What Does It Really Mean to Worship God?

By Pastor John Erickson

What comes to mind when somebody says the word worship?

For a lot of us, it's the music at church. We sang a few songs, maybe lifted our hands, maybe didn't. Then we sat down and moved on with the service.

And music can absolutely be worship. I love singing together. But Jesus says something about worship in John 4 that makes the whole conversation much bigger.

He says the Father is looking for people who worship in spirit and in truth.

Now, what does that mean? And why does he say it to the particular person he does?

An Unlikely Conversation at a Well

John 4 tells us that Jesus stops at a well in Samaria and asks a woman for a drink.

That sounds ordinary until you understand the history. Jews and Samaritans had a long, bitter religious and cultural divide. There were disagreements about worship, ancestry, and where people belonged. Their communities did not exactly make it easy to sit down and share a meal together.

And here Jesus is, talking to a Samaritan woman at a well.

She knows how unusual it is. In verse 9, she asks why a Jewish man would ask her for water.

I love this about Jesus. He doesn't wait for somebody to pass the social-acceptability test before beginning a conversation. He goes toward someone others might have been quick to avoid.

The conversation starts with water. But Jesus has something deeper in mind.

Are You Drinking from a Well That Keeps Running Dry?

Jesus tells the woman that if she knew who he was, she would ask him for living water.

She's standing at an actual well. Naturally, she wonders where Jesus plans to get this remarkable water. He doesn't even have a bucket.

But Jesus explains that people who drink ordinary water will become thirsty again. The water he gives, he says, becomes a spring welling up to eternal life (John 4:13-14).

Think about the difference between a reservoir and a spring. A reservoir holds a certain amount of water. If it isn't replenished, it eventually runs out. A spring keeps supplying water from its source.

We spend an amazing amount of time trying to fill ourselves with things that run dry. Success. Approval. The next exciting experience. Some of those are good gifts in the right place, but they can't carry the weight of our deepest needs.

Jesus offers life that isn't dependent on the next bucket we manage to lower into the well.

Jesus Knows Her Story-and Still Stays

Then the conversation gets personal. Jesus reveals that he knows about the woman's complicated relationship history.

The text tells us she has had five husbands and that the man she is with is not her husband. It doesn't tell us every detail about how she got there. We should be careful not to pretend we know the whole story, or assume she's the only one who bears responsibility for her circumstances.

What we do know is that Jesus knows her story. And he keeps talking with her.

That matters.

Sometimes Christians can become very good at building what I call a moral wall. We look at a person whose life makes us uncomfortable and decide, consciously or not, that the wall between us is simply too high to cross.

Jesus does not do that. He speaks honestly, but he doesn't withhold compassion.

I think the church ought to be a place where people who are hurting, ashamed, uncertain, divorced, addicted, poor, or excluded can encounter the kindness of Jesus. We don't have to water down the gospel to open the door.

We do need to remember who came looking for us when we were thirsty.

Worship in Spirit

When Jesus gets close to the painful parts of her story, the conversation turns toward a religious question. I cannot know her exact motive, but it reminds me of something my brother and I did as kids. Right before bedtime, when our parents wanted us to go to sleep, we would suddenly discover deep spiritual questions that needed immediate discussion. Amazing timing, really.

I can recognize that impulse in myself: sometimes a big discussion feels easier than letting God address what is happening in my own heart.

Eventually the woman asks about the proper place to worship. The Samaritans and Jews disagreed about which mountain or temple was right.

Jesus doesn't just pick a winner in the argument. He tells her a time is coming when worship will not be limited to those competing locations. True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth (John 4:21-24).

I think worship in spirit reminds us that worship must involve our inner life, not merely our external actions.

You can sing the songs, know when to stand up, volunteer, give, and check all the boxes-and still keep your heart at a distance.

It's possible to be busy doing religious things while barely paying attention to the person those things are meant to draw us toward.

I know this because I've done it.

I remember gathering with a few people before a church service for prayer. We spent about twenty minutes of our half-hour together talking about what God was doing in our lives and thanking Him for His goodness. Near the end, someone said we should probably start praying.

I understood what they meant, but I thought: we have already been celebrating God's goodness. We had not used the usual opening words, but our gratitude was real.

But we were already talking about God with gratitude. That matters. Worship isn't limited to the moment somebody says, 'Okay, let's worship now.'

Worship in Truth

But Jesus also says truth.

And this is important because the feelings of worship cannot replace an honest understanding of who God is.

We all have ideas about God. Some come from Scripture. Others come from our upbringing, our fears, or painful experiences with people who claimed to represent him.

If our picture of God is badly distorted, our worship can become distorted too.

This is personal for me. As a teenager, I spent a great deal of energy trying to get into God's good graces. Maybe Bible college would be enough. Maybe becoming a pastor would convince Him not to be angry with me. I knew religious language, but shame had shaped the way I imagined God.

There was a season while I lived in Colorado when I would look away from beautiful sunsets or landscapes. I felt as though enjoying God's creation might provoke Him to punish me or knock me down. That was not a clear picture of the Father Jesus reveals. It was fear dressed up as faith.

Learning the truth about God's love was not an optional extra for my worship. I needed it. Romans 8:38-39 points us toward a love in Christ that nothing in creation can separate us from.

So we learn. We read Scripture. We ask questions. We grow in our understanding of God's character. We let the truth correct the picture we've constructed in our minds.

Worship in spirit without truth can become whatever feels spiritual in the moment. Truth without an engaged heart can become religious information with no relationship.

Jesus calls us to both.

The Invitation Is Personal

The woman at the well came for water. She left with a story to tell, and others in her community came to meet Jesus because of her testimony.

What began as an unlikely conversation became an invitation for an entire town.

That's the kind of thing Jesus does. He meets somebody in an ordinary place, tells the truth, offers grace, and changes the way they see God.

So maybe the question isn't just whether you like the music at church.

Maybe it's whether you are bringing your real self before the real God.

What wells are you returning to that never quite satisfy? What walls have you put between yourself and other people? And where do you need to let Scripture reshape what you believe about God?

True worship isn't just a time slot on Sunday.

It's the response of a heart being changed by the one who gives living water.