Worship in Spirit and in Truth

Intro:

Good morning.

This morning I would like for us to turn to John chapter 4.

In this chapter, a Samaritan woman encounters Jesus at Jacob’s well at Sychar.

Now, in this interaction, Jesus asks the Samaritan woman for water — to which she is suprised!

But the conversation then turns to the fact that if she knew Who this was she was talking to, she would have asked for and received LIVING WATER!

The conversation eventually turns to her living situation.

Jesus correctly comments about the fact that she has no husband, but seems to be living in a sinful situation, cohabitating with a man who is not her husband.

She perceives that he is a prophet — Yes, capital P “Prophet,” capital P “Priest,” and capital K “King!”

And then the conversation turns to the burning question of the day — Should worship be in Jerusalem as the Jews said, or was the Mountain in Gerazim okay, where the Samaritans worshiped?

(Comment briefly about the Samaritans making unauthorized changes to the Torah, to worship, to the place of worship).

So that is where we want to pick up our main discussion for today.

We’re going to have a discussion of “Worshipping in Spirit and in Truth.”

The Text:

(Read John 4:19-26).

So what do we have here, by way of overview, before we zoom in on the idea of “in spirit and in truth?”

In v. 19, the woman perceives that Jesus is a Prophet.

He was!

Prophet, Priest and King — all capital letters — as we’ve already said, and you can read more about that in the book of Hebrews!

But I want to briefly touch base with the prophecy of this Prophet that was coming, taking a look at what Moses said in the book of Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 18:15–19 NKJV

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’ “And the Lord said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.

Next, here in John 4, the Samaritan woman mentions the Samaritans were worshiping “on this mountain” (Gerizim), while the Jews said that worship should be in Jerusalem (they were correct about that).

Jesus offers some gentle correction on that matter in verses 21 & 22, and then He points to a moment that was then yet future when people could worship wherever, but would still have to worship in SPIRIT and in TRUTH. (John 4:23-24)

“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him MUST worship (imperative) in spirit and in truth.” (More on this in just a little bit)

But vs. 25-26 are also crucial here: “The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming,’ (who is called Christ). ‘When He comes, He will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He!”

Or “I AM,” more specifically!

Jesus is the One Who that prophecy in Deuteronomy was speaking of!

Alright, now let’s shift our attention to what we read in vs. 23-24!

(Read them again).

Let’s talk about first …

Worship In Spirit:

(One of the things I want us to remember in this is that we should not false-dichotomize these two things)!

Both “in spirit” AND “in truth” are equally important!

Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of Christians who have ONE, but not the OTHER!

Sometimes there are CONGREGATIONS who have one, but not the other!

BOTH are important!

So let’s talk “in spirit.”

What does that refer to?

Well, you look up the word “spirit” in John 4:24 in the Gk., and it gives us important insight.

The Greek word is “pneuma,” and according to Thayer’s definition number 2 for “pneuma,” it means “the spirit, i.e. the vital principle by which the body is animated.”

Other definitions give the idea of “breath,’ of “movement,” etc.

It has the idea of worship is supposed to MOVE us — It is supposed to ANIMATE us — not in an ecstatic uncontrollable hyper-emotionalized way in which one loses control of himself!

But in a way in which the HEART is moved!

That’s incredibly important!

Worship must stimulate the heart!

Thus, I’ll give an example!

Our singing!

The Bible has tremendous mention of the human heart when it comes to our singing — That avenue of worship should MOVE our hearts!

Ephesians 5:19 - “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,”

Colossians 3:16 - “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

James 5:13 - “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.”

In short, singing should MOVE the heart!

ALL our acts of worship should move the heart!

Thus, if your heart heart is not moved, animated and motivated by our singing, then you are not worshipping in SPIRIT, and something is wrong with your worship!

(And the same goes for the other 4 acts of worship — the HEART has to be involved!)

And yet, all my life I have witnessed a lot of Christians who sing about like this … (imitate someone mumbling through: “If the skies above you are grey, you are feeling so blue, if your cares and burdens seem great all the whole day through … chorus: Sing and you’ll be happy today.”)

What are you, Eeyore?! (the depressed Donkey in Winnie the Pooh!)

Whispering and mumbling through the song service is NOT worship in spirit!

And yet all my life, I’ve seen at least 10-20% of the church it seems, have this problem!

Well, take a look at 1 Corinthians 14:15 - “What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.”

Paul was determined to get BOTH aspects of this right!

Which brings us to the next part …

Worship In Truth:

We’ve got to make sure that we are singing in spirit, but also in the truth! (Same goes for all the inspired/authorized acts of N.T. worship!)

Singing, praying, giving, teaching & listening to God’s Word, and Communion!

We’ve got to make sure we have the right attitude that moves our heart when we worship, but we’ve also got to make sure that we worship in Truth!

When Paul said he would sing in truth, for instance, what comes into play?

Well, the Words that he sings need to be Scripturally TRUE, don’t they?

Thus, we have the obligation that we don’t sing error when we sing the uninspired songs that we sing from our songbook — and occasionally, error can creep in.

Not only would we end up singing error if so, but also we would be “teaching and admonishing” the error, too, as we have seen in previous verses already — So that’s really important!

Worshipping in truth involves worshipping in specific ways that God has commanded and authorized in His Word.

We’ve already mentioned them, but we will mention them again:

Singing (Again, Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16) - Heb. 13:15-16 as well - “Therefore by Him (Jesus Christ) let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased”.

I would argue it seems the Hebrews writer has 3 of the acts of worship in mind there - Singing, praying, and giving!

Praying (1 Thes. 5:17 - “Pray without ceasing.”) - Jesus tells us how to pray and gives us His model prayer (Turn and read Matt. 6:5-15).

Giving - 1 Corinthians 16:1–2 - “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.”

(Let’s also turn and read 2 Cor. 9:1-8).

Why were the Macedonians giving so well, an example that Paul wanted the Corinthians to follow? (Read 2 Cor. 8:1-7)

Improper giving — with the wrong spirit and not according to truth — I’m afraid is going to keep a lot of people out of Heaven!

Teaching/Listening to God’s Word - Of course we do this every Sunday — I will say that this act of worship is important, but so are all the others! Don’t elevate the sermon too highly in your heart because it just happens to take the most time.

Acts 20:7 - “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.” (At least I don’t preach THAT long!)

2 Timothy 4:2 - “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.”

Acts 20:26–27 - “Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.”

Finally, Communion - also mentioned in Acts 20:7 - “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.”

(Turn with me and also read another important teaching on the Lord’s Supper - 1 Cor. 11:23-30).

(Before those verses, Paul explains that they had perverted the meaning of the Lord’s Supper, and had made it into a common meal, rather than a symbolic representation of the body and blood of the Lord).

Conclusion:

We have looked at worshipping in spirit and in truth this morning.

We all need to ask ourselves if we are truly worshipping in both of these manners.

Many are worshiping in one, but not the other.

Some are worshipping in neither, or not worshipping at all.

Relatively few are worshipping BOTH in spirit and in truth!

Let’s make sure that we are among the few, among the ones that will enter in the strait (difficult) gate, with the narrow way that leads to life, whereby few find it!