How Should We Worship God?

A great way to answer this is to quote Jesus Himself "worship God in spirit and in truth". Lots of information is packed into that short phrase. Let's investigate more closely and see what we find.

One day Jesus was traveling through a region in Judea known as Samaria. The region of Samaria roughly aligned with the region once occupied by the 10 northern tribes after they split away from the rest of Israel. The people who lived in this region of Samaria had a curious collection of beliefs and practices that were similar to what the Jews practiced but definitely not the same.

While the disciples were off running errands Jesus sat down to rest at a public well and started up a conversation with a Samaritan woman who was there. Their conversation was mostly about the truth of who He was and what He had to offer spiritually. However, their conversation touched briefly on the subject of proper worship.

Read the whole chapter to get the context and then zoom in on these verses John 4:19-24. The woman's question in verse 19 begs an answer "which way of worship is correct"? The summation of Jesus' response is found in verse 23-24 "the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth".

The woman thought of Samaritans as the true worshipers of God. But Jesus corrected her saying "no, your people don't know what they are talking about. The truth of salvation and correct manner of worship [at least up until that point] was with the Jews".

Some folks interpret Jesus' comments about “worshiping in spirit” as meaning... after the coming of the sacrificial lamb of God and the new high priest all matters of worship becomes a spiritual matters of the heart rather than a matter of obedience and action. But, Jesus forecast actually said, true worshipers will worship 1) in spirit 2) in truth.

If there is a way to worship that is in truth... then there is also a way to worship that is false.

False Worship of God

The way the Samaritans ended up with their strange mixture of beliefs and practices is actually part of the biblical record. God doesn't waste a lot of words exploring the many false paths human beings take. But He does make a point of providing detail about the Samaritans. Their worship of God had similarities to true worship... but it was also very different. God wanted people who encountered the counterfeit version of Samaritan worship confuse it with the truth.

God cares about how people worship. He wants worship that is according to His word of truth... because how you worship shapes how you understand God. How you interact with and view God affects how you proceed [or do not proceed] on the path to eternal sonship in the Family of God.

The Separation of Israel and Judah [the Jews]

The story of how the Samaritans came to occupy the territory of the 10 northern tribes begins with the separation of David’s kingdom into two separate kingdoms. That sad tale begins with Solomon.

1 Kings 11:1-4 Solomon goes down in history as a man blessed with superior wisdom. But also as the man who dabbled in everything and let himself be enticed away from pure devotion to God.

1 Kings 11:9-13 covenants have obligations and consequences…God would punish Solomon for breaking faith by taking away the northern 10 tribes from his kingdom.

The Subordinate

1 Kings 11:26-28 Solomon also goes on record as a harsh ruler. The many glorious building projects were built by using force to gather workers from among the ten tribes. This practice caused tension and agitation among the people.

Putting Jeroboam in charge of these people could have made him hated by the people. It could also put him in a position to become their spokesperson when the time came for popular resistance and rebellion.

1 Kings 11:29-36 God anoints Jeroboam to become king over the 10 northern tribes of Israel.

1Kings 11:37-33, then 37-40 God offers Jeroboam a covenant of enduring dynastic kingship similar to what was offered to David. The same conditions apply... you must stay true to My commands. The context places great emphasis on true worship. While Solomon is still alive Jeroboam has to flee for his life to Egypt.

Solomon Dies and His Son Rehoboam Becomes King

Some form of populist revolt is afoot. Rehoboam goes to Shechem which was probably an historic place of assembly for the former tribal league [see Joshua 24]. The northern 10 tribes are reasserting their right to approve of choose who would be their king. They bring back Jeroboam to represent their common cause and ask for concessions. Lighten up on the forced labor and taxation and we will remain loyal,  1 Kings 12:1-5.

Rehoboam seeks counsel from his advisers. The older men advise him to tell the people what they want to hear and then later you can do what ever you want with them. The younger men say be bold and show them you are an even greater man than your father.

1 Kings 12:12-16 Rehoboam is harsh, despotic, autocratic, and stupid. He does not know how to play politics and attempts to cover this with a showing of bravado. The 10 northern tribes decide to go their own way.

Rehoboam attempts to reassert his rule by sending in his officials to gather the forced labor teams as if nothing has happened. The people of the 10 northern tribes publicly murder the man, but Rehoboam escapes. Rehoboam gathers a huge army to force the northerners into submission... but God tells him to stand down because this turn of events was of God's own doing. Rehoboam wisely obeys and goes home. From this point forward their are two kingdoms: one composed of the 10 northern tribes [called Israel], and another composed of the Judah in the south [note: Benjamin and Levi decide to attach themselves to the southern kingdom].

Jeroboam Leads Israel Into Sin

1 Kings 12:25-33 Jeroboam had some very wrong and damaging ideas of what worship was all about. He sees the activities of worship as a tool to manipulate the people rather than as acts demonstrating obedience and devotion to the living God. Jeroboam knew he could change the way they think by changing the way they worship…. God knows this too!

True worship of the living God according to His commands leads to understanding God as He really is. False worship of God [worshiping Him in ways that we dictate] leads to confusion about Who and What God is, what He is all about, how He interacts with us, and how we are to interact with Him. Worship of God on the weekly 7th day Sabbath and the 7 annual holy days and festivals are essential to our understanding of the living God. He knows this, and that is why He cares so much about it!

Jeroboams Innovations

2 Golden Calves - this is same sin Israel committed back at the time of the Exodus. A foolish attempt to render an image of God using humanly devised ideas of fertility and strength in the form of a dumb bull. False images of God are prohibited because they lead to a false understanding of the living God… depicting Him as less than He truly is… and object of our imagination and a thing to be manipulated.

Upgraded local shrines - Jeroboam wanted people to imagine they could worship the living God wherever they wanted. Why go all the way to Jerusalem when you can just stay here; worship and make your sacrificial atonement in a much more convenient way… motives that still drive people’s imaginations.

Liberalized access to the priesthood - true worship also involves an acceptance of God's authority over who provides instruction... who administers the things of God. A priest represent man before God and God before man. Under Jeroboam priests were of dubious character and untrained and their offices were up for sale to anyone who could pay [see 2 Chronicles 13:9].

Changed the religious calendar - Jeroboam did not want the people travelling to Jerusalem for the feast of Tabernacles so he instituted a counterfeit version. He changed the dates by putting it off a month [to the 8th month instead of the 7th]. Presumably he did this to the other appointed times as well.

They may have intended all this as a new and better way of worshiping the true God... but the true living God was not pleased.

1 Kings 13: 1-6 God effectively says "the covenant I proposed with is now off the table". We don't read about Jeroboam being a liar, a murderer, adulterer, taking bribes, corrupt, harsh, cruel, unjust [actually he was sort of a hero of the people]. God's condemnation came because of matters of worship.

1 Kings 13:33-34 no repentance

All The Kings of Israel Followed Jeroboam's Practices

I gave you a handout showing each of the subsequent kings of Israel who came to power during the 200 year's following Jeroboam. In the short biblical assessment of these kings there is a common element... repeated over and over... which is the bible's way of emphasizing a point.

Israel's kings all followed the practices of Jeroboam which lead Israel into great sin. They had many other moral failings... but God is very concerned with how mortal humans worship... because how we worship has tremendous impact on how we understand Him, how we understand our relationship to Him... and therefore our relationship to all things whether material or spiritual.

Even if directed towards Him, false worship practices we devise to suit ourselves are not good for us... and God says don't do it.

Israel Kicked Out of The Promised Land

2 Kings 17:1-6 the people of the 10 northern tribes were deported to far off lands in what is now Iran. There is no record of them ever returning to the promised land.

2 Kings 17:21-23 even after listing all the other grievous idolatry the people later got themselves into... God make special note of the sins of Jeroboam... who's chief sin was thinking he could change how we worship God to suit our own needs... worshiping the true God in false ways.

2 Kings 17:24-28 The people brought into occupy the land are the Samaritans. The king of Assyria arranges for one of the priests of the deported Israelites to come back to teach the new population how to worship this strange god. But the priest were false priests who were merely going to pass along the false worship of God. This is how the Samaritans ended up with their alternate, counterfeit version of worship patterned after the imagination of a man rather than the commands of God.

2 Kings 17:29, 30-34 what the Samaritans learned from the false priests was then mixed together with other idolatrous folk religion they brought with them.

2 Kings 17:40-41 A crazy patchwork of beliefs and practices that God said was unacceptable - but form some He did stop the lions from harassing them [fascinating]. And right down to the days of Jesus the

Worship God In Spirit & In Truth

We began with an encounter between Jesus and a Samaritan woman at a well. A woman raised in the traditions  of her people which she must have accepted as correct.  She posed the question to Jesus… "who's worship is correct"? Jesus answered "the Jews".  Which tells us there is a right way vs. wrong.

Jesus went on to tell her about a coming day when the true worshipers of God would worship in spirit and in truth.

The popular takeaway from Jesus' words is that worship of God is now a matter of the heart. If our heart is right God does not care about how we worship, or when, or where. We are free to concoct all sorts of different ways to exalt Him. And God will be pleased with all our creative efforts as long as our heart and spirit are lifted up and encouraged.

This false interpretation of worship teaches us false things about God. For one, it implies God has changed His ways. He no longer even cares about matters He once considered life and death. So, He really isn't the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Therefore, who knows what direction He will take in the future?

Conclusion

Hebrews 4:9 tell us "there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God". The disciples and apostles set us an example of holy day observance. True worship which teaches us about our Creator and His plan for salvation.

God still cares how… when… where we worship.