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Msg #572                Wed, Sept 02, 2009

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 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.

(Jn 4:23)

God is searching for real worship.  Did you know that?

Right now, today, God is seeking, searching for, looking for those who worship Him rightly – true worship.  That is exactly what Jesus tells us here!  Think about that for a moment, picture it in your mind…God seeking, looking for real worship.

Part of the problem is that not all worship is really worship.  What do I mean?  Well, Jesus here calls it “true worshipers” and to call it such lets us know that there are “false worshipers”.  In fact in context, it was part of the question that the Samaritan Woman was asking.  She was comparing two places where people said they were worshipping the Lord, in Jerusalem and in Samaria – and she was asking Jesus who was doing it right. 

The simple point for us…not all that calls itself worship is really worship.  Just because we call something worship…does not mean God does.   In fact, I hesitate a guess that much of what is called worship today is not really worship.  In a sea of counterfeits…God is longing for, wanting and looking for the real thing. 

So the question for you is this: What is real worship?   In this passage Jesus gives us three key factors I want you to consider.

First – Real Worship is of the Father.  It is worship where God Himself is really the focus.  If you have never thought about it, it might sound odd….but the reality is that often this is not the focus of people’s worship.   What else would that focus be?  Simple answer is….us.  

Those who lead false worship…are often seeking to draw attention to themselves, to get people to be impressed with them, their talents, their style, their originality and more.  

Yet often the fault is not in the leader – but in those who attend times of worship.  Instead of coming to really make God the focus…we make ourselves the focus.  Worship becomes about the experience, how it makes me feel, singing songs  I like, with the sound I like and more.  Worship becomes about a longing to have some tingly experience that I enjoy. 

The sad reality is, that instead of growing in a God focus of loving Him with all my heart, mind, soul and strength – which is part of the point of real worship – such false worship becomes growing in loving myself, and feeding my flesh and its desires.  Such feeding only pushes me away from the Lord and detracts from His glory instead of seeing Him and truly worshipping

Much more could be said here…but the simple answer is that instead of God being the focus of worship, in false worship we become the focus…and that makes it not real worship.

Second – Real Worship is of the Spirit.  Jesus said real worshipers must worship in Spirit.  There is a vital role here of realizing that in our flesh, and in our strength, we are unable to really worship.   What we desperately need is God Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit to empower, enable and help us to worship.  The key to worship is not our favorite music, or setting the mood with perfect lighting in a room or any other such man created thing.  To really worship, we need God Himself to help us worship.  Much could be said here, but I leave it with you to consider.

Third – Real Worship is of Truth.   Worship is not just about the melody of a song, about instruments that sound good and more.  O don’t misunderstand, those are not bad things. God has given us the ability to play music and to sing – He is the one that thought up and gave us ears and noises that can sound so awesome.  And the truth is, I believe that music finds its real purpose in worship, it is good.  Yet, the real issue to God…is truth – not just how we say things – with melody, with choirs or with praise bands…but what we say.  Is it true?   What makes real worship is that it becomes truth set on fire.  It is the great realties of God and His Word sung back to Him.   Sadly…many of the things sun in modern worship…are not true!  They are contradictory to the Word of God.  One of the things we need to look for and long for in really seeking to worship God is that what we are saying and singing…be very true!

God is on the lookout for real worship.  To do so in this world today, He looks past so many counterfeits of what we call worship.  Yet, He is looking for and longing for real worship.  My question for you…is will He find it with you?

Jim

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