Demands of Jesus - Worship GOD

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus

Wishing you all a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year. It's been 5 days into the New Year and as I go through the social networking sites all I find is many people expecting how their New Year to go compared to the blessings they received during the last year. For me, I would like to take you through the Demands of Jesus which He made during the 3 and half years of His ministry. From my perusal of The Bible and the book "What Jesus Demands from the World" by John Piper, I have found about 50 Demands of Jesus. But in the next few series, I will only be going through very few of the demands. Today, I will be going through the demand of "Worshiping God in Spirit & Truth"

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. -MATT. 6:24

Everyone in the world worships something. From the most religious to the most secular, all people value something high enough to build their lives around it. It may be God, or it may be money. But what makes it worship is the driving power of some cherished treasure that shapes our emotions and will and thought and behavior. Into this universal experience of worship Jesus demanded, "Worship (God) in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). In other words, bring your experience of worship into conformity with what is true about God, and let your spirit be authentically awakened and moved by that truth.

The Hour Is Coming and Is Now Here

Today, there are many Christian sects, claiming that their form of worship is the true worship. So we are often confused where do we go to worship. Is it this particular church famous for its miracles, or is it this other church where some famous saint has been buried, or is it this other church famous for its grandeur? When I think about these, I am reminded of the incident of Jesus with the Samaritan woman by the well near her hometown. During their conversation, she had challenged Him about the difference between places where Samaritans and Jews worship. She said, "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship" (John 4:20). Jesus responded by turning her attention away from geography to something astonishing that was happening in her very presence  He said, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father... The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" (John 4:21, 23). This is a radical statement - to say that the hour is now here when worship in Jerusalem would cease!

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. God is spirit, and those who worship Hm must worship in spirit and truth. - JOHN 4:23-24

Jesus made the breath taking claim to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things." Jesus responded, "I who speak to you am he" (John 4:25). So when Jesus says that the time "is now here" when we will no longer worship in Jerusalem, He meant that the kingdom of the Messiah has dawned and there was going to be a radical break in the way people worship.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

In the next session, I would be writing on the meaning of Worship in Spirit and Truth. I hope to do justice to the topic. Please do keep me, a sinner in your prayers so that the Lord Almighty would guide me to write more about Him to you.

May the peace of our Father, the love of Jesus and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Your brother in Jesus

Jobin