Worship: The Consummation

In John 4:23–24, Jesus said that the Father is looking for those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. Worship is a function of the spirit. What is the act by which we are joined to the Lord as one spirit? Worship. That is why worship is the highest activity of human beings.

When we are joined to the Lord in worship, we begin to bring forth or birth the things that God wants brought forth. Worship is not a sort of appendix to the Christian life. It is not an afterthought, a mere addition to our services. Worship is the culmination — it is the confirmation. If I may say this without offending anybody, worship is the consummation of our marriage to the Lord. It unites us with Him as one spirit. When we have that marriage union, it is always for the sake of procreation. That is when we procreate; that is when we bring forth spiritual fruit. By “spiritual fruit,” I mean the fruit of the Spirit, which is listed in Galatians 5:22–23: “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

The people who bring forth the kinds of fruit specified in this passage do not need to be governed by the law. They are not under the law. They have escaped from their marriage to the flesh under the law, and they are free to be married by the Holy Spirit to the resurrected Christ and bring forth the kind of fruit that is appropriate to that union. The key to the Christian life is not effort. It is union.