The Most Important Thing Any Person Do
John 4:20-24
I. Introduction (Rev 4:11)
A. There are a million ways to worship God
B. Most are the wrong ways
C. People have a funny innate desire to worship – it is built-in
1. Everyone worships
2. So few truly worship
3. I’m no judge – God is the One that draws the line in the sand and says people are doing it wrong
D. The chief purpose of man is to worship God – we were created not to live and die ignorant of our purpose, and only pawns in the hand of the devil
E. The worship of God is the most fulfilling and powerful of experiences
F. Throughout the Bible, you have the record of people worshipping God
1. Abel with his lambs
2. Abraham on Mount Moriah with Issac
3. David in every Psalm
4. The disciples, as they followed Jesus
G. This is a multi part message
1. Wrong Ways to Worship
2. The Right Ways to Worship
II. Preview – Wrong Ways to Worship (John 4:20-24)
A. Geographically
B. Ignorantly
C. Paganly
D. Stubbornly
E. Religiously
F. Selfishly - Only for looks
G. Apathetically – with no passion, heart, or zeal
H. Without the New Birth
III. Message – Wrong Ways to Worship
A. Geographically (John 4:20,21)
1. People put a lot of emphasis on places of worship
2. For years I had people tell me they would never come and worship God in our old Barn in Blarney – the TA Hall
3. So they stayed in their old rut of a pattern – and many missed some real worship
4. Mormons revere Independence, Missouri and Salt lake City
5. Muslims revere Mecca, and 4 other holy places
6. Catholics revere Rome
7. Christians look for a city (Heb 11:8-11, 13-16) and until then, will worship anywhere, as long as it has the following ingredients:
a. Preaching
b. Singing
c. Repentance and holiness
d. Hunger for righteousness
e. Humility
f. Believers gathering together in Jesus’ name
8. Don’t worry about the Where, as much as the Who you are worshipping, and the How it is being done! It matters MORE than people think!
B. Ignorantly (John 4:22; Acts 17:23-25)
1. People don’t know the God of heaven – they are ignorant of Him
2. They stare for hours through telescopes and microscopes at His handiwork, and don’t know a thing about the Creator!
3. They come up with superstitions, and theories and miss who He really is
4. This is one of the worst ways to worship God – blindly, ignorantly, stumbling through words not knowing if they have any effect or not
5. That’s why God gave us the Bible!!!
C. Paganly – like pagans who know not God. They claim to be worshipping God, but they are worshipping Him just like those who do not know the slightest bit about Him!
1. Pagans Use Idols (Ex 32:8; Ex 20:1-5)
2. Pagans Focus on Creation, and the Gifts, instead of the Creator and Giver (Rom 1:25)
3. Pagans Worship people (Acts 10:25) – religious leaders, the gods (Greek and Roman mythology)
4. Pagans Worship angels (Rev 19:9,10; 22:8,9)
5. That’s the WRONG way to try and worship God!
D. Without the New Birth (John 4:24)
1. It is impossible to worship God as a condemned sinner
2. That’s why, when you are sinning, you feel the hypocrite when you come to church – because sin blocks your relationship with God
3. Unless that sin-record is taken cared of, all the worship in the world will do you no good
4. Jesus said to a very religious, very worshipful man named Nicodemas, that he HAD to be born again to worship God
5. Same goes for everyone
IV. Conclusion (2Cor 11:3)
A. There are a million ways to worship God
B. Most are the wrong ways (John 4:20-24)
1. Geographically
2. Ignorantly
3. Paganly
4. Without the New Birth
C. The worst of all is to try to do it ignorantly, without the new birth! Otherwise you are wasting your time and effort.
D. Here is how to get born again!
Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church, Ballincollig, Ireland