True Worship

John 4:1-42

Key verse 4:23-24

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

About 2,000 years ago in a town called Sychar Jesus met a lonely woman. There he gave her a Bible study. The subject of the Bible study was “true worship.” The lady fell in love with the Bible study. It gave her great joy - the joy of finding the true object of worship. With joy she invited people to Jesus. In this way the joy of meeting Jesus, the Son of God, spread throughout Samaria and beyond. And it all began with one short Bible study on true worship. How did the Bible study go? 

Part I. “Will you give me a drink?”  (1-18)

Look at verses 1-2. “The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.” This passage indicates that when the Pharisees heard of Jesus’ growing popularity, they began to see him as a threat to their positions as religious leaders. But Jesus did not want to get involved in a "power" struggle with them. 

So what did Jesus decide to do? Look at verses 3-5. “When the Lord learned of this, 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.” This was a three day journey, and the half-way point was the Samaritan town of Sychar.  One of the most important landmarks in Sychar was the well that the Jewish patriarch, Jacob, had dug about 2,000 years before.  The residents were proud to drink from the same well that Jacob had dug.  It was at this well that Jesus stopped to rest while his disciples went into the town to buy some food.  The time was about noon.  

At first, Jesus was all alone.  But it was not long before he saw in the distance a Samaritan woman coming toward him carrying a water jar.  This was surprising because women in those days usually went to the well either in the morning or in the evening when the sun was low.  At those times, you could see many women around the well, drawing water, washing clothes, and chatting about the latest news:  HYPERLINK news:“Did you hear what happened to Missionary Blessing? After three sons in a row, finally she gave birth to a daughter.”  “Wow, that is great. How many hours was she in labor?”  “Oh, you won’t believe it; she broke the record.  As soon as she arrived at the hospital, the baby just came out.”  But this woman came when she was least likely to meet anyone there.  This was probably her daily habit.  She walked the dusty road from the town to the well under the baking noonday sun, lowered her jar deep into the well, drew up her heavy burden, and walked back home again–all in total silence.  She probably thought that no one ever saw her.  But God saw her and arranged a special meeting between her and Jesus.  This is why Jesus “had” to go through Samaria.  

When the woman arrived at the well, she must have been surprised to see a Jewish man sitting there.  But she was even more surprised when she heard that man say to her, “Will you give me a drink?”  The Jews and Samaritans in those days harbored many bad feelings toward each other and, if possible, did not even talk to each other. This woman’s heart must have hardened as soon as she saw that Jesus was a Jew.  She expected that he would arrogantly look down on her.  But Jesus helped this woman to soften her heart toward him by lowering himself and asking her for a drink.  Who can refuse a weary traveler who humbly asks for a drink?  With this question, her hardened heart could begin to melt a little, and in genuine surprise she said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman.  How can you ask me for a drink?”  

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.”  Jesus wanted to give her living water.  Yet before he could give it to her, she needed to ask, and before she could ask, she needed to know two things: the gift of God and who she was talking to.  When she heard this, she probably thought to herself, “What is the ‘gift of God’?”  “Who is this man?”  “And what does he mean by ‘living water’”?  Most of all, it seemed odd to her that the man who just asked her for a drink was now offering her one.  So she said to him, “Sir,  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 his sons and his flocks and herds?”  Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  Jesus taught her what living water was by contrasting it with the water that she drew from the well every day.  The difference between the two is that whoever drinks the water from the well will be thirsty again, whereas whoever drinks the water Jesus gives will never thirst.  Wow!  Never thirst!  How can this be?  Jesus gives us a clue by saying, “the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  Imagine if you have a spring of water within you, constantly welling up with fresh, cool, crystal-clear water.  Do you think you will ever get thirsty?  Do you think that you will need to go down the dusty road to the deep, dark well to get a drink?  No way. So the water Jesus gives is far better than the water from the well.  

The woman thought so too, so she asked Jesus for a drink: “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”  According to Jesus’ promise in verse 10, if she asked for a drink, he would give it to her.  But the problem was that she didn’t yet know what she was asking for, nor did she know who she was asking.  So Jesus said, “Go, call your husband, and come back.”  She was surprised and embarrassed, and she answered, “I have no husband.”   Jesus replied, “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.”  

Jesus’ purpose in bringing up this woman’s embarrassing history with men was not to shame her, but to help her to see that her experience with husbands was the same as her experience with water from the well: she became thirsty again and again.  This is because she was trying to satisfy her need for God with the love of men.  Probably she met her first husband when she was just a young college student.  He was handsome, charming, and smart.  Whenever she looked at him, her heart just melted.  When he talked to her, she felt so good.  When he first asked her if she wanted to go to the movies, she could hardly believe it.  When he held her hand for the first time, it was like a dream, and when he proposed to her, she felt like the happiest woman on the face of the earth.  She dreamed of perfect happiness with her husband.  But, tragically, her marriage did not go as she planned.  Her husband’s love could not satisfy her soul, and for some reason the marriage ended.  Her marriage dream was completely torn in two, and she could only sing Natalie Imbruglia’s song of heartbreak, “Torn”: 

I thought I saw a man brought to life
He was warm, he came around like he was dignified
He showed me what it was to cry
Well you couldn’t be that man I adored
You don’t seem to know, don’t seem to care what your heart is for
But I don’t know him anymore
There’s nothing where he used to lie
My conversation has run dry
That’s what’s going on, nothing’s fine I’m torn

I’m all out of faith, this is how I feel
I’m cold and I am shamed lying naked on the floor
Illusion never changed into something real
I’m wide awake and I can see the perfect sky is torn
You’re a little late, I’m already torn

But it was not long before she met another man–and this guy seemed to be different–she hoped that he could love her forever as her heart desired.  But he, too, was just a man.  And the next man was the same, and the next man, and the next.  Why is it that she continually went from husband to husband?  It was because she was trying to satisfy her thirst for God with the love of men.  But it couldn’t work.  

When God made man, he made man’s body from the dust of the ground but man’s spirit came from his own breath.  Since our bodies are made from created materials, they need created things to survive and be healthy, such as food and water.  But since our spirits come directly from the Creator, they cannot be satisfied with what is created.  Therefore, everyone has a fundamental need for spiritual communion with God.  Without this spiritual fellowship, we cannot be happy even though our bodies are well-supplied.  This Samaritan woman went from one husband to the next, trying to find deep satisfaction through their love, but none of her husbands could give her what she longed for.  But, thank God, she finally met Jesus, the Savior–the one who could give her the gift of the Holy Spirit and fulfill her longing for God. Jesus helped her to see that what her soul longed for was not the love of men, but spiritual communion with her Creator.  Jesus wanted to help her to leave behind the well of man’s love, drink living water, and never thirst again.  So he said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.”  

In my own life, God had mercy on me like he had on this woman.  Although I grew up in a Christian home, I didn’t know anything about the gift of God, nor did I know Jesus personally, so I ended up looking to many things for satisfaction, such as video games, reading novels, and especially lust.  I collected pornography, but I was never satisfied.  Instead, I had deep frustration and unhappiness built up inside of me, which came out through frequent fights with my brother.  But God had mercy on me by helping me to start reading the Bible. The words of God convicted me of my sin and led me to repent of my lust.  Immediately after doing this, I had a strange feeling inside of me–I felt a sense of deep joy and as if something big had just happened in my life.  Later I realized that what I felt was the beginning of living water welling up inside of me.  After that I no longer felt deep frustration or anger and I lost all desire to fight with my brother.  I also began developing more and more spiritual desire.  Eventually, God helped me to meet a Bible teacher, study the Bible deeply, and hear His call to be a Bible teacher for college students. As I served God with all my heart, I felt springs of living water welling up inside with great joy and deep fulfillment.  May God also help us to stop drinking from the wells of this world and drink living water that Jesus gives.  

Part II.  “I who speak to you am he” (19-26)

Look at verses 19 and 20: “Sir,” she said, “I can see you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”  At first, it seems that the Samaritan woman was trying to change the subject so that she would not have to talk about her husbands.  But, rather than changing the subject, she got to the real heart of the issue–for her life problem was really a worship problem.  For many years, she had worshiped men, hoping to find fulfillment through their love.  But after being disappointed again and again, she finally began to look toward God.  Yet, even as the desire to worship God grew in her heart, she ran into a problem she was familiar with–just as she had always had trouble finding the right man, so now she had trouble finding the truth about worship. Her people said that God must be worshiped on Mt. Gerezim, which was near Sychar, but the Jews said that God must be worshiped in Jerusalem.  This woman could not be satisfied with just following what other people around her were doing–she wanted to know the truth about worshiping God. She wanted to have a real, fulfilling relationship with God.  But there was no one who could tell her the truth about worship.  This is why she asked Jesus about it.  What was Jesus’ answer?    

Jesus said, “Believe me, woman, 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.”  Jesus answered her question by saying ‘neither this mountain nor that mountain.’  In other words, worshiping God is not about place.  Just going to a certain place, such as a church, does not make you a true worshiper.  Many people think that because they go to church they are automatically worshiping God.  But going to a place does not mean anything by itself.  However, although place is not important, knowing God is critically important.  The Samaritans thought they were true worshipers and the Jews were false worshipers.  But Jesus says clearly that the Samaritans worshiped what they did not know, while the Jews worshiped what they did know.  Some people think that all religions bring us to God in different ways, but that is not true.  God reveals himself to the world through the Jews, and Jesus, himself, came from the Jews. Thus, salvation is from the Jews.  

Then Jesus said: “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship him in spirit and in truth.”  Jesus says, “a time is coming and has now come...”  Jesus came to open the way for all men to come to the Father in true worship, for true worshipers are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. What is a true worshiper? 

First, a true worshiper worships in spirit.  Worship is by nature a spiritual act.  Like us, animals have bodies–they can run, jump, eat, and sleep.  But they cannot worship because they are not spiritual beings.  The need to worship comes from our spiritual nature, and it is therefore from our spirit that true worship springs.  God is spirit, so mere outward worship means nothing to Him.  How, then, can we worship the Father in spirit? First things first, we need to have a direct spiritual connection with God.  And this is the gift of God–the Holy Spirit.  When Jesus speaks of the gift of God and living water, he is talking about spiritual communion with God through the Holy Spirit.  Our sin is an impenetrable spiritual barrier between us and God.  Without the Holy Spirit living inside of us, it is impossible to worship God in spirit.  So, first we must repent of our sins, believe in Jesus, and ask him for the Holy Spirit.  When the Holy Spirit lives inside of someone, that person can have constant fellowship with the Father wherever he or she goes–there is always a spring of water welling up within.  

Second, a true worshiper must worship in truth.  In this modern world, many people believe that there is no single truth.  It is unpopular to go to college campuses and offer people Bible study because the Bible says that there is only one truth about God and the way to worship Him.  Popular or not, however, “true” worship by definition is founded on the truth, and the truth is found in God’s word, especially the truth about who God is and how we can come to Him and serve Him.  This is why we keep Bible study as a top priority. As we study the Bible, we learn the truth about who God is and what pleases Him.  The more we know the truth and live by it, the richer and more fulfilling our worship becomes.  Do you want to be a true worshiper?  Then, study the word of God with a believing mind and put it into practice–then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free to worship God.  

Jesus says that true worshipers worship the Father in spirit and truth.  In order for our worship to be true, these two must always go together.  Some people think that they can worship in spirit without truth, so they try things like ultra-meditation.  But trying to worship in spirit without truth is like a man trying to fly out from Los Angeles to Papua New Guini without an aerial map. 

Again, verse 23 says that the kind of worshipers God seeks is true worshipers.  Verse 24 says, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” Jesus taught this truth to the Samaritan woman so that she could live as a true worshiper of God.  Jesus helped the Samaritan woman to worship God in spirit by offering her the gift of God, the Holy Spirit, and he helped her to worship God in truth by revealing the truth about living water, true worship, and himself.  He also exposed the truth about her husband problem so that she could repent.  Jesus gave her everything she needed to begin a new life of worshiping God rather than men.  Jesus also gives us everything we need to live as true worshipers of the Father.  True worship is the only way for us to fulfill the purpose for which we were created and, in the process, find deep fulfillment and satisfaction of our most fundamental need.

As I prepared this message, I learned that I did not have a clear idea about what it means to be a true worshiper of God.  I thought that a true worshiper was someone who simply poured out their life in serving God.  But even with this understanding, I found I had lost much desire to serve God, and worshiping God seemed burdensome to me.  Even personal prayer was a difficult struggle for me.  I could not figure out why it was so hard for me to pour out my life in worshiping God.  But as I meditated on this passage, I learned that true worship is to worship the Father in spirit and in truth, and both of these come from God.  I am a sinful man and I cannot truly worship God by my own ability.  Like the Samaritan woman, I may have desire to worship God, but without Jesus there is no way.  My concept of serving God was to make the difficult climb up the mountain of God by working hard to do many things and to pour out my life.  But through this passage Jesus said to me, “neither on this mountain nor that mountain,” but, rather, “in spirit and in truth.”  The first and most important key for me to worship the Father in spirit and in truth is to come to Jesus and ask him for a drink.  Jesus wants me to enjoy deep, spiritual fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit living inside of me, especially by keeping my personal prayer time and personal daily Bible study.  Jesus also wants me to worship in truth by repenting sincerely based on the word of God daily, especially of all my thirsts for things of this world.  I am so thankful to God for teaching me the truth about worship through this passage.  I am so thankful to God for sending Jesus to open the way for me to worship the Father in spirit and in truth.  May God help all of us to worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

Look at verses 25-26. The woman said, “I know that Messiah, called Christ, is coming; when he comes he will explain everything to us.”  The Samaritan woman wanted to know the truth so badly that she was only willing to be satisfied when the Messiah came and explained everything.  So, Jesus helped her by simply saying, “I who speak to you am he.” With these words, Jesus revealed to this woman that he is the Messiah, the Savior of the world.  He is the one qualified to teach her the truth.  Most of all, he is her true, spiritual husband–the one who can satisfy her soul’s deep longing for God.  When she heard Jesus say, “I who speak to you am he,” her heart must have lept for joy within, “Finally, I have met my true husband–God, my Savior!”  Her heart was moved by God’s deep love for her to send the Messiah to meet her personally. She could have sang, “I love you, Lord”:

I love you Lord, and I lift my voice 

to worship you.  O my soul, rejoice!  

Take joy, my King, in what You hear.  

May it be a sweet, sweet sound, in Your ear.

Thank God for Jesus, our Messiah, Savior, and true spiritual husband.    

Part III. “Open your eyes and look at the fields.”  (27-42)

Look at verses 27-32. When Jesus’ disciples returned from the town, they were surprised to see him talking to a woman, but they didn’t ask him about it.  Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”  Then, when they heard her testimony, all the people from the town began making their way toward Jesus.  Through meeting Jesus, this woman was changed into a powerful witness for Jesus Christ.  Instead of avoiding her neighbors, she invited them to come to Jesus.  She was so excited and happy to have met her Savior.  

When Jesus saw the work of God going on in and through this woman, he had deep satisfaction in his soul. So, even though his disciples urged him to eat something, he said to them,  “I have food to eat you know nothing about.”  What was Jesus’ food?  Look at verse 34: “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”  Doing the will of his Father was Jesus’ spiritual act of worship, and when he did it he found true joy and happiness.  Jesus wanted his disciples to share in his joy, so he said to them, “Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest?’ Open your eyes and look at the fields, they are ripe for harvest.”   Jesus saw that, just as the Samaritan woman was prepared for salvation, so also her neighbors were ready to be saved.  

Look at verses 39-42.  Jesus began by only speaking to one woman, but through her the whole town came to Jesus and listened to his words. Then they said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”  Praise God for Jesus who saved a thirsty Samaritan woman and changed her into a true worshiper, full of joy, and a powerful witness for Jesus.  Praise God for Jesus who opened the way for us to be true worshipers and share in his joy by participating in his harvest work. 

One word: Worship in spirit and in truth

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