ICS Daily Devotions
Worship in Spirit and in Truth
John 4:23-24 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 in spirit and truth.”
When God first created man, His primary purpose was so that man would worship Him, but God wanted man to worship Him with all his heart—not out of duty or necessity, but out of choice. Many people have asked why God placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. It is because man had to make a choice no matter what the consequences might be.
Why did Jesus say in this Scripture that once again, God is seeking people who will worship Him as it was in the beginning before man fell? Because the once-broken relationship between God and man has now been restored through Jesus Christ, and we can commune with God directly since Jesus has removed the sin barrier. Therefore, to “worship Him in spirit” simply means that we talk directly to the Spirit of God out of our spirit. What an immense privilege this is! No longer do we have to kill animals or go through a high priest because Jesus has become our High Priest and our mediator, and He has become the ultimate sacrifice so no more sacrifices on our part is necessary.
However, to “worship Him in truth” means there is more to this communication with Him. John 8:32 says “the truth shall make you free”, but the original Greek actually reads “the truth you know shall make you free”. Therefore, how we worship in truth depends on how much truth we know or have revelation of. As new Christians, we usually know very little so perhaps the best we can do is praise God for giving us our salvation. As we become more mature, we can praise God all the more with the revelation that we have received. In other words, our revelation of the truth is progressive and so is our growth in worship.
As a true worshipper, we worship God in spirit and in truth. We adore Him for who He is, and we do it by communing directly with Him using the revelation of God that we have as our guide and purpose for doing so, and that is whom God seeks.
Sermon Series: Attitude of Worship
