By Preston McElyea
Worship is a time in which we praise God and give Him the glory He deserves. Depending on where you might be, however, the elements of worship may look different. In some cases, it is due to a desire to become more appealing or to make the experience more enjoyable for those present. In other cases, worship seems to be rather mundane and lacks any true enthusiasm. When it comes to worship, we are not to worship God however we desire; He is specifically looking for those who would worship Him “in spirit and truth” (Jn. 4:24, NKJV). Worshipping God in spirit means that we are praising Him with our all while worshipping Him in truth means that we are worshipping Him in His prescribed manner.
Worshipping God in truth demands that the way we worship Him lines up with His desire. A study of the New Testament reveals what God’s desire in worship is. God desires that we pray to Him as an element of our worship. Paul shows how the public leading of prayer is to take place as he writes in 1 Timothy 2:8, “I desire therefore that the men prayer everywhere….” In addition to prayer, God desires that we lift our voices in song to Him (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). God desires that we use the instrument of our voice tuned by our hearts to sing songs of praise to His matchless name. Alongside our prayers and our songs, God looks for the public reading and teaching of His word. An example of this is found in Acts 20:7 as Paul taught a “message” from God as the congregation was gathered together. Acts 20:7 not only shows us the presence of preaching in worship to God, but it also reveals the necessity and the frequency with which we are to take the Lord’s Supper. It was “on the first day of the week” that “the disciples came together to break bread.” That is, the disciples gathered together to take the Lord’s Supper as instituted by Christ on the first day of the week (Matt. 26:26-29; 1 Cor. 11:23-26). It was also on the first day of the week that we find another element of our worship is to occur. Paul writes to the brethren in Corinth that it is “on the first day of the week” that the church is to “lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper” to provide for the operation of the local congregation and to help in supporting various missions and missionaries (1 Cor. 16:1-2).
On any given Sunday, many people across our nation, state, and community are gathered together to worship God. Unfortunately, few will be found by Him as true worshippers. This is due either to one’s failure to worship God in “spirit” or in “truth” (Jn. 4:24). May we all strive to worship God as He desires. As we gather together as the body of Christ Jesus, let’s continue to do all according to His authority (Col. 3:17). We may have our preferences or our desires of how we would like to do things, but we are not the object of worship. Let’s keep God at the center of our worship. Let’s do all that we can to praise Him in both “spirit and truth.”