How To Establish Religious Authority #2
A. Last week discussed the natural, inborn tendency of man to
worship God. And we discovered that it was a part of our created
nature. It is the way God made us. Eccl. 3:11?12, reveals the
fact that, God has set eternity in the hearts of men; yet
they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
That means that our inborn inclination is to worship God. But,
we have a problem. We cannot fathom, we cannot understand the
mind of God. We dont know how to worship unless God reveals
His mind to us and tells us how He wants to be worshiped.
1. In Jno. 4:4-26, Jesus is in the country of Samaria where He
has a conversation with a woman at the well outside the city of
Sychar. (History of the Samaritans and their religion.) Their
conversation turns to the subject of religion. She says, We
Samaritans worship this way and you Jews worship another way.
Which way is right? Jesus answer is forthright . Vs.
22-23, You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we Jews
worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
God had revealed Himself to the Jews and gave them instructions
how to worship Him. No such contact or relationship had been made
with the Samaritans.
a. What is Jesus saying? You Samaritans do not have the full revelation
of God, therefore you
worship God in ignorance. Thats what it means to worship
what you do not know. The Jews
were the only people to whom God had revealed His laws and decrees
that would being salvation.
PS. 147:19-20. Jesus told the woman, the Jews are right
and the Samaritans are wrong. Worship by the Samaritans
is rejected by God and the worship of the Jews is accepted by
God. What made the difference? Knowing what God wanted. God told
the Jews what He wanted.
(1) The Samaritans were half-breed Jews. Because of their sin
of departing from Gods Word they were rejected by God and
went into Assyrian captivity. The majority of the Jews (10 tribes
called Israel) went into captivity and never returned. Today we
refer to them as the lost tribes of Israel. But, they are not
lost. If you know where something is----its not lost. We
know where the 10 northern tribes of Israel are. God sent them
into captivity and assimilated them into the nations and they
became like the Gentiles among whom they lived. They refused to
live according to Gods Word and God condemned them the same
way He will reject and condemn all who refuse to live according
to His Word today.
(1) Thats exactly what is happening in the world today.
Jesus established His church. Gave
us this Word that tells us how to get into that church and how
to live our lives in that
church. How to worship God in Spirit and in Truth. And men, in
that church, like the 10
tribes of northern Israel have rejected the written Word of God
to establish their desires
for worshiping God.
(1) Like, Jeroboam who divided and split the nation of Israel,
Men today have ignored Gods Word and have torn, wounded,
divided the body of Christ with their man-made traditions. Led
people off into man-made worship and rejected what God has commanded.
(2) When Jesus was on earth the Jews had already begun a departure
from what God had spoken to them. They started replacing Gods
commands with man-made ideas, humans desires for worshiping God.
Jesus spoke about it in Matt 15:3-9. Mark 7:8, You have
a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe
your own traditions!
(2) Jesus told the Samaritan woman, You Samaritans dont
know what youre doing when you try to worship God.
The Jews have the Word of God that tells them how to worship.
But, the problem was that the Jews were not following Gods
Word.
(1) The Jews were starting to pervert Gods Word and make
it teach what God had not intended it to teach by adding to it.
Thats why Jesus told the woman in Vs. 23-24, But a
time is coming and is now here, when the true worshipers will
worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind
of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers
must worship in spirit and in truth."
(2) The purpose of the Law of Moses and the Jewish religion was
to bring Jesus the Messiah to the world. When that purpose had
been accomplished the Law and Judaism was no longer needed. Thats
what Paul explains by asking this question in Gal. 3:19. What,
then, was the purpose of the law? He answers that question
in the latter part of Vs. 19-29. The purpose of Christianity is
to give all people, not just the Jews, access to God through a
covenant relationship. Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well
that the time for that to happen was about to be accomplished
by the Messiah and that He was the Messiah.
(2) Jesus tells the Samaritan woman the same thing Paul tells
the people at Athens in Acts 17:22-23, "Men of Athens! I
see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked
around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even
found an altar with this inscription: To an unknown God. Now let
me tell you about the real God. The one you call unknown.
(1) Jesus tells this woman, You cannot worship God any way
you want to. Thats why God is sending the Messiah. He is
the One who will show you how to worship God in Spirit and in
Truth. And what He will teach you will not be just
for the Jews. It will be for all prople. She said, When
the Messiah comes He will teach us all things. Jesus answered,
I am He. She jumped up, ran to town to tell everybody
who she had found.
(1) God said you must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
Where do you learn the truth that tells us how to offer Spiritual
worship that is acceptable to God? God will not accept just any
kind of worship.
(2) How do I learn how to worship God in an acceptable way? We
are told how in Jno. 16:12-13. "I have much more to say to
you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth,
comes, he will guide you into all truth. The Holy Spirit
was sent to guide that apostles into all truth. Everything they
taught and wrote down in the New Testament gives us the pattern
for coming to God and how to worship Him in Spirit and In Truth.
(2) Paul gave this command in Phip. 3:17-18, Join with others
(other Christians) in following my example, brothers, and take
note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you. For,
as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears,
many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 2 Tim. 1:13.
What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching,
with faith and love in Christ Jesus. 1 Cor. 4:16?17. I
have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in
the Lord,
who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere
in every church.
(1) What one doctrine did Paul teach? Eph. 4:4?6. There
is one body (church) and one Spirit? just as you were called to
one hope when you were called? one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
one God . The one God has given us one pattern, one doctrine
by which we may worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. Believe it,
Obey it and you will be saved.
(2) Acts 20:32.
Spur - 02/16/03 am
|