Worship In "Spirit & Truth"

I don't know about you, but I always find it refreshing when someone is honest and asks questions that maybe some are afraid to ask for fear of not looking "spiritual enough". I think a lot of times we come to church, a bible study, or small group and think that everyone has God so much more figured out then they do. I think its also refreshing to know that even the most educated pastors, teachers, and leaders of the church struggle to hear God sometimes. That is why I think over and over again Jesus tried to break things down to simple concepts, and to stories that everyone in the group could understand. The theology and understanding of an all encompassing, all powerful God is something completely different than your relationship with God (I don't want to down play the importance of theology, just making a point about how our relationship with God will always trump our understanding of him). To know God is to spend time with Him in prayer, it is to read His Word and meditate upon its life changing power, to worship him in the midst of your congregation, and in your private times of worship at home, or in the car, as well as through the very life you live.

So, now for one of those honest questions......What does John 4:24 mean? John :24 says, "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

First, there are very heavy theological explanations of what this means, but I am going to break it down in a way I think everyone can relate to. God is spirit, He is a person, and in this world and existence on earth we experience His presence through the Holy Spirit. We worship Him first, by engaging Him through our spirits in worship and through that amazing interaction when we lay our hearts before Him, and love Him through lifting Him above all things and all we know. This is the easy part. It is easy to come one on one and declare our love and adoration for a God who has done so much for us, but it is much more difficult to take on the second part of John 24:4, to worship in "truth" as well. To worship in truth is to take the very worship and our response to our love and understanding of who our God is.....and walk it out....live it.....believe it by walking out the truth of our God and who He is and has done for us. Jesus wants us to worship Him both in the one on one interactions we have with Him where His presence is so real and strong, but also in taking those things we have declared to Him in worship, and show its work in you by walking it out as worship to God.

Worship is all about the response we give to the love God has already poured upon us, and all the blessings our God has put upon us through His very nature, and the work of His son Jesus Christ through the cross. Jesus is telling us that "true" worship is worship that is done in the spirit through our one on one worship of our God relationally through that love relationship He has called us to have with Him as our loving heavenly father, and also in how we take that love and relationship and lay our flesh and our lives down in everyday life.

JESUS DID NOT SAY SPIRIT WORSHIP IS THE BETTER, AND OH BY THE WAY WORSHIP IN TRUTH TOO....HE SAID WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH....THEY ARE EQUAL AND BOTH A EQUAL PART OF THE WORSHIP GOD DESIRES FROM US.

So....what does this revelation God has given us mean to each one of us? It means we need to put as much passion and love into our corporate worship as we do in our daily pursuit to live a life that gives worship to God by loving our spouses, children, friends, and neighbors as well as walking out the path He has drawn and prepared for you. These two worlds are not seperate, in fact they are completely connected....its all worship....because its all about pouring out the love Jesus pours upon you, and returning that love back in ALL we do. Worshiping our God in spirit and in truth.

For His Glory!

Ken