But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

Worship, what is it? It is hard to define, but we know it when we see it! We see it in the eyes of a young man who is truly in love with a young woman and who is courting her. We see it at rock concerts, football games, and baseball games. Performers and sports stars have fan clubs and followers that are completely dedicated to the person that they are worshipping.

Worship involves what we say, what we do, and it often involves our posture (since in some cases we bow or fall down). When a political leader is worshipped, it involves submission and obedience.

The Father wants or seeks our worship. How do we worship Him? The first thing the Father wants is for us to put the right value on His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We do that when we come as sinners and trust in Christ as our Savior. It is interesting that the Lord used a woman from Samaria that the world would call a sinner to illustrate His teaching. She became a true worshipper that day when she met the Lord. She told others, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did” (verse 29).

True worship cannot be simply ritualistic. The Jews knew all about the old testament rituals but missed the vital relationship with God that true worship demands. They knew nothing of worshipping in the Spirit.

True worship cannot be contrary to God’s desires. The Samaritans were not following the commands of God in their worship but were using their contemporary and revised system of worship. They were not worshipping in truth.

True worship demands a living, joyful, enthusiastic relationship with the Lord and true worship demands that we do what pleases the Father and not what pleases us. Are we worshipping in spirit and in truth?

John 14:1-3

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

Being anxious seems to be the nature of man. We are anxious about world events, our children, our jobs or businesses, our retirements and even about whether that little bump on our arm is something to worry about. We even worry about the fact that we are worrying. Do you suppose that has anything to do with our TRUST? We know that when we trust in ourselves or in other humans we have plenty to worry about. However, when we trust in (believe in) the Lord, we have nothing to worry about.

In this passage, our trust is to be in the Lord Jesus. The Jews claimed to trust in Jehovah, the God of the old testament but they wouldn’t trust in Christ. However, the Lord Jesus is God manifest or made known in the flesh (1Timothy 3:16) and He wants our trust. He wants to speak peace to each one of us through His word. If we truly trust Him, we will have peace about the future (there is a place prepared for us) and we will not be anxious about the present (we won’t be troubled) since He has the ability and authority to save us as well as to keep us. For example He says, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil“ (John 17:15).

We aren’t ready to live until we are ready to die. We aren’t ready to die until we have put our trust in the one who died for us. (But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8) If He loved us that much, we should be able to trust Him for time as well as for eternity. Surely, that should give us peace and rest and keep us from being troubled.

Week of September 8, 2002

Proverbs 16:24, 28; Romans 10:17

Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

Proverbs 16:28 A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

When we think of power, we think of dynamite or a nuclear bomb. However, do we understand the power of what we say?

A word can make us happy. Just try complimenting someone and see if you don’t leave them smiling. The President can affect oil prices and the stock market by the things he says.

A word can make us angry and agitated. Have you ever gotten up in the morning feeling really good and then had someone ask you if you are feeling all right? Have you noticed how that question can change your mood from one of euphoria to one of concern.

A word can spoil friendships. Whether we do it deliberately or whether we do it unintentionally, we can come between friends by the words that say.

No wonder the Lord is described as the Word of God (John 1:1,14). He not only is the message of God, He is the vehicle that conveys that message. He has the power to save and He has the power to condemn. We marvel at the gracious words that He spoke (Luke 4:22). Those of us who have believed in Him, find His words assuring and comforting.

Words are powerful things. They can give us promises to rely on, they can inform us, they can motivate us. The word of God can save us. When we believe that Christ is God (the Word was God, John 1:1) and when we believe that the Word is reliable and trustworthy, then we can have the assurance that our sins are forgiven. The Word of God says that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins (Mark 2:10). The power of the Word of God is so great that it can change destinies for eternity. That’s the Word that we need to hear and that gives us peace with God.

John 18:38

Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

Truth is having a difficult time of it. Many people claim that there is no such thing as truth. Some people stretch it. Some, like Pilate, deny the Truth when they see it.

Sometimes what appears to be true isn’t. I am sure that some people who read the financial statements of Enron would agree with that statement. One could get pretty cynical about whether truth even comes out in our judicial system. We don’t know if we are reading the truth in the newspapers and sometimes the truth of history has to be revised. So I ask the question that Pilate asked, “What is truth?”

The Truth was standing before Pilate and yet he wasn’t willing to acknowledge that this was the Christ, The King of the Jews and The Son of God. Pilate knew the truth that Christ had done nothing worthy of death and yet he was willing to maintain his own political position by crucifying Him.

There isn’t much “Truth” that we can depend on today. But we can depend on Christ who is the Truth (John 14:6). We don’t make what He did and what he said true by believing Him. He is the Truth and His promises are true whether we believe Him or not. We do make the Truth effective when we believe Him, however. John 3:18 says, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Now, that is the truth!

Week of September 22, 2002

Christians are indeed a blessed people. We are a people characterized by love and not hate because our God loved us when he could have hated us and, thus, He has obligated us to love one another. (1 John 3:10-11, Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation [or sacrifice] for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.) There has always been a lot of hate in this world and it started with the firstborn of Adam and Eve, our first parents. They allowed sin to take root in our natures. Cain, the first man born into this word, hated his brother Abel and murdered him.

In the Bible, there are often two classes of people mentioned, Jews and Gentiles. Jews are descendents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Gentiles are all of the rest of us. There has been much distrust and fighting between these two groups down through the years. In the Ephesian epistle, however, there is a new group of people that God chooses to be His adopted Sons. He foreordained that this new group would be His chosen people in the church age before the foundation of the world. This new group is the church which is composed of all who have believed in Christ since the day of Pentecost until this present time.

Notice what God didn’t do in this passage. He didn’t choose people to be placed in Christ, but he chose those  in Christ. Also, he didn’t choose the church in Adam which would represent what we are by nature and he didn’t choose the church in Abraham which would represent the Jews but he chose those in Christ, that is, he chose those who believe in Christ. That means that both Jews and Gentiles have access to the same blessings and in Christ there is no enmity between these two groups. In the old testament God had an earthly people, with earthly promises and an earthly land. In the new testament, He has a spiritual people (chosen in Him) with spiritual blessings (blessed with all spiritual blessing) and a spiritual land (in heavenly places).

I am glad that I am a Christian, living in the Church age, who has been blessed because I have been saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8).

Week of September 29, 2002