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This fourth chapter
of John’s Gospel
was the text
for our Sunday
School lesson a
few Sunday’s ago.
Jesus holds
an interview with
a certain woman
of Samaria while
sitting at Jacob’s
well. Somewhere during
this interview, the
subject of worship
is brought up.
The woman perceives
that Jesus is a
prophet. And goes
on to admit that even
though she was
a Samaritan, she
was still a
descendant of Jacob,
who’s name was
changed to Israel.
First she asks
Him if He was greater
than their father
Jacob who had
given them this
well from which
he, his children,
and his cattle had all
drank was. She
says that our
fathers worshipped in
this mountain but
that the word
from the Jews
is that Jerusalem
is the place where men
ought to worship.
Jesus’ response
to the woman, was that
the hour will
come when you
won’t be able
to worship the Father
neither in this
mountain nor in
Jerusalem. He goes on
to say that now is
the hour when
the true worshippers
shall worship the Father
in spirit and
in truth: because
He seeks such to
worship Him. Worship means
to praise and
to serve. In
Church we worship
by praising God. After
we leave the
building we worship
by our service to Him. Telling
men, women, boys
and girls, that
God is a Spirit and
they that worship
Him must worship Him in
spirit and in
truth. Merrill C.
Tenney is the
author of several
books, one of , which
is called John
the Gospel of
Belief. In this
book Tenney divides
John’s gospel into
six divisions.
The sixth division
covers chapters 18
through the conclusion
and he calls it the
period of consummation. Here we will
find Jesus betrayed, His trial
before the High
Priest. His interview with
Pilate; His crucifixion, burial,
and His resurrection. The
fifth division covers
chapters 12 and
the “b” portion
of verse 36
through chapter seventeen,
and this he
calls the period
of conference. During
this period is
the Last Supper,
the dismissal of
the traitor, the
questions asked of Jesus
by Peter, Thomas,
Philip, and Judas.
Also there is Jesus’
instructions on relationships.
Like the relationship of believer to Him,
to each other,
and to the world. The fourth
division covers chapters
11:54 through chapters
12 and the “a” portion
of verse 36,
and this he
calls the period
of crisis. During
this period is Jesus’
return to Bethany
and His triumphal entry
into Jerusalem. The
third division covers
chapters 7 through
chapters 11:53. This
he calls the period
of conflict. In
this period, The
unbelief of those He
came to seek
and to save; the woman
taken in adultery,
His interview with the
Pharisees; the healing
of the man born blind;
the dialogue on
the Good Shepherd;
and the raising
of Lazarus from
the dead.
The second division
Tenney calls the
period of controversy. This period covers
chapters five and
six. Here’s where
you’ll read about
the man at
the pool who
had been sick
for 38 years, the feeding
of the five thousand; the
walking on the
water, and the
teaching about the Bread
of Life. The first
division is from
where our lesson
comes this morning,
covers the first
four chapters and
is called by
the author the
period of consideration. Here is found
the witness of
John the Baptist,
and his disciples;
the wedding of
Cana of Galilee,
the interview with
Nicodemus, the nobleman
of Capernaum, and
the Samaritan woman.
Let us look now at
the way Jesus orchestrated an interview with
this woman. For
some time He had
been about His Father’s business, engaging in
the active efforts
to save men’s
souls, to lift
him out of
his sluggishness and
worldliness and turn
him towards God. And
for anybody, including
Jesus, that
is hard work
for both the
mind and the
heart.
Even though John
had said it,
some of his
disciples were not
so pleased as
their teacher began to
decrease, and Jesus began
to increase. The
Pharisees were out
to get Him . While
those who admired
Him wouldn’t give Him a
moment’s peace. So
it’s not hard
to see that the Master would
seize an opportunity
to withdraw Himself not
only from the
evil intent of His
enemies but also
the fanaticism of His
admires. He needed a
place where He could
find rest, and
Samaria was a
good choice because
neither His admirers nor His
enemies would bother
to come there.
You see, the
Jews had no
dealings with the
Samaritans. Rather than
going through Samaria,
Jews traveling from
Judea to Galilee
would go out
of their way
through Peraea and
Decapolis to get
there so that
it would not
be said that
they set foot
on Samaritan soil.
So Samaria was
a good place for Jesus to
get away and
rest.
Now we find
Him at Jacobs well
in an interview with the
Samaritan woman. Jesus skillfully
took the opportunity
to measure the
sincerity of this
woman’s heart by
telling her things
about herself that
she thought He couldn’t possibly have known.
If you want to know
just how this
woman was feeling,
imagine someone getting
in your business.
And trying to
get you to
straighten out some
of your crooked
ways. How would
you feel? I
know I’ve got
some people here
who would get
all up in that person’s
face and stay
in that person’s
face until something
breaks loose. But
in the times that this
woman lived, women
were not allowed
to get up in a
man’s face. But this woman,
knowing that Jesus had
gotten all into
her business, and
not only that
but she knew
that there wasn’t
a whole lot
of avenues left
for her to
rebut the issue,
gave us the
one clue that
says she had
to be a Sister. No
she didn’t put
her hands on
her hips, roll
her head around
on her neck, and point
her finger, not
at Jesus. So what
did she do?
She simply changed
the subject. They
were talking about
her, and she
changed the subject
and started talking
about Him. Jesus you sure
know a lot of stuff,
you must be a prophet
or something. They
were talking about
her moral condition,
but then she
changed the subject
to religion.
There was a
division if you
would between the
Jews and the
Samaritans, and one
of those issues
of separation was
the place to
worship. Listen to
what she says
next; our fathers
worshipped in this
mountain; and you
say that in
Jerusalem is the
place where men
ought to worship.
Here is when
Jesus uses
His skills,[] to reply
to both the
controversial issue as
well as the
deeper personal issue
hidden behind the
controversy. First He tells
this woman that
Salvation is from
the Jews. Jesus who
is the captain of our
great Salvation, came
through the Jewish
lineage; not only did
He come through the
Jewish lineage, but
also when He came,
He brought Salvation with
Him. And
if you believe in your
own heart that
He is the Son of God,
and that it
was God and God only
that raised Him from the
dead, the Bible
says that’s all
you need to
do to be saved.
Then in His’ reply
to the second portion of
the issue, the
deeper and more
personal issue is
not so much where you
worship, but whom
you worship, and
how you worship
Him. God is
a Spirit: and they
that worship Him must
worship Him in spirit
and in truth. So then
my brothers and
sisters the truth
about worship is
not in the formula of
your fore parents;
but in the relation of
your own heart
with God. You must
deal with Him through
His Spirit, and on
the basis of
truth, which precludes
the kind of
life you are
living right now.
But let me
hurry on to
a close.
WHY SHOULD WE
WORSHIP GOD?
We are all
born with a
sinful nature, and
we also have
as a birthright, the innate
desire to worship.
No matter how
bad we think a man
is, and that
includes male and
female, no matter
how bad we
think a man
is, there is
some good in
him. You may
not hear about
it during the course of his
living, but attend
his funeral, and
everything that is
said, is only
about the good
that was in
him. And then
we are worshipping
creatures. Even if
the object of
your worship is
not focused on God,
it is focused somewhere else.
You worship something,
and whatever that
something is you
are faithful to
It.
We should worship
God because He
is worthy of
Worship. He alone has
the power to
transform your life.
He never looks at
what you used
to be, His concern
is what you
can be with Him on your
side. God is not
concerned about your
material possessions, because
no matter how
much you possess,
you can’t take
none of with
you when it’s
your time to
leave here. But He
is concerned with
what you do
with what you
have, did you
help anybody as
you traveled along
the way if
you didn’t, then
your living will
have been in
vain. We should
worship God because He is
worthy of worship,
but we should also worship
Him because it’s good
for us. Only
the worship of God
can satisfy that
innate desire we
all have to
worship.
Without God,
life can be
hard, it can
be difficult, and
it can be taxing. It’s
hard to keep
good credit, when
you have partied
all weekend with
your bill money,
and when Monday
rolls around you’re
too tired to
get up and go to
work. You’re broke,
you’re credit goes
bad, you’re placed
on probation at
work for your
attendance, and you
use the caller
I.D. to decide
if you’re going
to answer your
own phone. That’s
living hard.
Then there are
some folks who
have more than one “HONEY”. Now
you really are talking
about living hard.
You try to
balance a relationship with more than
one person, without
them finding out
about each other,
you’ve got to
balance where you
are with where
you’ve been, then
you’ve got to
figure out who
gave it to
you and how
you’re going to
tell the others
about it. Then
you’ve got to
think about what’s
going to happen
to you when they all
find out. That’s
living too hard.
The worship
of God will nourish the
deepest roots of
morality. He will
wipe the old
slate clean and
give you a
brand new beginning.
Instead of a
hard life, with
God life can
be so easy. When He
wakes you up
in the morning and you
are able to
get up, all
God wants you
do is tell Him thank
you. When you
get in your car and
drive wherever it
is that you
are going and
arrive there safely,
all God wants
you to do is tell
Him thank you.
When you have
been in the
workplace all the
day long, among
unreasonable coworkers and
unjust supervisors, and
at the end of the
day if you didn’t curse
anybody out nor
punch anybody in
the face, all
God wants you
to do is tell Him
thank you. And
finally when you
get back home
and look back
over all that
has happened and
how God delivered
you through it
all, before you
go to bed, bow down
on your knees
and tell God
thank you.
When you
tell God thank
you, it shows
gratitude, and gratitude
is nothing more
than a forgiven attitude. And
a forgiven attitude
is an attitude that will
worship God. Why
should we worship
God? We should
worship Him because
He is worthy, we should
worship Him because
it is good for us,
but then we
should worship Him
because He is
a Spirit, and
they that worship
Him must worship
Him in spirit and in
truth. God created
man to worship Him. He
created man in
His own image
after His own
likeness. Man is
body, spirit and
soul. Without God,
the spirit in
man is restless, and it
looks for peace
in all of the wrong
places.
Only when
the spirit is
connected with God
do we have that peace
that passeth all
understanding. When your
spirit gets connected
with the Spirit
of God, your
body and your
soul began to
take on new
ways. Your soul
will look back
and wonder how
you made it
over. Your body
will begin to
travel in a
different direction. Instead
of going to
the club, you’ll
start going to
Church. And the
Bible say’s that
you must also
worship Him in
Spirit but you
must also worship
Him in Truth. Can anybody
tell us how
do we worship Him in
truth. Through Him
who is the Way the
Truth and the
Life. His name
is Jesus.