Worship Defined By God

Worship Defined by God in John 4

Passage in this way, that it is God who defines worship. So worship defined by God, John chapter 4, starting back in verse 1, please stand with me for the reading of God's word. Jesus goes to Galilee, John chapter 4, starting in verse 1, therefore when Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus himself was not baptizing but his disciples were, he left Judea and went away again into Galilee and he had to pass through Samaria.

So he came to a city of Samaria called Sychar near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph and Jacob's well was there. So Jesus being wearied from his journey was sitting thus by the well, it was about the sixth hour.

A woman of Samaria came to draw water, Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to him, how do you being a Jew ask for a drink from me being a Samaritan woman?

For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

She said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep, where then do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us this well and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?

Jesus answered and said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst ever, but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.

Verse 15, the woman said to him, sir, give me this water so I will not be thirsty nor come back here to draw. He said to her, go, call your husband and come back here. The woman answered and said, I have no husband.

Jesus said to her, you have correctly said I have no husband for you have five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly. The woman said to him, sir, I see that you are a prophet.

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, an hour is coming when neither in 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 an hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth. For such people, the father seeks to be his worshipers.

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 was called Christ. When he comes, he will declare all things to us. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am he.

You may be seated. In verses one through 14, the apostle John recorded the first part of the interaction between the Samaritan woman and the Messiah Jesus so that you can understand your greatest need in life is not physical.

It's the need for spiritual transformation, an object lesson from the Messiah. The history of the region showed the faithfulness of Jesus to cross cultural boundaries to reach sinners, transcending the human limitations of worldliness or political correctness.

The help Jesus offered the woman is the lesson that having every physical need met is ultimately of little value. It's even worthless without the ultimate need for spiritual transformation being met. By believing in the Messiah Jesus, a sinner dead in their sins passes from death into everlasting life.

The Messiah Jesus is the fountain of living waters that gives spiritual life and unending satisfaction to the soul. The problem is that we have redefined worship today. You know, that became abundantly clear during this year's Super Bowl Sunday.

If you guys remember some of the images on the internet, pastors dressed up as referees, kicking a pretend field goal with a prop Bible. Super Bowl Sunday only highlighted what was really already going on.

The reality is that these things are not just happening once a year during football season. Online videos are easy to find of so-called churches singing everything from Miley Cyrus to Michael Jackson songs during their time of worship, during worship services.

The activities of the rock concert entertainment enhanced by the laser light show and the fog machine are prevalent in churches across America and the world. It's entertainment. It's not true worship.

The zeal for God's holiness is only a memory in many churches today. However, this text goes beyond the silly activities of the seeker-sensitive apostate church so popular among the deceived goats of the day.

Jesus addresses the heart of the Samaritan woman, not the specific religious practices of the false worship of the Samaritans. The historical realities of the Samaritans in terms of worship were pretty bad.

They may not have had fog machines, but they were nonetheless idolaters. An online article on the worship of the Samaritans said this, quote, the Samaritans occupied the country formerly belonging to the tribe of Ephraim and the half tribe of Manasseh.

The capital of the country was Samaria, formerly a large and splendid city. When the 10 tribes were carried away into captivity to Assyria, the king of Assyria sent people to inhabit Samaria. These foreigners intermarried with the Israelite population that was still in and around Samaria.

The Samaritans at first worshiped the idols of their own nations, and they were judged by God. The Scripture records Yahweh who sent lions to attack them because they had not honored the true God. A Jewish priest was therefore sent to them from Assyria to instruct them in the Jewish religion, and they were instructed from the books of Moses, but still retained many of their idolatrous customs.

The Samaritans embraced a religion that was a mixture of Judaism and idolatry because the Israelite inhabitants of Samaria had intermarried with foreigners and adopted their idolatrous religion. Samaritans were universally despised by the Jews.

In other words, they blurred the law of Yahweh with pagan idols. They blurred the Bible with cultural practices. Religious traditions blurred with cultural fads. No different in the twisted worship of the seeker-sensitive and emergent church culture so popular in America today.

Actually, besides their ethnicity and connection to the northern kingdom of Israel, they were no different from the kind of worship we see today. Different specifics, same heart. And Jesus is addressing the heart.

The Heart of False Worship

When directly answering the accusations of the Pharisees, Jesus explained the problem with false worship, and it is the heart. The heart. Matthew chapter 15 records this exchange. Listen to this. Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?

For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. And he answered and said to them, Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, honor your father and mother, and he who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.

But you say, whoever says to his father or mother, whatever you might benefit from me is given to God, he need not honor his father. And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you. This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commands of men.

The heart is the issue of false worship. Worship that elevates self and meets the addiction of the sinner looking for validation and comfort. The heart is revealed in the corporate worship of the church.

Being a part of church revitalization ministry for over four years now, I have seen the heart in what is said out loud by folks looking for a new church. It begs the question of what the church is to Christians today.

Why do we gather? What are we doing in corporate worship? Or why do we end up at certain congregations? In most cases, the answers are met with a me or I perspective. I'm looking for a church that has fun youth programs for our kids.

I want preaching that makes me feel good. I want a church that has enough people of a certain age close to me. I love the way the music makes me feel. That's worship defined by the world. Me first, I want this.

The needs of the church or how one may serve in the local church is an afterthought. It's not even a thought. God's way and a zeal for his holiness and honor are an afterthought if they're even considered at all.

We live in a very consumer-based society that looks at everything through the lens of what do I get out of this? A what have you done for me lately kind of attitude, not looking at life as an act of worship or putting the needs of others before one's own self or own desires.

Besides the worldly or even overly religious practices, worship affects the heart in what gives a person comfort. Let's think about it like this. What, if you have it, gives you comfort and happiness?

What, if you don't have it, gives you anxiety and stress? Whatever that thing is, you worship that. There's another word for that thing that you worship. It's called an idol. The idols of the heart are the things we worship.

Ultimately, worldly consumerism is the new church model, and affections in the heart and mind for God have been replaced by idol worship, delayed or instant gratification for whatever need and want you may have that you long for above God, something you love not just more than God, but in addition to God.

Jesus Confronts the Woman's Sin

In verses 15 through 26, the Apostle John records the exchange of the Samaritan woman and Jesus, displaying the omniscience of Jesus and how he reveals himself as the Messiah so that you can see how God defines true worship.

Four exchanges in the interaction between the woman and the Messiah. The first exchange is her misunderstanding, verses 15 and 16. The first exchange, her misunderstanding. The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water so I will not be thirsty nor come back here to draw.

He said to her, Go, call your husband and come back here. An interesting note for verse 15. In the Greek word translated Sir, it's actually the word Lord, Lord. There is a recognition that Jesus is someone of importance.

She's not calling him her Lord or God. This is not deity, but I think we can assume she is taking him seriously despite the misunderstanding. This first exchange really just highlights where she's at and how over her head Jesus' previous statements about being living water have gone.

We see something similar in Nicodemus' response. When Jesus is talking to him about being born again in the spirit, flip back to chapter 3, look at verse 4. Same kind of confusion. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he's old?

Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Just not tracking with him. And as she responds in this way of saying, Well, yeah, give me the water, then I don't have to come back here and draw every day, just went over her head.

And I think we can all identify with her. She's thinking about the immediate need. Her response is a very human one. Essentially, if I take the water that you're offering, that means I don't have to come back and return to the well each day.

Her understanding demonstrates that ultimately, she just thought that he could make her life easier. A common response for many new believers and sometimes false converts who responded to a prosperity version of the gospel that promised to make their lives better.

I call that the rainbows and butterflies gospel. It's not the real gospel, a gospel that doesn't exist. The true gospel actually puts that kind of prosperity nonsense to shame because the true gospel doesn't promise riches while you're here on earth.

It's better. It promises everlasting life in eternity. Not even comparable. Just think if people always responded this way to Jesus, thinking about how he can make my life better. I think the implication would be that a lot of people would be accepting the gospel for the exact opposite reason why Christ says this matters, an earthly perspective versus an eternal one.

Just ask yourself, did Christ come to remove our challenges or to remove trials? Well, if you're like me, I was extremely edified last week as I listened to Justin's sermon from James. Did Jesus come to remove our trials?

Well, if you answer yes, then you're going to have to remove the book of James from the Bible. Of course, Jesus did not come into the world to take away trials. Like he was doing with the Samaritan woman, he came into the world to reveal God to us, to reveal himself as the Messiah, to give us new hearts, to cause us to be born again, to change what was inside of us, our hearts, from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh.

Jesus as God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, enables us to persevere with our challenges and trials, where we can look upon things not from a human perspective, but from a godly perspective. The misunderstanding shows the human response to God's instruction is to think of ourselves first and what is the easiest way forward, as we perceive.

I'm looking for a church that has fun youth programs for our kids. I want preaching that makes me feel good. I want a church that has enough people of a certain age group close to me. I love the way the music makes me feel.

And that misunderstanding is the human response, and we can all identify with that. That is how we respond. That's the first exchange. The second exchange in verses 17 and 18 is Jesus' correction. Verses 17 and 18, the second exchange, Jesus' correction.

The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you have correctly said I have no husband, for you had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.

We see the divine attribute of omniscience displayed by Jesus. In his humanity being fashioned and made in the likeness of men, Jesus set aside his independent authority and placed himself under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and that meant not regularly displaying publicly his deity.

We see that in Philippians chapter 2, referring to Christ, who although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a slave by being made in the likeness of men.

And that makes the correction very important, because in this instance, he is publicly displaying his divine attribute of omniscience. Her greater need for spiritual transformation is what Jesus is addressing here.

And we can think, why did he ask the question in verse 16 if he already knew the answer? Because he is giving her an object lesson on what her greatest need is. It's not the water. And another very important takeaway for us is the manner in which Jesus confronts the sin.

He confronts the sinner. Jesus addresses her sin, her need for spiritual transformation. Of course, he already knew the answer. The point in asking the question is to show her the point. I know that you are an adulterer, and the sin in your life is what needs to be addressed.

Not whether you're going to make multiple trips back to the well to fetch water. In other words, our greatest need isn't the physical provision that we need in life, like food, clothing, or a roof over our heads.

Our greatest need is to address the sin in our lives, in our hearts. And there are two takeaways that are helpful to consider in the second exchange. First, Jesus is God and knows everything that has ever happened and everything that will ever happen.

And that includes every secret thought, every action or heart motive. Look at a few passages with me about this idea of omniscience. Psalm 139. We'll look at a few Old Testament and a few New Testament.

Psalm 139. Oh, Yahweh, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, oh, Yahweh, you know it all. Psalm 139. A couple from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 42, behold, the former things have come to pass. Now I declare new things.

Before they spring forth, I cause you to hear them. Isaiah 46, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things which have not been done, saying, my counsel will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure.

Thus says the Lord. How about a couple from the New Testament, Hebrews chapter 4. And there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of him to whom we have an account to give.

He knows it all. 1 John chapter 3. In whatever our heart condemns us, for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. The omniscience of God. R .C. Sproul made this point. Everything we know today needed to be learned at some point in the past.

God, on the other hand, knows everything and yet has never learned. We know Jesus knows everything about the woman. The second takeaway is the motive for the correction, to reveal himself as the Messiah, her greatest need.

This isn't a gotcha moment for Jesus. This is a wake-up call confrontation. As God, he knows her better than she knows herself. The correction comes from the misunderstanding that she thought she was talking to a mere man.

Her response is our response to sin being uncovered. In the following verses in the third exchange, we see that when she had realized that Jesus knew about her secret sin life, she would end up avoiding the issue.

The correction establishes Jesus' attribute of omniscience is not separated from his desire to call sinners to return to God. God's omniscience is so profound and it's not separated from his desire that all would repent, that they would return to God and believe that they'd be saved.

I've experienced this a little bit in doing some street evangelism. I've heard it multiple times. A person I was evangelizing, a sinner and unbeliever, told me something along these lines that if God only knew what I had really done, that I've committed so many sins, I've done so many bad things.

We're talking about a person who's committed criminal activity, you know, telling me…it's not that he hurt people's feelings, he hurt people, you know, physical violence and just terrible dark, dark things in the past, and in tears.

Well, I'm just…the sin is too much. How could I ever be forgiven? God couldn't forgive me. And he kind of, like, didn't think about what he was saying. If God only knew everything I've done, he would never forgive me.

I had to, like, think about that and I was like, he does know everything you've done. It's like, that's why the gospel is so amazing. It's like, brother, he does know everything you've done. And not only that, everything you're ever going to do, and he still died for you.

If you would just give that sin over to him, ask for forgiveness, return to him, and God will pardon abundantly. You know, no one's getting away with anything. God knows all of it, every single thing.

Not just the actions or the words out of the mouth, every secret thought in the heart, he knows it all, and it's all laid bare before him. And yet, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus' correction is for her good.

His attribute of omniscience is not separated from his desire to save sinners. That's the second exchange. The third exchange is the true worship defined by God. Verses 19 through 24, the third exchange, true worship defined.

Look with me at verse 19. The woman said to him, Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, an hour is coming when neither in 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 an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For such people the Father seeks to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

The third exchange, true worship defined. The sin is exposed. And how does she respond? Well, she actually doesn't directly respond. She changes the subject. She just changed the subject. Like the woman, when our sin is brought to the surface by God through his word in teaching and preaching and fellowship with his people, we often respond by becoming uncomfortable.

Especially if the preaching hits too close to home. Her statement starts the same way, same word from verse 15. Essentially like this, Lord, I see that you are a prophet. That's the response in acknowledging he is correct in his confrontation of her sinful life.

She didn't change the subject to talk about worship. She doesn't want to deal with the sin directly as it was revealed by God. The very presence of Christ revealed her sin. The presence of God in our lives through the preaching of his word exposes sin.

It peels back the layers and brings the sin to the surface. And that makes us feel uncomfortable. That's why people will point the finger at the preacher and the preaching to rationalize or justify not sitting under preaching that calls the sinner to change.

The pastor, Burke Parson, said this on the topic of preaching. This is an ouch, so just fair warning. Pastors who preach God's word faithfully will be called boring only by those seeking something besides the faithful preaching of God's word.

I'm not here to entertain you. That was convicting for me as well. You know, when the pastor... I remember listening to sermons when I was a new believer and the pastor would say something and I thought, like, does this guy have a camera in my house?

How is he knowing everything that's going on in my heart? He doesn't. God does. And he's faithfully preaching the word of God. The word of God is bringing that sin to bear in the heart. It's bringing it to the surface.

In trying to redirect the conversation, the woman brought up a theological issue of the day. For her as a Samaritan, that was the correct place to worship. Jesus' statement makes it clear that the location of worship is not the issue for the woman.

Remember, the Samaritans were taken by the Assyrians along with the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel. The Samaritans only believed the first five books of the Old Testament written by Moses.

They didn't believe the writings of the prophets were necessarily the word of God. One commentator noted this. The Samaritans, recognizing only the Pentateuch, noted that the first place Abraham built an altar to God was at Shechem, which was overlooked by Mount Gerizim, where the Israelites had shouted the blessings promised by God before they entered the promised land.

As a result, they chose Mount Gerizim for the place of their temple. Really, what she's doing is just redirecting the conversation to put up a wall between God and her sin. Her acknowledgment that he is a prophet doesn't reflect her true understanding of who she's talking to.

Whether she admits he knows about her secret, you know, sin or not. Jesus explains to her that it is the attitude of the worshipers that is important, not the place of worship. And remember the context of this conversation.

Jesus had already addressed the Pharisee Nicodemus, which would have represented the Jewish people, descendants from the two tribes that were not part of the northern kingdom. The southern kingdom of Judah comprised of Judah and Benjamin, the descendants of which are represented by the Jewish people.

In the immediate context in these conversations, Nicodemus represents the Jews. The woman at the well represents the Samaritans. Both had a misunderstanding on the religious practices of their specific cultural traditions.

In both cases, Jesus corrected them and brought it back to the heart. In both cases, Jesus explained true worship isn't possible without the Spirit of God. And the Spirit of God comes from God, not from worldly practices.

In his comment that salvation comes through the Jews, he wasn't saying that the Messiah was only for the Jewish people. We know that based on what he had told Nicodemus. The verse that everybody knows, for God so loved the world.

Now he was making it clear that the Messiah would come through the Jewish people, who would bring salvation to the whole world. At least those that are called by God. And this goes back to the very beginning, the very first book of the Bible, Genesis, when God promised that through the Jewish people, the whole world would be blessed.

Yahweh speaking to Abraham, Genesis chapter 12. And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. Because the woman may have been familiar with the first five books of the Bible written by Moses, she may have also been familiar with the ideas that the Jews would be a blessing to the whole world.

Through them the Messiah would come, who would bring a knowledge of God to every person in the world. The prophets had predicted the Messiah's arrival. The Samaritan woman was addressing an issue that we experience today, just in a different cultural situation.

How are we supposed to worship? Without detailed prescriptive teaching on the topic, there is some wiggle room. The prescriptions on worship in the Bible give us broad room, actually. However, there are some clear examples that we will incorporate.

I call these the non-negotiables in worship. The first is preaching. And not just preaching how we preach. Preaching is the pinnacle of worship. Expository preaching is the fundamental method of preaching the Bible accurately.

Biblical exposition is God-centered preaching, involving reading of the text, explaining the meaning of the text, and expressing the implications of the text, and challenging the hearts of the believers based on what the text says.

Nehemiah chapter 8 is a great place to look for this kind of example. And not just in the Old Testament. From the time that we see Moses standing up before the wilderness people recorded in Deuteronomy, really a giant sermon recorded for us, this is the kind of preaching we see throughout the scriptures.

Whether it's Moses all the way to Jesus. Peter, Paul, you name it. Find an example of somebody standing up in front of people and preaching the Word of God, and you'll see they're quoting the Old Testament, they're explaining the Old Testament, and they're challenging the listener to live by what is in the Word of God.

This is just one example, but it's a really good example. Nehemiah chapter 8. It's really in the first eight verses, but I'll just give you sort of a little excerpt from this passage. Here's expository preaching.

All the people gathered as one man. I love that. All the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the water gate. Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could understand when listening.

And he read from it. In the presence of men and women, those who could understand, and all the ears of the people were attentive to the book of the law. Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden podium which they had made for the purpose, and Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people.

And when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed Yahweh, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen. They read from the book, from the law of God, explaining and giving insight, and they provided understanding of the reading.

Expository preaching. I could come next week and tell you really funny stories if you want to hear some personal anecdotes about my upbringing. It's super funny and super entertaining. Is that what you want?

Or when you come to church, do you want to hear from God from his word? I'm messing my stuff up up here. You know, this is preaching. There's only one kind of biblical preaching, and I say that because there's only one example of preaching in the Bible, and it's expository preaching.

That's why we preach the way we preach. Believe me, you don't want to hear about my silly stories from childhood. You want to hear about the next verses recorded by the Apostle John to see what is going on here, not what, you know, entertaining stories I can tell.

The kind of thing where you're going to hear a funny story about the person's life, an anecdote, I'll read a verse out loud, and then I'll tell another funny story that ties the verse in. Amen, have a good week.

If that's the kind of preaching you want, you have to assess your heart. Do you want to hear from man, or do you want to hear from God? I can't answer that question for you. I can answer it for myself, and I want to hear from God when I go to worship.

You know, the kind of preaching that I listen to is men like Steve Lawson, Paul Washer, John MacArthur, Justin Peters. You know, we have an amount of biblical preachers today that are some of the best preachers to ever live on planet Earth.

And instead, people are listening to Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now. Do we want to hear from God? Biblical expository preaching is the way we are going to hear from God, not from man. The preacher Steve Lawson said this, Based on Scripture, it should be the determinant of how the message is preached.

The text of Scripture must guide the messenger as he presents the message to the listeners. And part of worship is going to be Scripture reading. This should be a no-brainer. 1 Timothy 4 gives attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.

In addition to the preaching of the text, our worship services must feature the plain reading of the biblical text. We aim to hear God speak through his word and to honor God in our careful listening to Scripture as it is read out loud.

And another non-negotiable in worship, singing. Singing. Ephesians chapter 5, Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father.

Music in both testaments has been and continues to be an important means by which the people of God worship and glorify him. The Old Testament especially places great emphasis upon the use of musical instruments to accompany the singing of praises unto God.

That's an important thing for our context, is it not? If you have not been praying, may I ask you formally from the pulpit in the middle of this sermon, would you pray that God will bring people here to play musical instruments for us?

Not so that we can just have a fun melody. No, no, that's not the reason. We want to glorify God. I have been praying for that. Pray with me, would you? Pray with me. And pray with expectation. God will bring musical instruments.

It's just a matter of when. It's not a matter of if. We are going to worship together with people playing musical instruments. I can promise you that 110 because it's God's will for the church in worship.

You can just read the psalms for the choir director, for the choir director. We will have this because it's God's will. Music that is pleasing to God. And think about the point of singing. This matters.

It must be rich in theological content that exalts the name and character of God. The scriptures and biblical truths must be sung in a way that it's more important than just the music that facilitates it.

There's a lot of songs out there that have a great hook and a melody, and they're singing theological nonsense. The music provides a God-given means of assisting mere human singing of spiritual truth into true spiritual worship of our glorious God and Savior.

A non-negotiable. Worship songs. And another is prayer. Prayer. Prayer has always been an indispensable part of both the Old Testament synagogue and the New Testament church's worship. Hence, after putting on the whole armor of God, the exhortation, praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication, prayer must be part of the service.

And there should be prayer before the service where faithful believers can gather as one to ask God for His blessings upon the service. Praise the Lord. We do that at the end of our Bible study every Sunday.

And it is such an encouragement to be in there with other brothers and sisters in Christ and listen to the saints praying. Oh, there's nothing like it. Giving is another important aspect of the worship of God.

The act of giving is an act of worship. The New Testament church practiced the principle of sacrificial giving with joy. And it is an important note here. The tithe is not a New Testament requirement.

It's not. But it can be an effective starting point for the Christian in developing a disciplined pattern of joyful, wholehearted generosity toward God, which should result in an open-handed generosity toward others also.

And of course we have the ordinances. Communion serves as a reminder of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, a time of reflection, humility, gratitude when we consider that the one who died in our place was God's one and only Son.

Before his ascension to heaven, Jesus Christ commanded the disciples to preach the gospel, to make disciples, and to baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Baptism has been an important, yet often misunderstood, practice of the church.

Baptism is a public declaration of an inner transformation. In obedience to Christ's command, the believer seeks to be baptized as a public demonstration of their new life in Christ Jesus. Even in accordance with Jesus' words in Matthew, we are to baptize after the convert has become a believer and is able to competently testify of their new life in Christ.

The Bible dictates true worship practices, not the culture or religious traditions. And when we start replacing things that are entertaining, if you're going, you know, one image that was striking to me, I'll just throw this in as an illustration, I saw something where a person had put a profile picture online, and if you've ever been to a rock concert growing up, I went to a concert, you'll see that the people have their hands up, they're like holding a lighter.