How Do We Worship In Spirit And In Truth?

This is the manuscript of the sermon that I preached at Christ Church, Los Angeles, CA September 10, 2017.

To worship God in spirit and in truth is to declare that God is worthy of our reverence. We do this in spirit through our heart, the seat of our emotions, based on the truth of who He is, the truth of who we are, the truth of what God does and has done for us, and the truth of what is going on in our lives. - Audio at the end of the manuscript. 

Last week I talked about delighting ourselves in the Lord and said that we delight ourselves in the Lord by doing what pleases Him.   Our thoughts are constant towards God and that everything we do is in obedience to Him.    Since we know now what it is to delight ourselves in the Lord today I want us to look at what it means to worship Him. 

Turn in you Bible to John 4:23-24

We all remember the story of the conversation that Jesus had with the woman at a well in Samaria.  If you don’t know the whole story you can read it in John chapter 4.  In the conversation, Jesus revealed that He knew about this woman she had been married 5 times, and the guy she was living with now with was not her husband. This made her uncomfortable, so she changed the subject from her personal life to religion, asking why the Samaritans worshiped at Mount Gerizim and the Jews at Jerusalem.  Jesus’ response was that a day was coming when that it didn’t matter WHERE a person worshiped God.  What mattered was HOW they worshiped Him. He said they must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

  

But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.  For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

John 4:23-24 NLT

So the question is just how do we worship God in spirit and in truth? 

Let’s first look at a definition for worship; it’s “the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity”.  To Worship then, is to show reverence and adoration for (a deity); to honor them with religious rites. 

Of course the deity we are talking about is God.

We praise God for what He’s done. We Him for who He is. Worship is our response to God’s greatness.  It’s us, the created, responding to Him, the Creator.    It’s our spirits being energized in His presence.  

Eugene Patterson the creator of “The Message” Bible translation says that worship is “A tribute to God when He comes.” 

We worship when we come into God’s presence. God’s presence makes us who we are. His presence sets us apart from others. And every time we draw near to Him, He draws near to us.

It’s like I said last Sunday when we talked about what it means to delight ourselves in the Lord.  Remember we read in Zephaniah 3:14-17 that just as the Israelites, we are to delight in the Lord because He is present with us and because He is present with us He delights in us too. 

We don’t have to be in a church or any specific place to feel God’s presence and worship Him.  Psalm 139 says that God's presence can be wherever are.

O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord , You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

Psalms 139:1-10 NKJV

 We know that God isn’t confined to a church building or only available at certain times of day. So we don’t have to wait until we come to church or a certain time of day to worship Him.  We don’t even have to wait until we feel spiritual. If we are delighting ourselves in Him, like we said last week, we can be confident of His presence all the time. 

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV

The very last thing that Jesus said to His disciples, before He returned to heaven was that He would always be with them.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20 NIV

There is nowhere we can go, no situation, no challenge, no relationship, no conversation where God isn’t present. Because of His great love for us, and His spirit at work in and through us, worship of Him will invade every nook and cranny of our lives.

Acknowledge God’s Greatness

When we worship God, we must understand and acknowledge how mighty He is and how insignificant we are. God is the King of the universe and all creation inevitably bows down before Him.

Isaiah 45:22-23 (NLT)22  Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other.23  I have sworn by my own name; I have spoken the truth, and I will never go back on my word: Every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will confess allegiance to me.”

In the New Testament in Philippians 2:9-11 Paul writes;

Philippians 2:9-11 (NLT)9  Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names,10  that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Worship is all about responding to who God is and what He’s done for us. It’s about being so into God that we can’t help responding out loud or with our actions. Worshiping God is just about focusing on Him.

God doesn’t require some kind of perfect, complicated worship act. He just wants it to be authentic and genuine.

Let me give you an example of phony worship, and God’s response to it.  

“The multitude of your sacrifices— what are they to me?” says the Lord . “I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.  When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts?  Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.  Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.  When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!

Isaiah 1:11-15 NIV

He didn’t say they weren’t bringing their sacrifices and offerings, in fact they were bringing them.  They were observing the festivals and feasts that God directed them to keep but because of their lifestyle He didn’t want to have anything to do with their worship.   

Here’s what He wants in worship.

Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.  Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.  “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord . “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.  If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land;  but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 1:16-20 NIV

We should be so tuned into God that we’re feeling His presence in our lives in big and small ways.  It’s about who He is, what He does, and our response to those things. Worship isn’t about us. It’s about Him.

Still The Question Is How Do We Worship Him In Spirit And In Truth

As I said before worship of God is not to be confined to a place or a prescribed formula or actions.  Because of Christ’s sacrifice, death, burial and resurrection, worship became a matter of the heart rather than ceremony.

Here’s something that Jesus said when somebody asked Him what the greatest commandment was?

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”   “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

Mark 12:28-30 NIV

To worship God in spirit and truth means loving Him with heart, soul, mind and strength.

True worship must be “in spirit,” engaging the whole heart which is the source of our emotions.   Unless there’s a real passion for God, there is no worship in spirit. At the same time, worship must be “in truth,”.  We have to know who we are worshiping.  Unless we have knowledge of the God we worship, there is no worship in truth.  We get that knowledge from the Bible, God’s Word.  Jesus said that the truth makes us free.

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 8:31-32 NIV

That freedom is what allows us to worship in spirit and truth.

Passion and knowledge are both necessary for God-honoring worship. Spirit without truth leads to a shallow, overly emotional experience that could be compared to a high. As soon as the emotion is over, so is the worship. Truth without spirit can result in a dry, passionless encounter that can easily lead to a form of joyless legalism. The best combination of both aspects of worship, spirit and truth, result in a joyous appreciation of God. The more we know about God, the more we appreciate Him. The more we appreciate Him, the deeper our worship. The deeper our worship, the more God is glorified.

Make Time

In everyday life, there are so many things pulling you in different directions. So many things fighting for your attention.  Things fighting for your worship.

We’re either worshiping God or we’re worshiping something else. But we can’t worship both. Worship is how we respond to the thing we value the absolute most! The thing we spend most of our time thinking about, doing, giving the most attention to, putting all our energy into is what we worship.

True worship is your response to how great you know God to be. We should worship Him with everything we have, everything we are, and everything we do.

When I was doing the research for this message I came across some quotes from A. W. Tozer about worship.

Tozer was an American pastor, author, editor and mentor.  More than 60 books were compiled from sermons he preached and articles he wrote.  Here are a few of those quotes about worship:

“The church that can’t worship must be entertained. And men who can’t lead a church to worship must provide the entertainment.”

“I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.”

“We are saved to worship God. All that Christ has done in the past and all that He is doing now leads to this one end.”

“If you’re not worshiping God on Monday the way you did the day before, perhaps you’re not worshiping him at all.”

“Worship is no longer worship when it reflects the culture around us more than the Christ within us.”

“We must never rest until everything inside us worships God.”

When we worship in spirit and truth we do what Paul urges us to do in;

Romans 12:1 (NLT)1  And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

Because God sent His Son, Jesus, to die for you—because God loves you so much—because God has done great things in our lives—our only natural response to all of that should be the sacrifice of our whole lives.

There is a gospel song, by Richard Smallwood the title is “Jesus You’re The Center Of My Joy”. 

The lyrics of that song are;

Jesus, you're the center of my joy

All that's good and perfect comes from you

You're the heart of my contentment, hope for all I do

Jesus, you're the center of my joy

When I've lost my direction, you're the compass for my way

You're the fire and light when nights are long and cold

In sadness, you are the laughter that shatters all my fears

When I'm all alone, your hand is there to hold,

You are why I find pleasure in the simple things in life

You're the music in the meadows and the streams

The voices of the children, my family, and my home

You're the source and finish of my highest dreams,

Jesus, you're the center of my joy

All that's good and perfect comes from you

You're the heart of my contentment, hope for all I do

Jesus, you're the center of my joy

Worshiping God isn’t just something you do, it’s the way you live. Worship can be as intense as spending an hour every day in quiet time listening and talking to God. It can be something as simple as when you go to work, or to volunteer, or to talking just talking to someone on the street and thanking God for the opportunity that He has given you. You realize that it’s because of Him that you get to do any of these things.

To worship God in spirit and in truth is to declare that God is worthy of our reverence. We do this in spirit through our heart, the seat of our emotions, based on the truth of who He is, the truth of who we are, the truth of what God does and has done for us, and the truth of what is going on in our lives. We do it with a heart inclined toward God and in submission to Him. We worship God when our attitudes, actions, and words declare that He is worthy of our praise.

Jesus, sometimes we are too embarrassed to celebrate you the way that we should. Please help us to worship you in spirit and in truth, without worrying about what other people might think.   I your name we pray Amen.

Sermon Audio How Do We Worship In Spirit And In Truth