Authentic Worship

Six young adults from 3 different countries, a middle-aged American woman and a young missionary sprawled across couches, chairs and beds in a dimly lit hotel room. The furnishings were old, the floor covered with ratty carpet and the windows scantily dressed with cheaply made drapes. There was no TV, no internet and hardly any heat. But how our hearts were warmed as we gathered and spoke earnest words to God and quietly sang to Him our simple songs of worship. There was nothing about the surroundings or atmosphere that would commend this spot to be a place of worship. There was no worship band or even any accompanying instruments, and yet each of us could testify that we were engaged in deeply authentic worship of God.

1992 seems like a lifetime ago now, and that little mission team traveling through northwest China together has long since dispersed. But my heart is still stirred when I think of those worship times and my soul is instructed again about the elements of that rarest of Christian experiences — authentic corporate worship.

Jesus sought to instruct a pagan woman about authentic worship one day as they conversed by the well. Sensing that Jesus was a deeply religious man, the woman asked about the mechanics of worship. "Which mountain should we worship on?", she inquired. Instead of getting sidetracked discussing externals, Jesus answered the deeper question that burns in every earnest seeker's soul, "How shall I worship God?" His simple answer is one that needs to be pondered far and wide in this day of fuzzy thinking about worship, "God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:24)

Jesus' profound instruction on worship said nothing about music style, and nothing about atmosphere. He didn't say whether we should raise our hands or clap them and he gave no particular pointers for the "worship leader". He spoke only of the elements of worship that matter most to God —"in spirit and in truth." But what does it mean to worship God in spirit and in truth?

In Spirit
At His essence, God is Spirit. But at our core, so are we. So Jesus' first instruction is that God desires only worship that comes from the deepest part of us. The all-seeing eye of God will not receive worship that is half hearted (even if it looks sincere to others). And neither will he receive worship from those who come with hidden and unconfessed sin. It is a broken spirit and a contrite heart that He will not despise. (Psalm 51:17) Anything less is to mock God by worshipping Him on our own terms, instead of His.

Worship in spirit also means that we must be careful that we are worshipping God and not inadvertently worshipping ourselves. Many Christians seek out a certain style of music or insist on a flow of increasingly uplifting worship songs so that they can have a certain worship experience. Such experiences are real, and they are very soulish, but they are not necessarily spiritual. Many times, we are fooled into thinking that we are worshipping God in spirit, when the truth is that we are worshipping Him only with our soul —especially our emotions. Because there is something very enjoyable about being swept along by stirring music, such experiences (mistaken for worship) can be highly sought after. If you doubt this, just ask the crowds of unbelievers who paid $50 a seat to attend the secular music concert the night before. But if our focus on the "experience" of worship overrides a sincere focus on the Object of worship, then we are really worshipping ourselves and not God. Scriptures rightly warn us of a time when men will be "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God". (1 Timothy 3:4)

In Truth
At it's most simple and basic, worshipping God in truth means that:

1. We are truly approaching Him.
If there is one thing that we learn from a study of the life of Christ, it is that God hates pretending. Notorious sinners Jesus could tolerate, but pretenders brought out in Him a righteous fury. How easy it is to sing that we love God, but betray our cold hearts by ungodly actions and attitudes a few hours later. Jesus did not say that if we love him we will sing that we do, but that if we love Him we will keep his commandments. In one of his most stinging rebukes of the pretenders of his day, Jesus told them that they drew near unto God with their mouths, but their hearts were far from Him. He followed these comments with the following analysis, "But in vain do they worship Me..."(Matthew 1:9) Worship in which our lips don't match our hearts is not received by God. It might be an enjoyable diversion for a time, but it's not worship.

2. We are moved to worship by consideration of His revealed Truth.
We are not to worship God as a mystical response to some outward things like candles, statues or incense, but with our minds fully engaged and our hearts aroused by the Truths of His Word. Paul says, "I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing with the understanding also" (1 Corinthians 14:15) Polished music and the carefully crafted atmosphere of a worship service can make it feel like we are getting close to God in the midst of a worship set, but if we are not responding to a Biblical truth, we are not worshipping in Truth. Here's a test: If I'm responding primarily to the message of a song, then the words will have a similar impact on me regardless of whether I am reading them or singing them.

3. We are focused on the True God of Scripture
God does not want us to sing things to Him just because they make a nice word picture or sound nice or rhyme, but because they are true. It is the responsibility of every Christian to analyze whether the lyrics of our worship songs are Biblically accurate and doctrinally sound. .The measure must be: Do the lines of this song line up with what God has revealed about Himself and what it means to follow Him which are recorded in the Bible? Anything less, and we are elevating a man-made image of God, and not the True and Living God.

That little missionary team which was traveling across China together 16 years ago had something in common. We were each seriously considering a lifetime of ministry on behalf of the lost millions of China. As we rubbed shoulders with these people day by day we were all counting the cost of what a life poured out to save them would mean and we were seeking to place our fleshly desires and worldly dreams on the altar. Our worship times in those grungy hostel rooms were a far cry from the fully orchestrated "worship experiences" that many seem to be looking for today. But they were real encounters with the real God of Scripture, Whom we each loved enough to offer our lives to. There was a sweetness and a joy in it. In spite of our weaknesses and imperfections, we were somehow able to worship God in spirit and in truth.

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship Him. John 4:23