Worship

Jesus told the woman at the well, "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24). Jesus didn't speak in capitals, but my Bible doesn't capitalize "spirit" in that sentence, suggesting that the translators did not understand Jesus to be talking about the Spirit. The language, then, leads us to believe that Jesus is talking about the human spirit, not the divine. True worship, according to Christ, is not geographically located. (That was the woman's question. "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship" (John 4:20).) True worship, then, is not located at church or, as some would argue, in the midst of nature. True worship has two components, neither of which is location. These are "spirit" and "truth."

"Truth" is pretty self-explanatory. False worship doesn't work. Moreover, worship must contain truth. A worship song that encourages us because when Jesus died He "thought of me above all" is not "truth." It's not like that's limited to contemporary worship. When Alfred Ackley answered how we can know He Lives, he said, "He lives within my heart." As if that's the final arbiter of truth. When the hymn asks how it can be "that Thou my God shouldst die for me?", we must reply "It can't be" because if God died He would cease to be God and we would cease to be ... at all. Some of these can be fixed. "How can it be that Thou my Lord didst die for me?" is fine, for instance. The point is that truth is what needs to be present. It is a critical element of worship.

What about "spirit"? Jesus said, "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). We can see the two -- God's Spirit and the human spirit. The text argues that this is referring to the human spirit, but we also know that we only have a fully functioning human spirit if it is made alive by the Spirit, so they are linked but distinct. The human spirit is in view here, then, and that refers to our deepest part -- the heart. Those who worship God must do so from the heart. That would include love and it would include emotion. True worship would include a passion for Christ because of His infinite worth and because of our great love for God.

The thing is we often tend toward one or the other of these two. Some of us tend toward the "truth" side, yearning for theological accuracy and doctrinal clarity. More, of course, tend toward the "spirit" side, seeing worship as an emotional experience between me and God. Both actually make sense, but both are actually short-sighted. Jesus said both were required. Jesus said it's a matter of heart and head. The version of worship that Jesus addresses here is an emotional response to the truth of the worthiness of God. "Because these things are true about God, we must respond this way." Both.

Music is a form of magic, in a sense. It has the capacity to move you emotionally without engaging the mind. It's easy, then, to use music to produce an emotional response in people without regard to truth. Jesus warns against it. On the other hand, it's easy to call on "truth" as the final arbiter of "worship." Seems ... reasonable. It is reasonable, but it is incomplete. We need, as followers of Christ, to worship Him in spirit and to worship Him in truth -- heart and head. A warm response to God without truth is not what Jesus calls for. Right thinking about God without a heart response is not what Jesus calls for. Those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.