“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.” John 4:23-24 (Read v. 19-24)

Psalm 95 directs us to worship the LORD: “O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms” (Psalm 95:1-2).

But how are we to worship? What kind of worship does God desire? Should it be with liturgy and organ or with contemporary song and guitar? Should it be in a beautiful church or cathedral or in a steel building or barn?

These questions are not much different than the question posed by the woman at Jacob’s well in Samaria when she perceived Jesus was a prophet because of His knowledge of her life and relationships. “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship,” she said (John 4:20).

And she raised a valid question because the Samaritans, who accepted only the first five books of Moses and had altered parts of them, claimed they were to worship on Mt. Gerizim and had worshiped there for centuries and continued to worship there even after the Jewish ruler Hyrcanus destroyed their temple a little more than 100 years before Christ’s birth. The Jews, on the other hand, said that Jerusalem was the only place where people should worship (Deut. 12:5ff.; 16:5-6; 1 Kings 8:12ff.; 12:25ff.).

Jesus pointed out to this woman the time was coming when God’s people would neither worship in Mt. Gerizim nor at Jerusalem. As He said elsewhere, the temple would soon be destroyed (cf. Matt. 24:1-2, Luke 19:41-44; 21:5-6), and God’s people would be scattered all over the world preaching the Gospel and would, in many places, join together with fellow believers in worship (cf. Mark 16:15-16).

Sadly, though the Samaritans sought to worship, they did not know the true God because of their admixture of error and false teaching (2 Kings 17:24ff.). They rejected most of the Old Testament Scriptures, including many of the promises of a Messiah and Savior who would bear the sins of the people and redeem them from sin and eternal death (cf. Isaiah 53; Psalm 130). The Jews, on the other hand, had the Scriptures and the promises of the Messiah and Savior.

Jesus said (John 4:23-24), “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.”

He pointed out to this woman and to us today that true worshipers would worship “in spirit and in truth,” meaning that true worship is not dependent upon where we worship or the form or liturgy used. Instead, it flows from a regenerated (or born-again) spirit in man and truly glorifies and praises God.

And so, what constitutes worshiping in spirit and in truth? First and foremost, true worship flows from faith in Jesus as God the Son, the Messiah and Savior of the world. Jesus, Himself, said that He is “the way, the truth, and the life” and that no one can come to Father apart from Him (John 14:6). He also said we can do nothing pleasing to God in regard to good works and service toward God apart from faith in Him (John 15:4-5).

Jesus said, “All men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him” (John 5:23; cf. 1 John 2:22-23). And, indeed, it is only through the atoning sacrifice of the Son that we can approach the throne of God with our prayers, praises and petitions (cf. Heb. 10:19-25; 1 John 5:11-15).

True worship, then, can only come from a heart regenerated by the gracious working of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing” (John 6:63; cf. John 15:1ff.; 3:3,5-6).

True worship must not be idolatry like that of the Samaritans (cf. Ex. 20:1ff.; Deut. 6:13-15). It brings no glory to God if we do not worship the Triune God who has revealed Himself in the Bible. (Cf. Deut. 6:4ff.; Matt. 28:19; 1 Pet. 1:1-5.) Jesus said, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Matt. 4:10).

True worship holds fast to the Bible’s teaching (1 Tim. 6:3-5; 2 Tim. 3:12-17; John 8:31-32; Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 2:42). God hates false doctrine and any adulterating of His Word. Therefore, worship that contradicts the Scripture’s teaching is not true and pleasing to God (cf. Isaiah 8:20; Deut. 4:2; 13:1ff.; Matt. 7:21ff.; Jer. 23:28).

And, finally, true worship is exactly that: true worship. It is not merely going through the outward motions or using certain forms or liturgies. It is not vain repetitions of which Jesus speaks in His Sermon on the Mount (cf. Matt. 6:7). It is worship that comes from the heart of a believer and is genuine and sincere. It gives glory to God and thanks and praises Him for His goodness and mercy toward us in Christ Jesus.

It is as David writes in Psalm 103:1: “Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.”

O Lord, grant that we worship You in spirit and in truth — that we, from our hearts, glorify Your holy name for the gift of the Son and His atoning sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the world. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31-32

How can we know the truth? Where can we find it? People look for truth in many places but, as we’ve seen, especially in recent times, even sources that should be trustworthy have become dishonest and slanted, often hiding the truth.

But “Jesus said to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

What truth does Jesus reveal in His Word? To His Jewish hearers, His Word revealed their sinfulness and their guilt and condemnation under the Law. Jesus told His hearers: “Ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:24). He told them, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:34-36). Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. … He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:14-16,18).

The truth Jesus revealed to His hearers is that it wasn’t enough to be children of Abraham and entrusted with God’s law. Their heritage did not make them true children of Abraham because they were guilty under the law of God and were servants of sin. Unless they repented of their sinful ways and looked in faith to Jesus as their Messiah and Savior, they would die in their sins and be lost forever!

The message for us is the same. It will do us no good to claim a place in God’s kingdom because of our Christian heritage or church affiliation. Like the Jews who believed in Jesus, Jesus invites us to continue in His Word so that we might learn the truth and that the truth might set us free.

And what is that truth? What does God’s Word reveal to us as it shines its bright light of truth upon us?

I think of the words of the Apostle John in his first epistle (1 John 1:8 — 2:2): “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. … And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

What truth do we learn from the Scriptures? As we read and study God’s law, we see our utter sinfulness before God. We see our failures to measure up to God’s standards. We stand guilty and condemned before God. But we see in the gospel that God sent His only-begotten Son into this world, a true man, to fulfill the demands of God’s law for us and then to bear upon the cross the full and just punishment for our sins and the sins of all that we might look to Him in faith and be justified, forgiven and counted righteous and acceptable in God’s eyes. We see that, through faith in Jesus, we have been made “accepted in the beloved,” that “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:6,7).

And this truth sets us free from the guilt and condemnation of God’s law. It gives us the assurance that through faith in the Son, we have forgiveness for all our sins and life everlasting!

Dear Lord Jesus, grant that we might continue in Your life-giving Word, learn the truth, and be made free through faith in You as our God and Savior. We ask this for the sake of Your blood, shed on the cross for our sins. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.]

“Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:13-14 (Read John 4:1-14)

Though the Jews usually had no dealings with Samaritans because they were a mixed people and had corrupted the Old Testament Scriptures to justify their erring religious beliefs, Jesus showed compassion on this immoral Samaritan woman and offered her living water — water that gives spiritual and eternal life.

He offered her life-giving water, but she didn’t understand. She thought only of water to quench her earthly thirst and wondered how Jesus could give her such water since He had nothing with which to draw water from Jacob’s well.

Jesus told her that anyone drinking from the well of Jacob would thirst again. This water could only temporarily quench one’s thirst and need for water. But the water Jesus offered and desired to give her was different. It was a water that would satisfy her spiritual thirst — forever! The water Jesus offered and still gives would become “a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

What Jesus was offering this woman, and what He offers to us as well, is Himself, the Messiah and Savior of the world, and eternal salvation through faith in Him and His atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world (cf. Isaiah 12).

Jesus said in John 6:35: “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

In John 7:37-39, Jesus said: “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” And John explained: “But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.”

Water is, of course, necessary to sustain life, and the people living in the arid parts of Israel knew what it was to thirst.

Jesus and the forgiveness and life He won for all by His innocent sufferings and death on the cross are needed by all of us as well so that we might have eternal life.

He desires to give everyone this living water that springs up into everlasting life, for He wants no one to perish and be lost forever. He wants to quench our ongoing need for forgiveness of sins and for life in fellowship with God our Maker. He wants us to partake of Him and His sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world by faith and live!

It is the Holy Spirit who opens our eyes to see Jesus for who He really is: the Son of God and our Savior. It is the Spirit, working through God’s Word, who assures us that God is gracious to us and offers us forgiveness for our sins for the sake of Jesus’ holy life and innocent sufferings and death in our stead. It is the Holy Spirit who brings us to trust in Jesus for forgiveness and life, and He strengthens us through the promises of His Word and keeps us trusting in Jesus.

God’s Spirit also moves and enables us to share our faith and tell others about Jesus and what He has done for us. He moves and enables us to share the water of life we have received with others so that their spiritual thirst, too, might be quenched forever!

All who come to know and trust in Jesus as Savior have the gift of God’s indwelling Spirit, who not only brings them to such faith and conviction but also keeps them trusting in Jesus and moves them to share their faith with others who thirst spiritually

The life-giving water that Jesus gives is, in all believers, a well of water springing up and quenching our spiritual thirst and giving us everlasting life. It satisfies us for eternity and continues to well up within us so that we might share it with others so that they, too, might have everlasting life through faith in Jesus!

O dearest Jesus, grant us Your Spirit and the forgiveness and life You have won for us by Your holy life and innocent sufferings and death on the cross in our stead. Preserve and keep us in the true and saving faith unto life everlasting and enable us to share this water of life with other thirsty souls. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]

“22 After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. 23 And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. 24 For John was not yet cast into prison. 25 Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying. 26 And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. 27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. 28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. 29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. 30 He must increase, but I must decrease. 31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. 32 And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. 33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. 34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. 35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. 36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3:22-36

While there is much to be learned from this text, I draw your attention especially to two points. The first relates to our place as ministers of the Gospel, and the second to the importance of placing our faith and hope in Christ Jesus and His ministry of Word and Sacrament.

It is often our inclination, because of our sinful flesh, to focus on ourselves and our work. Pastors come out of the seminary with hopes and dreams of great success in their ministries (often measured with human standards — greater numbers and followers), and we even become somewhat jealous of the successes of others in the ministry. We might even count ourselves more diligent and wonder why people are not flocking to hear the words of our sermons or coming to us to be baptized.

I think we see this in the opening verses of our text. Disciples of John the Baptist voiced concern that Jesus and His disciples were also baptizing, and more people were going to Jesus for baptism than those coming to John.

John’s answer provides a true lesson for us: “A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven” (v. 27).

Not only are our ministries given and entrusted to us from heaven, but the fruits of our ministries — our successes — are God’s working and His blessing upon our humble labors as ministers of the Gospel.

Instead of being upset or even jealous because of his decreasing ministry and the fact that the people were following Jesus and going to Him to hear His Word and to be baptized for the remission of their sins, John rejoiced and said these astounding words: “He must increase, but I must decrease (v. 30).”

Is that how we conduct our ministries? Do we rejoice when our hearers no longer follow us because of who we are and what we do and say but follow Jesus and cling to His Word because of who He is and what He teaches and reveals to us?

Jesus is from above. He is the very Son of God who came into this world to save us. He bears witness to the truth and speaks the very words of God because He came from God, and the Spirit was given to Him without limit or restriction.

Certainly, we want our hearers to follow Jesus, not because of us and who we are but because of Jesus, who He is, and what He has done for us.

And this brings me to the second point — a point I so appreciate — the simplicity of the Gospel.

“The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (v. 35-36).

You can’t get much more straightforward and clear than that! Jesus is the Christ. He is our Messiah and Savior. God the Father committed our salvation into His hand, and He went to the cross and paid the price — He made full atonement for your sins, my sins, and the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:1-2; John 1:29). In Him is “plenteous redemption” (Ps. 130:7).

The one who believes in the Son — who looks to Jesus the Messiah and His cross in faith — has eternal life. The one who doesn’t look to the Son in faith “shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (v. 36).

This, of course, echos the words of our Lord Jesus earlier in John 3, when Jesus, while speaking to Nicodemus, said: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (v. 16-18).

Both John the Baptist and our Lord Jesus called upon all to repent of their sinful ways and look to Jesus in faith. They both clearly taught that we are justified by faith alone in Jesus Christ and that, apart from such faith, we are not justified but remain under the wrath of God and stand condemned.

It is as the apostle John writes in His first Epistle, chapter 5: “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (v. 11-12). Or, as we read in the ending of Mark’s Gospel (16:16): “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”

That is certainly reason to point our hearers not to ourselves but to Jesus and His life-giving Word. Only in Him is life!

O dearest Jesus, grant that we place our faith and hope in You alone and follow after You and hear Your life-giving words. And grant that we rejoice that others, too, hear the truth of Your Word and come to You for forgiveness and life! Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]

“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12

Have you ever tried to walk someplace in total darkness? Perhaps in a cave or on a moonless night? What happened? Without any light, we lose our way and begin to trip and stumble over everything. But what if a friend has a flashlight? If we walk with him, we can see and find our way. But if we do not follow closely, we again begin to stumble and grope in the darkness.

We live in a world full of darkness when it comes to knowledge of the truth. People don’t know or understand who they are, how they got here, why they are here, or how to live. People do not know God, their Maker, or how to walk in fellowship with Him. Instead, people deny the existence of God and believe they are freak accidents of time, chance, and evolution. They have no idea of their purpose here in this world — if they even have one — or what will happen to them after they die.

To the people of this dark and sinful world who are groping about in spiritual darkness, trying this and that to find happiness and fulfillment, Jesus says, “I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Jesus truly is the light of the world. He speaks the truth about our utter sinfulness before God and the condemnation we deserve, and He speaks the truth when He calls upon lost sinners to repent and trust in Him for forgiveness and life everlasting (cf. John 8:23-24; 8:44; 8:34-36; 8:51; 3:3-6,14-21).

Jesus, the very Son of God, took on human flesh and blood and came into this world to save sinners like you and me. He lived a holy life under God’s law and then suffered and died on the cross to bear the full and just punishment for our sins. Jesus’ resurrection is proof that God accepted His sacrifice for sin and that we can be pardoned, forgiven and justified before God through faith in Jesus and His cross (Rom. 4:23-25). Jesus is “the Light of Life.” In Him alone can we sinners have life in fellowship with God our Maker, both now and forever!

What shall we do? Shall we continue to grope around in the darkness, trying to find our own way? Or shall we follow Jesus, the Light of the world?

Like the person walking next to one with a flashlight, if we walk with Jesus by trusting in Him as our Savior and being led and guided continually by His Word, we will “not walk in darkness” but “have the light of life.” We will not be condemned on account of our sins but be comforted with the knowledge and assurance of forgiveness for our sins and life everlasting through faith in His name! And we will be led and guided in the right way through life by the Holy Spirit’s teaching through the Word.

On the other hand, if we wander off and do not follow closely after the Lord Jesus, we will quickly find ourselves groping and stumbling through the darkness of sin and death, not knowing the way to God or how to live for Him.

Dearest Jesus, “In Thy light shall we see light” (Ps. 36:9). Graciously shine upon our hearts, revealing our sin but comforting us with mercy and forgiveness through faith in You and Your atoning sacrifice for our sins; and lead us safely through this life to Yourself in heaven. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]