What is Worship?

Back under the Law they used all kinds of instruments of music in the worship of God, as we can find in many psalms, especially Psalm 150. To this we agree. But David also killed his enemies with the sword, and he did many other things which God’s people cannot do today. David could not be born of the Spirit of God and have his heart clean and in harmony with God. He had to worship Him in a literal way and show his love all on the outside.

But now let us go to my text. Jesus said to the woman by the well, “But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in truth.”* (John 4:23-24) This text means much to the born-again, Spirit-filled soul who is open for the truth. First, let us notice that some must be worshiping God in error, or Jesus would not have mentioned and put emphasis on the true worshipers. We must not overlook this. Read Matthew 15:7-9. “But in vain do they worship me.” According to this Scripture, it is possible to worship God in vain, or wrong, or of no profit. Paul said of certain people, “For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.”* (Acts 17:23) Many today are ignorantly worshiping God, but Jesus, in our text, is speaking to the true worshipers. Worship means to reverence and adore and highly honor God. Jesus said the true worshipers must worship in Spirit and truth. Truth means according to His Word. Jesus said, “Thy Word is truth.”* (John 17:17) Paul said, “Let God be true, but every man a liar.”* (Romans 3:4) Worship in this dispensation means spiritual worship, which consists of praying and singing in the Spirit, which is indeed the greatest privilege granted to people of any and all ages; for until Christ came, no people could worship God in Spirit, as the Spirit of God did not dwell in man. Man did not have a clean heart, and God could not put his Spirit into an unclean heart. God had to dwell in the tabernacle which Moses built, and the people had to worship him with their hands and feet, and with animals and all kinds of temporal worship. This is why David worshiped Him with the timbrel and the dance. He could not worship God in Spirit.

But God promised His people all down through the ages that He was going to make a new covenant. Read Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 7:37; Jeremiah 31:31. Now let us go to Ezekiel 36. Here the Lord spoke through His prophet: “Then [meaning some future date, or when Christ comes] will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness [sin] and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you and a new Spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony [hard] heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh [soft]. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.”* (Ezekiel 36:25-27) Praise God! Now read John 14:23; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; and 2 Corinthians 6:16. Please read all of these texts with me as we go along.

After you have read these texts you will see that the prophecy of Ezekiel 36:25 and Jeremiah 31:31 has been fulfilled, and you and I today come under it through Christ, the Mediator of the new covenant. We must realize this fully in order to understand what Jesus told the woman at the well. The true worshipers must worship God in Spirit. If people have not been regenerated and possess this new heart of which Ezekiel spoke, and God’s Spirit within them, they cannot worship God in Spirit. Therefore they use their musical instruments as David of old; but God does not accept this kind of worship now. When Solomon built the temple, he used musical instruments to dedicate it to God (2 Chronicles 5:13-14). When the one hundred twenty trumpeters and singers were in harmony, as one, the glory of God filled the temple, or building. This temple was, as all the law and ordinances, a type and shadow of things to come (Hebrews 8:5). Read Hebrews 8-9 and 10:1. When Solomon dedicated the temple he had one hundred and twenty trumpeters. They all played as one man and the glory filled the house. This was a direct shadow or type of the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts second chapter. One hundred and twenty people were in one accord as one man and God sent the glory, or his Holy Spirit, and this time it filled their hearts, which is now God’s temple. The hearts of men and women took the place of the literal temple building made of earthly material, and God moved out of the literal building made of earthly material, and moved into His people’s hearts, cleansing them and keeping them clean for the abode of His Spirit. Praise His name forever.

This is verified in Acts 7:47-51. Brother Stephen was preaching this very subject when he was stoned to death. In Acts 17:22-30, Paul was preaching on this same subject. “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.”* (Acts 17:24) This is enough to convince any honest-hearted person that God is not worshiped with musical instruments and men’s hands or feet or any part of our temporal bodies. In 1 Timothy 4:8, Paul said, “For bodily exercise profiteth little.” This should be enough, but let us consider a few more thoughts. A certain minister, who was pleading for his congregation to buy a pipe organ, said that many souls were won to the Lord by the instrument. This cannot be possible. Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.”* (John 6:44) God draws through the Holy Spirit. We have proved that God does not dwell in temples made with hands (Acts 7:48; 17:24). Then it would be impossible for anyone to be drawn to God through a musical instrument of any kind, because they are made with hands. We agree that a spirit accompanies instrumental music, but we must not mistake it for God’s Spirit. I have known people to work hard all day and be very tired, then go to a dance, and something about the music there would cause them to revive until they could dance almost all night. Some tunes, when played on instruments, will cause people to weep; but this is not God’s Spirit. The Bible says, “Godly sorrow worketh repentance.”* (2 Corinthians 7:10) Just because a person hears some sad tune or one that brings old memories to his mind, does not mean he has godly sorrow.

Let us reason together a little. Jesus said, “That which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”* (Luke 16:15) What can you think of today that is more highly esteemed among men than musical instruments? They are used to draw people into the honky tonks; when a circus comes to town, they parade down the streets with all kinds of music; and at dances and worldly receptions, no matter how ungodly they are, musical instruments are the main draw. Since the devil esteems instrumental music so highly to draw for him, do you think the Lord wants His people to use the same thing to draw people to Him? No, dear one, the Lord has His Spirit to draw people—a meek and a quiet Spirit—and He does not work through any kind of man-made instrument or any confusion of noises. Read 1 Kings 19:11-13, and you will find an example that is still good today. Dear soul, this is truth according to God’s Word.

Now let us read carefully Ephesians 5:6-20. The 18th and 19th verses say: “And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” The word melody means music. Is not this plain, where we are to make music or melody? God’s Spirit dwells in our hearts; and when we sing or pray out of a Spirit-filled heart, it makes melody or music in the ears of God. His Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God (Romans 8:16). This is what makes the music. Music means harmony. When God’s Spirit dwelling in our hearts witnesses with God’s Spirit which is in heaven, that makes a tune which brings a sweet harmony or melody in our hearts to God, as in the text. David made melody on his harp and God accepted it then, but his harp was a type of our hearts. David played tunes to God, but our hearts are to play tunes to Him now. The musical instrument was strictly a law ordinance, and was nailed to the cross as a form of worship.

Again Paul exhorted, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”* (Colossians 3:16) Here we find again “spiritual songs.”

In connection with Jesus’ ministry, we do not find one word concerning musical instruments except in one place where He put the minstrels out of the room before He raised the dead girl. Paul, in his writing to the churches, commended them for their much love and faith and for giving and being faithful, and many other things; but nowhere did he mention about anyone playing well on an instrument, neither did any of the other apostles or any of the other writers; and, according to my understanding, history does not record an instance of the use of a musical instrument in the early church. Most of the reformers of later years and movements, such as Wesley, Campbell, and Luther, did not use musical instruments in their worship. God was with them in Spirit at first, but as the reformation grew and people received more light and failed to walk in it, then God’s Spirit moved out of their assembly and they found their meetings void of the Spirit. Then they brought in musical instruments to entertain and fill the vacant place. Any honest soul knows this is truth.