John 4:24
The last time in John, we looked at the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman from verses 1-19. Today, we continue in the conversation and there are Four things I want to bring to our attention in the text we read (1) The Object of Worship–Who Are We To Worship, (2) The Manner of Worship — How are we to worship (3) The Place of Worship—Where Are We To Worship and (4) The Reason For Worship—Why Are We To Worship? Looking at these, every single one of them looks like topics on their own. So I don’t seek to address all 4 today. So today I will focus on the The Object of Our Worship.
In this part of the conversation, you will notice clearly that the subject matter is worship. Let’s examine the number of times the word worship is used in the verses we read. Please follow along if you have your Bibles opened to the texts. If no, please open it. I see 2 in verse 20, I see 1 in verse 21, 2 in verse 22, 3 in verse 23 and 2 in verse 24. The central theme for these verses then is worship. So it will be good to try and ask ourselves What Is Worship?
A simple dictionary definition defines worship as
to honor or show reverence for as a divine being or supernatural power
to regard with great or extravagant respect, honor, or devotion
to perform or take part in worship or an act of worship
The Object Of Our Worship—Who Are We To Worship
If you look at the definition of worship, it speaks of honour or reverence for a divine being or supernatural power. This means worship has an object. Worship must be directed toward something or someone: The Object of Our Worship: Who Are We To Worship? According to available world statistics, 85% of the world population holds to one religion or the other. Further by this statistics, the world population of religions as at 2020 is as below
Christianity – 2.38 billion
Islam – 1.91 billion
Hinduism – 1.16 billion
Buddhism – 507 million
Folk Religions – 430 million
Other Religions – 61 million
Judaism – 14.6 million
Unaffiliated – 1.19 billion
So who are all these worshipping? Many people make us believe that all ways lead to God. And this conversation with the Samaritan women appears to have this feature. The Samaritans have their way of Worship, the Jews have their way of worship. And that is where Jesus’ correction comes in. We see clearly that worship is to be offered to God, the Father, the Christian God. God is the object of our worship (v.21 “The Father”, v.23 “The Father”, 24 God is”). Worship is to the Father. God is to be worshipped.
Religious worship is to be given to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and to Him alone: not to angels,saints or any other creature; and since the fall, not without a mediator; nor in the meditation of any other but of Christ alone
The confession in the earlier chapter gives us a description of who this God is:
There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions; immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will, for His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him; and withal, most just, and terrible in His judgments; hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.
Now all the religions of the world communicate something to us. It tells us human beings are inherently religious and seek something to worship. Deep within us we know there is God or as some say there is a power beyond us. You can’t just look at this world including yourself as a human being and not think of something powerful outside of yourself. I was recently sitting at an OPD section waiting to see a Dr and on the wall is this elaborate image of the human anatomy with all the parts labelled. And I was telling myself, so some people want us to believe that all these just came into being?Â
Yesterday, my kids came back from a visit to the science museum and they were excited. So we probed: what did you see. They told us of a preserved heart, a kidney, a crocodile stuffed with cotton ( I figured that to be a preserved crocodile). I was curious and wanted to find out if they saw a preserved human being. But the ghastly thought of it alone made me swallow that question. That will be a corpse right, and I can’t imagine that in a Museum. But the things they saw clearly paints the picture of the amazing work of God. And it’s amazing people can observe the complexities of life and think it all happened.Â
General Revelation
Christian theology speaks about two ways by which God has revealed himself to humankind. General Revelation and Special Revelation. General revelation by the name is General. It is common knowledge. God has revealed himself in the natural world to everyone without excuse (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:20-23)
Again we return to to the Westminster Confession of faith and we read.Â
The light of nature showeth that there is a God who hath lordship and sovereignty over all; is good, and doth good unto all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the mightÂ
See, in every human being, there is a thought of God. Maybe you are at a stage in your life you are asking questions. And everyone of us here I believe can testify of times we have asked questions like “is this all there is to life?”. “Can there be more to life?” “What is life all about? Why am I on earth? Perhaps the cares of life, what to eat, what to wear, where to live, how to improve your life, finding satisfaction and purpose in life…maybe you take these questions further and ask yourself, where do I go after this life? You are not alone. Everyone asks these questions.Â
And see, these are symptoms of a bigger problem. A problem of sin that leaves a void in every heart that seeks to be filled: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). This is separation from our creator and source. This is a broken relationship between us and the God who created us. And this void can only be restored by God himself. St. Augustine, a theologian who has had great impact in church history says “Our hearts are restless, until it finds its rest in God”.Â
Do you see that? The human heart is restless…the human heart is empty…the human heart is frustrated…the human heart finds no true joy in life…the human heart is constantly seeking satisfaction. And rather than turning to God to find that satisfaction we so much seek, we often turn to the wrong places that doesn’t satisfy and further leaves us empty. Sometimes all of your life pursuits is to cover up for an emptiness in your life. Maybe you are seeking to find satisfaction for your soul in your work, in your business, in your relationships.
Even for some, we may seek to find our satisfaction in ministry work. Now excellent work is required of us as worship no doubt. And for those of us who are employees and business owners, note that our worship extends beyond a few hours on Sunday. Worship follows us to our work places in how we carry out our duties: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.” (Ecclesiastes 19:10). Paul echoes these same words when he said “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3:23-24). You are serving the Lord Christ in your employment. So never let anyone convince you you have to be in full-time ministry so to speak before you can serve God. All of our life is full time ministry—everything we do is fulltime ministry.
The Idols Of Our Hearts
But dear friends, even excellent work will not fill the emptiness in your soul. God is the one to whom we are to turn to for satisfaction. And that was the problem of this Samaritan woman. She was seeking satisfaction in life. But unfortunately, she was seeking satisfaction in wrong places: in men. In broken relationships (v.18). She had made idols in her heart
Human beings are idolators at heart. There are numerous ways people seek satisfaction outside of God: Drinking, partying, playing or watching sports, sex, tourism…Some even seek satisfaction in eating. All these are forms of idols we make for ourselves. We may not bow down to graven images, but we may be idolators in our hearts replacing worshipping God with pursuing things. John Calvin in his Institutes of Christian Religion noted rightly that the “human heart is a perpetual factory of idols.” What this means is that, we are constantly producing idols to worship instead of worshipping the true God. All the religions of the world is a quest for worship which is innate with humans. And rather than worshipping the true God, we turn to idols. We saw that thought clearly in our second Scripture reading (Acts 17:22-27).
Paul gets to Athens and by observation, found so many idols. And as if it was not enough, they had another one with the inscription “To The Unknown God.” The Greeks, truly as the text tells us were religious. So they had gods and goddesses for everything. They had a deity for fertility, they had a deity for love, they a deity for harvest…it was a Pantheon of gods, that is to say many gods. And because of their religious nature, they didn’t want to upset any other god they do not know. And Paul was on point. This unknown God, I will show you: he is the true God. He is the Creator of all things including your life and he requires to be worship.
God Seeks The Lost
You may be seeking for God at the wrong places. You may be involved in one form of false religion or the other. You may have believed in things that are not true. But the beautiful thing about all these is that God is seeking out the lost. God is seeking worshippers (v.23). Nobody can worship God unless God himself has revealed himself to them. Unless God has opened their eyes to the truth. Wherever people have come to know God, it is God who has been pursuing them. Think about this: Adam, Abraham, The Disciples, Paul…this Samaritan woman. All of them were sought out by God, because naturally, none of us in our sinful state will seek after God: “no one seeks for God.” (Romans 3). But God seeks out for sinners. And the way he did that is by sending Jesus into the world to die to save sinners (John 3:16)
Dear friends, the narrative of the Bible is the narrative of a Holy God on a rescue mission. A rescue mission to rescue sinners. God gave his son to pay for the sins of his people. To bring reconciliation between God and humanity. While nobody, bothers about seeking God to worship him, God is seeking out worshippers. God is seeking out people to reconcile unto himself. Worship is about reconciliation to God and we can only have this reconciliation in the person of Jesus Christ (v.22). Salvation is of the Jews. The source of salvation comes from the Jewish line. And we know Jesus has a human lineage of being Jew. He is referred to as the Son of David and Abraham (Matthew 1). He is the fulfilment of prophesy. He is the expected Messiah who brings reconciliation between sinners and the Father (v.25-26).
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