God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. John 4:24 (NIV)
PART 2 – Spirit and Truth Worship
Go to PART 1
It was time for humanity to move beyond the old ways of acceptability before God. That’s what Jesus came for… to show us and lead us into “The Way” – a new kind of exodus, out from the old and into the new. All through the Old Testament there are hints, moments and stories of God's desire to embrace those beyond the cultural boundaries of Israel… And now He WAS doing it. He was showing the world how.
The conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well is an incredible and loaded picture of grace and inclusion. Anyone could worship, not just Jews, not just the ‘chosen’ – all were/are invited…
I’ve heard it preached that God demands our worship, in the sense that he requires it – his dominion and majesty feed off it and need it. Over the years though, I’ve come to the conclusion that the all powerful, divine, unmeasurable and mysterious God, the author and ruler of the universe and beyond, does not NEED my worship to survive. He can get by without it.
Worship means “to kiss the hand of the king (or deity), to express profound reverence, affection and adoration.” What love is within a kiss if it is demanded? What good is reverence if it is conjured up out of fear and performance to appease and be approved?
Worship is what happens in our spirit when we see God for who he really is. It’s our souls response to the divine, the way our spirit feels when we drink living water. It’s us saying “we see you God, and we love you…”
In movies and fairytales of kings and battles won, you often see the hero turn out to be the king or prince. Once his identity is revealed, the people around him automatically drop to their knees in honour and reverence. That's worship.
And we worship in spirit and in truth.
God is spirit, and he’s not looking for outward displays of religion and tradition that don't engage the heart. That was his main issue with the Israelites all along that their heart wandered and stopped seeing him for who he really is. To see God, we must engage our spirit, it must be a heart connection, just like when you fall in love and you stare into the eyes of your beloved and see into their soul, God wants us to see him. Not just with our eyes, but with your whole self. There is nothing to fear, there is no condemnation in Christ, we can come boldly before the throne of grace and stare deep into the heart of God.
We worship him in truth – in the unfolding story of our lives intertwining with his, and being eternal students of his grace and ways. The Message Bible says, “Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That’s the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.”
Worship is our response to the divine. Not demanded but offered from a heart that sees God and longs to be seen by him. Not in perfection, not for approval, but truthful, vulnerable and honest.
Go to PART 3 “Music, Truth and the Universe”
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