darkness, truth that overcomes deception, the way to the Father that delivers us from the path of destruction, food that nourishes our soul, living water that quenches our thirst, a prophet that knows our inner thoughts and intents but still loves us, to name a few. How can we not love and obey you. All other options lead to eternal destruction. Lord, thank you.

Is the Heart Ready

Lesson #68

In this lesson we want to consider why it is important to learn about a persons need or relationship to a sin problem that can be used as a connection to a spiritual solution. Evangelism is not getting people to come forward or raise their hand or say a prayer, but it is to lead a person who is spiritually dead to Jesus who has the gift of living water that springs up into eternal life. To be effective, evangelism is to connect a person to Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit in an area of their need. Salvation is an issue of the heart not the mind. In this section Jesus wants to bring this woman’s need out of the darkness she is hiding it in and expose this need to the light so she can be helped.

Think back to John 3:20: “For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed” (NET). This is where the woman was when she was confronted by Jesus. This woman is spiritually dead and blind to spiritual things and because of her sin of years of improper relationships her heart was hard. She felt safe alone where she could better hide her sin and thus her need. Loving relationships must be built with such people to provide safe areas where needs can be exposed and the gospel applied.

The area of sin for this woman was in her relationship with men. She either chose men who would mistreat her or they found something about her that caused them to leave her or maybe both. Her unstable sinful life with men set her apart from other woman as a vile undesirable woman to not be with. Being ridiculed by other women and abused in marriage this woman harbored some very deep hurts in her life. From this Jesus sees a woman with a very deep emptiness and sinfulness that hurts so much she has sealed it up darkness. Jesus knows that her heart is locked up in this darkness and he knows he must probe that darkness to find the source of the hurt. Jesus did not want to deal with the problem at that time. He simply wanted to expose to her the thirst that she didn’t know she had and share with her that the living water he had if drunk by faith would satisfy her thirst and would spring up into eternal life with joy and satisfaction.

What I am trying to emphasize in this lesson is that leading a person to salvation is usually not accomplished by an altar call or a discussion with a person. It is essential to determine if God has prepared the person spiritually to understand spiritual things. Jesus used being born again with Nicodemus and he used living water with this woman. In both cases he determined they had not been spiritually prepared. I generally use spiritual birth as a test. If the person fails my test like Nicodemus did then I know I need to lay more foundation and allow God more time to prepare the person, if he is going to. There are many he doesn’t prepare. My grandfather and my dad were examples. They were never able to understand spiritual things even though they spent years going to church.

Prayer

Father, I know that anyone who comes to Jesus Christ for salvation will not be denied, but I have also learned that unless you prepare the heart they will not come. This was made so clear to me through Paul’s conversion. Father, thank you for showing me through your word that salvation and the time of spiritual birth is determined by you and not by cleaver words on my part.

Uncovering Needs

Lesson #67

The next section in our study covers John 4:15 – 26. In response to Jesus telling the woman who he was and that he could provide her with living water, the woman clearly communicated that she still did not understand the spiritual nature of the living water by saying, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water” (John 4:15 ESV). Like Nicodemus, she was still unable to understand spiritual things and therefore unable to understand what Jesus was saying. Jesus then realized that further conversation about living water would not be productive so he changed the focus of the conversation to her marriage by requesting her to “Go call your husband and come back here” (John 4:16 NET) to which she responds that she has no husband. Jesus then demonstrates his ability to know the lives of people, even their thoughts replies with, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true” (John 4:17 – 18 ESV). This response surprises her and she responds with: “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet” (John 4:19 ESV).

We need to look more deeply at what we just covered to see if we can’t learn more about this woman. I believe this deeper insight is important because in this culture we often share the gospel without any real interest in the life of the person. Jesus never tried to convince the woman to believe something or to make some kind of decision. He knew there was a deeper issue in her life that he needed to uncover and then make a spiritual connection to. As we look at these verses do we see a possible clue that might open a door into her life?

In verse 15 and 16 is the word “here”. It seems that the woman doesn’t like to come “here” to the well to draw water and when she comes it is at noon when no one else will be there. Why does she not come in the morning along with other woman when it is cooler? In verse 16, Jesus makes reference to “here” by requesting that she go and get her husband, which she does not have, and bring him “here” with her. What is the connection? Might it be, for some reason, a painful experience for her to come to the well and is there a connection to the men in her life and this pain? Should not her husband come with her to draw water and protect her from this fear or is her fear related to her many husbands?

Jesus perceives that in her pain to come to the well and the fact that she has had five husbands and is now living with a man, is a sin problem that he can focus on with her that could show her an important need that Jesus can help her with spiritually. Jesus is searching for a way to get into her inner life to open the door to her need of salvation.

We are beginning to see the importance of establishing a caring relationship with the person we want to lead to salvation. Salvation is not simply making a decision. It is a manner of the heart. In our next lesson we will consider this further.

Prayer

Father, thank you for teaching me, while I was in China that salvation is not winning a debate with a person that convinces them to pray a prayer, but is finding a need in a person’s life and showing how Jesus wants to meet that need. Thank you for teaching me that you determine the time of salvation, not me. Thank you for showing me that salvation is needs based not winning an argument.

The Gift of Living Water

Lesson #66

In this lesson we will finish up our discussion on John 4:11 – 14. After Jesus said to the woman, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water”, she responds with, “You have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do you get this living water? Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.” Jesus makes a claim to his superiority and she challenges him with the question, “Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you?”

The question before us is, “Do you think Jesus is greater than Jacob and if so why?” Consider what Jesus said in response to her question: ““Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13 – 14 NASB). Jesus is greater than Jacob and the water he can supply is greater than the water from the well that Jacob dug. This water that Jesus gives becomes a well in that it never runs out and it satisfies ones thirst forever.

I will close this lesson and this section with a quote from the sermon by John Piper, titled “You Will Never Be Thirsty Again.” He lists five things Jesus says about the water that he gives and offers us today:

1. It's the gift of God (verse 10: "If you knew the gift of God").
2. It's living water (verse 10: "He would have given you living water").
3. If you drink it, you will never thirst again - that is, it's always there to satisfy you when your longing soul is thirsty (verse 14: "whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again").
4. This water becomes a spring - a well of water (verse 14: "The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water"). That's why you never get thirsty again - not because one drink is enough, but because one true drink produces a well for an eternity of drinks.
5. This water gives eternal life (verse 14: ". . . a spring of water welling up to eternal life.").

Have you received this gift of living water from Jesus that springs up to eternal life?

Prayer

Lord, thank you for the gift of living water you have given me. It is the promise of refreshment for an eternity with you. I think of those who will suffer for an eternity apart from you in hell where this refreshing, life giving water will not be available to quench the horrible thirst that will be experienced there. Lord, you have so much to offer. How can anyone not surrender to you to enjoy all you have to offer? Thank you for you gifts to me.