Let's look in our Scriptures this morning to John chapter 4. I wish to read again our text for this brief series on worship, chapter 4 verses 20 through 24. The section is found in a conversation between Jesus Christ and a Samaritan woman. She speaks in verse 20:
"Our fathers worshipped in this mountain: and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe Me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."
Someone has said that, "Worship is to Christian living what the mainspring is to a watch." To worship God is the very core of a Christian's response; the very heart of a Christian's activity. And to worship is simply to recognize the worth and the value and the majesty and the honor and the glory of God. In fact, it comes from an old Anglo Saxon word worship. The chief duty of every believer is to see the worth of God and to give Him the honor and the glory that is due His name. And as we saw in Psalm 45 verse 1 the word there referring to worship is one that means to boil over. And we saw that as our hearts are warmed with the knowledge of God they become hot, they become impassioned, and the boiling over is worship.
Now as we have called our attention to John chapter 4 we have focused on the most important passage in the New Testament on worship. And to begin with we've just been highlighting one major point and that is THE IMPORTANCE OF WORSHIP. That point is not extraneous to this text; it is, in fact, inherent in it. If you'll notice the end of verse 23 it says; "The Father seeketh such to worship Him."
Worship is so important that it is that for which God seeks. God makes an effort to gain worshippers. In fact, it is the most important activity that man can be involved in ... the worship of God.
Now we've been talking already about the importance of worship. I've suggested to you that there are four reasons why it's important. And I want to review the ones we've covered and then go on.
First of all, worship is important because Scripture is so dominated by it. No matter where you turn in the Scripture you find that worship is enjoined, worship is instructed, it's all over the Scripture. And in our last Lord's Day we examined, for example, Exodus chapter 20 where the first of all the Ten Commandments to reflect the law of God is a call to worship. In Matthew 22 where the Lord Jesus Christ was confronted about what is the first commandment, He responded with a commandment of worship. We talked about the tabernacle and the temple being symbols to identify the importance of worship in the midst of God's people. We talked about the patriarchs who built altars to worship God. And that goes as far back as even Cain and Abel.
And then we went to the New Testament and we examined Romans 12: 1 and 2, and I Peter 2:5, and in looking at those two Scriptures we saw that we are as Christians called to spiritual worship which is acceptable to God. Spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. So, all the way from Cain to the church, anybody who has ever identified himself with the saints of God has been called to worship...has been made a worshipper.
So, fir t of all, then, we say worship is important because of the fact that its so dominates the life and times of Scripture. Secondly, worship is important because destiny is marked by worship. It is not only a scriptural issue; it is an issue of destiny. How a person worships is indicative of their eternal destiny. And you'll remember that we said there are two kinds of worship; unacceptable and acceptable. And one who worships unacceptably is rejected by God. One who worships acceptably is received by God.
