Kingdom Paradox | Part 4 | The Paradox of Worship

Today, we're going to ask the question of what is worship really? Because in our series of Kingdom Paradox, it's not just the cultural things out there that Jesus would start to kind of turn the tables on. He literally turned the tables in the church. The religious traditions that happened over and over again. He said, this isn't really how it's done. So this morning, if you wouldn't mind grabbing your Bible and your smartphones, go ahead and make your way to John chapter four. I've entitled today's message, the paradox of worship. So let's go straight into the word of God because worship is more than a style, more than a song. It's more than a Sunday morning event. It's more than what happened right before the preaching of the word. And we're going to read a story this morning where Jesus takes tradition and he flips it and he begins to explain the true purpose behind worship. In John chapter four, Jesus was traveling through Samaria and he stops at a well and he encounters a Samaritan woman. So culturally, just so you know, Samaritans were, they were half Jewish and half Gentile. So they had some Jewish blood in their life, but they were not accepted by the Jews because they were not completely Jewish. So the fact that he's traveling through Samaria, he stops at a well and he encounters a Samaritan, but a Samaritan woman, him being a rabbi, tradition would say he would not speak to her. He would not stop at that well. But Jesus never went with tradition. He encounters the Samaritan woman and he asked her for a drink of water. Well, she's shocked because she knows that he's a rabbi, that they're not supposed to be speaking, but she offers him a drink. She gives him some water and then he talks about the living water. Go ahead and read through verses one through 20 this week in your study time. But as they continue to talk, Jesus had a purpose for walking through Samaria, stopping

at the well and engaging this woman because he addresses her personally, her life. See, Jesus was about to reveal to her that the things that had been said about her and the things that, how she was treated growing up, that she had more worth than that. Jesus addresses her personal life and this is how he does it, friends, he calls her out on all of her sins. We're like, oh Jesus, you can come by and give me some water, but please, please let's not open the book of all the sins of my, even this last week, right? I'm good, Lord. I don't want to, I don't want to hear all that, but he does and he says to her, he says, you've had five husbands and the man you're living with now isn't one of them. She's shocked, but all of the sudden she recognizes this man as a prophet. There's something about the way that the Lord addressed it that she didn't run. She leaned in, that he was addressing something in her life, but the love and the kindness that he extended to her, she leaned in and she begins to ask him theological questions and this was one of the questions she had. Jews worship in Jerusalem. We as Samaritans, we worship on this mountain. Which one is correct? The paradox of worship. Something that Jesus said drew her in and she thought to herself, I want to do this right. Can I tell you when you encounter. the true love and grace of Jesus, it's not a condemning pushing down, but it is an excitement and a freedom to start to lean in and say, how can I serve you the right way? So she asked him this theological question. The moment shifts, and as she asked this question about her culture's traditions of worship and his,

she wants to know what's right. So let's start in verse 21. This is Jesus talking, John four, verse 21. Jesus replied, believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. He's not rebuking her and saying that we're better. He's saying it doesn't matter. We're not getting it right either. You don't really know much about this God that you serve. We as Jews, we know a lot about it, but the time's coming when it doesn't matter if you worship in Jerusalem or you worship on the mountain. This is what he said, verse 23. But the time is coming, indeed it is here now, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way, for God is spirit. So those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. Worship in those days was a ceremony. They went to the temple, they went to the tabernacle. It was a tradition. There were steps that they had to take in order to go into the presence of the Lord.

And Jesus in this moment says the time's coming. In fact, it's here now. Where the traditions aren't gonna matter. What matters is are you worshiping him in spirit and in truth? When we look at the New Testament, we see the paradox of worship. Now, before we get into our points, I've gotta tell you, we have these here. We have liturgical churches, where it's all in the bulletin out of this is exactly what we sing and what we say and the response back and this is the moment that this is gonna happen. We have that now. There's nothing wrong with an order of service. You sitting here probably know, okay, we're gonna have a countdown and then we're gonna sing a couple songs and then they're gonna come out and they're gonna ask me for money. And then we got another video that's gonna play and then they're gonna get up, they're gonna teach us a little bit and then we're gonna have prayer in the prayer corners. We have an order of service. Our difficulty is is when we make that worship. Now, listen, my husband is a change agent. You know, he was not raised in church. He did not know how church was supposed to go. So he just kind of made it up as he went

and he started stepping on some of my traditions and I was like, no, no, we don't do that in church. No, no. That right there, no, we don't do that, mm-mm. And then he asked me why. Now, he wasn't questioning me, he really wanted to know why. And my answer, because we don't. Like, I can't give you chapter and verse, but that's how I was raised. When we come in here together, and one of the things that I love about TC is that we are diverse in generation, in race, in culture, even in how we were raised. There's probably people that have come in here and you're like, oh, they do not move enough. Like, we gotta move some more. And there are some of you that when worship starts, you're like, oh, what's going on? Why does everybody have their hands up? Why is everybody clapping? But what I love about TC is this amazing blend that God has brought together as church family that I do, I want everyone that calls TC home to feel comfortable. But more importantly, I want them to worship in spirit and in truth. The first thing that we find out about the kingdom paradox is this. Worship isn't about me. It's all about him.

Now, this one right here, this first one, you're like, well, of course, Andrea. Well, that's not a paradox. Of course it is. But we live in a selfie culture. Got to take a picture of myself. I'm going to add a filter. Oh, don't post that one. Let's try it one more time. We are all guilty of wanting it our way of being very concerned of what others view about us, how they view us. But that becomes very dangerous when we get self-absorbed in worship because worship is about him. John 4, 23 says, but the time is coming. Indeed, it's here now when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. There are some songs that are incredible songs. But they're more focused on us than on him. Now, there are psalms in the book of Psalms. I mean, David was very expressive of how he felt. He wrote songs about everybody was coming against him. But by the end of those psalms, a realization happened of who God is. There might be armies on every side of me, but God, you are victorious. You rescue me out of them all. And so understanding that even in our worship, when we are coming and we are broken, at some moment, it's got to shift off of our brokenness and on to our creator because we can't put ourselves back together, only he can, because he made us, he knows us, he knows us better than we know ourselves. And so it becomes very dangerous when worship does actually become a little bit more about what we need. And it's not about him. We get so confused by worship when we think it's for us. And there's a story that I'm going to share this morning that's very, it's very difficult for me to share, even, you know, 23, 24 years later. And it was something that I had to do personally. 27 years ago, in January, it'll be 27 years, Ryan and I got married. I was called into worship about 21. I was a basketball player my whole life.

I, my degree is in history because all of the football coaches, they did driver's ed. All the basketball coaches, they taught history. So I was like, well, I'm going to be a girls basketball coach. And so I, my degree is in history and I taught history for two years. But my entire life, I was a basketball player. I played in college. But I was running from what God had called me from, which was ministry and especially worship ministry. And so when I was walking through a really difficult time, in 2002, we had a huge split in our church. My dad was the pastor. Ryan was on staff. I was teaching school. And one Sunday, 300 people led by the music pastor walked out the door. My mom is a concert pianist. She can, I mean, she can play anything. She's directed choirs. Incredible, incredible musician, vocalist. She sang Sandy Patty. I mean, just incredible. But she looked at me and she said, it's your time. time to lead. It was a difficult time because our church was hurting so bad. I mean, we had lost, we were over 1,000 and we lost 300 people. And it was the entire choir, the entire band, the staff, the only two people left on staff were Ryan and my dad. And so it was so difficult. That's how I started full-time ministry. And in that difficult time, Ryan and I had been married for a little over three years. Almost four.

And we had lost a baby. I never wanted to be a mom and got married. And God placed that desire in my heart. And so we had lost a baby. Just a couple weeks after this huge church split, we find out that I'm pregnant again. It was like breath for us, for our church, for my parents. And so we announced it at church. I'm getting ready to have a baby on Sunday and on Thursday. I lost that baby. It was such a dark moment. But I knew what I had to do. Not everyone has to respond this way. But I knew what I had to do. I had to get up on Sunday morning and praise the Lord like I did the week before when I was pregnant. And even in my loss, I'm going to praise the Lord. Because see, the worship isn't about me. It's about him. So we started to sing. And I have to say that Sunday I didn't want to praise God. I didn't want to get up. And I was hurting and I was broken. But I do believe in that moment it shaped me. That no matter what I walked through, and we have all walked through devastating times. Illnesses and divorces and sicknesses and broken relationships and promises and betrayals and rejection. In the midst of all of that, is he still worthy of our praise? The second thing is this.

That worship starts in the heart. Not on the stage. This is a big one because there are ways that we worship the Lord outwardly. They are scriptural. Okay. Lifting up holy hands. That is scriptural. Clap your hands all you people. Shout unto God with a voice of triumph. Now we clap, some of us it's one and three. Some of us it's two and four. We clap unto the Lord, you know, to the beat of the music. But clap your hands all you people. Well done. Father. You are worthy. You are wonderful. Your words are great. Clap your hands all you people. Shout to God with a voice of triumph. There are moments in our worship where we stand still. Where we lay prostrate. We lay out before the Lord. We kneel. We jump. We dance. We sing. We play instruments. But worship isn't an outward expression.

Worship starts in the heart. Our heart posture. A place of humility and purity. Worship isn't a performance. It's a posture. Psalm 9 says I will praise you Lord with all of my heart. I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. So where is our heart when it comes to worship? to worship, if it starts in our heart and not on this stage, if it starts in our heart and not in the beat of the music, what does worship look like in our heart? Our heart posture of forgiveness and love, the words that come out of our mouth. Scripture says that out of our heart, the mouth speaks. Now I'm about to share with you a portion of scripture that every time the Lord tells me to go to James, I start to repent because James is probably one of the most convicting books of the Bible for me because I'm a talker. If you are a talker, do not go to the book of James. Actually, you probably need to because out of the heart, the mouth speaks. In James chapter three, verse nine says this about our mouth, that sometimes it praises our Lord and Father and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. It doesn't say sometimes it curses those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. It's all people, those that are made in the image of God. I wish that there was some way in Washington

that we could just put this verse over everyone's office before they walk into Congress, the Senate, the White House. Hey, don't curse. Don't speak these words against those who have been made in the very image of God because our mouth cannot praise the Lord and curse his creation. See, what our mouth does is it praises the Lord and it prays for those he has created. Scripture says that we are to bless our enemies, to bless those who persecute us, who cause troubles in our life. We pray for them and it's not this, it's like, well, bless the Lord. Lord, you just bless him. We truly want them to change because we know their life is bound. We truly desire for God to get ahold of them because we know the end result and what it'll be. That's where our heart posture has to be in worship. It's a place that it's not trying to praise the Lord one minute and be spiteful the next, but that out of our heart, our mouth will speak praises to the Lord. Verse 10 says, and so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right. Worship is not about a stage, it's about the heart. We can experience worship anywhere.

The thing I hate to do at the house, you know, we all have chores to do. Maybe I got chores that I gotta do around the house. The absolute worst is doing the dishes. I hate it. I would fold 17 loaves of laundry before I had to wash one dish. I don't know what it is, it's the, I just don't like it. A dishwasher is my, our very first apartment, we didn't have a dishwasher. That was me. Well, actually, it was Ryan because he tried to correct me on how to wash the dishes and I was like, you know what, you are so right, babe. I do not know how to do this. So I just handed it right over to him and then he realized that unless he wants to do everything himself, sometimes there are other ways that it can get done. And so, but we've worked out a system. I empty the dishwasher. I love emptying the dishwasher. The dishes are clean. They get put back in the spot they're supposed to. I know my kids, when they were emptying the dishwasher, they were like, if I put everything in the wrong spot, mom will never ask me to unload the dishwasher again. And it's true. But I was sending one, Standing one day and I was washing dishes,

the thing that I do not like to do, and the Lord said, worship me. And so I started to sing. And he goes, no, no music. Worship me. It was in that moment my heart posture changed. And I remembered this verse in Romans 12 verse one, and it says, and so dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Why? Because of all he's done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice, the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Oh friends, worship is not about a stage or a song. A Sunday morning experience from 10.30 to 11, from 11 to 11.30. Worship is about giving myself to him in everything that I do. The last one is this. Worship isn't based on my feelings. It's a response to his love. You see, worship isn't about me. It's all about him. Worship starts in my heart, not on this stage. And worship isn't based on how I feel, my feelings. It's a response of his love for me. First John four nine says, God showed us how much he loved us by sending his one and only son into the world

that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. We get so confused in this world, what real love looks like. Because we're looking at each other. And our love for each other is flawed, it's imperfect. But his love is perfect. This is real love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us. Worship is a response of his love to us. Psalm five seven, I love this verse of scripture. It says, because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house. I will worship at your temple with deepest awe. Because of his love. It's not based on how we feel. Jesus tells us that we are gonna worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. Spirit, the part of us that has been redeemed, and the truth, which is his word. Our soul is our mind, our will, our emotions. Our soul is not redeemed. Our soul is the thing that we talked about before, where we have to pick up our cross daily and follow him. Our mind, our will, our emotions. Every morning we wake up and we're like, well, here we go again. Am I gonna choose God's way or am I gonna choose my way? And so for Jesus to tell us that true worshipers worship in spirit and in truth,

the understanding that it's not our personality, doesn't say worship out of their feelings and personality. Worship out of their energy and the style of music. In spirit and in truth. Our worship is a response to his love. Our spirit responding to the truth of who he is.