Spirit and Truth

Posted on by korgrocker

“Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.””
John 4:21-24 NLT

So we have a situation where the Jews maintained that the place to worship God was in Jerusalem, and the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim. One more source of conflict fuelling the animosity between them. But Jesus cut through all of that with the statement that “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth”, and not just in a geographical location. He elevated the whole basis of worship to a new level based on the relationship between the worshipper and God.

When Jesus came to Planet Earth, He levelled the ground giving all people everywhere the opportunity to have a personal relationship with Him. His substitutionary death at Calvary fulfilled what he said to Nicodemus in John 3:16-17, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him”. Later in John 14:6, we read, “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”. And Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:18, “Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us”. 

Worship is that relational experience between God and man where our hearts are passionately responding to our Heavenly Father. We praise Him, with grateful hearts, proclaiming all that He has done for us. We prostrate ourselves before Him, connecting spirit to Spirit, overwhelmed in our love of Jesus. But the “truth” bit means that we must know our God, and not just an image of what we think He might be in our minds. Knowing God takes a lifetime. Reading the Word. Praying. Developing a relationship with Him day by day. Many people develop a distorted picture of God based on their experiences with their own natural fathers. So some view God as a stern policeman with a big stick ready to beat them when they step out of line. Others view Him as a Father Christmas figure, just there to hand out gifts when they need them. But a truthful view of God can only be found in the Bible, through prayer to Him, and from the teachings of trusted pastors, teachers and apostles.

Note that our worship of God is independent of our circumstances. Some Christians I know find that in difficult times they cannot worship God, as though in some way they are blaming Him for their troubles. Such believers would do well to read the book of Habakkuk, which ends, “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!” (Habakkuk 3:17-18). Nothing was going to stop that man from worshipping God because he saw beyond the circumstances in his trust of his Father in Heaven.

We pilgrims worship God at every opportunity in “spirit and truth”. There is no other way.

Father God. Once again we fall on our knees before You in worship. You are the King of kings and the Lord of all lords. Amen.

Life the Jesus Way

Posted on by korgrocker

“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Saviour and my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you..” Psalms‬ ‭42:5-6‬a ‭NIVUK‬‬

Have you ever been “downcast”? In a place where your view of life is monochrome in a technicolour world? Where the negative and difficult issues of life are weighing heavily in your thoughts? Where even depression is affecting your mental health? The Psalmist who wrote these verses was himself not in a good place, with a downcast and disturbed soul. But he knew from his own experience of God that he needed to grab hold of three words – “remember”, “hope” and “praise”. The Psalmist had a personal relationship with God and through the experience of years of walking closely with Him he knew that by the application of these three words he would regain his mental stability and restore colour to his black and white world. Notice it is ok to be “downcast”. Life is like that. We can find ourselves in such a place frequently in life. I know a dear lady who even when recently given bad medical news, was able to remember, hope in and praise her wonderful Friend, altering her perspective for the future. She had found the key to living a life where circumstances were not going to affect her soul, no matter how bad the issues were.

There will be those who will say that I don’t know how bad their situation is. They will blame their upbringing, their mental health, their families and so on. They will say that not even God can lift them out of their circumstances. But there are Christians in North Korea, imprisoned, beaten, and tortured, but who can remain active in their faith, remembering, hoping in and praising their Saviour and their God. There is a lovely Christian man, Nick Vujicic, whose strap line has been, “I’ve no arms and legs – what’s your problem?” We all live in our own life bubbles, experiencing our own issues, facing into our own worlds, dealing with our own downcast souls. And God has provided all the resources we need through Jesus, who said, “I have come that [you] may have life, and have it to the full.” ‭‭John‬ ‭10:10‬b ‭NIVUK‬‬. I saw a bumper sticker today, “One Life, Live It”. Let’s live the life God has given us the Jesus way, full of God-memories, full of God-hope, and full of God-praise.