WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WORSHIP?
The emphasis in true worship is not on the worshipper but on the One who is worshipped.
The emphasis in true worship is on giving, not receiving. Those who complain that the singing is uninspiring; the sermons are dry, dull, and dusty; and the service is boring, etc. often do so, I’m convinced, because they have missed the fundamental essence of what worship is all about in the first place. If we are thinking more about me, myself, and I than we are about God, we have gotten the cart before the horse, and things will never be what they ought to be until we change that.
The emphasis in true worship is on giving the best we have, not the left-overs. At the end of a worship service, the questions that each of us should ask are not: “Did I enjoy it?” or “Did I get anything out of it?” but rather “Was God pleased?” and “How did I do?” The person, whose primary concern is “What’s in it for me?”, does not understand what worship is all about.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WORSHIP IN SPIRIT?
I believe that worshipping in spirit refers to worship that emanates from the spirit of man. Because God is Spirit (Jn. 4:24), the true worshipper will worship God with that part of himself that is made in the image of God — his spirit. In other words, worship must spring forth from the inner man, and this inner man, the spirit, includes the intellect (1 Cor. 2:11), the emotions (Mk. 8:12; Acts 17:16) and the will (Mt. 26:41). True worship then is worship from the inside out. Robert Turner was correct when he said: “Often our efforts to “improve” the worship are only efforts to regulate the form, and have little or nothing to do with improving the hearts out of which true worship must come. It is not the “service” that needs changing, it is the people that must be changed — to new creatures, truly converted. These will worship God acceptably”.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WORSHIP IN TRUTH?
Jesus also said that the true worshipper will worship God in truth. There can be no doubt, that this means that acceptable worship will be circumscribed by the precepts of God’s word. Since the very beginning of time God has revealed His will concerning the kind of worship that He will accept from His creation, and He has repeatedly judged those who failed to worship Him according to His word. Therefore, the only way that we can acceptably worship God today is to worship Him according to His word.
That means that we must worship the right object — God, not men (Acts 10:26), not idols (1 Jn. 5:21), not demons (1 Cor. 10:19-22), not angels (Rev. 22:8-9), not Satan. Jesus said: “You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve” (Mt. 4:10).
When we come to truly understand what it really means to worship….God….with our spirits….in truth, above everything else God will be pleased, and that is the most important thing, but our lives will also be transformed. May God help us all to be the true worshippers who will worship in spirit and in truth. (KEVIN KAY)