The Light of Life series
Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well. "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people, the Father seeks to be His worshipers. "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:22-24.
Israel's worship, at best, was to worship the law handed down to Moses through God. Unfortunately, Israel saw the law as a means to God instead of a schoolmaster proving their inability to please God. The question for us in the Church today is to see that Jesus is no more a get-out-of-jail-free card than the law was a means of worship.
The path to truth is to see Jesus Christ primarily as the means to worship God for His pleasure and not just for our benefit. God, as eternal, is at the center of all things, not us.
What God Demands of Those Outside the Faith
Jesus made it perfectly clear that spirit and truth are necessary for worship to be acceptable to God. What is it to worship in spirit? "When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions." Colossians 2:13. True worshippers are those who are brought back to life. In the previous chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus told a religious leader, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God." Forget entering God's kingdom; the spiritually dead can't even see it. For this reason, Jesus told the woman, "You worship what you do not know."
The Humility God's Worship Demands
God's people worship well when they walk in the truth that their salvation provides from the Father's grace offered through His Son. When do born-again Christian people worship in that way? The answer is this: when they continue to walk humbly before God. We stray from humility when we walk with high demands for leaders and place them in a category not fitting a sinner saved by grace. When we put too much desire on scholarship and turn sinners into stain-glass saints, we stray from the worship God demands.
Concerning Moses' character, we are told in Numbers 12:3, "Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth." Moses, like Job, was more humble than any man on the earth when they lived. Does their humility mean they even approached perfection? Most certainly not! What does Moses' humility mean? It means that God, who must get the glory, was at work in Moses' heart, making him humble.
God's Worship Demands Rebirth
God in the person of Jesus Christ reflected the truth about salvation and that the sinful part of saved people has no part in earning God's favor. John said in John 1:12-13. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right (authority) to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."
Who receives Jesus Christ, believes in His name, and is given the authority to become children of God? We are told in verse 13 that they are not born of blood, the will of the flesh, or the will of man, but of God. No man controls his own birth, neither in body nor spirit. Sanctification or the transformation of our character is equally the work of God. Is there human responsibility? Absolutely yes! Does such responsibility in any way give saved sinners credit for their righteousness, goodness, and holiness? Absolutely not!
Moses Worshipped God in Humility but Not in Perfection
Let's consider the most humble man when he was on earth, not to criticize him but for what God reveals about him. "Then Moses said to the LORD, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." Exodus 4:10. After God reveals that it is not how he speaks to Pharoah but the words that God will put in his mouth that matters, Moses further responds. "But he said, "Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will."
Moses did not dare to say to God, "Send anyone else but not me," but instead told God, "Send whomever You will." Remember, we're talking about God here. God could have said, "I just did." The next verse reads,
"Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses." Does God ever get angry with His children?
In light of the blood the Father's Son spilled for those chosen, anger is never used in the New Testament regarding God's born-again children. However, grief is. "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." Ephesians 4:30. In Greek, the word lypéō translated grieve means to experience deep, emotional pain, severe sorrow, and grief. lypéō is very intense and hence even used for the pain of childbirth.
The setting for verse 30 is forgiveness and love. Paul understood all too well the false standards for people in the church and revealed them in his first letter to the church at Corinth in 4:6-7. "Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?"
The path to truth is to see Jesus Christ primarily as the means to worship God for His pleasure and not our benefit.
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