Why is worship so confusing for people?
For those of us who grew up with the concept of singing songs at church it seems to be natural but depending on your background, depending on your gender, depending on your experience, it will have different meaning and may bring a nuance of fears.
As you read through the following scripture I encourage you to ponder the thoughts and questions in bold that I have inserted. Worship truly is one of the main avenues that the Lord speaks to me, calms my heart, and gives me direction. If you need a touch from God, I encourage you to set aside your pride, your preconceived ideas about worship, and take the time to fall on your knees and surrender to Him. He is always faithful to show up.
John 4:4-42
4 Now he had to go through Samaria.
5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”
8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?”
(For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”
17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband.
18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
1. People will always use their differences in worship to deflect truth
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 worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.
24 God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
2. What must be done to worship in spirit and truth?
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
26 Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am he.”
27 ¶ Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no-one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
3. Religiousness will always distract from the heart of worship
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,
29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
30 They came out of the town and made their way towards him.
4. Worshipping the Lord will bring empowerment
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.
37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true.
38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labour.”
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”
5. We Worship That Which Seems Most Powerful!
40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days.
41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.”
6. Worshipping the Lord as a lifestyle is the best witness
__________________________________
This is a wonderful song that reminds us to come to God as we are. He loves us more than we can imagine.Just Come As You Are
By Pocket Full of Rocks
Come as you are
He’s not mad at you
And He’s not disappointed
His grace is greater still
Than all of your wrong choices
He is full of mercy and he is ever kind
Hear His invitation
His arms are open wide
You can come as you are
With al of your broken pieces
And all your shameful scars
The pain you hold in your heart
Bring it all to Jesus
You can come…
As You are
As You are
Louder than the voice
That whispers you’re unworthy
Hear the sound of love
That tells a different story
Shattering the darkness
And pushing through the lies
How tenderly He calls you
His arms are open wide
Oh you can come as you are
You can come as you are
With all your broken pieces
And all your shameful scars
The pain you hold in your heart
Bring it all to Jesus
You can come as you are
