Some Points on Worship

Joh 4:23
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.

Joh 4:24
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The kind of worship that God esteems is the kind that is both founded on the truths of God's Word and brimming with fire and passion, involving the total man.

Firstly, a true worshipper must be one with Truth personified, and that is Jesus Christ. Only the person who has the Holy Spirit in him, and is united with Christ, can offer acceptable worship unto God.

Secondly, a true worshipper must know the One to whom He is offering worship. This is where the study of God's Word plays a primary role. We are commanded to KNOW GOD in Scripture and through Scripture. As we know more of God's character and nature, we are filled with awe and reverence, and this, in turn, leads us to the third point.

A true worshipper must worship with all zeal and enthusiasm, involving emotions that have been charged by a sincere affection for God, founded on the truths about Him revealed in His Word.

True worship must involve the MIND, the AFFECTIONS, and the WILL. Anything short of this is a farce.

"Sincerity, enthusiasm, and aggressiveness are important, but they must be based on truth. And truth is foundational, but if it doesn't result in an eager, excited, enthusiastic heart, it is deficient. Enthusiastic heresy is heat without light. Barren orthodoxy is light without heat...The Father seeks both enthusiasm and orthodoxy, spirit and truth." - John MacArthur, Jr., The Ultimate Priority - Worship, ch.11, p. 116

"All worship is an INTELLIGENT and LOVING response to the REVELATION of God...

Therefore acceptable worship is impossible without preaching.

Our worship is poor BECAUSE OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD IS POOR, and our knowledge of God is poor because our preaching is poor. But when the Word of God is EXPOUNDED in its fullness, and the congregation begin to glimpse the glory of the living God, they bow down in solemn awe and joyful wonder before His throne." (emphases mine) - John Stott, Between Two Worlds, pp. 82-83