Elder Chew Chong Kiat

Worship in spirit and in truth

Introduction
The phrase ‘worship in spirit and in truth’ has often been used in the church but what does it really mean?

This phrase was used by the Lord Jesus Himself when He spoke to the Samaritan woman who did not have a right knowledge of God and His worship (John 4:22).

The woman believed in the traditions of her fathers who taught that it was in Mount Gerizim in Samaria that they ought to worship and not in Jerusalem. This was due to a feud between the Samaritans and the Jews (since the days of Nehemiah) after the former’s offer to help build the temple at Jerusalem was rejected. The Samaritans then built a new place of worship on Mount Gerizim and worshipped God according to their own ways ever since.

Christ had to explain to her that the Samaritans were wrong, for salvation first came to the Jews and to them were committed the oracles of God, and the way to worship was regulated by God’s revelations alone (John 4:22). The Samaritans had no right to change the place and the manner of worship and hope to be accepted by God. But Christ revealed to her that soon after, the place of worship would no longer be restricted to Jerusalem because the gospel would be proclaimed beyond Jerusalem to all the world, and many would be saved, and God would be worshipped throughout the world as believers to call upon His name. (4:23)

What worshipping "in spirit" means

What does "in spirit" mean in John 4:24? Does it mean that you need to be filled with the Spirit of God? Christians certainly should pray for filling of the Spirit of God (Eph 5:18), and we need the help of the Spirit to pray according to the will of God (Rom 8:26-27), and to serve God acceptably (Rom 8:5-8). But I do not think this is the emphasis in John 4:24.

To help us better understand this phrase "in spirit", let us consider Philippians 3:3: "For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." Paul described the believers at Philippi, who were Gentile believers, as ‘the circumcision’. He did not mean that they were physically circumcised like the Jews. He referred to their spiritual circumcision which signified their spiritual cleansing; "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ". (Col 2:11)

Paul elaborated in Philippians 3:3 that one who is in the spirit is one who rejoices in Christ and who has no confidence in the flesh. His confidence is in Christ and His finished salvific work. Christians are called not to work, but to have faith in Christ’s work to be accepted by God. Although we work for Christ, we must not rest in our work when approaching God in worship. Paul once trusted in his pedigree, learning, training, zeal and manner of life as a Pharisee (Phil 3:4-6), but after his conversion he said, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith". (Phil 3:7-9)

Worshipping God in spirit means, negatively, to not trust in the flesh when we come before God. Strip ourselves of all that we may have confidence in that is due to us or anyone else other than Christ. We are to "have no confidence in the flesh"(Phil 3:3). Just as Paul, who had much to boast of in the past and more so after becoming an Apostle and was mightily used of God, had no confidence in the flesh.

Positively, therefore, to worship in the spirit means that our confidence is in Christ and Christ alone. "For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." (Phil 3:3). We stand in the righteousness of Christ and not the righteousness obtained by our keeping of the law. (Phil 3:9) Believers who are justified are always righteous in the sight of God because they are clothed in the white garment of Christ’s righteousness. We now worship God acceptably only because of the mediation of Christ and His righteousness. Christ intercedes on our behalf and always prevails because He has finished His redemptive work upon the cross for sins, thereby reconciling us to God.

Do we rest in Christ alone as our confidence? Let us not be like the Pharisee who stood to pray confidently before God, "I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." (Lu 18:11-12) He was crediting himself and had much confidence in the flesh. Let us be like the publican instead who "standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." The Lord Jesus said of the publican, "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (Lu 18:13-14). The help of the Holy Spirit in the believer's worship is also taught in Philippians 3:3. The Holy Spirit dwells in all believers and enables us to worship God with His help!

However, in John 4:23, there is no definite article for the word "spirit." It only says "in spirit" as opposed to "in the spirit." Therefore, the phrase "in spirit" refers to "spiritual worship." Albert Barnes explains it this way: "The word spirit, here, stands opposed to rites and ceremonies, and to the pomp of external worship. It refers to the mind, the soul, the heart. They shall worship God with a sincere mind; with the simple offering of gratitude and prayer; with a desire to glorify him, and without external pomp and splendour. Spiritual worship is that where the heart is offered to God, and where we do not depend on external forms for acceptance." (Barnes Commentary on John 4:23) In other words, true biblical worship is the worship of God that is spiritual whereby the sincerity of the heart of the worshipper is paramount. Only a believer who is born again in Christ and has the Holy Spirit in him is able to worship God in spirit. All the OT saints who were born again in Christ also worshipped God in spirit. They also had the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The worship of anyone who is not born again in Christ is only in the flesh, i.e. externally, with all the pomp and show as seen in many Charismatic and Roman Catholic worshippers.

The B-Ps are not excluded in this warning. If our worship is limited to only the external, then we will be in the same state of rejection as the Charismatics and Roman Catholics. We must not be like those whom the Lord condemned, who "draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me" (Matt 15:8). Is your heart in your worship? Are the hymns you sing words that you whole-heartedly agree with and are an expression of the emotions and feelings of your heart? Or is it just a nice tune you can skilfully sing which does not go beyond the ceiling? God sees the heart more than the outward. Are you such a worshipper whom, Christ says, "the Father seeketh ….to worship him"? (John 4:23) Yes, our Father in heaven who commands that we should love Him with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength wants us to worship Him with the whole heart and soul and ardency of the spirit. While we repudiate the Charismatics for playing up the emotions through the skills of musicians and song leaders, is our orthodox worship, on the other hand, dead, soul-less and without the heart? Our God delights in a soulful worship from the heart.

What worshipping "in truth" means

It is true that our worship must be regulated by the absolute truth of the Word of God. (Deut 12:32) This regulative principle is the touchstone of reformed worship.

But again, I think our Lord did not limit the meaning of it to God's Word only but also the subjective nature of truth in the believer's worship. Paul in Philippians 1:18 said, "What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." The opposite of 'in truth' is 'in pretence'. In other words, 'in truth' means to approach God without pretence.

Let us not fool ourselves in thinking that we can pull the wool over God’s eyes. We cannot hope that God does not know what we have done or failed to do when we come before Him to worship. The omniscient and omnipresent God knows us better than we know ourselves.

To worship God in truth means to come before God in sincerity, with hearts bared before Him and always according to Holy Scriptures. Put on the belt of truth as Paul exhorted. (Eph 6:14). Let us be truthful when we come before God in worship. The publican was very sincere. He bared his heart in contrition and was justified, for "the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." (Ps 51:17). Let us not regard iniquity in our hearts; let us confess and repent of them. (Ps 66:18) Before we come to worship, make right our relationship with anyone who has been offended by us and let us not harbour unforgiveness to any. (Matt 5:23-24) Say what we mean and mean what we say in our hearts. Let us acknowledge our sins and ask for forgiveness. Let us thank and praise God wholeheartedly and mean it.

Worshipping in "spirit and in truth" has always been the only way of acceptable worship before God. The difference between OT and NT worship is that in the OT, it was "in spirit and in truth and in location." That location was chosen by God to be Jerusalem from the time of King David onwards. After Christ's first coming and the rejection of Christ by the nation of Israel, the worship of God changed. In the NT, when the local church replaced the national witness of Israel, God lifted the limitation of locality. Now all true worshippers of God must worship Him in spirit and in truth only. May God grant a new spirit of worship to all worshippers at CPBPC to worship God in spirit and in truth. Amen.