The Lord’s Message:  Worship:  Let Us Worship God Together

The Lord’s Message:  Worship:  Let Us Worship God Together
Date:  September 24, 2023
Where:  Tilghman Methodist Church
Scripture Reference:  John 4:27-42

This is the fourth and last message of our sermon series, Worship.  The first message was that God desires to have a relationship with us.  We are created in the image of God.  God loves us.  In 1 Timothy 2:3-4, Paul says that God wants an eternal relationship with us.  Our worship of God is because of the relationship that He wants with us.  The second message was that God knows us and loves us.  There are circumstances in life that trap people.  They are not responsible for the circumstances.  God knows us and loves us.  Then there are circumstances that we are responsible for.  Those are the times that we disobey God.  The Bible calls this sin.  God knows us and loves us.  We can praise and worship God in all the circumstances in life.  Last Sunday’s message was that we can worship God anywhere, with all kinds of worship music, with any person that spends time in prayer before standing in the pulpit, and with any amount of people.  It is vital that we worship God in Spirit and in Truth.  The Truth is knowing that God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay for our sins.  The Spirit is our spirit combined with God’s Holy Spirit moving our heart to worship.  This Sunday, we are going to discover that we should want everyone to worship with us.

Let us pray.

We pick up the scripture with Jesus still talking to the Samaritan woman at the well.  The disciples have come back from gathering food.  They see Jesus talking to this Samaritan woman and they are taken aback.  Look at verse 27.  They are shocked because Jesus has broken down two cultural barriers.  The first barrier is that Jesus is talking to a woman who is not his wife, mother, or sister.  The second barrier is that Jesus, a Jew, is talking with a Samaritan.  Jews did not associate with Samaritans. 

Now this Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water in the heat of the day, because she is being shunned by the community.  She is being shunned because she has had five husbands and the man that she is living with now is not her husband.  I explained earlier that she is living in a male dominated culture.  She has no rights.  She cannot decide whether to divorce her husband.  The husband decides this.  She can only accept the decision that the man makes.  She can not force a man to marry her.  The man that she is living with will not marry her.  The community looks down on her.  Can you imagine the stares and the turned heads and the snickering? 

Look at verses 28 -29.  She leaves her water jar and (went) runs into the city and tells everyone she sees about Jesus.  This is a tremendous change in her life.  Her life change is something that resonates with the community, and they hurry out to see Jesus, verse 30. 

While she is away, Jesus and His disciples engage in a discussion about food, verses 31-33.  The disciples are thinking about edible food.  Jesus is talking about doing the will of God.  Jesus explains this in verse 34.  What is the will of God?  Jesus explains in verses 35-38.  The harvest are the people that are not believers in Jesus Christ as God’s Son.  The work for all believers must be to invite non-believers to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Everyone of us was designed to be in relationship with God.  Many people do not know this or will not accept this.  In Revelation 7:9-12, we are told by John what he saw in the future with everyone gathered around the throne of God worshipping Him.  Our worship is a foreshadowing of the future in eternity.

            In order for this to happen, God has given us the privilege to harvest souls for the kingdom of Heaven.   It does not matter whether you are a new believer or a seasoned believer, we are all called to bring in the harvest.  You may talk to someone about Jesus, and you feel they are brushing you off.  You do not know when you planted that seed in that person’s heart.  I was an assistant Spiritual director on a Chrysalis boys’ weekend.  There was a young high school boy who, when the weekend ended, both the Spiritual director and I thought that we failed in reaching this boy.  A short time after this weekend, I was at the closing of another weekend.  This boy was there, and he came up and gave me a big old bear hug.  Then, with tears in his eyes, he told me how his life had changed after his weekend.  He told me how he was doing drugs and involved in heavy drinking.  His life was one big party, at least that is what he thought.  He realized after that weekend that his life was leading him to destruction.  He stopped hanging out with his friends that were doing drugs and drinking heavily.  He started attending church.  He was going to graduate in several months with honors.  We thought that we had failed.  We realized that we planted the seeds, but God used that weekend to change this boy’s life. 

            In verse 39, this Samaritan woman, despised by her community, is now bringing people to Jesus.  The Samaritans even ask Jesus, a Jew, to stay with them, verse 40.  After the Samaritan woman brought people to Jesus, they now have a relationship with Him, verses 41-42. 

            God designed us to worship Him.  We are not complete until we accept the relationship that God offers to us through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Who do you know that does not know about God or will not accept Him?  Is that person in your family, at your workplace, or even at the gas station or at the store?  Everyday there are opportunities for us to bring people into a relationship with God.  Do not be worried if someone gets upset with you for telling them about Jesus.  That just means that you have hit a nerve in their soul about needing to have God in their life.

            It would be great to see that person gathered with you, worshipping God. As a matter of fact, it would be great seeing heaven filled with people worshipping God and to see hell empty. 

            Our worship today is just a small sample of what it will be to worship God in Heaven.  Let us worship God.  Amen.