By: John DePasquale

“I can’t go get my husband, because I don’t have one,” she quickly responded to Jesus. Without missing a beat, Jesus responded back to her, “You are right when you say that you don’t have a husband. You’ve had five husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband.” John 4:17-18

If we are going to talk about the true heart of worship, this (John 4:17-18) is where we must begin. This moment in Jesus’ ministry is crucial to our understanding of what God is looking for when it comes to worship. It is in this interaction between Jesus and the woman at the well where we learn what God desires when it comes to our worship.

This whole conversation starts when Jesus, tired after a long journey, asks a Samaritan woman at a nearby well for a drink of water. Surprised that Jesus would even talk to her (Jews refused to associate with Samaritans), she shoots Him down. Never missing a chance to meet the needs of others, Jesus starts sifting through the cultural prejudices and misconceptions, pressing into the depths of who this woman was.

He says, “If you only knew the generosity of God and WHO I AM, you’d be the one asking me for water.” She scoffs. He explains that He offers living water that never runs dry, permanently satisfying our thirsts. She essentially says, “Prove it! Give me this ‘living water’ you’re talking about.” Then, all of a sudden, Jesus gets strangely personal, bringing up her failed relationships.

Deeper Relationship

There’s something powerful about how Jesus will cut right through the pleasantries (or not-so-pleasantries), getting right to the heart of a matter, revealing how well He knows the real us. Much like this woman, we are all wired with a desire to be known. This is a trait we get from our Creator who also desires to be known. I imagine that’s one of the reasons this woman had gone from lover to lover. She was thirsty for deeper relationship.

He had her attention now. She recognized Him as a prophet who had answers, and she had questions. “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews insist the only place to worship is in Jerusalem. So which is it?” she asks. Jesus answers telling her that a time is coming when it won’t matter where you worship. “You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know. But a time is coming, and is even here now, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is seeking these worshippers.”

This answer is perfect. The heart of God for us is revealed so beautifully in this statement. Yes, Jesus points out the kind of worship that God desires, but did you catch what He said that was even bigger? He didn’t say the Father’s searching for worship. He said that God’s searching for worshippers! His heart burns for you, not just your worship. It’s less about knowing where or what or how to worship—it’s about knowing Who. Just like that woman at the well, Jesus is interested in who you are and wants you to know who He is. True worship takes place within true relationship.

Why The Cross?

I hope you will hear this loud and clear: Jesus didn’t go to the cross so He could revel in your worship for all eternity. He went to the cross so He could revel in you for all eternity. God’s desire for worshippers is stronger than God’s desire for worship. You are His greatest desire! He wants to know you and to be known by you.

We see this all the way back in Genesis 4 when Abel brought his offering before the Lord, “God accepted Abel.” In fact, the Hebrew word used to describe God’s acceptance and pleasure means “to behold or gaze upon in high regard.” God was literally gazing upon Abel, not Abel’s offering, because of Abel’s heart toward God. It wasn’t about the kind of lamb being offered, it was about the heart condition of the person surrendering that lamb on the altar.

The same goes for Abraham in Genesis 22. It wasn’t about Isaac or the blessing or the sacrifice on the altar, it was about the posture of Abraham’s heart of worship. God was more concerned about Abraham’s heart toward Him than Abraham’s heart toward anything or anyone else.

Now, we know that God didn’t accept Cain, or Cain’s offering, so it’s not just any kind of worshipper that God accepts. This is why Jesus said the Father is looking for “true worshippers” who would worship “in spirit and in truth.”

What Kind of Worship Does God Want?

Your spirit is deeper than your skin, your emotions, or your mental makeup. It is the essence of who you are. God desires worshippers whose offerings amount to more than just physical and emotional expressions. God wants worship that rises from the deepest place of who we are! When you are born again, you become a new creation as the Holy Spirit takes up residence inside you. It is from this source deep within that our praise and worship flows forth! This is what David meant when he said, “You do not delight in sacrifices, otherwise that’s what I would offer… You’re looking for a broken spirit, a contrite heart.” (Psalm 51:17).

The other qualifier is that we worship “in truth.” In the Greek, this translates to say “not merely verbal, intensely sincere.” We must offer more than just empty words. We have to back it up by the way we live. Paul says it best in Romans 12:1, “I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.”

Worship with Your Life

There is no offering more meaningful than my life, who I am! That’s the kind of intense sincerity Jesus showed when He offered up His life, leaving Heaven, dying, and rising again for you and me, loudly declaring for all time the worth of the Father and the worth of you and me.

How do we respond to that? We take our cue from Jesus. With all sincerity, and from the deepest part of our being, we can offer up who we are, not just what is in our hands, to our God.

When we gather together on Sunday mornings to worship and when we come together at the Wednesday Prayer Gatherings, let’s worry less about where and how, and let’s focus all our attention on Who.