John 4:20-24

John 4:20-24 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” Daniel 3:30 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon. We continue to study about worship. Why do we worship? Why do we come before God and offer sacrifices? Does God accept your worship or sacrifice that you offer just for the reason that you are doing so? Before you offer your sacrifice to God or your worship you must first cleanse yourself of the sin that is inside you. You must first make an atonement of your sins so that when you offer your worship with a clean heart God can then accept it. When we give gifts amongst ourselves, do you like to accept a gift from someone with whom you have tension? No matter how nice the gift is, if you dislike the person you do not want to accept the gift. Is this not true? God is the same. God desires and accepts the worship with whom their is nothing that gets in the way of His relationship with them. If God is pleased and enjoys accepting the worship of those who please Him, then between people and between husband and wives and those who are in a loving relationship does the size of the gift matter? On the way home from work, if you were to buy even a small piece of candy, the other person would joyfully receive the gift because of the person’s true love. But if your heart is twisted, if there is something that burdens your heart, you could bring home an expensive name brand handbag and the spouse would rather that you would make them feel better rather than receive the gift. Is this not true. The relationship is what is important. Making lots of money and bringing it home to the wife can be important, but what may be more valued is the ability to come home and bring joy to the heart of your spouse. We all know that you are out there working hard. When you come home from work, everyone knows that you worked hard, so a gift is not necessary and you can enter your home freely as you enter with love. But what if you came back home full of anger while holding a large gift and then you toss it at your spouse, would she accept the gift? Would you accept such a gift? There is no one who would want to receive such a gift. Worship is the same. You come before Him and bring a large gift, or offering. Other people bring in pennies but you bring a 100 dollars. Of what importance is that? This does not matter. It is your relationship that must be set right first before you offer worship. In order to have the right relationship with God, you must first come before Him and confess all your sins and repent according to the Word so that when you offer your worship God will accept it joyfully. If we say that we worship God in spirit and in truth, then how can God accept our worship when we ourselves know that our spirits are unclean? Last week I spoke about how useless it is to be an observer of worship, to be an outsider because you have no true relationship with God so your prayers will not be answered. I gave the example of paying good money to watch a game. We payed a lot of money and had a great time. If I come to church and give a lot to the offering and enjoy myself in the events of the day, then it is solely for my pleasure. I enjoyed watching the athletes perform just as I enjoy the events at church. I enjoy the singing and the fellowship so I give my offering. I am only an observer. What use is it to me? There is nothing between God and I. When I confess my sins and repent of my ways, when I change my life and live righteously, then God will do His will through me. This is the life in which God will accept as true worship. This is the life of worship that I pray that you will be able to offer to God. God has given each of us something so that we can do His will. To each of our families and each of us individually He gives us the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it may be material blessings that you enjoy, it may also be status. Some may rise up to high positions, others may be given much wealth, some may attain everything. Others may be homeless and poor or broke. Why? If it is God’s will that there be somebody in those humble places that are to be used by Him for His purpose then we must acknowledge that. We have our own thoughts so we think that because we have done as much for the Lord, so now in order to do His work we will for Him to give us health, wealth, power and status. I decide what my path must be. There are times when our desires and what God wills for us are not the same, and rather than obey Him, we argue and complain and rebel against Him. I will use myself as an example. I was told to be a pastor so at an old age I became one. This was during the time when my children were growing and needed to be fed well and I needed a lot of money to invest in them. When I calculated all the expenses that I would need for the family then I started to think about where the church needed to be, how big it must be and I calculated everything with my own mind. The size of the church, the location of it, it was all my own calculations. So is God’s will and my plan on the same path? How can it be the same? Some are chosen to be pastors. Some are chosen to be missionaries. Others to be where He decides. God decides to place people each according to His will, some pastors He will place in the city of Seoul. Others He will put far out in the country. Others He will put in the suburbs. Some will live in Seoul and some will live in other cities. Everyone will be put in different places so that in everyplace God can spread the message of the Gospel. But we, worried about how we are going to eat and live, calculate how we are going to create a great big ministry, and end up not going where we are sent to go. There is a difference in your will and God’s will. If this is the manner in which we say we are doing God’s will, then will God really be able to use me to do His work? If His hand is not upon you, then even though you walk the path as His servant, you may be doing so without having any real connection to Him. Pastors and missionaries when they are sent out from Korea all want to come to the America. They don’t have to learn english because they only work with natives from Korea. Whether it is Canada or here they want to go somewhere where one can live comfortably. Nobody desires to go where there are a few people or the conditions are tough. Who will go to those people that are in the middle of nowhere and share the Gospel with them. God is telling some to go. When they obey and make the sacrifice to go and take the family with them, then God will provide for all of them. But rather than do this, they take up the burden alone, and send the rest of the family off to live abroad and live the life by themselves. Where is God’s will in this? When God desires to do His will but we change His will and do what we want, then the work we do will not manifest God’s will and we will not be able to give God the glory He desires because we have interfered with His perfect purpose. Rather than see that we have mistaken God’s will, we are filled with the joy of doing our own work and not His. When God tells us to go out in the middle of nowhere in the most humble of places, then it is in that place, where God will show His power through me, I will be able to confess that I am one with the Lord and be an example to others. It is my selfishness that causes me to make up my own plans to go to nice places and work in high positions and so we pray that our needs desires would be met. To follow easily, I must accept that I have been called to do God’s will. I read this recently. What does a true leader think about? The one who leads the people thinks about the future. I thought how true. When we look at the church the pastor is the leader, in your own life you are your own leader, within the family the husband is the leader, whatever team you belong to, whatever position you have at work, no matter how small the group or humble the position you are a leader. You do not need to be in charge of a large group to be a leader. Wherever you are, no matter how small the number, there will always be a leader. Those of you who are the leaders in your household, what must you be thinking about as you lead your family as a Christian? Is it about making a lot of money and buying a big house and driving a nice car? Is that what you should be thinking about? It is not. A true Christian does not think about the things of this world but he thinks about the things of heaven. He sets his sight on attaining the things of heaven and making sure that he receives his reward and leads his family in this pursuit. Even in this world leaders have their own dreams. They set goals for how much money a company will make, the kind of products they will produce and where they will spend their earnings. The company uses the goals and goes forward to achieve it. In order to achieve the goals the leaders make decisions that will lead the company into that direction. You goal must be clear and decided. Those of you who lead your homes and say that you are Christians must be clearly committed and determined to stand before Jesus and lead your family to that path so that you can truly be a follower of Jesus. How will you ever be victorious in your life of faith if today you go this way, tomorrow you go that way and then when things get difficult you give up? This week in our daily quiet times the theme has come up many times. We put much value in being recognized by others. We think that recognition by others is what matter the most. But that is not what is important but what matters is our relationship with God. We see this in the Word. Why does God want us to worship in spirit and in truth? He tells us that it is not important that we worship on this mountain or that mountain or in Jerusalem, but what is important is that we worship in spirit and in truth and that time is now. If now represents the very moment we take a new breath, then how are we to live our lives? Worship is not over because the pastor has given the benediction. God is spirit and His believers must worship in spirit and in truth, that spirit and truth is about my relationship with the Father and being one with Him, in holiness. We are told to be holy because He is holy. To be holy we must cut off all sins repent and change our lives and live a life that is in union with God. This life is the life that is in spirit and in truth and this life is the life that gives true worship to God. We are to be living in this continuos moment. Even in this life there are guidelines that we must follow. When a student writes a report they must do so according to the guidelines to receive a good grade. They write the report and answer the questions of who, what, when, where, why and how. So we ask, who worships? I worship. When? Anytime. Where? Everywhere. With what? With and through my life. How? When we are faced with a decision the choice is the one that will please God and give Him the most glory through obedience in His Word. Why? Because we have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus and are now children of God. Should this not be the life of worship that we live? In Daniel 3:30 we read Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the province of Babylon. We see Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the way they worship. The “who” is Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. When? During the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar. Where? In front of the gold image. What? In regards to bowing down and worshipping the golden image. If they did not bow down then they would be burned to death. How? By refusing to bow down to the image because the only one they will worship is God. They put their faith in God who they did not see, and offered their lives up in sacrifice as worship to Him. Were they saved? We say they were saved, but they were not. They were only rescued because they entered the fire. The people who were throwing them into the fire were burned to death. Daniel, in the time of King Darius, for the time of one month when they were to only pray to the king, Daniel could have closed his windows and prayed. If for one month Daniel closed his windows and prayed would his prayers have been any less? However, just as he did before, with the decision that it would not matter that he entered the lion’s den, he would cry out to God and worship as he always did. Why did he do this? It is because he knew that there is only one God to whom to pray to and worship. What happened? He was thrown in the lion’s den. In our own lives we pray that God does not let us enter into difficult situations and we ask Him to save us from them. But when we see how they prayed we see that we must enter the fiery furnace and we must enter the lion’s den for then we show that we have offered our lives up to God and this is when He will rescue us. This is worship in spirit and in truth. God accepts the life that is completely handed over to Him. He does not accept the life that pretends to give Him everything. He does not accept a life that pretends to be a believer. Did Paul say that everyday he pretended to die? He said that He dies everyday. It is through death that God saves and works. He died everyday so that though he was beaten, sent to prison, hungry, and through all the trials and difficulties, through the whipping of 39 lashes three times, and being stoned to near death, and though his life was like this, through this life God moved. When we are told to go in, do we go? We pray so that we do not have to go? We pray that we do not have to die but when we see the prayers and lives of the those who have gone before us do we not see a difference? What does it mean to worship God in spirit and in truth so that He accepts it? It is when He places you where He desires and you say “amen” and accept your place. This is true worship in spirit and in truth. When God accepts your worship, then it is He who gives life and also takes it away. If He rescues you then through it you shall give glory to God. If you die, then you are giving Him glory through obedience and we must have this kind of determination to live this life of worship. This is the worship that God accepts. Today according to the guidelines and principles : Who? Me. When? Today, now, in every moment. Where? Everywhere I go. Whether in the kitchen cooking, or sitting in the bathroom, when I am driving, when I meet people, whatever it is I do, in everyplace. What? Through all that I do, whether I am cooking, when I am speaking to others, when I am in the bathroom, through all that I do to give pleasure to God. How? By living joyfully in God and living the life that would allow God to use me. If today I a speaking to someone, it is not a time for me to express my emotions, it it an opportunity to share my Lord through the words I speak and being keen to Him. This is how we can be one who worships and gives God the glory. Why? Because I am a child of God who has been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. I have no choice but to live this life. When my life reflects this daily in all I do, it is my life that God will accept. When God has accepted your life, why would not answer your prayers? In our difficulties, and in our minds that create trouble, look at the lives of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the life of Daniel. See the life that allowed them to be rescued after they were thrown into the furnace and the lion’s den. We too must decide to live as determined as this. We must look at our lives and compare them to the guidelines and principles and see the decision that we must make. When we ask the question “who?” and you answer the pastor, but the pastor is not present with you, it is possible that you may think that you can do what you want. This is not so. When we ask “who?” the answer is “me”. We are told that each of us is a holy priest. When the question is asked “when?” It is not Sunday when we come for service. It is daily, in every moment that we must decide and commit to. When we say “who?” and think there is no reason to worship because the pastor is unavailable, or when we say “when?” and you think we only worship on Sundays and today is a weekday, or that since worship is now over you make excuses to be of a different mind. Everything, all the time is to be worship. It is not time for you to express what you want but a time for the church through fellowship to worship God and offer our lives also as worship. This can only be done when you decide that you will live like so and do it. When we say “where?” we are not only saying at the church but it is wherever you go. When we say with “what?” It is not only about singing hymns and praying. It is through your speech, thoughts and action through which you glorify the Savior that you hold in your heart. It is a constant that you must be thinking. How? It is through living a life that does not follow the world but through the life that follows the Bible. This is the how that we must put into practice so that our lives can be one of worship. At one time we were a part of the world that thought that you can just come and easily be forgiven but if this the way you think can your life be of true worship? If you think that this is not, then the God you worship, who sees everything that you do, will He accept your worship when you do not stand with Him but rather you do what you want while blaming God. How must you live your life according to theses guidelines? You must live according to the guidelines and principles, in obedience, not forgetting to do all that is shown to us, so that not only will we be able to communicate and understand Him better, but He will also joyfully accept our worship. When we can offer up our lives of worship to Him so that He can gladly accept it, then would He not bless us graciously with the gifts of the spirit and all the other blessings with His anointing? Should your life not be the life that is one of a true worshipper? May you live this life and give God glory. May you be the salt and light in all areas of your life. Sermon by Pastor Howard Park Translation by Miguel Park