Heart of Worship - John 4:21-24

1.) There has been a change in worship

Our Lord uses this expression ("believe me") in this manner but once in His entire ministry; and that to a Samaritan. To his own people, the Jews, his usual language is, "I say unto you."
Verse 21. The hour cometh, etc.- The time was now at hand in which the spiritual worship of God was about to be established in the earth, and all the Jewish rites and ceremonies entirely abolished—True worship shall be no longer confined to any one place or nation.
Ye worship ye know not what - The Samaritans believed in the same God with the Jews; but, as they rejected all the prophetical writings, they had but an imperfect knowledge of the Deity: besides, as they incorporated the worship of idols with his worship, they might be justly said to worship him whom they did not properly know.
2 Kings 17:33 (NKJV) They feared the LORD, yet served their own gods--according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away.
We know what we worship - We Jews acknowledge all the attributes of his nature, and offer to him only the sacrifices prescribed in the law.
Salvation is of the Jews.- ek twn ioudaiwn estin, Salvation is from the Jews. Salvation seems here to mean the Savior, the Messiah, as it does Luke 2:30; Acts 4:12: and so the woman appears to have understood it, John 4:25. The Messiah was to spring from the Jews- from them, the preaching of the Gospel, and the knowledge of the truth, were to go to all the nations of the world. It was to the Jews that the promises were made; and it was in their prophetic Scriptures, which the Samaritans rejected, that Jesus Christ was proclaimed and described.

2.) The nature of worship

a) means to worship God with the spiritual drive and ability of one's soul, seeking the most intimate communion and friendship with God.

b) and with the spiritual core of one's life and being

c) to approach God in the right or true way. One way to come to God, through His Son Jesus Christ.

d) worship God sincerely and truthfully, not coming half-heartedly with wandering mind and sleepy eyes

3.) The reason for worship is clear

a) God seeks such to worship Him. If you have ever wanted to be found by God, begin worshipping Him b/c He seeks that.

b) secondly He says, God is spirit- in His essence is not physically or material
- is invisible, except as He chose to reveal himself –(John 1:18; Col. 1:15; I Tim. 1:17)
- can't be represented accuarately by any man-made image (Ex. 20:3-4)
- in His essence has simplicity (no division or parts) (Deut. 6:4)

By: Robert L. Wagner
© 2004 P.H.A.T.B.O.Y. Music & Publishing