Untainted WorshipSample

WORSHIPING IN TRUTH To worship in truth means to worship God in true sincerity and honesty rid of all hypocrisy. Unless God Himself draws near, no man can come (Psa 65:4). Hence, it is important that when we come before God, our deepest affections and intentions are at check. God knows from a distance if we come to Him with an agenda on mind or whether we come aimlessly to seek Him. Many people come to God with a pre-planned agenda which is not wrong. Some come to God with a mask and a layer of self-righteousness or with a cover-up of deep underlying sin. No one can approach God this way. Surely, Jesus was interested in dealing with the deepest issues of the hearts of the people he ministered to while on earth, whether the Pharisees or the sinful woman at the well. It is convincing to believe that even today he’d want to get to the depths of our hearts. Hence, we must help Him make our worship experience fruitful by approaching Him in humble honesty and laid-bareness. Truth also means that we worship God in Jesus who is the embodiment of all truth. Jesus said that if we hold on to His teaching, we will be his disciples and we will know the truth which will set us free. So worshiping in truth is then a constant process of progressive, incremental, moment-by-moment growth of understanding in the liberating truth of God’s sovereign Word which reveals Christ. “Everybody worships. Whether it is a hero, possessions, success, pleasure, a political cause, a carved idol or oneself, the way we live and behave makes evident the things we love and give ourselves to. It is in our very nature to worship, and that inner drive is God-given; the disaster is that as part of a fallen race, we have replaced the object of our worship. To be converted to faith in Jesus Christ is to return to the worship of the true God, and to dethrone all rivals to his authority.” - Graham Kendrick “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t.” - John Piper