Title: Worship like this (John 4:19-26)
Contents
A representative case of what the human condition looks like without God is the Samaritan woman in today's Bible. This woman had no choice but to wander endlessly through her life. She suffered from male paranoia. I was in a state of being unsatisfied with a man.
People without God, not necessarily male or female, suffer from various paranoias. That is why they wander endlessly toward that greedy, greedy, and lustful thing. Man has a space in his heart that can only be filled with God. So, when that space is not filled by God, endless efforts and obsessions to try to fill it with other things are attempted. However, the condition of a person who lives without God is living in sin, and the more sins he commits, the smarter and wiser he thinks of himself.
The same is true of ancient Samaria, Judea, Galilee, and present-day Israel. A place where men are precious. In these provinces, wars were constantly taking place, so men went to war and died, and women were left behind. So the vast majority are women. In the meantime, how powerful must this Samaritan woman be, since she can have five husbands each? As a woman, she must have had many talents and must have had many charms.
However, a life that does not know God, a life without worship is a life that is always thirsty, a life of wandering, and a life without true peace and satisfaction.
The moment this woman met Jesus, the lustful, lustful, and greedy interests that had always been heralded turned into spiritual concerns. That is, I became interested in worship. Interest has changed.
The Samaritan woman said, "Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place of worship is in Jerusalem." As you can see in this verse today, this woman has thought of worship as something that has nothing to do with her. It's either our ancestors' problem or yours. But now the issue of this worship, which was not even of interest before, has become a concern.
God is looking for worshipers and commands them to worship. Why does God command us to worship and seek worshipers? Is it because God needs worship? It's not like that. The reason is that he wants to have a personal relationship with God's children.
Jesus said to this woman
First, he said that worship and time are more important than place.
It is a matter of the attitude of the present worshiper. “The hour is coming when you will worship your Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem” and “the hour is now.” Worshiping God is not about the location, but the time of decision, and the time to meet the Lord.
Originally, the Jews thought that they should worship in the Temple in Jerusalem and the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim. However, it is not the Jerusalem temple or Mount Gerizim that is important, but who the worshipers are, and the sincerity of the worshipers at this time of worship is what matters.
If we want to show God our love, we need to give it time. We had to spend time with God, time to get to know Him, and time to prepare our hearts to serve Him. That's investing your time where the sea lions are the most.
Jesus asked his disciples. "Couldn't you have been awake with me like this one hour?" (Matthew 26:40).
A pastor said that one day he received a visitation request and went to the saint's house. However, the member said that he was not at home because he was busy with business and told people who looked at the house to worship and go when the pastor came. This is superstition. The problem is that the place where we worship can receive blessings regardless of who worships us.
There are cases where a road was made by cutting a mountain in an area, but not long after that, a landslide caused the road to become unusable. They offered sacrifices and prayed for safety using the theory of feng shui, but it was because the original geology of the mountain had no choice but to collapse if it was cut.
It's a superstition to be picky about a place by faith, unless it's a picky geological test. It is not the place where we worship that matters, but the person who worships us.
Second, it is important to know the object of worship immediately.
He taught us to worship what we do not know and to worship what we know. No matter how good your worship service is, what use is it if you worship something you don't know?
We must know that "without the knowledge of God there is no knowledge of oneself." Only when we know God clearly can we see ourselves directly.
The prophet Hosea said in 6:3, "Therefore let us know the Lord, let us strive to know the Lord. His coming is as steady as the morning light, and he will come upon us like rain, like the latter rain that waters the earth." Hosea diagnoses why his wife was like that. It was because his wife did not try hard to know God.
God is looking for people who know you right away. Because we do not know God well, worship becomes strange, worship changes, and worship becomes wrong. We need to focus on knowing the truth and devote ourselves to knowing the gospel. You have to do the same as cultivating the way to believe in Jesus.
Third, we must worship in spirit and truth.
Because God is a spirit, we must worship in spirit. There is no use in worship like that, where face is no use, shame is useless, and it is only a pretense. Only the truth speaks to him. Therefore, we must truly worship. Proverbs 29:25 says, “The fear of man is a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be safe.”
Are you aware of people when you take your clothes out of your closet on a Sunday morning? Are you conscious of God? "This dress is too old, it's out of fashion!" as she pulled it out of the closet. Haven't you ever thought, "This is a trendy outfit, so it'll get people's attention"?
Of course, there's nothing wrong with wanting to go to church in nice clothes and a nice tie. That's a very good thing. However, our true heart is revealed when we pay more attention to how we appear in the eyes of others than how we appear before God.
Because God is not life and is not material, it is impossible to please God with an attitude of approaching with life and material things. Those who want to worship God must offer spiritual and sincere worship.
This is the worship God is looking for and the worshiper God is looking for. If the saints fail in worship, even if they have succeeded in anything else, it is worthless and nothing to boast about. Believers must be successful in worship. This is the kingdom of God and His righteousness that we must first seek and seek. Then you will be successful in other things as well.