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God Directed Worship
A man, desirous of worshipping God, entered an elaborate edifice. As a spectator, he was moved to tears by the beautiful harmony of the choir and his soul felt borne to heavenly heights as the organ breathed its soothing notes. He listened intently to a lesson on "Doing good to all men" and uttered a silent "amen" to a beautifully read prayer. He left the sanctuary with a good, clean feeling and, to listening ears, praised the structure in which he had worshipped God that day. SURELY GOD WAS PLEASED WITH SUCH WORSHIP! -- or was He?
Jesus reveals the practicing of God directed worship by making three observations (John 4:21-24). First of all, the place of worship is of no significance, for Jesus said, ". . . the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father, (v.21). Men can worship God under a tree in Africa just as well as in a building in the US.
Then, Jesus said that we must worship God "in spirit," because "God is spirit." "In spirit" denotes worship that comes from the spirit of man, or that which is a product of his intellect, will and emotions. Such worship cannot be done without thought, intent and effort. When man worships "in spirit," there is fellowship between two spirits -- "God is spirit; man worships in spirit."
And, finally, the same Jesus who said that worshippers must worship "in spirit" also said that they must worship "in truth." "In truth" means according to the revelation of God who is absolute truth. The object of one's worship surely has the right to say how He wants to be worshipped. Even primitive people did what they thought pleased their gods and if something happened that, to their thinking, indicated the displeasure of the gods, they changed their action. The one true God of the universe has revealed himself to man in that which we know as The Scriptures. A disrespect and disregard for His will leads men eventually to worship and serve the creature rather than the creator (Romans 1:25).
Determining worship that is "in truth" must be done by looking to the New Testament and carefully observing instruction given to Christians. The New Covenant does not instruct Christians to keep a seventh-Sabbath day, nor to sacrifice animals and observe feast days, because we are not under the Old Law, the Law of Moses (Colossians 2:14-17; 2 Corinthians 3:6-18). Therefore, finding the kind of worship that was acceptable under the Old Covenant is no authority for our practice today. The Old Law was made with Israel, not with us (Deuteronomy 4:13; 5:1-22) and we are under a better covenant, with better sacrifices that was established by a better mediator and ratified by a better sacrifice.
The feeling in a man's heart does not change erroneous worship into "in truth" worship. God does not change His requirements to suit the feelings of man. It is also true that a man can worship by a true act but only worship in form -- no feeling, not with the spirit. Each would be just as wrong and there can never be a choice between two wrongs -- one is no better than the other. Pleasing worship to God is not done ignorantly nor accidentally -- it is done in spirit and in truth. Jim R. Everett
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