In Spirit And In Truth: The Nature of True Worship
By Bro David Petersen
What is worship? Does God accept any type of worship? We turn to the Bible for answers to these questions.
John 4:21-24
21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Nor Yet At Jerusalem
Where does worship start? Does it start when we walk in the church house door? Does it start when the song leader says “Please open your hymnal”? Worship is not about being in a certain physical place. The Lord's response shows that where we worship is not the issue. Worship can be done anywhere and everywhere.
In Spirit
The emphasis in not upon the place in which we worship but instead on where our minds are with respect to the Lord. True worship is done with the spirit, the heart and mind, not just via external forms. In John 4 he is emphasizing worship that is done in spirit as opposed to outward rites and ceremonies. We are to offer up spiritual sacrifices (1 Pet 2:5). Spiritual worship is where the heart is offered to God and where we do not depend only on external formality for acceptance. It is done with a sincere mind, praying without ceasing, rejoicing always, in everything giving thanks.
In Truth
True worship in the New Testament age will not occur through the shadows and types and not by means of ceremonial sacrifices and bloody offerings, but in the manner typified by these things. And it is done in accordance with the truth of God's word revealed in the scriptures.
God Is A Spirit
He must be worshipped in spirit and in truth. He seeks a spiritual form of worship; the offering of the soul rather then the formal offering of the body in ritualistic ceremonies. It is a spiritual service rather than a lip service. True spiritual worship expresses inner love and devotion. It is not a physical act or material offering, but an attitude of mind. This attitude can be expressed by physical acts such as going to church services, but the true worship begins with the heart. God wants the real deal from us.
A Living Sacrifice
"By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Heb 9:12. Christ fulfilled the types that were portrayed in the Jewish temple worship. He entered into the real holy place in heaven by his own blood. And so the old sacrificial forms of worship which pictured the coming sacrifice of Christ have passed away. Now we don't have to bring a lamb to sacrifice when we engage in external-public worship. Instead, we are to "present our bodies a living sacrifice" which is our spiritual service "in spirit and in truth".
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12:1).
Paul uses the oxymoron "living sacrifice" to describe what acceptable worship is. A sacrifice that is offered is usually supposed to be dead. But we are to present our bodies a "living sacrifice". We are to take up our crosses daily. Our old man is crucified with Christ. I die daily. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. We are dead to sin but alive unto God. "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Colossians 3:3.
The Greek word here for 'service' is 'latreian' which is another word for worship. The idea is an act or spiritual service of worship. It means to yield the members of our bodies as instruments of righteousness (Rom 6:13).
This service is described as "reasonable". The word reasonable comes from the Greek word "logikos". We get our word "logical" from it. It implies the use of reason or logic. If your mind is working properly, you will understand that it is "reasonable" to serve God. It makes sense.
Logikos gets its root from the same Greek word that is often translate "the word" in the New Testament. The root is "logos". Only that service which is according to his written word is acceptable to God. It must be spiritual worship done "in spirit and in truth".
Figure A below shows 3 types of worship
- External-Private: an example of this would be when you read your Bible alone in your bedroom.
- Internal-Private: you wake up in the morning and sense gratitude to God in your heart for another day, but no audible words come out of your mouth.
- External-Public: you go to church services or pray over a meal in a busy restaurant or visit a sick person in the hospital.
There is no internal-public worship by definition. In order to be public worship needs to be observable by others. Internal worship has no observable characteristics by definition.
How much of your life should be spent in worship? Think "living sacrifice". Below are some diagrams that illustrate the concept.
 |
Your life is represented by the area of the circle in figure 1. |
 |
If you are a Christian, some portion of your life is spent in worship. The smaller grey shaded circle represents the portion of your total life that is occupied with worship. In other words figure 2 depicts worship as a subset of your total life. |
Some Christians consider worship to be the time that they actually spend in formal worship services with their church. But worship that is "in spirit and in truth" goes beyond the external-public form.
Let's say for a minute that worship is in fact just a subset of your total life as shown in figure 2. Then what does the remainder of your life represent? This remainder is represented by the yellow (light shading) area of the circle in figure 3 below.
 |
If worship is defined as your total spiritual service to God, both internal and external, public and private; then the yellow shaded area of the circle in figure 3 represents that part of your life that you reserve for yourself. It is the part of your life that is self-serving, not God serving. It is what is NOT done for the glory of God. You are in charge of the yellow zone instead of God. In the yellow zone you replace God with yourself. What is a good name for this self-centered area of your life?
|
“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” 1 Samuel 15:23.
When you put yourself in charge instead of God; you are replacing God with yourself. This amounts to self-worship. It is a form of idolatry.
From Fausset's Bible Dictionary, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1998 by Biblesoft:
Self idolatry, self will, and self sufficiency must be subdued, if God is to be our God. 1 Sam 15:23 implies that "conscious disobedience is idolatry, because it makes self will, the human I, into a god" (Keil).
The word 'stubborness' in 1 Sam 15:23 is a Hebrew word that could also be translated 'arrogance', 'insolence' or 'insubordination.' Those who are directed by their own rebellious natures, in opposition to the command of God, do, in effect, consult the teraphim (as the word here is for idolatry) or the diviners.
 |
I refer to this area of your life outside of worship as idolatry. Idolatry is anything that comes between you and God. The portion of your life that you reserve for your own self-will constitutes idolatry. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." Matt 16:25. |
Some people want to define "idolatry" very narrowly. They restict it to bowing down to literal idols such as graven images. That is very convenient for them. But why have I defined "idolatry" so broadly? This conceptual notion of idolatry is straight from the New Testament and is even supported by the Old Testament. We will examine some of the scriptures that support this position shortly. First though, what follows below are definitions of idolatry from several authoritative sources.
Idolatry In The New Testament
1. IDOLATRY
(From The New Unger's Bible Dictionary. Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. Copyright (c) 1988.)
In a general sense idolatry is the paying of divine honor to any created thing; the ascription of divine power to natural agencies. Idolatry may be classified as follows: (1) the worship of inanimate objects, such as stones, trees, rivers, etc.; (2) of animals; (3) of the higher powers of nature, such as the sun, moon, stars; and the forces of nature, as air, fire, etc.; (4) hero-worship or of deceased ancestors; (5) idealism, or the worship of abstractions or mental qualities, such as justice.
Figurative. The term idolatry is used to designate covetousness, which takes mammon for its god (Eph 5:5; Col 3:5; cf. Matt 6:24; Luke 16:13). Appetite or gluttony is also included under idolatry (Phil 3:19; cf. Rom 16:18; 2 Tim 3:4).
Jesus gave a name to the god of covetousness: he called it "Mammon". "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:24.
2. IDOLATRY
(from Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright (c)1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)
In the New Testament period the term idolatry began to be used as an intellectual concept. Idolatry became not the actual bowing down before a statue but the replacement of God in the mind of the worshiper. Col 3:5 points in this direction: "Put to death...covetousness, which is idolatry." (See also Eph 5:5.) At this point the modern believer must understand the vicious nature of idolatry. While we may not make or bow down to a statue, we must be constantly on guard that we let nothing come between us and God. As soon as anything does, that thing is an idol.
In addition to material objects such as houses, land, and cars, idols can be people, popular heroes, or those whom we love. Objects of worship can even include things like fame, reputation, hobbies, pride, and deeds done in the name of the Lord. Idolatry is a dangerous and deceitful sin. No wonder prophets preached against it so often and so strongly.
3. IDOLATRY
(from International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1996 by Biblesoft)
(i-dol'-a-tri) (teraphim, "household idols," "idolatry"; eidololatreia): There is ever in the human mind a craving for visible forms to express religious conceptions, and this tendency does not disappear with the acceptance, or even with the constant recognition, of pure spiritual truths (see IMAGES). Idolatry originally meant the worship of idols, or the worship of false gods by means of idols, but came to mean among the Old Testament Hebrews any worship of false gods, whether by images or otherwise, and finally the worship of Yahweh through visible symbols (Hos 8:5-6; 10:5); and ultimately in the New Testament idolatry came to mean, not only the giving to any creature or human creation the honor or devotion which belonged to God alone, but the giving to any human desire a precedence over God's will (1 Cor 10:14; Gal 5:20; Col 3:5; 1 Peter 4:3).
An idol is anything that you prioritize above God in your life.
Colossians 3:5
5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication<sexual immorality>, uncleanness<impurity>, inordinate affection <passion, lust>, evil concupiscence <evil desires>, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
In Col 3:5, Paul equates covetousness with idolatry. Some people have a higher priority for making money and getting the things of this world than they do for God. I didn't make this up. According to Paul, all such coveting is idolatry.
Here are Matthew Henry's thoughts on Colossians 3, verse 5:
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
II. The love of the world: And covetousness, which is idolatry; that is, an inordinate love of present good and outward enjoyments, which proceeds from too high a value in the mind, puts upon too eager a pursuit, hinders the proper use and enjoyment of them, and creates anxious fear and immoderate sorrow for the loss of them. Observe, Covetousness is spiritual idolatry: it is the giving of that love and regard to worldly wealth which are due to God only, and carries a greater degree of malignity in it, and is more highly provoking to God, than is commonly thought.
Next is the Wycliffe Bible commentary on Colossians 3:5.
(from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1962 by Moody Press)
Thus included (as much as fornication) is the sin of covetousness: acquisitive desire or self-seeking. Perhaps most needed in modern materialistic American Christendom is a vow to own nothing and a prayer to be delivered from things and from ambition. (The thought is A. W. Tozer's.) To call covetousness idolatry is not too strong if we realize that, when we (strongly desire to) own a thing, it actually owns a part of us.
Why Covetousness Is Idolatry
The Greek word translated covetousness in Col 3:5 is 'pleonexia'. Pleonexia is "the insatiable desire to have what rightfully belongs to others." It implies ruthless self-seeking and an arrogant attitude that others and things exist for one's own benefit.
Covetousness is idolatry because it puts self-interest and things in the place of God. A man sets up an idol because he desires to get some pleasure or satisfaction from it. So he serves to get, which is idolatry. The essence of idolatry, then, is to get for the self. Christians, though, must wholly give themselves to God, presenting themselves as living sacrifices, taking up their crosses and losing their lives that they might save them.
Col. 3:5 says we are to "mortify therefore [our] members which are on the earth". The word mortify means "to kill." The Christian must crucify the sinful nature. He must radically transform his life, shifting the focus from himself to God. Everything that keeps us from fully obeying God and surrendering to Jesus Christ must be spiritually excised.
Ephesians 5:5
"For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."
(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database. Copyright (c) 1997 by Biblesoft)
[Nor covetous man, who is an idolater] That is, he bestows on money the affections due to God. To worship money is as real idolatry as to worship a block of stone. If this be so, what an idolatrous world is this! How many idolatrous are there in professedly Christian lands! How many, it is to be feared, in the church itself! And since every covetous man is certainly to be excluded from the kingdom of God, how anxious should we be to examine our hearts, and to know whether this sin may not lie at our door!
Philippians 3:19
19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
Wordly pleasures can also become a god. This verse is referring to self-indulgence, not just gluttony. The desire to consume, the appetite for gratification of the physical senses can become a god to people who are driven by it. People can become the servants of their sensual appetites (Rom 16:18). They live for pleasure: it is their god. Gluttons and drunkards make a god of their belly, and all their desire is to please their god and to give their god what it demands.
2 Timothy 3:4-5
4 Traitors<treatcherous>, heady<rash, reckless>, highminded<conceited>, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
It is a violation of the first commandment to love pleasure more than God, because "thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength" Mark 12:30.
God In Tow
Brother Begley used to tell a story that explained this verse very well. "This morning as I was driving to church I saw another fellow in the car next to me who was also going to worship. And he was dragging his god behind him." He was referring to a man towing a boat to the lake on Sunday morning. Is all boating or fishing or any form of recreation idolatry by definition? No, but it can be idolatry for you if you love that pleasure more than you love God. Let's say that I am a Christian and a member of a local church. I rise from my own bed on Sunday morning and decide to go boating instead of going to church. In that case am I loving the Lord my God with all my heart and all my soul and all my mind and all my strength; or am I loving pleasure more than God? The answer to that question is between you and the Lord.
Let's say it's Saturday and I'm going fishing with my kids or some friends. So I'm not skipping out on any spiritual duties. Can I worship God while I'm fishing? Most certainly! I can show Jesus to them in my attitude and my behavior. I can glorify God in the things that I say and do by displaying a Christ-like attitude. I can even talk about the things of God. Did you know that Jesus liked to char-grill fish on the seashore? Jesus walked on the water and he calmed the stormy sea.