True Worship (1)

The Foundations of Christian Worship
"in Spirit and in Truth"

"Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, 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 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." (John 4:19 - 24)

This conversation turned to the subject of worships and points to three things without which we will not be able truly to worship God:
The Lord Jesus himself
The Holy Spirit
The Truth

A. True worship is impossible without Jesus Christ
Where can God be found? Someone begins to seek after truth. Where should they go? To Mecca or Jerusalem? To the Bible of the Baghavad Gita? To Jesus or Buddha? Where can God be found? It is a vital question. We will never be able to worship God rightly until we find the answer.

For centuries Jerusalem had been the place where God expected his people to come and meet Him. But all that was about to change. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth (v23). A new way of engaging God was about to be introduced. It would not depend on any one place, but on "the Spirit and Truth."

Jesus changes everything

Do you want to worship God? You do not have to go to a religious building or place. You must come to Jesus. True worship is impossible without Jesus Christ.

B. True worship is impossible without the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said:' God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth'. (v24) It begins in the heart, and internal reality, in my spirit. Worship is supernatural, it is not something i can offer by myself. I need God's help, by His Spirit, to worship Him properly.

C. True worship is impossible without the Truth.
Jesus is Truth.
A.W. Tozer:
The purpose of God in sending His son to die and rise and live and be at the right hand of God the Father was that he might restore to us the missing jewel, the jewel of worship; that we might come back and learn to do again that which we were created to do in the first place - worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, to spend our time in awesome wonder and adoration of God, feeling it and expressing it, and letting it get into our labours, and doing nothing except as an act of worship to Almighty God through His son Jesus Christ.

The saving work of Christ makes worship possible. He alone is the Truth; there is no other way to God. He provides the revelation and redemption, without which true worship is impossible.

Three in One...
We need all three if we are to truly worship God: Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Truth. Ture worship of God the Father is only possible through God the Son, by God the Spirit as we hear God's truth from His word, the Bible.