True Worship (part 1)
“God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth” John 4:24.
The conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well is one of the high points in John’s gospel. Included in the conversation is God’s revelation concerning true worship. Taking place not in a hushed, sacred setting, but in Samaria…to a life like ours jaded with sin, this truth is revealed by God’s Spirit. As Jesus began to probe deeply into her life, this Samaritan tried to evade the conversation, asking, “Where is the proper place to worship – in Jerusalem or on this sacred mountain in Samaria?” Jesus uses her question to reveal His definition of worship, and the pattern for all true worship. Notice that Jesus reveals 3 basic weaknesses to manmade worship.
First, manmade worship is contrived. It is the result of people adding a little here and taking away a little there until they have turned the Scriptures into a monstrosity. This is what the Samaritans had done in insisting that true worship could only happen on Mount Gerizim. They adjusted history to suit themselves by insisting that it was on that mountain that Abraham had been willing to sacrifice Isaac and that it was here that Abraham had paid tithes to Melchizedek. Furthermore, they tampered with the scriptures themselves when they taught that it was on this mountain that Moses first built an altar and sacrificed to God in preparation for the entry of the Israelites into the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 27:4 clearly states that it was Mount Ebal, not Gerizim. Every cult has done the same thing in twisting and distorting the scriptures. A contrived gospel is a false gospel and will lead to destruction.
Second, manmade worship is ignorant of the truth. Jesus said, “You, Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know” (John 4:22). The Samaritans accepted only the Pentateuch (1st five books of the Bible). They rejected all the great messages of the prophets and all the beauty and inspiration of the Psalms. They had only a partial revelation of the truth, and a fuller revelation was available to them, but they would not accept it. We have no excuse today. We possess God’s word, and Jesus has revealed God’s true nature to us…as well as the ministry of the Holy Spirit available to interpret.
Third, manmade worship is superstitious. The Samaritans had adulterated the pure worship of Jehovah by mixing into their worship all the superstitions of the pagans. We are all guilty of allowing superstitions to become a basic part of worship…participating neither out of a sense of need nor out of a real desire to meet God in a dynamic experience! We fail through the week to worship in spirit and truth…which leaves us lacking when it is time to offer to God the culmination of that work on the Lord’s Day! True worship is motivated by our love for God and by gratitude for what God has done (and is doing) in our lives! So how is your worship? Is it bathed in ignorance as to the real meaning of God’s word…permeated with false ideas and superstitions? Ask God to help you worship in spirit and truth!
