
The Holy Spirit plays an active role in the lives of believers from salvation to glorification. Sometimes, it’s not always evident or clear what that role is. Today we wrap up our look at what the Spirit does, learning how He helps us, and why Jesus said it was to our advantage that He go away and the Holy Spirit comes (John 15:7). We’ve looked at how He helps in our salvation, in our understanding, in our walk, in our witness. Last we saw how that Spirit helps in our prayers. We’ll conclude with how the Spirit helps in our worship.
The Spirit directs worship with the proper attitude.
In a conversation with the woman from Sychar, the subject shifted to worship. She tried to press Him about location while He countered with the condition of the worshipper’s heart. “But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him (John 4:23).
God wants worship, but true worship is directed and initiated by the Spirit. It is an integral part of our lives as His redeemed children. Further, the underlying point is that living a life of obedience, motivated by love for Jesus Christ is the truest worship. We’ve already seen that our obedience and our love for Christ are works of the Spirit. So the Spirit both enables us to worship and then makes the worship acceptable to God.
The Spirit directs worship with the proper object.
Later in John’s gospel, Jesus explains to His disciples about the work of the Spirit. “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14). True worship always has the praise and glorification of Jesus Christ as its goal. The Spirit has glorifying Christ as His mission. This means worship cannot happen without the Spirit. Here, it is through the revelation of the truth about Christ that worship happens. The more we learn about Christ and what He has done, how He has saved us, we will worship.
In our world, there is no end of things we COULD worship, no end end of people or things willing to RECEIVE our worship. Only ONE is worthy, and the Spirit helps our worship by ensuring we praise the One whose name is above all names.
The Spirit directs worship with the proper motivation.
Paul gives us one more insight. “For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and do not put confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3). Our worship doesn’t flow from a heart that trusts in itself– or in another person. We don’t trust that our worship is acceptable because of its contents, or its timing. We don’t worship because we feel guilty or we fear the consequences if we don’t. We aren’t looking to bolster our own popularity or standing.
We worship because it’s all we have to offer.
As Jesus repeated to the Samaritan woman, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). It is easy to get worship wrong. The truth is, we cannot worship God properly without the Holy Spirit. Thankfully, Jesus asked the Father to send the Spirit and the Spirit helps our worship. But as we’ve seen, the Spirit is there to help us with each step in our walk. We just need to learn how to follow.