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Introduction:
There is one very simple key to having positive relationships;
simple to know, not always simple to follow. This one key will
work whether you are talking about family relationships, work
relationships, neighborhood relationships, congregational
relationships, any relationships. Philippians
2:3-4 explains it. Instead of putting ourselves forward
and pursuing our own desires, the key to positive relationships is
to seek what the others desire and need. Count them as more
important and significant and strive to be what they want you to
be in the relationship. This will work in all relationships and
the same principle should especially govern our relationship with
God. Instead of putting ourselves forward and our wants and
interests as the most important, demanding that God provide them,
we need to view God as more important. What does He want? What
interests Him? What is He looking for in our walk with Him? John
4:23-24 gives us the answer. “But the hour is coming,
and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the father
in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to
worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship
in spirit and truth” (ESV). God is seeking true worshippers to
worship Him in spirit and in truth. If we want a positive
relationship with God, we need to pursue this goal. We must be
these worshippers. This really is the foundation of our
relationship with Him. We simply cannot walk with God, if we do
not examine what God is seeking from us in this text. Discussion: I.
True
worshipers… A.
God is looking for true
worshipers. John uses this formula repeatedly throughout his
gospel. Jesus is the true
light (John
1:9), the true
bread out of heaven (John
6:32), the true
vine (John
15:1). His point is about being the genuine article, not a
fake, not a cheap imitation, not a copy, but the real thing. It
means not being a worshiper in name only but really being a
worshiper. It means as we worship we correspond to every aspect of
what worship is. God doesn’t want posers and pretenders. He
doesn’t want lip service, He wants true worshipers. According to
John
17:3, Jehovah is the true God. He is no pretender, no fake
idol, no false claimant. He is the genuine article, the true and
living and powerful God. He deserves nothing less than true
worshipers. B.
Consider Jeremiah
7:1-28. This decree was to those who came to the temple to
worship Jehovah (7:2).
Yet, they were not true worshipers. From this chapter, we learn
three keys about being true
worshipers. 1.
Put
your trust in God, not in the forms and patterns
(7:4,
12-15). The Israelites were going to the right temple. In
fact, they placed their trust in “This is the temple of the
Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord” (ESV).
They were conducting the right sacrifices, by the right people at
the right times. Yet, they were not true worshipers. Why? They
trusted in doing the right things, more than in serving the right
God. Don’t misunderstand. They had to worship at the proper
temple. If not, their worship was just as vain. However, their
trust needed to be in God, not the forms and patterns of the
temple. We can do the same. Do we put our trust in assembling with
a group that uses the right name? Do we put our trust in
accurately following a particular set of right actions? Or do we
put our trust in serving the right God, His way? “Do not trust
in these deceptive words, ‘This is the church of Christ, the
church of Christ, the church of Christ.’” Or “Do not trust
in these deceptive words, ‘We sing without instruments, we sing
without instruments, we sing without instruments. We take the
Lord’s Supper every Sunday, every Sunday, every Sunday.’”
Our trust must not be in following the right forms and pursuing
the right patterns, but in serving the right God. When we are
trusting in serving the right God, then having the proper forms
and patterns will follow. After all, when Israel was concerned
about serving Jehovah, they went to the right temple. However,
when our trust is in the forms and patterns, our heart can easily
slip away. 2.
Obey
God always
(7:9-10,
23-28). The Israelites were not true worshipers because
their worship was a hoax. They came into God’s presence as if
they were true servants who wanted to honor God. Instead, they
were fakes who wanted to follow their own course but buy their way
into God’s good graces by marking worship at the temple off
their checklist. They believed, apparently, that if they met the
minimum requirement of going to the temple every so often,
offering a sacrifice and prostrating themselves before God, that
they had met the requirements to go to heaven. However, their
worship was false because it did not stem from true service to
God. In Matthew
4:10, Jesus said we must worship God and serve Him only.
Notice the two words—worship and serve. These same two words are
used repeatedly in the Old Testament, usually to say what the
Israelites were not to do with false gods. They were not to
worship or serve them. The implication was they were instead to
worship and serve the Lord. These two aspects of submission to God
are inseparable. Our worship is to emanate from our service. If
our worship is not the natural progression of our obedient service
to God, then we are not true worshipers. The Israelites did not
worship God because they were His obedient servants. Their worship
did not proceed from their desire to serve God. Rather, their
worship was an attempt to buy God off because they weren’t
serving Him all the time. If we think we can live sinful lives or
even merely apathetic, half-hearted Christian lives but make up
for it by saying our prayers or “going to church” we are
wrong. True worshipers worship because it is the natural product
of obedient service. 3.
Worship
only God
(7:9-10,
17-18). We can only be true worshipers if we only worship
Jehovah. If we are serving and worshiping other gods, then nothing
we offer to God as worship amounts to anything. We might easily
think we are safe in this regard because we do not make idols and
bow before them. However, remember Philippians
3:19. If our God is our belly, that is, if we are serving
our own fleshly passions most of the time, the worship we offer
the true God is not true worship. Also remember Colossians
3:5. If we are coveting material goods, we have become
idolaters. True worshipers only worship the true God. C.
God is seeking true
worshipers. How are we doing on this? II.
True worshipers to worship
Him… A.
God is looking for true worshipers to worship Him. The
statement seems to be a tautology. That is, it seems to be a
needless repetition of an obvious statement. Clearly, if they are
true worshipers, they will worship. However, Jesus said this for
emphasis. God is seeking worship. This word is in the active
voice, that is, it is something the subject is doing. We are to
worship God. Worship is not something we are. It is not an
emotion. It is not an attitude. Worship is an action. But what
action? Let us first notice what this passage does not say. It
does not say the Father is seeking “church-goers” to “go to
church” in spirit and truth. Sadly, because of our unbiblical
language of referring to our assemblies as “worship services”
too many of us equate worship with “going to church,”
thinking, “I went to church this week, so I worshiped.”
Further, Jesus did not say the Father is seeking true worshipers
to perform five actions. Sadly, because we have unbiblically
labeled our assemblies as worship services, we have then labeled
each action we take in the assembly as worship and that has
sometimes muddied our understanding of John
4:23-24. Before figuring out what Jesus is asking of us in
the verse we automatically replace “worship” with “singing,
praying, teaching, giving, and taking the Lord’s Supper.”
Those five things may or may not all be worship, but that is not
what this verse is about. B.
The English word “worship” comes from the concept of
“worth-ship.” The idea is to declare something or someone as
worthy. Our English word, however, can be somewhat confusing
because it can be broad and varied in meaning. The word translated
worship in John
4:23-24 is “proskuneo.” There are other words also
translated “worship” in the New Testament. Sadly, the fact
that our English word can sometimes be accurately used to describe
varying concepts, our study gets muddied up. However, in this
lesson, we are not concerned with everything our English word
“worship” can possibly mean in different contexts. We are
concerned with what Jehovah God is seeking based on John
4:23-24. “Proskuneo” means “literally, to kiss
toward someone, to throw a kiss in token of respect or homage” (The
Complete Word Study Dictionary, Spiro Zodhiates, AMG
Publishers, Chattanooga, TN, 1993, p 1233—Strong’s Number
4352). However, the word was about more than just its literal
meaning. It was actually a cultural picture that is somewhat lost
on us. Zodhiates continues, “The ancient oriental (especially
Persian) mode of salutation between persons of equal rank was to
kiss each other on the lips; when the difference of rank was
slight, they kissed each other on the cheek; when one was much
inferior, he fell upon his knees and touched his forehead to the
ground or prostrated himself, throwing kisses at the same time
toward the superior” (p. 1233-34). C.
If you have the capability, you should search your Bible
for the word “proskuneo” used in this passage and its Hebrew
counterpart, “sahah” (Strong’s Hebrew 7812). It is
frequently very literally tied to kneeling or prostration; e.g.
Job
1:20; Psalm 95:6; Isaiah 44:17; Matthew 2:11; 4:9; 28:9; Acts
10:25; I Corinthians 14:25; Revelation 4:10; 5:14.
“Proskuneo” worship was very literally coming into the
presence of a superior and prostrating one’s self out of
humility. It represented inferiority and unworthiness. It was a
declaration that the one to whom worship was offered was far more
worthy, honorable, glorious and important. I do not want to
suggest that “proskuneo” worship is limited to kneeling and
prostration, however, I do find it very interesting that the very
thing our ancient counterparts most viewed as worship is one thing
few of us have ever done and we would never do in what we have
unbiblically called our “worship service.” In fact, many of us
would be extremely upset if somebody got in the aisles and lay
prostrate during one of our prayers or songs. The Muslims take
their prayer rugs and prostrate themselves as they worship. The
Catholics kneel a lot. The Pentecostals lay out before God. Yet we
say, “We would never do such a thing, we follow the pattern.”
Oh wait, prostration is often part of the worship pattern. Why
hasn’t that ever made it on to our list of worship acts? I
further find it interesting that in our modern religious culture
we have a lot of people asking, “Can we raise holy hands in our
assemblies?” and almost no one ever asks, “Can we lay
prostrate in our assemblies?” Does this indicate something about
the modern attitude toward our relationship with God and worship
toward Him? Perhaps. D.
Having said that, and I hope you will think about it, I do
recognize worship is more about the heart and spirit than the
body. It is about spiritually doing what we see in Revelation
4:10. It is about spiritually falling down before God,
casting down our golden crowns. Regrettably, the Bible nowhere
completely defines or describes worship. In fact, if you simply
search for the word “worship,” you will find that most often
the text just says someone worshiped without explaining what they
did to worship. However, there are some interesting parallels
given in various passages about “proskuneo” worship that I
believe helps us grasp what God is seeking from us. 1.
Psalm
132:7
provides a very interesting part of worship. Keep this in mind
because it will become important when we consider worshipping in
spirit. Worship was something done in the presence of the one
being worshipped. The Israelites went to the dwelling place of
God, to His footstool to worship Him. This is why Hezekiah had
told the Israelites they could only worship God at the altar in
Jerusalem and before no other altar (II
Chronicles 32:12). 2.
In Matthew
4:10, Jesus said we are to worship only God.
Interestingly, the passage Jesus is quoting is Deuteronomy
6:13. That passage doesn’t say worship. It says
“fear.” By Jesus’ own use of the words, worship is connected
to fear. This fear is reverence and awe, but it is produced by
awareness of God’s power and judgment. Consider how it is used
in II
Samuel 1:14; I Chronicles 13:12. Worship is to be offered
with the awe and fear that comes from knowing we are sinners in
the hands of God. 3.
According to Psalm
99:5, 9, worship is connected with exalting God. Isn’t
that what the elders and creatures in Revelation
4:10ff were doing—exalting God? They exalted God by
lowering themselves. By casting down their own claims to any kind
of worthiness, falling down before God and then praising Him
verbally. 4.
Akin to the last point, Psalm
96:7-9 links worship with ascribing to God the glory due
His name. Consider a practical example in Matthew
14:33 where the people in the boat worshiped Jesus,
saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (ESV). E.
Very specifically, worship was humbling one’s self before
God, prostrating themselves before Him to show His superiority and
their inferiority because of fear, as they ascribed glory to God,
exalting and praising Him. This is what God is seeking from us. III.
True worshipers to worship Him in spirit… A.
True worshipper worship God in spirit. But what does that
mean? 1.
I have long made a mistake when studying this verse. I have
often viewed John
4:23 as parallel to John 4:21. That is, I have
often viewed these verses as saying, “When the true worshipers
start worshipping in spirit, they will cease to worry about the
mountain on which they worship.” That is not the case, however.
Please consider a parallel structure in another set of passages.
In John
5:25; 28, we see a similar structure. One passage speaks
of an hour that is coming. One speaks of an hour that is coming
and is already here. The hour that is coming is the hour of final
judgment in which folks will be distributed to eternal life or
eternal damnation. It was completely and totally in the future. On
the other hand, the hour that was coming, and is now here, was the
hour in which folks would listen to the Son of God and gain
spiritual life. That, however, was not totally in the future.
Consider I
Corinthians 10:4. The Israelites had life in the days of
Moses because they drank from the Rock which is Christ. Cross
reference this with John
6:53 which says we must eat and drink Jesus to have life
and then notice that He was speaking figuratively to mean we must
imbibe His words (John
6:63). The hour that was coming, and now is, had actually
been in place for thousands of years. Since even the time of
Moses, folks listened to the word of Christ to have life. This
interesting construct however, is to demonstrate that the ultimate
part of the plan was finally coming to fruition. There had been a
sense in which folks had always gained life by listening to
Christ, now it was going to happen fully. 2.
This same construction is used in John
4:21, 23. There is something whose hour is coming. There
is something whose hour is coming and now is. Jesus said there was
an hour coming in which the mountain wouldn’t matter. However,
that time had not come at all yet. Even Jesus still worshiped at
that mountain and makes it clear that was exactly what the woman
should be doing because salvation was from the Jews. However,
there was something whose hour was coming, and, in fact, whose
hour had already come. That was the hour for worshipping in spirit
and truth. The fact is, true worshipers have always worshiped in
spirit and truth. I have heard this verse argued 100 different
ways and I have yet to hear a position taken about what vs.
23 means that has not always been true. Listen to anyone
describe what they think it means to worship in spirit and truth
and then search and see that the Israelites had just as much
responsibility to worship that way as we do. Jesus’ point was
not that one day when God required us to worship in spirit and
truth then the mountain would no longer matter. His point was that
because true worship is done in spirit and truth, we should not be
surprised that the day was coming when the mountain and temple no
longer mattered. Yet, the hour was coming because worshiping in
spirit and truth would ultimately be fulfilled because of the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. B.
What we need to most understand is that the Old Testament
was truly a period of progressive revelation. God was using a
shadow to prepare people for the substance. Temple worship had
never been God’s ultimate plan for worshipping Him. It was a
stepping stone He used to help us understand the true worship.
Jesus Himself really explained what worshipping in spirit means
when He said, “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must
worship in spirit…” (John
4:24—ESV). God is not a corporeal being. We do not have
to travel to Jerusalem to truly come into His presence. In fact,
no one has ever truly had to do that. Keep in mind Solomon’s
words when the temple was dedicated in I
Kings 8:27. God never really dwelt in Jerusalem. It was a
symbol, a shadow. However, while under that shadow, folks had to
come to Jerusalem to sacrifice in order to be able to worship God.
They had to come to God’s presence through the mediation of
priests. Jesus’ sacrifice changed all of that. According to Hebrews
9:11-14, Jesus went into the true holy place of God and
offered His own blood as the sacrifice that purifies our
consciences from dead works. Hebrews
10:19-22 explains that we have a great high priest by
whose sacrifice we may come into the very holy place of God.
Remember, we learned that worship is prostrating ourselves in the
presence of God at His footstool? Under the Old Testament system,
that meant traveling to Jerusalem to the Temple. However, under
the New Testament, that means we can enter the holy presence of
God any time, any place. We do not have to go to Jerusalem and
offer a sacrifice to be able to worship God. Jesus has offered the
sacrifice that allows us to worship and allows us to worship
anywhere. C.
While we will, no doubt, worship with the congregation.
Worship is not confined to a church’s building. If we equate
worship with “going to church,” then we are not worshipping in
spirit. We can worship God in our houses, in our cars, in the
fields, on the street, at our jobs, in our schools. We can worship
God anywhere because worship is about prostrating our spirit
before the God who is spirit, before the God who is not confined
by the material and corporeal. God is with us, so we can worship
Him here in Franklin, TN, while others worship Him in South Africa
or Russia. We do not have to pilgrimage to God’s presence. D.
Further, this indicates that worship is about our spirit,
not our flesh. It is about prostrating our spirit before God, not
about having our flesh entertained. Plays, interpretive dance,
concerts, and other forms of entertainment are not worship. Eating
is not worship. Pursuing the needs of our flesh is not worship.
Worship is about our spirit, not our flesh. This also indicates
that worship is not about merely going through the motions. It is
not merely about lying on the floor. It is not merely about
mouthing the words of a song or prayer. It is about having our
spirit connect with God who is spirit. It is about having the
center of our being, motivated with proper attitudes of fear and
reverence, honoring God. Going through the physical motions is not
worship. Having hearts attuned to God is worship. IV.
True worshipers to worship Him in spirit and truth. A.
Finally, God is looking for true worshipers to worship Him
in truth. According to I
John 3:18, we are supposed to love in truth. According to I
John 3:19, we are supposed to be of the truth. According
to III
John 3, we are supposed to walk in truth. According to II
John 2, the truth is supposed to abide in us. Truth was
very important to John’s writing. He was very concerned with the
lies of the Gnostics who did not accept that Jesus came in the
flesh. The Gnostics claimed serving God was about gaining some
kind of mystical knowledge that set them apart from everyone else.
John explained that was not true. All they needed was to know the
truth and practice that. B.
According to John
3:21, those who do what is true (translating the same word
as John
4:23, 24) come to the light and show that their works are
carried out in God. The point being that we are to worship in God
or according to God’s will. Then John
8:31-32 explains that we know the truth when we allow
Jesus’ words to abide in us. Further, that truth will set us
free. Finally, John
17:17 says we will be sanctified or set apart by the truth
and that truth is God’s word. Clearly, within the context of
John’s writing, worshipping in truth means worshipping according
to God’s word. It means worshipping God the way He has commanded
and according to the patterns He has approved. As II
Timothy 3:16-17 says, the Scriptures equip us for every
good work. They equip us to worship properly. Conclusion: God is seeking true worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and truth. If we are going to walk hand in hand with God our relationship must be founded on this. God is to be exalted. We are to be humbled. We must cast down our claims to worthiness and prostrate our spirits before Him, declaring Him to be superior, exalting Him, ascribing glory to Him. While we do this in our assemblies through prayers and songs, we must not wait until Sunday but worship God in this way every day. He deserves it. He is the true God, let us be true worshipers.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
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