OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER - ISSUE 37 - AUGUST 2007

Dear Friends:

Remember when Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman at the well? They had a discussion about worship and Jesus told her that the time was coming when it wouldn’t matter where someone worshipped, what would really count was that the person was worshipping in spirit and in truth. As we think together today about worship, let’s explore what Jesus meant when He gave her His definition of genuine worship.

Worship in spirit.

Brother Lawrence, who worked as a layman in a Carmelite monastery in the 1600’s, explains that to worship God in spirit is to offer Him the worship that He deserves and that we owe, “that is to say, by presenting to Him a true and humble spiritual worship in the very depth of our being. God alone can see this worship, which, offered unceasingly, will in the end become as it were natural, and as if He were one with our soul, and our soul one with Him.” (The Practice of the Presence ofGod, p. 74).

The attitude of worship should never leave us. It should be constantly going on in the depths of our spirits. And the ultimate end of worshipping in spirit is oneness with God. We worship because we owe that worship to God. We worship because we revere and love Him and are filled with wonder for what He has done for us. But who benefits most from that worship? We do. We are blessed by our spirit being united with His Spirit. We are elevated to heights that cannot be achieved by effort. Those heights can only be experienced as gifts and those gifts come only through worship.

So, worship begins as an attitude of the spirit. It may be exhibited in our corporate worship services on Sunday morning, but, for committed Christians, congregational worship is only a brief outward manifestation of an inner worship that never ends.

Worshipping in spirit means

submitting ourselves constantly to His will,
thanking Him for all His good gifts which He abundantly provides,
praising Him for his activity in our lives,
honoring His sovereign control over events in our lives and in our world,
acknowledging our continual dependence upon His grace,
yielding our bodies as living sacrifices,
confessing our sinfulness and accepting His cleansing,
conversing with Him constantly,
offering reverence in His presence and honor to His name, and
trusting Him because we know the truth of who He is.

Worship in truth.

Then, let’s look at the other part of what Jesus said that worship is. What did He mean when He said we must also worship in truth? Two thoughts come immediately to mind.

First, we must acknowledge the truth about ourselves. We are fallen humans, and our approach to God will immediately bring to light our sinfulness. When Isaiah saw the Lord in the temple, he recognized in desperation that he was unclean and he lived among people who were unclean. The contrast between humanity and God is stark and terrifying. God solved the problem for Isaiah, though, by sending an angel to touch his mouth with a coal symbolizing the atonement for his sins and his release from guilt (Isaiah 6:1-7). And He solves the problem for us by the atonement offered by Jesus on the cross.

So, the first truth is acknowledgement of who we are. The second truth required in worship is to recognize who God is. Once we get the “who we are” and “who He is” straight, worship is possible. So, how can we know more and more truth about this infinite God? There are several ways.

One is the Bible which is defined by its writers and by God Himself as being truth (Psalm 119:160).

The second is Jesus, who is revealed in the Bible and who said He was “the truth” (John 14:6 – partial).

The third is creation which reveals God’s “eternal power and divine nature” (Romans 1:20 – partial).

And the fourth is the Holy Spirit who Jesus defines in John 14:17 as “the Spirit of Truth.”

When we learn the truth of who God is through the Bible, creation, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, we find that He is infinitely loving, powerful, holy, and just. He is everything that is pure and true and perfect. In addition, we learn that He offers forgiveness for our sinfulness so that we can approach Him as His dearly loved children. Once we begin to understand the truth of God’s character, there is only one possible reaction: Worship.

For those of us who begin to experience worship in spirit and in truth, life is never boring. We are welcoming the creative hand of God in our lives, listening for His direction, cultivating an attitude of joy and thanksgiving, and responding to His invitations for more and more intimacy. Worship completes us. Worship unites us with God. Worship is what we were made to do. Let’s not settle for anything less.

Bev

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