Based on John 4:19-30 (New King James Version)
“The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 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 in spirit and truth.’ The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When He comes, He will tell us all things.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who speak to you am He.’ And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, ‘What do You seek?’ or, ‘Why are You talking with her?’ The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, ‘Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?’ Then they went out of the city and came to Him.”
We will only see a part of this passage, because there is a lot here. What does this mean, “when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him?” The answer is, “a lot, and many will not understand it.” The issue is that this directly refers to what the Lord explained to Nicodemus, that it is necessary to be born again, to be born of the Spirit. We cannot come to God through our own terms, or through our means. There is nothing that we can really offer to God that may have any kind of value, at least, something that comes from us.
The first thing that makes it difficult to deal with this issue is our pride, or our lack of understanding our position. In all reality, we are nothing. We really don’t have any value. Like the Psalmist said: What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? Psalm 8:4. So then, if we are nothing, what can we offer to God? What kind of worship would be able to come before His presence that would be pleasing if our being has no value? The Word also says this: “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Isaiah 64:6. So, what needs to happen so all of this can change?
Before getting to that point, we need to understand something else. We are not the ones that look for Him. He is the one who initiates contact, for starters. He is the one that constantly calls. We were (or maybe some still are) so lost and blind that we had no idea of our need, of our condition, of who God was, and of who we were (or some may still be). Just like we saw in the story of the Samaritan women, it was not her that went looking for the Lord. She had no idea who He was until He started revealing Himself to her. He was the one that drew close to her. He was the one that started the conversation. He was the one that started bringing to the light what was deep inside of her. He was the one that started revealing certain truths. The effort was all from the Lord. The Word teaches us this: In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:9-10. So then, when was it that He started showing Himself to us? Since the first moment we started to experience the creation of this world. For it is written: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” Romans 1:18-20. We were (or some may still be) so insensitive, that we did not realize that God was trying to speak to us a long time ago, since a very early age. Our five senses are the transmitters of God’s works and His presence. Through our eyes can we contemplate the works of God. Through our hearing we listen to what God has made. We smell the work of God. We taste the work of God. And of course, we feel the different things God has made. And all of these things were made through the power of His Word. Despite all of that, many are still and may continue completely insensitive to God because the fulness of their sin and death is reigning in their lives, being guided by the desires of darkness and evil. This is hard, but it’s the truth. The only way many of us will come to listen to God is when our pride is broken, when we start to realize that we need something greater than ourselves.
Now, how can all of this start to change (and here comes the good news)? By being born again in the Spirit. A person needs to start over through God, through the power of the Lord Jesus. And as a start, there needs to be total and complete repentance and conversion from all sin. They have to turn away from everything that has been the root of their blindness and insensitivity. And they need to make Jesus the owner and Lord of their lives, surrendering the most intimate part of their being: their heart. There is the beginning.
And now then, here is where we get to the explanation of the worship that reaches God. By being born again in the Spirit, we take in the Being of God into our hearts. And by doing that is that the works that coincide with what the Bible teaches now count, because we are giving God something that flows from Himself. The only thing that changes in the condition of a human being that has God is that they turn into a fountain for the Living God, something that flows from deep within their being. And there is where the worship to the Lord becomes living and a fragrant odor. And it is not necessarily about songs, but rather, of service and of actions based and guided by the Spirit of God within our being. This is what truly is the will of God. It is not necessarily what we do (or about the type of work it is within itself), for it is written: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Matthew 7:21-23. What matters is “why” we do what we do, the intention of the heart through the Holy Spirit of God.
So then, have you experienced God through His Spirit in your life? Lord bless! John