Publisher's Synopsis
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.Jesus Christ said, "Ye worship ye know not what." I believe that is true for most people. Everybody worships. The question is: Are we worshipping rightly? Do we know what, how, or why we worship?Jesus Christ said, about worship, that "the hour cometh ...when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit [the word 'in' is the same Greek word translated 'by'; 'by spirit'] and in truth." Worship the Father how? You shall worship Him not by candles, not by altars, not by Bible reading, not by singing, but by the spirit. "In spirit and in truth" is the figure of speech hendiadys: two nouns used but one thing meant. "Spirit" is a noun and "truth" is a noun, the double noun being used to doubly emphasize that it is spiritually true, or truly spiritual. The Father seeks a true worshipper to worship thus-in spirit and in truth. If we can find out what it is to worship God by the spirit, we know how to truly worship.The question is not what anybody thinks, but what does the Word say? There have been so many ideas brought to Christianity that it is often difficult for even Biblical scholars to distinguish between that which is genuine and that which is counterfeit. In other words, it is hard to separate that which is truly Christianity from that which is religion. Religion is what man has introduced. There is much religion in so-called Christianity, but true Christianity does not have one ounce of religion in it. Unless you know the difference between religion and Christianity, you will become very confused. Christianity, in a nutshell, is what God wrought in Christ. Christianity is Christ in you, the hope of glory.The Bible teaches that God is Spirit and we are to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Jesus declared this truth when he spoke to the Samaritan woman. In John 4:20 the woman said to Jesus, "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." Jesus replied in verse 21, "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father." How then shall He be worshipped?- Philippians 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.This is true worship. The called of God are those who "worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus." We rejoice in Christ Jesus, not in Jesus Christ. There is a great difference. We do not rejoice in the humiliated one, Jesus, but in the glorified Christ. Our rejoicing, our worshipping is in the resurrected Christ. Our rejoicing is not in that Jesus who was spit on or slapped or persecuted or derided. We rejoice that be was more than a conqueror, that be overcame and ascended up into heaven, that he is seated at the right hand of God, and that on the day of Pentecost he sent "forth this, which ye now see and bear," as stated in Acts 2:33. Rejoice in Christ Jesus, the humiliated one who has been resurrected and has ascended into glory. To worship is to rejoice in Christ Jesus for what he did, not what we do, because the flesh is weak. Do not judge men by the flesh. Have no confidence, trust, reliance, nor believing in the flesh. The flesh is so weak that John 6:63 says that "the flesh profiteth nothing." When we have confidence in the flesh, we must assess one man to be better than another on the basis of appearance. Yet, if men are born again of God's Spirit, whose children are they? God's! In God's sight they are equally precious.There are many things going on under the guise of Christianity which are nothing more than having "confidence in the flesh." But we truly have our confidence in what God wrought in Christ Jesus.
