Mensa Otabil - True Worship
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John chapter 4, verses 23 and 24. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers 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’s been seeking 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. God is not tradition. God is spirit. He is not just a man like any other person. So He says, because God is spirit, the way to worship God is in spirit. Jesus says to the woman, the true worshipers that God is looking for are not people who go on a mountain to worship Him or who limit Him to a shrine or to a grove or some other practice or tradition. God is not just looking for religious observation. He’s looking for relationship because His spirit, those who worship Him, must worship Him in spirit. A spirit must be worshiped spiritually.
So God is looking for those who worship Him in spirit. That means our worship for God starts from our hearts. It’s a spiritual devotion. It’s a heart connection. It’s connecting to God and His nature and who He is and 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 that there has to be no corruption in our worship with 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. There is a change of heart, a change of mind, a change of preferences because the spiritual must also be in truth. And that’s how Jesus encounters this woman with the word of God. The living water that God is talking about is the worshiping 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. And 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' name. Amen. And amen.