The Heart of Worship Pt 2 (John 3 & 4)
• John 3 A Pharisee named Nicodemus come to Jesus and asks to know more about the Kingdom.
o Jesus says, in order to know God and understand the Kingdom of God, you must be born again.
o John 3:5-6 There are two parts to Jesus’ answer to Nicodemus’s objection.
Born of water, which is referring to water baptism
And born of Spirit. Why? Because flesh gives birth to flesh but spirit gives birth to spirit
• John 4 Jesus encounters the women at the well. She was almost the opposite of Nicodemus.
o Yet Jesus gives her the same sort of answer He gave to Nicodemus, it’s all about the Spirit
• John 4:19 Her question is rooted in geography, thinking that worship had to take place in a certain location.
Verse 21 As Jesus begins to give His answer, He acknowledges that location used to be important.
• This was because at that the time the Presence of God was confined to a certain place, like the Temple.
• Now Jesus is referring to His death and resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
o The Presence of God is now with all believers through the Holy Spirit.
o So, geography no longer has the significance that it did.
• This verse is really about the coming of the Holy Spirit and how that will change worship.
Verse 22 Jesus continues His answer by addressing what it being worshipped
• Jesus is making the truth very clear, that salvation comes through Him, and through the God of the Jews.
Verse 23 The time that is coming refers to our age, the age of the church, and the era of the Holy Spirit.
o The verb “will worship” here means to bow down, to kneel, to fall down (from last week)
• In Spirit, in John 3, Jesus says that to enter the Kingdom we must be born of the Spirit.
o When we make the decision to follow Jesus, we get a deposit of the Spirit in us. (Rom 8:11)
o So the Spirit that is in us, can now enable our worship.
• Why? John 3:6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
o If we worship in our own flesh, then we get more of ourselves, more of our own junk.
o But if we worship in the spirit, then we get more of the Spirit, we get something otherworldly.
• In truth, The word truth here means real, genuine, or true
o This statement about truth refers back to the last verse, You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know
o Worshipping in truth refers to worshipping with right understanding of who God is. (Isa 29:3)
o One of the names of the Holy Spirit is the “Spirit of truth”
o Worshipping in truth then is tied to hearing from the Spirit and responding accordingly
And pressing into study of the Bible and who God is.
Verse 24 God is spirit, He is not made of flesh like we are.
• True intimate worship happens when we let the Spirit in us worship the God who is Spirit.
o This is a “both and.” Worship with our physical nature, that’s our part.
o But also worship in Spirit, that’s the Spirit in us part.
The Heart of Worship Pt 2 In Spirit and Truth
