True Worship, What Does it Look Like?
John 4:23 (NKJV) But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
John 4:24 (NKJV) God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Who Worships Right?
The Jews were worshiping ritualistically. They were carrying out ceremonies without really appreciating the God that was represented by the ceremonies. They were not worshiping in spirit.
The Samaritans on the other hand seemed to be worshiping with enthusiasm but they were not worshiping in the right place or with the right priests. They were not worshiping in truth.
An Example of Worship
With the death of Queen Elizabeth 11 we have seen what seems to be real authentic worship. Crowds are showing her reverence and news outlets seem to be praising her. There are traditions and protocols that make no sense to many of us that are being carried out to honor her. When she first died, I didn’t hear any criticism of her. I only heard people praising her. Now after some time has passed we are hearing about those who are not true worshippers. They are people who feel she led a commonwealth which in some cases had been prejudiced and which had been unnecessarily oppressive in other cases. But still she has a lot of subjects who are worshiping her, and her worshippers should be making those of us who say we are worshiping the Lord Jesus question the reality of our worship.
Abraham’s Example
Back in Genesis 22, God tested Abraham and asked him to offer Isaac, his unique son of promise, as a burnt offering. That required him to slay Isaac. Abraham was willing to do this. He was going to go to Mount Moriah (the place prescribed by God) and he was willing to offer Isaac (the sacrifice prescribed by God). He didn’t question his instructions but was obedient to them. The writer of Hebrews tells us in chapter 11 that Abraham assumed God was going to raise Isaac from the dead. Earlier, Abraham and Sarah had tried to “help” God fulfill His promise of providing Abraham a child in his old age and all they did was create jealousy within his family, and ultimately they created confusion in the world. The Muslim world considers Ishamael and not Isaac to be the child Abraham was promised. But in Genesis 22 he didn’t “help” God, he just obeyed him and as a result God blessed him. This was true worship.
The Woman from Samaria
In John 4, the Lord had gone out His way to meet a woman from the city of Sychar in Samaria. She was born wrong as far as the Jews were concerned and the Jews thought she worshiped wrong. She had had five husbands and was now living with a sixth fellow, so likely she was considered a “sinner” by everyone who knew her. But the Lord knew she was a precious soul that needed to be saved. Likely, he knew she was convicted about the life she was leading although the passage does not say that. But when she met the Lord, she realized He knew all about her and she was convinced He was the Messiah she had apparently heard about. Notice how quickly she began to worship in spirit and in truth. She immediately left her waterpots and went into the city and began telling the Samaritans that she had met the Messiah. She had come to the well alone, likely to avoid others who would have been critical of her. But when she met the Lord, she went right back to her own people to tell them of her “find”.
She didn’t go to Bible school or seminary. She didn’t go find a mentor to tell her how to evangelize. She didn’t get schooled on some canned program that she could use to evangelize. She didn’t wait until she had a better understanding of how the Messiah was fulfilling prophecy. She just left what she was doing (her waterpots) and went to the city and said, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ (John 4:29, NKJV)?” The King James version is more definite. It says, “Is not this the Christ?”
Some believed because of her and some came to meet the Lord and believed because of what He said. But all she said was “COME SEE A MAN.” She was obviously “taken” by the man she had met. I think she represented the worship God was seeking. Her enthusiasm and lack of pretense caused many from Sychar to come and meet the Lord as well.
Our Worship
I am not going to offend all who are reading this by criticizing what we call worship today. But I would suggest that we lack something that the early primitive church and this Samaritan woman had. This woman just told others about a man she had met that knew everything about her. She wanted others to meet Him and when they did, they too believed in Him. That is what true worship is like. Sometimes the testimony and awe of a new convert is more real as worship than the worship of those of us who have matured and now think we have it all figured out. I believe true worship of the Lord is attractive to those who are interested in reality and not in formality. True worshipers just might kindle a true revival.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of September 11, 2022