True worship is divorced from formalism and traditionalism. Worship in truth is the opposite of worship based on a myopic, erroneous, and without understanding in entirety and in a broad spectrum of who is our God. Christians are required to worship God in the manner that He prescribes, and not according to the shifting desires, convenience, and changing whims and fancies, which creep in from diverse cultures. If we worship in God’s Spirit and according to His truth, the object of our worship will inevitably be God Himself and our worship will be God-centric rather than human and idol-centric, after all, worship other than God-centric is idolatry.
The idea of worshiping the Lord “in spirit and truth” comes from Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well in John 4:6-30. In the conversation, the woman was discussing places of worship with Jesus, saying that the Jews worshiped at Jerusalem, while the Samaritans worshiped at Mount Gerizim. In John 4:23-24, Jesus while talking to the Samaritan woman tells us some important things about worship. Jesus told her, “But the hour cometh, and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him”. Verse 24 further states “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” God is seeking worshipers who will worship him truly from their hearts. No duplicity in worship is acceptable.
Hypocritical worship is well defined in Isaiah 29:13 “The Lord says, ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.” The one who demands worship requires complete dedication, surrender, and sincere worship from the heart, without ifs and buts. Our outward worship is not what God wants. God is more interested in our heart’s devotion to Him and our obedience to His Word. If we don’t have a close devotion to our Lord and are not totally physically and spiritually involved, then the worship is as good as zero.
Worship involves our entire relationship with God: our words, our attitudes, and our actions. He wants our worship to affect our behaviour. Since Jesus Christ is our representative, he offers perfect worship on our behalf, and our role is to join him in what he is already doing for us. Our worship needs to be so intense that we model our lives as given in Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Let us approach God in opposition to hypocrisy, with true hearts, in the singleness, sincerity, and integrity of our souls.
Jesus spoke about a lifestyle of worship helped by the power of the Holy Spirit living in the believer.
Mark 22:37 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Dr Ashwin Drummond
www.laddertoheaven.co.in