The Thief comes...

 Read John 10:10-11

The thief comes for 3 purposes, to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

Stealing is easy to understand. You have something I want so I take it from you. The thief wants to take away from what you have.

What do you have? Life. You have life and the thief wants to take it away.

The thief can’t touch your eternal life.  That is 100% the gift of God. So, what is at risk? Abundant life!

The thief wants to kill you. That’s pretty straightforward. The thief doesn’t want to win your soul. Your soul is a trophy to the thief. The thief wants to kill you and mount your head on the wall.

That should about wrap up what the thief wants, but it doesn’t.  The thief wants more than to steal from you. The thief wants more than to kill you—you would think that would be enough.

The thief wants to destroy you. Killing you is not enough.  The thief wants your very existence removed from the universe.

The thief wants you—the image of God—removed from existence.

The thief is against life, life abundant, and life eternal.

The thief is against all things that are of God and he longs to destroy us. The thief is not your friend. But just who is this thief?

Most would say that it’s Satan or the Devil.  This is certainly his line of work and he surely has his hand in it, but if we read carefully, it appears that Jesus is talking more about the religious leaders and not the angel who was cast out of heaven.

If you jumped over to Matthew 23, you would find a whole bunch of those woe unto you Pharisee statements.  It’s not that much different here.

The priests, scribes, and Pharisees were supposed to have been the shepherds of Israel. They were to have cared for God’s sheep.  They lost focus. They got distracted.

By what?

Rules without relationships. These religious leaders knew the rules backward and forwards but did not grasp the importance of our relationship with God and with each other.

Regulations without righteousness.  Sometimes, they just checked the block.

Self-importance. Sometimes the perceived importance of their title blinded them to the fact that the greater the title, the greater the service should be.

Knowledge without understanding. They just didn’t get it.

Knowing all of God’s words and not knowing his heart. They knew the limits but didn’t know love.

They failed to understand that God’s words give life.

Jesus has told us that if these divine rules are to amount to anything, we must put them into practice. Our lives must produce fruit. We must blossom. We must produce.

We must live to the full. God’s directions and directives are not to restrict our lives but to enable them to be lived to the fullest extent, and in so doing bring glory to God.

To fully live, we must reach beyond ourselves. We must confront our comfort zones. We must grow.

To live to the full, we must grow.

We must grow.

Those who would lead us in another direction are thieves, whether teacher, preacher, self-proclaimed person of God, or Satan himself.  The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.

If you are leading people away from abundant life, you are a thief.

You may sound knowledgeable.

You may deem yourself important.

You may have rank and status among those of the world or those in your religious hierarchy or those following you for whatever reason, but if you are leading people away from God—a God who has made himself known to us as a God of life and a God of love—then you are a thief.

If you value rules over relationships, you might just be a thief.

We have read this scripture before and most of the time, we might think, be on the lookout for the thief.

Today, I tell you, don’t be a thief.

Don’t take away from the abundant life that God has in store for us.

Don’t destroy that which God has intended for good.

Today, I personalize this text to say to us:  DON’T BE A THIEF.

 Don’t lead others down the wrong path.

Don’t turn away from life.

Don’t second guess God.

Put God’s words into practice.

·       That might mean more prayer.

·       That might mean more suffering.

·       It might mean more giving.

·       It might mean more peace that goes beyond what we can comprehend.

·       It will absolutely mean living this life as fully as we can.  Jesus didn’t come just so we could check the not going to hell box. He came so that we can really live and life means fullness.

This is just for the preacher, right?

We are all a Royal Priesthood. We are all leaders. We all set the example for the world. People should see our example and what we do should bring glory to God.

Let us experience life and joy and peace and the very presence of God. He died for us. We live for him.

He wants us to know the fullness of life not shrink back from it.

Be on the lookout for those who would steal and kill and destroy. They are working against us.

Be on the lookout that we do not become the thief.

Be on the lookout for life—the fullness of life—that Jesus wants us to know.

Be on the lookout.

Amen.

 

The Greatest Commandment

 Read Matthew 22:32-40

We began the new year with a series we call the Words of Jesus. We had spent a year in the Old Testament and wanted some words from our Master. We surely find them here.

This part of Matthew brings the ministry of Jesus to a crescendo. He has his triumphant entry into town—that had to push the buttons of the religious leaders.

Jesus was teaching, frequently in parables. The Pharisees and Sadducees wanted to discredit Jesus.

Jesus was a new force to be reckoned with and he spoke with authority, not like the Teachers of the Law or the Pharisees or the Sadducees. He had been all over the countryside and had a substantial following.

Anyone who could take him down publicly would surely have some street credit. We are not talking a gunfight at the OK Corral. We are talking about discrediting the One who claims to be from the Father with the law that came from the Father himself.

The Pharisees and Herodians teamed up with the perfect question. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?

Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?

It may seem like just a coffee shop question.  Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?

Answer yes, and many of these people think that Jesus is a sellout.  At the moment when people were ready to follow this revolutionary. Telling the people not to pay taxes to Caesar would certainly end up in a jail cell for Jesus.

You don’t have to be right. You just need to give the Roman soldiers a reason to lock this guy up and throw away the key. The Romans were fond of their taxes.

If the Romans governed your area but you paid your taxes, they didn’t much care if you worshiped the one true God or a carved wooded pole and made offerings to it all day.  Just pay your taxes.

All the Romans wanted was to conquer the known world and have that world pay them taxes. It’s good work if you can get.

Tell people to go ahead and pay taxes to the emperor who said he was god would make Jesus a sellout.  Either way this question will take Jesus down a notch or two no matter how he answers.

It was a perfect setup.  So, there Jesus, is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?

Jesus said, who has a coin?

A coin is produced.

Whose image is on the coin?

Caesar’s.

Then give Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God that which is God’s. 

What did Jesus say?

First, Caesar is not God.

Second, if it is of this world, don’t get wrapped up in it. It belongs to this world. It is something that the pagans chase after and make into their gods. It is neither here nor there as far as we are concerned. It’s just stuff. If we need it, God will provide it.

Third, there are absolutely things that belong to God and are not to be shared with others.  He is God. He is sovereign. He is holy. He is righteous. The list goes on.

Give to Caesar that which is Caesar’s and to God that which is God’s.

Not only were the people amazed, so were the Pharisees.  They surely didn’t see that one coming. They left the area. There was no victory for them on this occasion. There was no street cred. They had been publicly humiliated in a single sentence.

If the Pharisees struck out, that didn’t mean game over, it meant there was an opportunity for the Sadducees to score big. You see, the events of this day were more like a Shakespearean play than just a day in the town square.

The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. That is why they are SAD YOU SEE. That explanation is required neither by law or prophecy but by the pastor’s guild that it be used twice a year.

So the Sadducees had this little scenario dreamed up, probably for the torment of the Pharisees, but surely it would work on Jesus as well. I mean, it was well thought out.

A man had a bunch of brothers. There were 7 in all. The oldest took a wife and then died. The next brother took his brother’s wife as the law required, but he died.

The woman is still unmarried and childless, but her original husband had more brothers. They marry and die without child, so the question is: Whose wife will this woman be at the resurrection?

That’s a good one. The Sadducees had put some effort into this one. They had surely frustrated the Pharisees with this one. It would get Jesus for sure. They could chalk up this victory for sure. This was the no-win scenario for Jesus.

Mathematically, I can prove that 0=2. The math is flawless but the logic is absent. We need to understand that if the premise is false, you can prove whatever you want to prove. If the premise is false, you can make just about anything you want look to be true.

Jesus replied by saying, “Your premise is false. There is a resurrection. The insurmountable question quickly dissipated into nothing.

Jesus said, there is a resurrection. You got that part wrong and everything thereafter that you have painted as truth is false as well.

There is a resurrection of the dead. It’s coming. You might want to prepare. What’s not coming is all this physical restraint. We will be like the angels, ready and able to worship God in everything that we do.

Here is how Jesus ended this encounter.

Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”

When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

The Pharisees got wind that Jesus had put an abrupt end to the efforts of the Sadducees to trick him. They shouldn’t give up so quickly. They thought they might give it another try.  It was time to pull out the big guns.

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

That seemed straightforward enough.

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Jesus answered directly and without hesitation. He took over the conversation at this point.  Here’s the typical answer to your question and here is the full answer.

You must love God with everything that you have and are and will be. He is God. He is worthy of you worship and praise, and OBTW—love each other while you are at it.  This is the whole of the law. 

Love God.

Love one another.

Everything in the law and the prophets is anchored to, rooted in, and otherwise connected to these two basic statements.

Love God.

Love each other.

This is our answer to most questions that come up in our lives.  What do I do?  Do that which shows love for God and for each other.

Jesus turned his teaching point into a route of the Pharisees. He flipped the script on them.

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”

 

“The son of David,” they replied.

 

He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,

 

“‘The Lord said to my Lord:

    “Sit at my right hand

until I put your enemies

    under your feet.”’

 

 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

 Jesus had answers for those who would confront him. Within those are answers for us. He has more answers for us if we will take his yoke and learn from him.

Jesus has plenty of answers for those who will put his words into practice. He has plenty of answers for those who want to challenge him as well. I prefer his counsel over his admonishment.

I would rather be on the teaching end of a Jesus parable than the stinging end of one of his woe unto you sentences.

Jesus told us in the clearest terms that the essence of what we do—the things that are important in our lives—is to love God and to love each other.  Everything is built upon this very real premise. It’s all about love.

So just what is the greatest commandment in the law?

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

We know what we need to know to please the Lord. Love God. Love each other. Everything else stems from these two premises.

These premises are true and our instructions for life are clear.

Love God.

Love one another.

Amen.

 

Don't Worry

 Read Matthew 6:25-34

There is godly counsel. We listen to it weekly if not daily. We should trust it.

There is our own understanding. Sometimes we can trust it if it is in sync with God’s way.

Sometimes our own understanding gets it. We are counseled to take God’s counsel over our own understanding, but sometimes our own understanding gets it.

Here are some thoughts on the matter of worry that has come from the understanding of many.

 

“Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything.” – Mary Hemingway

 

“Turn your attention for a while away from the worries and anxieties. Remind yourself of all your many blessings.” – Ralph Marston

 

“The truth is that there is no actual stress or anxiety in the world; it’s your thoughts that create these false beliefs. You can’t package stress, touch it, or see it. There are only people engaged in stressful thinking.” – Wayne Dyer

 

“A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.” – Aesop

 

“Worry pretends to be necessary, but serves no useful purpose.” – Eckhart Tolle

 

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.” – Corrie Ten Boom

 

“A day of worry is more exhausting than a day of work.” – John Lubbock

 

“People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.” – George Bernard Shaw

 

“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.” – Marcus Aurelius

 

“Always do what you are afraid to do.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

“To him who is in fear, everything rustles.” – Sophocles

 

“Worry is a misuse of the imagination.” – Dan Zadra

 

“If you ask what is the most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn’t ask me, I’d still have to say it.” – George F. Burns

 

“The reason why worry kills more people than work is that more people worry than work.” – Robert Frost

 

“Rule number one is, don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule number two is, it’s all small stuff.” – Robert Eliot

 

“Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, faith looks up.” — Anonymous

 

“Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” – Arthur Somers Roche

 

“That the birds of worry and care fly over your head, this you cannot change, but that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent.” – Chinese Proverb

 

“Worry compounds the futility of being trapped on a dead-end street. Thinking opens new avenues.” – Cullen Hightower

 

“Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere” – Erma Bombeck

 

“People get so in the habit of worry that if you save them from drowning and put them on a bank to dry in the sun with hot chocolate and muffins they wonder whether they are catching a cold.” – John Jay Chapman

 

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them have never happened.” ― Mark Twain

 

“If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.” — E. Joseph Cossman

 

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.”— Elbert Hubbard

 

“Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.”– Henry Ward Beecher

 

Jesus tells us that we can get this no-worry business and understand it from our perspective too.

Look at nature. The flowers, the birds, and everything around us rely totally on God but you don’t see stressed songbirds and flustered flowers. God knows what they need in season and he provides. We can see this. Even for the grass that lives but for a short season. God provides.

We understand this but we need help to apply it to ourselves. Sure, God takes care of the birds and the flowers and the spiders and snakes, but I’m a person. I’m more complicated.

Jesus tells us that maybe we are not that complicated. We need to trust God. We need to have faith in God. We need to put God’s words into practice and in this case, those words say don’t worry.

Yes, we may absolutely have trouble tomorrow, but it does not need to cut into today’s joy. We make reasonable plans, we listen to God when we pray and all day long while we work at our jobs as if we are working for God, we listen to what he is telling us.

We want to trust God enough that we know the outcome will be exactly what it needs to be but that we won’t worry about how we get there.

We don’t need to worry along the way.

Paul would later reinforce this thinking with his own words. Be anxious for nothing…

Understand that trouble is one thing.  Worry and anxiousness are another.

There might be a bear on the road to work tomorrow.

That’s correct but there might be a gold coin too. You should not be worried about one to the point it takes away your joy for today and you should not obsess on things that might bring you pleasure. Let today have its life and tomorrow its own life.

The Proverbs remind us that heaviness can weigh down the heart.  Jesus tells us that hope, not heaviness, should be on our hearts.

Message for today:  DON’T WORRY.

They say the proof is in the pudding, so here’s your pudding.

“If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.” — E. Joseph Cossman

Amen.

Choose this Day: Live for God or for the Creation

 Read Matthew 6:25-34

We catch todays scripture with the words of Jesus included with a bunch of words of Jesus. We get this red-letter effect because Jesus had begun what we now call the Sermon on the Mount. This didactic turned from homiletic to teaching at some point but Jesus was doing all of the talking.

After blessing and the receipt of blessings for many things that many people might overlook and even discard as trials, Jesus began teaching on of variety of topics.

As we enter Chapter 6 of Matthew’s gospel, we see teaching on not making a show of doing what’s right and giving to the poor.  These things are between you and God.

Don’t pray and count it to your credit that you use some fancy words and can make the name of God into a three-syllable word.  Praying is not for show.

Jesus even gave those who were listening a model prayer.

And by the way, don’t go all snowflake on me when you are fasting.  You are growing nearer to God. Quit acting like you are on the Batan Death March.

And when you think of your treasures, think of treasure that will last. Think of doing the will of your Father in heaven as making deposits in your heavenly account.

Then Jesus sang the first round ever of Be Careful Little Eyes what you seen.

Jesus told us that we can’t sit on the fence. Either we love God or we love his creation more. It’s one or the other. Do we love God or do we love money and all it can buy us?

Which brings us to today’s scripture and the words of Jesus.

And his words are—don’t worry.  Don’t worry.

Can any of you add one hour of life to your life by worrying about your life.  Jesus said, we’ve got this life thing.  Trust the Father in heaven. Trust me, and before you know it, you will be able to trust a spirit that lives within you.

Don’t worry.

You don’t see the birds worrying, do you? You don’t see the flowers growing anxious, do you?  Your Father in Heaven knows just what they need and he knows what you need, so stop worrying about what you think you need.

Why do we spend so much time worried about what we will eat or drink or wear?  Live for your relationship with God, not for your relationship with the opinions of others or those of your stomach or your ego.

We might say, “of course, I get that,” but living it—putting these words into practice—gets much tougher in life outside of the pew you are now in.

Worry shows up uninvited and makes itself at home.  Jesus is telling us not to give worry a home. He will take care of us.

This returns us to a familiar place. It is our nature—our human nature—to worry. We are taught to trust but we practice worry. We worry about things and events and outcomes that often don’t make a hill of beans in the long run.  

Our own understanding wants to take charge and be in charge of our decisions and countenance. Jesus said, don’t worry.

Don’t worry.

It sounds easy but to truly rid ourselves of worry, we must trust God—not a little—but with everything.

Jesus returned to making comparisons with the pagans.  They worry about everything that they have or don’t have.  They make some of the things that they desire into their gods.

Jesus challenges us to seek God and his kingdom and his righteousness before anything else.  The pagans seek after all of the things of the creation.  Jesus tells us to seek the Creator instead and he will bless us with all the things that the pagans have made into gods.

God wants us to have good things. He loves to give good gifts but he must always be God. We must put all of our trust in him. We must choose this day whom we will serve: God or his creation.

And what about worrying about the future? Don’t do it.

Tomorrow will have troubles of its own. You don’t need to claim them today.  Seek God and his kingdom and his righteousness now and let God deal with tomorrow.

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make you paths straight.

Some days are going to seem better than others. The flu, the regular crud, and even the common cold are allowed back on the once-dominated COVID scene. Jobs come and go. Death and other losses happen.

Some days are just tougher than others, but even those days are not cause for worry.

Our soul is grasped firmly by the Lord.

He has a room prepared for us.

We just need to put his words into practice.

Even in this life, he has promises for abundance and abundant life.

He has promises of health and well-being.

He has good plans for us.

Let us never despair. Let us never lose hope. Let us live without worry, knowing that God is in control.

Trust in the Lord…

Amen.

Our Worship must be Genuine

 Read John 4:1-26

We started this journey with words about putting the words of Jesus into practice. I told you that you could go wrong with the words of Jesus. How?

By knowing what he said to do and not doing it.  That’s a life lived on shifting sand.

Jesus challenged us to ask, seek, and knock as we go after the things that we need to bring glory to God’s name.

We examined 3 parables about lost and found and we found that God has a heart to seek us, receive us, and welcome us as one of his own as soon as we turn around and come back to him. We should have a heart for rescue.

Now we come to a well at Sychar in Samaria. Jesus is tired and wants a drink. The disciples had gone into town looking for food and a woman approached the well.

Jesus said that he would like a drink and the woman responded by asking just what Jewish man would ask a Samaritan woman for a drink of water. The Jews don’t like Samaria. They didn’t like Samaritans, and women were at the lower end of the social structure.

Just who is this Jew to ask me for a drink?

We are comfortable with our social barriers.

We don’t care for you Jews because you hate us. We both believe that there is a God and a Messiah will come but we don’t agree on much else and don’t really want to have a conversation with you anyway. Besides, you don’t even have anything with which to draw water.

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

The woman came prepared for a religious and historical and cultural conversation but not prepared to be honest with the Lord himself.

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?  Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

We know this history. Jacob dug this well. Back in the day—we have all been through Genesis—The Jews and Samaritans were much closer.  It was only after the Assyrians and Babylonians invaded the Promised Land, did they grow to hate each other.  Now, both sides seem content with the status quo.  The two peoples might not be at war with each other, but they were content with the way things were—mutual dislike.

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

This interested the woman.  Did this man really have water that would make it so she didn’t have to visit this well at noon. Everyone else came in the morning or the evening when it was cool.

As we discover in this reading, the woman probably came at noon to avoid the scorn of the other women. She had already gone through 5 husbands and was shacked up with another man at the moment.

Jesus called her out on this. Jesus said, let’s make this a real conversation. Let’s talk about things that matter.

The woman did not want to examine her own life. She had surely grown accustomed to getting her water at noon and the scorn of her own people whenever she had to cross paths with them.  She decided to give her best effort to changing the subject.

Hey. You know everything about me. You must be a prophet. So enough about me. Let’s talk prophet talk.

So, the woman said.

“Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

The woman wants to change the subject. Jesus came to deliver this message.

“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Do you remember verse 4 in this chapter? Jesus had to go through Samaria.  Why? Was the bridge out at the Jordan? Was it tax free day in Sychar?  Why did he have to go through Samaria?

Jesus had a message for this woman, and if you keep reading, we find it was a message for the entire town.

The woman made one more attempt to avoid the conversation. Maybe if she threw in the topic of the Messiah, this prophet would lose his train of thought and just go with it. Maybe the subject of the Messiah would get her out of having a real conversation about her life.

Jesus addressed this issue of the Messiah and the woman’s question from earlier: Are you greater than our Father Jacob?

Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

This wasn’t the distraction that the woman sought, but it did get her attention.  She left her water jug and ran into town. Someone who spoke with authority just said he was the Messiah.

If we kept on reading, we would see that many people believed in Jesus because of this woman’s testimony. Some people believed after a direct encounter with Jesus and some who believed in Jesus because of this woman, later said they believed because of Jesus and not this wretched woman.

Jesus told this woman that humankind had made a mess or God’s instructions. He didn’t go into detail but did tell her that they had missed the boat on a lot of things.

Jesus didn’t say go back and fix them. He revealed himself to this woman as the Messiah. We will go forward from this point. Do you really want to worship God?

True believers will worship him in the Spirit and in truth.

It’s not about who has the best interpretation of God’s rules. It’s about who is really seeking God and ready to put the words of Jesus into practice.

Seek God and his kingdom and his righteousness first and God will grant you those things that the pagans have made into their God.

What is it to worship God in the Spirit and in truth?

It is to first recognize that the Spirit that lives inside of you is of the sovereign God.  If God is sovereign, and he is, then the Spirit that lives within you is sovereign as well. He reigns.

To worship God in the Spirit and in truth is to know the one true God through his Son Christ Jesus and to put his words into practice. Do you remember that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life?

Worship is the application of the truth, not just an academic exercise. Truth demands application—that we put the words of our Master into practice.

If we can’t do this, we should ask, is Jesus really my Master or do I just give him lip service and do things my own way?

We are often like the woman at the well. We will talk about religious things, but avoid the real conversations of our life that involve our relationship with God. Are we putting his words into practice?

We can post scripture online like crazy, hit like, and then share and think our work is done, but have we put the words of our Master into practice?

Are we being genuine to the calling that we have received to live a life of love that brings glory to God?

The Messiah has come. He has called us to believe in him and receive life.

He has called us to live in truth by trusting him enough to put his words into practice.

We worship with our every breath. Everything that we do is worship.

So is our worship given in the Spirit and in truth?

What about when we come into the assembly to worship? Are we glad to be here? Are we waiting for everyone to get through with the songs so you can sit down?

Are you dreading the sermon? How do I pretend to pay attention when I really don’t want to hear this message?

Is the offering a burden to you?

Are you holding side conversations to help pass the time?

Are we worshiping in the Spirit and in truth?

For all of the things that we are likely to fall short on as we work to put the words of our Master into practice—I’m thinking that love your enemy stuff is going to be a might prickly for many—we want to get this one right.

Worship in the Spirit and in truth.  We must make sure that our worship is genuine.  We must be the real deal in worship.

We are going to get distracted or lazy or forgetful with something that Jesus told us to do.  We should confess and get back in our race of faith.

But we should always be genuine in our worship.

We are not just passing time until we can go to the ball game or hunting this weekend. Our every moment is to be given as worship to God by the very things that we do.

When we gather for worship, we should really want to be here to put a smile on God’s face.

We need to get really good at worshiping in the Spirit and in truth.

True worshipers will worship in the Spirit and in truth.

Amen.

 

In the Spirit and in Truth

 Read John 4:1-26

How do we deal with verse 4? Jesus had to go through Samaria.  Why?

Let’s look at the original word: δεῖ (dei).  What does it mean?

·       Properly

·       What must happen

·       Absolutely necessary

·       Inevitable

·       A duty

·       What is proper

Jesus went through Samaria because it was the correct thing to do. It was proper. It was necessary. Jesus had to do this to fulfill the will of his Father.

Jesus had an appointment with a woman at a well in Sychar. The woman did not know she had an appointment.  Unlike appointments with my dentist, she probably didn’t get 3 emails and 20 text messages.

If I don’t show up on time, they put out a Silver Alert.

This woman didn’t know what she was about to get into. She was just on her way to draw water at noon in hopes that she wouldn’t see anyone. People tended to condemn her.

She had gone through 5 husbands and was shacked up with another man now.  We don’t know if she just outlived her husbands, was divorced multiple times, or if some other course of events brought her to this point, but we know that she was not inclined to talk about her personal life, but Jesus knew already.

Why was this appointment important?

There were of course those Samaritans in the town that would end up believing in Jesus, but there was a personal aspect to this meeting that went beyond the overall ministry of Jesus.

This woman was content in her circumstances.  If she had to live as an outcast among an outcast people, she would. She had grown indifferent to her ungodly lifestyle.

It had become acceptable to her.

When Jesus mentioned living water and never thirsting again, this piqued her interest, not so much because she was talking to a man who could do this, but because it would make her current miserable life easier.

She wouldn’t have to draw water in the heat of the day anymore. If she could just get some of this water.

But to get to the water, she would have to go through the truth. The truth was Jesus and she wasn’t ready.

She tried to misdirect the conversation.  Let’s talk about something else, anything else.  How about them Cubs?

Oh, you must be a prophet. Let’s talk prophet things. You Jews say that we should worship in Jerusalem. We worship on this mountain.

How about them Cubs.

I heard the Messiah was coming soon. I’ve got $20 on the fourth day of the third month next year.  It pays 1000 to 1 odds.  You want in?

How about them Cubs?

Jesus said that they were not playing this game.  You’ve got some stuff wrong about worshipping God. Salvation will come from the Jews and by the way, I am the Messiah.

The woman left her water jug and headed into town. She was out of excuses and distractions. She had come face to face with the truth.

Jesus is the truth and the only way to worship God is in the Spirit and in truth.

How many hoops will we jump through not to put the words of Jesus into practice?

How many of us are avoiding real conversations with our spouses, with our family, with our employer, and most of all with ourselves?

What conversations?

Is there someone that we dislike that we should be praying for and reaching out to? It’s time for a conversation with the One who is Truth.

Is there someone that we should have forgiven but haven’t? No matter how hard this is, it is what we are commanded to do.

Are there things yet unconfessed to God?  He knows what they are. He is just waiting for you to have this conversation. He promises to forgive you.

Are we just going through the motions in parts of our lives? Are we not engaging each moment as an opportunity to bring glory to God’s name.

Don’t make Jesus have to cross all of Samaria to have this conversation. He already went to the cross for us. Let’s give our lives completely to him.  Let us confess and converse about our struggles in this world.  Jesus is ready to help.

Let’s learn how to worship in the Spirit and in truth.

Let’s make an appointment with Jesus this week and come to the point where we can worship in the Spirit and in truth.

Amen.