|
WORSHIP GOD IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH
John 4:23-24 (to the woman at the well) "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in SPIRIT and TRUTH, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." WE LOVE GOD WITH OUR SPIRIT, OUR MIND, AND OUR ALL Matt. 22:37 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." VIEW 1. JESUS IS THE TRUTH WE WORSHIP THE FATHER THRU HIM John 14:6 "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." VIEW 2. WE MUST WORSHIP IN THE TRUTH OF OUR HOLY LIFE 1Tim. 2:8 "I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." VIEW 3. WE ALSO WORSHIP WITH OUR SPIRIT AND OUR MIND 1Cor. 14:15 So what shall I do? "I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my mind." Rev. 1:10 On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. —John the Apostle WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF WORSHIP? Acts 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Eph. 5:19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord LOOK AT A FEW SPIRITUAL SONGS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT Eph. 5:14 "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." Rev. 5:12 "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" John 1:29 O Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! WE ALSO PRAY IN THE HOLY SPIRIT Eph. 6:17-18 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Rom. 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 1Cor. 6:17 But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. IT IS THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO LEADS OUR WORSHIP 1Cor. 2:9-13 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" — but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. THEREFORE WE WORSHIP IN GOD'S SPIRIT AND TRUTH (AS BAPTIZED BELIEVERS HAVING JESUS AND HIS SPIRIT) BUT ALSO IN OUR OWN SPIRIT AND THE TRUTH OF OUR HOLY LIVES Our worship together must be both in the Spirit and in the Truth. We need to restore worship in the Spirit to our worship in the church. Our singing and our prayers to God must be passionate and alive! Traditionally, we keep everything on an "intellectual level" when we worship in our assemblies. We were spiritually orphaned from the first century church. When the Thomas Campbell established the churches of Christ in America, they brought the traditional denominational way of worship with them. It was all they knew. Worship in the Spirit was almost non-existant in America. Only the ancient Eastern churches still practice it. (Armenian, Coptic, Orthodox) (this is very new to us, but the early church sang this way.) Singing "Spiritual Songs" sounds boring. Only a verse or a line sung over and over for minutes or hours at a time? They are not for our intellect, but for our spirit. Try it! Try to sing like this in private. Lift your hands to God and sing until you are pouring out your heart and emotion to God! Get beyond the mere intellectual worship of God. Learn to worship in spirit and in truth! HOW DO WE WORSHIP IN THE SPIRIT? It is a similar to fasting. (Fasting is optional. It does not improve your standing with God, so don't get prideful and boastful if you do it.) Really it is in our PERSONAL LIFE, where we learn to sing SPIRITUAL SONGS and spend a long time in intense PRAYER This is where our life begins to be affected by God and we grow in the Spirit. After being in God's presence for an hour, an evening, or all night, things start to happen for you, and to you. You have caught a glimpse of light from the Throne of God. Up over the top of your closet wall there was a ray of glory shining down into your soul, and you are deeply moved! Suddenly, it was not just you singing and praying, but you are adding your voice to the billions of voices that are always singing out in the fabulous Light that surrounds the Throne of God! You are moved! You are touched! You are transported into His presence. Time does not pass in His presence: Wonder of wonders! Greatest of all! Most beautiful of all! Holy of Holies! You weep. You cry. You are moved to ecstasy and joy. Wonder fills your whole being. You've seen God! (not in a vision, not with your eyes, but in your heart and spirit. Then, having seen Him, you begin to love God with your whole heart and mind and body and soul! You come out of that time of prayer and worship energized and filled with vitality and contentment. You haven't eaten or , but you dont miss it. You could run a hundred miles. You could move that mountain with your own two hands. Because you have been in the presence of almighty God! Don't tell me that we should keep things intellectual here in this worship. Let us not be superficial here of all places, while we are in his presence! I know you men are like me. We all are moved when we go to a good movie. I take my wife and we stand in line with other people. You see the little boxes of kleenex the women carrying. You know they are planning to have a good time You sit with your wife in the dark and you reach over to get a hanky at all the right moments, just like she does. You didn't come there to cry. You came to be moved, to be lifted up in the presence of some high and noble ideal, or scene... God is looking down at us guys and he is humming a tune. You remember the words of the tune: "You alone are my hearts desire, To you alone does my spirit yeild. You alone are the real joy giver and the apple of my eye." (when will we look to God for all our great moments to be moved by?) So Jesus tells us about worship: God is a Spirit. If we worship him, it must be in Spirit and in Truth. No wonder that woman at the well dropped her pot and ran to the city! He moved her she saw God glorified. How could she not tell everyone about him? We have worshipped him only in Truth alone for so long, we have forgotten that there is a whole other dimension to our worship — to worship him in the Spirit! Therefore no longer let us sit here and sing: Redeemed and I love to proclaim it (dull and slow) -or- There's power in the blood, power in the blood (with no emotion) Visiters before have seen that God is only an intellectual exercise to us He is in our head, but maybe not in our hearts. If you are in the Spirit. If your life is transformed, you are going to radiate that! HERE ARE SOME PRACTICAL THINGS TO DO FOR WORSHIP Learn to worship god with your whole being Learn to pray in the spirit and in the understanding Learn to sing with the spirit and with the understanding So when you come here and blend your voices, it will be with passion, with joy and conviction. Never bring God such a poor offering again! You song leaders don't do the intellectual thing either. Never walk up here to lead us in His Worship, flipping in the book for some songs to sing. You spend time in prayer and singing before you come to the front to lead us. We need you to lead us in the best and most powerful songs. Take a marker and go through your book and cross out all the poor, weak, and difficult songs that are hard to understand. Why would you do this? Because too many times, people are working too hard to get the notes right in their parts, or they are working to sing all the words right on time, instead of concentrating on the God they are wishing to praise! Remember, four-part harmony and musical notation were inventiions of the Rennaisance. They had no place in the worship of the early church. The first church relied upon chants and simple words alone to praise her God. Our God is a mighty God. His praise should also be mighty in the power of giving our best in passion and spiritual sacrifice! Therefore, use only the best songs for your worship leading! To all of us Worship God with all your might! Sing to Him with every fiber in your body! With every passion of your heart! With all your soul on fire for Him and in love with Him! Worship Him with all your might! Then when people hear us and see us together they will be drawn, not to us, but to the object of our worship Jesus Christ! Then will we be the kind of people that will turn this town upsidedown! Then no one will be able to oppose us as we share the gospel of jesus! PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR SINGING "IN THE SPIRIT" For those who have been born againof the water and the Spirit, the Lord instructs them to worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth. Worship in the Spirit in the New Testament times consisted of chants using simple phrases which were repeated over and over for long periods of time. You are welcome to try this as a method of increasing your spiritual walk with Jesus. Like fasting, there is no obligation to do so, nor is there a set time or place. This is just another thing that Christians do when they need or want to. Here are some useful spiritual songs. May you grow in the Holy Spirit! Shine Jesus Shine Fill this land with the Fathers glory Set our hearts on fire Flow river flow Flood the nations with grace and mercy Send forth your word Lord and let there be light O come let us adore him O come let us adore him Ocome let us adore himChrist the lord Our God reigns Our God reigns Our God reigns Our God reigns You are worthy You are worthy You are worthy O Lord To receive glory Glory and honor Glory and honor and power For you have created Have all things created You have created all things And for your pleasure they are created You are worthy O Lord Worthy is the Lamb that was slain Worthy is the Lamb that was slain Worthy is the Lamb that was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom and strength Honor and glory and blessing Worthy is the Lamb that was slain Worthy is the Lamb that was slain Worthy is the Lamb that was slain Here we are in Your Presence Lifting holy hands to You Here we are praising Jesus For the things He's brought us through You are Lord you are Lord You are risen from the dead and You are Lord Every knee shall bow every tongue confess That Jesus Christ is Lord Hosanna Hosanna Hosanna in the highest Glory Glory Glory to the King of Kings Lord I lift up your Name With my heart full of praise Be exalted O Lord my God Hosanna in the highest You are my God You are my King You are my Master of everything You are my Lord That's why I sing Hal le lu jah Hal le lu jah I exalt Thee I exalt Thee I exalt Thee O Lord I exalt Thee I exalt Thee I exalt Thee O Lord To You we ascribe glory To You we ascribe honor To You we ascribe power and majesty Holy is the Lord Find some more of these kinds of songs in your song books. I know that we do not have many of these kinds of spiritual songs in them, but there are many choruses and there are many psalms that we could us. Better yet, make your own songs of praise as you worship God! When you sing together, do not use the song books. Do not use a projector to put the words up front. Just follow the lead of the songleader. If you dont know the words, then listen and learn them. After a few times singing the same chorus, you and the visitors will learn these spiritual songs well enough to sing them. Our church always denied using this method because they did not want to offend the visitors. But we finally helped them to understand that those visitors who came did not know our songs, even if we used the books and gave out the song number. We took a poll and found that the typical visitor did not know how to read music, and the words were unfamiliar anyway. Then they finally understood that what moved the visitor was what could move us also. We tried singing spiritual songs without a book or any external help. All of us were touched because we finally got rid of the training wheels in our worship, and we all were growing in our relationship with God. God bless you as you begin to learn how to restore the singing of spiritual songs to your worship. You will find an amazing renewal and growth when you do. Those who visit our assembly now, come back again. We are finally ministering to the whole person, in their minds and in their hearts. Once peopel are allowed to express their feelings, they grow in spirit. Roger Born roger@borngraphics.com THE VERY BEST WRITING |