Belief through the Word; John 4:27-54

There are many degrees of faith.  Often, Jesus rebuked people for not having enough faith, or because they only had a little faith.  So as believers, it is important for us to consider our faith and examine it in light of what the word of God says. 

There are a lot of ecclesiastical statements out there which attempt to clarify what constitutes faith, but the best definition of faith is found in the scriptures themselves.  Several places in the scriptures speak of faith, but Hebrews 11:1 defines it very succinctly; “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  Faith then is believing in what is unseen, but hoped for.

Many professing Christians however, if questioned, base their faith not necessarily on the unseen, but on a tangible or physical experience that they had sometime in the past.  Perhaps they were going through some sort of crisis and they prayed to God for help, and He seemed to bring about deliverance in some miraculous way.  And so they believed in God and now consider themselves to be people of faith.  They believe in the existence of God because of something tangible that happened which established their belief.

That may be well and good up to a point, but I would suggest that the sort of faith which is founded on experience is what Jesus would speak of as “Oh, you of little faith.”  I believe God does sometimes work in visible ways in order to bring about the beginnings of faith.  So that may serve as a starting point in our faith, but I think that is not the kind of faith that satisfies God.  I think that God desires us to grow in faith so that we believe what God says without having to rely on substantiating evidence. 

A good verse which speaks of that kind of faith is found in Romans 10:17, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”  This is the standard for faith in the scriptures.   The word of God speaks, and we believe it, and trust it, and then act in obedience to it.  So then our actions reveal our faith, and not waiting for God to prove it  before we act in faith.  That is the example we see throughout the scriptures, from Abraham through Moses, and on into the New Testament. God spoke, they believed and then acted in faith.  So faith that pleases God is that which trusts in God’s word and acts upon it.

Today in our exposition of this text we are going to see four examples of faith.  Two that were pleasing to the Lord and two that were not.  The Samaritan woman exemplifies the sort of faith that was pleasing to God.  You will remember she had a conversation with Jesus by the well, and though they started off by talking about Jesus being thirsty and wanting a drink of water, He skillfully turned the conversation around to spiritual things.  And in the process, He brought her under conviction of her sin.  She responded by trying to talk about religion and the difference between the way the Samaritans and the Jews worship God.  But Jesus continued to press her towards the goal of believing in Him.  And then Jesus made one of the most forthright claims to His divinity to ever come from HIs own mouth, He said in response to her statement about the Messiah, “I who speak to you am He.”

Now at that point is where she believed in the word of Christ and she was saved. She doesn’t have some out of body experience, she doesn’t walk down the aisle or repeat the sinner’s prayer, she isn’t baptized.  But the fact that she is saved by faith in Christ is evidenced by the fact that she leaves her water pot and goes back into town, telling everyone to come see the Christ.

There are a number of things that can be learned from this text.  But the main point which is brought out in this passage is that saving faith is believing in the word of God and then acting upon it. The Samaritan woman believes in the word of Christ, His declaration that He was the Messiah promised in scripture.  And she obviously believes Him and so begins to share her new found faith. 

Now much has been made by commentators about the way she phrases the question found in vs.29 as if she expected a negative response.  But I don’t think that’s really borne out by her actions.  I’ve looked at all the major translations of this phrase, and I think it is best understood as follows, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; is this not the Christ?” Now that question still lends itself to some ambiguity.  But I don’t think she is really being ambivalent at all.  I think it’s evident she believes that Jesus is the Christ.  And obviously that is not all that she said, as evidenced by the men of the cities answer to her in vs.42: “and they were saying to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.’” Obviously she told them much more about Christ than that simple statement because what she had said was enough to make them believe in Him.  At least enough to be a starting point in their faith.

And there is another important aspect to her testimony.  She says “Come and see…”  Not go, but come.  She is inviting them to come with her to see Jesus.  I think she left her water pot by the well with Jesus because she was coming back. She was in a hurry to tell them, and didn’t want to be burdened by the water pot. She was bringing back something better - living water.  So she was coming back with her townspeople.  She was rejoicing in the news about the Messiah.  And she knew that her people would rejoice as well.  In spite of any flaws in the Samaritan’s theology they knew that the Messiah was the promised seed of Abraham, in whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed.  He was the Savior of the world, and so it was only reasonable that she would share it and rejoice in it.

What a contrast to most Christians view of sharing their faith.  I don’t know if it is a product of the PC culture, or just a reticence on our part to give testimony to our faith, but how many of us fall far short of the example given by this Samaritan woman.  She boldly goes back into town and begins to broadcast the fact that Jesus was just outside of town at the well.  And she invites them to come with her and listen to Him. 

Our lack of willingness to be a witness makes me wonder if we really believe what we claim to believe.  Do we really believe that Jesus is the only way to eternal life?  Do we really believe that our friends and loved ones who are without the Lord will end up being cast into outer darkness for eternity?  Do we really believe that there is coming a day when everyone will be judged by what they did concerning Jesus?  I’m afraid we must not really believe what the Bible teaches. 

You know, back to the Samaritan woman’s statement, I don’t think there’s a hint of unbelief in it at all, but she is issuing a challenge.   She is suggesting that they need to believe for themselves if Jesus is the Christ.  I know that some of you may feel intimidated about sharing your faith.  The culture is not very tolerant towards true Christianity it seems.  And maybe you feel intimidated because you don’t think you know enough to be able to answer people’s objections or questions.  But I would encourage you to consider this woman’s example as evidence that you don’t have to have all the answers to point people to Jesus Christ.  If you don’t feel adequate to explain everything, then simply invite them to “come and see.”  To come to church and hear the word of God for themselves. 

I will also suggest to you what else made her testimony effective.  And that is the transformation that she obviously exhibited.  There is no more effective testimony to the saving grace of God than a transformed life.  We don’t have a description here in the passage that describes her transformation.  But we do see the evidence of it.  When she began spreading the word about Christ through the town, all the townspeople started coming out to see Jesus.  Something about this woman was different than before she went to the well.  The transformation in her must have been very obvious.  And so people wanted to see this Jesus, since He had made such a change in this woman.  It’s evident from the text that she was a woman with a sordid past.  She would have been well known to everyone in a small town. But after being with Jesus, there must have been a noticeable change in this woman’s demeanor.  I believe she was rejoicing, for one thing.  And people took notice of that and wanted to examine it further. 

I remember when I got right with the Lord when I was living in California after years of being in sin and rebellion against God.  And the next night I stopped by the restaurant where I worked after the shift was over and all my coworkers were sitting in the lounge.  And when they saw me they thought I was drunk.  I wasn’t staggering around or acting boisterous or anything.  But I must have had a different demeanor than what I normally had. I guess I seemed happy.  And so they noticed it, and it gave me a chance to share with them about my faith.  It wasn’t too long after that my best friend who worked with me gave his life to the Lord as well, and he credited the change that he saw in me as a reason for him coming to the Lord.

So the first example of someone believing the word of God then is that of the Samaritan woman.  She believed, and was saved and she was converted/changed.  Consequently, she immediately began to confess Jesus as Lord in her community.  And people believed in Christ due to her testimony.  Vs. 39 says,  “From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, ‘He told me all the things that I have done.’”  God wants to use your testimony to bring people to Christ.  That is our mission; to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel, starting in our homes, then our neighborhoods, then our communities, and then to the ends of the world.  This woman may not have been the best role model before she was saved, but she is a great example of the transforming power of faith after she is saved.

There is a second example of faith that is given in this text as well.  It’s sort of understated, and so we need to read between the lines so to speak.  But this one is not an exemplary example of faith.  It’s what we might call a lower tier faith.  And that is the faith of the disciples of all people. They have faith, but at this point it’s a superficial faith that can’t see the spiritual and instead focuses on the physical.  Even to the point of neglecting their commission.

The Samaritans were considered outcasts, half breeds who the Jews would not even speak to.  And yet their response to the news of the Christ from the Samaritan woman is to come out from the city in droves to hear Him.  In fact, some commentators have suggested that when Jesus told the disciples that the fields were white unto harvest, He was referencing the white robed Samaritan’s coming out of the village and walking across the fields the half mile or so to the well. 

Jesus uses that illustration as an encouragement to the disciples to be about the business of the kingdom.  It’s ironic that all of the disciples had just been in the very same village of the Samaritans buying food. And yet in spite of the fact that a dozen disciples of Christ descended on this little village in Samaria, when normally Jews would go miles out of their way to avoid Samaria, yet not one Samaritan was presented with the news that the Messiah was sitting just outside the town by the well.  The disciples were just too focused on buying food. They were hungry.  They were in a hurry.  They didn’t like those people anyway.  So they missed an opportunity.  And in reality, they missed the purpose of their discipleship. They missed the purpose of their faith.

The disciples came back from their mission with the food and saw Him talking to the woman.  They were surprised by that, but were afraid to ask Him why He was talking to a woman, much less a Samaritan.  So they just kind of ignored it, and when she left they offered Him the food that they brought.  But Jesus isn’t thinking about food at that point.  He says, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”  And their answer is to ask did someone bring Him food while we were gone? 

You know, the disciple’s cluelessness would almost be funny if it were not so indicative of the way we are oblivious to the opportunities that God puts in our path to be about the kingdom of God. I’m afraid too many times that we can only see the physical, rather than the spiritual.  Our focus is on our appetites, our work, our little routines or duties that we do each day.  Instead of seeing opportunities to speak to someone about Christ. 

Jesus said to the disciples in vs.35 "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case the saying is true, 'One sows and another reaps.’  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”

Now there is a whole sermon in that which I don’t have time to delve into today, but suffice it to say that Jesus is saying that half of the work has already been done, all you have to do is reap the benefits of what other’s have done. Now that’s pretty amazing isn’t it?  That should encourage you to witness to people that God puts in your path.  He is saying, I have already begun a work in those people’s hearts, they have already had the sowing of the word into their hearts.  Now if you will just be willing to act in faith and speak to them, you will reap what other’s have sown. 

But as I said, many Samaritans believed in Him simply by the word which He was preaching.  He did not do any signs or wonders or miracles in Samaria.  But then it says that He went into Galilee, which was His own country.  And the people were coming out to Him, but not because they had believed in Him before when He was among them, but because they heard of the miraculous works that He did when He was in Jerusalem.  So Jesus quotes to them what was probably a well known proverb; “that a prophet has no honor in his own country.” 

I can attest to the truth of that.  I’ve lived in this area 24 years, but not all of that time I was a pastor.  And the result of that proves another true proverb which is; “familiarity breeds contempt”.  In other words, it is much easier to go someplace where you are not known and be received with a certain respect than it is to live around people who think they know you.  I think that’s part of the reason why our summer services on the beach are well received by out of town people, but the locals rarely come. 

So Jesus had grown up in Galilee,  and now the Galileans are coming out to see Jesus, but they are not  believing in Him the way the Samaritans did.  They don’t believe Him for His word, but want to see His miracles.  So Jesus rebukes them when He responds to the nobleman’s request by saying, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe.” I don’t think Jesus was necessarily rebuking the nobleman, but He was rebuking the Galileans who obviously were gathering together hoping to see a miracle.  Perhaps they would believe in Him if they saw some astonishing miracle, but not because of His word.

So the third group, the Galileans, receive a rebuke because they did not have the faith in HIs word, even though the Samaritans who were considered outcasts by the Jews believed in Him simply from His word. So the Samaritans were more noble than the Galileans.  And I’m afraid that most Christians today fall into that category of the Galileans.  We go from church to church, from concert to movies, to revivals, to conferences, all in the hopes of finding some new experience which is going to galvanize our infantile faith into something substantial.  But in fact faith comes by hearing the word of God, not by signs and wonders or music or concerts or movies or conferences.

And that leads us to the fourth group which is illustrated by the nobleman. He is from Capernaum, which is about 25 miles from Cana, where Jesus was at that point.  Cana, you will remember, was the site of the first miracle Jesus did in His ministry, in which He had turned the water into wine at the marriage feast.  Now Jesus has returned to Cana, and this nobleman, probably a member of Herod’s court, has heard that Jesus has returned from Judea.  So he made a 25 mile trip from Capernaum in order to come to Jesus and beg Him to come home with Him and heal His son who was at the point of death.

You know, when calamity strikes your child, there is nothing you wouldn’t consider doing to save them.  I would suggest that this example is given to us here for a number of reasons, but not the least of which is to provide a contrast between the apathy of the disciples who felt no pity on the Samaritans, and the anguish of this father for his dying son.  Would to God we felt the anguish over our brothers and sisters and loved ones impending death the way that this man felt over his son.  Perhaps it’s because we cannot see the cancer of sin which has condemned our loved ones to a certain spiritual death. 

So this man travels 25 miles in hopes of seeing Christ and convincing Jesus to come home with Him to heal his son.  And certainly, the Galileans who have gathered there are watching to see what Jesus will do.  Perhaps many of them would have followed Him to Capernaum if it meant they could see a miracle.  I’m not surprised that so many Christians will pay all sorts of money and travel great distances to see some supposed faith healer perform a miracle.  It was common then, it’s common today.  I had a business partner once who stole money from our business to fly to Charlotte NC to have a private meeting with Benny Hinn. It only cost him $10,000 to get a private audience and his blessing.  Didn’t do us any favors though.  Our business went bust 3 months later because of that kind of foolishness.

But Jesus is not going to go to Capernaum.  Not because He doesn’t commiserate with the nobleman, or because He isn’t compassionate. It’s noteworthy that no one ever comes to Jesus for help and leaves without Jesus helping them.   Jesus said in John 6:37  "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”

But Jesus doesn’t go to Capernaum with the nobleman because He wants to teach an important lesson.  And that is the lesson that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  He wants this nobleman to believe in His word.  Jesus is going to heal his son.  But for 24 hours this man is not going to know that for sure.  He is going to have to take Jesus at His word. So Jesus said, “Go; your son lives.”

Now the rest of that verse is amazingly understated. It says, “The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off.”  Let me tell you why it is understated. It’s understated not just because it took a lot of faith to believe Jesus could heal just by speaking a word from 25 miles away. But it is also understated because it doesn’t just mean that the boy was healed, but it also means that the nobleman was saved.  Jesus didn’t go with him because He wasn’t compassionate, but He didn’t go because He was compassionate.  Jesus wanted to give more than just the physical healing, He wanted to give spiritual healing as well. 

I have told you many times before that every miracle in the gospel is a spiritual parable which illustrates a spiritual principle.  And this one even more so.  Because as a result of this man’s faith, he was saved, his son was saved and healed, and his entire household was saved.

Vs.51-53 “As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living.  So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, ‘Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.’ So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, ‘Your son lives’; and he himself believed and his whole household.”

There are so many applications that we could take from this illustration.  But let me just try to leave you with a couple.  One, our faith is not founded on experience, but on the promises of God.  That is what we are talking about when we talk about the word of God.  We are talking about God’s revelation of Himself, what He has to say about Himself, and His plan and purpose for the world.  And He gives that to us in the form of promises.  He gives us His word, His promises, by which we may believe.  And when we believe in Him as He has revealed Himself through His word, He credits that to us as righteousness. 

Three times in the New Testament, in Romans 4:3, Galatians 3:6, and James 2:23, it says “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  This is how we are saved, by grace through faith in the word of God, which is written down for us.  Notice it doesn’t say Abraham believed in God.  But Abraham believed God.  The Bible says the devils believe and tremble. So believing in God doesn’t save you.  But believing God, believing His word saves you.

Another application we can take from these verses is that when we are saved by faith, God can use our faith to save our families.  We saw that with the Samaritan woman.  I believe she started witnessing to all her former husbands.  That was probably half the town.  But the whole village responded as a result of this woman’s faith.  And of course this nobleman’s faith resulted in his whole household coming to the Lord.  And we see other examples of that in scripture.  I think of the centurion who called Peter to come and preach the gospel, and the whole house was saved.  I think of the jailer who was saved when Paul and Silas presented themselves after the earthquake, and his whole house was saved.  

The point being that you can have a confidence that when you believe in the word of God resulting in your salvation and you share that with your family, then they can be saved through your testimony.  I’m not going to say it is guaranteed.  That is not taught in this text.  But I do think it’s a principle that we can use to reach our families and that God will bless when we act upon it.

Well, let me close by encouraging you today to make sure that your faith is grounded in the word of God.  If God said it, then trust Him and obey.  God may give you an experience, He may give you a miracle, but more importantly He has given you His word.  And that is the greater miracle, which produces a greater faith, and a greater work in you.  Because God’s word is sufficient for every circumstance, for every day.  We don’t need to wait for a sign, when we have the word made more sure, the written word of God, tested and proven for thousands of years.  And that is what John calls this miracle - a sign.  It points to something greater, and that is Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. That was the purpose of the miracles Jesus did. They point to Him.

And then finally, don’t keep your faith to yourself.  God didn’t give your salvation to you so that you can say, “us four, no more, shut the door.”  God gave you your salvation so that you might be an ambassador of the gospel.  He has given you the good news to share with those with whom He has already started a work in their hearts.  There is no greater miracle on earth than leading someone to Christ.  As Jesus said in vs.36, there is reward in heaven for those that reap souls; “Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal, that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.”  We were saved that we might bear fruit for eternal life.  I hope that you will focus on the kingdom of God and accomplish His work in the time we have left here on earth. 

Worship in spirit and truth, John 4:19-26

Today in 21st century Christianity, one of the most misunderstood words or principles in the church is the word worship.  If I were to ask you this morning to write down a succinct sentence describing worship, I would not be surprised if there were as many definitions as there are attendees.  Today when we think of worship, we think of a church service, or what’s called worship music, or perhaps even a performance by a worship pastor or band.  Usually the connotation is  a church’s music service.  

But as I indicated, I believe that’s a misunderstanding of what worship is supposed to be.  In the passage we are looking at this morning, Jesus talks about worship with a Samaritan woman by the well.  And in the process of having this conversation, He teaches us the Biblical meaning of worship and how we are to engage in it.  In fact, in just 5 verses, the word worship or a derivative of it is used 10 times. I believe this scripture teaches that God wants us to worship Him, and that He has a plan for worship.  So I want to look at this passage this morning and break down the principle of worship so that we might be sure we are accurate and authentic in our worship.  Because as Jesus said in vs.24, God is Spirit, and those that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.  That’s an imperative statement.  That we are to worship God, and we must worship Him as He wants us to. 

So in order to understand this, I am going to apply all the standard questions to this principle of worship, like what, where, why, how and when.  Rather than asking you to define worship according to your perception or experience, or rather than consulting any self appointed experts out there for their two cents worth, I want to go to the source, which is the word of God. Because I believe that what Jesus is saying is that we must get it right.  God is not obligated to accept false worship, or improper worship, which does not meet His requirements.

So let’s start with what is worship?  We could look it up in the dictionary and get a human definition.  But let’s look it up in scripture. Worship simply means honor paid to a superior being.  The common word in the New Testament Greek used for worship is prosekuneo, which means to kiss toward, and it came from that ancient custom of kissing the hand or foot of a superior.  A person bowed down on the ground, bowed his head and kissed the hand in a sign of submission and honor.

But I think we can go a little deeper into all that scripture teaches us concerning worship by employing a principle of hermeneutics called the principle of first mention.  The principle of first mention says that the first time a word or principle is mentioned in scripture provides a basis for how we are to perceive it or understand it going forward.  

Now if you go to your concordance and look up worship, the first use of the word “worship” will be in Genesis 22, when Abraham takes Isaac to the mountain that God showed him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice.  And I am not going to take the time to review all of that story this morning as I’m sure most of you are very familiar with it and as a church we recently studied Genesis.  But perhaps you never noticed the word worship there.  Abraham says in vs.5, ““Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go over there; and we will worship and return to you.”  

Now think about that for a moment.  God asked Abraham to take his son and offer him as a sacrifice on an altar on Mt. Moriah.  By the way, this is an interesting side note.  When the Samaritan woman tries to wiggle out of the convicting questions of Jesus, she says something interesting.  She says, “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”  Now the mountain she and Jesus was on was called Gerizim, which was the place the Samaritans built their temple in opposition to the Jewish temple in Jerusalem.  But the thing was, both the Jews and the Samaritans believed that their temple was seated on Mt. Moriah, the spot where Abraham offered Isaac.  

Now knowing that helps us to understand why she brings up worship, and then Jesus says to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.”  Jesus is saying the time is at hand when neither mountain is going to be the place of worship.  There is going to be a new place, a new way to worship, which will not be defined geographically nor by the temple.  So that’s the historical significance of Abraham taking Isaac to the mountain to offer him as a sacrifice.  Both Samaritans and Jews claimed to have their temple on the correct mountain.  And what Jesus indicates, by saying salvation is of the Jews, is that the Jews were on the correct mountain.  But soon the temple location is not going to matter anymore. What had served as the source of an argument between them would be completely done away with when Jesus was sacrificed on Mt. Zion.  The temple veil was rent from top to bottom, signifying that the way into the presence of God was open to all, through the blood of Jesus Christ.

But let’s think back to Abraham and Isaac for a moment.  Abraham has been commanded to kill his son, and he speaks of this offering of his son on the altar as worship.  Now that’s a heavy thought. Can you imagine comparing sacrificing your child as worship to God?  Well, what can we learn from that first incident concerning worship? Number one, it shows us that worship involves an offering.  Secondly, worship involves sacrifice.  Thirdly, worship involves obedience.  Fourthly, worship involves submission, humbling yourself. Abraham’s pride and joy was his son.  And yet he was willing to humble himself in order to worship God.

Now that is the first mention of worship.  But there are a couple of other early examples that come to mind which are not described as worship, but which obviously incorporate worship.  The first one is that of Cain and Abel, in Genesis 4, when they come to bring an offering before God. “So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.”  

What does this example tell us about worship?  Once again, that there was an offering, a sacrifice.  We saw that already in the example of Abraham and Isaac.  But what new thing do we learn about worship? That God accepts some worship but not others.  God isn’t obligated to accept just any form of worship. To worship God in an unacceptable manner is to reduce God to an image, to reduce God to a material representation, to reduce God to an idol, or to reduce God to anything that is the result and product of your own thinking.  I often hear people say, “Well, everyone is free to worship God as they believe Him to be.”  But just because you sincerely believe something doesn’t make it true. If your definition of God doesn’t square with the Word of God, then your worship is unacceptable even though you may identify it with the true God.

And that correlates with what Jesus said in vs 24, that they that worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth.  It has to be a worship based on the truth that God has given us, if it is going to be acceptable to Him.  So then we might define worship as a sacrificial offering, as obedience, as humbling yourself before God, and according to His truth. That answers the question of what is worship.  

We could say from those examples what worship is not but we won’t take the time to produce a definitive list since that could go on forever.  But let me give you just three: worship is not music, worship is not ceremony, worship is not a building.  And you can do the rest of the list on your own.  

So the scriptures have defined what worship is.  Next, Where.  Where should we worship.  Well, we have already answered that to some degree.  Worship is not restricted to a building, or an auditorium, or a mountain or even a temple.  Jesus said in vs. 21, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.” And then vs.24, “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.”  The first reference to Spirit is capitalized because that refers to the nature of God; He is Spirit.  That means He isn’t corporeal.  But the second use of the word spirit in vs.24 is not capitalized, because it is speaking of our spirit.  He is saying, we must worship God in our spirit.  It’s not physical, it’s spiritual.  It’s not a location but a state of the heart.   

True worship must come from the heart. Worship is not dependent upon where you are, but who you are.1 Cor. 6:19 says we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  If you have been born again, then you are the temple of God because the Holy Spirit is dwelling in you. You don’t just come to church, you are the church.  

Unfortunately, though a lot of people may have heard that truth, they don’t live in light of that truth.  We get all cleaned up for Sunday morning, we dress a certain way, talk a certain way, act a certain way because we know we are in church.  And yet on Monday we act completely different.  We talk differently.  We behave differently, seemingly unaware that the Lord of our temple is still in the building.  

Worship then should be a way of life.  Not just on Sunday. But in all our ways, in everything we do, we do it for the glory of God.  We are obedient to what He asks us to do because our body is HIs temple.  Our time is His time.  Our possessions are His possessions.  You can’t expect to have an intimate relationship with the God who dwells in us when we act like He isn’t there 6 days out of the week and then suddenly act all friendly to Him on Sunday.  God isn’t blind.  He was there all week.  We just ignored His presence.

When we have a full time, 24/7 intimate relationship with God, then we are worshipping all the time in private.  And what’s on the inside will reveal itself on the outside.  In other words, what was private produces corporate. What is spiritual will produce physical.  We are the church so we come together with the rest of the body as the church to serve the body. Not for ceremony and ritual, but to serve Him. 

And that brings up another definition of worship.  To serve God.  Romans 12:1 gives us a great illustration of that.  Paul says,  “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”  Present your bodies as a sacrifice to serve God which he says is your spiritual service of worship. So serving God is worship. Once we are born again spiritually, we become holy, which results in being obedient, which in turn produces righteous living, in the fear or honor or reverence of God knowing that God is in you, and then God can use the body that you submit to Him in humility to serve Him.  And that comprises worship. The where of worship then is wherever we are, we are the temple of God, and therefore all that we do is for the glory of God.

The next question is Who.  Who do we worship?  Well the answer of course is God.  But Jesus narrows that title down further in vs. 21 and 23.  Three times Jesus calls God the Father.  That is specific.  God is the Father of who?  Well, first He is the Father of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the Son of God.  The only begotten of the Father.  And we know who God is by who Jesus is.  Jesus told Philip, “If you have seen Me you have seen the Father.”  He told the Jews in John 10:30, “I and the Father are One.”  

Now that narrows God down.  God is three persons in One; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Those that worship Allah cannot be worshipping God because Allah is not the father of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the exact representation of the Father, because He is the only Son of God.  And if you do not believe that Jesus is God’s Son, then you cannot worship the Father.  

Secondly, God is the Father of the saints.  The believers.  Those that have been made holy by the blood of Jesus, that have been born again by the Holy Spirit.  So that we are children of God. John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”  So God then as our Father speaks of our relationship with Him. We are born again not of the flesh, but of the Spirit into the family of God. 

And thirdly, God is Spirit. Vs.24, Jesus said, “God is Spirit.”  That means that God is not corporeal.  He is an invisible being.  He does not have a body like we have, but He is eternal, divine, unknowable, unsearchable, holy and righteous.  He is a being, but not a body. His essential nature is that He is Spirit.  And so we must be made spiritual to have communion with God who is Spirit.  

1Tim. 1:17 says, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.”  Those qualities, eternal, immortal, invisible, are spiritual qualities. God is Spirit speaks to His immortal, eternal and invisible nature.

The next question is who can worship?  Who can worship God? In vs. 23 Jesus said,  "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”  First, note that God seeks worshippers.  God wants to have a relationship with men, and so He has made it possible through Jesus Christ.  But in order to have this relationship, Jesus said in John 3:16 that we must be born again. We must be born of the Spirit, and this is accomplished by faith in Christ.  

So in order to worship Him, God must become our Father.  We must be born again.  The Holy Spirit must dwell in our hearts by faith.  Just as the Old Testament saints had to bring a sacrifice to offer to God in order to worship, so Hebrews 10:14 tells us that “by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” The sacrifice of Jesus Christ has purchased for all who believe in Him the sanctification by which we may be reconciled to God.

The Old Testament priests had to always offer a sacrifice first for their sins and then the sins of the people before approaching the Holy of Holies into the presence of God.  Heb 9:11-14, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation;  and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.  For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh,  how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Notice the phrase, “serve the living God.”  So then, those that can worship God are those who have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.

The next question, is how do we worship? And Jesus makes that clear in vs.24, we worship God in spirit and in truth.  First we are made spiritual by new birth through faith in Jesus Christ.  I think we have made that point.  But also we must worship God in truth.  According to His truth.  Not according to our understanding of God, according to our concept of fairness or righteousness, or any standard other than God’s standard.

There are lots of people in our society who think they worship God, and they have self-invented some way to do that.  I read about a lady in New Mexico who baked tortillas, named Mrs. Rubio.  The Chicago Tribune recorded the story some years back, and one day she was frying a tortilla, and as she took the tortilla out of the pan and she said with a great amount of shock, “It is the face of Jesus.”  Burned on that tortilla were marks from the skillet that she said looked like Jesus.  And so, she was so thrilled she showed it to her husband who agreed that it must be Jesus.  And she showed it to her family and they agreed, and to a neighbor and she agreed.  And so she went to her priest to have the tortilla blessed.  And the priest, who had not really been accustomed to blessing tortillas, was somewhat reluctant to do so, but nevertheless he did it.  And she took the tortilla home and she built an altar in her house.  She put the tortilla in glass and put piles of cotton around it so it looked like Jesus floating on a cloud.  And within a matter of months, Mrs.  Rubio had over 8,000 people come to the shrine of the Jesus of the Tortilla.  And almost everyone unanimously agreed that it looked like Jesus except one reporter who said it looked to him like Leon Spinks.  And so, people came and worshipped the tortilla and Mrs. Rubio gave her testimony which was recorded in the Chicago Tribune, and she said the tortilla had changed her life.  And her husband agreed she’d been a more peaceful, happy, submissive wife ever since the tortilla had arrived.

Listen, we must worship God as He is, and for who He is, and not as we imagine Him to be.  Anything less is idolatry.  And the only way we can worship God as He is with any certainty is if we rely upon the truth of God’s word. In John 1 Jesus is presented as being with God in the beginning, and that He was God, and the Living Word was became flesh. In Hebrews 1:1 Jesus is the exact representation of the nature and character of God. And then in John 17 Jesus says that the word of God is truth. God has presented Himself in His word. When we combine the Living Word with the written word, then we are worshipping God in truth.

To worship God in spirit and in truth then signifies that of the heart and the head. Worship must be authentic and accurate. Worship in spirit speaks of our position.  Our heart must be aligned with God by faith. When that happens the Holy Spirit dwells in us, linking the inner man with God. And truth speaks of information. God has revealed Himself most completely and accurately in the scriptures. 

You know, just like in a physical relationship, knowledge produces intimacy.  The more you know and learn about your spouse, the more you love them.  We tend to worship God but a little, because we only know a little about God. But the more you know about God the more it produces true worship. 

Spirit and the truth signifies worship from the heart and the head.  But unfortunately, a lot of us worship God the way men observe Valentine’s Day. We know that it is Valentine’s Day because the calendar tells us.  So we know that we have to respond by buying a card, maybe some chocolates or flowers. The expectations of what we know about Valentine’s Day produces a response on our part which is predetermined by our culture.  But if that is all that it is, then it’s a form of legalism, a ceremony or ritual that your wife is going to know is not from the heart.  But she wants much more than just fulfilling an obligation or a ritual.  She wants romance, passion, love, intimacy, fellowship.  She wants you, she wants your heart.

And so does God.  He wants all of us. Yes, He wants us to follow His word.  He has written down His expectations and requirements for worship.  But when we just show up for church and drop a little offering in the box and sing a few songs and go through the rituals  then we are missing the heart of worship.  God wants your heart.  He wants a heart that is surrendered to Him, a heart that wants to know Him, a heart that desires fellowship with Him.  That comes from a right relationship with Him. 

Finally, one last point.  The result of worship. In vs 25 the Samaritan woman said to Jesus, "I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us." Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am He.”  This is the most clear statement that Jesus ever makes concerning the fact that He is the Messiah with the possible exception of His response to Pilate before His crucifixion.  But what did the Messiah accomplish?  Jesus declared His purpose in John 14:6.  Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”  

Through Jesus, and only through Jesus, has the way to God been made available.  He is the peace between God and man.  He has made it possible for us to be reconciled to God.  So when we come to Him and worship Him, we have fellowship with God, we have the benefits of being the children of God, and we have the inheritance of ruling and reigning with Christ for eternity.  Worshipping God in spirit and in truth is  begun in justification, and it continues as our sanctification, and will be consummated in our glorification.  We who worship God now as He has revealed Himself and according to His requirements, will worship Him forever and ever in glory.  I don’t think that’s going to look like what popular imagery indicates though.  I don’t think we will be sitting around on clouds playing harps, or even just having a praise service for eternity.  But I think that we will be serving God for eternity, and all that we do will result in praise to His glory.  Worship here on earth is just practice for what will go on for ever in  eternity.  

Therefore, in light of this revelation concerning worship which the Lord Jesus has given us, “I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, [which is] your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”