21 Days of Prayer: Day 5
Barriers to Worship – Ignorance
“You worship what you do not know…”
READ JOHN 4:16-26.
We turn once again to the woman at the well outside of Sychar in Samaria. She has heard that Jesus is the only one who gives living water (true life), Jesus has uncovered her unconfessed sins, and now she is exposed… So the woman tries to change the subject.
The Samaritan woman calls Jesus a prophet and then asks Him a theological question to take the focus off her sin. The woman asks about the proper way to worship God – whether on Mount Gerizim (where the Samaritans go to worship) or on Mount Zion (in Jerusalem where the Jews worship). Jesus, like a wise Teacher, humors her question while all time getting closer to His own goal in the conversation.
Christ tells the woman that neither on Gerizim nor on Zion will she worship God, and He says something intriguing: “You worship what you do not know…” What is Jesus talking about when He says this?
Jesus tells the woman that salvation is from the Jews. This means at least two things: 1) God revealed the means of salvation to the Jewish people of the Old Testament (giving them His word and sacrificial system); and 2) Jesus – the Way, the Truth, and the Life (see Jn. 14:6) – is Himself a Jew according to His human nature… But the Samaritans rejected parts of God’s word in the Old Testament, which made them ignorant of the true God. Now, because this Samaritan woman is ignorant of God along with the rest of her people, she does not understand God in the flesh who stands right in front of her… Therefore, Jesus teaches her what true worship of God looks like.
Jesus teaches the woman about God and what implications that has for true worship. First, Christ teaches about God: “God is spirit…” To us today, this seems like a vague statement, but it is quite telling in reality. Jesus says that God is spirit – He is not made up of physical matter. Therefore, God is not confined to matter, enabling Him to be everywhere at every moment in time (this is what we mean by saying God is omnipresent) … Considering this truth, we might say “Okay, but how does that affect my worship of God?”
Jesus continues, “… those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” Next, Jesus teaches the woman that she must worship God in spirit. This is not referring to the Holy Spirit here (the third person of the Trinity) but to the human spirit – the soul or heart of a person. Since God is spirit, we must worship Him with the part of our being that is like God’s being – our spirits. The spirit is the most defining part of a human being. Thus, Jesus teaches the woman that true worship is from the heart… True worship is not just going through the external motions of worship like the Jews or Samaritans (or even like most of us Baptists)! True worship emanates from a heart that yearns for the glory of God… And this heartfelt worship is not confined to a single mountain (back then) or even a single sanctuary (today) because God is not confined to a mountain or sanctuary. True, spiritual worship happens from the heart and happens in all places.
True worship is in spirit, but Jesus also teaches it is in “… truth.” What does Jesus mean by this? By saying that there is a true way to worship God, Jesus teaches there is a false way to worship God… Cults get worship wrong – Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Muslims, etc. False gospels teach people to get worship wrong – the prosperity gospel, the therapeutic gospel, the partial (Bible Belt) gospel, etc. What do all these cults and false gospels have in common? They do not understand the truth about God – how He has revealed Himself… And how has God revealed Himself?
The Samaritan woman said to Jesus, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” The woman says that God will send His Anointed One to teach the truth about God… And Jesus says to her, “I who speak to you am he.” … What?! This is amazing! But why is this amazing?
This is amazing because it teaches the Samaritan woman and us today that God’s truth is revealed primarily and finally in a PERSON – the Son of God – Jesus Christ! While Jesus walked on earth, He revealed the truth of God. Now as Christ sits at the right of the Father in heaven, He gives truth through His teaching recorded – the written word of God (a.k.a. the Bible) …
All cults and false gospels today do not pay attention the truth of God revealed in the Bible. Though many of these groups attempt to worship with heartfelt fervor, it is not true worship because it is not according to the truth of God… And we do this too… We do not truly worship God when we do not study His word. If we do not study the Bible, then we cannot possibly worship the true God and are, in fact, ignorant of Him. When we do not study the Bible, we do not worship the true God but our false conceptions of who He is… When we think about God, we must come to see what the Samaritan woman saw…
The Samaritan woman saw that God is spirit. Therefore, God must be worshiped in spirit and truth – God must be worshiped through Jesus from the deepest part of our being…
Personal Questions:
1. What does it mean for God to be spirit?
2. What does it mean to worship God in spirit? In truth?
3. Do you worship God from the deepest part of your being in every aspect of your life?
4. Do you worship God as He has revealed Himself in the Bible? Or do you worship your own false idea of God?
Prayer Points:
· Pray that God would help you and our church worship Him from the deepest, most defining part of our human nature – our spirits.
· Pray that God would help you and our church detect and get rid of false conceptions we have about God.
· Pray that God would help you and our church worship God as He has revealed Himself in Scripture (In other words, that our people would be rooted in Scripture so we can worship God).