True Worship (Part 2)
John 4:21-24 “God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth” John 4:24
The conversation between Jesus and the
Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well is one of the high points in John’s gospel. Included in the conversation is God’s revelation concerning true worship. Taking place not in a hushed, sacred setting, but in Samaria…to a life like ours jaded with sin, this truth is revealed by God’s Spirit. As Jesus began to probe deeply into her life, this Samaritan tried to evade the conversation, asking, “Where is the proper place to worship – in Jerusalem or on this sacred mountain in Samaria?” Jesus uses her question to reveal His definition of worship, and the pattern for all true worship. In last month’s article, I describe man-made worship (click here for last month’s article) as contrived, ignorant of the truth, and superstitious. So, what is God-centered worship? Here Jesus gives the Samaritan woman the eternal formula for true worship, saying, “But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him” (John 4:23-24).
Real worship is God-initiated. God makes the first move toward people in establishing a true worship experience. We do not have to seek or chase after God. Nor do we have to beg and plead with him to meet us in worship. This is what the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel did in the famous contest with Elijah (see 1 Kings 18). They begged and cried and worked themselves into a state of hysteria…finally cutting themselves and shedding their own blood in the frenzy…trying to attract and coerce Baal to hear them and answer the call. We do not seek God; God seeks us. In other words, when we take time to prayerfully retreat with Him and when we come together for public worship, God is already ready and waiting, eager to meet us! He is seeking us to enter the worship experience with us.
Real worship is a spiritual experience. In John 4:24, Jesus says, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” Because he is spirit, God is free (not confined to any time or space) in a mystical union that we struggle to comprehend. God entered human flesh in the person of his sinless Son. Then, in an even greater miracle, God died and rose again on the 3rd day…but even during that amazing time in which God identified with us, he was still omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. Because He is spirit, and therefore present anywhere, we can worship Him anywhere, anytime. In the privacy of our homes, in the backyard, in the tire department at Wal-Mart, in corporate experiences like Sunday worship! We can anticipate this privilege all the time…Koinonia…the rarest, most beautiful fellowship in the entire world.
Real worship is in truth. In his great high-priestly prayer, Jesus invoked the Father on our behalf, and he prayed, “Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.” (John 17:17). We cannot read God’s word properly without having a worship experience every time we do, because when we tune our hearts to read His word the Holy Spirit begins the process of opening our understanding! This is His word, this is His truth, and it is the compass of the church. God’s word keeps us as individual Christians, and the church as a whole, in the path of righteousness, always tuned to Christ! When we neglect God’s word, we have nothing to hang on to when we are faced with temptation, trials, and major decisions. Only after time in the Word and time at the altar of prayer in sincere worship, do we find our lives back on track and God-glorifying!
So how is your worship? Is it manmade…bathed in ignorance as to the real meaning of God’s word…permeated with false ideas and superstitions? Or is it God-centered, always initiated by Him, as He is forever seeking you to enter a worship experience with Him?
In Him
James
