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.
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