As saints of God, we understand the emptiness of the world. We understand that they are in a desperate search to find something to fill the void, the God shaped hole in their heart that cannot be filled with the things of the world. We understand that the lost are suffering from a cosmic loneliness. We can explain their emptiness, but what about the prevailing emptiness which haunts so many churches? When we look at so many churches where programs have substituted for praise, and works have substituted for worship, what we see are churches trying to do what the world is doing. We see churches trying to fill a God shaped void with world shaped ideas and the church, the people who are flocking to religious services every Sunday, they are empty because they have forgotten what true worship really is. That is what was going on during the life of Jesus. The Jews insisted that theirs was true worship because they worshipped at the Temple on Mt. Zion. The Samaritans declared that the Jews were worshipping in the wrong place, therefore their worship was false. Instead, the Samaritans insisted that the true place to worship was on Mt. Gerizim where they had build their own temple. We have to be careful that we don't stand on the mountain of our traditions and declare everyone else's worship false. True worship is not determined by the place or time. True worship is not determined by the style of music. True worship is not determined by the speed of the songs or the volume of the worship leader. True worship deals with issues and realities that go far deeper than these things.
What is worship?
To begin with, there is worship, and then there is "true worship." Jesus told the woman, "But the hour is coming, and now is, when true worshippers will worship the Father . . . ." What is Jesus saying? First of all, He is saying that "true worshippers will worship the Father." True worship begins with who is being worshipped. It is not the worship of a mountain which is true worship. It is not the worship of tradition which is true worship. It is not the worship of my way, my will, my wants which is true worship. True worship begins at the foot of the throne of God. Second, Jesus is telling us that true worship ends at the foot of the throne. It is not God plus my denomination. It is not God plus the pope. It is not God plus the preacher. True worshippers worship God, and beside Him there is no other God.
