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Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661
Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org
OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”
Nobleton Community Church
Date March 30, 2025
Text James 1:26-27; John 4:7-39; Romans 12, 1-2;
Pastor Paul Lehmann
In the first chapter of the book of James, he has brought us into dynamic touch with our Heavenly Father at two points. In verse 5 we see that He is ready to give us wisdom, and in verse 18 he shared his nature with us when he brought us both as his children. So then we may ask, what will life be like if it is controlled by the Father’s wisdom? What will it be like if it is the outworking of our new nature? It works out in three points. There are three truths about our Heavenly Father that He shows us in verse 18.
His spontaneous care for the helpless.
His Word of truth, and His purpose of holiness.
Then in verses 26 and 27, one of our texts for today we see three marks of the child of God. A controlled tongue, A caring ministry, and a holy life.
James says that unless we keep a tight reign on our tongue we deceive ourselves and our religion is worthless.
The word that is translated religion, captures well the meaning of the Greek threskeia and the rare adjective threskos. It is used in Acts 26:5 where Paul speaks about the religion of the Jews, the strictest sect– the Pharisees, that he was a part of. Outside the Bible, the words have a general reference to the “outward forms of religion. “It signifies religion in its external aspect. The term is not specifically Christian and is used widely in Greek religion to denote the reverencing and worshipping of a god (or gods). It often means outward acts of worship. The true test of any religious profession, James suggests, is not the outward ritual of worship, which many go through unthinkingly and with little heart commitment.
THE REAL LITMUS TEST OF RELIGION IS OBEDIENCE
Without it James is saying, religion is vain, empty, useless, and profitless. The person who hears the truth but does not put it into practice is self-deceived. This person is the one whose religious acts do not make a difference in the way he lives. Religion, that is; THERESKEIA is used to set in contrast that which is unreal and deceptive, and the “pure religion” which consists in not just making a social call, but more accurately looking after orphans and widows in their affliction or distress. This is the main part of godliness or the love of God. This is what God accepts as pure and faultless religion.
We talk about false religions too. My definition of Religion gives an accurate way of understanding what is meant by religion today. It is a set of man-made rules and regulations that constitute a system of beliefs and practices.” It is man (us) reaching out to God and trying to do a lot of things to hopefully satisfy Him. Think about this in relation to your religious or church background. It doesn’t matter if you were Catholic, Protestant, (one of the mainline denominations) or Evangelical, Pentecostal or Charismatic. Too often what we have been taught, or at least what we have learned is often what we have been taught, is”
There are certain things that we have to believe. ( And that is true there are.)
There are certain things that we have to do, and other things that we don’t do. (also true)
There are expectations like being baptized and taking communion (These too are normal expectations for a Christian.)
However, too often all of these become part of a ritual and this is exactly why so many people, who come from Christian families, eventually quit going to church, but not only turn their back on the Church, but upon Jesus Christ, because they have never really come to know Him as their Personal Savior, but only as an object of what the Church teaches about, and not very thoroughly either. Instead of an object or subject to center a ritual around, or reason to not do certain things, Jesus should be a person, who is received into your life. He has promised to give abundant life, or life in all of its fulness when we receive the New Birth, that He provides. It is not the liturgy that changes us. It is not ritual or church attendance that can change us..It is JESUS WHO WANTS TO, AND WHO WILL CHANGE US.
What James is saying is; the finest ritual and the finest liturgy you can offer to God is not those things, but a SERVICE of the poor and personal purity. Paul says in Romans 12:1 and 2 that we are to : Present or offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Some translations have it: this is your reasonable service. The New Living Translation says; “is this too much to ask, when you think of what He has done for you? He died for you and offers you the free gift of salvation.
What do you purchase as a gift for the person who has everything? Perhaps you have faced that dilemma and walked with frustration through stores hoping to find a special gift that communicates your love and meets a need in the life of the one receiving the gift.
Apply this situation to our attempts to offer God a gift he desires. God knows all things and possesses all the treasures of heaven and earth. He does not need anything. But, there is one commodity that God longs to receive from His followers. God desires for His children to freely, boldly, and passionately worship Him in spirit and truth.
In John 4 we see this revealed.
ALMIGHTY GOD POSSESSES AN INCREASING DESIRE FOR TRUE WORSHIPPERS
As this insightful conversation develops between Jesus and an immoral Samaritan woman, we learn about strongholds or obstacles that often prevent individuals and churches from experiencing true worship. She struggles with the penetrating issues raised by Jesus by hiding behind the barriers of places and programs.
Many Christians have settled for cheap imitations of true worship. Some relegate worship to a particular event or building. Often, worship is considered to be the music in a corporate service that is followed by preaching. An entire style of music has been labeled “Praise and Worship” in an attempt to distinguish contemporary music from traditional hymns. I understand the reasoning behind this because it is often explained that in our traditional hymns, we sing about God, and declare good doctrine, but rarely do we sing praise to Him. When we sing traditional testimonial gospel songs, we declare what He has done for us. A good example is in our hymnal, and what we sang about this morning. We sang declarative things about God: Amazing Grace and His Divine Love. Our Praise song invited us to bow down and worship him. Only songs like: Take My Life and let it Be Consecrated Lord to Thee, do we actually sing to Him, and ask him to take our lives and let them be consecrated to Him. The others declared something about Him. If we look carefully at the words of our hymns, each Sunday we try to have both included in some way. We don’t always succeed as we are limited by what is in the hymnal. It is good to sing praise to God and not just sing about him, however, the downside to singing only praises all of the time, is that what is included in most of our hymns are doctrinal truths that are important. Many young people today who only know contemporary choruses, don’t know any doctrine about God, and both are important.
While music is an integral part of worshiping, we should note that Jesus does not mention singing. When the apostle Paul spoke of Christ-honoring worship in Romans 12:1, he challenged believers to become living sacrifices. True worship rejects the strongholds that prevent followers of Christ from responding to God with heart, soul, mind, and strength in loving recognition of God’s glory and love.
After Jesus exposes the false assumptions of worship in verses 20-23, he guides the Samaritan woman into an amazing recognition of His glory and His mission to save people from their sins. True worship erupts in the soul of one who understands that Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away sin. He is the living water that cleanses and quenches the deepest thirst of one’s soul. Using water as the metaphor for eternal life, Jesus opens her eyes to see Him as the promised Messiah and Savior. The time is here Jesus says when we don’t worship in Jerusalem or on this mountain in Samaria, but we must worship God in spirit and in truth. To this she responds with some knowledge, by admitting that someday “Messiah is coming and then he will explain everything to us.” Jesus then, drops a bomb shell, by declaring to her; “ I, the one speaking to you— am he.”
Another principle of true worship surfaces in Jesus’ instruction for the woman to “Go tell your husband” (verse 17). The Lord knew, with a gift or word of knowledge, that she wasn’t married to the man she was now living with, and in fact before that she had had five husbands. When he tells her this, she declares that he is a prophet. She recognizes Jesus’ holiness. Our sinfulness becomes grossly obvious upon the recognition of Christ’s holiness. Once the woman recognized Jesus, she humbly acknowledges her sinful past. The prophet Isaiah had a similar experience. When he saw the Lord high and lifted up, he fell down in confession of personal and national sin. (Isaiah 6:5).
True worship also includes calling upon the Lord to meet our needs. In verse 10, Jesus challenges the woman and all future worshipers with the words “you should have asked.” The Bible says in James 4:2 that we often miss God’s blessing because we fail to ask for God’s help. Revelation 5:8 describes the prayers of the saints as a sweet smelling sacrifice. Christ-honoring worship must provide an opportunity to call upon the Lord though prayer.
Our testimony in relaying the story of meeting Jesus to others is also worship. (verse 39)
Prayer leads to the final principle of true worship revealed. This woman left her water pot and returned to the village to tell others how to receive eternal life. Verse 39 reveals that many believed because of her testimony. The Christian community has debated whether worship or evangelism is the greater priority for a church.
We see a beautiful balance in this woman’s worship of Jesus Christ. True worship brings lost people to Jesus! The apostle Paul described an accurate picture of true worship in Romans 15:15-16 where he identified his preaching the gospel to win Gentiles as an acceptable offering to the Lord. We must be careful not to separate or debate the significant interdependence of worship and evangelism for true worship. The fact is, both is what he has called us to do. Worship Him with all of our heart, and obey Him, by telling others what He has done for us, and make disciples.
When the disciples came back from getting food in the town, they urged him to eat some of the food. He responded in verse 32; “ I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Now of course this was confusing to them. Did someone else bring him some food. Who would have done that? Then Jesus clarifies this to them; in verses 34-38; “ My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘ it’s still four months until harvest? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Now if the disciples had been appointed to form a committee to study the readiness of the Samaritans to receive the gospel, I know (as a former missionary), what their response would have been; Samaria unquestionably needs our Master’s message, but it is not ready for it. There first must be ploughing, (and preparing the soil), then sowing and then waiting. It is needy, but it is not ready for harvest.
That is why Jesus used the harvest metaphor to let them know that the normal ways of sowing and reaping is not applicable here. Now is the time. You don’t need to wait. The fields are now white and ready for harvest.
Today we might speak of some fields that are difficult. They used to think they were off limits so to speak. Now we go into limited access countries with any kind of visa we can get, and Muslims are coming to Christ, Hindus and Buddhists, are coming to Christ. Maybe we think that this area in and around Nobleton are too difficult, if not impossible for people to come to Christ. Jesus is saying to us to this field too is white and ready for harvest, we just need the workers because they are few. Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send workers. Then of course he might just send you.
When Jesus speaks to us about living water and true worship, He invites us to explore the depths of His love through worship. May we never limit the Lord Jesus to a set time, place, or activity. The great hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” captures the essence of true worship with the words, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.” God is seeking true worshipers. He longs for you to worship Him in spirit and truth. Would you present your gift of worship to Him today by submitting yourself completely to him, with a willingness to do whatever he asks you to do?