Devotional:
“You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 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. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”” — John 4:22-24
What is the first thought you have when you hear the word worship? Most people immediately think of it as the 3 songs leading up to the sermon on Sunday mornings. There’s music, lights, hands in the air, people singing… But worship is so much more than what we see on the outside. It is not just an outward expression of our love for Jesus. In fact, that is a very small piece of what worship is. So, what is the fullness of worship and what does it mean to worship in spirit and truth?
Worship in spirit and in truth are not separate. You cannot have one without the other. They coexist because our inner spirit is stirred by the knowledge that Jesus is the truth. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6)
Worship involves every aspect of our being: heart, soul, mind, and strength. It is the essence of who we are as Christ followers. Without it, there would be no connection, no relationship, no point in any of it. It is the conduit between us and God. It is not enough to know about God. Even the atheists and the demons know about Him, in fact, they study Him. But they don’t worship Him. They do not have the spirit because they have not accepted the truth. Jesus.
Worship is not our pursuit of God. It is God’s relentless pursuit of us. Worship is the response we have to His pursuit. Worship is when we fully embrace what Psalm 139 says: You have searched me and know me…You discern my thoughts from afar…you are acquainted with all my ways…even before a word is on my tongue…you know it. Where shall I go from you Spirit? Where shall I flee from your presence? You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
There is so much more in Psalm 139. Nothing is left out. It is the perfect example of Christ being in every part of our life. Even the very air we breathe in and out, in and out, is worship to our Creator. He is in every part of us and in turn, we can’t help but to express our love, our thanks, our surrender, because we realize we are nothing without Him. It is His connection to us, His presence in our lives, and our surrender to Him that makes worship complete. We worship God with our heart, a spirit alive in us: Our soul, with an inner peace that only He can give: Our mind, knowing Jesus is the truth and understanding that His word is power: Our strength, the external overflow of our affection that we can’t contain.
But it is easy to fall into an unbalanced rhythm of worship. We can get caught up in our feelings and emotions and forget that worship is so much more than a song or a building. Sometimes we start to worship the worship, instead of the Creator. Churches lose sight of the entirety of worship, only focusing on the parts that create high emotions and moody atmospheres. There is nothing wrong with that. God delights in all aspects of our worship. But it is so easy to be caught up in the emotions. It can happen just as easily at a Coldplay concert. And so many churches focus heavily on the outward expression of worship because of the response that happens, but they leave the gospel truth out.
Some of the most faithful church goers spend very little time in God’s word, knowing the truth. The church grabs onto the outward responses of our bodies, while neglecting the heart, soul, and mind. We cannot truly worship without being grounded in the truth which He has given us through Jesus, our Savior and His Word, the Bible. If there is no sound doctrine, no sound teaching of scripture, a church cannot be authentic in its worship. True worship is not only what we express outwardly, but it is the knowledge of Christ in us, living, and breathing through us.
“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” — Matthew 15:8-9
There are also churches that lean heavier on the traditional aspects of worship than the emotional expressions. They emphasize tradition and religious rituals and routines more than the music, lights and tugging on the heartstrings for a response. Putting more of the emphasis on the traditions of our church, our ancestors, can be very worshipful for some. But, even so, that can be a distraction for those who are more determined to stand their traditional ground than get into the heart of what worship really is.
The question still remains: Are you worshiping the worship or the Creator worthy of our worship?
Can you take the external aspects of worship out of the equation? Are you able to worship in spirit and in truth through prayer, scripture, serving others, loving others, or does everything we know about worship rely completely on that outward response to a song, a service, a building, or a weekly routine?
Now think about this: Is that any different than any other learned behavior that is attached to a moment during the week or a building you walk into? Like salivating when you smell your favorite food, or suddenly needing to use the bathroom when you pull into the driveway, or working out at the same time every day, or throwing your keys in the same spot every time you walk through the door, or taking your shoes off as you enter the house, or putting the toilet seat down? (That’s a joke…we’re still working on those last two in the Martin house).
Worship is our response to every aspect of the life we live in Christ, the good and the bad. It’s the messed-up parts and the best parts of our lives. In John 4, Jesus meets the woman at the well for a reason. Worship! He wants her worship! He desires for her to know Him in spirit and in truth. He pursues her!
First, it’s Samaria. Jews and Samaritans did not speak. Jews didn’t even travel through Samaria because of the racial hate they had for the Samaritans. They were of mixed ethnicities, intertwining multiple religious backgrounds, making them unclean in the eyes of the Jewish people. Jews would even add a full day of travel just to go around Samaria and avoid them at all costs. But here Jesus is, at the well with this Samaritan. And not just a Samaritan.
A Samaritan woman who happens to have had 5 previous husbands and now a current 6th man who she isn’t even married to. Yet, he doesn’t treat her with disdain or disgust, as many in that town probably did. But instead, he asks her for a drink from her bucket…which at that point I’m sure she was thinking all kinds of weird thoughts about who this man was and why He was even talking to her, much less asking for a drink from her, what Jews would call, filthy bucket.
He is gentle with His words to her, but forceful with the truth. He was not letting her leave the well unchanged that day. In order to do that, He had to show her the truth. That He was the only living water that would take away all the mess in her life. He is the savior of the world, and through Him, she is forgiven. Why does he choose her? I think about that a lot.
Honestly, I think it could have been a number of reasons. One point Jesus liked to point out to many religious do-gooders was that He came to take away the sins of ALL the world. Not just the Jews. He was the equal opportunity, Messiah. What better way to get that point across than to a Samaritan woman with probably a bad reputation, at a Samaritan well, all alone, just the two of them?
The Father’s love knows no boundaries. Maybe He just wanted to show her kindness, knowing that there was not a lot of kindness going on in her life. Or maybe it was just another teaching opportunity to show the disciples that this was the perfect example of the new covenant, rid of all the rules, religiosity, and exclusivity.
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers,by the mercies of God,to present your bodiesas a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” — Romans 12:1
There are two songs that, to me, capture what worship really means:
“When the music fades, all is stripped away, and I simply come. Longing just to bring something that’s of worth, that will bless your heart. I’ll bring you more than a song, for a song in itself, is not what you have required. You search much deeper within through the way things appear. You’re looking into my heart. I’m coming back to the heart of worship, it’s all about you, Jesus. I’m sorry Lord for the thing I’ve made it. When it’s all about you, Jesus.” — The Heart of Worship
Those lyrics are so powerful and true. We are so prone to make worship all about us, what we can get out of it and how spiritual we look to those around us. We forget that it’s not about us or for us. We do not worship ourselves. So why make it about us? Temporary feelings and approval of man are not a part of worship.
“This is the air I breathe. Your holy presence living in me. This is my daily bread, your very word, spoken to me. I’m desperate for you, I’m lost without you.” — This is the Air I Breathe
That’s the whole song, repeated over and over. No other words are needed. The air we breathe, His holy presence living in us, is worship to Him. His very word spoken to us, is our daily bread and it is worship to Him! Without both of those things, we are not able to give God the worship he desires and deserves.
Where are you when you worship the Lord? What is your worship about lately: You or Him? Are you worshiping the worship or worshiping your Lord and Savior?
Lord just as those two songs so clearly and simply state, I’m sorry for the thing that I’ve made my worship into. When I make it about me and what I can get from it, I lose sight of the spirit and truth of worship. God, help me to remember that your holy presence and daily bread are a gift. It is your pursuit of my heart and my mind that draws me to worship. Help me to make everything I live for and breathe, worship to You. Amen
