4. John's Gospel chapter 4 and we're going to read verse 1 through verse 26. John chapter 4 verses 1 through 26. This is a fairly lengthy passage of God's Word but it is important so that we get the context of the whole text. John chapter 4 beginning at verse 1 through verse 26. Again, please give your careful attention to God's holy word. Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptising more disciples than John, although Jesus himself did not baptise but only his disciples, he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. and he had to pass through Samaria. So, he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son, Joseph. Jacob's well was there. So, Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, Give me a drink.' For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.' Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, Give me a drink, You would have asked him and he would have given you living water. The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock. Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The woman said to him, sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty, or have to come here to draw water. Jesus said to her, go, call your husband and come here. The woman answered him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, you are right in saying I have no husband, for you have had five husbands and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true. The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you think that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me the hour is coming when neither on 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 the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. 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 who is called Christ. When He comes, He will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He. Amen. And so far, God's words. The Lord has blessed this congregation in recent times, as He has blessed us in days gone by, but particularly in these last few months, we have been able to do so much, in particular with the remodelling of the upstairs of this building. We are indeed thankful for all that we have been enabled to do for the Lord's goodness and mercy to us as a congregation. In the process of that remodel, and particularly here in the sanctuary, we needed to take down a cross that was on this front wall. We needed to do so because we needed to redecorate, as we have been doing. But as we did that, the question arose as to the appropriateness of having such a symbol here in the place where we assemble for the public worship of God, having a cross on the front of the church building. Is it appropriate to have such a symbol? And having taken it down for necessary redecoration, is it appropriate and proper and right to put it back? Well, in seeking to address this issue, the elders concluded that it would be profitable to have a series of sermons and expositions in our evening worship services focusing on the doctrine of worship. So that we might consider, first of all, the general subject of how are we to worship the one true living God in the corporate assembly of the saints. as well as the deal with the particular question that has arisen with regard to the symbol of the cross in the building. Well, having concluded that that would be a good and profitable thing to do, we have reached an appropriate point in the evening expositions in 1 Corinthians to take a break from that series, and so we're going to do so from this evening onwards. And we're going to begin a new series of sermons on the doctrine of worship. And then, more particularly, we're going to address what is Reformed worship. And then, having done that, we will then bring the conclusions of our studies of God's Word with regard to these general points of doctrine and practice to the particular question that is before us. So, let us be clear, as we set out, how we're going to do this. We're going to begin by addressing the general subject It is a very important one. It would be good to think about this at any time in the life of the Church, but it has been by the Lord's ordering and providence that we have come to it at this time because of a particular question. But nevertheless, it is always appropriate and good, not simply to have what we might call a knee-jerk reaction to a particular, but to stand back and consider what God's Word says in general with regard to the bigger subject, before trying to deal with the particular question before us. Now, I do want to give you assurance that if the Lord so carries and forbears with us all, then we will come to the particular question. I am not seeking to duck it or avoid it, but we will do so having, as I've said, first of all, had a series of expositions on the subject of worship itself, first of all. Well, having said that, what are we going to consider this evening? We're going to simply consider an introduction to the subject. It is a large topic. We will not be able to treat it exhaustively in a single series anyway, so we are going to have to be selective. But I simply this evening want to set out an introduction and overview to the doctrine of worship, so that it might give you a perspective of how we are going to address this series. So, let me give you my summary of the introduction. The summary is this. The Scriptures are the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all matters of doctrine and practice. And therefore, if we wish to know how we ought to worship God, We must be directed exclusively by what God has revealed. Let me repeat that. I know that's a fairly long sentence again as it was this morning, but let me repeat it so it's fixed firmly in our minds. The Scriptures are the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all matters of doctrine and practice. And therefore, if we wish to know how we ought to worship God, we must be directed exclusively by what God has revealed. Well, as I seek to open up that summary this evening, we're going to do so by thinking about four things. First of all, the contemporary environment. Secondly, the key question. Thirdly, our theological and interpretive approach. And then lastly, the critical significance. So, the contemporary environment, the key question, our theological and interpretive approach, and the critical significance. First of all, then, our contemporary environment. If you know anything about how this subject has been discussed and debated in recent years, you will know and be familiar with the phrase or the the title that has been given to the discussion of this subject. The title is Worship Wars. There's been a plethora of articles in magazines, theological journals, books written, titles published over the last few decades and all of them tell the tale of what has happened in many congregations of Christian churches in this land when they have sought to deal with this subject. It has resulted in worship wars. Let me just give you one example. This was back in 1999. A man by the name of Michael Hamilton wrote an article in Christianity Today magazine. It was entitled, The Triumph of the Praise Songs, How Guitars Beat Out the Organ in the Worship Wars. You see, that is what it has come to in our contemporary environment when Christians have sought to discuss this subject. Sadly, it has ended up in worship wars, polemical language, accusation, counter-accusation, and it does not bring glory to the God of heaven. We have to recognise too that this has not stopped at our own borders and shores. It's not just simply an issue in the United States. The same battles that have divided congregations here between various groups, whether it's between the young and the old, between the contemporary and the traditional, between various ethnic groupings in the congregation, have not been limited to one nation or area of the world. These same issues have divided brethren on mission fields. They've divided churches around the world. And brothers and sisters, that is a tragedy that that has happened. But nevertheless, when we think particularly back perhaps to our own nation, the influence of the baby boomer generation, mass culture, various movements of one sort or another, they have all converged to bring about what is rapid and controversial and demands for popular change even in the worship of gods. And so forms of what we might think of as traditional worship the historic orders of service in churches, the hymnody of bygone days, the singing of psalms that was often popular and common in the assembly of the saints as they sang God's praise, the use of creeds and confessions and catechisms, the place even for having substantial pastoral prayers in the worship service, in having expository biblical sermons, Many of these things have been jettisoned in favour of the forms of contemporary culture, soft rock music, talk show formats, friendly, as it were, informal atmospheres in which people will feel comfortable, topical sermons addressing the felt needs of those who come in to hear them. Now, again, brethren, we need not be naive here. It's often easy for those in the Reformed tradition to think, well, this is a problem for other people, not for us. We're OK. But, brothers and sisters, we are not. Reformed churches have not been left untouched by these trends or by the resulting conflicts. The whole range of worship styles, as they are called, from seeker-friendly to charismatic, to contemporary, to traditional, whatever it might be. These are found in conservative reformed churches, as if you simply select them from some a la carte menu according to your preference and taste. Again, perhaps you are a little sceptical and say, well, surely not. Well, let me give you an example. Let's go back to these publications we talked about a little earlier. It was back in 1996, some time ago. But the book was written by John Frame, a Reformed theologian. It was called, drawing on the passage that we read this evening, Worship in Spirit and Truth. And subtitled, A Refreshing Study of the Principles and Practice of Biblical Worship. That was the title, that might seem intriguing a little, a book you would pick up and read. But if you take time to read that book, you will find that there are things advocated in that that have never been part of Reformed worship, as those in Reformed tradition have read the scriptures as to what God has commanded. So much so that one other Reformed commentator, in reviewing that book, rightly observed and asked the question, it may be refreshing, he said, but is it reformed? And that was a very insightful question in the review of that book of a so-called reformed theologian coming to what ought to be what we do in our worship in this day and generation. Because you see, the assumed but untested conviction among those who simply want to make such changes is that you can do so and graft those into the reformed faith. without affecting what the Reformed faith is. And so, as I say, you can take your ala carte preference. You can have it more contemporary. You can have it revivalistic. You can have it seeker-friendly. You can have it as it were and give the preacher a wandering mic so he goes around the congregation and formally chatting with the people. And still you can say that I am Reformed. Well, it's an interesting theory. But the question we want to ask is, is it true? Can you do such things and yet still claim to be following the Reformed tradition? Not simply as a tradition of men, but as a practice all the way back to the 16th century as the driver was to discover what God had said in his words. That is what we must do, our Reformers said. And that is what the Reformed tradition has sought to say down through the centuries. Do we do what God commands? Now, it is of no small interest and significance that in the passage we read this evening, Jesus finds himself in a debate about worship, as he was at this well with a Samaritan woman, verses 7 and following of John chapter 4. It shows us in one sense that there's nothing new about this controversy. with regard to the topic before us. There always has been discussion about how are we to worship God and where and in what particular way. Of course, there are always distinguishing particulars of the Dane generation. Jew versus Samaritan. We don't generally have that issue here in Placerville in the United States in 2010. We don't have debates. I don't get questions in Q&A time about should we be in Jerusalem or should we be somewhere in Samaria. But you see, the issue was still there. How are we to worship God? Who is right? Is there a right? Is there a wrong? How are we to approach this? Well, we approach it by coming to the words of Jesus himself, the Lord of the Church. His seminal words on the subject will provide principles by which we attempt to address the questions we wish to address. That is what must guide us. in the midst of a turbulent environment that sadly for many has resulted in worship wars. How are we to avoid that happening to us as we open up this subject? By committing ourselves from the very start to the word of God, to the words of Christ, the Lord of the church, and to let them be our guide. Well, so much for the contemporary environment. Let's move in the second place to the key questions. And this is a very brief point. Among the myriads of issues surrounding worship that we might consider and address, the key question is this. What ought we to do in the public worship of God as we assemble in the Lord's name on the Lord's day? That's the key question. What ought we to do in the public worship of God as we assemble in the Lord's name on the Lord's day. That question I trust has been framed very carefully and particularly. It implies that there is a right and wrong answer to that because the question is what ought we to do? But it seeks to bring us away from distracting particulars that may be relevant to the discussion but do not dominate it right from the outset. The central question is what ought we to do with regard to worshipping God as we come into his presence on the Lord's day. And so I trust that this simple question will provide the focus which is necessary if we are to discuss the heart of the issue that is before us. without being diverted into many secondary debates, which there is always a great danger of happening. The key question, what ought we to do in the public worship of God as we assemble in the Lord's name with his saints on the Lord's day? Well then thirdly, I want to say a word or two about what we call the theological and interpretive approach. As we come to God's Word and seek to read it and hear what it has to say, how are we going to come and address the various things? How are we to understand what God has said? You might even be wondering, why are we going to take all this time to do so? Why have the elders considered that it is the proper and appropriate thing to do to study the doctrine of worship first before we just answer the question? Why do we need to do that? Why do we need to think about the worship of God generally? Alongside that, why will we have need from time to time to even broaden out more widely to the doctrine of God himself? To the doctrine of the church? Who is the church? Before we get to the particular question of, is it appropriate to have a cross in a building where Christians gather for worship? Well, it is because there are inextricable links between all these things. You cannot simply address the question in isolation, you see. There are inextricable links between who God is, who we are as the redeemed people of God, what is worship, and therefore what we are to do as the church in the worship of the one true living God. You cannot simply isolate one of these things from the other. And so it is inevitable that our view of God himself, of his church, of what worship is, will fundamentally affect and determine our specific individual practices as we worship God as a local church week by week in this place that the Lord has given to us. Now let me say right up front The elders are aware that there are some differing views with regard to this subject at the present time, with regard to the specific question of the place of the symbol of the cross in a building where we meet for worship. Now, some may think that they are clear as to what the Bible says on this matter, that's why they have a conviction. They may even have a very strong conviction concerning that matter, one way or the other. Others, however, may be somewhat indifferent on the matter. Perhaps they've never even thought about it, and having thought about it, they don't really consider it a very key issue at all. Others may not have thought about it, but now they have, they do have the question, and they need to think it through. They don't have a conviction as yet, but they understand that it is important enough, that it needs to be considered. So, with a congregation of this size, it would not surprise us, it did not surprise us, that we may have all, or some at least, of these varying situations in the lives of our people. But, and this is the critical thing that I want to stress this evening in this point, if we are Christians here this evening, we can all agree that whatever our convictions may be right now, and whatever they end up being at the end of this series of sermons, we can all agree that all of our convictions are to be subject to the final authority of the word of God. If we are Christians, we can all agree on that. The scriptures are our final arbiter in all matters of faith and practice. And so, that's why we are going to look to the Bible, to the Scriptures, to see what the Lord has revealed and instituted with regard to His worship in His church. Now, we are fallible men. We're all fallible people. We may misunderstand and interpret what God has said. That is possible. There are multiple examples of that throughout church history. But at the end of the day, the principle is clear, is it not? That it is what God has said that is the final judge and arbiter of what we are to believe and what we are to practice. That's why the Reformed Confessional Church, this is written into our confession. Let me just remind you. Chapter 1, paragraph 1. The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience, the Confession says, citing 2 Timothy 3.16 as one of the places at which they would have drawn that scriptural teaching. All scripture is breathed out by God, profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. Chapter 1, paragraph 7. All things in scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all. So the scriptures are sufficient, certain and infallible as a rule of knowledge, faith and practice, but not all places in scripture are equally clear to all people. That's why Peter says, 2 Peter 3, 15 through 18, he says this, and count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own disruption as they do the other scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing that Knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. When we come to be a believer in Jesus Christ, the Lord does not infuse infallible, comprehensive knowledge of His Word into every believer. We are to grow in grace and knowledge. And Peter says the Apostle Paul, as he wrote under inspiration, writes things that are hard to understand. There are some things easier to understand in God's Word and some things harder. We have to give ourselves to it. And with God's help, we make progress in understanding what it has to say. That's why the Confession goes on in chapter 1, paragraph 9. The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself. Therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any scripture, which is not manifold but one, it must be searched by other places that speak more clearly. You see, our forefathers, when they wrestled about this issue, that some parts of scripture are more hard than others, how were we to understand the difficult passages? They said that scripture interprets scripture. They said, you don't sort out your doctrine on a particular topic by going to the most difficult passages first. You go to the clear, straightforward, evident passages. Because scripture is one, it's not manifold, it doesn't, it means to say by that, it's not multiple different things. The scripture does not disagree with itself. Even though we may find it difficult with a particular passage to see how it agrees with others. But they came to this principle whereby they said that the way to understand Scripture is through Scripture itself. The theologians call this the analogy of faith, the Latin analogia fidei. One of the theologians that we have in our Reformed Dane generation here today describes it this way. What is the analogy of faith, he says? It is the use of a general sense of the meaning of Scripture constructed from the clear or unambiguous parts as the basis for interpreting unclear or, as we may think, ambiguous texts. So how are we to set about in interpreting the passages of Scripture when we come to talk about this difficult subject of worship? We are to let one Scripture throw light upon another. we let the clear passages illuminate the difficult passages. But at the end of the day, it is the Scriptures again which are the infallible rule by which we make our conclusions. That's why ultimately, again, our Confession, Chapter 1, Paragraph 10 says, the supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined and all decrees of counsel Opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men and private spirits are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest can be no other but the Holy Scripture, delivered by the Spirit, into which Scripture so delivered our faith is finally resolved." So, what does that say? It's saying no matter who men are, ancient or modern, It doesn't matter what their standing might be, even though we highly regard them in the Lord. Ultimately, the supreme judge of all things is the Scripture. And so, when you come to your conviction and conclusion, it ought to be ultimately resting upon because the Elder says so. That is not a good and sufficient basis for the conviction of the people of God on how they are to worship the one true living God. So we trust God will grant us health and grace as we unpack the Scriptures for you. But it is not to rest on our say-so, nor is it to rest on other great theologians that we may all appeal to and pull down from our shelves and say, well, look, I can stack up all these men who agree with me, only for someone else to say, well, here's all my theologians who disagree with that. That's why they said in days gone by when that was done far more formally, when they called councils to consider these things. Ultimately, these things are not settled by the decree of councils, by the views of theologians. Ultimately, they are to be settled by the supreme judge, the scripture itself. We don't have time this evening, but just let me highlight for you, was that not how our Lord himself taught his disciples? When there was controversy, what did he say? Matthew 22 verse 29. Jesus answered them, you are wrong because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. And then he would go on to unpack what the Scripture says. His apostles did exactly the same as they were taught by the Lord. Whether it be Paul or Peter or any of the other apostles, they did exactly the same. They always went back to the Holy Scriptures. Now, having said that, let me mention one other thing that needs to be said when we say that, of course, with regard to the Scriptures are supreme. They are what we call magisterial. They are determinative. They are not, as it were, subjective. They are not, as it were, to be, therefore, the subject of private interpretation. Many have taken these principles that I've just laid out for you that are in our confession and therefore said, well, if the scriptures are determined, then all I need to do is take my Bible, put it on my knee and read it as I read it and nobody can contend with that. I have the right to hold that opinion. Well, that's not the intent of the principle of what we call the analogy of faith. Reading one scripture as another scripture, simply as an isolated individual, whoever that individual may be. Again, the Reformed churches have always held that the Scriptures are to be read with the Church. What do they mean by that? They don't mean that the Church is over the Word and the Church judges the Word and the Church can pronounce, as does the Church of Rome, even when the Word of God says something to the contrary. It's not that we place ultimate authority in the Church or an individual of the Church. But it does mean that the Scriptures, being ultimately determinative, are to be read in the place where God has first and foremost given them, that is, to His people as a people, as a community of people. And therefore, the Church, of course, is not magisterial, it doesn't have the ultimate authority, but the Church is what we call ministerial. She is a helper to the understanding of the Scriptures. She comes along to those who are currently, in this day and generation, seeking to serve God and His Church. And we are to read them with those who have gone before. So often, men read the Scriptures as if they are the only ones who have ever read that passage. As if nobody else had ever considered it. That their thoughts must be the ultimate conclusion on what that passage is saying. You've heard me say often enough, What that results in is what we call, me, the Bible and Jesus. But I take no notice of anyone else, of the life and health that God might have given to other men in days gone by or even in our present day. But that is not the way that God intends. He gave the Scriptures to the church, first and foremost, and then to individuals through that church, that we might read them together as a community of his people. Therefore, when we see it in that way, we have no problems of saying we are happy and we are thankful that we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. We are grateful for that. We do not assume that those who went before us are infallible. It is not a problem for us to question their conclusions, their exegesis of the But neither do we simply ignore and deny all previous work that has gone on in the scriptures on these topics before us. So that is going to be our theological and interpretive approach. Let me come back finally to, lastly, the critical subject. Remember what our key question is. What ought? Not what can, what may, but what ought we to do We, the whole congregation in this place, as the assembled people of God, what ought we to do in public worship as we gather in God's name on the Lord's Day? Well, how important is that question? How critical is it? I said that was a key question, but I want to finish this evening by asking how critical is that question? Does it warrant giving the time that we're going to give to it, to answer it? Let me put it another way. How important to God is his worship? Now it's good for us to stop and think for a moment about that question. To pause and consider. Because so often we think about these things from our perspective, as if it's about me. But worship primarily is God-ward. It's vertical. It is that which the people of God offer to God Himself. So, I ask the question again, how important to God is His worship? When we think about it in that light and thought through then the various perspectives and activities of our lives and how they intersect with that question, then it puts it in proper perspective, doesn't it? because even a superficial consideration of that critical issue will lead us to the conclusion that nothing we do as Christians is as important as the worship of God. Brothers and sisters, there is not. We don't have time this evening. I hope to unpack this a little more next week. But let me leave you with a question. If you know the answer, then you may smile, I guess, and wait until next week. What was the great pressing passion of John Calvin in the 16th century with regard to reformation? That's the question I'll leave you with. What was it that he saw as the number one thing that needed to be reformed? You may guess from why I put it in this part of the sermon, but I'll come to that more next week. You see, there is nothing more critical than getting this right, because God takes this with the greatest seriousness, His worship. And so, there's nothing else that we do, nothing of a secular nature like our work or recreation, our family life, our careers. There are not even religious other activities that are proper and we are warranted to do or obligated to do in terms of the fellowship of the saints, in terms of works of necessity and mercy and charity to the brethren, or even of private spiritual disciplines. None of these things are so important as the public worship of God in the assembly of the saints. And because of that, Because, as we read in the words of our Lord in John 4, that the Father is seeking true worshippers. And he says that those who come must worship in spirit and in truth. There can be no more important question. So, we pray for God's help as we come to a conclusion this evening. Can we do this ourselves? Absolutely not. But with his help and by his grace, We seek to know what He has said, so that we might do what He has commanded. May God so help us, let's pray. Our Father, we acknowledge that this is a difficult subject. It causes often so much emotion to arise in the hearts of men, that so quickly there can be disagreement suspicion one of the other, of even brothers and sisters in the Lord. But we pray, our Father, that as we begin to give ourselves to the study of your word on this topic, that you would humble us, that you would grant us grace, that you would help us to see, O Lord, that first and foremost, the worship of God is Godward primarily, and that we ought to be concerned to know so that we may do what You have said. Help us, then, we pray. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.