The worship the Father wants

The worship the Father wants

SCRIPTURE:

But the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God's Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the true worship that he wants. God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.” John 4:23-24

OBSERVATION:

How do we worship God? What is the kind of worship that the Lord wants? What does it mean to worship God in spirit and in truth? In her meeting with Jesus, the Samaritan woman pointed out one of the key reasons for the Jew-Samaritan divide. While Jews insisted everyone had to worship at the temple in Jerusalem, the Samaritans believed they were justified in worshipping God in their holy mountain. Jesus however, explained to her that the time was coming and had in fact already come when the true worshippers would worship God neither on the mountain nor Jerusalem, but wherever they were.

The important thing was not where God was worshipped, but how He was worshipped. And it was most important to worship Him in the way that He wanted. Jesus described this worship as worshipping God in Spirit and in truth. Because God is spirit, we need to worship Him in spirit. But what does this actually mean?

Now, we know that there is a spirit inside each of us, and it is our spirit that gives life to our bodies. Our bodies are gifts from God, and by which we are able to move and act and speak and do things. And we are to worship God with our bodies, presenting it as living sacrifices to Him. However, more than that, God requires something deeper than just worship from bodily actions. We can perform the outward actions of worship with our bodies and our mouths, but have no genuine desire in our hearts or our minds may be actually far off somewhere else.

God wants us to worship Him from our spirit deep inside us. The mind is also involved here, as we need to focus on God to connect with our spirit. Then, there is the will, the conscious decision to make our minds and heart focus on God to adore and worship Him as the great and mighty living God He truly is.

Still, on our own, no matter how hard we focus on our own, or what actions we do, or how much we will ourselves to worship, it is not enough. Worship from our carnal selves cannot please God. Rather, it is only in worshipping by the Holy Spirit that we can give God the worship He wants.

APPLICATION:

Therefore when we worship, ask God to pour out His Holy Spirit into us. Open wide our mouths, and receive the Holy Spirit He pours out into us. Then praise Him freely out of the Holy Spirit He pours into us. Our human spirits will rise with the Holy Spirit to give praise to God in the way that pleases Him most. Those of us who have received the gift of languages should praise God in that language as the Spirit flows out of us. Praise Him in tongues, and in our native language. Praise Him by yielding to the Holy Spirit to lead us. Nothing on our own can please Him, but when we allow the Holy Spirit to help us worship, God is pleased.

There is an element of faith here, as we must believe God pours out His Holy Spirit into us in Jesus name, and then we must open our mouths to let the Spirit praise and worship God through us. There is a cooperation and a yielding between us and the Holy Spirit, helping us to worship God, to worship Jesus!

PRAYER:

Precious Heavenly Father, we so long to worship You in the way that most pleases You. Pour out Your Holy Spirit into us more and more. Let Your Spirit overflow and move through us, and speak out marvelous praises to worship and glorify Your name! Fill us more and more O Lord, that we might praise You more and more! You deserve all glory, all power, all praise! Teach us O Lord to worship You. Grant us fresh ways to worship You by Your Spirit day by day. In Jesus name, Amen!

A jar of perfume

A jar of perfume

Scripture:

When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples,² “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”³ Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, ⁴ and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. ⁵ “But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”

⁶ While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, ⁷ a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.⁸ When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. ⁹ “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

¹⁰ Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ¹¹ The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. ¹² When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. ¹³ Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” Matthew 26:1-13

Observation:

Just as the Lord prophesied, the chief priests and elder of the people plotted with the high priest to arrest Jesus and kill him. They could no longer stand His popularity among the people and His open opposition and judgment of their ways. Even in so doing, they were worried that their actions would cause a riot among the people. Even in their evil plans, they were not willing to risk losing their favor among the people.

As the time of these events neared, the Lord was in Bethany in the home of Simon the leper when a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume and poured it on his head as he was reclining at the table. It was an act of devoted worship and other gospels record her as weeping as she anoints Jesus. The disciples are indignant that she has wasted the expensive perfume in this way as it could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor. The Lord, however, deeply appreciates her gesture, and remarks that though they will always have the poor, they will not always have Him. He goes on to prophesy again how her actions are actually preparing Him for His death and burial, and also declares that wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, her actions here would also be remembered in memory of her.

Application:

The deep act of devotion of this woman for Jesus has long been lauded as a supreme act of deep worship that our Lord fully deserves because of what He has done for us. Her actions spoke of her deep love for the Lord, and she sensed that with the Lord’s death imminently approaching, she had to take the opportunity to pour out her tremendous love and gratitude to Him for forgiving and restoring her. She did not care what others think. She did not bother about the judgment of the men. She only had her attention fully focused on showing her devotion and love for Jesus. How great it would be if only we could learn to love the Lord like that and worship Him like that, with such deep love, such deep intimacy, such deep devotion.

The Lord’s statement “the poor you will always have with you” in no way demeans the poor, but instead shows the supreme importance of first and foremost putting our worship of the Lord first. Giving to the poor is important and the Lord always has the poor at heart, but priority is our worship and relationship with the Lord.

Beware having that critical and judgmental spirit that the disciples had. When others worship God lavishly, do not judge them but instead, focus on our own worship to the Lord, seeking to worship Him deeply, passionately, intimately,

Prayer:

We thank You Lord Jesus for the great example of this sister who worshipped you so deeply, with such devotion and love and intimacy and passion. Help us to learn to worship You like that, Lord. Help us remember and treasure deeply in our hearts how You saved us, and lifted us when we were without hope. Grant us that same devotion and passion we pray.

Turn us away from a critical hard or judgmental attitude, but instead focus on worshipping You ourselves more deeply, more passionately, more lavishly. We praise You and worship You, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.