Maturing in Worship, Snares

Turn your Bibles with me to John chapter four. We somehow couldn't find the Lavalier mic today, so I'll be holding this one and bear with that if it variates some in sound. I want to go through John chapter 4, a number of verses. As we begin a new series of teachings I believe the Lord has laid on my heart and has confirmed a number of ways learning to worship in spirit and in truth. And as we begin in John chapter four today, I invite you to as we read through the initial about 15 verses and discover this woman of Samaria who the Bible clearly tells us a great deal about. I want you to ask the Lord to show you in your heart what of her and her spirit may still be in you. Okay, I'm just going to make sort of comments as we go through these 15 verses or so and follow along as we go. Are you ready? John 4, beginning in verse 7, there came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Right there. I'd just like to say that this woman of Samaria, how many of you think she had planned to meet Jesus that day? None. She just happened to be there when Jesus came. And the circumstance had it such that she was at her day of destiny. I don't know if anyone was praying for her. I don't know if she had cried out to God the night before, lord, send me somebody. But all we know from the scripture is that she hadn't planned to be there. And yet Jesus met her. Maybe you didn't plan to be here today. Maybe you didn't really plan to learn anything today. One of the glorious things I love about the Lord is he's full of surprises. And I trust that today he'll meet all of us as we come to him. The Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria? Now, you don't see it in the words, but in the tone. It's very clear here that Jesus is being sarcastically addressed. This woman is saying to Jesus, in effect, what do you think you're doing? You Jews don't have anything to do with us all the rest of the time. Now that you need something, you want to bother me? You see, Samaritans and Jews had no dealings. That's what the next verse says. And the woman felt that Jesus wanted to take advantage of her. And there's a very clear sarcastic implication in the original language. Here, and you almost pick it up a little bit as you read through the text yourself. And many times when the Lord addresses us with something or reveals something to us or puts us in a situation where we can learn something new, what's one of the first things that comes out of us? Skepticism, isn't it? Those people aren't for real. One of the first things that that elicits from us is resistance and skepticism, sometimes even sarcasm. And that's exactly what happened here with the woman of Samaria. But Jesus said to her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you the living water. The woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Jesus, despite the fact that he's rejected at first through this ridiculing spirit, says to her, even though he doesn't say the words, but he says, even though you don't understand me, even though you've come at me sarcastically and critically, if you knew who I was, I have a great blessing for you, and there's a promise there. I want you to see today that whoever you are, Jesus says to you, you could have asked him, and he wants to give you living water. He wants to give you living water. And then the woman said, sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where do you get this living water? You sense the sarcasm again. She's still not convinced that this Jesus is any different than all of her teachers. So still, despite the sarcasm, despite the fact that she's resistant, Jesus goes on, or she goes on before and says, are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself and his sons and his cattle? You see, Samaritans, I don't know if you recognize their historical roots, but Samaritans basically were a group of people that arose when Judah was exiled and the Assyrians took over the land. They brought in all the rest of their captives and intermingled them with whatever Jews they left in the Promised Land. And so what we basically had was an intermingling of religions and faiths and all kinds of beliefs and really what it became. Samaritans became known as having the mongrel religion that was Judaism, plus a lot of other things, a little bit of BAAL worship, a little bit of syncretism and so on. And so there was mixed in with this woman's understanding of Jacob, her father. You See, she said it's Jacob, which would be the true expression of a Jewish father. She says something that reveals that she's not really understanding what's going on here. And Jesus recognizes that her understanding is incomplete, as we'll see a few verses down. Okay, verse 13. Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. The water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Is that springing you today? I didn't ask you if you're saved, but is there a spring of living water in your heart today? That's a promise. Jesus said, ask me, and I want to give you that spring of living water. Clearly in the midst of what he's saying here is the truth that he's talking about a quality of life. And so many people look at Christians and think, well, they've got the compartment of their life figured out, which is how to get to heaven. And Jesus wants to give you springs of living water. The picture even refreshes you, doesn't it? You see the fountain bubbling up? Do you know anybody like that who's got a spring of living water in them that almost draws you in and wants you to be with them because you're refreshed in their very presence? That's what the Lord wanted to give. That's what he wants to give today. The woman said to him, sir, give me this water that I may not thirst and not come here to draw. Did she understand him? No. She still thought he was talking about not having to dig water out of the well. How many of us have missed God's promised blessing because we misunderstood it? Probably all of us at one time or another. We thought he meant this, but really he meant something else. And this woman had to be forgiven for that because she was basically unskilled and uneducated and in the things of God, untrained in the things of God, unknowing in the things of God. Then we see something about Jesus Insight. Look at this. Jesus said to her, go call your husband and come here. The woman answered him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you're right in saying, I have no husband, for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you said. Truly. The woman said him, sir, I perceive that you're a prophet. Gulp. Isn't it in your life? I know it is in mine. It's kind of an encouragement to me. And yet It's a continual urging on in the Lord to know that Jesus knows everything about me. Do you know that Jesus knows everything about you? It's not just what you tell him when you're alone or riding in the car. It's not just what you tell him in your prayer closet. He knows everything about you. It doesn't do any good to try to hide the things that you don't want Jesus to know, right? The Bible says that everything you hide anyhow is going to be revealed in one day, that last great day. But he knows today. He knows right now what you're thinking. It's kind of hard to slip away from someone like that. Jesus knew this woman without ever having met her. I just tell you, that is a revelation of who the Son of God was. And the woman then very aptly said, I think there's something special about you. I perceive you're a prophet now. The woman becomes religious. Look at this. You know, as soon as you get in the presence of somebody who seems to be a little bit spiritual, you get religious, right? You ever seen anyone like that? The woman said to him, sir, I perceive that you're a prophet. And then she comes on with a little bit of her own truth. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain. Now, the mountain she was talking about was the mountain right at the base of Samaria there, where the well was that she was drawing. It was Mount Gerizim and the Samaritans. One of their synchronistic teachings, one of their mongrelized teachings, if you will, was that worship was to take place on that mountain. And that's why she said, our fathers, our fathers worshiped on this mountain. And you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Now she I checked this out. Because where did Jesus say, you shall worship in Jerusalem? He doesn't. She's referring to the you. It's a collective plural. Jews. You Jews say we're to worship in Jerusalem. How like us it is, beloved, that when God confronts us with a point in our life, we tend to be religiously defensive. That's exactly what this woman was being religiously. She had an answer for God to a question he didn't even ask. You see that? You ever try to change the subject with the Lord? The Lord speaks to you about an attitude toward another person, about a short circuiting of a responsibility, and you suddenly get religious with him. That's what this woman did. But you see, Jesus knew enough to have nothing to do with it. Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the Hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. And here Jesus is saying, I think it's a reflection of things he said in other gospels that the day was coming when every stone was going to be laid down in the temple and in the city of Jerusalem, that there wouldn't be any place to worship because the devastation would be so great. It was sort of a prophetic word. And then he comes to verse 22, which is really getting us to where we want to focus for a bit today. Verses 20, actually 21, 24, I want you to catch this. Are the only verses of Scripture that I know in the entire New Testament that teach specifically from the mouth of Jesus on worship. Now, the more I pondered that, the more it staggered me that something that we as believers hold to be so important has only a few verses of explicit teaching and the New Testament that concern it. Do you know how many times Paul uses the word worship in his writings? One time, in 1 Corinthians 14, that just amazed me. Hebrews uses the word worship twice and it appears in the Gospels at other times. Usually when somebody encountered the Lord and he did a miracle and the Bible says they fell down and worshiped Him. But so you get all the way through the Gospels and the Epistles and all the Pastoral letters and so on, and you get to the end. And what about Revelation? Revelation is full of worship. Passage after passage after passage talks about beings and angels that were specifically created just to worship God and do nothing else, and about all the redeemed from all the corners of the earth coming together at the throne of grace and worshiping God. And tell you it's a noisy sounding place. And so the end of the story is that we live to worship God. And I found myself saying, lord, that must mean that these few verses here are very, very important. I mean, if that's all you had to say specifically in teaching about worship, they're very, very important. And these verses will be the focal point of our study for a few weeks. Look what he says, Verse 22. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know. For salvation is from the Jews. What does that mean? That the Messiah, the Savior of the world, was a Jew and his name is Jesus. But the hour is coming, and now is when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For such the Father seeks to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. For many years I would hear those verses read different churches and somebody would Kind of automatically recount them from memory or read them from a scripture in such a fashion as to validate what was about to happen in that church worship service. And I used to sit there and think, is what we are about to do going to be worship in spirit and truth? Because Jesus doesn't say those who would worship the Father ought to think about worshiping in spirit and truth. What does he say? What's the word he uses? Must. It's a command. They must worship the Father in spirit and truth. And for the longest time, I was waiting for somebody to come along and exposit those verses and say, here's what it means to worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Because, listen, if we're not worshiping here at Northway Christian Community in spirit and truth, are we worshiping? The Bible says we must worship him that way. And so, beloved, it becomes imperative to us to understand these verses. It's not an option. It's not something that Jesus suggested, but it was a commandment that he gave. Those who would worship must worship in spirit and in truth. And I want to say to you today that all the liberty that we're coming into here in this fellowship and the joy that we have when we're together in worship, the loveliness of the choruses that we're learning and such steps that we're in right now, the learning of praise, the bowing down of last week and all those things, I'm here to tell you that we are just beginning to understand what it means to worship in spirit and truth. Yesterday at the meeting of the servants council, I had shared with the brothers that we were going to be dealing with this subject. And one of the men prayed thankfully to the Lord that he knew that this teaching and this subject of worship and ministry to the Lord was not something that I just had thought about for a few days this week and done a study on and was putting on the. You know, putting on the overhead and doing. But it was something that had been part of my life for years. And I would be first to tell you that it was because of my exposure to the release and freedom of worship as the Bible teaches it, that a new dynamic came into my life. A new joy came into my life and Carol's as we shared that experience together. And I've never been the same since I've discovered this key to living the Christian life. And yet I want to say to you this week that the Lord absolutely flattened me. Because when I came thinking that I really knew what I was talking about. The Lord showed me, beloved. And I say this as a confession and a repentance before him that I know very, very little. And when I think of coming to worship the infinite, all loving, all powerful, all holy God. And I think that what I've learned to do in these last seven or eight or ten years is anywhere near what pure spiritual worship is. The Lord said to me, son, you need to be on your face. Now, as much as it took a lot of the wind out of my sails in that respect, it also quickened in me a yearning to know more of what the Lord says. And you know something, anytime you're convicted, I don't know who this somebody needs to hear this today. But any point that the Lord convicts you on, you think it's because somehow you've got to get that out of your life so that you won't bother God or be sinful with it anymore. And the Lord wants you to see that by letting that go, he wants to move you on in him. It's never to diminish you, never. It's always to enlarge your life that the Lord takes things away. And so the Lord said we need he and I to spend time and growing in this area. And as I share this with you today, I want to share as we prepare for this series of teachings, I want to share with you seven things that I noted in my own heart at one period. And perhaps some of you can identify seven things that are hindrances to opening up to growth in worship. Now remember, I'm not saying to open up to worship. I'm saying opening up to growth. In. Worship, in spirit and truth. I'm going to put them on the overhead and you may want to follow them down with me. Snares to worshiping the Lord Jesus in your heart. Beloved, I cannot say too strongly that this is important because we as a body are going to grow in this area. And you have the opportunity before the Lord to either grow and see this as a point of release in your life or to hang back and keep testing the waters. Here they are the first one. There will be a holding back of release in your life if you if in your heart. Every one of these I want you to preface within your heart you view praise and worship as over emotionalism and basically a fringe activity that only some Christians need to involve themselves in. And when I'm talking about praise and worship, I'm talking about praise and worship in the pattern that the Bible talks about it and I'll be much more specific about what that is. In the coming weeks. Matthew 22:37. The Bible says that the first commandment that we're to keep is to love the Lord our God with what all our soul, mind, heart and strength. And that says to me, we love him totally. Anyone that's here today that's in love or has ever been in love, knows that you cannot be in love and sustainability love without expression. You cannot sustain a love relationship without somehow giving of yourself to the one that you love. And it's foolishness to think that because people are expressing themselves to God by the raising of a hand or the lifting of a voice, or the bowing down in his presence, that somehow that's off the wall. Emotionalism Revelations 5:11. I want you to turn there just so you can see. In case you've never read that or perhaps haven't read it in a long time. I'll just read a few verses. Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And I heard every creature that's you and I included in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all therein, saying to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. And the four living creatures said amen, and the elders fell down and worshiped him. And yet we say it's over. Emotionalism. If somehow in the midst of worship someone says amen, Lord, we say it's emotionalism. If someone says hallelujah, I'll tell you, a lot of people are going to be very surprised when they enter into heaven and see what's going on there. And I pray to God that they enter into heaven to see it. Because I'm going to say this in love, but I want you to hear it. I believe that if you disdain this key of worship and praise to the Lord and you choose to forsake it, that you have cut off from yourself one of the principal things that God would use to grow you up in His Son. I say that with no judgment on anybody, any other church, any other denomination, any other thing that's Christian oriented. I'm just saying it as I believe it's a Bible truth. A second specific snare is if in your heart you choose to cling to your traditional preferences rather than to open up to what the Lord Jesus through the Holy Spirit would teach you. It's worth turning to Jeremiah 2, 13 of those three scriptures. Jeremiah, in the Old Testament, let your Bible fall open and then move a few pages to the right. This verse could easily be our focus for a whole week. Look at this beginning of verse 12. Be appalled. Are you there? Okay, I'll give you another second there. Jeremiah 2. Here we are. Be appalled, O heavens, at this. Be shocked. Be utterly desolate, says the Lord. Is God emotional for my people, not the people out there who don't give a rip about God. My people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me. In other words, they have turned from the things that I've called them to do. They've forsaken me. The fountain of living waters. And it's interesting, isn't it? What did Jesus say was going to come up inside of us? Spring of living water. Do you know where the Bible talks about rivers of living water in reference to the Holy spirit in John 7:37? There's a link here. Beloved, They've forsaken me, the fountain of living water. And hewed out cisterns for themselves. A cistern is a big vase that would hold gallons and gallons of water. They've hewed out their own cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. And here is a clear word from the Lord that many of the forms of religion that people hold onto are absolutely useless when it comes to. To being before the Lord. And I want to say to you today, in all love and all understanding of your households, some of you who are coming out of more traditional churches, that it's been the snare of the enemy to lock people in traditional forms of worship to the point where their hearts are nowhere near in touch with God. Jesus says, woe to this people. In vain do they worship me, holding his commandments, the precepts of men. That's Matthew 15, 8, 9. In vain do they worship me. Can you imagine that people are sitting all around the world in churches in vain? I didn't say that. Jesus said that. And I don't know about you, but I grieve many times when I talk with a person who's religious. But you can tell that their form is there and all the right things, but they're trusting in the tradition of men that they've made a law unto themselves. Again, I say this with compassion and fear of the Lord that would ever happen to us. And I want to say. I'm not saying that churches where people raise their hands and clap and shout are necessarily spiritual. Spiritual either. Don't be deceived by that. The heart is the issue. The next thing, if you would, Paul, is that you will find a snare. If in your heart you forsake the teaching of the Old Testament, you say, well, I don't see too much in the New Testament about clapping your hands. I don't see much in the New Testament about bowing down or about lifting your hands and praise, although there are things in there. And people get an idea that because it's in the Old Testament, it doesn't matter anymore. But you see, Jesus said just the opposite. He said, I didn't come to abolish the law, I came to fulfill it. And you know, it's exciting because, you see, worship is fulfilled in Jesus. It's fulfilled in him. And all of the Old Testament pictures that are so clearly portrayed are fulfilled and New Testament Holy Spirit anointed worship. Romans 15:4. The Bible says that all the things were written were for our instruction in the Old Testament. 2nd Timothy 3:16. All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching reproof, for correction and training in righteousness. So don't get trapped into thinking because it's in the Old Testament, it doesn't matter anymore. Next. Another snare is to equate the knowledge of praise and worship with the life of praise and worship. And I want to say that there are some here today for whom this will be a snare. You will say in your heart, I know what you're saying, Jay. I understand that. I saw that before. And you will not let that truth penetrate from your head down to your heart, because God doesn't care how much you know about it. He doesn't care how many scriptures you've memorized about it. He doesn't care how much you think you understand the principles. He wants to see you moving in life. What was the fundamental sin of Adam and Eve? What tree did Adam did Eve take the apple from? The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You see, knowledge is a terrific snare, and especially in our culture. First Corinthians 8:1 there says that knowledge puffs up. First Corinthians 2 and 3. If you read that carefully, Paul there confesses that he came to these people not in words of wisdom and knowledge, but in simple Holy Spirit anointed love. Please ask the Lord, are you one who knows a lot about these things, but whose life has not changed a bit because of it? The next one is, you will find a snare. If in your heart you hold up your previous experience and say, I've already been there and I know what you're talking about, and I don't need to grow anymore. I want to tell you, look at Matthew 5. 8. I'll let the Word tell you a little more directly than myself. Matthew 5:8. You may think that because you've come from some charismatic church quote, or because maybe you have a prayer partner that really knows how to pray, or you meet with a prayer group on Friday mornings, that you don't need to learn anything new about this. Jesus said in Matthew 5. Eight, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And the word pure is the same word that's translated in other parts of Matthew. Single, single heart. And that word in the Greek, as I shared with the men in the leadership meeting a few months ago, means completely unfolded before God, totally open to God. So that if you think that you're coming to the Lord, fully understanding this thing of worship and praise, that I would say that there's a fold somewhere in your heart because God said that no one knows him perfectly. And you see, it's those who come and let their heart be opened up. Jesus said, lord, sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth. What does sanctify mean? To keep setting apart. Right. You see that? I'll tell you. I believe in my heart that God is continually making a remnant. God is continually making a remnant because sanctification is a continual process of setting apart. And there is a place where people will draw the line and say, no more God, but others will go on. No more God, but another group will go on. Amen. A lot of you are here because of that. Believe it or not. A remnant concept is all through the Scripture, and it doesn't end when you get to the New Testament. So don't let your previous experience be a bondage to you. All right, two more. Some of you will find a snare in your heart because you fear that God's going to make something strange of you. You're afraid and you confess it to him. Not to anyone else, probably, but the fear. The only fear the Bible ever talks about is the fear of the Lord. He said he hasn't given you a spirit of fear, but of love and power and a sound mind. That's second Timothy 1:8. Fear can hold you in bondage. Trust God that he's not going to make something, you know, that's going to walk along at the chair rail along there when you come in the room, but he wants to make you Holy. His. You know, the word holy in the Hebrew is related to wholeness. I'm sure one of the weeks we're going to talk about that. But the word really comes from the root to be made whole. A W H O L E. That's what God wants to do. And finally, you'll find a snare in your life. If in your heart you feel unworthy to come into the presence of the Lord through worship and praise, you feel unprepared. Oh, God, I've got so much sin in my life. I can't be talking about these things. I can't be worshiping you. Isaiah said that, didn't he? In Isaiah 6, when he had the revelation after King Uzziah died. And he said, woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips. What did God do? He said, you're right. Get out of here, Isaiah. No, he didn't. What did he do? He sent an angel with a coal and he placed it on his lips and he purified him. Beloved, if in your heart you want to draw near to God in praise and worship, no matter how far you slipped into sin, if you come repentantly, the Lord's going to say, I'll make you whole. I'll make you well. First Peter 1:16. The Bible says, for you shall be holy because I, the Lord am holy. I used to think that that meant God's holy. I better be holy. You know what I really think that means? Because God is holy, he's committed to making me holy. The Bible says that the Lord is looking for those who will worship him in spirit and truth. Seven major stumbling blocks. Seven places that you can find yourself missing out on the blessing now. Thanks, Paul. As I conclude this morning, I want to say with all the excitement that I can express this, that I believe this is going to be a joyful, joyful time in our body. That many of you, many of us are going to grow in this experience of loving the Lord through praise and worship. And I want you to know that this is not a peripheral issue. I believe with all my heart this is right at the center of what this community is about. You see, at the end, beloved, the Bible says that we are married to Christ, that our union with him is an absolutely intimate and precious one. That's why we're told that we are the bride of Christ and that we're invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Can you imagine being married to God? Some of us, if you don't know why you got into this thing of following God and some of us met Jesus on a blind date, But now he's saying that he wants to marry you. We're talking about love here, love of God, passionate love of God. And I want to be, and I pray you want to be a person who passionately loves the Lord God. You see, nothing less is acceptable. And I don't want to argue with someone about whether or not they're going to make it into heaven if they just believe in their heads that Jesus will was God's son and all the rest. Because the Bible says that we are to be his bride, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, all those wonderful things. And the entryway into that intimacy. I believe with all my heart and the Bible will substantiate this as we go through. It is through the avenue of praise and worship. It's a key that's been taken away from much of the church. Listen, it's clear to me why much of the church is dead. Because they've never learned how to praise and worship the Lord. And their love life has no expression. And what happens when you don't express love? It grows cold and withers and dies. Absolutely. And so we're going to set ourselves together to love the Lord. No matter where you are today, now is the time to do it. Don't say, well, I might be interested in that six months from now or I'm a new Christian. Is this for me? I love what Jesus says. Now is the acceptable time. He says, behold, the hour is coming and now is now is when true worshipers will worship me in spirit, spirit and in truth. Oh, I'll tell you what, we have some exciting days ahead of us. Let's just let the Lord minister this to our hearts. Now, I want to have a moment of quiet as you ask the Lord. Are there any of those areas, Lord, where I'm prone to falling into a snare? And then we're going to worship him for a few moments as we close together. It. Now is the time, now is the time to worship the Father. For the. To him Amen. You worship the Lord Bowing down before thee songs of praise. Is breaking alleluia. Worthy, worthy is the Lamb Worthy is the Lamb Worthy, worthy is the Lamb. Hallelujah, Praise him. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Worthy, worthy is the Lamb. Lord jesus thank you, father. Hallelujah. Praise your name, lord father, hallelujah jesus, oh father. Jesus. Glorify your name, you are high. Amen, Lord we thank you, Lord God thank you, Lord Hallelujah. Thank you, jesus. About what this means and as I thought about this, and as Jay thought about it, we really came to the conclusion and agreed on it this morning that this probably warrants a whole teaching. And we're not going to be able to do that this morning just because of time, but just for a couple minutes. It probably is true that our understanding needs to be open before the Lord to realize what this is, not as much as we need to realize what it is. Many of us are familiar with and come from church backgrounds where babies are brought and baptized and thereby pronounced that they are part of God's church. This is a difficult and awkward posture to take because it leaves us with the question, what does it mean that that baby is a part of God's church? If later in life that person needs to, as the Word teaches, come to Christ and accept as an act of his will, and in response to the Holy Spirit working in his life, received the Lord as his Savior, what was the status of that child having been pronounced as a part of God's church prior to that? And there are scriptural references that leave us with lots of questions in this. One of them, for example, is in First Corinthians, chapter 7, where Paul says that the children of believers are sanctified. He