Worship in Spirit and in Truth. What does it mean?

Over the past year, one of the biggest things that has been of particular re-realization for me is that our life of intimacy and relationship with God is foundational. Over time, I've been sidetracked with serving and only knowing the Word. These are important aspects of our walk with the Lord too; however, it is the aspect of relationship with God that is primary.

Now with respect to the question, let us start off with the passage. The setting is the all familiar well where Jesus talks to the Samaritan women. During the conversation, Jesus says many things, including the focus of discussion, worshiping in spirit and in truth. In the paragraph which Jesus addresses this, it is important to realize what He says at the former part of the paragraph, in order to fully grasp the later part. The first thing he says is that "a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem". In Old Testament times, worshiping on the mountain and in Jerusalem was significant because it was where God was present. This passage of scripture sets up a bit of foreshadow of what's to come, and I believe that specifically is the receiving of the Holy Spirit (which Jesus speaks about later on in the book of John) - I'll discuss this more later. Secondly, Jesus says in v. 22, "You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know". From the limited knowledge I do have, the Samaritans had idol worship. What exactly did they represent? I think Jesus answers it - They didn't know. This sets up a question. If they're not going to worship on this mountain and in Jerusalem, where God is assumed present, where are they going to worship?

When getting to know anyone, it starts off with knowing the facts about them - who they are, what they have done. I see these as the points of "truth" - head knowledge if you will. That's why it's so important to read the Bible. But knowing someone goes beyond just head knowledge, as there is an aspect of your spirit that is tied to it. In Exodus, God communicates with Moses and explains to him in lengthy detail how to construct the temple and all the things that go into it (Ex. 25-30). He tells him the dimension of the materials, what materials to use, where they had to be from, the priest, the incense etc. Then Moses repeats this entire detail again (Ex. 35-40). Why is this so? God's holy and the temple and the place where he resides must be perfect. The temple is where God's presence if found on Earth. No detail can be missed out, it has to be perfect. And then you turn to the New Testament, and throughout the latter part of the book of John, Jesus talks about us receiving the Counsellor of Truth, the Holy Spirit. Paul further says, in 1 Cor. 6:19, "Do you not that know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God. You are not your own". We are now that same temple in which the presence of God is found.

Now having said all that, let's go back to the point of the spirit. In each one of us, we have the Spirit of God, which leads us and guides us, if we allow and invite Him to. It's an intentional action. You can only really know someone to the extent to which he or she reveals themself to you. I see God having done that and doing that in two ways. First, He has revealed himself to us through the Word (the bible) - the aspect of truth. Secondly, He is continually revealing himself to us through the Holy Spirit which we all have - the aspect of spirit. Both actions (reading the Word and knowing Him personally through the Spirit) need to be intentional. If you don't pick up the bible and read, you can't know (in truth); as well, if you don't take the time to spend with God through the Spirit, you can't know (in spirit).

Jesus follows, in v.23-24, to answer the question of "Where are we going to worship if not on the mountain nor in Jerusalem". The answer is in spirit and in truth. Unlike the Samaritans, we know who we worship. I know I've spent the above paragraph talking about knowing God, but it is crucial that we know God before we can worship Him. We can't worship what we don't know. So in the same manner of knowing God, we worship Him.