Expert: Joe Norman - 7/15/2006

Question
Hi.  I have been asked to answer a question and I keep getting stumped and can't get started with the answer.  The question is, "Explain how you feel about John 4:24."  If you could, would you please explain how you feel about John 4:24?  I would appreciate it.  It will help me get started with answering for myself.  Thank you for your time.  

Answer
I thank you for giving me the opportunity to answer this question. How I feel about John 4:24 really does not matter. I fully accept it as truth as I do all of the Bible. In order to worship God in spirit and in truth we must understand that truth is on equal footing with spirit as a requirement to worship God acceptably. We know that God's Word is Truth and so we must worship God from the heart and it must also be authorized by God's Word. Spirit expresses the character of worship: it is worship from a genuinely reverent and grateful heart. The "spirit" of true worshipers is the sincere HOW of true worship. This "spirit" or "heart" was lacking in the mere lip service of the hypocritical worshipers of Matt.15:8.

The "truth" is the standard of true worship as revealed in God's Word. Jesus clarified this in His prayer for the apostles. "Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth"
(John 17:17). This "truth" speaks of what we do in worship and, therefore, of what is authorized in worship. What "true worshipers" do to worship God must be authorized by His Word. The Word of God defines and authorizes the "truth" of true worship. Therefore, what God has authorized for worship can be distinctively identified.

The "truth" of God's Word is what was lacking in the "vain" worship of the hypocrites in Matt.15:9. They worshiped according to the commandments of men rather than the truth authorized by God's Word.

In an attempt to keep the definition of the "truth" of worship from being limited to the Word of God, the Word of "reality" has sometimes been substituted for the word "truth". However, not all reality is truth. John says, "No lie is of the truth" (I John 2:21). A lie is reality, but it is neither the truth nor "of the truth" of God's Word by which we define true worship. Jesus said we come to "know the truth" by His Word (John 8:32). The Holy Spirit identifies the light of God's Word as the truth in which we are to walk (I John 1:5-7). He equates the truth that is in us with the Word that is in us (I John 2:4,5). The reality of true worship is determined only by God's Word.

This is at least a start in looking at acceptable worship to God. I do hope that my response has helped you. Please let me know what you think.
                       Immersed In Christ, Joe Norman