John 4:1-26 Discipline of Worship

This morning we’re taking one last look at spiritual disciplines by reflecting on the discipline of worship. In his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus points us to what worship is all about: worshiping the Father in the Spirit and in truth. But we get to this in a round about way through a fascinating conversation about water and the woman’s marital situation before getting to the part on worship.

Jesus and his disciples are in Samaria, basically they’re hanging out on the wrong side of the tracks! The people who live here are only part Jewish. There’s a whole lot of history behind how that happened, but basically Samaria is off-limits to good Jews and many Jews would walk all the way around Samaria so they wouldn’t have to meet any Samaritans. The Samaritans in the meantime have set up their own places of worship since they’re not welcome in the temple in Jerusalem and they’ve created their own rituals to worship God. In spite of the fact that they hated each other, they still worshiped the same God. This is a good place to start from.

Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman starts off about water. Jesus is thirsty and asks for a drink of water. The woman is surprised Jesus asks her because she’s a Samaritan. She expects rejection, not a request for water and the respect Jesus shows her as a person. Jesus then offers her living water, offers to satisfy her soul thirst, the emptiness from her life choices. The opposite of living water is dead water: the things you give yourself to satisfy your emotional and spiritual needs, yet leave you dry and searching for more. Dead water may be your secret addictions, your bad habits that lead to apathy, it may your tendency to simply drift through life hoping something will come to you without much effort on your side. Jesus’ living water is a bottomless never-ending well that brings life and renewal. Jesus calls himself living water, the source of life and hope.

Then the conversation takes a sudden turn: “Go, call your husband and come back,” “I don’t have one,” “That’s right, you had 5 and now the man you’re living with is not your husband.” Jesus shows her that her well is dry, her life is dry and she needs living water and new hope. She sees that Jesus is more than a dusty traveler; he’s able to see into your life and soul in a way that only someone touched by God could do. She tells Jesus, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.” Then she goes on to talk about worship, “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

The connection that I hear the Samaritan woman making here is that when you drink from the living water, it brings you to worship. As your soul and heart thirst gets satisfied by Jesus, you keep reaching for more of his living water to fill your heart and soul and your response is to go to God and say, “Thank you!” You discover the traditional places, the traditional forms done out of duty without the relationship with Jesus are dry and don’t satisfy your soul’s need for Jesus. When the woman and Jesus point to the mountain in Samaria or the temple in Jerusalem, they’re both pointing to the system of sacrifices and obligations. Jesus changes the channel and points to the coming of the Holy Spirit, the new life talked about in the Old Testament, the softened heart and new life promised in places like Jeremiah and Isaiah. Jesus tells her, “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.”

We can get so caught up in where we worship, the building, the rituals and how we do things, who belongs and who doesn’t, that we can forget that worship is all about God. At Tuesday Night Youth and in council we looked at the Contemporary Testimony’s description of the church, “In our world, where many journey alone, nameless in the bustling crowd, Satan and his evil forces seek whom they may scatter and isolate; but God, by his gracious choosing in Christ, gathers a new community—those who by God’s gift put their trust in Christ. In the new community all are welcome: the homeless come home, the broken find healing, the sinner makes a new start, the despised are esteemed, the least are honored, and the last are first. Here the Spirit guides and grace abounds.” This new community of broken people come together and when they do, they worship.

The place we worship is not so important, the kind of songs we sing are not so important, the order of worship is not so important, Jesus points us to what is important, that we worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth. Worship connects us to God through the presence of the Holy Spirit who reminds us of what Jesus taught, what Jesus did, and who Jesus is. We see Jesus drawing Jew and Samaritan together in worship, and later on the church was the symbol in the world of how the entire world, Jew and Gentile are called together to worship God. Worship in the Spirit leads to deep inward fellowship where the dividing wall that Paul talks about is broken down, where the unity Jesus prays for in the Garden of Gethsemane begins to take root in our hearts and souls, in the church.

Jesus calls us to worship in truth. Our thoughts right away understand truth as being what is right as opposed to wrong. But I wonder if Jesus isn’t pointing to being truthful about who we are and our deep need for Jesus. The truth is that we’re all thirsty, we all have those places in our hearts and lives where we’re looking for more, for deeper, for better, for hope, for healing or both. We’re all sinners seeking forgiveness and new life. This is why Jesus came. We were created good and very good in the beginning, but Adam and Eve were deceived by the serpent to disobey God which brought sin into the world and this sin separates us from God and each other; the brokenness the Contemporary Testimony talks about. Jesus comes to break down the walls that separate us from God and each other by taking our sin to the cross. As a sign that sin and death are defeated, Jesus rises from the grave after three days and now calls us to be the church, his body and to bring hope and life into the world, making new disciples of Jesus. We look forward to Jesus’ return and the renewal of all things.

Arthur Landwehr writes, “Truth is not Greek abstractions, but concrete realities. Living with God.” I hear Romans 12 here, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Worship is an everyday thing. Everything we do can be worship as long as it’s directed to God.

This is where we recognize that worship is a discipline. We can learn how to worship in the Spirit and in truth, allowing worship to shape us more into the image of Jesus. Richard Foster tells us it starts by practicing the presence of God each day, taking time to praise him, to pray and ask him to be present to you that day. Seek out different experiences of worship; Sunday mornings, small group experiences, in nature, alone, through music, meditation and more. Prepare yourself for worship already the day before by reading the Bible passage beforehand and getting enough sleep. Be willing to let the Lord lead you through different kinds of music, prayers, and worship experiences. Develop humility in God’s presence, begin worship by praying, “Your will be done, not mine.” Practice the sacrifice of worship. We don’t always feel like showing up or worshiping, but worship anyway because it’s about God, not about us. Come together with God’s people and say, “These are my people and together we come to God.” Worship creates community as it draws us closer to God.

Worship develops humility and a spirit of gratitude as we remember in worship who Jesus is and what he accomplished for us, and we remember who we are, forgiven sinners in the need of grace who have been chosen by God to advance his kingdom further into the world. The Samaritan woman’s life is changed and she becomes Jesus’ first missionary; leading her village to him. Jesus calls us to go and make more disciples by talking about him and showing how he has changed you.