True Worship Brings True Joy

Are You Experiencing the Joy of the Lord?

Introduction:

John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. 24. God is Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

God seeks worshippers! How amazing! The Creator of the universe seeks worshippers, and they must worship Him in spirit and truth. For me as a Christian, this opens a whole visa of meaning. When I first was saved, I was so happy that my destination had changed from hell to heaven. As I began to grow as a Christian, I began to witness to others. I wanted them to experience heaven as well. And I began to see my life changed and began to learn to walk in the Spirit; therefore, in recent years, I have been emphasizing the exchanged life. He took my life and sins and gave me His righteousness and power through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

But worship per se was not my focus. In John chapter 4, we find Jesus masterfully dealing with the Samaritan woman at the well. He asks her for water, challenges her for living water, identifies her sin, and offers her salvation. When Jesus told her about her 5 husbands and her living with a man outside marriage, she attempted to change the subject by talking about where to worship. Then Jesus said that true worship MUST be in spirit, and in truth. If Jesus is talking about true worship, then that implies that all worship is not true, but some is false.

We should ask ourselves if we truly worship God in both Spirit and in truth. We must avoid?fleshly?worship.?Philippians 3:2-3 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. 3. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.?Thus, for true worship, I must worship in the Spirit, and not in the flesh. Satan wants to destroy true worship by glorifying the flesh. We must not yield to his temptation.??

God created man for true worship:

God created man in His image to have fellowship with Him and to have dominion over the creation.?Genesis 1:26, 28 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth…28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

God created man with body, soul, and spirit.?I Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart.?The body has 5 “gates” to the physical universe (sight, smell, hearing, touch, taste) and can interact with it. The soul consists primarily of intellect, emotions, and will. The spirit enables man to communicate with God and also has a conscience providing moral direction.?

Initially God had fellowship with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. However, when Adam and Eve fell, the body started aging and eventually died. The intellect was affected. Man’s thoughts moved toward evil. His emotions were altered; instead of the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, etc., mankind experienced fear, anger, hatred, envy, etc. His will was no longer submitted to God but acted independently under the control of self. And man’s spirit was no longer able to freely communicate with God. God reached out to them by clothing both with animal skins. This required the death of an innocent sacrifice which was looking forward to the salvation from trusting the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ came to restore mankind. When a man experiences salvation, his spirit is restored and communication with God is again possible.?Ephesians 2:1-2 And you hath he quickened (made alive), who were da in trespasses and sins; 2. Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience…5. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved).??Now it is possible for man to communicate with God through the spirit, and God is seeking such individuals to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Remember that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. But it is not possible for someone to worship God in spirit and in truth if he does not have the indwelling Holy Spirit.

God is the goal:

As the believer grows, he sees beyond his immediate goal of personally arriving in heaven to soulwinning to help others as well through soulwinning, and then through Christian service. But there is a danger to make Christian service the goal! I have heard a prominent pastor excuse the sins of his staff because they did so much service for Him. Many missionaries focus so much on ministry that they neglect their family, with disillusioned children and even divorces. Well-meaning Christian workers burn out focusing on service rather than the Lord.

What happens to us when we are unable to serve through sickness, through age, or some other incapacity? God is the goal, and He is worthy both of our service and our worship! In heaven, there are angels who do nothing but worship God.??Revelation 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelation 5:9-10 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation: And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign here on the earth.?

When we arrive in heaven, we will not go soulwinning, because there are no unsaved there. But we will be ruling and reigning with Christ. And we can be assured that we will be involved in worship of the true living God forever in heaven.

So, what should we do to prepare for the future? We need to focus more on worship than many of us have done in the past. We need to avoid fleshly worship, but truly worship in Spirit and in truth. We need to focus on God and realize that God is the goal. Witnessing and winning souls are wonderful. Serving God in the power of the Holy Spirit is vital. But we must not neglect the assembling of ourselves together in true worship.

In practice, do we anticipate meeting God when we go to church? Do we prepare ourselves for our Sunday worship beginning Saturday night by going to bed early enough for a good night’s sleep? Are our clothes set out for the morning? Do we arrive with a proper attitude, confessing our sins and yielding our minds, or emotions and our will to Him? Do we focus on praising Him as our Creator and Redeemer??