Celebrating in Worship
- Rev. Jerry Lepasana
- Mar 7, 2010
- Series: Back to Basics
Back To Basics: (Part VIII)
CELEBRATING IN WORSHIP
John 4:19-24 (NIV):
19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where
we must worship is in Jerusalem."
21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the
Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know,
for salvation is from the Jews.
23 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.
24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
During the 1600’s, when Francois Fenelon was the court preacher for King
Louis XIV of France, he decided that he would announce that the king would not be
in attendance in the Sunday worship wherein he was expected to come. As the Sunday
came, the king and his attendants made their grand entrance into the chapel, only
to discover that no one else was there. “What does this mean?” The king demanded.
Fenelon’s response was, “I had published that you would not be here today in order
that Your Majesty might see who serves God in truth and who flatters the king.”
Time and again, we as Christians should take the time to examine our motives
whenever we come to church. Is it possible that we no longer enjoy coming to
church because we see this discipline as an obligation more than a privilege? Or
maybe it is because as Christians, this is what we’re supposed to do on Sunday, but
not really understand why we need to do it. I know many times it is so easy to find
ourselves in this predicament. I remember growing up when, because of my dad being
a pastor, I, together with my other siblings was all compelled to attend church. To be
honest, because of my lack of understanding, there were times then that I resented
going to church.
I wonder how many of you would rather be somewhere else this morning. Is
it possible that some of you don’t understand why you came to church today? I believe
every Christian must have a clear understanding why they go to church Sunday
after Sunday. If you check out our assigned text, you would find Jesus taking the time
to address this important subject about worship with the Samaritan woman. There’s
no question that this is something that Jesus Himself has valued in His own life. In the
Gospels, He consistently participated in public worship.
Luke 4:16 (NIV):
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he
went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.
We should not overlook the phrase, “as was his custom.” Clearly, going to
the synagogue for public worship was one of the disciplines that Jesus has established
in His life. He practiced worship, and so must all of us. If we are to be like Jesus
Christ, we must also value worship in our lives. Therefore, let’s re-examine the concept
of worship by looking at these three major truths:
I THE RECOGNITION IN WORSHIP:
The word “Worship” comes from the old English “Worth-ship.” In other
words, when we worship, we are attributing worth or value on someone or something.
Back To Basics: (Part VIII)
CELEBRATING IN WORSHIP
John 4:19-24 (NIV):
19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where
we must worship is in Jerusalem."
21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the
Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know,
for salvation is from the Jews.
23 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.
24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
During the 1600’s, when Francois Fenelon was the court preacher for King
Louis XIV of France, he decided that he would announce that the king would not be
in attendance in the Sunday worship wherein he was expected to come. As the Sunday
came, the king and his attendants made their grand entrance into the chapel, only
to discover that no one else was there. “What does this mean?” The king demanded.
Fenelon’s response was, “I had published that you would not be here today in order
that Your Majesty might see who serves God in truth and who flatters the king.”
Time and again, we as Christians should take the time to examine our motives
whenever we come to church. Is it possible that we no longer enjoy coming to
church because we see this discipline as an obligation more than a privilege? Or
maybe it is because as Christians, this is what we’re supposed to do on Sunday, but
not really understand why we need to do it. I know many times it is so easy to find
ourselves in this predicament. I remember growing up when, because of my dad being
a pastor, I, together with my other siblings was all compelled to attend church. To be
honest, because of my lack of understanding, there were times then that I resented
going to church.
I wonder how many of you would rather be somewhere else this morning. Is
it possible that some of you don’t understand why you came to church today? I believe
every Christian must have a clear understanding why they go to church Sunday
after Sunday. If you check out our assigned text, you would find Jesus taking the time
to address this important subject about worship with the Samaritan woman. There’s
no question that this is something that Jesus Himself has valued in His own life. In the
Gospels, He consistently participated in public worship.
Luke 4:16 (NIV):
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he
went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.
We should not overlook the phrase, “as was his custom.” Clearly, going to
the synagogue for public worship was one of the disciplines that Jesus has established
in His life. He practiced worship, and so must all of us. If we are to be like Jesus
Christ, we must also value worship in our lives. Therefore, let’s re-examine the concept
of worship by looking at these three major truths:
I. THE RECOGNITION IN WORSHIP:
The word “Worship” comes from the old English “Worth-ship.” In other
words, when we worship, we are attributing worth or value on someone or something. In the Bible, this word appears around 170 times. More often, it is in the verb form
meaning “Falling on your face or bowing down.”
Ultimately, the question we need to ask is, “who deserves our worship?”
Jesus without a doubt answers this question in verse 23 saying, “Yet a time is coming
and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father.” Evidently,
in order to be a true worshipper, we need to recognize that there is only one deserving
object of our worship – He is God the Father. This is also consistent with what Jesus
Himself demanded in Matthew 4:10:
Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord
your God, and serve him only.'"
In order to reveal the worthiness of God as an object of worship, Jesus Christ uses the
title “Father” instead of just addressing Him as God. This title can be applied in two
ways:
A. Father of Creation
God is literally our Father by virtue of creation. He deserves to be worshiped
because He is the One who created everything.
Revelation 4:11 (NIV):
11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for
you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
B. Father of Christians
If you are a believer in Christ, you belong to a spiritual family where God is
your Father. This title carries with it a special relationship wherein love and care is
expressed. Therefore, He deserves your worship not only because He created you, but
also because He cares about you. On this context, someone has appropriately defined
worship as:
“The overflow of a grateful heart, under a sense of divine favor”
It is absolutely necessary that we recognize who God is to us so that we will
worship Him. True worship involves praising and thanking God for who He is and
everything that He has done for us. This is our response to the magnitude of His grace
toward us. Tragically, throughout man’s history, he has often settled with more inferior
objects of worship:
Romans 1:18-23 (NIV):
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and
wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it
plain to them.
20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power
and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been
made, so that men are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks
to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal
man and birds and animals and reptiles.
It is idolatry to worship other objects, and God is surely provoked to anger
when we fail to offer Him the worship He deserves. Let’s not make this mistake, Offer
your worship only to God.
II THE REQUIREMENTS IN WORSHIP:
Our next concern is how we should worship God. The Samaritan woman in
our text had some confusion about worship because their practices as Samaritans were
slightly different when compared to the Jews. In order to enlighten her, Jesus had
plainly addressed three issues:
A. Area:
Reading verse 20, one source of confusion for the Samaritan woman was the
right place of worship. The Samaritans were taught that Mount Gerizim was the designated
place of worship; while the Jews were insisted that it is in Jerusalem, because
the temple was located there.
Well, we have studied in the past that during the Old Testament times, God has designated the temple to be His dwelling place. However, Jesus in our text is declaring that “a time is coming” when true worshippers will no longer be confined in a single
place, but everywhere. When is this time going to happen? The fulfillment of this
time came when Jesus Christ died. Remember, His death removed the barrier of sin
that separated man from God. This removal was demonstrated through the tearing of
the veil the separated the presence of God in the temple (Mt. 27:51).
It is definitely true that we can worship God anywhere. But does this mean we longer
need to attend church? This is false. If you go to the New Testament, believers regularly
met on the “First Day” of the week for worship:
Acts 20:7 (NIV):
7 On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the
people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.
Instead of the usual Sabbath worship, The Christian church met on the first
day of the week as a weekly celebration of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. So
for Christians, worship is celebration. When you attend church on Sunday with other
believers, corporately we praise God for our salvation, and at the same time proclaim
to the lost people around us what Jesus has done for us. On this basis, celebration
done consistently will be of greater impact to the world.
B. Authenticity:
Another important point is the worship in spirit. The word "spirit" here does not have
the definite article in the original language, so it does not refer to the Holy Spirit.
Rather it is referring to our own inner life, emotions, will, our heart.
In contrast to the forms and rituals of the Jews and Samaritans, true worshippers must
worship God with their whole being. As always, God is never impressed with just the
outward gestures of worship. No longer is worshiping an activity of the hand, but the
attitude of the heart.
Matthew 15:8 (NIV):
8 "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
If our religion is external, if we’re just going through the motions, if we are
not worshiping God from our heart, then it doesn’t accomplish anything. It’s empty.
It’s worthless. Dr. Matthew Henry once said, “We must worship Him with the fixedness
of thoughts and a flame of affection, with all that is within us.”
C. Accuracy:
True worship must not only involve authentic emotions, it must also include accurate
information. First of all, there must be an accurate approach to God. Jesus is the truth,
the only right approach to God:
John 14:6 (NIV):
6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through me."
You may be sincere in your worship, but if you do not believe and receive
Jesus as your only access to the Father, all your worship is empty.
Then, in the information we have about God. Based on the text, the Samaritans
were also very sincere in their worship, but they had bad information about the
God they were supposed to be worshipping (v.22).
If we are to worship God, only the Bible can provide us the accurate information
about who He is and what He has done for us. The Bible is the only source of truth for
us:
John 17:17 (NIV):
17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
The more we study the Bible, the more we will know Him. The greater our
knowledge of Him, the greater our worship will become.
III THE REGULARITY OF WORSHIP:
Lastly, we need to talk about worship not just as an event like every Sunday,
but a lifestyle that continues throughout the week. At the end of verse 23, you read
this phrase, “for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”
I don’t want us to miss the present tense form of the verb wherein Jesus was
literally sending across the message that the Father is consistently seeking true worshippers.
In other words, when you are a believer, there needs to be a specific point in
your life when you will decide to be a worshipper. I believe this was explicitly communicated by the apostle Paul when he wrote Romans 12:1-2:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as
living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do
not conform any longer 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.
There is a very important image here that you must identify. As we have
previously explained, back in the Old Testament times, God’s presence resided in the
temple. Today, believers themselves have become the temple of God (1 Corinthians
6:19-20). Now, being the dwelling place of God, we have to surrender our lives to
Him once and for all, and do our best to be sensitive of honoring him 24/7. Imagine
an Old Testament altar where they sacrifice a dead animal to offer God. Today, we
have to bring our own bodies, our lives in that altar and promise that we will begin to
honor God every single day. This promise involves living a holy life and a life that
please God consistently.
I believe this is the key to a life of worship. How many times have we felt
that our Sunday worship is dry and empty, wherein we are not feeling the presence of
God? We cannot expect God to meet with us on a Sunday, when we are not meeting
with Him from Monday through Saturday. You see, I believe that the effectivity of
public worship is determined by our private worship of God. King David was close to
God heart because he was a consistent worshipper. He declares:
Psalm 34:1 (NIV):
1 I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.
Let’s remember that God seeks our worship not just once a week or twice a month or
year. He seeks for it regularly. May God help us to be true worshippers!