Worship in Spirit and Truth

(John 4:23-24)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
This morning, we saw Jesus saying
That a time was coming when where one worshiped would be irrelevant.
Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in
Jerusalem will you worship the Father (v. 21).
We know this would happen after the crucifixion
After Jesus sacrificed Himself,
Making the Temple sacrifices no longer necessary or effective.

B. Preview.
But even in Jesus day
How one worshiped was already important.
But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the
Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers
(v. 23).

There is a sense in which this has always been true.

This is the only kind of worship the Father has ever accepted,
Though the form He commanded may have varied.

What I want us to consider this evening

Is that what was true in His day
Is still true today:

2
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth (v.
24).

Lets consider this evening,

1. First, what it means to worship in spirit.
2. And second, what it means to worship in truth.

II. Sermon.
A. First, what does it mean to worship in spirit?
Jesus likely has two things in mind here:
Worship that is spiritual, rather than physical;
And worship that is empowered by the Spirit.

1. First, He means we must worship God in a spiritual way, rather than physical.

This is clear from the context.

Jesus said this in answer to the Samaritan womans question:
Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem
is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe
Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will
you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship
what we know, for salvation is from the Jews (20-22).
Where was the right place to worship?
Where is the location God would accept?
In this mountain (Gerizim) or in Jerusalem?
Who had the right form of worship?
The right priesthood?
The right Scripture?

Jesus said the Jews were right.

We saw this morning why this was the case.
The Samaritans had set up an imitation of what God ordained in Jerusalem.
He never accepts what man chooses to do in place of what He commands.

But something was about to happen

That would make all these things irrelevant.
Worship was going to move from a more physical form
A more visible way,
From the Temple on earth
To a more spiritual or invisible way
To the Temple in heaven.

This was one of the issues the author to the Hebrews had to address
As the church moved from the OC shadows
To the NC realities,
That worship had become more spiritual.

Jesus had been crucified almost 40 years earlier.

The destruction of the Temple was just around the corner.
The true worship had already been moved by the death of Christ
From the earthly temple to the true temple in heaven.

There would no longer be any earthly priests

Because we now have a Great High Priest in heaven.

There would no longer be any animal sacrifices

The only Sacrifice God accepts had already been made once for all.

The loss of these physical symbols of Gods presence

That they had known for so long,
Was one of the things that made the Jewish believers a bit uneasy.
When you added to this the persecution from Rome
That holding onto Christ and His more spiritual worship could cost you your
life,
While by simply going back to the shadowy worship of the Old Covenant,
You could escape it all together
They were tempted even more to return.
Of course, if they did, they would be destroyed with the Temple.
Ask yourself,
Would you be willing to hold onto Christ and His worship
At the risk of your own life?
Someday you may have to.

History has shown us that many professing Christians arent willing.

They have to have the physical, the visible, the symbols of the reality.
Their faith isnt strong enough to see the invisible.

Some prefer the Church of Rome for its religious atmosphere

Its holy ambience,
Its statues,

Its priests,
Its daily Mass/sacrifices,
Its ornate buildings,
Its vicar of Christ.

The Anglican Church has been

Just a step away from Rome historically
Having a similarly ornate environment,
Though they had held to a more Biblical teaching regarding salvation.

Luther believed that the physical elements

Of the worship environment
Could shore up the faith of weak believers
And so he continued to defend them.

But Reformed believers recognized these things

As having passed with the shadows of the Old Covenant,
For a specific reason.
The Lord doesnt want us to set our eyes on them,
But to fix our eyes on Him in heaven.

Jesus says, God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit.
New Covenant worship is less ritual based and more faith based.
Even under the Old Covenant shadows,
Going through the motions didnt save you,

But seeing Christ through the shadows of priesthood and ceremony,

And reaching out to Him in faith and repentance did.

2. Thats also why worship must be secondly,

In the Holy Spirit and not in the flesh.
The flesh likes these crutches
The spiritual environment
To somehow prove to itself
That what its doing is real/significant.
The Pharisees and Sadducees were both living proof
As sadly, many are in these more ornate churches
That the physical symbols cant change your heart.

The faith the Spirit creates in you doesnt need these crutches.
It sees the invisible
The invisible God,
The visible Son who is now outside of our view,
In the invisible Temple, in heaven,
With the holy angels and the spirits of righteous men made perfect.

He not only creates the faith to see,

He gives the heart/desire to worship what you see.
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit.

7
B. What does it mean to worship in truth?
This word can have many meanings,
But here it refers to at least two things:
Fact, rather than opinion,
And sincerity, rather than hypocrisy.

1. It means first of all to worship according to fact.

The Samaritans had their worship:
Their temple on Mount Gerizim,
Their priests from the line of Manasseh,
Their standard their version of the five books of Moses
The Samaritan Pentateuch.

But that wasnt enough, because it wasnt according to truth.

They might have had a priest that was related to Aaron,
But he had been removed from Gods covenant people
For marrying the daughter of Sanballat, Gods enemy.
They had a standard that was close to the Mosaic Pentateuch,
But it wasnt a pure text
It differs with the Masoretic text in over 6000 places
Most of which are minor
But one major difference being a command of God to build an altar on Mount
Gerizim,
Where He wanted all His sacrifices to be made.
Perhaps a modern example of this would be

Charles Taze Russells rewriting of the Bible

To erase any references to the deity of Jesus Christ.

God ordered the Temple to be built in Jerusalem,

And for the sacrifices to be offered by the Aaronic line.
Samaritan worship wasnt authorized by God,
Wasnt acceptable to Him,
And so wasnt blessed with His presence.
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

The same is true today.

If our worship is to be acceptable to Him
As we gather together on His holy day
Or as we would worship Him in any venue for that matter
We must worship Him according to truth, according to His Word.

Does it matter where we worship Him?

Not as long as were gathered together by His Word and Spirit.
Does it matter how we worship Him?
Yes.
If the second commandment teaches us anything
It teaches us that we cant do whatever we want
And think God is going to accept it.
You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven
above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not

9
worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth
generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands,
to those who love Me and keep My commandments (Ex. 20:4-6).
We must worship according to truth.

2. But having done this, will God accept our worship?

Not necessarily.
We can have the right form,
But not have the right heart.
We must also worship Him in sincerity.

To have the right form without the right heart

Is nothing but formalism
Just going through the motions.
We need to remember that God isnt impressed by our outward appearance,
He looks to see whats in our hearts.
When God sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesses sons as king in
place of Saul,
When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, Surely the LORDS
anointed is before Him. But the LORD said to Samuel, Do not look at his
appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for
God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the
LORD looks at the heart (1 Sam. 16:6-7).
Jonathan Edwards pointed out in his day
That one could feasibly construct a mannequin
That could be made automatically to give food to the hungry.
But the fact that it did something formally right

10
Didnt make it pleasing to God.
Why?
Because it lacked the right motive
A mannequin lacks any motive.
The heart must be right.
There must be a genuine love for God,
And a real desire to give Him glory,
If what you do is to be acceptable to Him.

In the same way, if we go through the right motions in our worship,

If we pray,
If we sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs,
If we listen and even submit
To what is read and preached,
But our hearts are far from God,
If we dont serve Him in love,
If we dont seek His glory in what we do,
It means nothing to Him.
Paul writes, If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have
love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of
prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith,
so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give
all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned,
but do not have love, it profits me nothing (1 Cor. 13:1-3).

How much more does it mean nothing

If we go through the motions

11

Not only with our hearts disengaged,

But also our minds?
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.
We must worship Him in the NT spiritual forms,
And in the power of His Spirit.
We must worship according to His Word,
And do so in sincerity of heart.
Thats the kind of worship He wants.
Thats the kind of worshiper He seeks.

3. And lets not forget,

He wants us to do this with our whole lives,
Not just on the Lords Day, at the worship service.
Paul writes, Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present
your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the
will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom. 12:1-2).
God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth
(John 4:24).

And so walk by the Spirit,

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh
(Gal 5:16),
As He leads you in the truth,
I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth (3
John 1:4).

12
And do so sincerely, Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the
holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He
inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a
great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience
and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of
our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us
consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking
our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one
another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near (Heb. 10:19-25).
Amen.

http://www.gcmodesto.org