Worship in Spirit and Truth
2. How to Worship in Spirit
John 4:20-24
Let’s turn to John 4. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hands and we will bring one to you. John 4 is on page 889 in the Bibles we are passing out.
We are taking three weeks to deepen our understanding of worshiping Jesus Christ – so we can deepen our experience of worshiping Jesus Christ. And last week we talked about how God’s purpose for creating, for saving, for doing everything that He does is so that we can worship Him – and that this is loving – because our greatest joy is worshiping God.
Let me illustrate this from the life of Blaise Pascal. Pascal came to trust Jesus Christ in the 1600’s and lived in France as a brilliant mathematician. After he died people found a note he had written and sewn up inside his shirt – which describes what he experienced in worshiping God and His Son Jesus Christ --
This day of grace 1654; from about half past ten at night, to about half after midnight, fire. Fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of the philosophers and the wise.
Security, security, feeling, joy, peace. God of Jesus Christ ... Forgetfulness of the world and all [except] God. He can be found only in the ways taught in the gospel.
O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you. Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy ...
This is life eternal; that they might know You the only true God, and Him whom You have sent, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. (Quoted in Lloyd-Jones’ Joy Unspeakable pp.106f.)
God’s ultimate purpose is to enable us to worship Him like that – and even more -- forever.
But what about those times now -- when we feel nothing? When we are singing the songs – but feeling nothing. Hearing the prayers – feeling nothing. What should we do?
Should we ignore our feelings and just go through the motions? Or should we just give up and try again when we’re feeling more spiritual? What should we do? Jesus answers that question in John 4:20-24.
Last week I explained that Jesus was talking with a Samaritan woman. The Samaritans were Israelites who had intermarried with Assyrians and mixed Old Testament worship with idol worship and the idol worship won out. So they had stopped bringing offerings to Jerusalem to worship the True God, and worshiped idols on Mt. Gerizim.
That’s why the woman asks her question in v.20 –
20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you [Jews] say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship."
So she’s asking – where must true worship occur? V.21 --
21 Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
So the time is coming when location won’t matter – V.22 –
22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
In other words – your worship on Mt. Gerizim is wrong because you do not know the true God – you have rejected what God taught through Israel. V.23 --
23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
Worship must be in spirit and truth. Next week we will dig into what it means to worship in truth – that worship must be directed to the true God as He has revealed Himself to us through Jesus Christ as recorded in God’s Word. We’ll dig more into that next week.
But today we want to work on what does it mean to worship in spirit? Here’s what helped me understand this --
Notice in v.24 that Jesus says “God is spirit” – which means God is not limited to one physical location. He is a spiritual being who can be accessed anywhere as long as we worship Him in spirit and truth.
So what does it mean for us to have spirit? In John’s gospel – when the word “spirit” describes something about us – it refers to heart-felt desires given to us by the Holy Spirit. For example, in John 11:33 we read that Jesus was deeply moved and troubled in his spirit. So his spirit refers to his desires, his feelings.
But then look at what Jesus says in John 3:6 –
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
When we were first saved we were born of the Spirit. And what happened at that point was that the Holy Spirit birthed spirit in you -- which means that for the first time you loved Jesus, trusted Jesus, adored Jesus, worshiped Jesus.
So “spirit” refers to Holy-Spirit-given, heart-felt desires. And Jesus says true worshipers must worship in spirit. For worship to be true it must involve Spirit-given, heart-felt desire for God the Father and Jesus His Son.
So let’s have a little quiz.
What if you are in a beautiful church cathedral – with stained glass and pews and everything – but you sit there singing worship songs with boredom in your heart – no love for Jesus, no joy in God. Just boredom. Is that true worship? No.
But what if you are sitting in your car on the shoulder of the 280 waiting for the tow truck – and you pray and worship with love for Jesus and joyful submission to His will – is that true worship? Yes. Because you have Spirit-given, heart-felt desire for Jesus.
So true worship must be in spirit and truth. It has to be in truth – directed to God as revealed by Jesus Christ and taught in the Scriptures. And it has to be in spirit – with Spirit-given, heart-felt desire.
So what does worship in spirit feel like? Let me give you four examples –
First, it feels joy and pleasure in God. Psalm 16:11 –
In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
God is perfect love, flawless wisdom, infinite power, breath-taking mercy. And when we see Him as He is – what we feel is joy and pleasure in who He is.
Second, it feels awe and wonder before God. You can see that in Psalm 46:10 –
"Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"
When we see God’s massive size and that He has existed from eternity past and has sovereign power over everything – we can feel is a sense of awe and wonder.
Third, it feels longing for God. Even when I don’t feel joy and pleasure in God, or awe and wonder before God, I can still worship in spirit – by feeling longing for God. You can see that in Psalm 63:1 –
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Fourth, it feels sorrow over sin because it’s dishonored God. You can see that in Psalm 51:17 –
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
When we see God’s glory, and faithfulness, and mercy – and see how we have dishonored Him by our lukewarmness, or our impatience – we will feel sorrow for our sin. And our sorrow for sin is worship – because it honors God.
So that’s what worship in spirit feels like – joy and pleasure in God, awe and wonder before God, longing for God, or sorrow for how our sin has dishonored God.
But this raises a question – what about those times when we feel nothing? When you kneel down by your bed ready to worship, or come to home group to worship, or walk in here on a Sunday morning ready to worship – and you feel nothing?
Here’s an illustration. In Yosemite Valley there’s a tunnel at the south entrance that when you come out of it – gives you an amazing view of the valley, Half Dome, and El Capitan.
So imagine that you are driving through the tunnel and anticipating it – but when you emerge from the tunnel what you see is – thick, soupy, gray fog. No valley. No Half Dome. No El Capitan. Just fog.
That’s how I often feel when I start to worship. So what should we do?
Let me tell you what NOT to do. Don’t ignore your lack of feelings. Don’t settle for no feelings and just go through the motions of singing and praying. That would be like getting out of your car at Vista Point – seeing only fog – and saying “Oooh – Aahhh – Awesome.”
Why not ignore your lack of feelings? Two reasons. One is because lack of feelings shows there’s a problem. In fact, Jesus said it’s dangerous to go through the motions of worship with our hearts far from God. To see that look at Matthew 15:7-8 –
7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8 "'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;
Why is lack of feelings a problem? It’s because it shows there’s something wrong in my heart. See, God hasn’t changed. He is still infinite God – with perfect love, flawless wisdom, breathtaking mercy. He is still blazing with such glory that it makes the sun look dark.
So what is that fog that’s keeping me from seeing Him? That fog is my sin. My pride. My unbelief. So one reason we must not ignore our lack of feelings is because lack of feelings shows that there’s sin, pride, and unbelief in my heart.
But there’s another reason we must not ignore our lack of feelings. It’s because the Holy Spirit can change our feelings. There you are – at Vista Point in Yosemite – not seeing or feeling anything of God – because of the thick, soupy, gray fog of worry, or bitterness against your spouse, or whatever.
But imagine that you are there at Vista Point seeing only fog – but suddenly a wind comes and blows all that fog away – and there’s Yosemite! At one moment – nothing but fog. At the next moment – Yosemite Valley! That’s exactly what the Holy Spirit can do in our hearts.
That’s what the Holy Spirit can do for you -- no matter how unspiritual you feel. No matter how worried about money, or angry at your boss, or distracted by the 49ers – the Holy Spirit can change your heart and blow away all that fog so you can see God and His Holy Son Jesus – you can see and feel and worship.
OK – so we should not ignore our feelings. What should we do? What can we do? How can we worship in spirit? Let me give you four steps – and then we will do this together as we move into worship.
First – come to Jesus with your lack of feelings – and trust Him to help you. Don’t just go through the motions – singing and praying with no feeling. And don’t give up and go home. No. As worship starts – come to Jesus, look to Jesus, and trust Him to help you. He will.
Second, confess to Jesus the state of your heart. Tell Him you are feeling nothing. Tell Him you are full of worry, or fear, or just tired. Confess sin and pride and receive assurance of forgiveness through Jesus.
Third, pray earnestly for the work of the Spirit. You can’t change your own heart. But the Holy Spirit can – and will. Ask God to increase upon you the heart-changing work of the Spirit. Ask God to blow away the fog of sin which is blinding you. Ask Him to help you see Jesus – to help you love Jesus – to help you worship Jesus.
See – when we worship we should all be totally passionate – either passionate with love for Jesus – or passionate for the Spirit’s work to give us love for Jesus. But we should never just sit here feeling nothing.
Fourth, set your mind on the truth of who God is in Christ. The Holy Spirit uses truth to stir feelings. So set your heart on the truths in the songs we are singing. Set your heart on the truths that Dave or other leaders are praying.
One way I do that is to turn lines of songs into prayers. So when I sing “Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You, there is no greater thing.” I’ll turn that line into a prayer -- “there IS no greater thing than You – help me feel that!”
So as we pray earnestly, and set our hearts on the truth of God as revealed in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will blow away the fog. Our eyes will be opened. We will see – and feel – and worship in spirit and truth.
Questions?
No matter how dull you feel. No matter how distracted, fearful, worried, or whatever. The Holy Spirit can completely change your feelings – and show you God as He is revealed in Jesus Christ so powerfully that you worship.
Let’s pray for His help right now.