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“These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:8-9 NKJV)
It is not the will of God that we should worship, seek, or serve Him in vain. God delights in rewarding those who diligently worship, seek, and serve Him. The Scripture refers to God as “a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Heb. 11:6 NKJV).
God clearly said in His Word, “I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in vain’; I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.” (Isa. 45:19 NKJV).
The Scripture furnishes us with ample testimonies of God’s faithfulness towards those who seek and worship Him as He has commanded them. However, we worship in vain if we seek and worship God according to the oldness of the Old Testament letter.
Paul writes, “But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.” (Rom. 7:6 NKJV).
By His death on the cross, the Lord Jesus has consecrated a new and living way to seek, serve, and worship God (Heb. 10:20). The coming of Jesus into the world and His perfect finished work on the cross has brought a significant shift in the mode of worship.
Sadly, some believers today don’t realize or appreciate the remarkable paradigm shift in worship in the New Testament.
How should the New Testament believers worship God?
The believers must not worship God with animal sacrifices and food offerings associated with the Old Testament worship.
In His response to the Samaritan woman’s question about worship, the Lord Jesus pointed out how to worship God acceptably under the New Covenant.
It is certainly worth examining!
John 4:21-24 – NKJV
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 “You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
23 “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
24 “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
The following truths are presented from the Lord’s brief exposition on the New Testament mode of worship to the Samaritan woman.
First, the New Testament worship is not place-bound:
Under the Law, worship, which chiefly involves offering animal sacrifices to God, was highly restricted to a designated place (Deut. 12:5-6). Then, it was a sin punishable by death for any worshipper to offer his sacrifices to God at any place other than where God had chosen (Lev. 17:3-4).
Consequently, the Jews highly esteemed and revered the place where they worshiped more than the God they sought to worship. However, under the New Covenant, the place of worship is inconsequential.
God does not dwell in a physical temple but in a human temple—the hearts of the believers. Therefore, the New Testament saints are no longer under any restrictions on their places of worship. You are free to worship God anywhere, for God now dwells in you, not in any physical place of worship.
Paul queries, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16 NKJV).
The Jews and the Samaritans were at loggerheads over the issue of the right place to worship God according to the Law.
That was why the Samaritan woman confronted Jesus, saying, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.” (John 4:19-20 NKJV).
Like many believers today, the woman was only concerned about the place of worship, not the “person” to worship. However, the Lord Jesus pointed out to her that the place of worship was no longer significant.
Jesus told her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.” (John 4:21 NKJV).
Jesus was not implying that people would no longer worship God in Samaria or Jerusalem; He was only saying the place they worship is no longer of any great importance as it was under the Old Covenant.
Unfortunately, some believers today are yet to realize this truth. Consequently, they are still bound to a place of worship, religious organization, or denomination to the extent that they cannot worship God freely in other places.
Second, the New Testament worship is purely spiritual:
Worship under the Old Covenant is purely a monotonous physical service of “offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.” (Heb. 10:11 NKJV).
Under the Law, the worshippers could only worship God according to some types and shadows of Jesus Christ, but not according to the true revelation of Jesus Christ, who is the brightness of God’s glory and the expressed image of God’s person (Heb. 1:1-3, 10:1).
The New Testament saints, unlike the Old Testament saints, are not expected to worship God in the flesh, according to some types or shadows, or according to some Jewish rites and ceremonies, but in spirit and truth, according to the revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, Paul admonishes, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” (Col. 2:16-17 NKJV).
The Lord Jesus pointed out to the Samaritan woman that “God is Spirit, and those who
worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24 NKJV).
God wants us to worship Him in spirit, not in the flesh, and truth, not according to any form or image of God, for God is a Spirit.
The revelation of God’s person, nature, or character is crucial to your worship of God. God is without a physical body. He is not material. He is not an abstract force. He is free from all limitations of time and space and cannot be confined, contained, or localized in any temple, church, or denomination (Acts 7:48, 17:25).
Your depth of revelation of God determines the quality of your worship or service to God. You cannot worship God acceptably without knowing, accepting, and believing Jesus’ revelation and teaching about God’s true person, nature, and character.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not come into the world to teach us truths about God or give us new revelations about God. He was God in the flesh—the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of God’s person (Heb. 1:3).
Therefore, anyone not worshipping God according to what Jesus Christ revealed about God is not worshipping God acceptably.
John writes, “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known. (John 1:18 RSV).
In these difficult times, when many carnal men parading themselves as God’s servants are misrepresenting God to people to manipulate, exploit, and defraud them, you should seek to know God personally as revealed in the person and teaching of Jesus Christ and His early apostles in the epistles.
Lastly, the New Testament worship must originate in the regenerated heart:
Under the Old Covenant, the worshippers drew near God only with their mouths, but their hearts were far from God. Though they honored God with their sacrifices, their heart was not right with God.
Jesus said concerning them, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matt. 15:8-9 NKJV).
Friend, seeking to worship God from an unregenerate spirit or heart is vain. It is useless to offer God your money or any physical or material offering without first offering God a throne in your heart.
Stop paying lip service to God without a willing mind to obey God. God wants you to draw near Him and worship Him not just with your mouth but also with your heart.
Prayer:
My Dear Holy Spirit, teach and help me to begin to worship God in spirit and truth, from a regenerated heart and according to God’s revelation in the person of Jesus Christ, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
OUR mandate is to preserve the faith of the Apostolic Generation.
Eniyekpemi Fidelis Oyinpreyebi.
AWH, Blogs.
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