The Fundamentals of True Worship
The Fundamentals of True Worship
(John 4:24 KJV)
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
God is very serious about those who worship Him and the way in which they do it. Worship is an inward expression which it comes from the heart. God is so concern about our worship that He want our hearts to be totally focused upon Him. Matter of fact God through the prophet Isaiah, rebuked the nation of Judah for their sacrifices which He rejected because their hearts were far away from Him. When King David tried to have the Ark of God moved to Jerusalem, God struck Uzzah dead for his irreverence in moving the Ark improperly. It is God's patience and longsuffering that has kept Him from striking many more down through the years and in the present for their irreverence and failure to worship Him according to His directions.
So, I hope that makes this issue clearer for us. If we are to worship God correctly we need to do it in a way that bringsHim pleasure.For worship is for Him, but in doing it we find ourselves. For us to grow in true worship, we need to take a lesson from Samaritan woman. (John 4:15-24).
Let's set the scenery of the geographical location of Jesus.He was up north in Israel preaching, but he was getting all sorts of resistance from the Pharisee's that failed to accept the true revelation of Jesus being God in the flesh. Everything Jesus tried to accomplish in His 3 1/2 ministry; the Pharisees kicked against it. So he decided to head south. Now, for most Jews, if not all Jews, in order to get from north to south they had to walk the long way around Samaria because they wouldn't go through it because the Jews refused to travel through Samaria to get to their destination. They looked upon the Samaritans as low down dirty dogs.
The scripture in this passage says that Jesus had to go through Samaria, almost as if he knew there was a divine appointment waiting for him. Sure enough he shows up in the Samarian village around noon, the hot part of the day, and he stops by a well to get a drink. We would all do the same. No one is there except a single woman and the reason why she is there alone is that she does not want to be seen by anybody else.
No one goes to the well at the hot part of the day. You either go in the morning when it is cool or in the early evening when it is cool, but she is there in the middle of the day because of how the people felt about her in the community. They strike up a conversation. She is amazed that not only a man would talk to her, but a Jewish man. And they begin to talk about this water. She keeps coming at it like, yeah, give me water so I don't have to come here anymore and Jesus keeps coming at it that he has eternal water that can quince the thirst of her soul. So Jesus take this opportunity to teach her about the fundamentals of true worship.
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