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Mensa Otabil - Truthful Worship


TOPICS: Word to Go, Worship

We’re still at John chapter 4. We’re looking at Jesus’s conversation with a Samaritan woman by Jacob’s well. The conversation has been proceeding so well; now we’re getting to the heart of it. It starts with Jesus talking about water, and then it becomes a bit personal when Jesus speaks about the woman’s life. Then it turns a bit religious when the woman tries to change the situation or the conversation into a religious argument. Jesus says it’s no longer about Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim; it’s not about religion.

So what is it about? That’s what we’re reading today in John chapter 4, verses 23 and 24: «But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.» This is the heart of the message Jesus is giving to this woman. This is what He has been trying to communicate all along about what God is looking for and how we approach God.

So He starts by saying God is spirit. God is not a man; God is not even logic. God is spirit. We encounter Him spiritually. God is spirit. He is not tradition; He is spirit. He’s not just a man like any other person. So He says, because God is spirit, the way to worship God is in spirit. Jesus tells the woman that the true worshippers God is looking for are not those who go to a mountain to worship Him or who limit Him to a shrine or a grove or some other practice or tradition. God is not just looking for religious observation; He is looking for relationship because His spirit, those who worship Him, must worship Him in spirit. A spirit must be worshipped spiritually.

So God is looking for those who worship Him in spirit. That means our worship of God starts from our hearts. It’s a spiritual devotion; it’s a heart connection. It’s connecting to God and His nature, receiving His life into you, and living for Him, and all of that starts from the spirit. Then He says God is spirit; we must worship Him in spirit, but not only in spirit, but also in truth. That means there has to be no corruption in our worship of God. It doesn’t have to be a sham; it doesn’t have to be a deception. It doesn’t have to be just religious routines; it has to be truth. The word truth means reality. Worship of God is reality. When we encounter Him, we encounter reality. Our lives change; there is transformation, a change of heart, a change of mind, a change of preferences because the spiritual must also be in truth.

That’s how Jesus encounters this woman with the Word of God. The living water that God is talking about is the worshipping spirit. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, brings us into a vital relationship with the Father- not just another religious observation, but a relationship with God that starts from the heart and works out into all areas of our lives. That is how Jesus presented the gospel to the Samaritan woman, and I pray that you would encounter the reality of who God is in spirit and in truth. Let us pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, open my heart to Your spirit. Help me to worship You in spirit and in truth. In Jesus’s name, amen and amen.