This week I will attempt to wrap up my thoughts on worship. To begin we will need to go back to John chapter four.
(John 4:23-24 NIV) Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. {24} God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
We have talked about what worship is and to who it should be directed to. Then we need to get into the core of worship in its self. Jesus told the woman at the well that the Father is seeking for true worshipers. So, I guess the question should be who is a true worshiper. If we were to ask any person that believes in God, if they are a true worshiper, most likely they would say they were. But, to get that answer we need to look at the Word of God, and even see what Jesus said.
We are living in a society where the term or label Christian is so widely used. I feel that the truth of who God is paramount to knowing who we are and how we worship. To see Jesus the Christ for whom he is, can we truly know how to reflect the Fathers image on this world. Jesus being the only begotten son was the Fathers perfect representative to the world. Jesus said “you seen me you seen the Father” (John 14.9). Jesus was not making a claim to be God, but God’s true representative, the image of the Father. The answer to today’s problems and issues can be found in our relationship with the Father.
We have so many debates on who is right and over so many issues, that what is lost is the truth of who we should worship and what that should be to us. We as Christians fight over so many issues and judge everyone who disagrees with us. We look at our country and world around us and condemn for its sins. The question I ask, is all these people truly born again believers? Are they true worshipers of the One God whom Jesus spoke of and his disciples wrote about, or have they just bit the religious fruit, or so to speak been drinking the traditional Kool-aid. Until the true believers start getting it right, how can we expect a lost world to get it right? You can not speak for God effectively if your life is not a refection of who He is. Until we become true worshipers we will always struggle with all the issues of life. There is not a sin worse than another, as Paul put it we all have come “short of the glory of God” (Rom 3.23)
With that said, it does not matter what the issue may be, we have no right to condemn until we get it right. I think it was Jesus who said get the “plank out of your own eye” (Matt. 7.4-5) before trying to get the speck out of someone else’s eye. How can one condemn one for war when we have wars among ourselves? How can we judge another for abortion, when we have spiritually aborted many, or our young ones are running around in sexual sins? How can we say what is a righteous union in marriage when we have forsaken it ourselves and the divorce rate is just as high in the church if not higher, and we continue to let our leaders to hide their sexual sins. Let’s get back to the heart of worship.
So, what did Jesus mean when He said the Father is a Spirit and He is seeking for true worshipers? I think the answer can be found in Adam and Eve, and then Jesus who shows us the Father. Adam and Eve were created in the perfect image of God. They knew who he was and had perfect harmony with Him. There was no shame, nothing was hidden from God their relationship was open and honest. It is evident in Gen. 3 that God came down on a regular basis to visit with them; they were so pure that they did not know they were naked. When they disobeyed God (the opposite of true worship) their eyes were opened and all of a sudden there was shame, so they hid themselves from God, worship was lost.
Then Jesus comes along to restore the worship that was lost (Paul called him the second Adam 1 Cor. 15). He came to show us the Father and His desire to be connected to us. So let’s look at what Jesus said.
Jesus said to connect with the Father it must be done in spirit and truth, so what did Jesus mean by that? I feel we can find a two fold meaning in both of the words, spirit and truth. To start lets look at the words in the Greek, and then take a close look at what they mean. The word for spirit is pneuma, pnyoo'-mah; a current of air, i.e. breath (blast) or a breeze; by anal. or fig. a spirit, i.e. (human) the rational soul, (by impl.) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, daemon, or (divine) God, Christ's spirit, the Holy Spirit:--ghost, life, spirit (-ual, -ually), mind. This word is a very widely used word meaning everything from God’s own Spirit to air or breath. So, what does it mean to worship the Father in spirit?
I feel that worshiping God in spirit has two parts, please let me explain. Jesus told his followers that he would send a helper called holy spirit. He personified this gift to be given his followers, but never claimed it to be God Himself. In the understanding of the word used for spirit by Jesus we should see he was telling us that it is the power and breathe of God though Jesus that was going to be given to us. Let’s look at some of Jesus’ own words.
(John NIV) the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
(John 7:37-39 NIV) On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. {38} Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." {39} By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
(John NIV) "When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.
(John 16:13-15 NIV) But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. {14} He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. {15} All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.
It is the power and presence of God in us as believers that helps us to become true worshipers. It is God’s gift given to us to bring us to that perfect place of worship. It is that power that can help us live out (Mark 12. 29-30) in its fullness, loving God with our whole life and being. Then the other part of the spirit is our own true self, without shame or sin. It is God’s gift to us that through Jesus we can come boldly to the throne of God.
One could read Romans 8 for all its fullness and see what we have in the spirit. I love the way Paul starts out that chapter (Rom 8:1-5 NIV) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, {2} because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. {3} For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, {4} in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. {5} Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. When we truly love God from all of who we are through Jesus we begin to be true worshipers. Like Adam we can love and worship without shame.
Let me put it this way. I can say I love my wife and even have a piece of paper that says I do, but it is my actions and nature that says I do. If I am never around or try to hide parts of my life from her, she would doubt my love. My very nature, daily life must say I love you to my wife. There should be no doubt in anyone minds by the way I live and act that I am in love with my wife. Just because you go to church and have a certificate of membership, or even went down to an alter and repeated a prayer does not prove your love for God, it is your daily actions and life that should leave no doubt in the hearts of those that see you.
Truth is a hard subject today because everyone has their own version of truth. (Rom 3:4 NIV) Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge." There are those who will always reject truth or come up with their own version, but look what Paul said about them. (2 Th NIV) and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
The Word in the Greek for truth as Jesus used it is: aletheia, al-ay'-thi-a; truth:--true, X truly, truth, verity. It may seem simple, but to me it is where most of us struggle. To truly give God the place he deserves in or lives we have to be honest and naked before him. We have to stop hiding like Adam and stand before God as we are. It is Jesus who has cleaned us and made us righteous. The truth of who we are is only found in Jesus. I could never stand before God in my own righteousness, but I can through Jesus and the truth he has given. (John 14:6 NIV) Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (Heb NKJV) Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (1 John 4:17-19 NIV) In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. {18} There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. {19} We love because he first loved us.
Then, Jesus tells us that the spirit the he will give will reveal truth. (John NIV) the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. Don’t let traditions and modern teaching drown out the truth. We often start out with a great passion for God to know him for ourselves, but often over time we settle for the traditions and lose parts of truth to just fit in. (Gal 5:7 NIV) You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? We worship in the truth of who God is, who Jesus is, and the Word of God being rightly divided (2 Tim 2.15)
Like the marriage example a couple starts out on fire for each other living on the emotional and physical experiences. It is over time when we see what they have is real. They will either fall apart due to difficulties or they just settled into coexisting together because that is what they are supposed to do. It is true love that is lived out and demonstrated that stands the test of time and trials. It is knowing each other truly and accepting the good and bad that makes their love possible.
Jesus spoke in (John NIV) “If you love me, you will obey what I command. He set the standard of worship and truth, revealing the Father to us. In this worship that God desires we will find life and true peace. When we recognize His complete authority in our lives, come before him in purity and spirit. We humble ourselves before him and submit completely to His ways not ours. Worship is not just an act, but a part of who I am. It is how I live and carry out my daily life that is worship to God. If I truly love Him I will bring all of who I am and how I live under His commands. His very Words will be life to me and His spirit given to me will bring me to that place of complete victory over sin and self ambitions. That God will have the same words to speak about me as he did David “a man after my own heart”
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