John 4:24 – What Does God Want? – Bible study

John 4:24 What Does God Want? The title of the message asks an important question. Lets put it into prospective. One day, we are all going to stand before God and be judged. Unsaved people will stand before the Great White Throne. Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. Christians will stand at the Bema Seat, there to be judged by God for our lives SINCE becoming a Christian. Ro 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The question is, "What does God want?" What will God be looking to see at that time? While I hesitate to do so, let me over-simplify the areas that God will be examining. I believe I can do it by giving you three words. The words are salvation, sanctification, and service. Salvation – What have you done with your sin? What have you done with Jesus? Sanctification – What have you done with righteousness and holiness? Are you changing to be more like God? Service – What have you done for God? Have you served Him? Now let me simply things even more. Let me describe what God wants by giving you but one word. That one word will be my topic this morning. The word is "worship." Hence our text, "they that worship Him." Several thoughts: I. Worship is fellowship. God wants to have fellowship with you. A. That is an amazing statement. God wants to have fellowship with you. Listen to the Bible. 1Jo 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 1Jo 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 1Co 1:9 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. B. What is fellowship? Fellowship is unity, oneness. Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. C. We need to comprehend this. God wants to be united, one with us, people, human beings. 1. That is the whole lot of us. a. those who are presently saved and those who are not. b. those who may be attempting to live a sanctified and surrendered life, and those who are not. c. those who give thought to God and those who do not. 2. One of the things that we will all stand before God and be judged for is our fellowship with God. D. There are some natural problems to a human being being one with God; however, for every problem, God has provided a solution. 1. Problem one – We are sinful beings. a. We are sinful. We are born sinful. We are often ignorant of it and delight in it. b. God is a completely holy and pure Being, sinless, having no spot or hint of sin. c. How man will deal with his sin is one of the major area in which we will be judged. d. The only thing we can do is to trust Gods Son and His death as the payment for our sins. Mt 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. 2. Problem two – We are created beings. God is eternal and the Creator. a. We are finite beings and God is infinite. b. It is difficult for an infinite Being to be one with a finite being. (1) He is all powerful. We have no power save what He gives us. (2) He is all knowing. We have no knowledge save what He teaches us. c. But God is fixing that by recreating those who are willing into His image. Col 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 1Jo 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3. Problem three – We are selfish beings. a. This really hasnt got anything to do with God. It is all on us. b. Selfish beings just dont appreciate or desire what God is offering them. c. Desire is an important part of all that we do with God, especially in our worship. d. We do not have to create the desire. (1) Spiritual desire is a seed given to us from God. (2) Our first duty in desire is not to kill the seed. (3) Our second duty is to let God grow the seed. E. These are just a few of the problems we face today, but for every problem, God has made a solution and He wants us to worship Him, to be one with Him. 1. Just how close are we to God today? 2. How much like God are we? 3. How much desire to have to be one with God today? 4. These are all things that God wants. 5. These are all things that God will judge us for. 6. Worship is fellowship. II. Worship is trust or faith. God wants us to trust Him. A. Again, we are considering, "What does God want?" In a word, God wants us to worship Him, and worship is trust. B. Trust is the giving bridge between man and God. 1. Everything that you give to God must be given to Him via your trust or faith. a. When we give our tithe, it must be by faith. b. When we serve God, it must be by faith. c. When we pray, it must be by faith. (1) People sometimes wonder why God does not answer their prayer in such a way as to remove all doubt of Gods existence or care of them. (2) The short answer is because God does not want to replace our faith with sight. (3) For this time, everything that is shared between God and man must come across the faith bridge. 2. But, the things that God gives to us must also come across the faith bridge. Jesus made that clear. Mr 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. C. Whatever we attempt to give to God or receive from God without faith falls into the canyon of sin and nothingness. D. What some do not understand about faith is that it is not so much as mustering it up to trust God for one big thing. 1. Someone wants to win the lottery so they begin to parade their faith around. 2. Faith is much more trusting God for everything all the timeeven when things do not go the way you expected them to go. 3. Life lesson – No one will ever have a strong faith in God if they quit trusting God when things dont go the way they wanted. a. Failed exercises in faith are what builds our trust. b. How? What we will learn is that God always answers our prayers (or gives us something better) but not in the way we thought He would. E. Question – What are you trusting God for today? 1. Are you dependent upon God for anything or do you think you and yours have things under control? 2. If there is no trust, your relationship with God is very small. 3. You are neither able to give or receive from Him. 4. What does God want? What will God judge us for? Our trust in Him. III. Worship is love. God wants us to love Him. Lu 10:27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. A. Let me say that "love" is not the word that I first wanted to use. 1. There were several words that I first considered. 2. Words such as honor, obedience, and praise. a. Honor is to respect God. (1) Fear and respect are very close to one another. (2) If you cannot respect and honor God, you had better fear Him for He is the Judge of all the living. (3) However, I do not fear one that I love and that I know loves me. (4) For that person, I have respect and honor. b. Obedience (1) Certainly, we did not expect to go very far into this conversation, what does God want, without mentioning the word obedience. (2) However, God has never wanted slaves. (a) God wants us to obey out of love. Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. (b) Gods commands are always for our good. c. Praise is adoration, exaltation, bragging. (1) But again, God does not desire meaningless words offered up, but sincere, heartfelt praise. (2) The kind of praise God wants can only come from a heart of love. 3. All of these words can be summed up in the one word, love. B. More than anything else, God wants us to love Him? 1. Why? 2. Because love is the motivation for all of our other actions toward God and it will be the result of all of His actions toward us. a. If I love God, I will worship Him. (1) I will want to be one with Him. (2) I will trust Him. (3) I will love Him. b. And the more God does toward me, the more I will love Him. (1) Why? (2) Becausefor nowGods actions are always actions of love. (3) Some cannot comprehend this, but it is so. Even when God disciplines me for the bad things I do, God is demonstrating His love for me. (4) A term has been coined today for the people who cannot comprehend discipline is part of love. (a) The term is "snowflake." Snowflakes think everything has to be for them, for their wants, for their pleasure. (b) Yet, giving a person everything he wants is not love. It is selfishness, the opposite of love. (c) I read a quote by Jackson Brown, Jr. the other week, "Ive learned that if you give a pig and a boy everything they want, youll get a good pig and a bad boy." (d) You will get a snowflake! (5) Friend, I have learned that every action of God toward me is always for the same cause. It is because He loves me. I pray that you can see that is true in your life too. What does God want? For what will God judge us? Today, I have mentioned one thing. God will judge us for our worship. Have you worshipped God today?