A.When Jesus taught the Samaritan woman Jacob’s well, He told her the time had come for true worshipers.
“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)
B.Are we the true worshipers that God seeks?To determine this, let us consider what true worship is and see if we make the grade.
II.WHAT IS WORSHIP?
A.In the original Greek, the New Testament has three primary root words that have derivatives translated as “worship.”
1.Studying Greek words may seem rather technical, but it gives us insight that we may not otherwise have.
2.Let us consider these three primary meanings to get a more thorough understanding of worship.
B.One meaning of worship is an overt act that expresses reverence and adoration toward God.
1.This meaning is compliant with our typical concept of worship (i.e., singing, praying, etc.).
2.The Greek word for such worship is proskyneo.
a.This word originally described the kissing of another’s hand as a token of reverence.
b.It is believed that this word is actually derived from another word that referred to a dog that licks its master’s hand (pros – “towards” + kyon – “dog”).
c.This word is often associated with the submissive posture one takes when offering worship.
i.In the Scriptures, persons who offered such worship usually bowed down or fell down.This is well-demonstrated in book of Matthew (2:11; 4:9; 8:2; 9:18; 15:25; 18:26; 20:20; 28:9).
ii.Notice the many references in Revelation to those who fell down to worship (3:9; 4:10; 5:14; 7:11; 11:16; 19:4, 10; 22:8).
d.Jesus used this word in reference to this kind of explicit and dedicated act of worship when He spoke to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (John 4:20-24).
3.Thus, a truly worshipful person will humble himself before God in acts that are specifically devoted to express reverence toward Him.
C.Another meaning of worship is an attitude of reverence toward God.
1.This meaning is what we might call piety or devoutness.
2.The Greek words for this kind of worshipfulness are sebo, sebasma, and eusebeo.
a.Sebo, which is the root for the other two words, means “to revere” or “to worship.”
i.This was the word Jesus used when He quoted Isaiah, saying, “In vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” (Matt. 15:9).He was not only saying that their acts of worship were vain, but also that all they did in piety was worthless.
ii.A form of this word is often used to describe people who were worshipers of God (Acts 13:43, 50; 16:14; 17:4; 18:7).
b.Sebasma describes an object of worship (Acts 17:23; 2Thess. 2:4).
c.Eusebio, (eu – “good” + sebo – “worship”) means “to act piously or reverently.”Persons who behaved piously were described as “devout” or” God-fearing” (adjective form of eusebio) in the Scriptures (such as Cornelius and his attendant soldier, Acts 10:2, 7).
3.Thus, a worshipful person maintains an attitude of piety in all that he does, whether it is an explicit act of worship or not.
D.A third meaning of worship is the act of serving or working for God.
1.This meaning indicates that a worshipful person does everything in reverence to God.
2.The Greek word for this type of worship is latreia (noun) or latreno (verb).
a.This word is derived from latris, which means “a hired domestic servant.”
b.The meaning of these words is usually expressed as service to God in connection with worship (Luke 2:37; John 16:2; Rom. 9:4; Heb. 9:1, 6).Specifically, notice these passages:
i.“…for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.” (Phil. 3:3 – “worship” here is literally “serve,” latreno)
ii.“Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.”’” (Luke 4:8 – notice the distinction between the acts of worship, proskyneo, and the acts of service, latreno)
iii.“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” (Rom. 12:1 – “service of worship” is one term, latreia).
3.Thus, a truly worshipful person serves God in reverence continuously rather than only offering only ritualistic acts of worship at certain times.
III.WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH
A.As we saw before, Jesus said that God seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24).Let us consider what is meant by “in spirit and truth.”
1.That which is spiritual is unseen and immaterial.
a.The spirit (pneuma – “wind”) cannot be experienced or measured by that which is physical or fleshly.
b.God is spirit (John 4:24 – not “a spirit,” but just “spirit”).His very nature is not subject to the parameters of this world (size, location, time, etc.).
2.That which is true is factual and objective.
a.All men have an opinion, but there is absolute truth that is not subject to anyone’s opinion, bias, or will.
b.God is truth.What He does and says is always right and good.Truth is in God’s nature, and it is impossible for Him to lie (Heb. 6:18).
B.Worship that is in spirit and truth must employ the unseen part of man and the objective truth of God.
1.Every aspect of worship must include the spirit and the truth.As creatures appealing to the Creator, we must approach Him with reverence for who He is (spirit and truth).
2.Spiritual worship elevates the spirit above the flesh.
a.The Lord said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63).
b.Spiritual worship is understood by spiritual words that give meaning to every act of worship and service.These words have come to us by the Holy Spirit (1Cor. 2:6-16).
3.True worship embraces the truth of God, which is found in His word.
a.Christ said to the Father, “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17).
b.It is God’s word that declares to us what true worship is, both in form and meaning.
c.Jesus told Pilate, “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37).
IV.LESSONS LEARNED
A.We may not bow down or fall on our faces in worship to God (perhaps we should), but we must revere Him just the same.What we lack in physical posture we must make up in spiritual attitude.
B.We must not limit our thinking on worship to the assemblies of the church only.The various meanings of worship indicate that some degree of worship should be present wherever the worshipful person goes.
C.Not everything that we do is worship, but our worship is affected by everything that we do.God will reject our overt acts of worship if we behave irreverently in other areas of our lives.
D.Not everything that we do is worship, but a worshipful (pious, devout) attitude must attend everything that we do.
E.Acts of worship performed correctly in form are worthless if they are not correct in reverence.
1.For example, a hymn sang without mechanical instruments is of no value unless it is accompanied by the strings of the heart (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16).
2.Let us worship so that God will never disdain our worship as He did the worship of Judah (see Isa. 1:10-14).
F.We are true worshipers of God only if we humble ourselves before God in devoted acts of worship, we have an attitude of piety in all that we do, and we serve God in reverence at all times.
