Introduction
The Lord’s conversation with the Samaritan woman
in John 4 is worth pondering, for it one of the most important
passages in Scripture about Christian worship. At the start, the
Lord is thought of as just “a Jew” (v9) but by the end He has been
made known as the Messiah (see v26, 29). Thus, the true worship of
God must always be accompanied with a right view of Christ. Notice
too that before anything is said on how God is to be approached, the
moral state of the woman is addressed, and the gift of the Holy
Spirit as a fountain of water springing up into eternal life is
introduced (see vs. 14, 17-18). Why? Because these are necessary
precursors to entering the holiest. Let us spend some time
considering what the Lord here teaches about worship, not with a
view to academic advancement, but in order that God is praised and
reverenced in a deeper and more intelligent way.
Worship in Truth
It is not long into the conversation between the
Lord and the Samaritan woman that she perceived that He was a
prophet, and she turns to a subject on which He, being a Jewish man
of God, could not fail to have an opinion: “Our fathers worshipped
in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where
one must worship” (John 4: 20). The Lord’s responds as a Jew and His
answer is blunt: “Ye worship ye know not what; we worship what we
know, for salvation is of the Jews” (v22, my
emphasis). This rejection of the Samaritan religion was not because
of a lack of sincerity or piety in its adherents, but because it was
not based on truth. At the same time, the Lord vindicated the claim
of Jerusalem for, whatever might be said of Judaism in that day, it
remained worship in truth, since to Israel had been entrusted “the
oracles of God” (Rom. 3: 2). Judaism had been founded on divine
revelation, but Samaritanism grew out of a false premise, and a
false priesthood (see 2 Kings 17: 27). It was not worship in truth,
even though it had borrowed elements of truth.
God does not
change, and approach to God has always been based on divine
revelation. It is not based on tradition, theology, published
‘ministry’, “our fathers” (John 4: 20) or anything other than the
Word of God. Abel offered “by faith” (Heb. 11: 4, my
emphasis), implying that God had spoken, while Cain offered
according to his own thoughts. Again, under the Mosaic system,
Jehovah was explicit that “in this manner shall Aaron
come into the sanctuary” (Lev. 16: 3, my emphasis). Significantly,
this is said immediately “after the death of the two sons of Aaron”
(v1) who had “presented strange fire before Jehovah, which he had
not commanded them” (Lev. 10: 1). The priests of Israel served “the
representation and shadow of heavenly things”, and the tabernacle
was set up exactly “according to the pattern” which was shown to
Moses “in the mountain” (Heb. 8: 5). This implies that the antitype
of that service (that is, those who now “worship by [the] Spirit of
God”—Phil. 3: 3) also conforms to divine
revelation, and that Christians are not free to do as they see fit.
However, while God
must always be approached according to divine revelation, what may
be right at one time may be wrong at another. Thus, while it was
wrong for Cain to draw near to God with the fruits of the ground,
the children of Israel were later instructed to present their basket
of the first of the fruit of the ground (see Deut. 26: 1-11). Again,
before the giving of the Law, the patriarchs acted as priests,
sacrificing at the altars they erected, and no one location was
regarded as their sanctuary. After the giving of the Law, God
directed the worship of His people to “the place which Jehovah your
God will choose out of all your tribes to set his name there” (Deut.
12: 5). Hence, quoting ‘chapter and verse’ can be spiritually
unintelligent–for what might be worship in truth for the Jew might
not be worship in truth for the Christian.
This was a very
real issue for the first Christians, for many were Jews and knew
that Judaism had been founded on divine revelation. However, they
also knew that the nation had crucified Christ, and then compounded
its sin by rejecting the testimony of His resurrection and ascension
to the right hand of God. Consequently, the Jews who believed on the
Lord Jesus were to go forth to Christ “without the camp” of Judaism,
“bearing his reproach” (Heb. 13: 13). But how were
they to go forth? As exiles carrying with them all that they had
once valued—their worship, ritual, priesthood, and sanctuary? No,
for “no one puts new wine into old skins” (Mark 2: 22). However
difficult it was to shake off their old religious associations, they
were to go forth to meet the Lord, and learn what He now had to say
to them. It is not an intelligent faith therefore that copies
whatever is found in the OT, for even truth may be misused to the
detriment of Christianity. The Galatian error, for example, fatally
undermined the Gospel, even though it had a seemingly unassailable
basis in the Word of God. Perhaps a more pertinent example in the
context of worship is priesthood. Here the Jews could point to God's
revelation as the warrant for Aaron and his successors to discharge
the duties of their office, but in Christianity a different priest
has arisen of another order. Therefore, “the priesthood being
changed, there takes place of necessity a change of law also” (Heb.
7: 12, my emphasis). What is the force of this? It signifies that
Christ, being both “Apostle and High Priest” (Heb. 3: 1) of the
Christian confession has delivered “a better hope by which we draw
nigh to God” (Heb. 7: 19). Thus unlike in Judaism, all Christians
are priests, able “to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2: 5) and, unlike in Judaism, Christians
are not strangers in the sanctuary having “boldness for entering
into the [holy of] holies by the blood of Jesus, the new and living
way which he has dedicated for us through the veil” (Heb. 10: 19).
However, the new
worship is not merely worship in truth but:
Worship in Spirit and Truth
In John 4: 22, the Lord upheld the claim of
Judaism and rejected Samaritanism as false. However, the Lord did
not leave things there. In v23, He speaks of a time in which the
true worshippers would not be found in either of the rival
ritualistic systems, for then worship would be offered not only in
truth, but in spirit for “[the] hour is coming and now is, when the
true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth”.
Samaria had always been rejected, but Judaism, despite being based
on truth, was also from here on rejected, and worship in spirit
and truth was now required if one was to be in any sense
a true worshipper. Why in “spirit”? Because “God [is] a spirit”,
hence “they who worship him must worship [him] in
spirit and truth” (v24, my emphasis). Ritualistic religion is now
unacceptable, whether ancient or modern, overt or subtle, for there
is a spontaneity in worship that is truly spiritual that cannot be
confined within the bounds of human regulation. The language used in
describing the spirit of sonship hints at this: “for ye have not
received a spirit of bondage again for fear, but ye have received a
spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Rom. 8: 15)—where
the word for cry has the sense of cry out
(compare Gal. 4: 6 where the Spirit cries out). This is very
different from the learned behaviour that masquerades as the leading
of the Spirit, and where everyone knows from long experience what to
say and when to say it.
Let us not,
however, run away with the idea that all we need is ‘worship in
spirit’ and that we can forget the Bible. The Holy Spirit is “the
Spirit of truth” (John 14: 17) and it is not possible to have
worship in spirit that is not also worship in truth. Truly spiritual
worship connects with God because it is according to His
Word. If it is not in ‘truth’, however much an appearance it may
have of being in ‘spirit’, then there is no reason to believe that
God will look on our offering any more than He did on Cain’s. So,
what exactly is this ‘truth’—what does
the NT outside of John 4 teach about worship? As already noted, the
first Christians were Jews, and would, as such, be well acquainted
with the intricate detail in the Mosaic Law concerning how God was
to be approached. God had laid everything out, and the path of the
worshipper was simply to follow the prescribed ritual. We can hardly
appreciate the shock to the Jewish mind when in transferring his
allegiance to Christianity, he found that while it had its own set
of oracles, these contained so little in the way of explicit
instruction on how the service of God was to be continued. However,
while the NT is not an exhaustive rule book in the sense that
Leviticus was to the Jew, it nonetheless clearly outlines the
parameters and scope of spiritual worship. For example, we cannot
claim to be worshipping in spirit if we ignore the truth of 1 Cor.
14: 34: “let [your] women be silent in the assemblies”.
Nevertheless, if the NT contained a detailed account
(whether by precept or example) of how worship was to be conducted
then the unspiritual would simply follow it in a ritualistic way in
the belief that they were honouring God. The relative silence on
these things is therefore deliberate. However, we are not left
totally bereft of objective facts. The new and living way of
approaching God (in contrast to the Mosaic system) is dedicated “for
us through the veil, that is, his flesh” (Heb. 10: 20). Hence, we
are to approach God on the basis of the death of Christ and in
practical terms it follows that it is in the contemplation of that
death we are freshly led into the worship of the Father and the Son.
If we are characterised by eating at the altar (see Heb. 13: 10),
then worship in the holy place inevitably follows. That is why the
Lord’s Supper (though it is never explicitly presented as a
‘worship’ meeting) is foundational to collective Christian praise
and worship (I say ‘collective’ because while we can worship
individually—see John 9: 38; 20: 28; Heb. 11: 21—there is also the
worship of God’s house, whose house we are—see Eph. 2: 21; Heb. 3:
6; 1 Pet. 2: 5). Of course, any kind of ‘meeting’ of saints is open
to abuse and disorder, as the Corinthians sadly proved (see 1 Cor.
11: 21; 14: 23 etc.), and so the checks introduced by Paul of
participation “one by one” (v31) and with consideration of others,
can justly be applied to all such occasions including those for
worship.
We also know
how God is to be addressed, even though the NT records not
one prayer or hymn from a ‘worship meeting’. In Rom. 1: 25, Paul
speaks of those who “served the creature more than him who had
created [it], who is blessed for ever. Amen”. In chapter 9,
(referring to Israel), he says “of whom, as according to flesh, [is]
the Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen” (v5). In
chapter 11 we have “O depth of riches both of [the] wisdom and
knowledge of God! how unsearchable his judgments, and untraceable
his ways! For who has known [the] mind of [the] Lord, or who has
been his counsellor? or who has first given to him, and it shall be
rendered to him? For of him, and through him, and for him [are] all
things: to him be glory for ever. Amen” (vs. 33-36). In none of
these Scriptures is God directly addressed, but the
words clearly instruct us on the subject matter and the form of
address with which we might approach Him.
It is right for us
to be occupied with “our God and Father; to whom [be]
glory to the ages of ages. Amen” (Gal. 1: 5, my emphasis), whose
will in delivering out of this present evil world was accomplished
by our Lord Jesus Christ. It is “the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in
the heavenlies in Christ … that we should be holy and blameless
before him in love” (Eph. 1: 3, 4) and whose great end in view is
“[the] praise of [the] glory of his grace” and “[the] praise of his
glory” (vs. 6, 12). It is the same God who “shall abundantly supply
all your need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” for
“to our God and Father [be] glory to the ages of ages. Amen” (Phil.
4: 19, 20). Furthermore, it is good to contemplate “him that is able
to do far exceedingly above all which we ask or think, according to
the power which works in us, to him be glory in the assembly in
Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. Amen.” (Eph.
3: 20, 21). It is to this One, “the Father [of our Lord Jesus
Christ]”, that Paul could say “I bow my knees” (v14).
We are also surely
to be occupied with “the King of the ages, [the]
incorruptible, invisible, only God” for to Him belong
“honour and glory to the ages of ages. Amen” (1 Tim. 1: 17, my
emphasis). He is worthy of it, for He is “the blessed and only Ruler
… the King of those that reign, and Lord of those that exercise
lordship; who only has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable
light; whom no man has seen, nor is able to see; to whom [be] honour
and eternal might. Amen” (1 Tim. 6: 15, 16).
We are to be
occupied with “the God of peace, who brought again
from among [the] dead our Lord Jesus … doing in you what is pleasing
before him through him through Jesus Christ; to whom [be] glory for
the ages of ages. Amen” (Heb. 13: 20, 21, my emphasis). This One is
also “the God of all grace” who has called us “to his
eternal glory in Christ Jesus” for “to him [be] the glory and the
might for the ages of the ages. Amen” (1 Pet. 5: 10, 11, my
emphasis). Again, we are to be occupied with “him that
is able to keep you without stumbling, and to set [you] with
exultation blameless before his glory, to the only God our
Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, [be] glory, majesty,
might and authority, from before the whole age, and now, and to all
the ages. Amen” (Jude vs. 24, 25, my emphasis).
Finally, we are to
be occupied with “our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”
for “to him [be] glory both now and to [the] day of eternity. Amen”
(2 Pet. 3: 18, my emphasis). This One is “The Lord” who delivered
Paul from every wicked work and preserved him for His heavenly
kingdom “to whom [be] glory for the ages of ages. Amen” (2 Tim. 4:
18).
If worship is to be
“in spirit and truth” (John 4: 23), then that means
that even our terminology ought to be in accord with divine
revelation. It is revealing to compare the forms of address used in
the Scriptures just quoted and those that in common use among
Christians, some of which are, sadly, just ‘made up’. A lot of this
stems from an unwillingness to accept the fundamental truth that God
is to be worshipped according to the character in which He has been
revealed. This leads us to the consideration of:
The Worship of the Father
The Samaritan woman spoke of worship, and no doubt
the thought in her mind was the Jehovah she thought she was
worshipping. In His response, however, the Lord spoke of God in a
way that would have sounded novel to her ears, in that “the true
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and
truth; for also the Father seeks such as his
worshippers” (John 4: 23, my emphasis). She might have been familiar
with the concept of Jehovah’s fatherhood of Israel as a people from
Exod. 4: 22 but here the worshipper was to know God in the
relationship of Father. This is the very kernel of Christianity
(which John’s Gospel anticipates throughout). God does not cease to
be the Creator or Jehovah but in the present moment (the hour which
“now is”—v23), He is to be known to us as Father, and
the knowledge of this relationship is to characterise our worship.
The Lord had come in His Father’s name (see John 5: 43) and had
declared “openly concerning the Father” (John 16: 25). He had
revealed the Father (see Matt. 11: 27), for “if ye had known me, ye
would have known also my Father, and henceforth ye know him and have
seen him” (John 14: 7). In John 17, speaking to His Father, the Lord
says “I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out
of the world … I have made known to them thy name, and will make
[it] known; that the love with which thou hast loved me may be in
them and I in them” (vs. 6, 26). He declared the name of the
Father. Thus, when the apostle John says, “No one has seen
God at any time”, he follows it up with “the only-begotten Son, who
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared [him]” (John
1: 18). All this culminates in the glorious declaration of the
Lord’s resurrection morning, “go to my brethren and say to them, I
ascend to my Father and your Father, and [to] my God and your God”
(John 20: 17).
How we address God
in worship is a clear indication of what our understanding of
Christianity itself is. It is painful, for example, to hear
believers constantly address God as the ‘Almighty’ (a
name of God that occurs in the NT only in the book of Revelation,
apart from a quotation from the OT in 2 Cor. 6: 18), when the
characteristic way in which we address God as Christians should be
as Father. Thus, Paul tells us that “to
us” (that is, Christians), “[there is] one God, the Father, of whom
all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by
whom [are] all things, and we by him” (1 Cor. 8: 6). Does
this mean that the Son and the Holy Spirit are not God? Not at all.
But what it does mean that the way God has been pleased to reveal
Himself is as Father and that we are to respond to Him as Father.
Conclusion
The woman at the well began her conversation with
the Lord by thinking of Him as only a Jew and ended with knowing Him
as the Christ. She also began with worshipping “ye know not what”
(John 4: 22) and ended with an understanding of God as Father. May
you and I be as teachable as she was, and may God be glorified and
honoured through worship being offered to Him from our hearts that
is “in spirit and truth” (v24).
