Spirit and Truth
In John chapter 4 we read about Jesus’ counter-cultural encounter with the Samaritan woman.
Jesus challenged well-established norms of his day by choosing to travel through Samaria, an area despised by the Jews. He chose to break journey in Samaria so he and his disciples could find a meal and get some rest. He pushed boundaries further by asking a Samaritan for a drink of water – and a woman at that. He talked to the woman and engaged in an intentional and meaningful conversation with her. As they talked back and forth, the exchange led her towards understanding her own heart as well as who Jesus claimed he was. The revelation that led to her transformation.
At one point in their conversation, assuming Jesus to be a prophet, she says to him, “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem,” referencing the painful rift that had existed between the northern and southern kingdoms over many centuries. The two kingdoms had willfully rejected God and had formed alliances with ungodly superpowers that had then abused, scattered and eventually suppressed them. She was also referencing the importance most placed on external factors when it came to worship.
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
“…a time has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth… “
Jesus was pointing to the truth that as individuals made in God’s image, we all yearn to belong to Him and to worship Him. We reach out in ways we know best. We all yearn to connect with something bigger than us –our Source, a Higher Power, our Creator. We look for ways to understand where we come from, what our purpose is and how to find meaning in life.
We all seek to connect with God – spirit to spirit, in spirit. Our spirits reach out, long for Him and seek deep and passionate connection with Him. We are spirit and we seek deep, intimate connection with God the Spirit who created us in His own image.
Jesus was clear when he said, God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit. Because spirit connects to spirit. And spirit means heart and passion.
Worship without spirit is disconnected, dry, boring, passionless. It is simply going through the motions.
But Jesus went one step further in adding that true worshippers worship in spirit and in truth, adding that these are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.
While our spirits naturally seek connection with God, seeking Truth and embracing it are two different things. Embracing Truth requires understanding. It requires intentionality. It is a choice we must make. We need to choose to believe and embrace Truth. We will need to acknowledge that Truth is given to us in the person of Jesus. We choose to believe in Him, who He says He is, and what He offers us.
Worship that is not based on the truth is meaningless – a “shallow emotional experience that dissipates when the “high” is gone.
“It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you,” says Timothy Keller. It is likewise with our worship. It is not the strength, intensity, length nor strength of our worship that makes it true worship.
True worship must be in spirit and in truth. Both are necessary. Worship must be passionate and engage the whole heart. At the same time, it must be “in truth,” rooted in knowledge and understanding of the God we worship.
Piper sums it up well: “strong affections for God rooted in truth.” The essence of true worship is not external, but internal — heart and head, emotion and thought, spirit and truth — whether we’re talking all of life as worship or corporate gatherings for worship.
The Samaritan woman said, “I know that the Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Jesus responded with, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
The woman stood at the crossroads now. She had an important choice to make. Would she believe who Jesus said he was, or would she reject his claim?
She chose Jesus. She chose Life.
While our spirits yearn for an intimate and deep connection with the Creator, it is in understanding and acknowledging Truth that we become the kind of worshippers our Creator seeks. What the head knows as knowledge becomes fully alive only when it explodes into fire in our hearts.
Spirit and Truth: one without the other is meaningless. Together they define the heart of true worship.
~shini abraham, ©2015, duco divina – contemplative doodling
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