What does true worship look like?
Often, this verse comes to mind when I think about worship: “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). But what does it mean, and how do we worship God in spirit and truth?
A while ago, through a series of events and messages, I was prompted to re-examine my views on worship. I came away with three basic convictions:
Who we worship: The focus of our worship is not us (the worshipper), but God (the One who is worshipped).
This almost seems like a given, but I cannot count the number of times we (myself included) make comments betraying the fact that we remain the centre of our own lives and worship. Partly as a product of our society, we inhabit a world where we are often the protagonists of our own life stories. We then bring this “main character energy” and consumerist mentality into our spirituality, church, and worship. Without realising it, we come to receive rather than to participate. A “good” worship experience is defined as one in which “I” am blessed and feel ministered to. That God is honoured becomes secondary or gets taken for granted. A corollary of this is the lack of theological depth, both in how we understand worship and in the songs we sing. Emotional appeal and catchiness are prioritised over biblical and theological richness.
True worship turns all this on its head. Worship is all about God—the One we worship.
Why we worship: The motivation for our worship is not because we feel like it, but because (1) God is worthy and (2) worship is what we’re created to do.
If God is at the centre of our worship, then we are motivated not by our fleeting feelings but by God’s worthiness. I don’t stop worshipping just because “I don’t feel like it” or “I’m burnt out”. God is worthy of our worship, imperfect though it may be. So I keep worshipping, even when I don’t feel like it. The psalms offer me a good repository of “worship material”—and there are psalms for every occasion, even when I don't feel like it (“Why so downcast, my soul?”)!
Another core reason for worship is that worship is what I’m created to do. Just as a rice cooker doesn’t stop cooking rice just because it doesn’t feel like it (if so, it probably needs repairs!), I keep worshipping because that’s what I’m created to do.
How we worship: The expressions of our worship are multifaceted and inexhaustible—there’s no one “right” way!
Jesus’ words in John 4:24 addressed the Samaritan woman’s earlier observation: “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you [the Jews] say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship” (v. 20). Jesus’s response, in effect, told the woman that it’s not about where people ought to worship, but with what heart.
Likewise, we may have different preconceived ideas about worship—not just where we ought to worship, but in what style, with what music, and so on. When we think about worship, the image that comes to mind is usually the Sunday morning (or Saturday evening) worship service, in the particular worship style we’re most familiar with.
But worship is so much more than that … and I love it! I love that there are so many different worship styles all over the world (some of which I’m familiar with and some perhaps not so; some of which I gravitate towards and some perhaps not so). I love that, if I don't feel like singing, I can worship God in other ways. I love that, Monday to Friday, I can worship God with my work, dotting my i’s and crossing my t’s to the honour of God. I love that, as I go about my day, I can extend kindness to a stranger because I believe it brings God glory. And I believe that God is pleased with our worship, in its varied forms.
The truth is that God is just too big to worship in only one way. Our worship reflects our God—the God who both quiets us by his love and exults over us with loud singing (Zephaniah 3:17). It’s in coming before him with all our varied, cultural expressions of worship that we can begin to reveal to the watching world how great our God is. Instead of dividing us, these expressions of worship can and should actually complement one another in a beautiful way, reflecting heaven on earth.