The Essence of Worship
John 4:1-26

1. In the "Annals of Crime" in the New Yorker (Nov. 25,1954) Zangara, who attempted to assassinate President Roosevelt is reported to have said, "I don't believe in God because I see
lots of things. I see in my mind everything wrong. Somebody trying to kill and steal and everything wrong. I figure no God, no nothing, only air and land. I feel to myself if there was a God, why do I suffer all the time? What do you believe in? He was asked. The land, sky, the
moon, what I see. If you kill a man you don't care if you die, or where you go? No.  You have no soul?  No.  Heaven or hell? No. I go into the ground. At his trial he was asked if he belonged to a church. No, no, I belong to myself and I suffer.

2. There are lots of people who "belong to themselves" and suffer for it. They do not acknowledge God, or heaven, or hell. People who are self-centered suffer the consequences of isolation from other people. Hell is a moral necessity so that people who want nothing to do with God will be free to live in isolation from him for ever. God is the source of love, life, and light, and when one rejects Him there is only self-centeredness, hell and darkness.

3. When Jesus was traveling through Samaria he met a woman at Jacob's well. It was unusual for a man to talk with a strange
woman, but Jesus broke with tradition in those days. Their conversation turned to the subject of worship. The woman had been living under a falsehood concerning worship and Jesus taught
her what true worship was. We can raise the question for ourselves, what is worship? What do you do in worship?

4. The ancient Hebrews thought of worship as prostrating one's self before God. The ancient Greeks thought of kissing the hand to someone. Early Christians were persecuted for their faith and they could be free if only they would worship the Emperor as God.
I haven't seen anyone doing any of this today. What does worship mean for us?

5. In the New Testament worship is the giving of ourselves to God. When we come humbly to God and say, "Lord, I humble myself before you because you are my Lord and Creator. I give back my life to you, and dedicate my life to your service this day.

6. Let see what Jesus had to say about worship in John 4: 1-26.

I. True Worship is like Living Water- satisfyine: v.14

1. Water has always been symbolic of the refreshing communion we can have with God. The vision of Ez. In the 47th chapter shows us a picture of living water issuing from the temple. The water was coming forth from the east side from under the threshold ofthe house. Zachariah (14:8) prophesied, "and it shall be that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem." The invitation to drink the living waters as fellowship and communion is given in the last book and
chapter of the Bible, "And let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."

Water is so important that we equate water and life in common experiences. Where there is water in Egypt, there is green life. Where there is no water, the Sahara desert is. In Arizona miles and miles of waterways have been constructed to take life giving water to the thirstand. Without water, there is no life. That's why scientists have been raising the question, is there water on Mars?

2. Jesus identified the living water with himself and proclaimed that if one would be refreshed in their soul it would come only from Him. He was the living water that could satisfy the thirst of man's spiritual life. He told the woman at the well that whosoever shall drink ofthe water that I shall give him shall never thirst again. In essence, Jesus is saying that his presence in one's life is satisfying as water is satisfying. Without his presence in one's life, there is a thirst
that cannot be quenched.

3. In spite of the wonderful words of Jesus people will not seek the Living Water. The prophet Jeremiah declares the word of God, "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and hewed out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water."

Many years ago when I was a youngster visiting in Tennessee I helped clean out a cistern. It was low and needed cleaning. When the top layer of water was taken out, then we came to black murky mud. Bucket after bucket full came out and was hauled away. That water
came from the roof and was collected in the cistern. In contrast to that water, there was a spring at the bottom of a hill near the house that was cold, clear, and gushed forth with satisfying clean water. These comparisons are true for life. Many people seek satisfaction in the stagnant areas of life when they could have a satisfying refreshing relation with God.

4. There is a fable, a story, about some scientists at Smolensk University, who decided to develop a fish that could live out of water. So, choosing some healthy red herrings, they bred, cross-bred, hormoned and chromosomed until at length they had a fish that could live, at least exist out of water.
The local commissioner was not satisfied. True the fish had survived till now on rarefied gas, but how about reactionary tendencies. They suspected the fish had a secret yen for water." "You have neglected education,"said he. Start over and this time do not neglect
education. So gain, they bred, crossbred, hormoned and chromosomed, and this time they did not neglect education-down to the small reflex. The results? A red herring that would rather die
than get its tail wet. The slightest suggestion of humidity filled its body with dread. Thought control had done its perfect work, and with possible exception of the red herring, everyone was happy. Surely this years' Stalin prize would go to the scientists at Smolensk University.
Now the world must see the triumph of Soviet research. The commissioner who had thought of education must take the fish on a tour. Somewhere in Czechoslovakia the tragedy occurred. Quite accidently, according to the official report, the red herring fell into a pool of water. Deep in the green translucent stuff it lay, eyes and gills clamped shut...afraid to move lest it become wetter. And of course, it could not breathe-every reflex said no to that. Never did a fish so wet feel like a fish out of water. But there was nothing else to breathe. Only water. So the red herring drew a tentative gillful. Its eyes bulged, it breathed again. Its jaw flew open. It flicked a fin, then another, and wiggled with delight. Then it darted away. The fish had
discovered water. And with a great sense of wonder people discover God.

5. We were made to worship God just as the fish was made to swi~ and live in water. When we are without a relation to God we are as miserable as a fish out of water. There is the famous line from Augustine in the 4th century, "Thou hast made us for thyself and we are restless until we rest in thee."

II. True Worship is spiritual. not physical.

1. The woman had conceived as worship being confined to a place. She had know the forms of worship, but she did not know anything about real worship. Spiritual worship is an inner attitude which may be described as "heart worship" Jesus said on one occasion, "When
you come to worship, and you have something against your brother, go to him, make it right and then come and worship, not before. (Mt.5:23-24) Jesus told her that the hour would come when
people would worship wherever they gathered, not just in one place in Israel.

2 We can become hypocritical by claiming to do certain minimum requirements that we feel God ought to be pleased with. When the Pharisees had washed their hands before eating they thought they were respectable before God, but it was not true. Jesus said that it was what comes out of a person, not what goes into the mouth that is important. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemiesy
(Mt.15:19) In our time we can make a list of things we don't do. I don't do drugs, I don drink:, I don't smoke, I don't gamble, I don't beat my wife, I don't beat my children. When we tell
people this, we want them to conclude that we are righteous people. None of this says anything about our relation to God. We can keep a list of do's and don'ts but that is deceiving ourselves. Let me give you an example of legalism and its application. In 1944 when the French
Armoured division swept through the wine-growing countries of France chasing the Germans, the French people offered the soldiers the pick of their wine-cellars to celebrate. One evening a
lieutenant was celebrating when his Arab sergeant appeared. A glass of wine was poured for him. He dipped the tip of his forefinger in the wine, and thus lifted out one drop from the glass.
Then he flipped the drop to the floor and began to drink: the wine. The Lieutenant asked, "Why did you do that?" "Ah, mon lieutenant, the Koran says, "thou shalt not drink: one drop of wine." That was it, and he drank the rest.

3. Worship involves our inner self. Jesus said, "blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." I have read about a condition that may be called "dirty heart." It is a disease in which ulcers form on the inner walls of the heart. There is no pain in the heart, but the blood
vessels of the eye become affected. The eyes become blood shot and if not cured the vessels burst and the person becomes blind. If this is true concerning physical sight, how much more it applies to God.
We can prepare our hearts to worship. We can confess our sins, we can be reconciled with those we have hurt, we can ask God to cleanse our hearts from the evil influences of the world. I learned to pray a long time ago at night asking God to cleanse my heart of all the evil
influences of the world. Cleanse my heart from sins I have committed today.

Ill. True worship is Christ-centered .... l0. 26

1. In verse 10, Jesus spoke ofthe gift of God to man as being himself. Christ came into the world to give us an entrance to God the Father. The woman at the well declared that the Messiah would come and tell them all things. Jesus said unto her, "I that speak unto thee am he."
Later, when the woman had gone back to the village and brought others to Him, they said, "we have heard him and know that this is the Christ, the Savior of the world. When these people had discovered the Savior, their attitude toward worship was changed. God was real now.

2. There are some questions we might raise concerning this conversation. First, there is the issue of sincerity. In this age of so-called tolerance, it seems intolerant to say that someone is wrong. Jesus did that. Jesus told her plainly that she worshiped what she did
not know. There are lots of people in the world worshiping what they do not know. There is the worship of false gods, or gods that are not really gods. Sincerity is not enough.

Second, there is an exclusive claim in Jesus that offends people. The church began in a polytheistic world in the Roman empire, and a monotheistic culture in Israel. The words of the Apostles was this, "There is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

3. Why make an exclusive claim? This claim is possible because Jesus is the Son of God. He was crucified, died, and resurrected the third day proving to be the son of God by the resurrection (Rom. 1:4). Jesus is alive today. We have a relationship with God the Father
through him. In contrast, Buddha is dead. Confucius is dead. Lao-tsu is dead. Moses is dead. Mohammed is dead. Mahavira is dead. None of these did anything for you. Their teachings only tell you how to live, but they do not do anything for you. Only Jesus, the Messiah, died for
you. In his death he made a New Covenant that guarantees the forgiveness of sin and the gift of his Spirit to us. The gift of his Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance in the Kingdom of God. (Eph. 1:13)

4. A young man named Charles was warned about his sin. For 5 years he got up early to read religious books. He went to different churches, hoping someone would tell him how to be saved. Then one winter day he went to a little church. The pastor was not there and a man of the
church spoke about the verses, Look unto me, and be ye saved." (Isa. 45:22) He was not a good preacher, his words were not the best sort, but he began to speak about looking to Jesus. "Look unto me, I am hanging on the cross. Look unto me, I am dead and buried. Look unto me, I arise; look unto me, I ascend to heaven. Look unto me I am sitting at the Father's right hand. 0, poor sinner, Look unto me. Look unto me. The preacher stopped, looked at Charles and said,
"Young man, you look very miserable and you always will be miserable unless you obey this text. Young man, look unto Jesus Christ. Look. Look, LOOK. You have nothing to do but look
and live. Charles Haddan Spurgeon did look to Jesus and found forgiveness for his sins. He found the secret of worship-Jesus Christ.

Conclusion:
1. You may feel this morning that worship is the least thing you need. If you feel this way, it may be that worship is the greatest thing you need. Ifworship is the committing of your life to Jesus, our Savior, then worship is the beginning of a life of relationship. This relationship with Jesus enables us to look at life differently. When my son was born I used to look at him sleeping and his bedside became a place of worship and thanksgiving to God for his gift of this boy. When I sit on the deck of my house and look at the birds that come around our
places, the meadow larks, the Canadian geese, turkeys, blue birds, and others, I am awed by God's creative work and my heart utters a word of thanksgiving for his creation.

When I meet other Christians who I have come to love I give thanks .fer1iod for these people because they are a delight and I can think that loving relationships are a little bit of heaven on earth. Worship is not confined to a place or time. It is wherever you encounter an experience that makes your heart cry out to God with thanksgiving.
2. Ifwe do not commit our lives to Jesus Christ we are tempted to pursue a life style that will lead to self-destruction. What can the pursuit of drugs do for a person other than destroy one's life, the mind, the body, the morals, ambition and hope. The pursuit of sensuality as a way of life is doomed to failure and disappointment because it ignores the most vital issue in human existence-the relationship with Jesus .
• 3. There is a fascinating verse in Jeremiah, 5:25; God said to his people, "your sins have kept good from you." God wants to bless his people, but our sins keep this from happening. In the experience of worshiping we find not only meaning and purpose, but forgiveness of our sins and a renewal of a relationship with God.