Worship the Lord: Anywhere—Any Time! Everywhere—All the Time!

When you enter church for worship, two questions come to mind. Who have you come to worship? And what is worship all about? These two questions have been dealt with for nearly 2000 years. The answers should be obvious—we have come to worship the Father. We have come to worship Christ Jesus our Lord. Worship involves giving praise and honor and glory to whom praise and honor and glory are due—our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Next time you are in church attending worship, look around you. How engaged are the people? What are they doing? Do they participate? Let me guess: no one moves, no one smiles, everyone whispers the hymns they know. If the pastor is good, they keep coming and listening, though they may not act upon what they hear. But if the pastor is not so good, they do not listen and soon forget to keep coming to church. Am I right? It happens like this in so many churches.

Have you ever heard anyone say, “Why should I keep coming to church? I don’t get anything out of it.” Perhaps you have been heard to say this. Well, the problem is the only question we ask ourselves is this: "What do I get out of it?" That is the wrong question. If we do not feel we get much out of it, we simply complain and soon quit coming so often.

The question we should be asking is this: "What does God get out of it?" Or, "Is God glorified by my worship?" Many different things happen when true worship takes place. When we come together and truly worship the Lord, God is pleased because He receives praise and honor and glory, and God moves in our hearts to bless us mightily.

Many things are called worship today: certain gatherings, such as those held every Sunday morning in churches all avross our land, are called worship; meetings with certain liturgies, regardless of when they are held, are also called worship. But are these truly worship? Don’t get me wrong, these can be worship. True worship can take place in just such places as those. But are the things we do in church necessarily worship?

What is true worship? What does it look like? Just what are the ingredients? That is what the woman of Samaria asked Jesus during their conversation in John 4:19-20.

Jesus had been speaking with the woman of Samaria at Jacob’s well. He brought her sin into the open and she was convicted, realizing her need for forgiveness. Having repented, she now wondered where she should go to meet God and seek His grace. Knowing that Jesus was obviously a prophet of God (v. 19), she reasoned that He would know, so she said, "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship" (v. 20).

Her comment highlighted one of the major points of contention between Jews and Samaritans. Both believed that under the old covenant God directed His people to worship Him in a specific location. "You shall seek the LORD at the place which the LORD your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come" (Deut. 12:5).

The Samaritans didn't worship on Mount Gerizim simply out of convenience or because they were not allowed in the Temple, not being fully Jewish. They had Scripture to support their tradition. Accepting only the Pentateuch (the five books of Moses) as canonical, they chose Mount Gerizim. It was at nearby Shechem that Abraham first built an altar to God (Gen. 12:6-7), and it was from Mount Gerizim that the Israelites proclaimed the blessings of obedience to God's commandments (Deut. 11:29).

In Deuteronomy 27-28, Moses set up two mountains: one representing the curse, Mount Ebal, and the other representing the blessing, Mount Gerizim. In Joshua 8:30-35 the people had conquered the land as far as Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim and they did as commanded, building altars on both mountains and offering sacrifices on each to recognize both the curse, represented by Mount Ebal, and the blessing, represented by Mount Gerizim.

From this the Samaritans built a tradition of worship at Mount Gerizim, which was in Samaria. But all of this was only meant to remind them to worship, serve, and obey only the Lord God! As they passed by these mountains they were to remember the curse and the blessing, and they were to remember to obey God and to do His will. The people took it from there and built a tradition over the course of many years, all because of a misunderstanding of what Moses and Joshua had done.

The Jews, on the other hand, accepting the complete Old Testament canon, recognized that God had chosen Jerusalem as the place where He was to be worshiped. "But I have chosen Jerusalem that My name might be there" (2 Chronicles 6:6a). They built a tradition around this.

The woman of Samaria saw these two traditions, each with their own Old Testament backing. Which one is right? Where should we worship?

Jesus replied in a way she did not expect and that caught her completely off guard. He said the issue would soon be irrelevant. He said, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain (Gerizim) nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father" (v. 21). During the Jewish revolt against Rome a few decades later (A.D. 70), the temple at Jerusalem would be destroyed, and thousands of Samaritans would be slaughtered on Mount Gerizim. More importantly, the new covenant would make all external ceremonies and rituals, whether Jewish or Samaritan, obsolete. Instead, you are to worship the Father wherever you.

Jesus said, "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers" (v. 23). You should make a habit of worshiping God every day, even in the quiet of your own home. Such a habit of worship (sometimes referred to as a quiet time) enhances your walk with God. It is a core discipline of the faith that builds you up in your vertical relationship with Christ so that He can live through you.

Certain places or certain liturgies might tend to enhance our worship, but neither is absolutely necessary. Jesus told this woman that they could worship right there on the edge of that well, or wherever they might be at any time. Anywhere—any time! Everywhere—all the time!

Now don’t get me wrong. This doesn’t mean we don’t need to worship together at church. We do. The writer of Hebrews said, "Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near" (Heb. 10:24-25). Gathering at church to worship together is how we stimulate one another in our spiritual walk with Christ. So do not forsake the assembly. Do, however, worship at home or wherever you are each day as well.

"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (v. 24). He is spirit. He is everywhere present with us. So you can worship at home—family altar. You can worship at work—as you work. You can worship daily alone—quiet time or devotions. And of course, you can worship together corporately at church. Just remember to worship God daily wherever you are. Amen.