Made to worship.
If you want to create tension in the room, share some negative news about everyone else’s political candidate. Imagine the looks you might get and the spewing reactions.
I find the same is true if you start to speak about preferences for worship. Contemporary or traditional? Old hymnal or new hymnal? I still remember the excitement—but also the tension—that formed around worship and changes back in the 1990’s, and nothing has really changed in the 20-teen’s either!
We are studying the topic of worship in one of our Wonderfully Made messages. As you let that word settle into your auditory cortex, what images or concepts do you have in relation to “worship?” For you the term might refer to traditional forms of worship or maybe you’re in the camp that approves of and even enjoys more contemporary worship. Is “worship” the music or the message or both?
Jesus breaches the dam of emotions behind this topic by addressing it in John 4.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” // John 4:20-24
What is worship? Is worship about going through the motions and participating in a programmed set of responses while standing and sitting at appropriate places? Is worship something you have to think about or is it better if you can roll with rote memory and just uniformly participate with everyone else? Is worship about an emotional experience? Is worship about gaining knowledge and insight? Is worship only truly worship when we have a set of readings, confession, a blessing, hymns, liturgy and a sermon tucked in there at the halfway point?
I know I can get into some very dangerous territory by even bringing up the topic of worship. So this note is meant to take us to the root meaning of this word in the context of John chapter 4. In this section, five verses have the word “worship” (or a form of “worship”) expressed ten times. This is a very significant section of Scriptures as we desire to understand the meaning and purpose of worship.
Here is the context: Jesus meets a woman who is very different from his Jewish upbringing. He asks her for a drink of water and then offers her “living water.” She is startled because he does not have a pitcher or bucket to physically draw water—but Jesus is speaking about something more lasting and more necessary for this woman: Living water from heaven.
Eventually the two of them get on the topic of worship and she brings up their Samaritan form of worship. Jesus is quick to bring the topic of worship back to two important truths: we are to worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
I probably can’t unpack all that is involved in worship as it relates to these two words, spirit and truth. But this much can be said: to worship in spirit means that God’s Spirit is not bound to one location, whether Mt. Gerizim for the Samaritans or Jerusalem for the Jews. True worship is not tied to a plot of ground.
Truth is not limited to one people group, ethnicity, age, or denomination. Truth is truth because it is true. The danger of living in our current age, is that truth is often hidden beneath an array of glitzy half-truths. How can we understand what is true?
In order to address this more fully, I will also add the original meaning of this particular word from John 4 that is used to express our English word, “worship.” In Greek, this word combines “kiss” and “fall prostrate” in front of another being. What would cause these two reactions? A kiss is personal; to fall prostrate in front of another represents their power and prestige. Worship is a compilation of both.
In John 4, Jesus defines this combination of the personal kiss and the awe-inspiring drive to fall on your face in front of God as involving Spirit and truth. Simply put, it is the Spirit of God that unmasks all our false understandings of life and causes us to be personally grateful for this insight as well as willing and even desiring to bow in humble obeisance before the Father.
This is not about flavor of worship (contemporary, blended, or traditional), this is not about how much you do or don’t do with liturgical motions and words. This is not just about raising emotions with proper lighting and stirring music. This has to do with falling prostrate in front of the God of this world and adoring him because he is so transcendent and beyond us but also willing to be close and personal with us.
Our goal this week is to find ourselves under the truthful microscope of God’s powerful Word so that we can see the truth about ourselves and our world. From there, we will see the truth about his rescue from all that is not right in us; and in his provision of grace we see that he has created for us a flawless future with him forever. In short, we must see our great need for Jesus and his great supply for all that we need to be reconciled to our Creator and Father.
May we truly worship the Father this week. Pray with me as we dive into this amazing and complex word, “worship.”
Dear Father in heaven,
We are not perfect, but maybe we really don’t want to explore what that means because the truth of our imperfections and blunt, sinful behavior could be very disparaging. Yet we must see the truth of our sin in order to bow in awe of your personal grace carried out on the cross of Calvary in the bleeding and dying of your Son, Jesus . . . for us. This is personal and this is amazing that you would not throw away such a trashed person as me. That you would care for me, for us, is astounding. Help us all to see the truth of who we are and who you are. Help us to truly worship you today and always.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Blessings to you all, in Christ,
Pastor Al