Learning True Worship

"An hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in 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 4:23-24

"Worship must be vital and real in the heart, and worship must rest on the true perception of God. There must be spirit and there must be truth. So Jesus says, 'An hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.' The two words, 'spirit and truth,' correspond to the how and whom of worship."

"Worshiping in spirit is the opposite of worshiping in merely external ways. It is the opposite of empty formalism and traditionalism. Worshiping in truth is the opposite of worship based on an inadequate view of God. Worship must have heart and head. Worship must engage emotions and thought.

Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church (or half-full) of artificial admirers. On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates shallow people who refuse the discipline of rigorous thought. But true worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of biblical worship."

- excerpts taken from Desiring God - J. Piper, Chapter 3