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Monday, April 14, 2014

In Spirit & Truth


"How and whom are crucial, not where. Worship must be vital and real in the heart, and worship must rest on a true perception of God. There must be spirit and there must be truth. So Jesus says, "The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth." The two words spirit and truth correspond to the how and whom of worship.

Worshiping in spirit is the opposite of worshiping in merely external ways. It is the opposite of empty formalism and traditionalism. Worshiping in truth is the opposite of worship based on an inadequate view of God. Worship must have heart and head. Worship must engage emotions and thought.

Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full (or half-full) of artificial admirers (like people who write generic anniversary cards for a living). On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates shallow people who refuse the discipline of rigorous thought. But true worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of biblical worship."

-John Piper

Do note that spirit does not simply means our own emotions and affections. It refers to the Holy Spirit that stirs in our hearts to worship God. But it is expressed through our emotions, affections, while rooted in truth.

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