Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus
In the previous chapter, Worship God - 3, we learnt that the key new truth in worship is that worship happens through Jesus. He is the temple where we meet God. And since He Himself is God, our true worship will be a worship of Jesus too. Moving forward, let us now understand the saying "Worship in Spirit"
WORSHIP IN SPIRIT
"The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit" (John 4:23). Some interpreters take this to refer to God's Holy Spirit. We can also take it to refer to our spirit. But probably Jesus thought of both these interpretations when He said so. In John 3:6 Jesus connects God's Spirit and our spirit in a remarkable way. He says, "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit". In other words, until the Holy Spirit quickens our spirit with the birth of new life, our spirit is so dead and unresponsive, it does not even qualify as spirit. Only that which is born of the Spirit is (a living) spirit. SO when Jesus says that true worshipers worship the Father "in spirit," He means that true worship comes only from spirits made alive and sensitive by the quickening of the Spirit of God.
This "spirit" is essential in worship. Otherwise worship is dead.Or to Jesus' phrase, it is "in vain". "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me" (Matt. 15:8-9). A heart (and spirit) alive and engaged with God is essential. Jesus is contrasting authentic worship in spirit and truth with external worship that focuses on Samaria and Jerusalem. What makes it authentic is not only that worshiping mind grasps the truth of Jesus, but also that the worshiping spirit experiences awakening and is moved by the truth that the mind knows. A person who has no affections for God awakened by the truth of Jesus is not worshiping "in spirit and truth". And a person with great affections built on false views of God is not worshiping "in spirit and truth". Jesus demands both: worship in spirit and in truth.
ALL OF LIFE IS WORSHIP
One implication of this vision of worship is that it applies to all of life as well as to services of corporate worship. The essence of worship lies in our mind's true vision of God and our spirit's authentic affections for God. This means that whenever we display the worth of God by words or actions that flow from a spirit that treasures Him as He really is, we are worshiping in spirit and in truth. We may be at work or at home or at church. It doesn't matter. What matters is that we see the glory of God in Jesus (truth), and we treasure Him above all else (spirit), and then we overflow by treating others with self-sacrificing love for their good. Few things display the beauty of God more. For followers of Jesus, therefore, all of life should be this kind of worship.
This is powerfully illustrated by the connection Jesus makes between worshiping God and serving God. When Satan tempted Jesus to worship him, Jesus responded, "Be gone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve'" (Matt. 4:10). Serving was often attached to worshiping as an outward expression of religious ministry in the temple. But now the temple is Jesus. How is the 'service" of worship transformed?
YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MONEY
We get a surprising glimpse of what service to God means for Jesus in Matthew 6:24. He said, "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." The surprising thing here is that serving God is compared to serving money. But how do you serve money? Not by helping money or meeting money's needs. You serve money by treasuring it so much that you shape your whole life to benefit from what money can do for you.
So it is with God in the way Jesus sees the service of worship. We do not help God or meet God's needs ("The Son of Man came not to be served," Mark 10:45). Rather we serve God by treasuring Him so much that we shape our whole life so as to benefit from what He can do for us. And, unlike money, what God can do for us above all other treasures is be for us everything we have ever longed for.
THE INFINITE WORTH OF GOD IN JESUS
Therefore, all of life is service to God. That is, all of life is shaped by our passion to maximize our experience of the supreme worth of God in Jesus. So we end where we began. All the world worships something. From the most religious to the most secular, all people value something high enough to build their lives around it-even if unconsciously. Jesus demands that every person in the world build his life around the infinite worth of God in Jesus. Consider what you are worshiping. Then ask Jesus to open your eyes to the truth of God's supreme worth and to awaken your spirit to treasure Him above all.
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With this I come to the close of the one of Jesus' demands. Hope you all enjoyed reading it. The next demand of Jesus that I intend to bring before you all is the demand to Pray. I would most probably be writing that for the MGOCSM Diaspora newsletter "Alethia". Please uphold this intention in your prayers. Also pray for me a sinful servant of Jesus
Your Brother and Follower of Jesus
Jobin George
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