“God is Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” To worship “in spirit” stands contrasted from the fleshly rites and imposing ceremonies of Judaism. To worship “in truth” stands opposed to the superstitions and idolatrous delusions of the heathen. To worship God “in spirit and in truth” means in a manner suited to the full and final revelation which God has now made of Himself in Christ. It means to worship spiritually and truly. It means giving to Him the homage of an enlightened understanding and the love of a regenerated heart.

To worship “in spirit and in truth” stands opposed to a carnal worship which is external and spectacular.

It bars out all worshipping of God with the senses. We cannot worship Him who is “Spirit” by gazing on ornate architecture and stained glass windows, by listening to the peals of a costly organ, by smelling sweet incense or “telling” of beads. We cannot worship God with our eyes and ears, or nose and hands, for they are “flesh” not “spirit.” “Must worship in spirit and in truth” excludes everything that is of the natural man.

To worship “in spirit and in truth” bars out all soulical worship. The soul is the seat of the emotions, and very much of the so-called worship of present-day Christendom is only soulical. Touching anecdotes, stirring appeals, thrilling oratory of a religious character, are all calculated to produce this very thing.

Beautiful anthems by a well-trained choir, rendered in such a way as to move to tears or to ecstasies of joy may stir the soul, but will not and cannot affect the inner man.

True worship is the adoration of a redeemed people, occupied with God Himself. The unregenerate look upon “worship” as an obeisance which God exacts from them, and which gives them no joy as they seek to proffer it. Far different is it with those who have been born from above and redeemed with precious blood.

The first time the word “redeemed” occurs in Scripture is in Exodus 15, and it is there also, for the first time, we behold a people “singing,” worshipping, adoring God Himself. There, on the far shores of the Red Sea, that Nation which had been brought out from the house of bondage and delivered from all their enemies united in praising Jehovah.

“Worship” is the new nature in the believer stirred into activity, turning to its Divine and heavenly source. It is that which is “spirit” (John 3:6) turning to Him who is “Spirit”. It is that which is the “workmanship” of Christ (Eph 2:10) turning to Him who re-created us. It is the children spontaneously and gratefully turning in love to their Father. It is the new heart crying out, “Thanks be to unto God for His unspeakable Gift” (2 Cor 9:15). It is sinners, cleansed by blood, exclaiming “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ” (Eph 1:3). That is worship; assured of our acceptance in the Beloved, adoring God for what He has made Christ to be unto us, and what He has made us to be in Christ.

It is worthy of our closest attention to observe that the only time the Lord Jesus ever spoke on the subject of Worship was in John 4. Both Matthew 4:9 and Mark 7:6,7, were quotations from the Old Testament. It should indeed stir our hearts to discover that the sole occasion when Christ made any direct and personal observations on worship was when He was speaking, not to a religious man like Nicodemus, nor even to His apostles, but to a woman, an adulteress, a Samaritan—a semi-heathen! Truly God’s ways are different from ours.

To that poor woman our blessed Lord declared, “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” (John 4:23). And how did the Father “seek” worshippers? Does not the whole of the context supply the answer? At the beginning of the chapter the Son of God is seen taking a journey (vv 3,4). His object was to seek out one of His lost sheep, to reveal Himself to a soul that knew Him not, to wean her from the lusts of the flesh, and fill her heart with His satisfying grace; and this, in order that she might meet the longings of Divine love and give in return that praise and adoration which only a saved sinner can give.

Who can fail to see in the journey which He took to Sychar’s well in order to meet that desolate soul and win her to Himself, that we have a most blessed adumbration of that still greater journey which God’s Son took—leaving heaven’s peace and bliss and light, coming down to this world of strife and darkness and wretchedness. He came here seeking sinners, not only to save them from sin and death but to give them to drink in and enjoy the love of God as no angel can enjoy it; that from hearts overflowing with the consciousness of their indebtedness to the Saviour and His dear Son for them, they, realizing and accepting His superlative excellency, might pour forth unto Him the sweet incense of praise. That is worship , and the remembrance of God’s seeking love and Christ’s redeeming blood are the springs of it.

One of the most blessed and beautiful examples recorded in the New Testament of what worship is, is

found in John 12:2,3. “There they made Him a supper, and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.” As another has said, “She came not to hear a sermon, though the Prince of preachers was there. To sit at His feet and hear His word was not now her object, blessed as that was in its proper place. She came not to meet the saints though precious saints were there; but fellowship with them, though blessed, was not now her object. She came not, after a week’s toil, for refreshment; though none knew better the blessed springs of refreshment which are in Him. No, she came to pour out upon Him that which she had long treasured up, which was the most valuable of all her earthly possessions. She thought not of Simon the leper, sitting there a cleansed man; she passed by the apostles; so, too, Martha and Lazarus, her sister and brother in the flesh and in Christ. The Lord Jesus filled her thoughts: He had won her heart and now absorbed all her affections.

She had eyes for no one but Him. Adoration and homage were now her one thought to pour out her heart’s devotion before Him.” That is worship.

The subject of worship is most important, yet it is one upon which many have but the haziest ideas. We read in Matthew 2, that the “wise men” were laden with “treasures” to present to Christ (v 11). They brought to Him rich “gifts.” That is what worship is. It is not a coming to receive from Him, but to render unto Him.