Let Us Meet to Worship

August 4, 2019 (Sunday)
Jesus met a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, and she said to him, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:20-24 NKJV)
When Jesus met the woman at the well, he needed no one to introduce her; he knew her well already. Her past was an open book to Him. He had an appointment with her that had been arranged in Heaven. She was not aware of that. Jesus made clear that her ideas about the best place to worship would soon be irrelevant; all people everywhere would worship in spirit and truth, not in a designated place.
Today we gather in our churches and worship in buildings built for that purpose, but we are aware that we can worship anywhere. There are places in this world where we are overwhelmed by beauty such as a beautiful valley and lake nestled beneath awesome mountains. When I was pastor in Rockport, our youth leaders arranged each summer for our young people to spend almost a week on the Frio River in the Hill Country, near Leakey, Texas, and we never failed to have a deeply spiritual encounter with God as we worshiped Him around a campfire, next to a beautiful river with a cliff on the other side dotted with thousands of fireflies.
But when Jesus said we would worship in spirit and truth, he was not speaking of a geographical location; he was talking about the condition of our heart. Sadly one can be present at church, but fail to worship; on the other hand, that person can be alone at home and worship the Lord.
All things considered, it is best to worship with others; the fellowship enhances the worship experience.
When we talk of worshiping together, we mean that everything happening during that time of worship can be called, “worship.” Some today seem to believe that “worship” is a separate experience from the sermon. No, it all goes together. It’s all worship. We need to give every part of worship our full attention and our complete participation. We then will be able to say with the Scripture verse, “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord” (Psalm 121:1 KJV).