True Worship
by
John
MacArthur, Jr.
Word
of Grace Communications
ã 1982, 1985 by
John MacArthur, Jr.
All
rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without
permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Note:
Permission was received for Bible Bulletin Board (www.biblebb.com) to transcribe this book for
posting on their website, and all original copyrights and other rights are
still in effect.
Selected Scriptures Tape
GC 2007
4
True Worship - Part 4
Outline
Introduction
Review
I. The
Importance of Worship
A.
Scripture Is Dominated with It
B. Destiny
Is Determined by It
C.
Eternity and Redemptive History Are Described by it
D.
Christ Commanded It
Lesson
II. The
Source (Basis) of Worship
A. The
Response of Christ’s Death (Ps.22:22-27)
B. The
Reason for
C. The
Revelation of Isaiah’s Prophecy (Isa. 66:22-23)
D. The
Reaction of a Converted Sinner (1 Cor.
III. The Object of Worship
A. God
as Spirit (His Essential Nature)
1.
The spirituality of God
a)
He cannot be reduced to an image
b)
He cannot be confined to a place
(1)
(2)
The Tabernacle /
Introduction
There’s nothing more important in a person’s life
than to be oriented toward worshiping God. To worship God is the supreme
activity of the universe. Now, we’ve been involved
in a very essential study of acceptable, true,
worship. Our central text has been John 4:20-
24, but we have been examining many other passages
on this subject. First of all, at the end
of John 4:23, we find that “the Father seeketh such
[true worshipers] to worship Him.”
Review
I. THE IMPORTANCE OF WORSHIP
A.
Scripture Is Dominated with It (see pp. 11-14)
46
B. Destiny Is
Determined by It (see pp. 35-41)
C. Eternity and Redemptive History Are
Described by It (see pp. 41-43)
D. Christ Commanded It (see p. 43)
Lesson
Now let’s look at:
II. THE
SOURCE (BASIS) OF WORSHIP
The
goal of salvation is worship. The reason God redeems people is so that they may
be worshipers.
In 2 Corinthians
the
abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of
God.”
In other words,
the
grace of God; and then in response, give thanks and glory to God.” Everything
is
ultimately
geared to produce worship.
Now,
acceptable worship is the direct result of Christ’s saving work. In Luke 19:10
the
Lord says that He came into the world “to seek and to save that which was
lost.”
If you
connect this verse with John 4:23b, which tells us that the Father seeks true
worshipers,
you get the whole picture of Christ’s coming. The worshipers that God
seeks
become worshipers through salvation in Christ. So the source, or basis, of
worship
is salvation. Let’s look at a few passages which support this truth.
A. The Response to Christ’s Death (Ps.
Psalm
22:1-21 is an explicit prophetic picture of the crucifixion of Christ. Many
of
the things that were said in this passage were directly fulfilled on the cross.
For
example:
verse 1 (Matt. 27:46); verses 6-8, 12-13 (Matt. 27:22-25, 39-44);
verse
14 (Matt. 27:35a; John 19:34b); verse 15 (John
that
Christ would go to the cross and suffer those things - but for what? The
answer
to that begins in verse 22: “I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in
the
midst of the congregation will I praise Thee. Ye who fear the Lord, praise
him;
all ye, the seed of Jacob, glorify him, and fear him, all ye, the seed of
For
he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath
he
hidden his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.” The
immediate
response to the work of Christ is praise, isn’t it?
Verse
25 continues, “My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation; I will
pay
my vows before them that fear Him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied; they
shall
praise the Lord that seek him; your heart shall live forever [i.e., the ever-
lasting
life that comes through the death of Christ]. All the ends of the world shall
remember
and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall
worship
before thee.”
47
Psalm 22, then, is a rather explicit
indication that the goal of redemption is worship.
The
truth that salvation is the basis of worship is also illustrated by:
B. The Reason for
Look
at Exodus 19:7-8: “And Moses came and called for the elders of the people,
and
laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all
the
people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.
And
Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.”
This
is the greatest illustration of wishful thinking in all of history. It was a
nice
thought,
but God didn’t believe it for one minute. God knew they would never be
able
to approach Him on the basis of their lawkeeping or their self-righteousness.
So
after He gives them the specifics of the Ten Commandments in 20:1-17, He
gives
them a gracious provision in verses 22-26: “And the Lord said unto Moses,
Thus
thou shalt say unto the children of
you
from heaven. Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make
unto
you gods of gold. An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt
sacrifice
thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine
oxen;
in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless
thee.
And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone thou shalt not build it of hewn
stone;
for if thou lift up this tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt
thou
go
up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not exposed thereon.”
You
say, “What’s the point?” Well, God knew that men had no right and no access
on
their own to worship Him, because they could not keep His law-no matter what
they
thought they could do. So God established an altar, and the sacrifices that
were
placed upon it, as the basis of worship. Sacrifice made communion possible.
The
death of Christ, then was to provide God with the basis for seeking after true
worshipers.
As we meet at the cross, our sin is dealt with, we are purified by the
blood
of Jesus Christ, and we become acceptable worshipers of the Father. So our
salvation,
which is made possible by the sacrificial death of Christ, is the source
of
our worship.
C. The Revelation of Isaiah’s Prophecy (Isa.
66:22-23)
The
book of Isaiah sweeps through redemptive history in a marvelous way. The
first
portion of the book (chapters 1-39) talks about God’s judgment, and then it
moves
into the great future - the coming of the Messiah and the coming of the
kingdom.
Then, in 66:22-23, it goes beyond the millennial kingdom into the eternal
state
and says, “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall
remain
before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it
shall
come to pass that, from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to
another,
shall all flesh come to worship before, me, saith the Lord.”
48
In chapters 52 and 53, Isaiah
talks about the
suffering Messiah who was to die on
the
cross to pay the price for sin. And then in chapter 66 it tells us why - so
that He
might
produce a generation of eternal worshipers who worship the true and living
God.
D. The Reaction of a Converted Sinner
(1Cor.14:23-25)
In
1 Corinthians 14:23-25
together
into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are
unlearned,
or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad [or insane]? But if all
prophesy
[i.e., speak the truth of God in an understood language], and there come
in
one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convicted of all, he is judged
of
all.
And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest.”
Now,
if you want to really crack open somebody’s heart, don’t speak in tongues.
Speak
so he can understand and speak that which will convict and condemn him.
Once
he’s convicted, judged, and reached, here’s his response: “And so falling
down
on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth” (v.
25b).
I believe this is
conversion.
The initial response to salvation is worship. Salvation, then, is the
source,
or basis, of worship.
Is Christian worship simply Christianized Judaism?
If
Jesus were to arrive on the scene today and look at the big picture of
Christianity,
I
wonder what kind of things He’d have to say about the “Christian worship” that
goes
on. A.P. Gibbs, in his book “Worship”, says this: “Much of the so-called
‘public worship’ in Christendom, is
merely a form of Christianized Judaism, and in
some
cases, thinly veiled paganism....In Judaism there was a separate priestly caste
who
alone could conduct the worship of
hood,
called the ‘clergy’, is essential to its worship, in spite of the plain
teaching of
the
New Testament that all believers are priests. These priests of Judaism wore a
distinctive
dress, as also does the clergy. Judaism emphasized an earthly sanctuary,
or
building. In like manner, Christendom makes much of its consecrated ‘places
of
worship,’ and miscalls the edifice... ‘the house of God.’ Jewish priests had an
altar
on which were offered sacrifices to God. Christendom has erected ‘altars’
in
these ornate buildings, before which candles burn and incense is offered and,
in
many
cases, on which a wafer is kept, which is looked upon as the body of Christ!
It
is hardly necessary to say that all this copying of Judaism is absolutely
foreign to
the
teaching of the New Testament.
“Thus
Christendom has initiated its own specially educated and ordained priest-
hood,
whose presence is indispensable to ‘administer the sacraments.’ These men,
robed
in gorgeous vestments, from within a roped off ‘sanctuary,’ stand before a
bloodless
‘altar,’ with a background of burning candles, crosses and smoking
incense,
and ‘conduct the worship’ for the laity. With the use of an elaborate
49
prepared ritual, with
stereotyped prayers, and responses from the audience, the
whole
service proceeds smoothly and with mechanical precision. It is a marvel of
human
invention and ingenuity, with an undoubted appeal to the esthetic; but a
tragic
and sorry substitute for the spiritual worship which our Lord declared that
His
Father sought from His redeemed children.” ([Walterick:
pp.97-98.)
I
believe if Jesus were to arrive on the scene today, He would indict all the
ritualistic
worship-similar to the Judaistic worship of His day - as well as the less
elaborate,
less ornate, less sophisticated, shallow, indifferent, Samaritan-type
worship.
He would indict these forms of worship and would accept only the true
worship
of those who “worship the Father in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23b).
Before
we go on to the next major point, let me set the scene for you. In John 4:3,
it says
that Jesus “left
4, He
had to go through
a
special woman. God was seeking her out to be a true worshiper, so He sent Jesus
out of
the normal route to
Let’s
follow the narrative of this divine encounter, starting in verse 5: “Then
cometh he
to a
city of
to his
son, Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with
his
journey, sat by the well; and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman
of
woman
of
don’t
use the same vessels as the Samaritans’]. Jesus answered, and said unto her,
If thou
knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink,
thou
wouldest
have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman
saith
unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; from
where,
then,
hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father, Jacob, who gave
us
the
well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle? Jesus answered,
whosoever
drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the
water
that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into
everlasting
life.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither
come
here to
draw.”
We
really don’t know whether this woman’s response to Christ was in the terms
of His
parable or whether she was still on a literal level talking about real water.
But I
personally feel that she knew He was talking about something other than
physical
water. After all, what kind of water could give eternal life?
Continuing
on, in verse 16, Jesus goes right to the heart of the matter-a problem that
hindered
Him from giving this living water to her. Here’s how He brought this problem
up:
“Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come here. The woman answered,
and
said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her,
50
Thou hast well said, I have no
husband; for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom
thou
now hast is not thy husband; for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou
now
hast is not thy husband; that saidst thou truly. The woman said unto him, Sir,
I
perceive
that thou are a prophet.”
Why did
she perceive that Jesus was a prophet? Three reasons: (1) She understood
that He
was speaking of supernatural truth. Even though it appears, in her response to
Him in
verse 15, that she’s thinking in terms of the physical, I believe she saw Him
as a
prophet
because she understood, to some extent, that He was speaking about spiritual
things;
(2) He went right to the core and indicted her for her sin; and (3) He knew
secrets
that only God could have revealed. Here was a man who spoke of spiritual
realities,
dealt with sin, and knew things only God could reveal.
Once
she perceived that the man she was talking to was obviously a prophet, verse
20
implies that her first reaction was, “I’ve got to get my life right! I want to
worship,
but I
don’t know where to go! My people say to go up to
people
say to go down to
24,
Jesus basically says, “Lady, in just a little while, there isn’t going to be an
‘up here’
and a
‘down there’ - that’s not the issue. The issue is that you worship the Father
in
spirit
and in truth.”
Now,
all of that is the background to this marvelous passage in John 4:20-24 on true
spiritual
worship. This woman of
Her
conscience was pricked, her soul was pierced, and she wanted to deal with her
sin-
but she
didn’t know where to go. She believed, like the rest of the people of that day,
that
worship was something that was done at a prescribed day, that worship was some-
thing
that was to done at a prescribed place and a set time - only she wasn’t sure
which
place
was the right place. So Jesus responded to her dilemma-giving us this great
passage
on worship.
As we
look at John 4:20-24, I want to discuss:
III.
THE OBJECT OF WORSHIP
What
is the object of our worship? Well, Jesus tells us to “worship the Father”
(v.
21b), “worship the Father” (v. 23b), and “worship Him” (v.24b). So who are
we
to worship? The Father. Also, it tells us in verse 24a who He is: “God is a
Spirit.”
This
gives us two aspects to the object of worship-God as Spirit and God as
Father.
We are to worship God as Spirit which speaks of His essential nature,
and
God as Father, which speaks of His essential relationship. Both of these
are
basic to true worship. Let’s look at them individually.
A.
God as Spirit (His Essential Nature)
1.
The spirituality of God
John
4:24a, in the Greek, reads, “Spirit, the God.” Spirit and God are just
melted
together, making one equal to the other. In other words, God is the
God
who is the one glorious Spirit. What does it mean that He is Spirit?
a)
He cannot be reduced to an image
I
believe an examination of Isaiah 40:18-26 will help us understand
the
essential nature of God as Spirit. Verse 18 begins:
51
“To
whom, then, will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare
unto
him?” In other words, if someone can’t deal with the spiritual
nature
of God, and he’s going to reduce Him into an image, what’s
the
image going to look like?
Verse
19 continues, “The workman melteth and casteth an image, and
the
goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He
that
is so impoverished that he hath no oblation, chooseth a tree that
will
not rot; he seeketh a skillful workman to prepare a carved image,
that
shall not be moved. Have ye not known? Hath it not been told you
from the
beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of
the
earth? It is he who sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the
inhabitants
thereof are like grasshoppers; who stretcheth out the heavens
like
a curtain, and spreadeth them out like a tent to dwell in: who
bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh
the judges of the earth as
vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted; yea,
they shall not be sown;
yea,
their stock shall not take root in the earth; and he shall also blow
upon
them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them
away
like stubble.” In other words, the most important and powerful
people
in the world are nothing when compared to God.
Verse
25 continues, “To whom, then, will ye liken me, or shall I be
equal?
saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who
hath
created these things, who bringeth out their host by number; he
calleth
them all by names by the greatness of his might; for he is
strong
in power. Not one faileth.”
The
point of this passage is this: When you try to conceive of God in
your
mind’s eye, or in theological terms, or in biblical terms, you
cannot
reduce Him to an image. He is Spirit and must be worshiped
as
such.
b)
He cannot be confined to a place
Jeremiah
23:23-24 says, “Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord, and not
a
God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see
him?
saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” In
other
words, God is not an idol confined to a place. He cannot be
confined
to a specific place or time. Do you see how important that is
in
worship? We don’t have to go somewhere to worship God, with the
thought
that He’s only there at a specific time. God is Spirit and fills
time and
space.
(1)
Mt. Gerizim/Jerusalem
In John 4:20, the woman of Samaria shows
confusion about
where
to go to worship God. The Samaritans worshiped at Mount
Gerizim,
and the Jews worshiped at Jerusalem. So Jesus responds
to
her in verse 21: “Woman,
52
believe me, the hour cometh,
when ye shall neither in this
mountain,
nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.”
Verse
21 is so loaded with truth that it can be interpreted
telescopically.
Individually, Jesus could be saying, “Lady, you’re
about
to enter into a relationship with God through Me that will
enable
you to worship God in your heart, not in a geographical
location.”
Historically, He could be saying, “The time is coming
when
Jerusalem will be destroyed, and nothing is up on that
mountain
anyway.” And in its widest possible interpretation, He
could be saying, “I am going
to bring about the redemptive work
on
the cross of Calvary that will eliminate all that is in any way
associated
with the old covenant - true or false.”
Then,
in verse 23a, Jesus says,“But the hour cometh, and now is.”
That’s
a fascinating statement. Something is future, and yet
present.
What did He mean by that? Well, basically He was saying,
“I’m
standing in a transition. In one hand I have the old covenant,
and
in the other hand I have the new covenant. The hour is
coming,
and is already here (because I’m here), when the old
covenant
will be gone and the new covenant will be here. In the
new
covenant, there will be no place - no Jerusalem - to worship
in.”
And just to make sure that nobody would get confused, God
wiped
out Jerusalem in A.D.70.
What
Jesus was saying, then, is that God must be worshiped as
Spirit,
and as such, He is everywhere. He can’t be confined to a
place
- Mount Gerizim or Jerusalem.
What is the “new and living way”?
In our
Lord’s discussion with the woman of Samaria in John 4,I believe He predicted
the end
of the whole Jewish ceremonial system of worship (vv.21b,23a)-the old
covenant.
This was also dramatized in one great climactic event that occurred when
Jesus
died on the cross. The veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom,
exposing
the holy of holies (Matt.27:51). This indicated that the whole ceremonial
system
had ended.
The
epistle of Hebrews also teaches that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross ended
the
Jewish ceremonial system, giving us a new kind of worship. Look at Chapter 10.
Verse 4
says, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take
away
sins.” In other words, the sacrificial system couldn’t do it. Further, verses
11-
12 tell
us: “And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering often the same
sacrifices,
which can never take away sins; but this man [Christ], after he had offered
one
sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God.” The fact that
He
sat
down indicates that His work was finished. Verses 14-22a continue: “For by one
offering
he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also is
a
witness to us; for after he had said before, This is the covenant that I
53
will make with them after those
days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their
hearts,
and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I
remember
no
more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin [i.e.,
the
sacrificial
system was over when Christ died]. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to
enter
into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way [not the old
way
of dead
animals - the old way of ceremonial sacrifice], which he hath consecrated for
us,
through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having an high priest over the
house of
God,
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.”
You
see, it’s because of the work of Christ on the cross that we become a
worshiping
people.
The old ceremonial systems are gone. Christ is the “new and living way.”
So
the issue isn’t the place of worship; the issue is who is worshiped. And He
must
be worshiped as a Spirit - not confined to a specific geographical location
such
as Mt. Gerizim or Jerusalem.
(2)
The Tabernacle/Temple
You
say, “John, how can you say that God was to be worshiped as a Spirit,
everywhere,
when the Jews had the Temple?” The Temple was only a
resident
symbol to stimulate their worship as a way of life. If you don’t
understand
that, you miss the whole point of the Temple. It was a symbol,
not
a reality! You say, “Didn’t the Shekinah glory of God dwell between
the
wings of the cherubim at the top of the mercy seat, on the Ark of the
Covenant,
in the holy of holies?” Sure, but do you think that the omnipresent
God
confined Himself to the Tabernacle or to the Temple and wasn’t
present
anywhere else? Of course not! The Shekinah glory was only a
symbol
of His presence. Only the Jews who were ignorant confined God to
the
Temple.
Now,
at times, God did express or reveal Himself in a place. Very often God
would
meet one of the patriarchs in a unique place, and the patriarch would
build
an altar there, wouldn’t he? But just because God was in one place, at
one
time, for one reason, that doesn’t mean that He wasn’t everywhere else
at
the same time. The Tabernacle and the Temple were just to stimulate them
to
a life of worship.
So,
the issue isn’t where we worship. In fact, it isn’t even when we worship
(Col.
2:16-17; Gal. 4:9-10). God is Spirit, and He must be worshiped in a
spiritual way.
Focusing on the Facts
1. What is acceptable worship the direct result
of? How do Luke 19:10 and John 4:23
relate
to each other (see p.47)?
54
2. Of what is Psalm 22:1-21 a
prophetic picture? What response follows that in verses
22-27
(see p. 47)?
3. After giving Israel the Ten Commandments,
what else did God give them, according
to
Exodus 20:22-26? Why (see p. 48)?
4. What did the Old Testament sacrifices make
possible? Explain what the sacrifice of
Christ
did (see p. 48).
5. Explain the relationship of Isaiah 52 and 53
to chapter 66 with regard to worship (see
p.
49).
6. What elements of worship in many churches are
merely copies from the rituals of
Judaism?
Why are such practices no longer valid (see p. 49-50)?
7. From a divine perspective, why did Jesus go
through Samaria on His way to Galilee
in John 4 (see p. 50)?
8. Why did the Samaritan woman perceive that
Jesus was a prophet? What was her first
reaction
to that realization (implied in verse 20; see p. 51)?
9. What should be the object of all worship (see
p. 51)?
10. Can God
be represented by an image?
Isaiah
40:18-25 (see pp. 51-52).
11. How should
the fact that God cannot be confined to a specific place or time affect
our
worship (see p. 52)?
12. With
regard to worship, what transition was Jesus standing in during His earthly
ministry
(see p. 53)?
13. What did
Jesus predict the end of in John 4:21 and 23? How was that ending
dramatized
at His death (see p. 53)?
14. Explain
the “new and living way” (Heb. 10:20) that Jesus opened up (Heb. 10:11-22;
see
pp. 53-54).
15. What was
the Temple meant to be in Judaism? What was the Shekinah of God a
symbol
of (see p. 54)?
16. Did God
ever manifest Himself in other locations? Give an example (see p.54).
Pondering the Principles
1. When you first understood the significance of
Christ’s death, what was your response? Do you
regularly
contemplate the death of Christ? Read 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26. What is the
purpose of
eating
the bread and drinking the cup of Communion? Does your church have that focus?
What do
you
personally think about during the times when your church celebrates Communion?
Some
churches
overemphasize the suffering of Christ in Communion, and others fail to
communicate
the
significance of Communion altogether. The next time you participate in the
Lord’s Table, make
sure
that you recall the importance of the Lord’s death, and thank Him for the
eternal benefit you
derive
from that incredible act of love. Meditate on the words of Charles Wesley, who
wrote “And
Can
It Be That I Should Gain?”:
And can it be that I should gain
An int’rest in the Savior’s blood?
55
Died He for me, who caused His
pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
2. Read Hebrews 10:10-22. How was Christ able to
make Christians holy in the sight
of
God (vv. 10-13)? How long will the perfection of our salvation last (v. 14)?
What
does
the forgiveness of sins give to those who are under the new covenant (v. 19)?
We can enter the presence of God now through
prayer as we await our entrance into
heaven.
Are you actively exercising your privilege of prayer? Praise the Lord that He
has
opened the door for sinful man to be made holy that he may fellowship with for
eternity!
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Bulletin Board
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Online since 1986