“COMMUNION AS WORSHIP”
SELECTED SCRIPTURES

I. Introduction
This is a worship service! How do I know that? Well, after Greg and Colleen read the opening Scripture, we sang “We Have Come into His House.”
“We have come into His house and gathered in His name to worship Him. We have come into His house and gathered in His name to worship Him. We have come into His house and gathered in His name to worship Christ the Lord. Wor-ship Him, Christ the Lord.”

So here we are. We have gathered to worship Christ the Lord. But what do we know about worship? What do we know about God-pleasing, God-directed, and God-honoring worship? I want us to consider that this morning as we prepare to receive the elements – the bread and the cup that represent Jesus’ life and death; His body and His blood.

How does God want to be worshipped? Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.
*John 4:23-24
23 “…an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

What is worshipping in spirit? The Bible describes true worship in terms of our attitudes and our actions. Think of attitudes such as reverence, awe, and the fear of God. Think of actions as service, praise, and giving God the glory He deserves. If you need examples of such worship, the Psalms are filled with expressions of God-pleasing, God-directed, and God-honoring worship. Here are just a few examples:
• “O LORD, our LORD, how majestic is Your name in all the earth (8:1).”
• “The heavens are telling of the glory of God… (19:1).”
• “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear (27:1)?”
• “Many, O LORD my God are the wonders which You have done… (40:5).”
• “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised… (48:1).”
• “Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name (103:1).”

That barely scratches the surface of the worship that flows out of the Psalms. Do you get the idea? Real worship comes from a humble and contrite heart. That’s worship in spirit.

What is worshipping in truth? Let me try to answer that question with another question. Is your worship consistent with what God has revealed about Himself, His Son, and His truth in Scripture? In other words, do you worship based on what you know to be true, or is your worship based on something else? So can you worship God in spirit and in truth?
Psalm 24:3-5
3 Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? And who may stand in His holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive a blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

1. True worship must be “in spirit.” That is to say, your whole heart must be engaged in the process. You just can’t “fake it.” If you aren’t passionate for God, you cannot wor-ship in spirit.
2. True worship must be “in truth.” That is to say, your mind must be rightly informed. Here is another way of saying that: “You can’t do God’s will if you don’t know what it is.” Without the knowledge of the God of the Bible, you cannot worship in truth.

So both spirit and truth are necessary in order for God-pleasing, God-directed, and God-honoring worship to take place. Worship “in spirit” while having little or no knowledge of truth is one of the great weaknesses of the modern Pentecostal/Charismatic movement. Such worship often leads to little more than shallow, over-the-top emotional experiences. When the emotion is gone, the worship goes with it.

On the other hand, truth without spirit can result in a dry, passionless religion that can easily lead to a joyless legalism. Worship “in truth” that is without any sincere heartfelt emotion at all can rob us of the joy of our salvation. Someone has said that such people appear to have been baptized in lemon juice.

God calls His children to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Listen, the more we know about God, the more we will love and appreciate Him. The more we love and appreciate Him, the deeper and more satisfying our worship becomes. And the deeper and more satisfying our worship becomes, the more God will be glorified.

So you and I are called to worship in spirit and in truth. And one more thing – there is an order to how God is to be worshipped. Whether we go before God in prayer or in wor-ship, the Scriptures teach that we are to go to God the Father, through God the Son, by God the Holy Spirit. We neither pray to nor worship Mary, the apostles, the prophets, the so-called saints, nor anyone else. We worship the God of the Bible.

The God of the Bible gives us access to Himself through the merits of His Son. We’re enabled to go to Him by the power of His Spirit. “To God the Father – Through God the Son – By God the Holy Spirit!” That’s what God has ordained. That’s His plan. If you try to go around that, or if you think you have a better plan, or if you just want to do it your own way, then you are not in God’s will. And if you are not in God’s will, your worship is not in spirit and in truth, is it?

Before we move on there is one more aspect to all of this that needs to be clear in our minds at a Communion service. Look again at the opening song in your bulletin –
“We have come into His house and gathered in His name to worship Him. We have come into His house and gathered in His name to worship Him. We have come into His house and gathered in His name to worship Christ the Lord. Wor-ship Him, Christ the Lord.”

That’s the first verse, but there’s a second verse we seldom sing. Listen to the words of that second verse.
“Let’s forget about ourselves and magnify His name and worship Him. Let’s forget about ourselves and magnify His name and worship Him. Let’s forget about ourselves and magnify His name and worship Christ the Lord. Worship Him, Christ the Lord.”

This is a worship service. It’s not about us – it’s about Him! We have come here this morning to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. A critically important part of that process is focusing solely on the Person of Jesus, who He is, what He has done, what He is doing now, and what He will do in the future and throughout all of eternity. In other words, it’s all about Jesus. So let’s forget about ourselves and magnify His name.

When we partake of the elements we will commune with Jesus, and in that communion we will worship Him in a most fundamental and beautiful way.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

II. Text
Have you noticed that many words in common usage today don’t mean what they used to mean? For example, the word “gay” used to mean “joyous, lively, and lighthearted.” Now it means something else. The word “gay” just doesn’t mean what it used to mean.

When used of an individual, the word “Christian” used to mean someone who came to faith in Christ, repented of their sin, asked God’s forgiveness, and found true salvation. Now the word “Christian” often refers to any nice person who goes to church…or not. The word “Christian” just doesn’t mean what it used to mean.

“Worship” is another one of those words whose meaning seems to be different than it once was. To a great many in the church today “worship” is confined to that part of the service called “the worship time” that is usually led by “the worship team.” Both the “time” and the “team” are generally limited to upbeat music and “praise songs.”

Let me be as clear as I can. The right music, sung and/or played for the right reason, most certainly is worship. But true worship is far more than music. In the NT the Greek word most often rendered “worship” is “proskunéō.” It comes from combining two other Greek words, “pros,” meaning “towards,” and “kunéō,” meaning “to kiss.” So in its most basic and fundamental form, worship is a kiss directed at God.

Since you and I cannot literally kiss God, the practical outworking of true Christian wor-ship is seen in our reverence for Him. We adore God and we obey Him, and, if not liter-ally, at least figuratively we humbly fall down prostrate before Him.
Psalm 95:6
6 Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

Is your heart right before God? Yes? Then your singing is worship. Your prayer is wor-ship. Your giving is worship. Your service (your “good deeds”) is worship. Your listening to the preaching and teaching of the Word is worship. Even your Christian fellowship is worship. And if your heart is right before God, your communion with the Lord Jesus Christ when you come to His table is most certainly worship. So “Let’s forget about ourselves and magnify His name and worship Him.”

Another song we sometimes sing is “Worthy, You are Worthy.” Our worship is to be directed solely to the only One who is worthy to receive it. Jesus Christ, God Himself in human flesh, is that One. So there is no one else who should receive our worship. The Lord made that clear when he was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. The devil had shown Jesus the combined glory of all the kingdoms of the world.
Matthew 4:9-10
9 …and (Satan) said to (Jesus), “All these things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me.”
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Begone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the church at Philippi, told them that the Christian’s worship is in the Holy Spirit.
Philippians 3:3
3 for we…worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. (“Let’s forget about ourselves and magnify His name and worship Him.”)

Jesus Himself told us what the character of our worship should be when He spoke with the Samaritan woman in John 4. When they met, she had no idea who He was. There-fore she was incapable of worshipping God as He is supposed to be worshipped. So the Lord taught her. John tells us about their meeting in his gospel.
*John 4:3-9
3 (Jesus) left Judea, and departed again into Galilee.
4 And He had to pass through Samaria.
5 So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph;
6 and Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His jour-
ney, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour (noon).
7 There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”
8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9 The Samaritan woman therefore said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

In v. 7 Jesus’ request for a drink of water was socially unacceptable. It went against all social customs for at least two reasons.
• First, men did not speak with women in public – not even with their wives.
• Second, Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans. The Jews wouldn’t even eat food that had been prepared or handled by them.

By the way, there’s a lesson here for us. Right from the start Jesus makes it clear He will not be bound by the traditions of men or religious legalism. But the woman is more than a little shocked and surprised that this Jewish man would address her at all.

When John says “…Jews have no dealings with Samaritans,” the word “dealings” actu-ally means “to use the same utensils.” Jews would not even touch a Samaritan’s water jug, let alone drink from one. The bottom line is that the Jews hated the Samaritans and, for the most part, the Samaritans were happy to “return the favor.” So this woman’s surprise and her question, “How is it that You…ask me for a drink…?” is understandable.
*John 4:10-15
10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11 She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw (water) with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?
12 “You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again;
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw (water).”

When they met Jesus was thirsty and the Samaritan woman had the water. But now He speaks to her as if she is thirsty and He has the water. At this point the woman naturally assumes Jesus is talking about physical water. She has no concept of the idea that He is talking about spiritual water. The “living water” Jesus is offering her in v. 10 is nothing less than forgiveness of sin and eternal salvation.
In the OT water is often used as a symbol of salvation. Here is just one example.
Jeremiah 17:13 (speaking of those who refuse salvation)
13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You will be put to shame. Those who turn away on earth will be written down, because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, even the LORD.

Later in John’s gospel Jesus uses water as a symbol of the salvation that is found in Him.
John 7:37b-38
37b (Jesus said), “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’”

Finally, the Bible concludes with water as a symbol of salvation in God’s final call to receive the free gift of eternal life in Revelation.
*Revelation 21:6; 22:17
6 And He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the begin-ning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.”
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. (back to John 4)

The Samaritan woman’s skepticism is obvious. In John 4:11 her comment that Jesus can’t give her water because He has nothing with which to draw the water shows that she is thinking only of the physical water down in the well. And besides that, it’s clear to her that this Jewish man can’t be greater than Jacob. Little does she know that Jesus is infin-itely greater than Jacob.

In John 4:13-14 Jesus is telling her that if she drinks the water He gives, her thirst will forever be quenched. In fact, He says, referring back to Isaiah 12:3, “…you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation.”

In v. 15 she says, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw.” But the Lord knows she isn’t ready to receive the truth and so He turns the conversation again.
*John 4:16-18
16 He said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, I have no husband’;
18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.”

With this Jesus really gets her attention. How could this stranger know these things? But there is something else as well.
Not only does Jesus receive instant credibility in her eyes, He exposes the one thing that is the greatest obstacle to salvation – sin. It is the reality of sin in our lives. If we do not face it, acknowledge it, and repent from it, we can never be saved out of it.

In v. 16 Jesus is opening the door for her to recognize her sin, confess it, and turn to Him. But she isn’t ready to do that. So in v. 17 she does something that we have all become very good at throughout the course of our lives. She doesn’t tell an outright lie. In fact, what she says is true, as far as it goes. “I have no husband.” The problem is that that isn’t the whole truth. And while you and I can often fool each other with such “truths,” we cannot fool God. This is a lesson the Samaritan woman is about to learn.

This is an important lesson for us. As we confess our sins and prepare our hearts to receive the Lord’s Supper this morning, we need to remember this one thing. God knows us and our sin even better than we do. So it’s incumbent upon all of us to “come clean” before Him. Tell Him the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about your sin. He already knows every sordid and dark detail, but He wants us to face the reality of it. Listen, He wants us to see our sin as He sees it. When we do, and when we confess, we have this promise from the One who cannot lie.
1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (back to the Samaritan woman)

The woman’s attempt to conceal her sin is hopeless. In John 4:17-18 Jesus commends her for the truth she has told, but then He exposes the sin she has not admitted.
*John 4:19-20
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
20 “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you people (you Jews) say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”

It would appear that the light is beginning to come on. The Samaritan woman is shocked by what Jesus knows about her. Nothing is hidden from His sight. To say that Jesus has her attention would be an understatement. But in v. 20 it may be that the woman is trying to deflect the issue with something like this: “I’m a good person and I go to church reg-ularly.” Or, “There are so many religions. Who’s to say which one is right?” So Jesus gives her a direct answer.
*John 4:21-24
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father.
22 “You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we (do) know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall wor-ship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be
His worshippers.
24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Jesus tells the woman that whether Jew or Samaritan, the times, places, and all of their ceremonies and rituals would soon be irrelevant. That’s because, in 70 AD, only forty years in the future, the temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed, and on Mount Gerizim, the very place where the Samaritans worshipped, most of them would be slaughtered.

When it comes to true worship, the real issue isn’t about times or places or ceremonies or rituals anyway. God can be worshipped anytime and anywhere. And beyond that, the New Covenant in Christ’s blood has rendered religious ceremonies and rituals obsolete.

In v. 22 Jesus is quite blunt with the woman. He tells her that because the Jews believe the prophecies of the OT, at least they know that the Messiah will be a Jew. But since the Samaritans reject most of the OT, they don’t even believe that. That’s why Jesus says, “You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we (do) know, for sal-vation is from the Jews.”

So it’s clear that where someone worships is not important. But what someone worships is critically important. It is in v. 23 that Jesus goes to the heart of the matter. “An hour is coming…” speaks of His pending death, resurrection, and ascension. Then the New Cov-enant will have been established and be in effect. Then our redemption will be complete – bought and paid for by the blood of the Lamb. And then, time, place, ceremony, ritual, and every man-made religious activity will be made utterly worthless.

Then (now), “…true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth…” Then (now), true worshippers are identified by their worship of God through their connection to Jesus Christ. There is no other “true worship!”

The word “spirit” in v. 23 is the human spirit, not the Holy Spirit. True worship must come from the heart of the true believer. The word “truth” in v. 23 simply means that our worship must conform to and be consistent with what the Scripture teaches.
John 14:6
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

If we do not worship the Father through the Son, our worship, no matter how sincere it may be, is man-made and false worship. In fact, any so-called worship other than what God has prescribed in the Bible is false worship. It is false worship based on false reli-gion taught by false teachers.

Again in John 4:24 the word “spirit” does not refer to the Holy Spirit at all. Jesus is not talking about the Holy Trinity; He is talking about the nature of God. He is invisible to the human eye. We can’t comprehend the truth of God with any of our physical senses. He can only be seen and understood in our spirits, because He is a spirit. Thus true wor-ship can only be “…in spirit and truth.”
*John 4:25-26
25 The woman said to Him, I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

Here the Samaritan woman, though still somewhat confused and not yet fully compre-hending all that Jesus is saying, nevertheless expresses her belief (or at least her hope) that someday the Messiah will come. When Jesus says, “I who speak to you am He,” He drives home the reality of who she has been talking to.

Does she come to saving faith? Later in John’s gospel (vv. 39-42) we see that she not only believed Him, but she went back to her city, told others, and they believed as well. “…we heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world (v. 42).”
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

III. Conclusion
Discarding man-made religious ceremonies and rituals, remembering that true worship is not determined by the country, city, or building you happen to be in, but is a matter of the heart, and worshipping Christ and Christ alone – these are the prerequisites for the wor-ship of God in spirit and in truth.

Yes, the Lord’s Supper, our communion service, is a ceremony of sorts. But the great distinction is this: It isn’t man-made. You and I didn’t invent it or institute it, did we?
Luke 22:17-20
17 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves;
18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.”
19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
20 And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.”

Is your heart right with God this morning? Have you put your faith and trust in Christ alone for your salvation? Have you confessed your sin and asked His forgiveness? Have you done all that? If so, you are worshipping God in spirit and in truth, and I invite you to join me at the table. And for the next few minutes, “Let’s forget about ourselves and magnify His name and worship Him. Worship Him, Christ the Lord.”