Bobby Chandler - What if... I Learn How to Worship
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Summary:
In the final message of the «What If?» series—asking if living biblically changes life for the better (answer: yes)—the preacher concludes by emphasizing true worship amid excitement over moving to a new church building. Drawing from the Samaritan woman’s encounter with Jesus in John 4, he teaches that humans are created to worship God alone, not idols like money or fame. True worship focuses on Jesus (not personal preferences or styles), remembers God’s grace despite complicated pasts, and occurs in spirit and truth through the Holy Spirit, leading to bold proclamation and overflowing joy.
Ending the «What If?» Series: True Worship
We’ve been in a series titled «What If?» We’ve been asking the question, «Can living in a biblical way really change your life for the better?» And the answer, of course, is yes. We’ve gone over a lot of different obstacles that you’re going to face in your own lives, opposition that you’re going to encounter, and things that challenge our hearts.
But I started to pray this week, «God, how do I end this series? What do you want me to close this message series with? How can I speak to our people and bring us closer to you?»
I kept thinking about all the feelings we’re having right now. I mean, being back there and hearing you guys worship as loud as you did today wrecked me. It wrecked me! I’m just feeling all these emotions, like I can’t believe today is our last day in this building on a Sunday and we’re moving into this new location. God, I just know what you have for us, and so one phrase keeps coming to my mind over and over again: «Praise God! Praise God!» Go ahead, give him a shout! Come on, we’re not done—praise God!
What Does It Mean to Praise God?
But I started to think about it because every time I tell somebody, I’m like, «Hallelujah! God is good! Look at what God is doing! Praise God!» And then all of a sudden, God reminded me of that phrase and put a heavy burden on my heart for our people and anyone watching online, too, who has been joining us. It’s this big question: Do we really understand what it means to praise God? Do we really comprehend what it means to praise God? What does that look like?
That may seem like a silly question to you because, of course, we just give God our heart. But what does that look like? Because I’ve got to be honest with you: for a very long time growing up, I didn’t know how to worship God with everything that I had. I would show up to church; it was what I did on Sunday. But if you looked at the rest of my week, I barely talked to God.
I remember looking at people and thinking, «How come they’re so into this? They’re jumping up and down; they just threw a chair at somebody—I hope they’re okay!» I’d wonder where I was right now with God. How come I don’t feel these feelings sometimes?
I would look at biblical characters and see people like David—like David had no shame; he danced before the Lord. Second Samuel chapter 6, verse 14, New Living Translation says, «David danced before the Lord with all of his might, wearing a priestly garment.» He didn’t care what you thought about his dance moves, man. He praised God!
What’s kind of funny, though, if you know the story, is that he got a little bit in trouble because he danced so well he took off some priestly garments. And when he got home, his wife wasn’t really that happy about it. Second Samuel chapter 6, verse 20, Amplified Version says, «She said to him, 'How glorious and distinguished was the king of Israel today—he uncovered himself and stripped off his kingly robes in the eyes of his servant’s maids, like one of the riffraff who shamelessly uncovers himself! '»
And I love it because it’s such a man response. He looks at her and goes, «Well, I did it for the Lord. I did it for God. I didn’t do it for them—whoever was watching; I did it for the Lord.»
Look, I want to worship Jesus with everything we have in this place, but I’m just telling you now, you’ve got to keep your clothes on, okay? This isn’t that kind of church. Do what you want at home; just don’t do it here. But we’re going to praise Jesus with everything we’ve got!
But I really started to think about it. What does true worship look like? What does it look like? I want to challenge some of you today. When I ask you that question, you’re most likely going to think about the way you were brought up, the way you were raised, or what you’re used to.
In many instances, a lot of you, sometimes when I say, «What does worship look like?» it means shouting loudly, «God is good! He’s awesome! Amen! Come on, jump a little bit! I’m going to get some cardio today!» We walk around and shout as loud as we can, but I’ve also seen it the other way. Some people praise Jesus like in a whisper. They’re silent because they don’t want to be tempted by anything or become a distraction, and they want their heart to be heard by God.
Right? Some of us have grown up that way. Some of us have come in here, and I mean, we sing like we sang okay, as long as it’s as loud as you can. It’s like you’re looking at the worship pastor like, «I know you hear me right now. This is good. I’ve got some dance moves too; you better call me for that audition!» I reached out to you a month ago. Where you at, Curt? He’s singing!
Then some of us can’t sing. Can I get an amen? It’s all right; we’re still going to make a joyful noise, it’s all good! But because we can’t sing, a lot of us are like, «I’m going to respect the person next to me, and I’m just going to speak to you, Lord. I will shout, I’ll speak to you, but nobody in this room wants me singing today, okay? If you want to come back, what does true worship look like?»
Created to Worship God Alone
I want to share a powerful truth with you this morning, and it’s this: We have all been created by God with the mentality to worship. Now, some of us may feel uncomfortable in this setting; we may feel like we don’t know what to do or what to say, but we have all been created in the image of God by God with the mentality to worship.
But here is what I see: a lot of us get so distracted with life. Many of us get caught up in things that are happening, or maybe the bad things that are happening, and guess what happens? We walk away from God. Yet you still have the mentality to worship something. Instead of worshiping God, a lot of us struggle and we worship other things.
And it’s easy. It is very easy to do. For some of you, it’s money. For some of you, it’s money; it’s a temptation. As soon as you wake up, what’s the first thing you think about? Money. What’s the next thing you’ve got to get done? Money. What bothers you today? What is your heavy burden today? Money, money, money.
Got to make sure everything is flowing right; everything is good. You can tell yourself all day that it’s because you’ve got to provide, and yes, that is your responsibility, but are you worshiping it? Jesus said you can’t worship God and the spirit of mammon because the spirit of mammon was actually a false idol that they worshipped—the god of money. That’s why he said it. You can have money; God will bless you. That’s a good thing, but do not worship the money. In other words, don’t make money your identity because money can’t go with you after you’re gone.
For some of you, it’s fame, right? We struggle with fame. We live in this culture today where everybody wants to be famous and everyone wants recognition. Did y’all see what I did? Did you see what I posted this week? How come you didn’t like it? How come you didn’t share it? Did you see my accomplishments? That’s great; be excited about what you’re doing, but do you worship it?
And for some of us, a lot of us today in this culture, it’s social media. I mean, you wake up, and the first thing you do is plan how to put the perfect picture out there to represent what isn’t really going on behind the scenes. You know, like, «This is how I woke up.» That is a lie from the devil; that is not how you woke up this morning. You had eye boogers and everything. Don’t you tell a lie in church!
We have been created by God with the mentality to worship Him—nothing else. Let me show you this in Isaiah chapter 43, verse 7: God is speaking to His people, His nation, and He says, «Bring all who claim Me as their God, for I have made them for My glory.» God says, «I created you for My glory. Everything about you—don’t let the enemy tell you that you’re a mistake! Don’t let the enemy persuade you that you shouldn’t be living today!» God says, «No, no, I created you in My image for My glory.»
And this is what He has spoken over His people, for He says, «It was I who created them.» In Isaiah chapter 43, verse 21, God said, «The people that I formed for Myself, they will proclaim My praise.» God says, «I’ve rescued you during that time of need when you thought nobody was listening. I was there, and I brought you out of that dark place. If you’re hurting right now and you need healing, it’s Me.»
But how easy is it for the enemy to whisper in our ears and say, «Look at your life; everything’s crashing down. Where’s God? You’ve been chasing that church; you’ve been chasing that Bible. What good has it done for you? Your friend over here is making a lot of money; he’s working, he’s grinding. He’s doing all these things. Where are you? You’re focusing on the wrong things!»
You know how easy it is for Satan to lie in our ears and tell us to worship him instead? Because this was the temptation that he even offered to Jesus. In Matthew chapter 4, verses 8 to 9, it says, «Again, the devil took Him, Jesus, to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor, and he said, ‘I will give you all of this.’»
Satan says, «I’ll give you the fame; I’ll give you the riches; I’ll give you the money—everything that you think you desire. I’ll give it to you if you just bow down and worship me.» And it has become such a heavy burden because I’m telling you, there are people that I’ve ministered to in my life that I know the potential that God has for them, that I know what God is doing. But then, all of a sudden, there’s a little temptation of fame or a little temptation here and there, and I see them completely walk away from God to worship something else.
And if you’ve been down that road, if you know what it’s like, then you also know the emptiness that you will feel over and over and over again. It is a hole inside of your heart that this world cannot fill. It is a void. Why? Because we were created in the image of God with the mentality to worship the Creator, and nothing else in this world can fill that void.
The Samaritan Woman at the Well (John 4)
But it’s so easy when we don’t really understand what true worship looks like. So if you have your Bibles with you, I’m going to be preaching out of John chapter 4. So you can go ahead and turn to John chapter 4.
Now, in this chapter, it’s an amazing story, and I believe it’s going to hit hard today because Jesus gives us the answer. He tells us what true worship should look like, but who He reveals this truth to may surprise you.
Now, before I get into the word, let me give you some background because there’s a lot that you guys are going to miss unless I explain what’s actually happening. So Jesus is on His way to Galilee, and He’s traveling through Samaria. So let’s stop right there. If you know anything about the Jewish culture, you know that the Jews never traveled through Samaria. Why? Because they didn’t want to be around Samaritans.
See, the Samaritans were actually Jewish people that intermarried with other people who had different religious backgrounds, and so these people pretty much, in their eyes, deserted God and started worshiping false idols—other gods, all these pagan things. And so in the Jews’ eyes, this was a lost race, right? These people were lost. You don’t associate with them; you don’t go around their culture. They would actually travel away from Samaria and take a longer route just to get to the other side because they did not want to travel and see these people; they didn’t want to speak to them; they didn’t want to be anywhere near them.
But let me ask you this: How many times have you tried to avoid somebody that God is calling you to minister to? We see that, and this is what’s so powerful about this story. We already see, if you know the background, Jesus is doing something unheard of already because as a Jewish man, He is traveling now through Samaria, and then the story tells us that He gets a little tired. And when He gets tired, He sits down in a town called Sychar, and He sits down at the famous Jacob’s well. Okay? He sits down at Jacob’s well, and then here is another important detail that I want you guys not to miss: It says that Jesus sat at the well in Sychar around noon.
Okay, so put these clues together: Around noon, He’s traveling through Samaria—Jews don’t do that. He’s sitting at the well around noon. John chapter 4, verse 6: «Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as He was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.»
Some of you are looking at me like, «Why do you keep saying that?» Because I love the Bible, and I love how it’s written. It’s always setting something up that you don’t even notice at first, and I love how the author puts down it was around noon. And in the very next verse, verse 7, it says, «All of a sudden, in comes a woman—a Samaritan woman.»
Why is this odd? The reason why this is odd, the reason why the author wants you to know that, «Hey, it was around noon; the Samaritan woman is coming, ” is because Samaritan women did not come to draw water at the well at noon. They didn’t do that. In fact, if you knew anything about their culture, what they did was go early in the morning in groups together; they would draw water together because it would become a social event. So they would go early in the morning, they would talk to each other, they’d catch up on all their gossip, and then they would leave.
But all of a sudden, we see Jesus walking, traveling through Samaria, sitting at the well, and in comes a Samaritan woman around noon time, which means two things: she’s not only an outcast to the Jews; she’s also an outcast in her own community because what she’s doing is hiding. She doesn’t want anybody to see her; she doesn’t want anybody to know that she’s there, and so she’s trying to avoid everybody.
But then in comes Jesus, and I love that truth: You can run from people, but you can’t run from God. We can do everything we can to get away from people. „I’m blocking you; I don’t want to talk to you; I don’t want to see you; I’m not sharing anything; I’m doing my own thing.“ But you know, even when you’re alone, you still hear the voice of God saying, „Come back. I haven’t left you. I know you’re hurt. I know you don’t want to be around people right now because people have hurt you, but I’m still here, and I’m meeting you in this place.“
It’s unexpected sometimes that God shows up in places we never thought He’d be to pull us in and to change our lives.
Jesus Encounters the Samaritan Woman
So let me show you this. So now the scene is set; now you know the background. Here’s what happened: John chapter 4, verse 7. „Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’“ Now, He was alone at the time because His disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
Now, notice that this is also important: The disciples were not there. Jesus was all alone because if the disciples had seen the Samaritan woman, they would have automatically judged her. „Jesus, don’t talk to her. Don’t be around her. You know her past; you know her story; you know where she’s been.“ Right? „Don’t go there.“
I think God looks at us sometimes like, „Do you know who I am? Do you know where you’ve been? Come on, what did I set you free from?“ So He sits down, and Jesus says, „Hey, can I have a drink?“ And I love verse 8 because it says, „The woman was surprised.“ Why was she surprised? First of all, because she was a female, and in her culture, that means she had low status. She would not expect a man—in fact, she would not expect a Jewish man—to ask her for anything.
And you see this incredible story being built up all of a sudden: Things that you may not have known before are happening, and Jesus is sitting with the Samaritan woman at the well asking her for a drink.
Now what I want to do is examine the two questions that she asked Jesus and how Jesus responded. You may relate, but the first question she asked Jesus—question A—was this: „How can you ask me for a drink?“ In other words, she’s looking at Jesus; she doesn’t even know that He’s the Messiah yet, and she’s saying, „How could you ask somebody like me, who shouldn’t be talking to you, who has no authority to be around you, for anything? How can I give you anything?“
I started to think about my life and how I felt so distant from God for a very long time. I started to think about every time I walked into the church culture when the doors were open; I’d be back there, but in my own head, I’d hear over and over again, „You’re not worthy enough to be here. What do you have to offer?“
There are so many people that I talk to that I realize, man, you’ve been through some bad things, but somehow you’ve questioned your identity in Christ, and now you doubt everything that God has spoken over you. And you know what it’s like to come in here and say, „God, I don’t know; I don’t think I have what it takes.“
Satan is just telling you over and over again, „You’re not worthy enough to be here. I know what you did last weekend. I know what you said about that person. It’s easy to act all godly in front of people, but really, who are you behind the scenes? You’re not worthy to be here; you’re not worthy to be in the presence of God or call yourself a Christian.“
I remember struggling with that mentality, but I kept pushing through. Why? Because this Word says otherwise about me. See, this is why it’s so important to know the Word of God; it’s important to know what He’s done for you.
God finally gave me a response back because the next time I heard, „You’re not worthy, ” my answer was this: „You’re right; I’m not worthy, and I will never be worthy, but He is worthy of my praise at all times, no matter where I am in life or what I’m going through. He is perfect, He shall be exalted, and He is always worthy of my praise.“
What I want to teach you is that right now, we’re joyful, we’re excited, we’re going into a new building—He’s worthy of our praise. But you know what? Even when there are Sundays that things don’t go right—and we know that really well: cameras messed up, sound equipment, you get that buzzing in your ear—okay, God is still worthy of our praise because He’s still here and He’s still moving. But I need you to understand that; I need you to grasp that!
For He said, „My people I formed for Myself that they may proclaim My praise.“ God does not exist for us; we exist for God. God does not exist for us; we exist for God because only God is worthy of our praise.
Jesus' Response: Living Water
So here’s what I want you to see. Here’s what I want to dive into: Her first question to Jesus doubted her own identity. I need you to see that she doubted her own identity. „How can you ask somebody like me for anything? How can I give you anything?“
Now here’s Jesus’s reply from verse 10, and I want this to sink in. Really listen: When she questioned how she could give anything, Jesus said, „If you only knew the gift that God has for you.“ If you only knew the gift that God has for you and who you were speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.
How many times have you come into this room and doubted God for what He said He would do? God is speaking to you today, and He’s saying to you right now, *If you only knew what I have for you! If you only knew you’re on the verge of giving up, but what I have for you will sustain; it will never run dry. It is flowing with living water! *
That was His reply. So right after that, she asked Him another question—question B: „How are you going to make this happen?“ So you asked Him at first, „How can I give you anything?“ The second question is, „How are you going to make this happen, Jesus? How are you going to do this for my life? How are you going to change my situation?“
John chapter 4, verses 11 and 12 says, „But, sir, ” she said, „you don’t have a rope; you don’t have a bucket, and this well is very deep. Where would you even get this living water?“ See, her second question doubted the greatness of Christ.
Do you realize this is how the enemy attacks us? You walk into this room, or you’re willing to get closer to God, and Satan whispers in your ear, „Hey, who are you?“ You start to doubt your own identity and that you were created in the image of God, and then when you try to pursue, Satan attacks you again and says, „How’s anything going to change for you? How can you really believe that God’s going to do this? How can this happen? Look at you!“
That’s pretty much what she was saying. Jesus, how can you make this happen? „You don’t have a bucket; you don’t have a rope, and this well is very deep. How do I receive what you’re saying?“
And Jesus replied in John chapter 4, verses 13 and 14: „Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. Anyone that worships this world—you want to worship money? Go ahead, and every day you’ll wake up with the same craving because you will never have enough. You want to worship fame? Go ahead, but it’ll never be enough. Social media? Go ahead; it will never be enough, and eventually, it’s going to drive you crazy.
But those who drink the water that I give, ” Jesus said, „will never be thirsty again.“ Now, take that truth and combine it with your worship to God because it’s so easy for us to come in here and just kind of go through the motions when you start to think about it. „God, what you have done for me; what you have brought me through! I can’t praise you enough!“
We’ve tasted this water; we’ve tasted what God has for us. And there can be times I’ve seen people broken, life falling apart. They come into the presence of God, and they’re like, „I got peace!“ They’re crying with tears all over their eyes, „I got peace!“ But I don’t understand it because that’s the water that Jesus was saying—listen!
David even cried out to God in the wilderness, and he spoke about this in Psalms chapter 63, verse 1: „Oh God, you are my God; my soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you even in this parched and weary land where there is no water.“ This world has nothing to offer, so I thirst for you. Please let me taste the living water!
Three Truths About Worship
And then the conversation from here will change your worship life forever. So here’s what I want to do—I’m going to break it all down for you, and I’m going to give you three truths today to help you on how to worship God. What God is desiring from your heart when we’re in His presence.
Point number one is hard—it’ll hit you. Point number one: Worship is based upon Jesus, not you. Worship is based upon Jesus, not you. What I’m saying is this: Because we’re human, our preference when it comes to worship, we automatically think about the sound and the style, right? And we should give it everything that we have as far as the quality, as far as what we can do for the Lord.
But we automatically think our preference is always the sound and the style. But I’m telling you today, the preference of God for you is just your heart. It’s your heart. You can come in here, and you can sing poorly; God doesn’t care—He just wants your heart! You can sing great; you can sing loud; you can whisper—it doesn’t matter. You can rap; as far as I care, come in here and praise God with everything that you’ve got!
Matthew chapter 15, verses 8 and 9 says, „These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me because their worship is a farce.“ And I like this because the definition of that means entertainment for the audience. God was saying, „You’re not doing this for Me; you’re trying to put on a show to entertain the audience. You’re praising so loud and you’re shouting, but when you leave church, what are you shouting then? You praise God in this room, and you curse Him outside where you curse somebody else. You bless, and then you tear down! I’m saying, ‘Where’s your heart at all times in everything that you do? ’“
God says, „I created you for you to glorify Me in every situation.“ And that can be hard, but it’s always a reminder that in everything you say, you praise God. For God said, „For they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.“
So my question for you is this: Is worship to God only powerful when you hear your favorite song? Is worship to God in your life only powerful when you hear your favorite song?
And the reason why I said, „Pastor Felix, Miss Madison, we all come out here real quick, ” is because I wanted to share this. This is how I related to this, growing up. To me, what I saw was very traditional, right? There were times on a good day—go ahead and put your hands like this—that’s what I saw! That was a powerful day in the church that I grew up in.
And it’s funny because I still have conversations with my mom, and she’ll call me and say, „Guess what? Somebody raised their hand today! God is moving!“ I’m like, „Praise God! Awesome, ” right? But this is really what I was used to, and in fact, a lot of times, I would just sit down. I would worship God just sitting down, and I told Pastor Felix in the back, I said, „You know what? Sorry, Mom and Dad; I know you’re watching, but back in the day when we had long prayers, I used to love it because it meant I could sleep a little bit.“ Right? And I would take pride in this. Don’t laugh; you can’t laugh right now; you’re strict!
I would take pride in this. I’d be like, „Man, I just had the best nap! What just happened?“ You know? But this is kind of how I grew up, and this is what I saw, and that’s what I thought worship looked like. I thought this was how it had to be.
And then a little bit later, God is moving, changing my life; I’m ready to get in, and all of a sudden, now—go ahead and raise your hand, Madison—we see this new era of my life. At least for some of you who grew up like this, it was new to me: just praising Jesus! And I realized that I went from this to seeing that—go ahead and raise your hand, just keep them up! And I got to this part where I was like, „I’m going to be competitive then! You know what? I’m taller; God loves me more!“
All right, you’re going to see my hands today! It was competition! And me and my wife used to joke sometimes because people would look at me like, „I love God more because I’m raising my hands a whole lot more.“ I’d say, „Oh yeah, look at this move right here!“
You know what’s crazy? I realized that in this culture, or even in this culture, if my heart was not there, I still felt empty and distant from God, even though it looked completely different. And I realize for so long, I’m going to challenge you today: When you think about worshiping God, is it built upon your preference, upon what you think it should look like, or is it truly based upon giving your heart to the Lord?
It is all about Jesus, not about you. It’s not about me, because with God’s authority, listen. God will look at us and sees that some of the most beautiful people can also have some of the ugliest of hearts, and it’s true. And I was one of those people—not calling myself beautiful, but I’m just saying at the heart that was distant from God.
So you go ahead and give them a hand. Thank you guys so much for the illustration.
So let me ask you this question: When you worship, what is your focus on? Now I want to bring this back to the story because the Samaritan woman, now again, Jews never traveled through Samaria. Jesus is at the well; He’s speaking to her; He’s asking her questions. She’s like, „Oh my goodness, He’s talking to me! He wants to have a conversation!“ And then He mentions twice about this living water—you’ll never go thirsty again.
This has all your needs, so she is intrigued. John chapter 4, verse 15: „Please, sir, ” the woman said, „give me this water so that I will never be thirsty again.“ And she became focused. All of a sudden, she wanted to be distant from everybody. Her first mindset was, „Okay, I can’t believe you’re talking to me.“ Now she is just focused on Jesus; „Give me this living water!“
Worship Reminds Us of God’s Grace
And you know what Jesus says? „Bring your husband.“ Point number two: When we worship, God reminds us of His grace. Worship reminds us of God’s grace.
Now for some of you, if you don’t know the story, you’re like, „What’s the big deal?“ But I really want to share with you what’s happening. She’s starting to focus on Christ; He’s pulling her in, and then what takes place here is called conviction because He says, „Bring your husband.“
And now I imagine her face was probably like that nervous laugh, „I don’t have a husband.“ And Jesus looks at her and says this: „You’re right, because you’ve been married five times, and the man that you live with right now is not your husband.“
But you know what’s so powerful about this story? It’s the truth that comes from it: Do not allow a complicated past to make you believe that God does not want you. I’m going to say that again: Do not allow a complicated past to make you believe that God does not want you.
This is what Jesus said in John chapter 4, verses 17 and 18. She said, „I don’t have a husband, ” the woman replied. And Jesus said, „You’re right; you don’t have a husband, for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now.“
And at this moment, I’m guessing her jaw just dropped like, „Ah!“ You’ve been speaking to me about this living water, and now you know everything about my life—you know what I’m going through! And she asked Him, she goes, „Are you a prophet?“
And Jesus reveals to her, „I’m much, much greater than that.“ John chapter 4, verse 26, Jesus told her, „I am the Messiah!“ But what He really told her was, „I am!“ Again, He says, „I am.“ I am the one in John’s Gospel!
Let this hit you: The Samaritan woman—the woman that the Jews would overlook and walk past; the woman that they said could never be redeemed or restored; the woman that has a past that everybody knows about—so much so that she has to avoid everybody and come to a well at noon so nobody sees her.
It is this woman in this Gospel, and she is the first one that Jesus revealed that He is the Messiah! What does that say about our Lord? I started thinking about that last night. I was walking my dogs; I was looking at the stars. It’s like, „God, You’re so big!“
And I started thinking about the Samaritan woman. So many of us feel like we just have nothing to give, like God can’t work with us! But yet, He rescues us. In fact, He already knows what’s in your life! He already knows what sin has got you trapped. He knows what you struggle with; He knows what you feel ashamed about that nobody else may know in your life. But He still wants you, and He desires you!
He’s pulling you in, and He’ll tell you everything about yourself—even things you’ve buried deep within—because of that conviction. You’ve been living this way, and you felt dry. You feel tired; you feel parched; you’re hiding! And you think that you have nothing left to give! But don’t you know that I already know? And the living water is here for you to take!
My first point: It’s about Jesus, not about you. Second point: Worship reminds us of God’s grace—that a complicated past doesn’t mean that Jesus doesn’t want you.
Worship in Spirit and Truth
And my last point is this: We worship God in spirit and in truth. Oh man, Jesus revealed a big answer here, and He did it to the Samaritan woman because Jesus gives us the answer of what true worship should look like.
The Samaritan woman asked Him in verse 20: „So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place to worship?“ How come I have to feel like I’m cast out? I can never go there to worship your God!
And Jesus says in verse 23 and 24, „The time is coming—indeed, it is here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father, and how will they do this? They will do this in spirit and in truth, for the Father is looking for these.“ This is who God is looking for—the believers who worship in spirit and truth. Those who worship Him must also worship in spirit and truth.
And I’m reading this story, and I’m like, „The Samaritan woman gets all of this!“ You’ve got His disciples following Him. What did they say half the time? „I don’t understand Jesus!“ Over and over again, pretty much saying, „I am the one—the Son of God!“ Who did He say He was? „Who does He think He is? He thinks He’s the Son of God.“
Maybe they listened, and they saw miracles, and it took them time. And then there were religious scholars—Pharisees, Sadducees—who could never understand the parables of Jesus, but this woman did because she encountered Jesus in an unlikely place at an unlikely time when she didn’t think anything was going to change her life.
And He says, „I’ve got this flow of water for you, and I already know your past, but this will redeem you; this will set you free; this will change everything about you!“ And once you realize that it’s about Jesus—that Christ had forgiven us for our past sins—and at the time was now that the Spirit of God was about to move.
What is flowing water? Jesus is saying this is the Spirit of God; this is the Holy Spirit! But when Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave, the Holy Spirit came upon the day of Pentecost, and now the Spirit of God lives inside of us so that nobody can feel distant from God! You have no excuse! You have no excuse!
And He offers this to her! I love it because what happened next: Now that you know the whole story, this woman that was hiding at the well goes back into town and boldly proclaims, „The Messiah is here! He told me! He is the one! He told me everything about myself! He knows about me, and He’s offering this living water to change my life! Somebody like me!“
And I wonder if she thought about it. I asked Him, „How can I give you anything?“ But today I gave Him my life, and He overflows that joy inside of me. See, the story is pretty deep. We’ve heard it before a lot of times in different ways, but Jesus revealed to her in this moment what true worship should look like.
Can I have you stand in this moment? How do we learn to worship God? We focus on Jesus; we praise Him for His grace, and we listen and move by the Holy Spirit.