True Worship

By Pastor Di on 1/6/10

In John chapter 4 we find the familiar story of Jesus sitting at the well in a village in Samaria.  While he is resting there, a Samaritan woman comes to draw water from the well, and Jesus asks for a drink.  The Samaritan woman was shocked that a Jew would speak to her, a Samaritan.  Samaritans were a mixed race; hated by Jews and in addition, this woman was known to be living in sin (with a man who was not her husband).  Jesus offers the woman “living water,” a “water” that would quench the woman’s thirst for God (John 4:14).  The woman does not immediately understand what Jesus is offering her, and Jesus follows the offer of living water with the confrontation of her sin; he lists the things she is doing to try to quench the thirst in her soul.

When the Samaritan woman realized that Jesus knew all about her private life, and her sin, she quickly changed the subject by bringing up a very popular theological issue at that time.  John 4:20 records her asking Jesus where the correct place to worship God was.  Her question was a cover for her deepest, most inner longing; her need for Jesus.  His answer was a direct response to that need. 
John 4:23-24 “The time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way.  For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The point Jesus was making was that where we worship is not as important as how we worship.  When Jesus talks about true worshipers worshiping “in spirit and in truth” he is making the point that the ceremonies associated with and the location of worship aren’t as important as genuine worship.  It is more important to really want to exalt God, be close to him and know him, than where or how we worship.  Jeremiah 17:13 describes God as the “fountain of living water” and Psalm 36:9 describes him as the “fountain of life.” Only a relationship with God can quench our deepest need; our soul’s thirst for God.  True worshipers will come just as they are and find that only in worshiping God is the true thirst of their soul quenched.

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