John 4:23-24 “The hour
is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in
spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is
spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth”.
I read this week that when we consider worship, we
are looking at a means of grace that is incredibly comprehensive. Corporate
worship with Believer’s in church includes all of the basic elements of the
Christian life. Every Lord’s Day (Sunday) we study the Bible as we sit under
the preaching of the Word and sing it in our worship. We exercise stewardship
over our resources and time as we give of our tithes and offerings and serve as
ushers, choir members, instrumentalists, Audio/Sound team, hospitality and
greeters. Prayer is offered both individually and corporately as we participate
in the service. We also serve one another, as our worship together encourages
us to remain focused on the Lord and His praise.
We must never forget that
worship is a sacred duty and awesome privilege. One danger of the
“seeker-sensitive” model of worship is that in attempting to attract unchurched
people, it can forget how seriously our Creator takes His worship and can
introduce irreverence into corporate praise. We may not worship the Lord
however we please but must prize His instructions for our corporate gatherings.
He determines proper worship, and we ignore this truth at our peril.
As fallen creatures, we are
perpetually prone to idolatry. For the most part, the idolatry to which
evangelicals are most attracted is not the ridiculous fabrication of gods of
wood or stone but things such as the size of our congregations or the world’s
approval. When such things become ends in themselves we can achieve these goals
only through ignoring or denying the attributes of God that make impenitent
people uneasy. Thus, we introduce unconverted people to the wrong deity and the
worship of worshiping.
Above all, our heavenly Father
wants His people to worship Him “in
spirit and truth” (John 4:24). To worship God in truth
is to worship Him according to His Word. Guided by the entire counsel of
Scripture and the Spirit, we are to design our liturgies in a manner that draws
attention to all that God says about Himself. We must go away from worship with
a new sense of His holiness as well as His mercy and love.
To worship the Lord in
spirit involves heartfelt praise from the depths of our beings and delight in
the chance we have to adore Him corporately as the church body. It means
entering “his gates with thanksgiving” in our hearts and “his courts with
praise” because we are truly thankful for all that He has done, is doing and is
going to do.
The best way to ensure that
we are worshiping God in spirit and truth
is to make sure that we are consciously working to have the right attitude
toward worship. We must always think carefully about what goes into a worship
service, asking whether a practice is both sanctioned by God and wise.
Moreover, to worship God rightly, we must be in a sound Bible-believing church
and pray regularly for Him to inflame our hearts with a longing to meet Him in
His heavenly temple.
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