In Spirit and In Truth

I am reading in John 4:1-42, and this is a lengthy passage, so I am going to summarize some of it and I will quote some of it. For it is the story of Jesus talking with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in Samaria. And this meeting up with this woman at that well was a divine appointment for Jesus and not an accidental encounter. 

Jesus was wearied from his journey, so he was seated beside the well when the Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water. Immediately Jesus asked the woman to give him a drink. This surprised the woman since she was a Samaritan and he was a Jew, and Jews generally had no dealings with Samaritans, for they were a mixed race of Jew and Gentile, I believe. 

Now, Jesus certainly must have been physically thirsty, but that is not the real reason that he asked the woman to give him a drink. He asked her as a lead in for him to share with her the truth of the gospel. For then he spoke with her of the gift of God and of living water which is our salvation and our eternal life, and it is the Spirit of God now living within us, too.

The woman then expressed to Jesus a desire to have this living water, but she was still thinking of physical water, for she had not yet grasped his meaning of the living water. So he then told her to “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” (John 4:16-18 quoted)

The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” (John 4:19-26 ESV)

Now the woman went into town and she said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him. Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” (see John 4:27-30,39-42)

Awesome! And I am a woman, so this tickles my heart that Jesus Christ used a woman to take the good news of the gospel to the people of the town and that many believed in Jesus Christ because of her testimony and then because of the testimony that they heard from Jesus Christ, himself. 

Now I want to go back and focus on the large quoted text because there is a message in there that I believe is for all of us today, and that is that once Jesus came, and he died on that cross, and he was resurrected from the dead, and he ascended back to heaven, and he sent his Holy Spirit to indwell his followers, the people of God no longer had to go to a physical temple as part of their worship of the Lord, for now they were the temple of God, and we are, too, who believe in Jesus Christ in truth and in righteousness.

The church is not a building. It is not a church denomination. It is not a business nor a corporation under the state. And it is not a civic center nor a social club, but all this is what “the church” has been turned into today, at least here in America. But the church, the body of Christ, is the people of God who worship him in spirit and in truth. We are that building. We are its living stones with Jesus Christ as our cornerstone. So we don’t have to go to a specific building to worship our Lord, for we can worship him anytime of day or night in any location that is conducive to true worship of God.

And our worship of our Lord is not to be in form only and in religious rituals and traditions. For true worship of our Lord is in the giving of ourselves to our Lord as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him. And it is in the forsaking of our sins, and it is us no longer being conformed to the ways of this sinful world, but us being transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God away from living in sin and for self to now walking with our Lord in holiness and in obedience to his commands.

[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]   

Draw Me Close To You  

Donnie McClurkin

Draw me close to You

Never let me go

I lay it all down again

To hear You say that I'm Your friend

You are my desire

And no one else will do

'Cause nothing else can take Your place

To feel the warmth of Your embrace

Help me find a way

Bring me back to You

Bring me back, oh Jesus

You're all I want

You're all I've ever needed

You're all I want

Help me know You are near

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAnwBixzuNo 

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