Day Two: In Spirit and Truth
John 4:23,
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
As a Worship Pastor, there are certain clichés or phrases of Christianese that we recite while leading worship and one of the biggies is “Worship him in spirit and truth.”
One of my favorite Bible stories is that of the Samaritan Woman at the Well. It has all the elements of a great story, characters, setting, conflict, resolution and even some comedic relief. But best of all is the takeaway of the story which changes the life of one publicly scorned, illegitimate Jewish woman and future worshipers.
You see, the Jews believed they were the only ones to have access to God in the temple at Jerusalem whereas the Samaritans believed that God was to be accessed on Mount Gerizim. What Jesus is about to institute is that God will be accessible to all peoples and all places. Think about this for a minute, this was huge. Christ had indeed come and not just for the Jews, but for the Gentiles, too. He will dwell in every believer, not confined to a temple. As for the truth, it was
Jesus, the Word became flesh and spoke to her that very minute.
So how do we worship Him? In Spirit and in Truth.
True worship comes in fact and faith, emotion and truth, outward and inward expression. Deuteronomy 6:5,
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Without truth, it’s just emotional and without spirit it’s legalism.
Reading: John 4:4-26, Galatians 2:20, 1 Kings 8:27