John 4:21-24 - Homiletics

The spirit of the true worship.

Our Lord acts a prophet's part in answer to her inquiries.

1. THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE NEW WORSHIP . "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father."

1 . All localized worship was soon to end.

2 . The fatherhood of God emancipates worship from every limitation of time and space. Men will worship God as a Father. The title is characteristic of this Gospel.

II. THE OBJECT OF THE NEW WORSHIP . "Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews."

1 . The Samaritans were ignorant of God ' s character, though they worshipped God.

2 . The Jews understood the character of the God whom they worshipped.

(a) The promises of salvation come to us through the Jews.

(b) The means of salvation were revealed to them.

(c) The Author of the salvation was a Jew, a descendant of Abraham and Son of David.

(d) Hitherto the bulk of the saved were Jews.

III. THE SPIRIT OF THE TRUE WORSHIP . "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth."

1 . The characteristics of true worship.

(a) as opposed to all carnal, Gentile ideas of God;

(b) as opposed to the idea of a God worshipped in temples made with hands, or worshipped with carnal ordinances.

(c) It signifies a worship in which the human soul holds intimate communion with the Divine Spirit.

Thus the Apostle Paul speaks of "the God whom I serve in my spirit" ( Romans 1:9 ), and of "praying in spirit" ( Ephesians 6:18 ). Thus Christians are temples of the Holy Ghost ( 1 Corinthians 6:19 ).

(a) as opposed to the false worship of the Samaritans or the Gentiles generally;

(b) as opposed to Jewish ordinances, which were but shadows without substance;

(c) as distinguished from sincerity, for a false worship may be perfectly sincere.

(d) It is a worship regulated

( α ) by the true ideas of the gospel;

( β ) by the manifestation which Christ has made of his Father's character.

2 . The ground or reason of this true worship. "God is a Spirit." The worship must correspond to the nature of God.