Holy Spirit Part 6

Part 6 

The Spirit in Worship 

John 4:19–24 (ESV) — The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on  this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her,  “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the  Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the  hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the  Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit  and truth.” 

 The Elements of Worship 

In this text, Jesus explains to the woman at the well that there are three essential elements to worship. They are 1.) you, 2.) the Holy Spirit, 3.) the Truth. Knock any of these three elements out of the equation and you no  longer have worship. If it’s the Spirit or the Truth that you knock out, you probably still have something that  looks like worship, but isn’t. If it’s not in Spirit and in Truth, it’s idolatry.  

Naturally then, Christians should want to know if they are “worshiping in the Spirit”, since without the Holy  Spirit we don’t have worship. We should also, like the Samaritan woman at the well, wonder if our worship is in  Truth, but I’m not going to focus on that particular issue in this article. Instead, I’m going to continue our  newsletter series about the Holy Spirit, and in this article discuss His presence in our worship. Specifically, I’m  going to discuss how you can know if the Spirit is present in your worship.  

How Do You Know? 

The conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well is a conversation about how to worship in the  presence of God. She asked Jesus about the correct location to worship, since there had been a long-standing  disagreement between the Jews and the Samaritans about that. Jesus did not, however, respond to her with an  answer consisting of a specific place. Christ’s birth on earth and ascent to Heaven brought to an end the  practice of worship being tied to a specific altar, temple or location. Jesus is seated at the right hand of God the  Father (which is a spiritual thing, not a physical location) so He is not tied to a specific location. Now you can  worship the Lord God on Mount Gerazim just as well as you can on the Mount of Jerusalem or the plains of  Marshall County, MN. He is with us always and everywhere (Matthew 28:20).  

The issue isn’t where we worship. The critical question is “are we worshiping in Spirit and in Truth?” If the center of our worship is something other than the Gospel as it comes to us in the Word of God, then we aren’t  worshiping in truth. If we’re using the Bible, but we aren’t using it to point to the death, resurrection and eternal  life of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Universe, then we aren’t worshiping in Spirit.  

The Bible explains to us that these are the marks of worship in Spirit and in Truth. This is how Jesus instructs us to determine if we are worshiping in Spirit and in Truth. This is the only true and reliable measure to know if  God’s Holy Spirit is present in our worship. We have not been given liberty to judge by any other standard.  

The Testimony of the Spirit 

The New Testament gives us criteria to determine if the Spirit of someone or something (like a worship service)  is of Christ or of the antichrist. For example, 1 John 4:1-3 tells us that the Spirit of Christ “confesses that Jesus  Christ has come in the flesh.” Anyone who denies that confession is not from God and is, in fact, a part of the spirit of antichrist. 

While the spirit of antichrist would prefer it if the Bible were never read, the spirit of antichrist is none-the-less willing to use Scripture if necessary. You see examples of this in the Bible. In Scripture the devil quotes (and twists) Scripture to tempt Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13) and James, in his epistle, explains that demons sometimes confess some of the truths of the universe (James 2:19). Evil spirits can use the Bible and will spout parts of the truth, but they won’t use it to point to Jesus as your savior.  

The antichrist’s goal is to twist and obscure the message of Scripture. He will seek to accomplish this by mis-applying or mis-stating Biblical truths, or by dancing around important doctrines so that they are never proclaimed.  

Instead of using the Bible to share with you the truths and promises of salvation, the spirit of antichrist will use  the Bible to convict you of your sins and then leave you sitting in your remorse without any hope. Another antichrist ploy will be to use the Bible to convince you that God no longer cares about sin, so you should just  keep on living an unrepentant lifestyle. The Spirit of Christ both calls you to repent of your sin and calls you to  trust Jesus for the forgiveness of those sins (see 1 Corinthians 12:1-3).  

The proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is sure-fire evidence that the Holy Spirit is at work (2 Corinthians 3:3-6, 4:5-6). No one ever confessed that Jesus is the Lord God unless the Holy Spirit is working on them (1  Corinthians 12:3). It doesn’t matter whether that confession is a personal and private confession, or a public declaration of faith (like the Apostle’s Creed, or a Gospel sermon, or our hymns and praise songs). Anyone who confesses their faith in Jesus has evidence that the Holy Spirit has created spiritual life in their hearts.  

So then, a worship service with a whole group of people confessing their faith in Jesus Christ is an evidently and obviously Holy Spirit filled worship service. This is true whether the Gospel is ecstatically proclaimed or softly mumbled.  

Emotions Are Not a Guaranteed Guide Here 

Unfortunately, the presence of the Gospel message is not our society’s most common method for testing the spirits. Most people wrongly believe they can simply “feel” it. Just as the Samaritan woman wrongly assumed that true worship depended on being in a certain location, many people today assume that true worship depends on being in a certain emotional state. 

Under this method of “sensing the Spirit”, someone mumbling the Apostle’s Creed will be accused of “not having the Spirit,” and a worship service with little emotional impact or content will be viewed with suspicion. This is a dangerous practice that leads to denying the Holy Spirit’s activity in quiet and calm things, or assuming that all highly emotional experiences are the work of the Holy Spirit.  

Relying on your feelings as your method of determining the presence or the absence of the Holy Spirit is all  kinds of bad news. In certain situations, it’s actually the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:29, Luke 12:10). So  you see, humility is required whenever we make a claim that the Holy Spirit is or is not doing something. In many circles people simply assume that they can infallibly and constantly “just tell” if the Holy Spirit is “working.” Often what they are really saying is that if a worship service is not entertaining enough or emotionally stimulating enough it’s probably “dead”. If a sermon or a worship song is not exciting enough, they accuse it of being Spiritless, but if that same boring sermon is a pure proclamation of the Gospel, their accusation is a mark of faithlessness.  

Our Capacity to Self-deceive 

We must not rely on our own understanding about God. We must, instead, trust what God has revealed to us in the Bible. We cannot trust our own insights to explain the Holy Spirit. We even have a hard enough time trusting our emotions to tell us the truth about ourselves. The Bible confronts us about this and shows us the truth that we have a formidable ability to deceive ourselves.  

1 John 1:8 (ESV) — If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  

John 3:19–20 (ESV) — And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the  darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  

Isaiah 44:18–20 (ESV) — They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?” 

It's particularly worth noting that in the Isaiah 44 text, the man being discussed was doing what he thought was an act of worship: he was carving an idol. It felt right and it felt good as he was doing it, so he pressed on carving and fashioning more and more. His own heart deceived him and led him astray into idolatry.  

Proverbs 3:5–8 (ESV) — Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. 

Relying on your own emotional experience to decide if the Spirit “is moving” is a dangerous practice (even if it is widespread). Instead of leaning on your own understanding, we’re called by Scripture to trust in what God has told us: where-ever the Gospel is being preached, the Holy Spirit is accompanying it. His Word never returns  void (Isaiah 55:10-11). 

The Proper Role of Emotion in Worship 

So, should our worship be completely devoid of emotion then? Are displays of emotion risky things that will lead people astray as they also become emotional? Will emotional worship lead everyone to think that emotional  display equals spiritual power? Is “feeling” bad? 

No, “feeling” is not bad. We should not seek to crush all emotional expression in worship, neither should our worship be designed to emotionally manipulate people. Both of these approaches have the cart in front of the horse. We should fill our hearts and minds with the Gospel, letting it touch every part of our lives. If we do that, the emotions will follow. 

The Bible is full and overflowing with accounts of worship becoming extremely emotional. We see everything from weeping and groaning (Malachi 2:13) to singing for joy (Psalm 27:6). The Bible not only embraces emotions as a response to the Gospel, it celebrates them.  

God frowns on emotional manipulation though (2 Corinthians 4:1-5, 1 Corinthians 1:17-18, Romans 1:16). Emotional manipulation is potentially one of the signs and wonders that the antichrist uses to lead people astray and into false worship (Revelation 13:11-18).  

The work of Jesus Christ heals the sick, gives light to the blind, raises the dead and gives good news and hope to the poor (Luke 7:22). If we preach it in its purity, we don’t have to “jazz it up” or provide a warm-up act. We will all experience the emotions that come along with the Holy Spirit applying His good news to our hurting hearts. Sometimes these feelings will be very strong and sometimes the feelings will be completely absent, but if the Gospel is being preached, the Holy Spirit will never be absent.  

So Jim can keep saying “Amen” during sermons (some of the rest of you all could try it too, within reason), and if the Spirit should lead you to, you can even pray with uplifted hands (1 Timothy 2:8). The Holy Spirit led Paul to encourage us all to pour ourselves out in worship (Ephesians 5:18-20) and it’s ok if that call overwhelms our culturally conditioned habit of being stoic Scandinavian Lutherans. But at the same time, the Holy Spirit does not want our worship service to devolve into chaos. Disorder and uninhibited emotions do more to obscure the Gospel message than enable it, so Paul writes that worship services should be orderly (1 Corinthians 14:26-40).  The key is that we don’t have to insist on a pre-ordained emotional state, stoic or eccentric. We should apply the Gospel to our hearts, and let the emotions lie where they will.  

Above all, the Word should lead. The Gospel message is the visible evidence of the invisible presence of the Holy Spirit. When the Word fills our worship and practice, we can know with certainty that the Spirit is present, and we can expect that at times we will powerfully feel Him (though not always).  

Colossians 3:16–17 (ESV) — Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And  whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father  through him.