"Such people the Father seeks" . . . is right out of the conversation our Lord had with the Samaritan woman about worship in John 4. Too many times our questions about worship are the same as the Samaritan woman's. We ask how and where questions because we are wanting to settle the issues of style and form. But our Lord's answers cut across all of that and go to the heart of worship, the reality of spirit and truth. It's all about our attitude and spirit in our approach and operating from truth.
Our Lord actively is seeking, looking, desiring true worshippers. We see it in the attitudinal differences in Cain and Abel's worship and what was acceptable to God. It is not that God is lacking something in Himself. He does not need our worship. Since creation He has been complete, perfect, and sufficient. But, our Lord God, creator of all things, desires the adoration of His created people. He looks for it, longs for it, gazes out for it, cares about it. When we come with Abel's attitude we find ourselves in the center of His desire for us.
Moses gives us God's desire in the Torah in Deuteronomy 10:12-13, "And now, O Israel, what does the LORD require of you? He requires only that you fear the LORD your God, and live in a way that pleases Him, and love Him and serve Him with all your heart and soul. And you must always obey the LORD'S commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good." Keeping God's commands are tied to loving Him; obeying His statutes emanate from fearing Him; serving Him is a matter of all that we are. So it is with our worship.
And then Micah gives us the same view point about 700 years after Moses. Micah illustrates an individual coming before the Lord asking what is necessary in the Lord's eyes. "What can we bring to the LORD? Should we bring Him burnt offerings? Should we bow before God Most High with offerings of yearling calves? Should we offer Him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins?" Then in verse 8 of Micah 6, the prophet reminds the questioner of the teaching of Moses: "No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good and this is what He requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
God requires transformative worship within us that leads us to outward acts of genuine spirituality. God is actively seeking those who relate to Him from the inner man, from the heart. True worshippers come before God in spirit and in truth. We were privileged to worship with a church yesterday that demonstrated this beautifully in their worship. Praise be to God! mjm
