When I was in high school, I sang in our school choir, and every year, we went on a tour. One year, we went to New York. It was incredible; it is a fantastic city. While we were there on one of our days off, a few of my friends and I went to an area of the town where you could buy knock-offs of almost anything you wanted: shoes, jeans, watches, cologne and perfume. I remember purchasing a cologne I wanted; it was close to the real thing, but you could tell it wasn't; for ten dollars, I wasn't complaining.
We all want the real thing. It doesn't matter whether it is a food product, a perfume, a watch or sunglasses; the knock-offs are close, but when push comes to shove, you know it is fake; the real thing is far superior.
So it is with worship. In John chapter four, Jesus meets a woman at Jacob's well, and like all of Jesus' conversations, it goes deep really fast. After a short conversation, this woman perceives that Jesus isn't just a normal guy. There is something different about him; he must be a prophet. She has a question for him, and it's related to true worship.
John 4:19-24 (ESV) - 19 The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship." 21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
Jesus reveals to this woman that there is real and fake worship, worship that honours God and worship that doesn't. If this is true, then it must be of the utmost importance for us as followers of Jesus to worship in a way that honours Jesus.
David Matthis, Executive Director of Desiring God, writes, "The issue is not whether we will worship, but what. Even better, whom and how.”
Jesus reveals the "who" we worship, the "Father." Our worship must be pointed towards the "Godhead," Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Jesus also reveals the "how" we must worship. "In spirit and in truth."
Let’s take a closer look at what it means to worship in spirit and in truth.
Worship in Spirit
We are created with a body, soul and spirit. Our body is made of skin, bones, and organs; it allows us to see, touch, taste, smell, and hear. Our soul is related to our intellect, will and emotion. Finally, our spirit is what Jack Hayford would call our God-consciousness. Hayford states it is measured by;
1) Faith - assurance and stability, fed by the word of God
2) Hope - confidence and expectancy - sustained by looking to Jesus
3) Love - communication, and motivation - nurtured by the flow of the Holy Spirit.
There is some controversy about what Jesus means by the word "spirit." The word spirit has a heavy connotation of "heart" as well. All commentators agree that what Jesus refers to is the part of us that cannot be seen. It is what the apostle Paul would call the inner man. The core of who we are that responds to God. True worshippers will worship with their inner being and "ascribe worship" to God from the depths and core of who they are.
True worship is not going through the steps and trying to appease God but requires our inner being to be fully engaged, fully surrendered, and wholly laid bare before the Lord.
You cannot just tick a box. You cannot just give $200 in an offering box and say, "I've worshiped through giving because I gave, you cannot just sing four songs and sit down and think that God is pleased with your worship. True worship engages our whole self, our entire being.” Religious duty has no place in God-honoring worship. God is Spirit, and those who worship him will worship in spirit.
An Old Puritan preacher, Stephen Charnock, said, "Without the heart, it is not worship; it is a stage play, an acting part. We may be truly said to worship God, though we lack perfection, but we cannot be said to worship him if we lack sincerity.”
You might ask yourself, “How do I engage my spirit in worship?” One of the best ways to engage our spirit in worship is to speak to the Holy Spirit and ask him to awaken you to the realities of who Jesus is. Ask him to stir your spirit's affections for Jesus, that he would stir your heart so much that your spirit's only option is to bubble up and overflow in Christ-exalting worship.
Paul points to the Spirit's help in our times of prayer which can easily translate to our time of worship. Romans 8:26 states, “Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” David gave us a firsthand example of this in Psalm 42: "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation."
Speak to your inner man. Speak to your spirit. Say, "God, I engage my spirit to worship you, the Holy Spirit, stir our hearts for Jesus, and begin to let worship flow from your inner self. You can do this wherever you are: if you are a heavy equipment operator in the cab of your tractor, if you are a nurse in the hospital, or if you are a stay-at-home mom while you are at the park with your kids or driving in the van.
Worship in Truth
Not only are we to worship in spirit with our whole being, but we are to worship in truth. If we lose this aspect of truth, we may be the most exuberant, heartfelt worshippers, but we are not worshiping the God of the Bible. Void of the reality of who God is, we are worshiping a God created in "OUR" image.
At the very core of worshiping in truth is worshiping in light of who Jesus is and what he has done. He is the truth. Jesus states in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. "
We also worship in truth by being rooted and grounded in the written word of God. His character, his nature, that he has shown his steadfast love and faithfulness from generation to generation. We worship him in light of Revelation chapter 4, which declares that he is Holy and worthy to receive glory, honour, and power. We worship because he is gracious and compassionate. A God who is slow to anger, a God who, according to the Psalmist, does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. We worship in response to the reality that his kindness leads us to repentance. We honour him in light of his perfect leadership, that he is the good shepherd, leads us beside quiet waters, and is with us in our darkest valleys.
When we worship in spirit and truth, we enter a realm of worship that honours God, glorifies and pleases him. It becomes a sweet fragrance like the perfume poured out on the feet of Jesus! When we worship in spirit and in truth, it becomes the praise that the Lord desires to inhabit.
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