“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. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24, NKJ)
So then, what is this worship that Jesus was talking about? And what does it really mean to worship in spirit and truth? Do we really see it in church today? What are the elements involved in worshiping God? Is it singing and music, and does it have to be music? What if we can’t sing, can we still worship God?
This was one of the topics of conversations on our bus trip the other day.
(You know, I feel so blessed at the moment. Everywhere I turn, there seems to be God’s people. I don’t feel starved for fellowship, which hasn’t always been the case. In fact for years, it was far from it. Now, there seems to be so many Christian friends the Lord has put in my path. But that’s all btw!!)
Thursday was one of those blessed times. Lots of great fellowship. And on the bus, I was sitting not too far away from our new Pastor. He was sharing his heart about worship, and how he’d like to encourage more of it in the church services. But isn’t worship what the church service is all about?? I listened very intently, over top of the other conversations that were going on.
His conversation got me thinking some more. He quoted the verses in John 4, which I’d only read a day or so before. I then found out that there was a congregational meeting on Saturday afternoon. The pastor wanted to talk to us… my guess was that he wanted to share about his thoughts on worship. I decided to go, and guess what? I was right!!
But, I want to rewind back to this morning first. Over my morning cuppa, I decided to do my own quick study on what worship really was, and what it meant to worship God in spirit and truth.
WORSHIP:
The Greek word used for worship in the John text is “proskuneo” (from “pros” - towards, and “kuneo” - to kiss), and it means to make obeisance, do reverence to. I’ll have to look more into the kissing bit, but interestingly, the idea of the kiss is mentioned in Psalms…
“Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.” (2:12)
Also, in the Old Testament, worship always involved bowing down, by bowing the knee, or laying prostrate.
IN SPIRIT:
The spirit is our inner being or our heart. It’s the inner sanctuary of our temple body. Worshiping from our feelings is not enough. True worship doesn’t work if we don’t bow down our hearts, submitting to His will.
IN TRUTH:
Jesus is Truth! God’s Word is Truth! The Holy Spirit is Truth, and He leads us into all truth. He reveals the truth in us.
As we bow, we look at the true nature of our hearts. We should not come to God with any pretense. Rather we need to open our hearts wide to Him, so that He can search them, revealing our motives and intentions, and all that is unclean.
As a goldsmith purifies gold, our Father wants to bring those impurities to the surface so we can be purified by Him… so that we reveal His image. We must want to be changed into His likeness!
So, how does that line up with what we find in churches today. I liked what our pastor said this afternoon. He mentioned these three models of modern worship.
- The Entertainment Model - so we can be entertained;
- The Service Station Model - so that our needs might be met;
- The Lecture Hall Model - with the high view on preaching so that we can learn.
The trouble with these is that they are all “ME” centered!! They satisfy MY enjoyment, MY needs, and MY learning and knowledge.
Oh, for more “GOD” centered worship!! And the challenge for us is to ask ourselves, “Why do I go to church?” The primary reason SHOULD be to meet with and worship our God together.
