Praise, Worship, and Other Things – Part 7

Praise, Worship, and Other Things – Part 7

The last article dealt with New Testament worship. Specifically, what Jesus meant when He said, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24 (ESV) Worship is a spiritual activity. It is our spirit communing with the Holy Spirit. It is the place where we fellowship with our Creator God. The most common form of this is prayer.

But what does “worship in truth” really mean? I think it is much more simple than we try to make it. The only absolute truth we have is the Bible, the Word of God. As long as we sing songs filled with the Word, or based solely on scripture, we are singing “truth.”

There is a verse closely related to this found in a very unlikely place when thinking of worship: The Ten Commandments. “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” Exodus 20:7 (ESV) Usually this is explained to mean, “No cussing!” Even though that is good counsel, that is not the meaning of this verse. If you study this out in the original language you find it means: Do not speak wrongly about God!

My wife is a counselor. She sees many people that will say things they have learned about God that are not accurate. She usually does not try to correct doctrine, but she will always correct wrong beliefs about the character and nature of God. It is important what we say about Him. Our speech should accurately reflect the truth about who God is. Our worship should come from a place of understanding God as revealed in scripture.

This is what Jesus was attempting to do with the woman at the well in John 4. She was attempting to impress Jesus with her spiritual understanding. He told her in vs. 22, “You worship what you do not know.” We need to know the One whom we worship. We need to learn of the character and nature of God so we will not engage in “vain” worship. Truth keeps our worship from being irrelevant and irreverent.

Worship in spirit. Worship in truth. Besides these two I do not know of any other constraints on New Testament worship. What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear from you. E-mail me at ibworshipin@gmail.com. Call or text to 256.366.4201.

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Let’s worship together.

Blessings!

Dudley