BEHIND THE BOOK Connecting to the Bible (Observation) A BIBLICAL FOUNDATION FOR DEFINING CHRISTIAN WORSHIP JOHN 4:1-42 NOVEMBER 1 ST, 2017 Introduction: In its most basic form, the word worship means to ascribe honor to something or someone. It is not a Christian word or idea. Everyone worships something. However, there is nothing in the world like true Christian worship as the Word of God defines it. Over the next three weeks we are going to dig deep into God s Word to define Christian worship, confine corporate Christian worship, and by God s grace refine our worship. This coming Sunday we will attempt to discern how the Bible defines true Christian worship in the New Covenant context. We will be looking in depth at John 4:19-26. Before we dissect that passage on Sunday it is important that we look at the context from which it comes and discern the intended meaning of the passage as a whole. This will be or aim for this evening. We will exposit all of John 4:1-42 to give greater depth to our study on worship for this coming Sunday and for the weeks ahead. There are two major themes that I want you to notice that flow throughout this passage; the spiritual verses the physical and truth verses fallacy. Another way I want us to think of these motifs is the relationship between the spirit of man and the heart of man, and the relationship between truth and knowledge. These are crucial to our study of biblical Christian worship. The Setting: Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. 4 And he had to pass through Samaria. It has often been believed that Jews chose to go around Samaria and take a longer route in order to avoid the Samaritans. However, early historian Josephus said that was not the case. The animosity between Jews and Samaritans goes back to when the Assyrians captured Samaria in 722-721BC. They had deported all the Jews of social or religious importance and those that 1
remained married foreigners who participated in some of the Jewish religious functions while introducing the remaining Jews to some of their own religious practices. When the exiled Jews returned, they despised the offspring of the Samaritan Jews and saw them as half-breeds whose religion was tainted by various unacceptable elements. 1 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there; The well is located inside an Orthodox church to this day. An interesting note about the well is that in verse 6 the word used for well is pege, which refers to a running spring, but in verses 11 & 12 the word is phrear, which means a dug-out well or cistern. Jacob s well is both. It is a dug out well that is fed by a flowing spring that remains reliable to this day. We will see that knowing this gives a little more depth to what Jesus is saying in verse 14. so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. Resting from long travels, at noon, the hottest part of the day, Jesus rested at the well while the disciples went to purchase food. 1. The Blind Woman at the Well (7-11) 7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?. There are two strikes against this woman already in the eyes of a typical ancient Jew; she is a woman and she is a Samaritan. We have already discussed briefly why but, as John points out, (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) It is somewhat out of the ordinary that this woman was fetching water alone and at noon, the hottest part of the day. It is likely that this woman is an outcast due to her sinful lifestyle. Her remarks are perhaps unfriendly, but completely logical for that particular time and culture. But Jesus had other intentions for that conversation, an example that we can learn from in terms of evangelism. 10 Jesus answered 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 living water. 11 A key word that I would like to point out here is the word knew. Jesus is making a reference to her lack of knowledge; particularly, a knowledge that if she possessed it would change her response significantly. Before we assume we KNOW what He is talking about let us look at a possibility. We assume the gift of God is salvation. That is possible. But, it is also possible that Jesus was speaking to her in her religious context about the Torah. Samaritan s only ascribed to the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, much like the Sadducees. The Samaritan s referred 1 D.A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1991), 216. 2
to the Torah as the supreme gift of God. 2 Jesus could be saying to the woman that if she really knew her Torah, and we will see that she thinks she does, and knew that it pointed to him, than she would have responded in worship by humbly seeking salvation in Him. Instead The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Jesus was making the point that this woman has no ability to discern spiritual things and her response solidified his point. She is spiritually blind. What she probably thinks is that he is making reference to the flowing stream of water that is supplying the well. She probably thinks he is crazy and making a ludicrous claim that he can actually reach that stream and somehow relocate it to her living quarters so she will never have to come there again to retrieve it. This seems to be what her next words would indicate when she gets religious with Jesus. 2. The Religious Woman at the Well (12-15) If, in fact, Jesus was claiming that he could reach and relocate that stream for her he would have been claiming to be capable of something supernatural. So she says, 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock. Jesus does answer the question. He does claim to be greater than Jacob but not in the way she is thinking. 13 Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. It is my belief that the water that Jesus is talking about is the Holy Spirit. He later tells the disciples, It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all (Jn. 6:63). This is essentially the point he is trying to get across to the woman. Jacob did supply a well that can satisfy thirst for a while, but only God can supply the Spirit that leads us to eternal life where he quenches all thirsts forever. Here again we see the physical verses the spiritual realm that only the Holy Spirit can give us eyes to see. 15 The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water. It is difficult to discern what motive lies behind her response here. It could be sarcasm, skepticism, or genuine evidence that she is starting to understand. I believe Jesus next words indicate the latter is true as he broaches the subject of her sin. 2 Odeberg, 150. 218 3
3. The Sinner at the Well (16-19) 16 Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband, and come here. Jesus says a lot in these few words. We only need the mere mention by the preacher of the subject in which we are guilty for us to clamor in shame and become convinced that he knows something about us. This was the case for the sinful woman at the well and that made evident by her defensive response. 17 The woman answered him, I have no husband. Essentially, she says, How dare you accuse me of having a husband. Is that not a great picture of a guilty conscience? She had reasoned and justified her sin with the declaration that she is not married; she has no husband. But, unlike the preacher, Jesus knew more. Jesus said to her, You are right in saying, I have no husband ; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true. 19 Unlike us sometimes, Jesus would not let her justify her sin. He called her out. She had been married and we assume divorced five times and has now settled with a man that she is not married too. We can safely assume her divorces were unbiblical and her current relationship is immoral. On a side note, people want to argue the physical realm scientifically, argue philosophically, and debate theologically, but to this very day no human has ever figured out how to escape that inner conviction placed by God in all human beings for any sustaining length of time. The only truly effective approach to evangelism is the most difficult and uncomfortable, is calling people to account for their sin. I say difficult because it must be done with prayer, precision, and compassion. I say uncomfortable because no one wants to go there and when we do we become the bad guys and girls. No one wants to be the bad guy. However, it is necessary. No soul has ever been saved that was not exposed to their sin and need for a Savior. The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Notice the word perceive, which is the word theoro in the Greek and it means, to come to knowledge of. We can almost see the Holy Spirit working in this woman as she concedes the argument regarding her sin. The only problem is that she now sees Jesus as a prophet and not yet the prophet. In her flesh she responds as 4. The Theologian at the Well (20-26) 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. Again, her motive is difficult to figure out. Many speculate that she is trying to change the subject from sin to theology to avoid her convictions. That does happen, but I agree with Carson that that may be psychologizing the text a bit too much. It is most likely an inquiry connected to her newest discovery that the man is some kind of a prophet. She may be trying to test him as many would test a prophet, or she sincerely believes him to be a prophet and 4
attempts to settle an ongoing debate between Jews and Samaritans because she sincerely wants to worship God the right way. We will see a few verses later that the sin discussion had a tremendous impact on her and was the key to bringing her to believe. Whatever her motive was, Jesus gave her a loaded response. 21 Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, (here is the first time he calls her to believe) the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. (There was a time when the Jews were right on this issue. However, the times are changing and have now changed. They are changing because the temple still stands, but they have changed because Jesus has come. Neither side is right anymore. It no longer matters where a person as to whether or not they can worship God. Location has become irrelevant) 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. (What does matter in worship is knowledge, or truth. Remember, the Samaritans did not recognize the Psalms or the prophetic books as Divine revelation. They only adhered to the first five books of the Law of Moses. There is much to know from the Torah, but you cannot know the whole story of redemption if you stop in the early middle part and that is what the Samaritans had done. The Jews, however, with the exception of the Sadducees, had followed God s redemption story through to the end of the Old Testament. Not all Jews knew God in a saving manner, but they at least knew of Him through the entire Scriptures up to that point. It matters what we know and believe. However, no one is saved by knowledge alone) 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. The hour is coming because the temple is soon to be destroyed in 70AD. The hour is at hand because the atoning work of Christ and the replacement of the Old Covenant with the New is in motion through the presence of Jesus. The New Covenant ushers in a new age in which the true people of God will come to Him through faith in the person and finished work of Jesus and will worship him in spirit. It is by necessity because God himself is spirit. No longer will we worship like the Jews in a certain place, at certain times, through certain ceremonies and rituals, but now wherever we are through our spirit. The spirit of man is interrelated to the heart of man. We will discuss this at length this coming Sunday. Worship is spiritual in nature and as always, according to truth. We worship what we know and know what we worship. Truth in this context is a loaded word. It is more of a concept that encompasses many things, all of which culminate in Jesus. It begins at the Word of God (Jn. 17:17), the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth (Jn. 16:13), and Jesus claimed to be the truth (Jn. 14:6). Essentially, Jesus is introducing a change in the way the world relates to God that affects all of humanity. We will look at this in more depth on Sunday as well. 25 The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things. 26 Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he. 5
The Samaritan s view of the Messiah was based on the Pentateuch. It varied greatly from the Jew s view. They saw him more as the one sent from God to reveal all truth and make sense of reality. Probably confused by Jesus last statements, the woman concedes the argument to say that one day we will all know the answers. In a sense, many people use that excuse today so that they may avoid surrendering to Jesus. However, verse 26 cannot be avoided. Jesus declaration to be that Messiah or Christ is a loaded statement that we will also unpack in the sermon on Sunday. But essentially he affirms the Samaritan s idea of the Messiah, although it is lacking. He is the Messiah, called the Christ, who did come to tell us all things. And, this is perhaps one of the more significant things he came to tell us, that God is only to be worshipped in spirit and according to truth. 5. A Worshipper Leaves the Well (27-30) 27 Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, What do you seek? or, Why are you talking with her? It is strange for an author of a story to record things that were not said unless it is important to the narrative. The fact they said nothing about Jesus talking to a woman, who also happened to be a Samaritan, verifies the reality of the schism and disdain between the Jews and the Samaritans. 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him. I believe the leaving of the water jar indicates two important things. First, that the woman was overwhelmed emotionally by Jesus words, and two, she intended to return to where he was. Without speculating too much, this could be evidence of her conversion. If that is the case, what we see here is a 180% turn from her initial response to Jesus. The word repent means to turn. I believe what we see here is a woman who went from a guilty, religious, woman, probably to shameful to mingle with her society, to a woman who has tasted forgiveness from the Lord Jesus. She responded with excitement and ran into town to tell everyone she could about the Messiah who exposes sin and forgives it. 6. A Lesson for the Disciples on Evangelism (31-38) 31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, Rabbi, eat. 32 But he said to them, I have food to eat that you do not know about. 33 So the disciples said to one another, Has anyone brought him something to eat? The disciples still struggle to see the spiritual realm. This is early in their time with Jesus. We do see their faith grow throughout their time with Jesus, but an argument can easily be made that they did not fully see the spiritual realm until the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost. That is where we see their 180% turnabout. 6
34 Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. The ministry of evangelism is one that must be done with eyes of faith. It is the Father s work and not a work of man. An evangelist must see the kingdom and will of the Father through eyes of faith, which is the work of the Holy Spirit. 35 Do you not say, There are yet four months, then comes the harvest? (This was most likely some cultural adage that referred to the time between seedtime and the beginning of harvest. It was probably a way of saying, relax now and wait, or as we would say, chill out. Jesus says that is not how the kingdom of God works. Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. (There is no time for relaxing in the kingdom work of evangelism. Wake up and stay alert because you never know when you are planting seeds or reaping from someone else s crop) 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, (In contrast to the adage that does not translate in God s kingdom, there is one that does) One sows and another reaps. 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor. I believe Jesus is interpreting the scene before their very eyes of the crowds of people coming to see if this man is the Messiah or not. They missed the beauty of the opportunity because of their prejudices and lack of spiritual insight. However, there was one there who knew exactly what was going on and was rejoicing in the beauty of that opportunity. Conclusion: The Worshipper s Reward (39-42) 39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, He told me all that I ever did. Notice John never says they asked her what she had done. They knew here and her past. The testimony about a man who knew her sin would not be enough to peak their interest. We can assume she testified about what he did concerning her sin. Though Jesus has not yet gone to the cross, he still came with the authority and power to forgive sins. That was one of the things that got him into so much trouble with the Pharisees. 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of his word. 42 They said to the woman, It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world. Here we see the formula of a true conversion; hearing, believing, and knowing. They were converted into true worshippers by the gospel of this stranger. True worshippers desire the presence of Jesus. They wanted him to stay. He did for a couple days, but then had to leave. Though he left them bodily, he never left those who believed spiritually. He is always with us in spirit and truth. When we want Jesus to stay, all we need to do is open His Word and we will here his voice speak to us and know that he is with us in spirit to the end of the age. 7
Behind the Book is only one aspect of Heritage s teaching ministry which seeks to employ our church s mission statement: Connecting to God, Growing with Others and Impacting the world. On Wednesday evenings we connect to Sunday morning s Bible passage and discover what it says through in-depth Bible study. Sunday morning in corporate worship (9:30am) we grow from the passage by learning what it means for our daily living. In Community Groups (10:45am) we practically apply the text, being impacted by it and learning to impact the world with it. CGI provides a balanced approach to life and Bible study; an upward look (Connect), an inward look (Grow) and an outward look (Impact) ensuring that our mission fulfils our vision to be a God-centered, Great Commission congregation. It s a well-known and beneficial way to approach the Bible Connect/Observation, Grow/Interpretation, Impact/Application. It s also a Trinitarian approach to Scripture: Connecting to the Father, Growing in Christ and Impacting the world by the Spirit, so that the way we study the Bible daily reminds us about who our God is and how he is unique among all religions of the world. 8