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Have you ever heard someone say, “that was such a good meeting,” after a worship service? Or, “what a powerful gathering we just had”? What exactly is meant by such statements? What makes a worship service a good meeting? There are many possible answers, but if we consider these questions in terms of the nature of worship, we might assume that a meeting is good when the worship has made its point and achieved its purpose. What, then, is the purpose of our gatherings?
In spirit and in truth
Jesus said to a Samaritan woman he met at the well in the city of Sychar: 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. (John 4:21–24.) At that time there was a strong tension between the Jews and the Samaritans. A particular friction between them was created by the concept of Israel’s worship of God. To the Jews, the Samaritans represented a mixed race who seemed to worship God according to their own rules, scriptures, and places of worship. But Jesus showed the woman that a time was coming when the priority would be less about where God was worshipped.
On that day, worship of God would not be confined to a specific geographical location, such as Mount Gerizim or the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (John 4:20). True, God-approved worship would take place in spirit and in truth. What did Jesus mean by this? First, worship in the spirit refers to worship in our hearts, for the Bible says the heart is the place from which our attitudes and motives arise (Proverbs 4:23; Mark 7:21–23). More important than where God is worshipped is how our hearts are involved. Therefore, it is appropriate for everyone to ask themselves from time to time: Why do I worship God? How do I relate to him, his Word, his church—and even my own neighbours?
Second, worship of God must be done in truth. Jesus told the woman that unlike the Jews, the Samaritans did not know the God they worshiped (John 4:22). The Samaritans did not worship in truth. Worshiping God is a matter of the heart, but it is also a matter of truth. Therefore, the worship of God must be based on truth, his Word (John 17:17). Thus, what matters to God is not only that we worship him in our hearts, but also how we express our worship.
What is worship?
Generally speaking, worship is a universal phenomenon, as evidenced by numerous religions. However, worship is much more than just a religious practice and ritual. It is something that everyone does—even people who consider themselves irreligious. Each of us worships something. It is built into us as human beings. Man was originally created to be in communion with God, to know him and to worship him with his whole life. The fall distorted the way we know and worship God, but the tendency to worship did not disappear from man. This is why the Bible calls the worship of anything other than God idolatry.1 In other words, without a true knowledge of God, man will end up worshipping idols, from golden calves to his own calves and everything in between.
But in the saving work of our God, our connection with him is restored. His Holy Spirit testifies to us of the Son of God, Jesus, in whom we see God the Father (John 14:9; 15:26). Thus our triune God turns man’s gaze from the worship of idols to himself, to the knowledge and worship of the true God. This worship now takes place with a new heart, surrendered to God, guided by his revelation, the truth of his Word.
So what is this worship of God? There are many different definitions of it in the history of our Lord’s church, and I offer one of them here, with particular reference to the assembly of the church. There are some interesting passages in the Old Testament book of worship, the Psalms:
How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! (Psalms 84:2–4)
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. (Psalms 63:1–2)
One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. (Psalms 27:4)
What observations can we make from the above texts? Apart from the fact that they all take place in the temple area, they speak above all of admiring God (“wonderful are your dwelling places,” “I looked at you … to see your power and your glory,” “to behold the glory of the Lord.”) Secondly, they express a longing to meet God in the assembly (“my soul yearns and is weary with longing,” “my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,” “I have asked one thing of the Lord, that is what I seek.”) The psalmists were enraptured with God, for God’s sake. It was therefore clear that they longed to meet him with all their hearts.2
Based on these texts, I would define worship as admiring God’s beauty and meditating on him. This is worship in spirit and in truth. Our innermost being, our heart, is then fixed on God, enraptured by him for his own sake. Secondly, our thoughts about him are based—not on our imagination or our vague and uncertain feelings—but on his Word. This is worship in spirit and in truth.
Worship in a church meeting
Worship of God must take place both in spirit and in truth. Not just in spirit or just in truth, but in spirit and in truth. This is why we must say that God does not give us permission to worship him however we want. Not even when worship is nominally directed to him.3 Such worship is not what he likes. God, in his perfect holiness and beauty, is careful about the kind of worship that is directed to him.
Worship in spirit and in truth requires a balancing act. In revivalist Christian circles, there has been a tendency to emphasise the “inner man,” with less attention paid to the external mode of expression. Sometimes this has been deliberate, so as not to be guilty of mere “lip service” where the heart is not involved (Matthew 15:8). But God wants his people to worship him in spirit as well as in truth. These are not mutually exclusive. Since worship encompasses our whole lives, it is not then of little significance what we do when we gather together.
Since worship encompasses our whole lives, it is not then of little significance what we do when we gather together.
So what does worshipping God look like in a congregational gathering? His Word offers us guidelines here. We worship our God in our assemblies by reading the Bible (Neh. 8:23; 1 Tim. 4:13), teaching and preaching from it (Neh. 8:7-8; Acts 20:27), praying together (Matt. 6:5–8; Acts 4:23–31), singing together (Psalm 96:1–4; Colossians 3:16), having the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26), and collecting an offering (1 Corinthians 16:1–2; 2 Corinthians 9:7).4
However, there are no detailed instructions in the Bible on how to practice these elements in our meetings. Therefore, there should be Christian freedom in the way they are carried out. For example, the reading of the Bible can be a short passage or a whole chapter. A sermon may be either expository or thematic. Prayers can be spontaneous or written, recited together or prayed for others. Thus, the reduced and simple structure of the meetings does not exclude the expression of emotions or artistic freedom.
Sometimes you hear people say that a biblically based, simplified meeting structure would be monotonous, dry, and joyless. If this is the case, the fault lies not so much with the biblical elements as with something else. Therefore, it is especially important that the whole church, and particularly the leaders of the meetings, when planning the body of the meetings, pray like the psalmists, that we might be prepared to worship our God in both spirit and truth.
The gathering of the congregation has made its point and achieved its goal when there is a crowd together, longing for God and worshipping him—not just by themselves, but together with other children of God—in spirit and truth, in purity of heart, in keeping with the scriptures. This is worship in the life of the church. This is what we were created for. When this happens, we may well say, “what a good meeting!”