Lesson 6
Worship of God
in Spirit
John 4:19-24
ÒThe minister tells me I should worship the one,
true and living God as He is manifested in Christ and revealed in Scripture,
but honestly, I am as dry as a bone in my spiritual life. Intellectually I
grasp what the preacher is saying but this deep sense of worship he talks about
is not my own experience. What can I do to get a cool breeze from heaven so
that a vital spiritual life can be restored to me?Ó Perhaps you have asked
yourself these questions. If so, I would like to suggest to you that one of the
keys to a vital spiritual life is to understand what it means to Òworship in
spirit.Ó This must be an important concept because Christ, in His conversation
with the Samaritan woman, stated twice that true worshipPers must worship God
Òin spirit and in truth.Ó
ÒYet 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. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truthÓ (John 4:23-24).
The Samaritan woman had an outward form of worship
but she had no personal relationship with God. The God she worshipPed
could not change her life because she had Him localized in a temple. Her God
was a God of her imagination and she worshiped only when she was around or in
the temple. She had no concept of a personal God who was always with her and
who met her deepest spiritual needs. She was sincere in her religion but she
was sincerely wrong. In her conversation with Christ, this woman referred to
two different places of worship – Mount Gerizim in Samaria and Mount
Moriah in Jerusalem.
ÒSir,Ó the
woman said, ÒI can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim
that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.Ó Jesus declared, ÒBelieve
me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this
mountain nor in JerusalemÓ (John 4:19-21).
She
always thought of worship in terms of a temple site. ChristÕs point in this conversation
was that worship would no longer be in terms of a place, a piece of geography
or a temple, but it would be Òin spirit and in truth.Ó
Mount Gerizim in Samaria and Mount Moriah in
Jerusalem represent two kinds of worship both of which are not acceptable to
God because neither one is Òin spirit and truth.Ó Mount Gerizim worship
represents a sincere worship on the human level but not at all based on the
truth, for the Samaritans rejected all the Old Testament except the five books
of Moses. They had ÒspiritÓ but not Òtruth.Ó The Samaritans had their own
temple, priesthood and sacrificial system. When their temple was destroyed
they carried on their worship for years. They were sincere, earnest and
committed to their religion but their religion was not based on truth.
Mount Moriah worship, on the other hand, represents
the possession of truth without sincerity. The Jews had the truth of the Old
Testament and went through the external forms of worship as God commanded them.
They had the objective truth but lacked subjective experience and reality of
the truth. They had ÒtruthÓ but no Òspirit.Ó They prayed, fasted, went to the
temple, offered sacrifices, gave money and went through the external forms of
religion, but Christ condemned them for their insincerity and hypocrisy. ÒThis people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far away from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings
are but rules taught by menÓ (Matt. 15:8-9). The Jews had head knowledge of truth but no heart for
God.
In the words, Òworship in
spiritÓ Christ attempted to correct any false teaching that men can have truth
without reality or head facts without heart response and offer up acceptable
worship to God. Worship must be from the total man - mind, will and emotions.
The words Òin spiritÓ are given by Christ so that Christians will be on guard
about falling into dead orthodoxy, where Christians have an open Bible or a
doctrinal creed but are cold, lifeless and powerless in their lives. The words
Òin spiritÓ are given to warn Christians about the dangers of intellectualism,
hypocrisy, formalism and ritual in worship. God wants His people to experience Him and to have
warm, glowing hearts while being committed to the truth.
In the words Òworship the Father in spirit,Ó Christ
made it clear that since He has come in His first advent, worship will take on
a new dimension. The Old Testament physical kind of worship will pass off the
scene and something new, fresh and dynamic will replace this physical kind of
worship. Worship in the Old Testament was centered on a physical temple,
priesthood and animal sacrifices. These were types and shadows pointing forward
to the Messiah, Jesus Christ the Lord who would come. Since Christ has come all
the Old Testament types have been fulfilled in Christ and the Church. ÒThe law is only a shadow of the good
things that are coming—not the realities themselvesÓ (Heb. 10:1). Old Covenant worship has been replaced
by New Covenant worship, and New Covenant worship centers around Jesus Christ.
At the heart of New Covenant worship is worship in Òspirit and truth.Ó
Acceptable worship can only come as we rid ourselves
of all worldly forms of worship and spiritually worship God Òin spirit,"
for the New Testament clearly states that all worship is to be done in a new
spiritual dimension. The true church of Jesus Christ has its temple, its
sacrifices, its priesthood and its worship, but these are found primarily in
the spiritual realm not the physical.
The Individual Christian is Spiritually Circumcised. ÒFor it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of
God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the
flesh—though I myself have reasons for such confidenceÓ (Phil. 3:3). Physical circumcision in the Old
Testament was a sign that one belonged to the covenant. In the New Testament,
every Christian has been spiritually circumcised and is part of the Covenant of
Grace. Because of spiritual circumcision of the heart each Christian is a
true worshipper of God.
The Individual Christian is a Spiritual Temple
ÒDo you not know that your body is a temple
of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought
at a price. Therefore honor God
with your bodyÓ (1 Cor. 6:19-20).
God is not dwelling in buildings any longer. He,
through the Holy Spirit, is indwelling every true believer in Jesus
Christ, and the individual Christian has become the temple of God. God
dwells in spiritual temples, His people, and as temples of God, Christians are
to be holy sanctuaries unto the Lord God. How often people in ignorance will
pray, ÒIt is good to be gathered in the house of God on this LordÕs Day,Ó
referring to the church building. Or they will talk about a church building as
a ÒsanctuaryÓ as if there was something holy and mystical about a building. God
is not in brick and mortar and glass; He is in people who have received His
Son, Jesus Christ. The physical temple is destroyed. God now dwells in spiritual temples and these spiritual
temples are to be dedicated to God and used for His holy service.
One time a woman came out of the morning service all
huffy and puffy and said to the preacher, ÒDid you see that young boy chewing
gum in the sanctuary this morning?Ó The minister knew the boy was a believer
and the preacher smiled and said, ÒLady, I have news for you. The sanctuary was
chewing the gum!Ó
The Individual Christian is a Spiritual Priest
ÒBut you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you
out of darkness into his wonderful lightÓ (1 Pet. 2:9).
The Levitical priesthood of the Old Testament has
been done away with forever. Since Christ has come, every Christian is his own
priest before God. He can represent himself before God in prayer and offer
up his own spiritual sacrifices to the Father through his Great High Priest,
Jesus Christ.
The
great cry of Martin Luther in the Reformation was the universal priesthood of
all believers. He opposed the
Roman Catholic concept of a literal, physical priesthood on earth. Luther was
right and we should still oppose this concept even today. God wants to set men
free, not put them in bondage by placing them back under a system that God said
has been done away with forever.
The Individual Christian Offers Spiritual Sacrifices.
ÒThrough
Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise –
the fruit of lips that confess his name.
And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such
sacrifices God is pleasedÓ (Heb. 13:15-16).
As a self-sustaining believer-priest, each Christian is to offer spiritual sacrifices of praise, good works and finances. Real worship involves praise, performance and purse. Part of our worship is to praise God with thanksgiving for His person and His covenant of mercy towards us. Our worship involves good works towards our brothers in Christ and our unsaved neighbors.
A definite part of our worship to God is the liberal giving of our monies to the LordÕs work. When we do not give tithes and offerings, we are robbing God of proper worship that is rightfully His. ÒWill a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ÔHow do we rob you?Õ ÒIn tithes and offeringsÓ (Mal. 3:8). No Christian is fully worshipping God until he is making these spiritual sacrifices to God.
The Individual Christian Offers Up Spiritual Worship.
ÒTherefore, I
urge you, brothers, in view of GodÕs mercy, to offer your bodies as living
sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of
worshipÓ (Rom. 12:1).
The presentation of the life to God is an act of
spiritual worship. Every Christian is to be a living sacrifice. In the KJV the
presentation of the body as a Òliving sacrificeÓ is said to be the ChristianÕs
Òspiritual act of worship.Ó Do you want to worship God? Then present your life
to Him. The highest form of worship is a life dedicated to God. Real worship is
nothing less than an obedient life. Unless we are daily presenting our lives to
God, we are not offering up acceptable worship. A life committed to God is a living,
spiritual sacrifice. It is much more difficult to live for God than to die for
Him. Martyrdom would be simple compared to living everyday for the one, true
and living God as He is manifested in Christ and revealed in Scripture. We have
not really worshipped until our bodies are presented to God.
The New Testament teaches that as spiritual temples
the Holy Spirit permanently indwells the true believer in Jesus Christ. With
the coming of Christ, there is a new manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the
lives of Christians. The very power of God resides within every believer. It is
the Holy Spirit who energizes GodÕs people in the New Testament. ÒFor it is we who are the circumcision, we
who worship by the Spirit . . .Ó (Phil. 3:3). Worship is to be offered to the Father, through the Son
in the energizing power of the Holy Spirit.
When Christ said to the Samaritan woman that worship
was to be Òin spirit,Ó He undoubtedly had in mind manÕs human spirit, but it is
the Holy Spirit who energizes the human spirit, so this has caused some
commentators to think Christ was indirectly speaking about the Holy Spirit and
directly speaking about the human spirit.
A.W. Tozer says,
ÒOnly the Holy Spirit can
enable a fallen man to worship God acceptably. The Church has been propagated
by the Holy Spirit, so we can only worship in the Spirit, we can only pray in
the Spirit, and we can only preach effectively in the Spirit, and what we
do must be done by the power of the Spirit.Ó (Worship: The Missing Jewel)
The Holy Spirit becomes the power for the Christian
to worship God when offering up his spiritual sacrifices of his person, praise,
performance and purse. Christians are told specifically to pray in the Holy
Spirit ÒBut you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and
pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep
yourselves in GodÕs love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to
bring you to eternal lifeÓ (Jude 20-21). Christians are exhorted to be filled or
controlled by the Spirit. ÒDo not get
drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.
Instead, be filled with the SpiritÓ (Eph. 5:18). They are also
commanded to live (walk) in the Spirit. ÒSo
I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful natureÓ
(Gal. 5:16). The whole purpose of the Holy SpiritÕs work is to manifest
Christ to the Christian, and Christ in turn takes the Christian to the Father.
The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Christ.
ÒBut 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. He will bring glory to me by taking
from what is mine and making it known to youÓ (John 16:13-14).
Beware
of any Christian or Christian organization that exalts the Holy Spirit above
Christ. The SpiritÕs task is to make Christ real to the Christian. If one is
occupied with Christ, the Holy Spirit will energize him.
The relationship of the Holy Spirit to Christ can be
compared to a spotlight on an actor when on stage. The purpose of the spotlight
is to focus attention on the actor. Without the spotlight no one would see the
actor. The Holy Spirit shines His light on the person of Christ so we can see
Christ. The Holy SpiritÕs work is to put Christ in the spotlight in the life of
the believer.
Christians need the work of the Holy Spirit in order
to worship acceptably and effectively. Without spiritual assistance from God we
cannot worship God aright. If we feel our souls are dry as a parched desert,
then let us fall on our faces before God and cry out for God to have His Holy
Spirit revive us. We can say as the Psalmist, ÒRevive us, and we will call on your nameÓ (Psa. 80:18).
When Christ told the Samaritan woman that worship
was to be Òin spirit,Ó He was most certainly talking about the fact that
worship was to come from the heart of a person who had deep emotional feelings
for his God. Worship was not to be in some geographical sphere but in the
sphere of attitude of heart and mind.
It is the immaterial part of a Christian that
worships God. God communes with Christians through the human
spirit. ÒThe Spirit himself testifies with our spirit
that we are GodÕs childrenÓ (Rom. 8:16).
A Christian serves God through a redeemed human spirit. For God, whom I serve
in my spirit . . . (Rom. 1:9 - NASB). In worship, the worshipper is wholly engaged in the act of
worship. The renewed mind is also involved in the act of worship.
ÒAnd that you be
renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the
likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truthÓ
(Eph. 4:23-24 - NASB).
ÒDo not
conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you
will be able to test and approve what GodÕs will is—his good, pleasing
and perfect willÓ (Rom. 12:2).
The heart is the seat of the
emotions so we know the redeemed emotions of Christians seek God with
the whole heart. ÒI will praise you, O
LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wondersÓ (Psa. 9:1). ÒI seek you with all my heart; do not
let me stray from your commandsÓ (Psa. 119:10). Acceptable worship demands a commitment of the whole
immaterial man. ÒPraise the LORD, O my
soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy nameÓ (Psa. 103:1). Worship
involves deep contemplation of the person of God, meditation upon the
works of God and appreciation of our approach to God, through Christ Jesus the
Lord. God also wants the heart as well as the head. It is an insult to give God
a divided and fragmented heart. Love for God is as important as knowledge of
Him.
Worship Is Giving Not Getting. The basic purpose of
worship is not that Christians should get a blessing in worship but
whether God is pleased with the ChristianÕs worship. Worship is the giving of
the mind, the will, the emotions and the body to God. It is the giving of all
that we are or have to the worship of the one, true and living God who is
manifested in Christ and revealed in Holy Scripture. Beware of Christians who
are Òneed centeredÓ in their worship of God. If they stress what God can do for
them more than what they can give God, they have a perverted form of worship.
If a person says, ÒMy needs were not met in worship,Ó he may really be saying
that he is putting nothing of himself into his worship of God. A Christian will
not experience fullness in true worship until he consciously wills to give himself
to the worship of God. Each Christian must ask himself the question, as did the
psalmist, ÒHow can I repay the LORD for
all his goodness to meÓ (Psa. 116:12)?
However
worshippers who give themselves to God will receive spiritual blessings in
return, and they should anticipate blessing.
As they give themselves to God worship, they will receive blessings, but
they must give of themselves whether they receive anything or not.
Worship Is by Faith. A God who is Spirit can
only be communicated with by spiritual means. Spiritual worship is offered through faith in the living God
as He is revealed in the Bible. Worship in spirit is something internal, not
external. Any worship, which tries to reach God through emotions, feelings, and
aesthetics alone is a false worship. God cannot be
reached through beads, crosses, pictures, and buildings or trumped up emotional
meetings. God can only be reached by faith as He is revealed in Holy
Scriptures.
Worship Does Involve Emotions. God does want us to
experience Him. He does want our emotions to be moved towards Him, but He wants
the emotions to be moved by the truth of the Word of God. God wants us to weep
and laugh and get excited and show seriousness of purpose in our worship of
Him. God through the Word, as the
Christian exercises vital faith, must move the emotions. If we are to properly
worship God, we must use the means He has instructed us to use in the Bible.
Worship Is a Moment by Moment
Attitude.
Worship is not to be regulated to the hours of eleven and twelve on Sunday
morning. Worship is a moment-by-moment experience. In fact, if we have not
been worshipping during the week, we will get very little out of collective
worship on Sunday. Worship is being occupied with God through Christ and
presenting oneÕs body (life) for the service God has prepared for us. We
worship when we read the Bible, pray, witness, clean house, change diapers,
play with the kids, make a business deal, type a letter, do well in school, do
a good job at work or whatever as long as we do these things for the glory of
God.
Worship can Only be
Pleasing to God When it is Spiritual Worship. There are some external aspects of the
Christian religion but God will never be pleased with mere physical aspects of
worship. This is clearly taught through the sacrificial system in the Old
Testament. The offering of sacrifices without a heart for God was repugnant
to God.
ÒI hate, I
despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt
offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship
offering, I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harpsÓ (Amos 5:21-23).
What
God always wants is an obedient heart from His people
ÒFor when I
brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give
them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but I gave them this
command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you,
that it may go well with youÓ (Jer. 7:22-23).
God spoke to disobedient King Saul through
Samuel. ÒBut Samuel replied: ÔDoes the LORD delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and
to heed is better than the fat of ramsÕÓ (1 Sam. 15:22). God desires all true believers to
have a humble and contrite heart before they offer any external kind of
worship.
ÒYou do not
delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt
offerings. The sacrifices of God
are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O
God, you will not despiseÓ (Psa. 51:16-17).
Our bodies sitting in a church pew means nothing to
God unless our hearts are there to worship Him. When we pray out loud, this is
of no consequences to God unless our hearts beat for Him. Praying out loud may
help us and certainly it helps others to enter into this prayer, but God is
interested in our hearts more than our public prayers. God is not one bit
impressed with our singing voices unless we sing out of pure love for Him.
Songs create no sensation to God; they do to us but not to God. God is only
interested in the heart that produces the song. All physical aspects of worship
mean nothing to God and create no sensation to God except they are given by
faith. When given by faith, they
are well pleasing to Him.