Attempting to satisfy the deepest thirst from the wrong source...

This week, we are looking at an event from history that is recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of John. Yesterday, we looked on as John explained that once Jesus knew that the Pharisee’s, who were the self righteous religious people, became aware that Jesus had become more popular than John the Baptizer, Jesus left Judea and went to Galilee.

 

However, Jesus had to pass through Samaria. Many Jewish people viewed the Samaritans as “half breeds” and wanted nothing to do with them. Upon arriving at a city in Samaria, Jesus, tired from the long trip, decided to rest at a well. However, a Samaritan woman who was an outsider who was far from God and was far from others approached the well where Jesus was resting in order to get some water.

Jesus, however, responded to this ostracized outsider by asking her for a drink, which launched into a conversation between the Samaritan woman and Jesus that began with hostility and animosity.  Today, we see John reveal how Jesus responded to the animosity of the Samaritan woman in John 4:10:

 

 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? "You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle”?

 

Instead of responding to the animosity of the Samaritan woman by ignoring her, Jesus chooses to engage her. To understand the nature of this engagement, we first need to understand something about water. In the first century, there was two ways by which one obtained water. Either you obtained water from a well or you obtained water from a river or stream. Now, water that is in a well does not flow but is stagnant. However, water from a flowing river or stream was viewed as being living or active. That water, as a general rule, was also better water to drink.

 

Now, with that in mind, Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman that if she knew about the free gift that God wanted to offer her, and if she really knew who she was talking to that was asking her for a drink, she would not be responding with animosity. Instead, if she really knew who she was talking to, she would be the one taking the initiative to engage him for the water that He would provide her.

 

You see, while the water from the well that the Samaritan woman was pursuing could maintain life, the water from that well could not produce life. However, Jesus was offering the Samaritan women water that was living and active and could produce the life that she so desperately needed and was lacking. Jesus was echoing what the prophet Jeremiah said some 600 years earlier in Jeremiah 2:13:

 

"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.

 

The Samaritan woman however, was not focused on receiving the water that would produce life. Instead, she was solely focused on meeting her immediate personal needs to maintain life. The Samaritan woman basically says to Jesus “well who do you think you are? Are you saying that you are greater than our ancestor Jacob, because he gave us this well? I do not see any water in your hands and I do not see a river nearby. And anyways weren’t you just asking me for a drink a minute ago? So, who do you think you are and where do you think you are going to get this great water from, anyways?”  We see Jesus response in John 4:13:

 

Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw."

 

Jesus basically says to the Samaritan woman “everyone who comes to drink this water will have to come back again later, because this water only maintains life. This water may temporarily reduce thirst, but this water never removes the thirst. However, the water I have, this water removes even the deepest thirst. The water that I have becomes a source of water that produces life”.

 

And once again, we see the Samaritan woman miss the point. Instead, the Samaritan woman responded with a focus on her pressing immediate needs. The Samaritan woman was focused on attempting to satisfy her deepest thirst from the wrong source, from the wrong object. We see Jesus reveal this reality in the Samaritan woman’s life in verse 16:

 

 He said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here." The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have correctly said, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly."

 

Instead of being frustrated at the Samaritan woman’s faulty focus, Jesus lovingly revealed her faulty focus. And it is here that we see why the Samaritan woman was at the well at high noon. Here we see why the Samaritan woman was ostracized and isolated from the community that she lived in. And here we see why the Samaritan woman was an outsider who was far from God and far from others. You see, the Samaritan women had not been divorced one time. The Samaritan women had not been divorced two times. Instead, the Samaritan women had been divorced five times. And now, the Samaritan woman was living with a man who was not her husband.

 

You see, the Samaritan woman was focused on satisfying her deepest thirst from the well of relationships with a man. The Samaritan woman lived a life that viewed a relationship with a man as being of ultimate value. And as a result, the Samaritan woman lived her life as a response of worship by placing as the object of her worship the man that she was in a relationship with. However, the men who she was in relationship with always seemed to fall short of being the right object for the worship.

 

So the Samaritan woman went from relationship to relationship, hoping that she would eventually find the right man who would prove to be the right object of worship that would satisfy her deepest thirst.   However, those repeated relationships were empty wells that held no water and could not satisfy that thirst. And now the Samaritan woman had a story. A story of being a home wrecker; a story of being an adulterer; a story that left her far from God and far from others, ostracized and isolated; a story that you might relate to.

 

Maybe you have been trying to satisfy the deepest thirst in your life with position, power, pleasure, or pride, only to find that you may reduce the thirst for a while, but the thirst only returns. Maybe you have been living in a way that is focused on finding the right object to value supremely. Maybe every object that you have tried to value supremely always seemed to fall short of satisfying the deepest thirst in your life.

 

Now you might be thinking to yourself “well Dave that does not sound like Jesus is being very loving here. I mean it seems that Jesus just called her out as a sinner. How can you say that Jesus was loving here”. If those questions are running through your mind, I just want to let you know that they are great questions to be asking. And my response to those questions is this: The reason I can say that Jesus was loving here is based on how the Samaritan woman responded to what Jesus said. We see her response in verse 19:

 

 The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."

 

You see, the Samaritan woman did not respond to Jesus by being offended and bailing on the conversation. Instead, the Samaritan woman did what we all tend to do when we find ourselves vulnerable after being exposed for who we truly are. The Samaritan woman attempted to change the subject.

 

Exposed for attempting to satisfy her deepest thirst from the wrong well, exposed for placing as the object of her worship the man that she was in a relationship with, the Samaritan woman attempted to change the subject to a theological debate on worship. The Samaritan woman basically says “You seem to be a man who knows God and God’s will, so I have a theological question for you: my ancestors believed that true worship occurred on that mountain over there, but you people burned down our temple and told us that Jerusalem is where true worship occurs. So who is right?”

 

However, while the Samaritan woman was attempting to change the subject, she was actually going to the subject that Jesus wanted to deal with in her life. What the Samaritan women kept missing in her conversation with Jesus was the core issue in her life, which was what object she was ultimately going to worship in her life.

 

Friday, we will see this reality revealed in Jesus response to her…

How Jesus responded to two types of hostility....

At the church where I serve, we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled “Wired for worship”. During this series, we are spending our time together asking and answering the questions “What is worship? Who actually worships? Does worship really matter? Why are we supposed to worship? What happens when we worship? And how are we supposed to worship?”

During this series, we are going to discover that all humanity has been wired for worship. And during this series our hope and prayer is that God would move in our heads, hearts, and hands in a way that results in us understanding and embracing the life of worship that we were created for in a way that results in us worshipping Jesus with our lives.

This week, as we continue in this series, I would like for us to spend our time together looking at an event from history that is recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of John. Now the gospel of John was written the person who had perhaps the closest relationship with Jesus while He was on earth, a man named John. And it is in this event from history that we see John reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to the reality that we are wired for worship. So let’s discover this reality together, beginning in John 4:1:

Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John  (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), He left Judea and went away again into Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

John gives us a front row seat to this event from history by providing for us the context in which this event from history would take place. John explains that once Jesus knew that the Pharisee’s, who were the self righteous religious people, became aware that Jesus had become more popular than John the Baptizer, Jesus left Judea and went to Galilee.

You see, Jesus knew that His growing popularity would be viewed as a threat by the Pharisee’s to their position and power that they loved. And Jesus knew that the Pharisee’s would attempt to harass and attack Jesus, just like they had done to John the Baptizer. So, Jesus decided to leave Judea and the Pharisee’s animosity in order to continue the mission He had been given in Galilee. John states that Jesus had to pass through Samaria. But what is so significant about Samaria that John would mention the fact that Jesus had to travel through there?

To answer this question, we first need to understand a few things. The first things that we need to understand is where Samaria was located in relation to Judea and Galilee. Judea was located in what is now southern Israel. Galilee, on the other hand, was located in what is now northern Israel. And in between Judea and Galilee was the region that John referred to as Samaria.

Now this leads us to the second thing that we need to understand, which is the history of the people that lived in the region of Samaria. At one time, Samaria was a part of the northern Kingdom of Israel. Then, in 722 B.C., the Assyrian Empire conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

In order to help control the regions that they conquered, the Assyrian Empire developed a strategy that involved deporting large numbers of Jewish people and replacing them with large numbers of people from the nation of Assyria. The Assyrians who moved to Samaria worshipped false gods and simply added the worship of the One True God to their worship of their false gods.

Over time, the Jewish people began to intermarry and adopt the religion and culture of the Assyrians. These Samaritans then rejected all of the Old Testament except the first five books and refused to worship at the temple in Jerusalem. Instead, the Samaritans built their own temple on Mt Gerizim in 400 B.C.

Now, as you might imagine, the Jewish people did not respond well to what was happening in Samaria. And over time a great deal of animosity built between the Jewish people who lived in southern Israel and the people who lived in Samaria. The closest cultural comparison to how views viewed Samaritans would be that Jews viewed the Samaritans in a similar way to how many whites in the southern United States in the 1950’s viewed a black and white married couple. The Jewish people came to view the Samaritans as “half breeds” and wanted nothing to do with them. The Jewish people would later burn down the temple in Samaria in 128 B.C.

So, if a Jewish person had to make a trip from Judea to Galilee, they would often cross the Jordan River in Judea, travel north until they reached Galilee, and then cross back over the Jordan River to get into Galilee. That is how much the Jews hated the Samaritans.  However, Jesus had to pass through Samaria.

John then tells us that Jesus arrived at the city of Sychar. Upon arriving in the city, Jesus, tired from the long trip, decided to rest at a well. John tells us that it was the sixth hour, which was noon. So, Jesus, wearied from His trip, is sitting by a well in the heat of the dessert day, when a most unexpected encounter occurs. We see John record this most unexpected encounter beginning in verse 7:

 There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

John tells us that as the disciples headed to town to get lunch, as Jesus rested by the well, a Samaritan woman approached the well to get some water. Now, here is a question to consider: Why is the Samaritan woman getting water at the well at noon? Would that be the time that you would choose to go get water from a well if you lived in the middle of a dessert? No, you wouldn’t. Instead you would do what most of us do, which is to go out to get water either early in the morning, or late in the day, when the sun is not at its highest and hottest point.

You would only go to get water at noon if you did not want to see anyone else. You would only get water at noon if you wanted to avoid people. So what does that tell us about the Samaritan woman? You see, the Samaritan woman was ostracized and isolated from the community that she lived in. The Samaritan woman was an outsider who was far from God and was far from others.

Jesus, however, responded to this ostracized outsider by asking her for a drink. John then gives us a glimpse into the animosity between the Jews and Samaritans by how the Samaritan woman responded to Jesus: "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" You see, the hatred between Jews and Samaritans was such that they did not even speak to one another, let alone offer to drink from one another’s cups.

The Samaritan woman basically said to Jesus “aren’t you Jewish people too good for us, so why are you even talking to me”. I wonder how many people who are far from God feel the same way about the Christians that they encounter in their day to day lives. Just something to think about.

Tomorrow, we will see how Jesus responded to the animosity of the Samaritan woman…

We are wired for worship because every day is a battle for our worship...

This week, we have been continuing to ask the question “Does worship really matter?” We discovered that humanity, in its pride, desires to be the object of worship instead of worshipping the Lord as Creator. We discovered that the issue of human pride and its desire to be the object of worship instead of worshipping the Lord as Creator is not simply an issue that is addressed in the letters that make up the Old Testament. We see the issue of human pride and its desire to be the object of worship instead of worshipping the Lord as Creator addressed in a section of a letter in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Romans.

Wednesday, we saw the Apostle Paul charge humanity of being guilty of holding back, pushing back, and ignoring God and the truth of God in a way that results in humanity having the problem of not being right with God. Paul then provided the that we are guilty of leaving God out and living as though He does not exist because we ignore the evidence within us when it comes to creation.

God clearly reveals the truth about His existence to all humanity through His creative activity in the universe in a way that is understandable and can be clearly seen. In the core of every human being is an intuitive sense that there is something out there bigger and beyond us. Something within in us provokes a clear and plain concept of a Creator.

And because of this intuitive perception that all humanity experiences regarding the reality of the existence of something bigger and beyond us, called God, all of humanity is without excuse. In other words, no human being can say that they did not know that God exists, because the evidence that God exists is overwhelming through the creation.

Instead of responding to the clear and plain evidence of God’s existence that has been perceived and comprehended through His creation by worshipping God, all of humanity has foolishly chosen to worship the creation. Whether it is in the image of an animal, the image of position, the image of possession, or the image that we seen in the mirror, all of humanity chooses to worship something other than God than God, which is called idolatry.

Today, we will discover that not only are we guilty because we ignore the evidence within us when it comes to creation. Paul also provides a second piece of evidence to prove that humanity is guilty of leaving God out and living as though He does not exist. We see Paul reveal this piece of evidence to us in Romans 1:24. Let’s look at it together:

Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Now to fully understand what the Apostle Paul is communicating here, we first need to understand what the phrase ‘gave them over” means.  This phrase literally means to hand over or give up to what someone wants or desires. Paul’s point here is that God responded to all of humanities foolish choice to leave God out and live as though He did not exist by taking a step back. Instead of immediately stepping in and stopping humanities selfish rebellion and rejection of Him by ignoring His existence, He stepped back. God withdrew in order allow humanity the freedom to decide what would happen next.

And it is here that we see Paul reveal for us the reality that we are guilty because we ignore the evidence revealed by our rebellion. Paul then provides the evidence that we rebelled against God by rejecting God’s design for worship. God stepped back and allowed humanity the freedom to fully express their desires when it came to worship. And their desires were bent toward impurity, which refers to a state of moral corruption. And that moral corruption resulted in their bodies being dishonored among them, which literally means to be deprived of honor or respect.

Now a natural question that arises here is how exactly does humanity deprive honor or respect from one another through the impurity that comes as a result of rejecting God’s design for worship? Paul provides that answer in verse 25 by explaining that humanity exchanged the right and true response of worship for God for the false worship of something other than God as God, which is idolatry.

You see, when we worship the creation instead of the creator, two things occur that result in our humanity being deprived of honor and respect. First, when we worship the creation instead of the creator, we lose the dignity and respect that we were designed for. All of humanity is created in God’s relational image. We are created for relationships. We are created for a relationship with God and we are created for relationships with one another. So when we worship the creation instead of the creator, we are not reflecting God’s relational image as it was designed to be reflected.

Second, when we worship the creation instead of the creator, we end up participating in acts of worship that deprive us and others of respect and dignity. History and humanity is filled with false and idolatrous religious systems that require degrading, damaging, and destructive acts of worship, especially involving sex, that are inhumane, unjust, and deprive others of the dignity and respect that they were created for. After providing this evidence, Paul paused to express his worship to the Lord, who he explains is to be praised and will be praised for all eternity.

And it is here that we see revealed for us the timeless reality that we are wired for worship because every day is a battle for our worship. You see, the answer to the question “does worship really matter?” is that worship really matters to God because worship simply put, is a response to what we value most: Worship is a life that is lived in response to what we value most. Worship is a lifestyle that is lived in a way that is focused on and that responds to the Lord’s character and activity in the world so as to value the Lord supremely.

And every day, there is a battle that occurs when it comes to what we are going to value most. Every day, there is a battle when it comes to what we truly worship. There is a battle when it comes to where we are going to leverage our time, our affection, our energy, and our loyalty. And regardless of what we say, our worship is more about what we do than what we say. Often what we say we worship is betrayed by what we actually worship with our time, talent, and treasure.

So here is a question for us to consider: How is the battle going? And what is battling for your worship? What is battling to be valued supremely in your life? Is position, possessions, pleasure, or pride battling for your worship? What does where you spend your time, talents, treasure reveal about what is battling for your worship?

Because we have been wired for worship. We are wired for worship because worship matters to God. And worship maters to God because every day is a battle for our worship….

 

Leaving God out and living as though He does not exist...

This week, we are continuing to address “Does worship really matter?” Yesterday, we looked at a section of a letter in the Old Testament in the Bible called the book of Isaiah where the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah, is addressing the arrogance of King Sennacherib, which is reflective of human pride and its desire to be the object of worship instead of worshipping the Lord as Creator.

However, the issue of human pride and its desire to be the object of worship instead of worshipping the Lord as Creator is not simply an issue that is addressed in the letters that make up the Old Testament. We see the issue of human pride and its desire to be the object of worship instead of worshipping the Lord as Creator addressed in a section of a letter in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Romans.

The point of the book of Romans can be summarized in one simple statement. And that statement would be that the message of the gospel reveals the reality that God is right. In Romans 1:1-17, Paul proclaimed that God is right. God always has been right; God always will be right. And the extent that we are right when it comes to our relationship with God is directly related to the extent that our heads, hearts, and hands line up with what God believes is right, because God is right.

Paul then stated that the fact that God is right is revealed to all humanity through the message of the gospel. The message that reveals that God responded to the selfishness and rebellion of humanity by sending His Son Jesus, God in a bod, who entered into humanity and allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. The message that provides the opportunity for all humanity to receive the forgiveness of sin and enter into the relationship with God that they were created for by believing, trusting and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.

Then in Romans 1:18, the apostle Paul then shifts from proclaiming that fact that God is right to providing the evidence that reveals the reality that God is right. And it is in the evidence that Paul provides to prove that God is right that we discover another reason why worship really matters. So let’s discover that reason together beginning in Romans 1:18:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

Now to fully understand what the Apostle Paul is communicating here, we first need to wrap our minds around some of the 50 cent church mumbo jumbo talk words that Paul uses here. When Paul uses the word wrath, this word refers to God’s right and just response to selfish rebellion and sin. This is God’s holy attitude in action to address the actions of selfishness and rebellion that hurt Him and others. Now it is important to understand that God’s wrath is not a selfish passionate emotional response. This is not God blowing a head gasket, so to speak. Instead, it is God’s perfect justice resulting in a rightful response to the wrongdoing and injustice of others.

When Paul uses the word revealed, he is revealing for us the reality that the message of the gospel makes fully known God’s just and right response to selfish rebellion and sin. For God to allow selfish rebellion and injustice to go unpunished would make Him unjust. God’s very nature dictates a response to rebellion and injustice.

And God’s justice is revealed in the gospel against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. Ungodliness, simply put, is leaving God out. Ungodliness is a failure to acknowledge God and thus dishonoring God by leaving God out. Ungodliness is not just horrible acts of rebellion and sin; it is ignoring God. The word unrighteous, simply put, is not being right with God or the truth about God.

Unrighteousness involves being at odds with God and the truth about God that results in acts of selfishness, rebellion, and sin. When Paul uses the word suppress here, this word, in the language this letter was originally written in, means to hold down or ignore something. Paul’s here is charging humanity of being guilty of holding back, pushing back, and ignoring God and the truth of God in a way that results in humanity having the problem of not being right with God.

Paul’s point here is that we are guilty of having a problem with God when we leave God out and live as though He does not exist. Paul’s point here is that God justly and rightly responds to humanities failure to acknowledge God and being at odds with God by living our lives as though He does not exist.

Now a natural question that may arise here is “well Dave, how do I suppress the truth about God? I mean to suppress or ignore something requires evidence of that something. So what evidence is there that there is a God that I am ignoring and living like He does not exist? That is a great question.

And as Paul continues, we see Paul provide the answer to those questions by providing two pieces of evidence to prove that humanity is guilty of leaving God out and living as though He does not exist. We see Paul reveal first piece of evidence to us in Romans 1:19:

because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

Here we see Paul reveal for us the reality that we are guilty because we ignore the evidence within us when it comes to creation. In these verses, we discover two reasons why we are guilty because we ignore the evidence within us when it comes to creation. First, Paul explains that the evidence of God’s existence through creation clearly provokes within us an awareness and understanding of a Creator. When Paul uses the phrase known about God is evident, this phrase refers to something that is intelligible and capable of being known as it can be clearly and plainly seen.

Paul’s point here is that God clearly reveals the truth about His existence to all humanity through His creative activity in the universe in a way that is understandable and can be clearly seen. But notice where Paul reveals the truth about His existence; the clear and plain truth of God’s existence is within us. You see, in the core of every human being is an intuitive sense that there is something out there bigger and beyond us. Something within in us provokes a clear and plain concept of a Creator.

Paul then unpacks this further in verse 20 by explaining that since the creation of the universe, God’s character, power, and nature have plainly and clearly been on display. God’s wisdom, God’s might, God’s greatness, God’s goodness, and God’s creativity is evidenced in the universe around us. When Paul uses the words seen and understood here, he is explaining that God’s existence has been noticed and perceived in a way that has been grasped and comprehended by humanity throughout history as a result of His activity of creating the universe.

Across cultures and continents, across calendars and centuries, humanity has been provoked to worship something that they clearly comprehended as their creator. And because of this intuitive perception that all humanity experiences regarding the reality of the existence of something bigger and beyond us, called God, all of humanity is without excuse. In other words, no human being can say that they did not know that God exists, because the evidence that God exists is overwhelming through the creation.

However, in verses 21-23 Paul explains that the evidence of God’s existence through creation is rejected as humanity instead chose the path of foolishness. Paul explains that even though God’s existence has been noticed and perceived in a way that has been grasped and comprehended by humanity throughout history through His creation, they did not honor Him as God or gave thanks.

The word honor here literally means to influence one’s opinion so as to enhance another’s reputation. Paul’s point here is that humanity foolishly chose to refuse to live their lives in a way that enhanced God’s reputation; instead they chose to ignore Him. Instead of expressing appreciation for all the blessings and benefits that God gave humanity within the creation, humanity foolishly chose to ignore Him.

Now in the Bible, a fool is a person who knows something is true, yet proceeds to live life as though it is not true. A fool is a person who says “I know the law of gravity is true” then proceeds to step off a ten story building. The word that Paul uses for fool in verse 23 is the word that we translate in English as moron. The phrase they became futile in their expectations literally means that their reasoning became worthless. In other words, while all of humanity was able to clearly perceive and understand that God exists and created the universe, yet all of humanity worthlessly rejected that truth and proceeded to live life as though God does not exist.

Paul then unpacks exactly how all of humanity became worthless when it came to their reasoning and response about God in verse 23. Paul explains that while all humanity professed to be wise in that they could state with confidence what they believed about God, they were actually morons who exchanged “the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

In other words, instead of responding to the clear and plain evidence of God’s existence that has been perceived and comprehended through His creation by worshipping God, all of humanity has foolishly chosen to worship the creation. Whether it is in the image of an animal, the image of position, the image of possession, or the image that we seen in the mirror, all of humanity chooses to worship something other than God than God, which is called idolatry.

Paul here is revealing for us the timeless reality that we are guilty of leaving God out and living life as though He does not exist when we ignore the evidence within us when it comes to creation. But not only are we guilty because we ignore the evidence within us when it comes to creation. Paul also provides a second piece of evidence to prove that humanity is guilty of leaving God out and living as though He does not exist. We see Paul reveal this piece of evidence to us in Romans 1:24-25.

We will look at that piece of evidence on Friday…

“Does worship really matter?”, part two...

At the church where I serve, we have been spending our time together talking about the issue of worship. We answered the question “What is worship?” by explaining the timeless reality that we are wired for worship because we all worship something. You see, the question is not whether or not you worship. The question is “what do you worship”? The question is “What do you leverage your life towards as a response of worship?” Because worship, simply put, is a response to what we value most: Worship is a life that is lived in response to what we value most.

If you want to know what you truly worship, simply look at there you leverage your time, your affection, your energy, and your loyalty, because that is what you worship. And regardless of what we say, our worship is more about what we do than what we say. Often what we say we worship is betrayed by what we actually worship with our time, talent, and treasure.

We then asked the question “Does worship really matter?” In answering that question, we discovered the timeless reality that we are wired for worship because worship matters to God. We talked about the reality that the answer to the question “does worship really matter?” is that worship really matters to God because worship is a lifestyle that is lived in a way that is focused on and that responds to the Lord’s character and activity in the world so as to value the Lord supremely.

 

And worship matters because when we live a life that values something other than the Lord as most valuable, we are settling for less than the best. Worship matters to God because we matter to God. And while God is not lacking for worship when we refuse to worship Him, we are lacking because we are living a life that has settled for second best.

This week, I would like for us to continue to address the question that we looked at last week, which is “Does worship really matter?” And to do that, I would like for us to look at two different sections of two different letters that are recorded for us in the Bible. And it is in these two different passages that we will discover another reason why worship really matters. The first passage that we are going to look at is found in a section of a letter in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Isaiah. Now the book of Isaiah was written the prophet Isaiah around 700 years before the birth of Jesus.

As a prophet, Isaiah was a messenger from God who proclaimed God’s word both to the Jewish people and to the nations that surrounded the Jewish people. And in a section of a letter that bears his name, we see the prophet Isaiah proclaim a message that God had for the nation of Babylon and their king. And it is in God’s message through Isaiah that we see why worship matters. So let’s look at this section of this letter together beginning in Isaiah 14:13:

"But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. ¹⁴ 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' ¹⁵ "Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.

Here we see the Prophet Isaiah address the arrogance of the king of Babylon, which at this time in history was actually the Assyrian King Sennacherib, who ruled over both Assyria and Babylon from 705 B.C.-681 B.C. During this time in history, while Ninevah was the political capital of the Assyrian Empire, Babylon became the cultural and religious center of the Assyrian Empire.

In 701 B.C., King Sennacherib attempted to capture Jerusalem without success. However, during the siege of Jerusalem, King Sennacherib proclaimed to the King of the Jewish people, King Hezekiah “Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the king of Assyria? Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their land from my hand, that the LORD would deliver Jerusalem from my hand?'"

It was these words by King Sennacherib that led the Lord to send a message to the king through the prophet Isaiah, which has been preserved and recorded for us in Isaiah 14:13-15. The Lord’s message to King Sennacherib, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded like this: “In your prideful arrogance, you have proclaimed that you are the one who is worthy of glory, honor and worship. In your prideful arrogance, you believe that you are going to have a throne of honor over the universe that is over Me. In your prideful arrogance, you believe that you will supplant Me as God and demand to be worshipped as God.  Well, while you may think that will occur, what will really occur is that you will end up dead at the entrance of where those who are dead reside. And no one is worshipped there”.

What is so fascinating is that twenty years after the siege of Jerusalem, in 681 B.C. Sennacherib was assassinated by his sons in a coupe, which would have brought great joy to both the residents of Jerusalem and Babylon. Now this passage is often viewed to be addressing Satan. However, what is much more likely, in light of the context in which these verses are contained, is that the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah, is addressing the arrogance of King Sennacherib, which is reflective of humanity.

This passage is referring to human pride and its desire to be the object of worship instead of worshipping the Lord as Creator. But the issue of human pride and its desire to be the object of worship instead of worshipping the Lord as Creator is not simply an issue that is addressed in the letters that make up the Old Testament. We see the issue of human pride and its desire to be the object of worship instead of worshipping the Lord as Creator addressed in a section of a letter in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Romans.

The book of Romans was written by the Apostle Paul to early followers of Jesus who were part a church in Rome, which was the capital city of the most dominant military and political power of the planet at this time in history. And the point of the book of Romans can be summarized in one simple statement. And that statement would be that the message of the gospel reveals the reality that God is right.

In Romans 1:1-17, Paul proclaimed that God is right. God always has been right; God always will be right. And the extent that we are right when it comes to our relationship with God is directly related to the extent that our heads, hearts, and hands line up with what God believes is right, because God is right. Paul then stated that the fact that God is right is revealed to all humanity through the message of the gospel.

The message that that while all of humanity was created for a relationship with God and one another, all of humanity selfishly chose to reject that relationship, instead choosing to love our selves over God and others. And it is out of our selfishness that we do things that hurt God and those around us, which the Bible calls sin. The message that reveals that God responded to our selfish rebellion and sin by sending His Son Jesus, God in a bod, who entered into humanity and allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life. The message that reveals that Jesus died on the cross, was buried in a tomb dead as a door nail, and was brought back to life as a result of the Holy Spirit’s transforming and supernatural activity in order to be our Lord and Savior. The message that provides the opportunity for all humanity to receive the forgiveness of sin and enter into the relationship with God that they were created for by believing, trusting and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.

Then, in Romans 1:18, the Apostle Paul then shifts from proclaiming that fact that God is right to providing the evidence that reveals the reality that God is right. And it is in the evidence that Paul provides to prove that God is right that we discover another reason why worship really matters.

Tomorrow, we will begin to look at that evidence…

We are wired for worship because worship matters to God..

This week, we have been answering the question “Does worship really matter?” by looking at two different passages that are recorded for is in a letter in the Bible called the book of Psalms. Wednesday, we saw, in Psalm 96, the psalmist commanding humanity to worship the Lord by bringing humanity back to the definition of worship, which is a life that is lived in a way that is focused on and that responds to God’s character and activity in the world so as to value the Lord supremely.

The psalmist then revealed the reality that, just as we saw in Psalm 19, the creation worships and makes much of the Lord as a result of the awesome acts of God’s activity in the creation that will come to fulfillment upon Jesus return to earth. At the end of God’s story here on earth, Jesus will return to usher in the kingdom of Heaven in its fullest sense and to judge with justice all of humanity. Today, we see this reality revealed for us in a section of the very final letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Revelation. Let’s look at that together, beginning in Revelation 4:1:

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things." Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald in appearance. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads. Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;

Here we see John, who is the author of the book of Revelation, begin this section of his letter by trying to explain all that he saw when he was given a glimpse of what it was like to be in the presence of God the Father in the throne room of Heaven. As John saw God the Father sitting on His throne in Heaven, he struggled to describe what he saw. John explained that the glory, splendor and majesty of the God who dwells in unapproachable light could best be described by the brightest of gems. Around the throne of God were twenty four elders.

While there have been many views and suggestions as to who this group of Elders are and who they represent, most likely, based on what these Elders say and do throughout the book of Revelation, the elders are a special class or group of angelic beings of high authority that assist is the execution of God's divine plan and purposes. The angelic beings holiness and royal role in God’s story was described by the white garments that they wore and the crowns that were on their heads.

In addition, John explains that he witnessed the presence of the perfection, splendor, and majesty of the Holy Spirit, which he described as the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. After describing the scene that he was witnessing, John described what happened in the throne room of Heaven in verse 6:6:

 and before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal; and in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME." And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created."

Now the first question that arises here is “who are the four living creatures?” The four living creatures, who form an inner circle closest to the throne, as are the cherubim that are described in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Ezekiel. These four living creatures are an exalted order of angelic beings that are consistently engaged in the worship of God. John then explained that these four exalted angelic beings, at all times, for all eternity, proclaim "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME."

Now can you imagine what that must have looked like? Can you imagine what that must have sounded like?

 

"HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME."

 "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME."

 "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME."

John then explained that as the cherubim proclaimed their worship of the Lord, the twenty four angelic beings fell before the Lord casting their lives and their role in God’s story before the Lord as an act of worship that proclaimed the Lord as being of supreme value:  "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created." These angelic beings proclaimed that the Lord was worthy of a life that is lived in a way that is focused on and that responds to God’s character and activity in the world so as to value the Lord supremely.

And it is here that we see revealed for us the timeless reality that we are wired for worship because worship matters to God. You see, the answer to the question “does worship really matter?" is that worship really matters to God because worship simply put, is a response to what we value most: Worship is a life that is lived in response to what we value most. Worship is a lifestyle that is lived in a way that is focused on and that responds to the Lord’s character and activity in the world so as to view the Lord as being of supreme and ultimate value and worth.

Now a natural objection that could arise here is “Well Dave, God sounds arrogant. God sounds needy. It sounds like God is just running around like ‘worship Me, worship Me, worship Me’. It sounds like God is He is full of Himself”. If that question and objection is running through your mind, I just want to let you know that is a fair question and objection to have.

And if we were able to have a conversation, here would be my response: You are absolutely right. God is all about God. Because this morning, if you were God, who else would you be into? If you were God, would you be into you? I don’t think so. If you were God would you be into me? I don’t think so? God is into God. God is totally into Himself. God is full of Himself.

God is totally into Himself because for God to point you to something that was less than the best would mean that God did not know what was truly best, which would mean that God was not really God. You see, God is totally full of Himself because there is no other being other than God that is deserving of our worship. There is no other being that is all powerful, all knowing, ever present, everlasting, never changing, perfectly right and just, perfectly merciful and loving. So, who else would God point you to when it comes to living a life in response to who or what is most valuable?

And that is why worship matters. Worship really matters because we were wired for worship. We were wired for worship to live a life in the relationship with God that we were created for. We were wired for worship because we were created to live in a way that is focused on and that responds to the Lord’s character and activity in the world so as to view the Lord as being of supreme and ultimate value.

And worship matters because when we live a life that values something other than the Lord as most valuable, we are settling for less than the best. Worship matters to God because we matter to God. And while God is nor lacking for worship, when we refuse to worship Him, we are lacking because we are living a life that has settled for second best.

So who or what do you worship? Who or what do you leverage your time, your affection, your energy, and your loyalty towards?