READ JOHN 4:20-24
CONTEXT: In John 4:20, the Samaritan woman at the well told Jesus “Our Fathers WORSHIPPED GOD ON THIS MOUNTAIN, but you Jews claim that the PLACE where we must WORSHIP IS IN JERUSALEM.” In other words, back in the Old Testament times, worship of God was bound and determined by a place! The only place where Israel could worship God was at the TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM! (See Deuteronomy 12:1-5, 2 Chronicles 6:1-2, 7:1-12)
But now, Jesus said, a time would come (vs 21,23) when worshipping God would NO LONGER BE BOUND BY A PLACE, but the true worshippers could worship God anytime and anywhere because God is spirit and the true worshippers would worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24)!
SO, WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WORSHIP GOD IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH?
Firstly, the word WORSHIP in the Greek is the word “proskyneo” and can mean “to kiss the hand or kneel down before One in reverence to”.
According to Matthew 4:10, worship is associated with SERVING. Jesus said, It is written
“You shall WORSHIP the Lord your God, and Him only shall you SERVE.”
In other words, the one we worship is the one whom we will serve!
According to Romans 12:1 we are to offer our WHOLE BODIES as living sacrifices, HOLY and PLEASING TO GOD. This is our spiritual act of WORSHIP! So, worship here is shown by the way we live our whole lives for Jesus in the body!!
1.WORSHIPPING GOD IN SPIRIT:
According to Philippians 3:3, the apostle Paul said it is we who worship BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD!
Therefore to worship God in Spirit could mean to worship (serve and reverence) God and offer our whole bodies in the way we live, by The Holy Spirit!!
This would also be consistent with John 4:23 where our saviour Jesus told this Samaritan woman that “a time is coming” when the true believers will be able to worship God in spirit, as up to this point, The Holy Spirit hadn’t yet been given to believers since Jesus hadn’t yet been glorified (see John 7:38-39)!!
In order to serve God by The Holy Spirit, this may practically include:
-Being LED by The Holy Spirit’s prompting (Romans 8:14, Galatians 5:18, Luke 4:1).
-Being EMPOWERED and ANOINTED by The Holy Spirit to minister and evangelise to others and use the SPIRITUAL GIFTS He gives us to build up others in their faith (Acts 1:8, Luke 4:14,18, 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, Romans 12:6-8, 1 Peter 4:10-11).
-Being FILLED by The Holy Spirit to have the BOLDNESS to do God’s will and preach His word (Ephesians 5:18, Acts 4:8,29-31).
-LIVING by The Holy Spirit so that we do not gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).
-Understanding and EXPRESSING SPIRITUAL TRUTHS in words taught by The Holy Spirit!! (1 Corinthians 2:12-13)
In Romans 7:14, Paul says that we ourselves at UNSPIRITUAL!!
So the only way to worship God is by being born again to worship Him by and through The Holy Spirit in us, who comes into us at salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14, Romans 8:6)!!
2.WORSHIPPING GOD IN TRUTH:
In John 17:17, Jesus revealed to us that THE WORD OF GOD IS TRUTH and His word sanctifies us (Ephesians 5:26-27)! In John 16:13, we are also told by Jesus that The Holy Spirit is THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH and that He will guide us into ALL TRUTH! So to worship God in truth could mean that our worship (serving and reverencing) of God should be done in accordance with the truth of God’s word as led by The Holy Spirit!! From Romans 12:1, the only way we can know how to offer our bodies in the way that we live, in a HOLY AND PLEASING WAY to God is in accordance with how the word of God says we should live for God as revealed to us by The Holy Spirit who RENEWS OUR MIND (Romans 12:2)!! It is only by God’s word through The Holy Spirit, that we will know how to worship and serve God!! In Matthew 4:4, Jesus said that man does not live on bread alone but on EVERY WORD THAT COMES FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD!
In Mark 7:6-7, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and teachers of the law because their WORSHIP WAS IN VAIN!! He said “These people honour me with their lips, but their HEARTS are far from me. They WORSHIP ME IN VAIN; their teachings are but rules taught by men.”
We see from this passage that following man made rules instead of the commands/word of God was worship that was considered in vain by Jesus!! We also see that offering lip service without our hearts being connected to God also means our worship is in vain!!
MAY WE LEARN THEREFORE, TO TRULY WORSHIP GOD IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH WITH SINCERE HEARTS!
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