ESOCS Devotional 4 June 2025 – The True Worship
MEMORY VERSE: “You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” John 4:22
TEXT: JOHN 4:22-54
You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed because of His own word.
42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed [a]the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.
46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain [b]nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”
49 The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”
50 Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. 51 And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”
52 Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” 53 So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, and his whole household.
54 This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.
Read Other ESOCS Devotional Here
The Fool – Nabal (1-11). So first, let’s look at Nabal. Nabal is the type of character, once you meet him, you never forget him. Nabal is presented as a foolish person in the story. In fact, his very name means “fool.” Imagine parents naming their child Fool! 1 Samuel 25:1-3 says, He is wealthy. He has an intelligent and beautiful wife. He is surly. And he is mean. Surly means (stubborn, difficult, harsh, even cruel) and mean (abusive or given to mistreating other people). Prov. 18:6: “A fool’s lips bring him strife, and his mouth invites a beating.” That’s Nabal. He is mean and a fool, and his lips are about to invite a beating. He is also arrogant and selfish.1 Samuel 25:4-11. Read what the Bible expects rich people to always do in 1 Timothy 6:17-18.After Jesus exposes the false assumptions of worship, 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.
Another principle of true worship surfaces in Jesus’ instruction for the woman to “Go tell your husband” (v.17). The Lord Jesus, who knows all things, did not assume that she was married. Jesus guides her to confess and repent of sin. Our sinfulness becomes grossly obvious upon the recognition of Christ’s holiness. Once this 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 (Is. 6:5).
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.
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. He longs for you to worship Him in spirit and truth. Would you present your gift of worship to Him today?
CHALLENGES
- God is searching for His true worshipers across the world. Are you sure you are one of them?
PRAYER POINT
- Lord Jesus, make us vessels of worship that we become the revivalists of our generation
FURTHER READING: 1 Samuel 27:1-End; 28:1-25; John 5:1-21
ESOCS Devotional 4 June 2025
