John 4:1-26 True Worship: The Woman at the Well

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True Worship: The Woman at the Well

John 4:1-26

Introduction: The incident with Jesus and the woman at the well in Samaria is filled with intrigue and excitement. John’s narrative now goes beyond John the Baptist and focuses again on a personal interaction of Jesus with a singular person. Of first importance is the contrast between the interaction of Jesus and Nicodemus and Jesus with this woman. Remember, contrasting “believers” is key to the message of John: “that you might believe” or “that you might continue to believe.” Thus, John is showing us the different kinds of believers, but only one kind that are true believers.

• Nicodemus was learned, powerful, respected, orthodox, and theologically trained.
• The woman was unschooled, without influence, despised, and capable of only a hearsay religion.
• Nicodemus was a man, a Jew, and a ruler.
• She was a woman, a Samaritan, and a moral outcast.

Which one of these people would the average person most likely be drawn to? Nicodemus was seeking Jesus; in this text, Jesus is seeking the woman.

By way of application, the chapter gives a picture of how the Son of God would go about bringing a person to God. That lesson will have to be saved for later.

1. Explanation of the Text
   1. 1-4: Jesus outshines John
      1. John begins by explaining the reason for Jesus’ move from Judea to Galilee. Just as John the Baptist had predicted in the previous chapter, Jesus’ was now outshining John and the world was going after him. Therefore, the Pharisees turn their attention to Jesus and Jesus moved to Galilee.
      2. The apostle adds an important parenthetical statement noting that though Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, Jesus was baptizing, but not personally. It is not difficult to understand why. Most would rather be baptized by Jesus rather than Thaddeus, or even Judas Iscariot. Further, if the Corinthians later found exaltation in who baptized them, how much more those who would have been baptized directly by the Lord?
      3. Vs. 4: “He had to pass through Samaria.” The NKJV, “But he needed to go through Samaria.” This was certainly the shortest route, but John seems to indicate that Jesus had a purpose, and teaching this woman, or at least having an opportunity in Samaria was the reason.
   2. Sychar: John gives us the specific site as near the plot of ground that Jacob gave Joseph on his deathbed (Gen. 48:22). Jacob had taken the plot from the Amorites.
   3. Jacob’s Well: We do not have any historical account of Jacob digging this well. The well is still in existence today and is fed by an underground spring. John immediately notes the well and the water to prepare our minds for the water symbolism already mentioned with Nicodemus and which connects to OT symbolism and prophecy.
   4. “A woman of Samaria” – “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans”
      1. It is noon and an odd time to draw water. Because of the woman’s reputation, she was possibly avoiding the morning and evening times in which most would draw their water.
      2. In 722 BC, the Assyrian’s wiped out the Northern Kingdom of Israel, taking those captive who were not killed and scattering them into other parts of their empire. In their place, the Assyrians populated the North with conquered peoples from other nations. But God sent lions among the people because they served idols. Therefore, the people brought a priest back from exile to teach them the ways of the Lord. The people learned to serve the Lord, but with the perverted ways of the North.
      3. Later, both in the time of the rebuilding of the temple and in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, Samaritans worked as enemies against the Jews. Even leading up to the first century, Samaritans and Jews were enemies. Jews commonly thanked God in prayer that they were not born a Samaritan. John 8:48, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 
      4. Therefore, a Jewish man would especially not talk to a Samaritan woman. 
   5. 7-15: Jesus’ conversation with the woman: “Give me a drink.” We immediately need to consider, did Jesus ask the question primarily because of thirst, or to save the woman? The answer is not difficult. Spiritual needs over physical needs. Denying self! 
   6. The key to the conversation is Jesus turning the woman’s thinking from physical needs to spiritual needs, from the flesh to the spirit, from what man can do and that which only God can do. That is exactly what Jesus did with Nicodemus. (Cf. John 6, “true bread”).
   7. Nothing has changed. We still struggle with quenching spiritual thirst and understanding spiritual goals.
      1. Religion today is filled with churches and worship that are designed to appeal to physical desires. In 1 John 2:15, John said that the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride is not from the Father, but is from the world. When the work of a church is meant to cater to the flesh, dazzle the eyes, and create a sense of pride, that is clearly a design of Satan, not of the Lord.
      2. This physical emphasis can even be subtle. For example, having a church and a place to worship is not the goal; it is not to be the emphasis. The things we do in worship are not the goal. Knowledge alone is not the goal. Jesus identifies the goal in the text. It is drinking the living water that Jesus will give in order to become a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Isaiah 12:1-3 
      3. Seeking the physical in our service to God is drinking from the wrong well. “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13).
2. Turning the Woman to Her Spiritual Needs (15-26)
   1. Notice two “transitions” in the text:
      1. “Give me this water so I will not be thirsty –– “Go, call your husband.” Of course, Jesus knew she didn’t have a husband. Therefore, he brings her spiritual condition to the surface.
      2. “I perceive you are a prophet…Our fathers worshiped on this mountain…” The woman may be diverting attention away from herself even though this was the major difference between Jew and Samaritan. Jesus uses the question to bring the subject back on point – her spiritual condition. 
   2. True worship and true worshipers.
      1. Since the Samaritans accepted only the Pentateuch, they did not accept the later revelation of God instructing David to build the tabernacle in Jerusalem. Instead, they came up with a convoluted way of determining that Gerizim was the appropriate mountain because in Deut. 27 the blessings on Israel were to be announced on Gerizim.
      2. It is significant that as ignorant as the woman was on what was proper worship, she had enough sense of the authority of God to know that someone was wrong in how they worshiped. It was either Gerizim or Jerusalem, and she wanted to know what was right. That is a lot more knowledge than most have today.
      3. Further, Jesus answered her question by condemning worship on Gerizim as a worship of ignorance. Thus, we need to get something very clear in our minds, (1) not all worship is acceptable, and (2) one cannot worship ignorantly and be accepted. It is incredible that something so foundational is ignored by most the religious world. 
3. Understanding Worship and Its Importance
   1. As ignorant as the woman was about proper worship she at least understood that worship was a necessity. Jesus presses that point in verse 24 when he says, “Those who worship must worship in spirit and truth.” The word “must” refers to that which is necessary and binding Again, as foundational as that principle is, it is rejected by most of the world.
   2. At this point, we need to stop and talk about what worship actually means.
      1. When Israel arrived at Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19, God prepared them for worship. Before giving them any commandments or preparing the tabernacle, God reminded them, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” In other words, God is at the center of worship.
      2. This fits the origin of the word worship. In England, as the English language was being developed, the word used was worth-ship. To worship God meant that we were assigning to God his true worth. Therefore, the worth-ship or worship we give to God is defined by the worth, value, or passion we offer to him in our lives.
      3. Therefore, when we think of worship we must not make the same mistake the Samaritan woman was making. Worship was neither in Jerusalem nor at Gerizim, but neither have we worshiped because we have occupied a seat on Sunday, sung a hymn, or partaken of the Lord’s Supper. These are tools for worship, but they are not worship of themselves, nor is worship limited to these times. We must not confuse worship with the particular things we do on Sunday.
      4. True worship is generated from a heart that ascribes true worth to God. This is the reason why when we come together, this is serious business. The way we sing, pray, and take thought to our approach to God reflects how we see his worth.
   3. True Worship:
      1. “God is a spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” Notice the relationship between “God is a spirit” and how we must worship. The fact that God is a spirit demands that our worship must reflect his nature. 
      2. Thus, true worship happens when our spirit, which is made in the image of God’s spirit, actually joins in oneness together with the same purpose of love, compassion, mercy, and holiness. In other words, our spirit meets with God.
      3. When Jesus contrasts worship in Jerusalem or Gerizim with true worship, he is primarily contrasting worship in a physical, earthly realm from a physical temple with worship that is true because it is done in the “true tabernacle” erected by God, not man (Heb. 8:1-2, 5).
      4. Here is the primary point. When we worship in spirit, we are connecting our spirit with his spirit, lifting our thoughts to be like his thoughts and our ways to be like his ways. When we worship in truth, we are worshiping with the recognition that we are worshiping in and living in the true tabernacle before the throne of God that we have approached by the blood of Jesus.
   4. With that, we must discard false approaches to worship:
      1. When priests entered the tabernacle, everything about their entrance had to be holy. We enter the true tabernacle and we also must only use holy things. True worship cannot bring the earthly into a true tabernacle.
      2. Not only must we use holy things in worship, we must be holy (1 Tim. 2:8) – the whole point of Leviticus.
      3. Further, we must not confuse worship with feelings. Worship does not originate with feelings nor are feelings proof of worship. We certainly hope that in our study and praise of God we discover his great worth and thereby our emotions are stirred, but emotions can also be stirred from our flesh responding to the beauty of a song or a well-delivered lesson without coming to genuine awareness of God’s worth and our need of him.
   5. Since true worship comes out of our recognition of God’s worth, we must approach him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. We put energy and zeal into what we do as if we were literally gazing into his presence before his throne – we are in the true Most Holy Place!
   6. Further, listen to the words of Psalm 100:1-2, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!” 
      1. How is it that the emotion is there before worship begins? It is there because before we have come into a public worship, there has first been private worship. We have first studied to remind ourselves of the Lord’s goodness. We are deeply impressed with His everlasting mercy and the fact that His truth endures to all generations. 
      2. Therefore, if you are dull in worship, it is usually because you have brought that dullness with you!

Conclusion: David Thomley wrote: “We need to take an honest look at the reality of our present situation to see if the problem of indifference truly exists among us. Are there adults and children who are regularly in zombie land on Sunday mornings because they are physically and mentally exhausted due to their late hours on Saturday night, yet they can’t attend a gathering at one of the deacon’s houses on Sunday night because they have school or work the next day and need a good night’s sleep? Are there times when the attitude we manifest in our singing becomes the strongest possible argument for instrumental music in worship? Do our public prayers sometimes betray the mindlessness of the one leading the prayer? Do we whine about things that do not matter? Our insistence on being coddled and comfortable during worship needs to be reined in. What we are doing in worship requires the utmost concentration of our intellect and the deepest passions of our hearts.

In other words, we need less concentration on how we think a song leader should have led, a prayer leader should have spoken, a preacher or teacher should have designed his lesson, and more focus on the One in whose presence we have come.

Berry Kercheville