John chapter four provides us an incredible story of true worship. The Apostle established the theology of who Jesus is in chapter one (the God-man), established why Jesus came to earth in chapter two (to do His Father’s will), and established how He was going to accomplish His mission in chapter three (saving the lost). Chapter four gives us the incredible illustration of Jesus doing just that, saving the lost.
Jesus met a man in chapter three named Nicodemus, gave him the gospel, and called him to faith. In chapter four he did the same for the woman at the well. Nicodemus was powerful, wealthy, religious elite in Israel; the woman was an poor, ignorant outcast in the outcast region of Samaria. But the same gospel was given to both; the same grace was needed to save either; and in both situations Jesus exalted God.
Jesus was loving but firm with both. He employed doctrinal teaching in both situations. He did not compromise by telling the religious man that being sincere was profitable or by telling the woman that her shipwrecked life earned her a break from rebuke and preaching. No, Jesus was true to His mission, worshipping the Father in Spirit and in truth, and the Father’s will was accomplished.
John Piper once said that if Christians would truly worship there would be no need for missions. The reason we have mission programs is because we are not truly worshipping.
Ouch.
May we learn from Christ who set His mind to the task of doing the Father’s will, worshipped God everyday, and His life was a series of continual Divine appointments – and missions happened.
[This post was written enroute to T4G.]
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Jason Robertson is a husband and a father and a pastor. He is dedicated to leading and equipping his the Church with God’s word and biblical theology for life ministry, using a combination of pastoral, church planting and evangelism experience. He holds a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is experienced in church planting, evangelism, missions, and the training of pastors and Bible teachers.
Jason has been preaching the gospel since 1985, serving the first ten years of ministry as a Southern Baptist itinerant evangelist out of Milldale Baptist Church in Zachary, LA which ordained him in 1993. He has preached in hundreds of churches in over 30 States and 4 countries. He planted churches in Siberia, Russia in the summers of 1993 and 1994. He founded Murrieta Valley Church in California, which he planted in cooperation with the SBC NAMB in 2001. He also teaches ministry students at California Baptist University.
You can hear his sermons and read his manuscripts on sermonaudio.com. Just follow the link to "sermons" at the top of this page.