How Finite Hearts Worship an Infinite God
“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.” (Jn 4:23–24 ESV)
Jesus met a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well late in the afternoon. He asked her for a drink from the water she had drawn. The woman was initially shocked. A Jew, and a rabbi no less, was talking to her, a Samaritan woman. Yet, the conversation quickly turned to a question about what is acceptable worship of God. She thought location and ceremony were critical when it came to worshiping God. Should we practice our ceremonial worship at Mount Gerizim or in Jerusalem, she asked?
God the Father seeks people who worship him in spirit and truth. The answer Jesus gave highlighted more than where or under what ceremonies worship is practiced. This led her from thinking Jesus was a prophet to him being the long awaited Messiah. Jesus affirmed her suspicion, “I who speak to you am he.”
If God is seeking spirit and truth worshipers, then what does it mean to worship him in spirit and truth? To answer that question we must consider what Jesus did when he spoke to the Samaritan woman. We must start by explaining who this God is that we worship.
Jesus describes his Father God as Spirit. He does not posses a spirit. He is not a spirit among many. And, God as Spirit is not the same as a human having a spirit. God is pure spirit. That is, he is not physical or material. That is why we can’t see him. God is invisible to all spectrum of light.
God is Infinite
One aspect of God being pure spirit is that he is infinite. He is an infinite Spirit. In an effort by Job’s counselor to comfort him in his great losses he refers to God’s infinity.
“Can you find out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
It is higher than heaven—what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?” (Job 11:7–8 ESV)
The answer to all four questions is no. Job can’t comprehend the infinity of God. God’s actions are beyond our intellectual limits and they are more comprehensive than anything we can imagine. This idea sounds frightening. Others think that because God is infinite and we are finite that it is impossible to know anything about him.
We should not fear the infinity of God nor should we think that we can’t know anything about God. This infinite God is also personal and has revealed himself to finite beings.
The Prophet Isaiah reminded Israel as they feared Babylonian exile that,
“To whom then will you compare me,
(Isa 40:25-28 ESV)
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
and because he is strong in power,
not one is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
‘My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my God’?
Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.”
God is Intimate
God is a being. He has person-hood. He is alive and always active. As his creatures, we are morally responsible to him. God not only exists but has many other attributes. Being a pure spirit means that all of his attributes are at all times who and what he is. God is spirit, infinite, eternal, unchangeable, all knowing, all powerful, holy and just, and merciful, gracious, and loving.
Finite beings often value three qualities of God. He is merciful toward our shortcomings and weaknesses. He is gracious and patient when we violate his moral laws. And, He is loving when we are arrogant, prideful, and hateful. This explains why we believe God is good in every sense of that word.
God being infinite means he is everywhere all the time. Nothing in your life is left up to chance. A Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was a member of the Jewish council, warned the council to leave Jesus’ apostles and their preaching alone. Why? Because “if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” (Ac 5:39 ESV). Notice that is was an unbeliever who acknowledged that God’s will is impenetrable. It is impossible to fully understand. And it can’t be hurt or damaged.
The Prophet Jeremiah recognized God’s infinity.
“Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I can’t see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD.” (Jer 23:23–24 ESV)
Notice what Jeremiah wrote. God is near “at hand” and not “far away.” People can’t hide in a secret place because there are no secret places where an intimate God can’t see. And at the same time he claims God is infinite as he fills heaven and earth. So, God is both infinite (everywhere) and intimate (knows all our secrets).
How Do We Relate To An Infinite And Intimate God?
We were created in his image. That means we have a spirit similar to God’s. We don’t posses an infinite spirit. We are not deified beings. That would make us a god. But we do have an eternal spirit that allows us to commune with God.
We are made up of two parts: a spirit (immaterial and invisible) and a body (material and physical). It is a natural thing for us to reach out to the invisible spiritual world because God made us in his image with an invisible finite spirit. A Christian’s spirit and eventually their body, are transformed into the likeness of Jesus. Jesus as Lord restores that spirit causing us to reflect many of God’s attributes.
Thus, when we pray and worship God we are to do so in spirit. That is, from our hearts/souls/spirit we acknowledge his majesty, his greatness, and his loving kindness; and our actions align with his truthful word in gratitude and obedience.
What Does It Mean To Worship In Spirit?
Jesus concluded his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well by telling her God wanted worship in spirit and truth. What did that mean to her and what does it mean to us?
First, since a pure spirit being is everywhere we must recognize that God knows everything about us. He has perfect insight of everything—past, current, and future even though he is invisible. He sees every great act we do, every mundane thought we have, and even the minuscule behaviors we do that irritate others. And yet, he is merciful, gracious, and loving toward us. Since these three traits are infinite in God, they never end, change, or can be thwarted by physical circumstances. God works through improbabilities. He is a wonder-working God. Sometimes He even works in spite of us. If you don’t believe me, look at your parenting skills. Your adult kids often end up doing very well, regardless of our parenting inadequacies. That is clearly the grace of God dispensed from a loving God.
Since God is pure spirit he is not arbitrary. He always acts according to his attributes. It is impossible for him to act otherwise. God always loves and acts justly; he is always merciful in judgments; God is constantly acting for our good even in difficult situations.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians about God’s infinity:
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”— (1 Cor 2:9 ESV)
God constantly amazes finite beings like you and me. In the letter to the Romans, Paul also wrote:
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Rom 8:28–29 ESV)
God can make such promises because he is infinitely aware of everything we experience.
What Does It Mean To Worship In Truth?
Second, King David prays the truth in the Assembly of God by stringing many divine attributes together.
“Therefore David blessed the LORD in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O LORD, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.” (1 Chron 29:10–11 ESV)
Job too worshiped in truth by acknowledging the infinite attributes of God.
“He is wise in heart and mighty in strength—
who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—
he who removes mountains, and they know it not,
when he overturns them in his anger,
who shakes the earth out of its place,
and its pillars tremble;
who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
who seals up the stars;
who alone stretched out the heavens
and trampled the waves of the sea;
who made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
who does great things beyond searching out,
and marvelous things beyond number.
Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not;
he moves on, but I do not perceive him.” (Job 9:4–11 ESV)
Who Is This God?
He is the infinite God who visited us as Jesus of Nazareth. This God of pure spirit took on flesh and a human nature so that we can finally see God.
“Jesus said to Philip, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” (Jn 14:9–11 ESV)
Since Jesus as God has physically ascended to heaven, how can we see God now? We can’t limit God to our time expectations for he is infinite. We can’t limit him to the methods we devise for he is infinite. He is not tied to a place, a moment in history, or to an individual finite person. How can we now see God? We see him, as Jesus said, in his Word.
Calvin believed that “we ascend to him only through his Word.” Believing in the risen Christ is to worship in the truths that Jesus historically paid for your sins and rose from the dead to give you eternal life. That is the greatest spiritual truth you will ever know. We worship in truth by examining and believing in the Scriptures. This helps us find out who God is. It also reveals what He requires of us. To know God is to love God and to love God is to know and obey the Scriptures.
“Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.'” (Jn 14:23–24 ESV)
Jesus is the gateway to worship God in spirit and truth. The Samaritan woman was so impressed with Jesus that she ran and told everyone she knew that this God-man was infinite. She realized that he knew everything about her, yet did not reject her. She recognized that he is my Savior, my Messiah.
Be like Job and the Samaritan woman as you come to worship. Worshiping in spirit and truth means to admire what you cannot fathom.
