What is Worship in Spirit

In reformed theology we speak of the “regulative principle” of worship. We believe it is right to worship God in the way he commands in Scripture and wrong to worship God in anyway that is not commanded in Scripture. As important this principle is to worship we must also stress to ourselves and others the importance of worshiping God in and by his Spirit. Jesus tells the woman at the well in Samaria, God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Coming to God in worship as he prescribes in his Word is objective. But how do I know when I am worshiping God in and by his Spirit? It is possible to worship in and by the Spirit with a range of emotions, but I do not think that our range of emotions can be a strict determining factor of worship that is pleasing to God in and by the Spirit.

In John 15:5 Jesus tells us we can nothing apart from him. And in 15:8 he tells us the reason for abiding in him is that he may produce fruit through us for the Father’s glory. So by ourselves we are impotent and unable to do anything for the Father’s glory, but when we are in Christ then his strength works through us. This is why Paul can say, But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2Corinthians 12:9). His weakness is the place and presentation of Christ’s power. So worship is one of the all things that Paul can do through Christ who strengthens him (Philippians 4:13). Therefore, though we are weak and impotent to worship God in the way he prescribes, because we can know what he prescribes we can still perform the duty of worship. But it is not pleasing to him until it is stamped with the Spirit. The Spirit indwells those who abide in Christ as the Helper. Therefore there is help to know the truth about how God should be worshiped and help for the strength and affection to worship. The Spirit that dwells in us works in us the fruit as we live by faith in Christ. There will be the fruit of love and joy, peace and patience, as he brings us to his throne to worship. Therefore to worship in Spirit is to live by faith in Christ through the grace of the Spirit being acted upon by the Spirit in the duty of worship. He is the strength of the upright (Pr.10:29) for what is pleasing to him in worship.

When we come by the Spirit to worship our hearts will be changed through the means of grace. If the means of grace are not being effective in our hearts in worship then we are probably not worshiping in and by the Spirit. This is why people think they need a different preacher or each Sunday’s worship is judged by how well the preacher did or did not do. If the preacher is expounding God’s Word then he is doing what he is called to do, and this God uses as a means of grace to build up his church (2Tim.4:1; Eph.4:11-13).

When we worship in and by the Spirit we will be carried through dark and difficult times enduringly. God will draw near to you as you are able to draw near to him and he will be the lifter of your head, the strength of your weak knees, and the one who levels your paths. But if we are not worshiping in the strength of the Spirit we will look for another church because this or that church just does not do it for us anymore. When we worship by the Spirit we know that the night will pass and God will enlighten your heart with his glory. There may be a time of dullness but you carry out worship knowing that even in the dullness he is working in your hearts. There will be others who have glad hearts in worship while you do not and you are glad for them though you experience the dark clouds of God’s providence. There will be times when the brightness of his glory shines through the clouds and he lifts you up but another is struggling. But you will be able to see God working in them and on them though they may be dull in participating in worship.

When we worship in and by the Spirit of God we will be strengthened to be constant in worship. Those who act by their own strength will find their desire for God and his worship to wane in time. He may give up on the duty of worship slowly over time or leave it altogether at once. Or, he may look for greener pastures where things are more lively and exciting to stir him up because he knows he is missing something. But those greener pastures may just become other pastimes as church once was. Those who worship in the strength of the Spirit will be constant knowing that their buckets and bread baskets are empty and need to be filled by the rivers of living water and the bread of life. The Spirit of God is working in those to glorify Christ and their Father who though they may have times of dullness will yet remain persevering in love.

When we worship by the Spirit of God we will delight in the prescribed duties of worship because they bring us into communion with God. We will look forward to them and think on how we can better prepare ourselves for them. We will think to the depth and the height of them and the reasons why we perform them. This we will do because it brings us into a communion with God who is our continued strength, peace and delight. At times you will pray, read, confess, sing, and listen with difficulty or coldness or even indifference, but even then you know that there is through the Spirit a communion with God. You look back at the course of day after day and week after week and see that he is bringing you into deeper communion with himself. But those who worship by their natural efforts will enjoy more the communion with the people inside or outside of the church as they will with the God who made them and sustains them. So they will put more effort and time upon relationships and events than worship because the communion there is not as rich and sweet. Those who worship by their natural efforts will prize an emotion sought that is mistaken as communion with the living God. The emotion can be achieved outside of right and truthful thoughts of God and held by a favorite song or a song sung to a favored tune. But this can be very distant from communion with God through his prescribed duties in worship.

Those who are acted upon by the Spirit in worship will groan if they do not meet deeply with him. They will groan because they feel weak having waded in shallow waters or destitute having traversed in dry and parched lands. But those who worship not by the Spirit will be content with will worship wherever they find themselves or with taking a break for a time. Those who worship in Spirit will groan over their dullness and indifference or in the secret heart groaning over the indifference, dullness, and lightness of those who lead them in worship.

Those who are acted upon by the Spirit in worship will have the strength given them to carry out the duties of worship. There will be strength to meet often with him, enduring strength to long to meet with him and a growing strength of faith to be satisfied in him again and again in the ordinary means of grace. But those who worship in truth by their natural selves will find strength in having “learned something”, having a pet doctrine or issue upheld, and by having themselves upheld in their own thoughts of themselves.

There is much more to be said about worshiping God in and by the Spirit. We should be willing to judge our worship in accord with God’s Word and how we are carrying out our duties in worship each day and week. Examination of ourselves is necessary in this regard for God is calling us to the height of his throne in worship where he is glorified in worship that he prescribes and worship that he strengthens us for by his Spirit through faith in Christ.