What is True Worship

In our society today worship happens all around us all the time. We place highest value on people and things all the time and you only need to spend a little time observing someone in their natural environment to see what/who they "worship".

In the church worship also happens all the time. Unfortunately with far too many Pastors, Worship Leaders, Musicians and Congregations the choice object worshipped is something other than God in the person of Jesus Christ.
I have seen, been part of and led many services where the object of worship fell short of being God and instead consisted of the experience or the songs or the leader or any number of other things that distracted us. It breaks my heart to think back on the hours and hours wasted prepping for and participating that ended up glorifying the things of worship rather than the God worthy of all worship.

In John 4 Jesus meets a Samaritan woman while resting at a well. After a conversation in which she gets a glimpse that the man she is talking too is no ordinary man. "I see that you are a prophet." Then she asks a question. Think about it, she is standing before the God of the universe who has just offered her "Living Water". What question would you ask? If you had one encounter, one moment with Jesus face to face what would you want to know? For me I probably would try and put the predestination vs. free will argument to bed. Or maybe ask what his purpose for me here on earth is (besides "to bring Him Glory"). For her, the question is a bit of a surprise. She asks Jesus about Worship.
"Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place we must worship is in Jerusalem.

Of all the things she could ask him (like how he knew that she was lying about her husband) she wanted to know about where the proper place was to worship. In fact one of the primary reasons that the Jews didn't get along with the Samaritans was because of this battle over where the right place was to worship God.
If you were to put her question in context of our time it might have sounded something like this, "Our church has always worshipped to hymns with an organ, but the church over there has what sounds like a rock band with drums and electric guitars and repetitive choruses! Which is the proper way to worship?"

One of the things I love most about how Jesus taught was his ability to cut right to the heart of a situation or person. He does just that in his response to the Samaritan woman and his response should cause any of us who put worship near the top of our "spiritual list" to pause and reflect on His words not just for a moment but every day for a lifetime. "Jesus declared!" I love that the bible calls this a declaration. It was not just a word to that woman at the well but it was a proclamation to all who would call themselves a Christ follower from that day through eternity! Jesus declared, "Believe me woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on the mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know: we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of Worshippers the father seeks. God is Spirit and his worshippers must worship him in spirit and in truth.

God is actively looking for true worshippers. God is on the lookout for people who's hearts are directed fully towards Him who is worthy of all glory honor and praise. People whose hearts and words match at all times. People who don't just "worship" on Sunday but people whose lives are laid out in full surrender to God.

This is the challenge for every Pastor, Worship Leader, church musician, youth leader and anyone else who calls themselves a Christian and desires to be a true worshipper and teach others the same. As a "worship leader" I spend all of my time in pursuit of true worship in my own life then secondarily I try to encourage and challenge the leaders, musicians and people God places before me to do the same. As Paul said, "Follow me as I follow Christ".

All of this is born out of 20 years of God shaping, molding, and teaching me as I learn by trial and error. The more I learn about how to worship God in spirit and truth the more I realize how little I know. My prayer for you as well is for myself is that through my writing this blog and you reading it that we might as Paul said in Ephesians 3, "I Pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." And out of that fullness of Love that we might worship Him in ways we never have before.