Reading:
 John 4 v4-26

Main Themes: 
 Purpose Driven Life
 Building a church that is Stronger through Worship
 Giving God the worship he deserves
 

As I've prepared to speak about worship that pleases God this morning I've found Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman such an exciting passage about worship. It has all those little touches of first hand experience.

In one way the meeting is so unexpected and unnatural, but at another level it's so natural and open.

On the natural level we meet Jesus, tired out by his journey. It's the middle of the day and the sun's at its hottest. He would have been so glad to reach the well and sit down

But it was so unnatural that Jesus and his disciples were in the area at all. After all, John goes out of his way to remind us that Jews don't associate with Samaritans. Usually they avoided the area at all costs

Then the second extraordinary thing is Jesus asking a woman for a drink. He made himself ritually unclean and no 'holy' teacher would ever do that.

So already we see Jesus knocking down some big barriers to worship. In worship that pleases God there can be no racial or gender prejudice.

We have no right to make exclusions because every person who has ever lived can only offer worship as a forgiven sinner. From God's perspective the highest in our land has no more access to worship than this despised Samaritan woman. Worship that pleases God humbly acknowledges, to quote Paul to Timothy, "I am the worst of sinners".

Even the woman was astonished by Jesus accepting her as his equal. 'You're a Jew and I'm a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?'

Immediately there's such a feeling of ease and directness between them. It's the sort of conversation people have who deeply trust one another. They just say things as they are, no flattery or false humility.

It reminded me of the ease with which Adam and Eve walked in the garden with the Lord God in the cool of the day.

This woman was only too well aware of her unholiness before God. Her coming alone in the heat of the day to get water would have been enough to alert Jesus something was badly wrong. Yet that doesn't stop him wanting something from her

In truth it's much more than a drink of water Jesus wants from her. But he begins where they have common ground, and he does the same with us

Even though he already knows the worst, He meets us, where we are and as we are. As the Christian worship song says 'Come, just as you are to worship'.

To the woman's question Jesus gave a very cryptic answer. It must have challenged her who this man could be. And I wonder if tingles were starting to go up and down her spine as Jesus replied. 

V10 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.

At any rate she changed her approach and began calling him 'sir'. There was something different and immensely honourable about Jesus.

Nevertheless, and understandably, she was still bound up with the harsh realities of her own life.

V11 Where can you get this living water without the right equipment?

Then her own question made her think again
V12 Are you greater than Jacob?

Jesus patiently explained a bit more
V13-14 everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 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.

She still doesn't understand, but how could she?
V15 sir, give me this water so I won't have to keep coming here to draw water.

The problem is Jesus only has the language of this world to describe spiritual truth beyond this world. Grasping spiritual truth is sometimes like listening to poetry. Our spirits absorb it without critically analysing it first. As Jesus says later in John, the Holy Spirit is opening our hearts to all the truth

I'm sure the woman didn't understand her own request, but since she's made it Jesus now addresses her personal situation
V16 go, call your husband and come back.

It's actually an invitation to lay bare her sin. The woman, of course, isn't aware Jesus knows her marital situation, but she's comfortable to be straightforward and told him truthfully she had no husband

Jesus affirmed what she said and filled in the whole picture
V18 you've had 5 husbands and the man you now have isn't your husband. What you've said is quite true!

Wow! This holy man knows the worst about her. Even her reputation as a man catcher. But we don't see her trying to impress Jesus

Her answers just show she's comfortable in the presence of someone who accepts her, warts and all. And he's making a genuine offer to help her, even though she can't work out exactly what it is

To deal with sin a Samaritan would have thought of sacrifices at Mount Gerizim. But Jesus reminded her in v22 that "salvation is from the Jews".

We're privileged to know so much more than she could possibly have done. We know Jesus actually became that necessary sacrifice on the cross, suffering the punishment for human sin. That's why our services have prayers of confession and absolution, where after acknowledging our sin we receive forgiveness. As we do this our hearts become open and teachable.

Back to the Samaritan woman - She perceives the man talking with her must be quite special
V19 I can see you are a prophet. But we have different views about worship
"Our fathers follow Abraham and worship on this mountain, Mount Gerizim, but you Jews claim we must worship in Jerusalem".

She's still a feisty lady asking for more clarification. Did she really want to talk theology? Or was she beginning to feel uncomfortable and trying to distract Jesus from her own issues? 

Whatever her motive Jesus made the most of the opportunity 
V22 you Samaritans worship what you don't know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.

Quite a provocative answer to a Samaritan
But Jesus has already won her over by his acceptance and insight into her life

Understanding worship would require her to be less literal and allow the Holy Spirit to mediate the meaning to her
V21, 23-4 Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem. The time is upon us when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. God is spirit and his worshippers must worship in spirit and truth.

Where and how we worship matters far far less to God than our heart attitude. Do we approach him as our loving heavenly Father? That's not always easy when we hear of so much suffering around the world

A few years ago I did a big study on suffering and I came to a surprisingly simple conclusion. No faith can explain suffering satisfactorily, but we all make a choice, consciously or subconsciously. Inwardly we either blame God or trust him.

Hebrews 5:8 informs us, "although he was a son, Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered"
And in 12:7 the writer encourages us to endure hardship as a discipline, because God is treating us as sons

It's utterly selfish to change my mind about God only after something bad has happened to me. Worldwide, things worse than death, happen to other people, Christians included, every single day. So moment by moment, I have two choices,
Either I trust my Father in heaven, or I'm angry and reject his love.

Whenever God seems far away and doesn't feel like Father I need to ask myself if I'm cross with him. If the answer's yes and I confess my anger I feel much closer afterwards

Next, having thought about God as Father, what about worshipping in spirit and truth? When Jesus repeats something we know he absolutely means it. Worship that's not from our spirits and in truth doesn't satisfy him at all

In fact untruthful worship sets itself up as judge over God. Our hearts start saying 'I have to choose which parts of the Bible I can believe. Some parts are just too much!'

This was my attitude at the time I became a Christian so I'm particularly thankful the Holy Spirit quickly showed me my mistake. I did find some Scriptures very hard to understand or accept, and of course there still are parts I struggle with. But even those difficult passages still have authority over me. I don't have authority over them

I wouldn't want to deny there are contradictions in the Bible - I just admit, to myself and you, I don't have an answer. I'm willing to live without an answer. As Paul says, now we see in a glass darkly but in heaven we will fully understand

Our worship does matter to our Father God far more than we often realise. Jesus tells us in v23 the Father is actively seeking worshippers. But worshippers can only reach God through the Messiah
In v25 the woman knows the Messiah will explain everything
So how amazed she must have been when Jesus announced "I who speak to you am he".

I think her encounter with Jesus was thrilling and transforming her second by second. How frustrating, then, that at this critical moment the disciples reappear. And the conversation comes to an abrupt halt. Still she'd received so much she couldn't keep quiet. She did what Jesus told her to. She even shared her experience with everyone who'd listen 
V29 Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?

This is another mark of worship that pleases God. We can't help sharing our blessings. Tomorrow it will be the most natural thing in the world to tell your friends and colleagues where you've been this morning. You may get teased, you may be challenged but as you share, you will grow spiritually and there will be joy in your heart

And of course the result is others are being drawn into relationship with Jesus too 
V39 tells us many Samaritans believed in Jesus because of the woman's testimony

But they were also hungry for something more personal. So they asked Jesus and he stayed 2 extra days. Then they had their own testimony
V42 We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we've heard for ourselves and we know this man really is the Saviour of the world.

So we come to the end of what has all the hallmarks of a true story. Jesus has spoken to the most unlikely person about her life and true worship.

We've been looking at the story because worship really is the only purpose of our lives. One creed called the Westminster catechism famously says "The chief end of man is to know God and enjoy him for ever"

Without worship nothing else in our Christian lives fits into place
As we think about our 5 purposes, Worship is the foundation for the other 4.

You may wonder why Jesus doesn't give us clearer guidelines about worship. I think he's telling us that the passion of our hearts matters far more than where and how we worship. When our heart is right, traditional and contemporary services, and loud or quiet services are equally pleasing to him.

And so to summarise what he does say, these are the ingredients of worship I've extracted from the passage

· Include the excluded!
· Include sinners!
· Have a repentant and bold heart
· Trust where understanding is hard
· Know God as our loving Father 
· Worship truthfully from our spirits 
· Share Jesus and draw others in
· Receive energy for evangelism

Perhaps take a moment of quiet to reflect on this and then pray the following prayer which acknowledges our need of Jesus' Holy Spirit to help us understand the Bible and to help us worship God as he deserves:

Loving Father, we're so excited you long for us to worship you. Holy Spirit, give us repentant and bold hearts so we can worship you in spirit and in truth. Help us understand and follow the Scriptures. Lord Jesus, without your energy we'll fall away from following you. By your grace, shine through our words and deeds. Father, Son and Holy Spirit be glorified. Amen