Worshipping In Spirit & Truth

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But 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. - John 4:21,22

Worshipping God "in Spirit and Truth" is a phrase that you may have heard hundreds of times if you have grown up in church. It's been repeated so many times that you may think you have a good understanding of what it means, but have never delved into the depth of its implications.

What does it mean to worship in the Spirit?

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. -Romans 12:1

To understand what spiritual worship entails, it is imperative that we understand this verse first as it directly defines what spiritual worship that is acceptable to God is: "to present your bodies as a living sacrifice".

A great imagery of this is taken directly from the Bible. Abraham is commanded by God to sacrifice the son that he had been promised by God. He takes, some wood, the fire. a knife and Isaac his son to Mount Moriah to fulfill God's command. Isaac understands that something is missing, the lamb required for the sacrifice. When they reach the summit, Abraham ties up Isaac on the altar. It is hard to imagine that Isaac was unaware of what Abraham's intentions were. It is harder to imagine that the boy who carried all the firewood up the mountain was overpowered by his aging father. But Isaac, on the altar, presents his body as the sacrifice. Every animal has an innate fight or flight response. It is not in our nature to give ourselves for the sake of others, and all our natural tendencies are towards self- preservation. But here, Isaac overcomes that and values obedience to his father over his own inclination for survival.

Jesus reiterates the absolute importance of obedience to the God the Father on Mt. Gethsemane. We see Jesus in extreme pain and agony, but his will and desire was to glorify God over his own human tendency for self-protection. To be a living sacrifice, we must place absolute importance on obedience to God.

So what are the other requirements to be an acceptable sacrifice? Per God’s laws, no animal with any kind of blemish could be offered in sacrifice to God. God wanted perfection of his sacrifices. God wanted nothing for his sacrifices but the best. Offering a blemished sacrifice was a grave sin. Why? Because God's standard is and has always been perfection.

“Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” – Leviticus 19:2 (spoken to Israel right before the ten commandments)

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” – Matthew 5:48

If we are not committing to present our lives as a holy and acceptable sacrifice in worship to God, then we do not need his Holy Spirit.  If we are resigned to live our lives tolerating a little sin here and there, then you do not need God’s Spirit to empower you, and you do not need to rely on God’s grace.

But the standard of the Bible is clear. It says our reasonable service to God is to present ourselves holy and perfect, obedient to God’s will in our actions, in our thoughts and in our intentions.

Let us rely on God's Spirit, day by day, moment by moment to keep us holy and uncorrupted by the World.

To Worship in Truth

To worship him in Spirit is to worship him with the entirety of our being knowing that when we worship we are entering into the spiritual realm. We stand before the throne of God, and worship alongside angels and elders, and those that have gone before us into God’s presence, an innumerable number. It is a very real spiritual reality. This spiritual realm is more real than the physical world that we live in. This spiritual realm is permanent and eternal, long after the Earth and all of the temporary things that we strive after fade away, this spiritual reality will remain.

His worshippers will worship him in truth. We come to the throne of God, the mercy seat of God, the throne of grace. When we approach God we do so in truth, with a deep understanding that despite all our good deeds, all our prayers, all our worship, all our service we don’t deserve to be in God's presence offering him worship. Whether you live your life as perfectly as you could, or you have been trapped by the pleasures of sin, those that have received Christ as their savior now stand in his presence by the merit of Jesus Christ alone. We come to him truthfully acknowledging our faults and shortcomings, but also so in awe of the grace he had to send his begotten Son to die on our behalf and give us access to his presence.

What is very true is that our Heavenly Father is delighted with the fact that you are choosing to worship him in his presence. The praises and the worship that you offer to him are eternally on his mind.

There are people that claw and strive after power, they strive to be in the halls of power to be surrounded by people of influence. But when we enter into God's presence we can boldly approach the throne room of God in the spiritual realm.

When we worship we enter into God's presence standing truthfully and honestly before an all-knowing God. We acknowledge the truth that sin has corrupted every fiber of our being but simultaneously acknowledging that by God's grace he is redeeming us and sanctifying us. We worship wholeheartedly, confident in the truth that God accepts our worship and delights in it.