Living with Mystery

True Worship

In this podcast I would like to explore worship. I hope it will extend your horizons as to what it means to worship God. The reading comes from John 4:20-24 where Jesus is having a conversation with a Samaritan woman at a well:

“Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Jesus has this remarkable conversation with a very ordinary person. She freely admitted that her life was not what it should be, yet Jesus reveals to her the mystery of worship. Worship is not about a place; worship is about the Spirit, and the Spirit cannot be confined to a place.

We associate worship with special places. These are mainly church buildings constructed for that purpose. But it seems unlikely that there were any special buildings for worship for 200 years after Jesus spoke these words. Up until then Christians met where they could. Larger houses which could accommodate many people would have been popular, or, of course, meeting outdoors. 

lifestyle

The reason I mention this is to try and enlarge our understanding of worship. We must not restrict ourselves to special places, buildings and planned services. Worshipping the Father is so much more. Take this statement from Paul in Romans 12 verse 1:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship.

Here Paul is showing us that worship involves the total commitment of ourselves, and especially our bodies, to God. The next verse also shows that our minds must be included too. The point is that worship is now a lifestyle rather than a special occasion. When someone says. “Let’s worship!”, we immediately think of singing and music; even specially prepared services or liturgies. But worship is life. True worship is living sacrificially for Jesus. So, the next time you attend a church service and the leader says, “Let’s stand and worship!”, you might find yourself thinking, “I already am!”

beauty

You may be aware of this famous verse in Psalm 96:

Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! (Psalm 96:9)

The context was worship in the Jewish Temple. It was a beautiful place overlaid with gold. But for us now, the Holy Spirit has a new place of worship: our bodies are his temple. Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? (1 Cor 6.19)

The worship and sacrifices of the old Temple have been replaced by the daily sacrifice of our bodies and minds to the beauty of a holy lifestyle. Doing the will of God is true worship. But let’s dig a little deeper into this by asking a question: why should we worship? 

First of all, we should note that worship is a human instinct. Throughout history there are examples of religious worship of every kind. And even in secular, non-believing society, there is worship: apart from the obvious indulgence of self-worship, we have the worship of other people such as celebrities, musicians, intellectuals, influencers. 

The instinct to worship has been built into us: it was part of God’s design. Unfortunately, worship can be corrupted. We see this during the temptations of Jesus. Here the devil let slip his devious plan when he promised Jesus the whole world on one condition:

if You will worship before me, all will be Yours. (Luke 4:7)

True worship, worships God alone. By trying to be worshipped the devil was attempting to make himself like God.

necessity

But why has God designed us to worship him? It was certainly not because he is egotistical. Worship is an essential human expression. It is a human necessity like the need for love, conversation, relaxation, friendship. If we don’t discover this true worship of the Father, then we shall substitute other worship outlets like self, intellect, idols, possessions, other people. Without true worship we are stunted souls. We could even become cynics who despise everything apart from their own scoffing. 

God created us for relationship with him. True worship restores this balance to our humanity. When we learn true worship, we begin to function properly. If a baby is deprived of human contact and affection, it will not develop well. If we do not worship God we shall not develop well. Instead of a life full of thanksgiving, and the wonder which true worship brings, we become people of stunted character.

True worshippers will manifest the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – nine qualities which define a well-developed character. And the lifestyle choices of true worshippers will conform to the truth revealed in the bible. 

Worship should encompass everything we do: how we think, how we talk to others, how we dress (remember how carefully the High Priest had to clothe himself to enter the Most Holy Place in the Temple), how we eat, how we use the internet, how we drive, how we love our family, the way we work or serve others. Very simply, our body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit and we worship the Father by a life devoted to the will of God.

As we enlarge our view of worship, it becomes richer. In everything we are and decide to do, we should first consider what God thinks about it. You can also discover individual ways to praise and worship God. I love to do this through science. As new discoveries about the universe are made, I become awestruck in worship. I even praise God for little things like the way my skin heals after a cut. There is nothing too small to thank God for: as the bible says – ‘in Him we live and move and have our being’. 

praise

So, a final question to ask: “What is the chief hindrance to true worship?” I see it in the final verse of John’s first letter:

Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21)

Although we no longer make images to worship, we can still create idols for ourselves. An idol is basically something which captures our heart and steals it away from complete devotion to God. I find it sad when Christians seem more energised and motivated by activism, whatever form it takes, than by living a life of true worship to God.

We might make a distinction between worship and praise. Praise is vocalising our worshipping instincts, especially giving thanks to our Father. Praising is part of expressing our humanity – we speak or sing words of praise to God inspired by who he is and what he has done. Praise is especially important when we meet together to give thanks powerfully as the Body of Christ.

Let me finish by suggesting that as soon as you have read this that you spend some time praising the Father for how wonderful he is. Praise Jesus for all he has done for you. And praise the Holy Spirit who leads us to discover true worship in the beauty of holiness.