Worship in Spirit and Truth

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. If we neglect the most elementary practices of the Christian religion, if we ignore the spiritual disciplines of the Christian life, it may lead to several things.

It might lead to God. We have this feeling that he's distant. Or we might become indifferent. Maybe it leads to a dryness of our spirit. Have you ever felt that way in your Christian walk? You just feel a dryness in your spirit, like there's something missing.

I understand this is all very basic. I totally get it. This is like Christianity 101, right? So why preach a sermon like this? Because I also know that these things are often and easily neglected. Well, I'm too busy to read my Bible.

Well, you know, I'm too busy to pray. Well, you know, I'm too busy to go to church. I have other things going on this weekend. Well, these are obviously decisions that each individual needs to make. But let me just suggest if there is a disconnect, if there is a dryness in your spirit, maybe this is why.

This message might be simple, but it's simply meant to help. For some, it'll be an encouragement to stay on the right track. Keep it up. Keep up the good work. For others, it'll be an admonishment to get on the right track.

I was talking to someone about these general subjects, and they said, you know, the problem is I just don't like being told what to do. And I'm like, well, yeah, obviously nobody likes to be told what to do.

And I think this is one of the problems with preaching. You know, who does this guy think he is up there telling me what I should or shouldn't do? Well, that's not a preacher's only job, but it is part of a preacher's job.

But people, you know, people don't like being told what to do. I don't like being told what to do. I'm not afraid to admit that when Paul is interesting. I kind of was reading this and it dawned on me one day when Paul writes to Timothy about those who tickle ears.

Right. Is that second Timothy four? You know, they have itching ears. So these are the ear ticklers, the preachers who tell people what they want to hear. Paul mentions to Timothy that because the people will not endure sound doctrine, they heap up for themselves, not preachers.

They heap up for themselves teachers. And I think this is what people prefer. They prefer a teacher more than a preacher. Why? Because teaching you're communicating information. You know, you're sitting, you're listening, you're learning, and that's all good.

And we we need that. But preaching is telling people, OK, here's the information. Now, here's what you need to do about it. And people don't like that as much. Now, there's part of preaching that's encouraging, hopefully, and the exhortation.

You know, you're trying to convince people to move in the right direction, hopefully inspire people to move in the right direction. But again, everyone needs to make that decision for themselves. It's like the old saying, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

Right. And of course, that's that's true. So there's teaching and teaching is easy. You can sit and listen and learn. Preaching is a little different. Now you're called to do something about it. So whether we like it or not, we need the preaching.

The Spiritual Disciplines and the Duty of Corporate Worship

OK, what's the title of the message? The spiritual disciplines. We're basically talking about, as I call them, the big three Bible reading, memorization, just knowing your Bible prayer and then church attendance.

OK, so church attendance. But more than that, it's church involvement. It's it's fellowship with other believers. But not just that. It's really the duty to worship God. Here's the thing about Christians that sets us apart from everyone else.

Christians worship God and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is one of our most basic of all duties. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 28 says, therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

And thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe. And then back in chapter 10, verse 25, the author of Hebrews talks about not forsaking the assembly. The Lord desires his people to worship him.

Amen. And here's the thing about this message. Does anyone really believe that God doesn't want you to read the Bible? Does anyone think that God doesn't want you to pray? Does anyone think that God doesn't want you to go to church?

We all kind of know, of course, the Lord wants this. So the Lord wants us to worship him. And he wants his people to worship him corporately, corporately. What did Jesus say? How do you know that? Jesus said, I will build my church.

And the word church means assembly. So Jesus is saying, I will build my congregation. I will build my assembly. You know, Sunday is the most important day of the week. So I don't know if I agree with that.

Well, you're wrong. Sunday is the most important day of the week. Can I can I get an amen on that? Why? Because it's the Lord's day. This is the Lord's day. Sunday morning when churches gather. This is the most important time of the week.

Now, here's what makes this spiritual discipline different from all the others. If somebody isn't reading their Bible, you know, you you might never know that. If somebody isn't praying, unless they tell you, you might never know that.

If somebody isn't assembling with the church, it's evident. That's that's that's the thing kind of sets this one apart. Now, with all that said, I am a little reluctant to preach on the subject of church attendance for a few reasons.

Number one, the people who most need to hear it aren't here. That's kind of the whole thing. Second, I actually think preaching on this subject can have the opposite effect. I really do. You know, if you preach at someone that, hey, you need to be in church more consistently, it'll probably lead to them being in church less consistently.

So I'm going to close this message about the spiritual discipline of worship. Not so much church, not so much church attendance. If this worked, every pastor would do it and churches would be full. So the thing is, you know that this doesn't actually work.

But let's go to John chapter four. So because of that, that's all I'm going to say about that.

Maybe. I don't know.

The Sundays are special and we are to worship God corporately. That's true. But the believers to worship God every day, right? The believer is to worship God every day. And then if we worship God every day, then Sundays just they just fall into place.

Worshiping God in Spirit and Truth

John chapter four. This is where Jesus is speaking to the Samaritan woman or sometimes known as the woman at the well. Look at John chapter four, starting in verse 20. She says to him, the Samaritan woman, our fathers worshiped on this mountain.

And you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. And Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem worship the father.

You worship what you do not know. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. So Jesus recognizes that the Jews have the truth and the Samaritans don't in this regard. He says in verse 23, but the hour is coming.

And now is when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth. For the father is seeking such to worship him. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

What does that mean that we are to worship God in spirit and in truth? Well, the Samaritan woman starts out by questioning Jesus about the proper place to worship God. So the Jews believe that it was Jerusalem and the Samaritans had their own holy mountain, Mount Gerizim.

But then Jesus shifts the focus where it's not really about a place. He shifts the focus to the person and more importantly, the disposition of their heart. What God wants is for people to worship him in their spirit.

Not just a kind of a formal outward expression where a person could just go through the motions. The Lord wants it to be meaningful and from the heart. So our worship of God is to be in spirit, but it's also to be in truth.

So we need to have the truth. There are many religions in this world and many of the people within these religions are sincere. But the truth is still the truth and error is still error. So God wants worship to be in the spirit and has to be in line with the truth.

So worship is not just something you do. That's my point. Worship isn't just something you do maybe on Sunday morning and it's outward. It's from the heart. It's in the heart. It's the disposition of our heart and that can go throughout the week.

I've noticed this. It's become a very common idea. I don't know when this happened. I think maybe in the 70s or 80s. Maybe it's been around longer than that. But there's an idea today where Christians have the idea.

I've heard well-known people talk about this where worship is the music. So we're going to worship now and they're referring to the music as if nothing else is worship that it's music only. I don't know where that idea came from but it's not true.

Music is worship. That's true. But you know what? It's all worship. So you have Bible reading. You have prayer. You have the sermon. We take the Lord's Supper. It's all worship if our hearts are in a posture of submission and reverence towards God.

The Greek word that's translated worship, what it actually means literally is to kiss the hand of. I bet you probably never thought of that, right? Worship means to kiss the hand of or to bow down or kneel to one who is greater than you.

This is why throughout history when Christians have prayed, they have prayed on their knees. In Revelation 22 when the Apostle John fell down at the feet of the angel after receiving these great visions, he fell down at the feet of the angel.

The angel said, don't do that. He said, get up. He said, worship God. So there's something about bowing down and kneeling down. Why is that? Because that is an outward expression of what's in here. Every day we should be bowing to God in our heart.

That's the disposition. And then it comes out in in what we do. You don't necessarily have to be in a special place. OK, you don't have to be in a special place. Again, the Lord, and we're almost done, but the Lord desires corporate worship.

That's true.

And it has been the practice of Christians for 2000 years now to gather together on Sunday morning as a group. But as for the spiritual disciplines, we can worship God every day, no matter where we are.

And if we are drawing close to the Lord Monday through Saturday, then Sunday is just a given Sunday just falls right into place. And when this happens, when the Lord is in his rightful place in the center of our lives and in the center of our hearts, that's when we experience the fullness of joy.

And then reading his word and spending time in prayer again, it all just falls into place. These things no longer are burdensome. They become easy. It's a habit you build up and then it's hard not to do it.

And that's where we want to be. And let me just encourage you this morning. If that's not where you are, is that where you want to be? If the spirit of God is within you, I believe it is. So let's seek the Lord with all of our hearts.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornett Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornettChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.