John 4:24

God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

God is a Spirit ... The countless anthropomorphisms of the Old Testament probably caused Jesus to set such a statement as this over against them all. God may be spoken of in terms of the activities of men, such as walking, seeing, hearing, etc., but there is a sense in which God is not like man at all. God is a Spirit, eternal, immortal, invisible, omniscient, ubiquitous, omnipotent, and all-pervading. He is above all and through all and in all. Nothing can be hidden from God. He is the First Cause, himself uncaused, the Creator and Sustainer of everything that exists. He is nonetheless personal, hence the anthropomorphisms of Scripture.

They that worship him ... Just what is worship? Is it the carrying out of any kind of ritual, the observance of any days or times, or the presentation of any kind of gifts and sacrifices? Despite the fact that worship, from the earliest times, has been associated with such things, actual worship is spiritual.

WHAT IS WORSHIP?

A good description of worship is that of Isaiah 6:1-8, an analysis of which shows that worship is: (1) an awareness of the presence of God, (2) a consciousness of sin and unworthiness on the part of the worshipper, (3) a sense of cleansing and forgiveness, and (4) a response of the soul with reference to doing God's will: "Here am I, send me!"

In the New Testament, it is evident that the worship of God involved the doing of certain things: (1) meditating upon God's word in sermon or Scripture reading, (2) singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, (3) praying to God through Christ, (4) observance of the Lord's supper, and (5) the giving of money, goods, and services for the propagation of the faith and the relief of human needs. Very well, then, does the person who DOES these things worship God? Not necessarily, because an apostle spoke of certain persons who ate the Lord's supper in a manner unworthy of it, not discerning the Lord's body. Moreover, the singing and praying were commanded to be done "with the spirit and with the understanding also." From this: it is clear that the things done in the New Testament worship were the authorized channels through which the true worship flowed, and that worship has the same relationship to the channels that electricity has to the power line that carries it. This, of course, does not disparage the authorized channels, nor suggest that man may select channels of his own. See below under: "Two Ways to Worship." True worship is the soul's adoration of the Creator functioning obediently to the divine will.

Must worship in spirit and in truth ... This speaks thunderously of the fact that the worship of God must be done properly, the two requirements being that it must be engaged in with utmost sincerity and as directed by the word of God. God has revealed the manner in which he should be worshipped, and those who hope to have their worship accepted should heed the restrictions.

PROHIBITIONS REGARDING WORSHIP

The verse before us is a powerful prohibition. Also, Jesus said, "In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Mark 7:7). An apostle declared that "God ... dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything" (Acts 17:24,25). The author of this gospel wrote, "Testify unto every man that heareth the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book" (Revelation 22:18). And also, "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God" (2 John 1:1:9). Jesus said of the Pharisees, "Ye have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition" (Matthew 15:6). Paul warned the Corinthians, "Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure, transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6). From these specific prohibitions, as well as from the spirit and tenor of the entire Bible, it is clearly impossible for man to approach his Creator in worship, except as God has directed. This was true in the days of Cain and Abel, of Nadab and Abihu, of David and Uzzah, and of the Lord Jesus Christ and ever afterward. It is true now and always.

ONLY TWO WAYS TO WORSHIP GOD

Worship is as old as the human race, but in the long history of mortal events only two ways to worship God have ever been discovered. These are: God's revealed way, and any other way that man might have devised himself. A glance at both is appropriate.

I. God's way to worship. People are commanded to worship God, and it is simply inconceivable that God has not instructed men how to obey this commandment (Revelation 14:7). Of the ancient tabernacle, only a type of the worship men offer today, God said to Moses, "See that thou make all things according to the pattern" (Hebrews 8:5), and there is no way to avoid the application of this to Christian worship. Why else should it have been in the book of Hebrews? And what is the New Testament pattern of Christian worship? "The things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6) reveal that the New Testament churches:

Offered prayers to God through Christ (Acts 2:46).

Observed the Lord's supper (Acts 20:7).

Gave of their means (1 Corinthians 16:2).

Taught the sacred Scriptures (Acts 2:46).

Sang certain kinds of songs (Colossians 3:16).

No student of the Bible will deny that both precept and example for the above pattern of worship are found in the New Testament. If this is not God's pattern of worship, what is it?

II. Man's way of worshipping. This has varied in time, place, and circumstance; but a survey of the entire field of worship, as it has developed since the foundation of Christianity, reveals numerous activities, ceremonies, doctrines, commandments, and devices unknown to the Bible, as well as alterations, restrictions, additions, subtractions and substitutions with reference to the things that are revealed. There are even examples of incorporating elements of the old covenant, and of the acceptance of pagan elements into the sacred arena of Christian worship. It would be nearly impossible to list all the human changes, additives, and aberrations inflicted upon Christianity by the historical church, but a complete list is not necessary. The partial list below will show what is meant:

Auricular confession, baptizing of images, baptizing of bells, baptizing of infants, baptism of desire, baptism for the dead, burning of incense, canonization of saints, celibacy of the clergy, communion under one kind, elevation of the host, extreme unction, invocation of saints, lighting of blessed lamps and candles, Lenten fasts and ceremonies, monasticism, orders of monks and nuns, societies of Jesus, purgatory, prayers for souls in purgatory, paschal candles, priestly robes and vestments, holy paraphernalia, penance, redemption of penances, pouring for baptism, sprinkling for baptism, the rosary of the Virgin Mary, the sale of indulgences, the sacrifice of the mass, sacrifices for the dead, the sign of the cross, the separation of clergy and laity, tradition received on a level with the word of God, the doctrine of transubstantiation, and of consubstantiation, the sprinkling of holy water, the stored-up merit of dead saints, works of supererogation, the use of mechanical instruments of music, ceremonies of Ash Wednesday, the development of a hierarchical system of earthly church government, etc., etc.

Now this writer has never met a person, throughout a lifetime of discussing Christianity, who would deny that at least some of the above deviations from God's pattern of worship are sinful. But, of course, the thing that makes any one of them sinful MAKES THEM ALL SO! They were not first spoken by the Lord (Hebrews 2:3). Their authority derives not from God but from men.