Sunday
Morning Bible Study
November
15, 2009
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
(Operation
Christmas Child – calling all servants)
Last week we
started to look at Jesus’ trip through Samaria. (Play Map clip to Sychar)
We saw that even though going through Samaria was something that most
Jewish people avoided, John records that
(John
4:4 NKJV) But He needed to go through Samaria.
It seems to me that Jesus felt He had an appointment with a certain
Samaritan woman. Show
Gospel of John clip.
4:15-19 True to
self
:15 The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not
thirst, nor come here to draw."
Jesus has been talking about spiritual things, about a spiritual thirst for
God.
The woman thinks He is talking about some sort of super water.
She is tired of coming “here”.
:16 Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."
Why does Jesus ask for her husband?
Is He one of those male chauvinists who won’t talk anymore with her, but only
to her husband? No, He’s just drawing her out.
:17 The woman answered and said, "I have no husband."
Technically this is true. But it’s one of those little “half-truths”. She
isn’t telling the whole story.
:17 Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,'
:18 "for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is
not your husband; in that you spoke truly."
Earlier, when Jesus had been talking to the woman about living water, He
said to her:
(John 4:13
NKJV) …"Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,
We have a peek at the “well” this woman had been drinking from.
We talked last week about the “God-shaped-hole” that’s inside each of us.
People try to
fill that emptiness with all sorts of things – drugs, alcohol, possessions, but
only God is the one that can fill that hole.
This woman has
been trying to fill her emptiness with men, with relationships.
Some of us are caught in that trap of expecting a person to fill the place
in your heart that only God can fill.
A single person can make the mistake of thinking that they won’t be
happy until they find that certain, special someone.
Married people can fall into the trap of expecting their spouse to give
them the kind of fulfillment that only God can give.
:19 The woman
said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
perceive – theoreo
– to be a spectator; to see; to discern
The woman is a bit stunned. She realizes that this fellow is more than just
a man looking for a drink of water.
It seems He can see right through her.
Later, she will go into the city
and tell the people,
(John 4:29 NKJV) "Come, see a Man
who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"
:16 Come here
:16 here
– enthade – here; hither
This is not a common word used to translate “here”. It sticks out in the Greek. It also happens to be the same word used for
“here” in verse 15. It’s as if Jesus is
drawing attention to “here”.
This is the same Greek word that
translates “here” in verse 15 as well (“nor come here to draw”)
This particular word isn’t a common
one in the Greek. I had to stop and look it up. Our English word “here” is
found about 90 times in the New Testament, and only six of those times is it a
translation of the word “enthade”. In
the Gospel of John, the word “here” is found ten times, but only twice does it
translate “enthade” (the two times
are in verse 15 and 16).
What’s my point? The unusual word
usage makes a connection between the last “here” and this “here”.
The woman is tired of coming “here”.
Yet “here” is where Jesus asks her husband to come.
Lesson
Deal with “here”
The woman says she wants Jesus’ “living water”, but she finds that the
conversation isn’t over until she learns to deal with what’s “here”, the place
she doesn’t want to come to anymore.
Jesus deals with what’s “here”, her “issues”, where she’s “at” – men…
When Jesus met
with the “Rich Young Ruler”, the “here” was another issue.
(Mat
19:21 NKJV) Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what
you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come,
follow Me."
His issue was with his possessions. The fellow went away sad because he
didn’t want to part with his “stuff”.
What is your “here”?
Don’t misunderstand me. The point is not that we need to clean up our act
before God will accept us. The point is that we need to be honest about our
issues and stop playing games.
God wants to be a part of the solution.
That isn’t going to happen as long as we’re in denial about our problems.
Sometimes we can fool ourselves into thinking that we’re going to be able
to get through life without ever having to deal with our problems.
We’re like this car running a red light. Show “Intersection” video clip. (where car runs
red light and doesn’t get hit)
In reality, our life actually turns out more like this. Show “MyAccident” clip
(where the car wipes out several other cars).
Illustration
King David had
messed up royally.
He had stayed behind when the rest of the army was at war.
One night while he had too much time on his hands he went out on his rooftop
and caught a glimpse of a beautiful young gal taking a bath. He ended up
committing adultery with her. Then to make things worse, when it was found that
she was pregnant, he tried to cover up his sin, and eventually had her husband
killed.
David wrote,
(Psa 32:3-4 NLT) When I refused to confess my sin,
I was weak and miserable, and I groaned all day long. {4} Day and night your
hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the
summer heat.
But
God didn’t let David get away with these sins. God cared enough to send
a friend to David who confronted David over the evil things he had done.
It wasn’t until David admitted his guilt that he found
forgiveness.
Solomon wrote,
(Prov 28:13 NKJV) He who covers his sins will not
prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
Are you facing up to what’s “here”?
4:20-24 True
Worship
Since this man is a prophet, she has some questions to ask about God.
:20 "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in
Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."
:20 this mountain
– Jacob’s well is at the bottom of Mount Gerizim, where the Samaritans had
built their temple.
The Samaritans
believed (play Map clip of Gerizim) that worship should be done on Mount
Gerizim, within view of Sychar.
Samaritan worship:
During the time of Nehemiah, one of
the priests, named Manasseh, was married to the Persian governor over Samaria,
Sanballat.
When Nehemiah kicked him out of the
priesthood for not giving up his pagan wife, Sanballat built a temple for him
on Mount Gerizim, and set up a new priesthood under him.
Eventually, this temple was
destroyed by John Hyrcanus B.C. 129.
The Samaritans kept up their
worship on this mountain and a handful do it still.
The Samaritans twisted
several things in the Scriptures including:
Adam was formed
of the dust of Mount Gerizim
Gerizim was
where Noah’s Ark landed
Abraham offered
Isaac on Gerizim
They had their
own temple on Gerizim.
Samaritan worship is another great example of “Have it your way”
Rather than do things properly, they decided to form their own religion.
They ended up twisting the Scriptures to make things fit the way they
thought things ought to be done, in their own hometown rather than in Jerusalem.
:21 Jesus said
to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on
this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
:22 "You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for
salvation is of the Jews.
The Samaritans had things a bit mixed up. Because they had strayed so far
from the truth, they didn’t even know what they were worshipping.
The Jews had the correct understanding of God.
:23 "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will
worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to
worship Him.
true – alethinos
– that which has not only the name and resemblance, but the real nature
corresponding to the name, in every respect corresponding to the idea signified
by the name, real, true genuine
seeking – zeteo
– to seek in order to find; to crave
God is actively looking for people
who are going to worship Him properly.
(2 Chr 16:9 NKJV) "For the eyes of
the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on
behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him…
:24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit
and truth."
Some of us
think we’re a little too tough, a little too manly to worship.
Illustration
It’s okay to be a “tough guy”, but
sometimes all a tough guy leaves behind is a hole.
Lesson
Defining worship
For some of us, the word “worship” means “music”. You will hear from time
to time someone say, “Wow, wasn’t worship great this morning?”
It’s not bad that we define our
music as “worship”, but it’s kind of important that we really understand what
the Bible means when it talks about “worship”.
There are three different ancient words that define what worship is all
about.
One is a Hebrew word, the other two are Greek words.
1. Bowing
worship
– shachah – to bow down; prostrate
oneself
The first time we see the word “worship” in our English
Bibles, it is translating shachah,
when Abraham is going to sacrifice his son Isaac …
(Gen 22:5 NKJV) And Abraham said to his young men,
"Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to
you."
Surrender
In reality none of us like the idea of “surrender”. It implies
losing or admitting defeat.
One of the keys to growing as a Christian is learning to surrender to God.
A.W.
Tozer wrote, “The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking,
still making little forward progress is because they haven’t yet come to the
end of themselves. We’re still trying to give orders, and interfering with
God’s work within us.”
C.S. Lewis wrote,
“The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become – because
he made us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended
to be … It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality,
that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.”
It doesn’t have to be physically getting on your face (though that is a
great thing to do from time to time), but it’s about bowing your will, bowing
your life before God.
God does not want us worshipping
anything else except Him:
(Exo
20:5 NKJV) you shall not bow down
(shachah) to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD
your God, am a jealous God…
One of my heroes as a young Christian was Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ.
Through his ministry something like 150 million people have come to Christ. Someone
(Rick Warren) asked Bill Bright, “Why did God use and bless your life so much?”
Bill answered, “When I was a young man, I made a contract with God. I literally
wrote it out and signed my name at the bottom. It said, “From this day forward, I
am a slave of Jesus Christ”.”
That’s the essence of “bowing” before God. This is true
worship.
2. Loving
The word used throughout our passage in John 4 is…
worship
– proskuneo (“toward” + “to kiss”) –
to kiss the hand to (towards) one, in token of reverence; in the NT by kneeling or prostration to do homage (to one)
or make obeisance, whether in order to express respect or to make supplication
From the heart.
The relationship God wants with us is one that is
characterized by love.
He has loved us so much that He gave His Son to die and
pay for our sins.
(1 John 3:16 NKJV) By this we know love, because He
laid down His life for us.
(Rom 5:8
NKJV) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.
We respond to God’s love by learning to love Him back.
(1 John 4:19 NKJV) We love Him because
He first loved us.
The church of Ephesus was one of the early
“mega-churches”. God had done some awesome things through the Ephesians. But
there came a time when their hearts began to drift a bit. Jesus writes them a
letter and says,
(Rev 2:4 NKJV) "Nevertheless I have this
against you, that you have left your first love.
They were a busy church. They were a doctrinally correct
church. But they had wandered away from their passion for Christ.
Illustration
The following was written by a nurse: It was a busy
morning, approximately 8:30 am, when an elderly gentleman, in his 80’s, arrived to have stitches
removed from his thumb. He stated that he was in a hurry as he had an
appointment at 9:00 am. I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing
it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him. I saw him
looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I
would evaluate his wound. On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of
the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his
wound. While taking care of his wound, we began to engage in conversation. I
asked him if he had a doctor’s appointment this morning, as he was in such a
hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat
breakfast with his wife. I then inquired as to her health. He told me that she
had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer Disease. As
we talked, and I finished dressing his wound, I asked if she would be worried
if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not
recognized him in five years now. I was surprised, and asked him. “And you
still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?” He smiled as
he patted my hand and said. “She doesn’t know me, but I still know who she is.”
Jesus hasn’t stopped loving you, even if you’ve drifted
away a bit. His relationship with you is like a marriage, one where the
commitment to love doesn’t stop.
3. Serving
worship
– latreia – service rendered for
hire; the service and worship of God
according to the requirements of the Levitical law; to perform sacred
services
(Rom
12:1 NASB) I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual service of worship.
The idea is to live a life that honors God, a life that is
useful to God.
The Bible says,
Ephesians 5:10 (The Message) Figure out
what will please Christ, and then do it.
Illustration
Eric
Liddell was the Scotsman portrayed in the 1981 movie “Chariots of Fire”. He was a Christian. He was an athlete who competed in the 1924 Olympics.
Play
clip from Chariots
of Fire.
I love
that line, “When I run, I feel His pleasure”.
Eric learned to do the things that pleased God. He used his God-given abilities to honor
God. After the Olympics, he would move
on to the other passion
of his life – missions. He served in
China from 1925 until his death in a Japanese internment camp in 1945.
What does it mean to serve God?
It might mean doing things in church. But it will definitely mean using the gifts,
talents, experience, all that you are to bring pleasure to God.
It might be through something like running. It might be through how you honor God at
work.
Worship is more than just singing a song. It’s what you do every day that you honor and
serve Him.
Lesson
True Worship
What does it mean to worship in “spirit and truth”?
Spirit
(John
4:24 NKJV) "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in
spirit and truth."
God does not have
a body like the Mormon church teaches. God is a spirit.
Some might say that since God is Spirit, that this is referring to the Holy Spirit, and that
true worship requires that we be “in the Holy Spirit” in order to worship.
I have no argument with that suggestion. I think the
principle is sound, I’m just not sure this is what Jesus is talking about.
The word could also refer to the human spirit as well.
Since God is “Spirit”, then the true worship to take
place, man must worship by having his own “spirit” connect with God.
Before we were “born again”, our inner spirit was
considered “dead” to God.
(Eph 2:5 NKJV) even when we were dead in
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Being born again involves a spiritual birth, and now we
have something inside us that’s alive and able to communicate and fellowship
with God.
Worship
is something that takes place inside of you, not outside of you.
It is not limited to a location, such as worshipping in
Jerusalem, or here on Chapman Avenue.
It is not based on your outward actions, like singing,
lifting your hands, etc.
It is based on whether or not your inner person is in a state of adoration and
reverence before God.
Truth
True doctrine – as in the Jews
vs. the Samaritans
Some would say that it doesn’t matter which church you go
to as long as you go to church.
I would mostly agree, but there is a limit.
There are churches that have twisted to truth a bit too
far.
The Mormon church teaches that Jesus is a god, but that
you and I will also one day be gods. They teach that your salvation is
dependent upon you doing good works.
The Jehovah
Witnesses teach that Jesus is NOT God. They too teach that you must do good
works in order to be saved.
There are some churches that are teaching that the Bible
is not always God’s Word and that talking about the cross as God’s will is
horrible – as if it is child abuse for the Father to allow His Son to die.
I have a problem with these kinds of doctrines. Like the
Samaritans, these are twisted truths. Like
the Samaritans, Jesus is pointing her towards truth, true doctrine.
True you – as
in “call your husband”
True worship of God requires that you be honest about
yourself.
You can’t put up a front before God. You can’t get by with
pretending that you don’t have problems and that you are not a sinner.
Some of us live our whole lives trying to impress people
and make them think that we’re something special. We want people to accept us
and love us and we hope that if we convince them that we are important, they
might like us.
This will not fly with God.
God loves you the way you are. But you’re not going to get
anywhere with Him by pretending to be something you are not.
Honesty is everything.
What are you
going to do with Jesus?
Are you ready to believe in Him?
Are you ready to turn your life over to Him?