"But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)

December 8, 2025

Dear friends,

I've been thinking a lot recently about worship, and about how the acceptable worship of God is in conflict with idolatry and the worship of false gods. As I've been reading Deuteronomy (Sunday school class) and Jeremiah (morning devotions), I’ve noted the great difference between true and false worship. To worship a false god, or an idol, or any false representation of our true God, is an abomination to the Lord.

WORSHIP TRUE AND FALSE. In my reading, three differences between true and false worship stood out to me...

1) True worship is based upon truth about God. Acceptable worship is a response to his revelation rather than our imagination (Deut 4:15-19; Acts 17:29; Rom 1:21). There is no other God than the God of the Bible, and we are ever prone to mold God into our own image or into a form we find more acceptable to us. R. C. Sproul wrote, "To worship God in truth is to worship him as he commands."

2) True worship is covenantal rather than transactional. In Jeremiah's day the people thought that worship was more like a business transaction than a marriage covenant (Jer 12:2; Rev 2:4-5). This was a pagan trait, to barter with God, trading worship for blessings desired. "It is impossible to use God and worship him at the same time." (Larry Crabb)

3) True worship is transformative rather than performative (Jer 24:7; Rom 12:1-2). It's easy for worship to become a performance, going through motions and forms which may be visually beautiful. But real worship, the kind that the Lord accepts, involves inner change, humility, obedience, and a whole-hearted love for God, which comes from the Holy Spirit.

COME LET US ADORE HIM. This past Sunday's sermon was on Isaiah 42:1-4, given by Jim Krouscas (link below). In the previous chapter of Isaiah, God says to "behold" or "look at" the emptiness of idols (41:29), and then, "Behold my servant..." (42:1) Our choice is to either worship false gods in futility, or to worship the true God through his Son, Jesus.

Our Lord said that true worship was in "spirit and truth", that is, with the life God gives and in the truth he has revealed. Jesus himself is the Truth and the Life (Jn 14:6), being the real embodiment of God in flesh. Jesus received worship as an infant (Matt 2:11), after his resurrection (Matt 28:17; John 20:28), and in heaven (Rev 5:14). Although he is fully human, he is also fully God -- the second Person of the Trinity -- and so he is worthy of our adoration. As composer Hugh Martin wrote, "Let us gather to sing to him, And to bring to him our praise. Christ the Lord is a gift for all To the end of all our days." [Story and lyrics below.]

RESOURCES.

-- Here is Sunday's sermon, "Behold my Servant" by Jim Krouscas.

-- Here's the story of a popular Christmas song and how the author rewrote it: "Have Yourself a Blessed Little Christmas." [Lyrics below*]

-- Have you read Christianity and Liberalism, by J. Gresham Machen? The 100th anniversary edition is available here. Check out this video promo.

-- Here's a new and reasonably priced (very!) edition of the 1650 Scottish Psalter, complete with links to tunes. Check out this video.

FINAL QUOTE. "Man is now thinking out a Bible for himself; framing a religion in harmony with the development of liberal thought; constructing a worship on the principles of taste and culture; shaping a god to suit the expanding aspirations of the age." (Horatius Bonar, from Our Ministry, 1883).

Wishing you all a blessed Advent season,

Sandy

Afterwords is an occasional newsletter on topics of interest to me (Sandy Young) since my retirement from full-time pastoral ministry. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

*This holiday song was originally written by Hugh Martin for Judy Garland to sing in the 1944 movie, Meet Me in St. Louis. Later in life Martin rewrote the lyrics...

Have yourself a blessed little Christmas,
Christ the King is born.
Let your voices ring upon this happy morn.

Have yourself a blessed little Christmas,
Serenade the earth.
Tell the world we celebrate the Savior’s birth.

Let us gather to sing to him,
And to bring to him our praise.
Christ the Lord is a gift for all
To the end of all our days.

Sing hosannas, hymns & hallelujahs,
As to him we bow.
Make the music mighty as the heav’ns allow.
And have yourself a blessed little Christmas now.

Lyrics by Hugh Martin and John Fricke, ©1996 Warner Bros. Publications Inc.