Beside Still Waters Ministries

John 4:23-24  Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.  NIV

What does that mean – worship in spirit and in truth? Let’s look at what a couple of commentaries say.

“A man worships God in spirit, when, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, he brings all his affections, appetites, and desires to the throne of God; and he worships him in truth, when every purpose and passion of his heart, and when every act of his religious worship, is guided and regulated by the word of God.”  (from Adam Clarke’s Commentary)

If we are not worshiping “in spirit,” our worship will be dry and lifeless. Worship not done “in truth” becomes deceitful or irrelevant. “In spirit” reminds us who we are worshiping. “In truth” exposes the required genuineness of those doing the worshiping. To paraphrase Jesus, “True worshipers worship truthfully.” By contrast, fleshly or false worship would be: pretending to be someone or something we are not; displaying prejudice toward others who are also made in God’s image; practicing self-righteousness by denying our constant need for God’s mercy and grace; worshiping in ignorance or superstition without knowing the reality for ourselves; blindly worshiping out of habit with no heartfelt devotion. (from The Life Application Commentary Series copyright (C) 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 by the Livingstone Corporation which I have on my PC Study Bible program)

Worshipping in spirit and in truth is the worship of the New Covenant.  God had given the Jews the Old Covenant – it was “of the letter” as in the letter of the Law, it was written on “tablets of stone”, and it was through sacrifices which were temporary (thereby needing to be done repetitively).  The Jews constantly broke this Old Covenant, didn’t seem interested in sharing it with other people, and it just didn’t seem to work so great because of our sinful human nature.  It wasn’t because God wasn’t doing His part, it was because the Jews weren’t doing theirs.  Their sinful nature couldn’t change with these outward, superficial actions.  God then brought the New Covenant, and opened it up for everyone!  And it reached us so much deeper – in the heart!  The New Covenant is “of the Spirit”, is written on the “tablets of human hearts”, and it was through One sacrifice for all – Jesus’ death on the cross.  That is why the worship of the New Covenant must be in spirit and in truth.  It must come from our hearts, where we were changed by Jesus’ blood and filled with the Holy Spirit, and it must be genuine and whole-hearted, lip service isn’t “good enough”.   

Challenge:  Each Sunday on your way to church reflect on the state of your heart and prepare yourself to worship in spirit and in truth.  Also, because worship that is in spirit and in truth doesn’t depend on any particular place, try to find time to worship throughout the week.

For further reading:  Read the whole story of the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-42) and this article from Vineyard’s Inside Worship Worship The Father by Brian Doerksen & Carlo Bussani.