In the Spirit and Truth

“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.” John 4:23

From the context above, we are told to worship God in the Spirit and in truth. These words were spoken to a Samaritan woman by our Saviour Jesus Christ, a woman from a culture that was never to associate with the Jews. But as it is to be feared, out of those many thousands of us that say we worship God daily, weekly or whenever we choose to, very few, comparatively speaking, are aware of the kind of worship that is acceptable to our God. I cannot, therefore, but think it very necessary to us all of the words of our Lord on the instructions of how to worship our Father in Heaven.
In accomplishment of which I shall:

First, define what is meant by worship;
Secondly, lay down a detailed discourse on how we are to worship in the Spirit;
Thirdly, expound briefly on how we are to worship in truth

The word “Spirit” here is written with an upper case “S”- which denotes the Spirit of God.
Worshiping God in the Spirit therefore, means that we should worship Him with all fullness of awareness in our hearts, and soul; with an attitude of consciousness about what we are doing and with the assistance of His Holy Spirit- in the Spirit. Our thoughts, at the time of worship, should be only on God, not on other things.

First, define what is meant by worship;
For us to fully comprehend how to worship, I feel inclined, first to define worship and how I understand it. English defines worship as the “reverent honor and homage paid to God”, but I will personally take it a step further and define it as an “act of conscious awareness, with the help of the Holy Spirit, intended to glorify, revere and pay tribute to our God, Father, Son and Spirit.” The emphasis I put here is on the words “act” and “awareness”.

Worship is an act, it should be actionable. Think of all the ways we worship God, all these ways should be “doing things”- if I can use our P.3 definition of a verb. Worship can be singing, dancing, praying (yes, prayer should actionable as well), even going about our daily activities. Realize here that worship is not limited to public praise in a gathering or amongst fellow believers. There is also private worship, and this can be expressed through our acts of obedience toward God. Suffice it to say that in the broad sense of the word, worship can be when we tell another about the Gospel, when we teach children about Jesus, when we help the needy, when we obey our elders, when we love our husbands and just about any obedience of the Word of God could be largely construed as worship.

Secondly, lay down a detailed discourse on how we are to worship in the Spirit;
Worship is a way of expressing our love, adoration, and thanks to God. However, it is only the Spirit of God, who can afford us the grace to worship God right. We cannot truthfully decide to praise and worship God outside of the Spirit that dwells in us. However, recognize that worshiping God is not for His own benefit. Whether or not we do it, God is not affected in anyway, He is unchangeable. Similarly, whether we glorify God or not, he is still the same yesterday, today and forever. Let me digress here and mention that when “give” glory to God, it is not because he does not have enough glory and thus He needs more, no. We give glory to Him because glory belongs to Him! Because he deserves it! Because He is glory, in and of Himself!

Worship has to be with “awareness”, and this in-Spirit awareness is of whom we are directing this worship to – God. Seeing that God is the object of worship, He has the right to specify and stipulate what kind of worship He accepts. Paul tells the people of Athens about a kind of “ignorant” worship “I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.” in the verse preceding verse 23 above, Jesus says to the Samaritan woman “You Samaritans worship what you do not know”. Likewise, many of us today know not whom we worship. If we are ignorant of who God really is, how then can we claim to worship Him every day or every Sunday morning? (For those who put God in the “Sunday box”)

Thirdly, expound briefly on how we are to worship in truth
To worship in truth, one has to know what that truth is, and to know the truth, one has to read, meditate and understand what is in the Word. For us to truly worship God, we have to do whatever is commended in scripture. The Word of God, which God placed above His own name, has the dos and don’ts of His instruction. Do not be deceived by those who tell you that you can worship God in your own way, if it feels right then it is ok, or that God will understand. Nedda! God has laid down, and very explicitly so, the truth in the Bible, and if our ways of worshiping Him are outside His instruction, then that sacrifice of praise, or worship or prayer or dance or song, will be unacceptable. Just because worship is offered does not necessarily make it acceptable. Isaiah prophesied of those who worship God based on human teachings and principles (Is 29:13).

I must emphasize, that worship like prayer, is not optional, it is expected of us. When we learn study and receive the Grace to comprehend God in His fullness, we will understand why we need to worship Him. In the meantime, let me try and express upon you here the most basic example of our obligation to worship: We all know that God created Heaven and earth, and that he made all things and offered them to us for our own use. The Children, the Job, the family, the health, the joy the very air we breathe and everything that we see or do not see, everything that we know or cannot comprehend, all that we wish for… was created by God! If I offered you 100,000 shs, what would you say? Thank you, right? Now friends, God has given us life, breath, sight, love and so much more… how cannot we not say thank you? Friends, each time you take a step, know that God gave you those legs, each time you look at your children, remember God gave you those eyes, each time you breathe, remember God gave you that breath! We should be thanking God every day, every hour, every second we are alive! (PS 150: 6) How then, I fear, can we go about our own business, steal, kill, lie, cheat, fornicate, insult people, get drunk and then go to church on Sunday to worship Him? How can we? Some would say, ‘well I repent before I go to church.’ Sure, you do, but what is repentance if you are going to do it again next week? Others would say “I was tempted.” Ok, but there is a difference between premeditated sin and temptation. How insensible can we be of all the free gifts we have from God that we cannot afford true and Spiritual worship toward Him?

Worship is a culture; it is a culture of the children of God in the Kingdom of God. We should not only go to a worship service, we should BE a worship service! (Ps 34:1). We can tell a Muganda from the way they dance, we can tell a Munyoro from the pet names they have, all these cultures are observable and we move with them wherever we go. Likewise, seeing that worship is a culture, we should be worshiping God all day, every day as with our human cultures. We should me moving with a song on our lips, a spring in our steps all the while practicing our Kingdom culture of worship, prayer and praise all day and night!

Remember, God, the creator of all things seeks man’s worship; Let us ALWAYS give it to Him.