Daily Encouragementنموونە

God is seeking worshippers. True, he sent his Son “to seek and to save what was lost” - and the Son was doing precisely that with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. But the divine purpose is that the sinner be saved and the lost found so that they may become true worshippers. Man, made in the image of God, was made to worship God, but man fell. The whole purpose of redemption is aimed at restoring him as a worshipper.

Worship and salvation are bound up together - “we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.” Worship lies at the heart of the plan of salvation: the patriachal altars; the tabernacle with its priesthood and sacrifices; the temple with its torn veil; “the holy temple in the lord: which is his Church”; the death of Christ, itself “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:2). True worship is the worship of sinners saved by grace. So Jesus could speak of worship with this woman of Samaria.

True worship is “in spirit and truth.” It is essentially spiritual, from the heart, and therefore affecting the whole person. It is stamped with reality - it is not vague, mystical, undefined. It is governed by “truth that is in Jesus” (Eph. 4:21).