What does it mean to worship the Lord in spirit and truth?

John 4:24 says, "God is Spirit and those that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Jesus met the woman at a well in Samaria. (See John 4) She brought up the issue of worship. She said that the Jews worship in Jerusalem but those in Samaria in a certain mountain.

Jesus replied that there was about to be a great change. It was true that up to that time the Jews did worship God in Jerusalem and the Samaitan in their own land but that age was ending, for the real worship was coming.

Under the Old Testament arrangement the Jews, who worshipped according to God's Old Testament dispensation, worshipped in the right place and with the proper items, the offerings. The hour had come, said Jesus, when the true worshippers would worship the Father in a new place with the real offerings. That new place is the human spirit and the new offering is Christ who is the reality.

You will notice in verse 24 that the word "spirit" is used twice. The first time it is capitalized and the second time it is with a lower case "s". The first word "Spirit" refers to the divine Spirit of God but the second time the word is used it refers to the human spirit. This is a vital distinction. Since Jesus said that the Father is looking for those kind of believers who worship in spirit and that this is a must, then it is crucial for every Christian to learn their human spirit. Without this knowledge and experience, then a person cannot wordhip God according to His commandment.

But knowing the spirit alone is not sufficient. We also must also know and experience Christ as reality. Truth in this verse means reality. Then we must find out how to worship God both in spirit and with Christ as reality.

To illustrate: I get up in the morning and go to my study and open the Word and begin to come to the Lord. My goal is to find the Word that fills me with Christ. Jeremiah said, "Thy words were found and I did eat them and they became the joy and rejoicing of my heart." (Jer. 15:16) So my goal at this time is to get to the Word and receive the divine life supply of the Spirit which is in the Word. I open to the Word and pray it into my spirit. Sometimes I will simply use the Word itself as my prayer truning to the depths of my being until the life begins to flow and I will continue in this and until the words of prayer flow out of me. I find that there is no effort in practicing this. I don't need to try to pray because when my spirit is filled with Him, I enter into the prayer of God and prayer flows out spontaneously.

Then during the day as circumstances come to me I will keep myself with Him by chewing on the word that I found in the morning. Then any action or reaction will be met by Christ in me rather than my natural reactions. So, say for example, my wife says something that in my self I would react to badly. But if I have remained with Christ in my spirit, my reaction will be altogether different. It will be with joy and rejoicing.

Then when I go to the meeting to worship the Lord I will still remain in spirit and I will offer praises to Him and testify to my experience of Christ that day. I will share how Christ was my life in that situation with my wife and will do it with my spirit flowing out of my innermost being to nourish and build up the church. Thus I will be worshipping the Father in spirit and with Christ as my reality. This is the function of the holy and royal priesthood. (1 Pet. 2:5,9)

This kind of worship is what the Lord desires. It is not simply singing some contempory chorus with a worship team up in the front of the church meeting place. Whether you sing, testify, speak or shout, it is God's requirement that you worship Him in spirit and truth.

Read 1 Corinthians 14. Paul is telling the church that tongues should be restricted and that prophesy should increase. Prophesy primarily means to speak forth something with and for God. It is not primarily something foretelling the future. All the members of the body of Christ should seek to prophesy to build the church. It is how the church is built. Without this kind of worship the church is not built up with Christ.

This is the realtiy of the type in the Old testament. In those days the people would labor on the land to bring forth a harvest of wheat, barley, olive oil, etc. They would also raise cattle, goats, sheep, etc. The when the time came every one would bring the top tenth of their labor to the temple and offer it to the Lord and all would enjoy this produce of the land. According to the Old Testament, this was how the people worshipped God.

All these items are types of Christ in His various aspects. For example, wheat is a type of His death, barley a type of His resurrection and so forth.

! Corinthians 14:24 says that when you come to the meeting everyone has something. One my have a hymn, another a teaching, another a tongue and another an interpretation. All of these must be expressions of Christ as He has been experienced in these ways. These various portions should be offered in order. Then all would be built up, all would be nourished. In this meeting God would be worshipped in spirit and in reality.

It is our hope that many will come into this reality with other believers.