Worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:23-24)

2023-09-14

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23-24)

These are the words of the Savior. He was speaking of the division between Jews and Samaritans as to where to worship. Consider the dialog preceding our text. The Samaritan woman began: “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:20-22). According to the Old Testament, the correct place to worship and to bring sacrifice was in Jerusalem. However, Jesus came to fulfill all the shadows of the Old Testament. It was no longer about a specific place of worship since He came to be the true sacrifice for our sins. There are no longer holy days that were required. “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17).

Where do we worship in these days? Anywhere where fellow believers can be found. When do we worship? Does it have to be the Sabbath Day? Or maybe Sunday? No, rather, it should be always.

A tradition began for Christians to worship on the first day of the week, because that is when the Lord arose. “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight” (Acts 20:7). “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come” (1 Corinthians 16:2). “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre” (Matthew 28:1). How important is the day? Well, let me ask, how do we know that back in the first century the first day of the week was Sunday, or that Saturday was the Sabbath? Do we know that for a fact? The words “Saturday” and “Sunday” do not appear in the Bible. Some countries put Sunday as the seventh day, like France. We do not know if our Sunday was the first day of the week back then, praise God. It is never wrong to worship God; it does not matter the day. Don’t let the cults fool you. In fact, it seems like the church got together every day in many different places. “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart” (Acts 2:46). Let us bring this back.

One last thing, if worshipping God on “Sun-”day is “Sun” worship, then worshipping on “Satur-”day is “Saturn” worship. Let us at least be consistent.

If you want to worship God in Spirit and truth, then stop saying “Touch not; taste not; handle not” (Colossians 2:21). Stop agonizing over the proper place and day to worship. You get together with fellow believers in the local church and thank God for what He has done in Christ Jesus, which was in part to do away with carnal ordinance and outward religiosity.