Central Christian Church of St. Petersburg
November 28 2001
Tell Bears and Buccaneers joke.
One of the ideas I was given for Sermon topics was the question: "How do I live the Spiritual life."
The statement was made that "I still struggle with temptation and sin."
Jesus said" John 4:23 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
John 4:24 "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
What in the world does that mean?
John the apostle who wrote The Revelation begins the letter with this statement: Rev 1:9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos, because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet,
What did John mean, it was the Lord’s day and he was in the spirit?
Were there other days he was not in the Spirit and living by the flesh?
Over the next few weeks, I will spend some time examining the Spirit led life, the worldly led life, the differences between the two and we will look at God’s word together to find out how we too can lead a life that worships in Spirit and in Truth. We will seek to find out how we can overcome temptation and sin.
Tonight let us look at our first question: What in the world does it mean to worship God in spirit and truth?
We have to start by understanding worship. What does it mean to worship something or some one?
Worship- in the Hebrew( shahah) the word literally meant to bow down before, prostrate and that is consistent with one of the Greek words proskuneo- denoting the worthiness of the individual to be worshipped and although proskuneo is the most common translation found in the bible for worship occurring some 71 times the word I like best is found in Romans 12:1 and in 10 other passages I like it, best to describe true spiritual worship.
Here is the Spirit led life in:
Rom 12:1 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Rom 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
The word here for worship is LATREUO la true o and deals with worshipping God by the Spirit of God. Through service to God- those literally are the ones who are worshipping Him.
So we see from this text that to worship God- truly requires service to God.
I believe we see two pictures of worship the bowing down, which tells God we have humbled ourselves before Him and we know He is who He says He is.When we bow down it is presumed that we live according to the Master’s commands.
We know that He is God and we are not.
We also know that He sits on the throne and we do not. We know that we can trust Him for everything.
And then we see, this component of our worship coupled with the truth that true worshippers will worship god in Spirit and in truth. I believe Isaiah put both of the components of worship together in the presence of God.
Open your bibles to:
1. Isa 6:1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.
Isa 6:2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
Isa 6:3 And one called out to another and said, "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory."
Isa 6:4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
Isa 6:5 Then I said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."
Isa 6:6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tongs.
Isa 6:7 And he touched my mouth with it and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven."
Isa 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!"
Look at Isaiah’s worship experience: He saw:
1. See the awe of God’s presence (Proskuneo)
2.The conviction of sin
3 reminder of Grace
4. The acknowledgement of hearing God’s voice
5. The inspiration to serve (Latrueo)
6. The Act of serving [Going or doing]
I believe Abraham gives us another example of a person who worshipped God in Spirit and in truth.
Look at Genesis 22- Abraham understood this word Worship meant bowing down, but also his faith meant action.
Gen 22:1 Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."
Gen 22:2 And He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."
Gen 22:3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
Gen 22:4 On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance.
Gen 22:5 And Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship and return to you."
Gen 22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.
1Give to God. God,
2. Ask the right question. what do you want from me?
3. Our satisfaction as worshippers is a by-product of our giving to God.
4. Faith is worshipping God
And of course our Lord, our Master our Savior gives us the best example of a worshipper in Spirit and in Truth.
Phil 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself;
Phil 2:4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.
Phil 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,
Phil 2:6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Phil 2:7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
Phil 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Phil 2:9 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
Mat 20:25 But Jesus called them to Himself, and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.
Mat 20:26 "It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,
Mat 20:27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;
Mat 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
If we are only serving and not bowing down recognizing who God is, we are failing in our worship. By the same token-if our only worship experience is Sunday morning then it is going to come up short most of the time. But if you spend your time with God during the week, doing spiritual acts of worship in righteous works serving others, then on Sunday we will find ourselves worshiping from the overflow in our hearts. This kind of two tiered Worship pleases a Holy God and it causes the worshipper to recognize his sinfulness and inadequacy. If we will live daily worshipping this way we will show the fruit of a life led by the Holy Spirit.
