John 4:24 (NET)
“God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
These are the words of Jesus as He was talking with a Samaritan woman confused about worship. She was confused about the location where “worship” should be carried out, whether it was on a mountain where her ancestors worshipped or in Jerusalem. The way Jesus answers is so challenging and freeing at the same time! I love this passage and yet I still do not fully understand its implications for me and the Church today.
Jesus tells her that a time is coming when we will neither worship God in Jerusalem or on a mountain (which I believe to be the time when we will be in Heaven), but for now we should worship God in spirit and truth – because this is what God the Father is seeking! So, what does that look like? Spirit and truth? I will try to unpack that now with Part 2, so let’s get into it –
Part 2
Worship God in Truth.
Truth is one of the descriptions of Jesus in the first chapter of the book of John. John says that He (Jesus) is full of grace and truth. So, the Source of our Truth must come from the Truth Himself, Jesus Christ. John tells us later in his Gospel that the Spirit of truth will lead us into all truth (John 16:13)! The Holy Spirit comes into, dwells within, everyone that accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior, and while He is living within us He is directing us constantly to the Truth. This is important in regard to worship, because (as we learned last week) worship is to be done in spirit but it must be fundamentally rooted in truth. We cannot get so caught up in the feelings, or expressions (spirit), and neglect the importance of truth in our times of worship.
As people we are easily swayed and given to our emotions. We can see it in our political culture around us every day! There is an old hymn that says, “Prone to wonder, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.”. The truth keeps us rooted and grounded as we express ourselves with emotion. In fact, it is the truth of what we are expressing that should compel our emotions! For example, there are some that love the “upbeat” songs because it really gets them alive, or fired up. When I hear this I get bothered because it should not be the bpm’s (beats per minute) of a song that get us fired up, it should be the content of the song that energizes us! I know, and I agree, that naturally speaking a song with a good rhythm set to about 120 bpm’s will get your foot stomping and your hands clapping (and there is nothing wrong with that), but I know for myself that I can gain the same amount of energy from a song like Revelation Song that is set at half that tempo but has an unbelievably powerful message about God’s holiness and worthiness to receive our worship. If I walk out of a worship service upset because the band didn’t play one upbeat/uptempo song and it was boring, then I would say that I have to check my heart and really try to understand whether or not I am worshiping God in all sincerity. The truths of the songs should be the energizing factor, not the composition (although a song that is well composed and executed skillfully definitely makes it easier for us to express our worship).
Please do not get me wrong, I had a bluegrass band for many years and I love the upbeat songs! I am simply using that as an example to show us how this looks in a practical manner. The other extreme is just as valid (i.e. too many fast songs takes away our ability to really “worship”).
There is an old term called, “True North”, and it is the internal compass that guides you successfully through life. The old timers used to use the North Star in navigating the ocean because it was stationary and didn’t move with the waves and wind, it kept them on a straight path to their destination. In much the same way, there is a “True North” in our times of worship, and that is the Word of God. The Bible is the “compass” that informs and instructs our worship. In it we find all that God has revealed about His nature, character, and covenant with us. All of the thoughts we think, the songs we sing, the prayers we pray, and the ideals we hold to be true must be rooted in the truths of God’s Word. The most powerful force to unlock freedom is truth (see John 8:31-32) . So, if we want to be free in our worship, then it must be rooted in truth!
For example;
No Longer Slaves is a song that I absolutely love and that has helped me to freely express my love to God and acknowledge Him in a spirited and truthful way. Let me share a couple lines of the song with you and then explain why.
1.) “I am surrounded by the arms of the Father, I am surrounded by songs of deliverance.” The truth of this line is found in Psalm 32:7 that says, “You are my hiding place; from trouble you preserve me. With cries of deliverance you surround me. Selah” (LEB) Other translations say that God sings songs of deliverance over us. The spirit of this line is that no matter what I am facing, I need to remember that I am surrounded by God the Father who is able to deliver me from that trouble when I call upon Him (see Psalm 107:19-20). When the truth and the spirit of this line of the song come together in my worship, then I will remember that it is true – I do not need to be a slave to fear any longer! That makes me enthusiastically and sincerely happy in the Lord and allows me to express it to Him freely in worship!
2.) “I am a child of God”, along with, “We’re the sons and daughters let us sing our freedom.” The Bible tells us in John 1:12 that to those who receive Jesus they have the right to be called children of God! That is the Truth. This idea of adoption into God’s family is one that really makes me emotional because of the reality that in the spiritual realm I was orphaned – I was lost and fatherless. God called me into His kingdom and gave me (and you) a home with Him forever because of what Christ did on the cross. He changed my identity from lost and fatherless to found and adopted into His family, and now I can declare that I am a child of God. The Bible says that I am a fellow heir with Christ (Romans 8:17) and that the Spirit cries out through our spirit “Abba! Father” (see Romans 8:15). This makes me so passionate and grateful to God, and it stirs in my heart an emotional response that is rooted in truth! (By the way, Romans 8:15-17 seems to be the main Scripture that this song has pulled its lyrics from and is the Scripture that captures the spirit behind the song.)
The Bible says in Psalm 145:18 “The Lord is near all who cry out to him, all who cry out to him sincerely (in truth).” That is a promise for every one of us who desire to be close to our Lord. In John 4:23 it states that God is actually seeking worshipers who worship Him in sincerity and truth. It says in Psalm 32:2 that God blesses us who come to Him with a spirit that has no deceit, and that is aware of it’s need of Him!
Truth really is critical to our worship. It is not something to fear, it is something to embrace in order to fully appreciate the God in whom we serve and worship! Please be passionate about truth, and do not allow the “spirit” of worship to overrule the “truth” of worship. Here is an excerpt from an article written by the Christian Post;
“In an interview with The Christian Post, Getty said many modern worship songs focus on emotionalism rather than sound doctrine and Scriptural truths. This, he said, leads to a generation ill-equipped to understand or defend the Christian faith. ‘An authentic generation doesn’t begin with catharsis; it has to begin with an authentic picture of the God of the Bible,’ he explained.”
Keith Getty: Modern worship mov’t is ‘utterly dangerous,’ causing ‘de-Christianizing of God’s people’
Let’s not be a generation of people that seek after whatever gives us an emotional rise, but let’s allow the Truth to do that for us! There is nothing more powerful for me and you emotionally than to understand the actual truths of God’s Word and how they apply to our lives! The doctrines of; salvation by grace, mercy, forgiveness, adoption, etc. should have a major influence on our worship and the way in which we express it.
Feel free to comment about a lyric in a song or a Scripture that really compels you to worship, and why. I would love to hear about what is causing worship to rise up in you in these days!
God bless you.
