But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
John 4:23 (ESV)
What is it that the Father is seeking? True worshippers. And what are the qualities and character of a true worshipper? They worship the Father in spirit and truth. So the Father is seeking people who worship the Lord God Almighty with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Not a casual worshipper, but one that walks the path of faith in humility, repentance, and trust in the triune God. True worshippers that bring their offerings of praise and thanksgiving to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit. They worship the Father intentionally and with devotion. They worship the Lord not for what he can give them but for who He is, the Great and Mighty Lord of all the Universe.
It is important to remember that a true worshipper is one who worships the Lord in spirit and truth. A lot of times, I don’t take the time to think deeply about this verse. I often feel as though I can come to the Father and worship in any manner that I desire. This means that I come with wrong intentions and a poor attitude. It means that I come to worship from a selfish and self-centered approach. I don’t come in spirit and truth.
To worship in spirit and truth means that I am coming to the Lord just as I am. I come before the Lord as a man in need of the grace and mercy that only Jesus can provide. Coming in truth means that I am not being deceptive about my current state. I don’t deceive myself about the sin in my heart. Worshipping the Lord in truth means that I don’t sugarcoat the poison of sin that dwells within me. Worshipping in truth calls me to a life of humble honesty before the Lord. This is what Jesus is talking about with the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4. Jesus had asked her a question about her husband and she had answered him with a half-truth, a deception.
I too answer the questions of God with half-truths. Deceptive little lies that I repeat so often to myself they become “true” in a sense to me. I deceive myself so often about the power and grip of sin holding my heart, that I begin to believe this lie and make it a half-truth. The Father is seeking worshippers who do away with half-truths and worship in truth. The full unabridged truth of a person’s heart is what Jesus is after.
Yet, as I am seeking to live a life of truthful worship, I must remember that this is also done in the spirit. The power of sin in my heart is to hear this call of Christ and make it merely about my outward appearance and adherence to the strictness of the truth. My heart wants to conform to this worship in truth by looking at outward and external indicators. My heart wants to turn it into a performance. I want it to be about how strict I am with my Bible reading, my prayer times, my attendance at Sunday church, my being involved in church duties and events. My heart wants a checklist that I can look at and agree that I have done all of this in truth. Meaning, I did this checklist honestly and openly before others.
The issue becomes that I conform outwardly and continue to deceive myself because all along my spirit is not involved. I confess. I repent. I confess. I repent. I yearn for freedom from sin. I plead with the Lord for forgiveness and healing. I confess. I repent. I confess. I repent. Yet, I never engage my heart and spirit in the matter. I make it all about external obedience and forget that this is a spiritual matter. I need my spirit to engage my heart. I must come before the Lord in spiritual humility and expose my spiritual poverty. It is my heart and spirit that is most important.
My Father is seeking me… Not some passable version of me and not some external dressed up version of me. No, the Lord is seeking me! He wants me as I am. The heart of Jesus is gentle and lowly and the Father wants my heart to be conformed to this same pattern and life. A gentle and lowly heart that is focused on the love of Christ. What does it mean to die to myself and live for Christ? This is the heart of the matter. I am to worship the Lord in spirit and truth. My every breathe is to be worship. My every thought is to be worship. Not perfectly by any means, but in spirit and truth. I can run to my Father who will embrace me and love me fully and completely deep within my soul. My spirit will find comfort and rest in him alone. The my heart can embrace the truth… That Jesus himself is the truth.