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In Spirit And In Truth
by John F. Moreland
© SEP 2004
In John 4, Jesus is speaking with a woman
in the region of Samaria, in a city called Sychar. It took place at one of
Jacob’s wells located there. It is an unusual encounter for Jesus, and an
unusual conversation which transpired between them. Ultimately the conversation
turned to the subject of worship. Jesus’ response to her concerning worship is a
cornerstone of our life as believers and worshippers. We are born again to be
worshippers.
(John 4:20-24 NASB) {20} "Our fathers worshiped in this
mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought
to worship."
{21} Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is
coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship
the Father.
{22} "You worship that which you do not know; we worship
that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
{23} "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true
worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the
Father seeks to be His worshipers.
{24} "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and
truth."
I am coming to understand this means far
more than I ever thought. First, He did not say that we ought to worship God out
of a sense of duty. He did say those who worship Him must worship in spirit
and truth. True worship then, by definition, is confined to spirit and
truth. If we worship Him, in whatever form it may take, corporate or personal,
must be in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
It is my conviction that worshipping the
Lord in spirit has to do with the inner man, the heart. The inner man is truly
who we are. The heart is mentioned 166 times in the New Testament, but refers
only once to the physical heart, and once to the heart of the earth. In every
other instance it refers to the will, emotions, affections, etc. In Romans 10:10
it is that by which man believes. (Rom 10:10 KJV) "For with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness …". It is out of the inner man, the heart,
that men obey the Lord. It is the pursuit of the soul for the child of God. The
Old Testament has a perfect definition of worship when it declares, (Psa 42:1
KJV) "As the hart (deer) panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul
after thee, O God." That’s what worshipping the Lord in spirit is all about,
a hunger for His Presence and fellowship with Him. There can be no greater
pursuit in the Christian’s life than this.
Worship from a human standpoint is
basically three things. (1) It is simply our adoration of Him because He is the
Sovereign God and the Source of all life. (2) It is the pursuit of knowing Him
and fellowshipping with Him. (3) It is the pursuit of the joy, and the reward of
knowing Him. This is clearly explained in Hebrews 11:6.
"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to
God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him."
God Himself is the Prize. An illustration;
if you’re searching for gold and find it, then the gold is the reward. So, if we
diligently seek Him He will reward us with the discovery and joy of Himself.
The Old Testament recorded it like this.
(Prov 8:17 NASB) "I love those who love me; And those
who diligently seek me will find me."
And again,
(Psa 16:11 KJV) "Thou wilt show me the path of life:
in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for
evermore."
But, worship must be founded in truth as
well. Worship is two-fold, in spirit and truth. As I began to meditate on
this I realized I had never really seen it before. The in truth part was
something I seemed to skip over and take for granted. King David tied spirit and
truth together when he cried out in Psalm 51:6 ,
‘Behold, Thou dost desire truth in the innermost being, …’
True spiritual truth is far more than a doctrinal
fact, it is a fundamental, motivating reality. It is of the heart.
First, truth is acknowledging that He is
(Heb.11:6). No, it is more. It is knowing that He is! One cannot
truly worship a figment of his imagination. Furthermore, it is knowing He
is all things to us and everything His Word declares Him to be. It is
not only knowing all He has done for us, but living in their present reality.
For instance, we see Him as the Source and present reality of several things to
us in the following passage.
(Rom 8:28-30 KJV) "And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called
according to his purpose.
{29} For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren.
{30} Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also
called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified,
them he also glorified."
In these verses He is the Foreknower, the
Predestinator, the Divine Caller, the Justifier and the Glorifier.
In the following passage, we understand He
is all these things (and so much more) because He is the Reconciler.
(2 Cor 5:18 KJV) " And all things are of God, who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry
of reconciliation;…"
But, wonder of wonders, He has become
our Father and made us one with Himself. Jesus taught us He was our Father when
He instructed us in the model prayer to pray, "Our Father Who art in
heaven, …´ And then the Word reveals, (1 Cor 6:17 KJV) "But he
that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." Do you begin to see what in
truth is all about? We have not nearly exhausted this matter of in truth,
but at least we are beginning to touch it and relate to it.
If the Father is seeking worshippers to
worship Him in spirit and in truth, then failure to worship Him is sin. It
violates everything that is glorious and holy in heaven and earth. But, if we
worship Him merely out of a sense of duty, we have missed the very essence of
worship. Worship is not simply done out of a sense of duty, but from the
adoration of our hearts and for the unspeakable joy of knowing Him. For example,
when I was in college and met my wife to be, I knew she was the one I wanted to
marry. I was not passive in our relationship, but I diligently pursued her. It
paid off, for I married her. I did not pursue her out of a sense of duty. God
forbid! I pursued her from my heart, for I loved her and wanted to live the rest
of my life with her. (At this writing, we have been married for 56 years and
counting.)
If then, worship is the pursuit of God,
and knowing Him is a matter of the heart, there are some attendant realities
that must be addressed. The writer of Proverbs expressed it like this:
(Prov 4:23 KJV) "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are
the issues of life."
How can one truly worship Him and not walk
in the truth of Who and What He is? It is one thing to intellectually know some
things about God, and quite another to walk in the Spirit of Truth. Worshipping
Him in spirit and truth cannot be separated. If He is the Reconciler, our lives
must manifest our reconciliation to Him. If He is the Justifier, then we must
walk in the reality of His justification and not in self-righteousness. If He is
the Sanctifier, then our lives and walk must register His holiness. If we are
joined to Him as one spirit, then our lives must register His heart’s desires.
Moreover, we cannot reduce worship to a
form. We certainly can have a specified time we set aside to worship and
fellowship, but even then our time with Him defies form. But, if we are walking
as the Word says, in the Spirit, then our lives are lives of truth. Redeemed,
justified, sanctified, glorified – our lives are testimonies of our worship of
Him, in spirit and truth. Worship then is really a life-style as well as
specific times of worship and fellowship. There is never a time when we
cannot know His Presence, for He (Christ) is our life. And, He is our life
whether we stop to acknowledge or worship Him, or simply walk in what and who we
are.
Dear Lord, it is our heart’s desire that
You will be able to stop seeking us to worship You in spirit and truth, because,
Bless Your holy name, You have already found us living just like that. Amen and
Amen!
1 Ephesians 3:16, Romans
7:22, 2 Corinthians 4:16
2 Luke 21:26
3 Matt. 12:40
4 Romans 6:17
5 Also John 20:17
6
(Gal 2:20 KJV) " I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
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