Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

-John 4:1-26 

What Is Worship?

vs. 20 "our ancestors worshiped on this moutain, but you Jews claim that the place wherewe must worship is in Jerusalem"

Greek: proskuneo (literally, 'to kiss toward')

Worship involves:

  1. recognizing something as having superior value, and
  2. positioning ourselves appropriately to it.

Why Worship God?

What we value in life shapes how we live. It isn't a matter of whether we worship, but what we worship-- whatever is at the top of your hierarchy of values is your god.

1 Corinthians 4:6 "What do you have that you did not receive?"

God is the source of everything we value, and therefore the Supreme Good. The problem is that we are not always appropriately positioned to God.

How To Worship?

Through Jesus

  • vs. 21-23 “... believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks."
  • Jesus is the new temple where humanity can approach God in worship; we position ourselves rightly to God through Jesus.

In the Spirit and in truth

  • The Spirit gives you a new life that brings you into God's family (John 1:12-13, 3:5-8).
  • The Spirit reminds you of Jesus's teaching-- the truth (John 14:26).
  • To worship with a new spirit-empowered life and the truth taught by Jesus.

When you value God's love for you, you already have what matters most. Worshiping God sets you free

John 8:32 "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Questions for Small Groups
  1. Think back to your childhood or youth. What was something you valued or were passionate about, perhaps to the point of obsession? How did this value influence your actions?
  2. Do you think everyone worships something, whether they realize it or not? Why do you think Christians hold that God is the proper object of worship?
  3. According to the sermon, true worship is transformational. Reread John 4:21-24. How does Jesus introduce a new era of worshipping “in the Spirit and in truth”? How can this way of worshipping transform our way of life today?

 

Missed this Sunday's sermon? Watch it here!

 

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