“Worship
Community” (John 4:13-26)
- Our Core Values I -
Amma, “the Hugging Saint”
One day about three years ago I read a very
interesting article. The title was “A
hug from Amma.” Amma is from India,
and her nickname is “the hugging saint.” She has been hugging more than 26
million people for 30 years. At this time she appeared Alexandra
Palace
in the UK.
Thousands of people came to see her everyday from all over the world. One
visitor said, “The time it takes and
money it costs to fly over from Australia is worth it for a hug with Amma." He paid
$1,000 for a one-way ticket just to see her.
In
today’s Scripture we meet one woman whose soul pants for something.
She is a Samaritan woman. If we dramatize this text, the story would be in this
way: she had an unquenchable thirst. She made every effort to satisfy her
thirst through “husband.” She got married with the man who had money. But, she
felt something missing. So, she got married a second time with the man who was famous
in town. But, she became thirstier. So, she got married a third time with the
man who got actively involved in charity work. But it did not help to quench
her thirst. So, she got married a fourth time with the man who had a noble
character. But soon she got bored with him. So, she got married a fifth time with
the man who was in politics. But she was still thirsty. So now, she got
divorced and lived together with another man. Her life was just like drinking seawater. The harder she tried to quench
her thirst, the more thirsty she became.
“Why Am I Always Thirsty?”
The
problem is that she never knew why she was thirsty all the time. This is our
problem today. We hunger, we thirst, we
feel empty, but we don’t know why! The Samaritan woman thought, “If I had a
husband, if I had a happy family, if I made more friends and personal
connections, I would satisfy my thirst.” We often think, “If I could just get this job, I’ll be satisfied. If I could
buy this house, then life would be
grand.” But, Jesus says to us, “Everyone
who drinks this water will be thirsty
again!” (13) Our thirst is not about money,
power and sex. The Bible says it is all about “worship.” It is all about “our relationship
with God.” We are created to have fellowship with God. We are created to
praise and worship God. In Isaiah 43:21 the Lord says, “The people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.” The reason why we thirst is because our
relationship with God is broken. Pascal said, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person, and it
can never be filled by any created thing. It can only be filled by God,
made known through Jesus Christ.”
Have
you heard “mad cow disease”? We do not know exactly what causes this disease. However,
many scientists assume that it might be because we gave a cow animal feed. A
cow is created to have grass. But, when the cow ate animal feed, she went
wrong. In the same way, we are created to have fellowship with God and worship
him only. But, when we try to meet our needs on our own, we become even more thirsty.
The Bible says in Jeremiah 2:13,
“My people have done two evils: They
have turned away from me, the spring of living water. And they have dug their
own wells, which are broken wells that cannot hold water” (NCV).
“Is
There Any Water That Can Quench My Thirst?”
Now
we know the reason why we are thirsty. Now we know our relationship with God is
broken. But still, we have another problem. Although we know the cause of
thirst, we do not have the power to solve the problem. So, Jesus came to us
first. Jesus came to the Samaritan woman first. John 4:4 says, “Now he
(Jesus) had to go through Samaria.”
But it was not necessary. In Jesus’ time, Jews did not associate with
Samaritans. When the Jews wanted to go to Galilee
from Judea, they always
used a roundabout way instead of passing through Samaria.
But the Bible says, “Jesus must go through Samaria.” He had to do it to see this
woman. She had no power to come to God. So Jesus came to her. We had no power
to come to God. So Jesus came first to our life. Jesus says, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me
and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living
water will flow from within him" (John 7:37-38).
Jesus is living water that can permanently quench our thirst.
Earlier this morning I quoted Blaise Pascal. He was a
prominent mathematician, physicist, and inventor. At the age of 19 he invented
the world’s first mechanical calculator. He achieved both wealth and honor at a
young age, but for some reason he felt miserable and empty. He was thirsty. On November 23, 1654
he got a horse carriage accident, but miraculously he was saved. He saw this as
a warning directly from God. That night he humbly came to Jesus and encountered
him in his room. He kept a record of this experience, and for the rest of his
life Pascal carried around it sewn into his coat. It says, "God of
Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and
scholars...Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy...'This is life eternal that they might
know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.' Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ...May I not fall from him forever...I will not forget your
word."
“What Must I Do?”
Are you thirsty? What are you
thirsty for? The Samaritan woman was thirsty for love
and happiness. But now, she pants for God, the fountain of living water! Jesus,
the Word of truth, came to her and opened her eyes. At first, she considered
Jesus “a Jewish man” (9). But then, she respected him as “a prophet” (19). And
in the end she confessed that Jesus is “the Christ,” “Savior” (29). Many people
recognize Jesus and say, “Oh, Jesus is my friend and my teacher.” But, that’s
not enough! When we believe in Jesus as
our personal Savior and Lord, and when we worship him, he will satisfy our
thirst. But the act of worship itself does not quench our soul
automatically. There is one condition: We
must worship him “in spirit and truth.” Message Bible translates this verse
in this way: “God is sheer being itself--Spirit. Those who worship him must
do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."
This is an amazing mystery. When we
worship God with all our hearts, He satisfies our thirst and our needs.
True
worship revives our souls. We worship God because it is
one of the Ten Commandments. But worship is more than that. We worship God because it is the only way to
quench our thirst. Without worship our soul dies. It is not “we” preserve worship, but “worship” preserves our life! God
is looking for true worshippers. Those who pray for Sunday worship service on
Saturday evening cannot be the same as those who watch television after midnight
Saturday. Those who come to church early and prepare their hearts before
worship service cannot be the same as those who run into the sanctuary during
the service. True worship starts not from Sunday morning, but from Saturday
evening. True worship starts not at the church, but at home when we prepare for
worship. Are you true worshippers? Do you
worship God in spirit and truth?
“Worship Community”
From
this Sunday I will share my vision for our church: “5 core values of the
church,” and the first core value is “worship.” My prayer for our church is to become a true
worship community. My vision for our church is that anyone who is thirsty can
freely come to this place, drink living water by worshipping God in spirit and
truth, and go out to share it with everyone in the community just as the
Samaritan woman did. I want to close the message with a story of one
sculptor because this story tells us who is Jesus and what must we do to him.
Once there was a sculptor who sculpted a statue of our Lord. And many people
came from great distances to see it – Christ in all his strength and
tenderness. They walked all round the statue, trying to grasp its splendor,
looking at it now from this angle, now from that. Yet still its grandeur eluded
them. So finally, they asked the sculptor what would be the best angle to
appreciate the statue. The sculptor replied, “There’s only one angle from which this statue can be truly seen. You must
kneel.” Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment