"What If You Ran Into God Today: WORSHIP"
A Message On Worship
Presented by
Pastor Paul Newell
November 16, 2003

You’re out, minding your own business and there sits God in the flesh. He’s waiting for you? What would you do if He started talking to you? If He asked you a favor?

Would you be quick to respond? Would you even pay attention to Him? Or, as we talked about last week, would the distractions of where you are, what you are doing, the things you are already thinking get in the way? Would you even notice He was there?

What would you do if you ran into God today?

That’s pretty much the point of this morning’s theme, worship.

We’re finishing a short series this morning on “Can You Here Me Now?” When God speaks are we listening? Last week we looked specifically at listening to the voice of God, this morning we want to discover the responding part.

That’s called worship.

The HUGE problem with worship is coming up with a good definition of worship.

We’re a new church and many of you are brand new Christians, maybe you have not had much experience at “worship”.  But don’t worry, even more experienced Believers have a hard time defining worship, much less practicing worship.

Part of the problem is there are “things” people do that they call worship. Even the Bible talks about various activities of worship.

Psalm 134:2 talks about lifting our hands in worship

Psalm 95:1-2 tell us to sing and thank the Lord

In verse six it tells us to bow before God in worship

Psalm 47:1 tells us to clap

In Psalm 149 King David danced in worship

And Psalm 46:10 tells us to “relax and know that I am God” (be quiet, be still)

All of those things are involved in worship.

I’ve been in churches that actually set aside a specific part of their time together for what they call “praise and worship”. Usually that’s the time that we sing “Praise and Worship Songs”. We have “Worship Teams, Worship Pastors, and Worship Services”

But with all the talk about worship – it’s amazing to me that probably very little worship is actually happening.

We get really confused about worship.

The woman in our story this morning was just as confused about worship.

She was going about here normal routine when she met God. She met God face to face and did not even realize it.

He was sitting there beside the well waiting for her. And when they began to talk the issue of worship came up.

“Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?” John 4:19-20

You’ve already heard part of the story, but let’s review…

Jesus is on His way home from Jerusalem where He has attended a major religious celebration. Normally when Jews traveled from Jerusalem north into Galilee they took one of two routes…west along the Mediterranean Coast or east along what was known as the King’s Highway. Never did they travel the central route that took them through Samaria.

The Jews despised Samaritans. Samaritans were not Jewish, at best they were half-Jews who had intermarried “outside of their kind”. So they avoided Samaria whenever possible.

But not Jesus! As a matter of fact, Jesus told his disciples that He had to go through Samaria this time.

When they reached the village of Sychar it was lunch time and Jesus was tired and thirsty. So He sent his disciples into the village for food while He rested beside the village well. It was noon, it was hot, and no one was around.

That’s when she arrived carrying her large water pot and Jesus asked her for a drink.

As Melinda shared earlier, the woman was surprised. She was surprised that anyone was there at the well (she probably came to be alone), she was surprised that a Jewish man was sitting there at a Samaritan well, and most of all she was surprised that a Jewish man was asking her a favor! (Jewish men had little respect for women, let along Samaritan women.)

But that’s when the conversation began.

Jesus talked to her about her need for living water. She had come to the well to get a physical need met (water), but Jesus wanted to talk to her about her real need – to let Him give her eternal life.

Then Jesus helped her come to grips with her real need: acceptance and forgiveness.

This lady had been dumped by five husbands (women could not initiate divorce in those days) and was living with a man she wasn’t married to. To say she felt ashamed, rejected, guilty…well that was an extreme understatement.

But Jesus wanted this woman to realize that He offered forgiveness and eternal life. He wasn’t going to reject her.

It’s at that point that the issue of worship comes up.

The woman asks am important question…`"where do we worship?”

Jesus tells her about eternal life and living water and she assumes He’s talking about going to church! The Samaritans believed you had to go to church at Mt Gerizim and the Jews taught that you had to go to church at the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Which was right?

Jesus’ answers hits right to the point: worship is about something all together different than a place. It’s not about church – it’s about true worship.

So what is true worship? Let’s uncover this with Jesus this morning.

First notice that Jesus shows her that worship is NOT about location.

“Believe me, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father here or in Jerusalem. (John 4:21)

They Jews went to the Temple in Jerusalem. That wasn’t wrong. The Temple was the center of religious activity for the Jews. It was their focal point. If you read the Old Testament you will see that a majority of it talks about the Temple and worship that takes place at the Temple. But nowhere in the Bible does it tell us that worship is about a specific location – the only location that matters ultimately in worship is your heart.

Worship is really not about a place.

Next Jesus shows her that worship is NOT about how much you know.

Look at verse 22 of John chapter four.

“You Samaritans know so little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him.” John 4:22

Everybody with me…whoo! That’s a relief!

Worship does not depend on how much I know. I don’t have have a theology degree. I don’t have to know the whole Bible. I don’t have to have a lot of experience.

The Jews were experts at knowing about God. They had the God’s Law and a thousand years of studying the law. They has even written more laws and books about the original law. They had a whole class of people to study about God “The Scribes & Pharisees” – there was only one problem…

Most of them still did not KNOW GOD…and here is a key truth about worship…

YOU CAN’T WORSHIP GOD IF YOU DON’T KNOW GOD.

The better you get to know God, the easier it will be to worship Him.

Worship is NOT about how much you know, it’s about WHO you know!

That’s good to know, because most of us are still learning about God. It takes a lifetime and then all of eternity and I’m still not sure we will learn all there is to know about God.

Worship is not about a place

Worship is not about how much you know

So what is worship about? What is real worship? What does it take to really worship God.

It’s interesting that Jesus does not tell her the type of worship she should do. In other words, He doesn’t tell her whether to sing, dance, raise her hands, sit quietly. He doesn’t tell her what style of worship is best.

Instead Jesus tells her the two key elements of worship.

The two keys pieces that actually make anything you do true worship!

Listen to what Jesus tells this woman next…

“But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24

Twice times He repeats Himself…two times. Did you catch it?

“in spirit and in truth”

“But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23a

“For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4: 24

There are the two keys to worshipping God.

No complex set of rules. No specific format. No one style. No one practice.

Two simple things: “in spirit and in truth”.

That’s all it takes to worship God. “those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth”.

So let’s explain those two terms.

Those who worship God must worship Him IN SPIRIT.

Right before that it explains that “God is Spirit”. That means that God is not physical. He’s not something you can touch.

That’s what makes Jesus so unique. He was God (Spirit) who became flesh. He took upon Himself a physical body so we could relate to Him physically. But God is not physical, God is Spirit.

What is our Spirit? It’s who we are on the inside.  It’s what actually makes us alive. Our innermost being.

Here’s the point. It’s not the motions you go through. It’s not what you do on the outside that really makes something worshipful – it’s the attitude of your heart. What you are on the inside.

So someone can actually look very “spiritual”, they can look very “worshipful” – but if their heart and soul is not in it – it’s not worship.

Worship begins with the spirit not with the body.

You don’t “get into the mood” to worship. You get into the spirit of worship.

This is important, because there are times when our emotions make us think we are worshipping.  

We hear a great song, we are moved…but that is not worship.

We see something beautiful, we are touched…but that’s not worship.

We listen to a great message, we are challenged…but that’s not worship.

Worship is what happens when our spirit connects with God’s Spirit. When our spirit acknowledges that worship is about God it’s not about us.

We don’t come to church to get something out of worship – we come to church to worship together – focused on God.

I love the definition I read recently about worship: Worship is focus and response toward God.

WORSHIP IS FOCUS AND RESPONSE TOWARD GOD.

We place our focus on God. The response may affect us physically or emotionally – it probably should. But it begins with our spirit focused on God and makes its way to our emotions and actions.

Now notice the second key to true worship…

“those who worship him must worship in…truth”.

TRUTH is the second key to worshipping God.

There are lots of people who attempt to put their focus on God. If you go to just about any religion they will tell you you need to focus on God. Then they tell you that “god” is yourself (you are god so meditate on yourself). Or they tell you something is “god” so meditate on that thing.

You can focus all you want – but it had better be the TRUE GOD or it’s not going to work.

TRUTH becomes the lens of our worship. If we are worshipping but not being truthful in our worship, that our worship is our of focus.

That truth takes in two forms.

First, we must accept what is true about God and what He is telling us when we worship Him.

Jesus said it this way in John 17:17, “Make them pure and holy by teaching them your words of truth.”

Psalms 119:160 says, “All your words are true”

You can’t genuinely worship God and ignore His Word.

Remember when I said the better you get to know God the easier it is to worship Him? Well, you can’t get to know God until you read His biography – and the Bible is a biography about God! It’s His-Story!.

So the first form that worship takes on is the what of worship – worship always centers around God revealing His truth to us.

The second form that worship takes on is the way of worship – this is the action part – worship always involves acting on God’s truth.

Listen to that again…

Worship involves ACTING ON GOD’S TRUTH.

There is a great story in the Old Testament about King Saul, the first king of Israel. God had told Saul through the prophet Samuel to go destroy a neighboring kingdom that was intolerably wicked. Saul and his armies were to go and destroy the Amalekites and everything they possessed. They were to go and “go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation” 1 Samuel 15:3. Everything was to be destroyed – every human, every animal, every object.

The battle was a complete success, but instead of destroying everything, Saul and his armies began to collect stuff to take home. They kept the king alive as a trophy as well as the best sheep, cattle, camels, donkeys…the Bible tells us in fact that the only thing they destroyed were the things that weren’t worth anything – they plundered everything else for their own selfishness.

Then when Samuel showed up and accused Saul of disobeying God’s direct order, Saul’s excuse was that he has saved the best in order to make a “sacrifice” to God.

Samuel’s words are the point of this story:

“But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22

“Obedience is far better than sacrifice”

“To obey is better than sacrifice.” (KJV)

Do you get it?

God wants us to OBEY the His TRUTH. It’s not your sacrifice that’s important to God, it’s your obedience. Obedience leads to sacrifice. But sacrifice alone is not obedience.

You can go through the motions, but real worship involves doing what God tells you to do.

Those are the two keys:

Focusing in your spirit.

Responding to His truth.

Worship is not about a place.

Worship is not about how much you know.

Worship is about determined focus on God in your spirit..

Worship is about responding to God’s Truth.

That’s it.

It’s that simple. No big list. No system to learn.

I want us to look at one other thing Jesus told this woman at the well that afternoon…

Look with me again at verse 23 of John chapter four.

“true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth…”

We’ve got that part down now…but notice…

God’s desire about worship

“The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way.”

Anyone

God is looking for anyone who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth.

He’s not particular. You and I will do nicely.

Such  worship, such total abandon to God and His truth is so rare that God is looking for anyone who will do it.

And imagine His response when we do, when we do worship Him the way He desires.

You may be thinking…but I like to worship “this certain way”.

Let me ask you a question…what makes you feel loved, appreciated, adored?

Maybe you like presents. Or maybe you like it when someone spends alone time with you, or takes you somewhere special. Whatever it is, think about that for a moment.

Now…suppose I was the one who you wanted to make you feel loved, appreciated and adored. Suppose you were looking to me for those needs.

And suppose I actually knew exactly what you needed and wanted to feel that way.

Now suppose I came to you and instead of bringing a present, or spending alone time, or taking you to that special place I did something I wanted to do instead. I decided I would sit in front of my computer and show you how to make really cool graphics (even though you could care less about computers of graphics).

Or instead of spending alone time with you – I took you to a party with all of my friends.

Would you feel very loved, appreciated or adored? Obviously not. You would feel rejected, possibly insulted because I wasn’t showing you love, appreciation or adoration – I was being totally selfish.

Guess what? That’s often what we do with God. We tell Him we will worship Him, but only on our terms, not His. That’s not worship!

God’s desire is for us to worship Him His way!

And that begins by responding to His truth from our Spirit.

It means opening our hearts to His Spirit.

It means allowing Him to do His work of forgiveness in our hearts.

It means giving our lives to Him as our Boss (LORD) and accepting His eternal life.

Then it means continuing to respond to Him TRUTHFULLY as He reveals Himself to us.

So here are the real tests of worship…

Where is your focus? Where does your spirit spend most of it’s time?

Are you genuinely seeking and willing to respond to God’s truth as He reveals Himself to you? What are you refusing to do that God has already dealt with you concerning?

“true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23a

“those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4: 24

(c) Paul Newell 2003

FamilyFellowship Church

P.O.  Box 465, Beaumont, CA 92223

churchforfamily.com