“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship
in spirit and truth.” – John 4:24 (NKJV)
Summarize in a Word: True
Worship
Key Principle: God
determines how to worship Him.
Key Application: We
cannot worship God however we like.
Main point of the Passage: Worship
is based on the nature of God and His revelation.
Illustration: The Jews in Jerusalem, and the Samaritans in Gerizim.
Exhortation: Ask the Lord to forgive you. Be conscious of
God’s presence in the worship.
Every Rongmei
believes in the existence of God until recently. The existence of God compels
us to worship God. How we worship God varies because worship depends on the
nature and character of the one who we worship. Though claim to be Christian, many
have their own ideas of God. To them, worship is however they like. Some
traditional churches set extra-biblical patterns of worship (which are not
necessarily bad), that makes the worship boring to some sections of the
congregation.
In John
4:24, our Lord has instructed us how to worship him truly. It is to worship him
in truth and spirit. The context here is the inquiry of the Samaritan woman to
Christ, the Jew about the place of worship. Our Lord responses that the place and
the ethnicity of the worshipper do not matter. Worship is based on the nature
of God and His revelation. God has revealed Himself in the Scripture who He is
and what He desires. He desires the worship from the heart than the empty mouths,
rituals, and sacrifices (cf. Isaiah 29:13; Deut.10:16; Ps.51:17).
To
worship in spirit is to free away from empty rituals and laws of mere man, and to
draw our hearts close to God. It is the obedience of the inner man to delight
in God. The Holy Spirit illuminates our understanding and produces delights in
God. To worship in truth is to be in accordance with the Scripture. We
cannot know God and cannot worship God apart from the revelation in Scripture.
Worship patterns must be Scripture-saturated and God-exalting. “In truth” and “in
spirit” cannot be separated. It takes both to worship truly.
Have you
been worshiping in the church casually however you like? Have you not been delighting
in God as you worship, but just doing lip services? Ask the Lord to forgive you.
Next time, be conscious of God’s presence and you will be motivated to worship
God delightfully.