Worhship is Not about Where you are. . .

Worship is not about where you are, but who you are, and whose you are:

Jesus comforted the woman out the well:

"Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

"Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

"But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:21-24)

Right away, Jesus makes the point that worship is not about a specific holy location, whether based on religious tradition (Jerusalem, the site of the Holy Temple) or ethnic pride and identity (the mountains of Samaria).

The Lord had declared the inefficacy of man's effort to produce a house of Him:

King Solomon declared before the congregation of Israel how inadequate was the marvelous temple which He had built for the Lord:

"But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?" (1 Kings 8:27)

The Lord also declared through the prophet Isaiah:

"The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?" (Isaiah 66:1)

So, where does God now abide?

In us, in every believer!

"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

"If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." (1 Corinthians 3: 16-17)

and

"And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (2 Corinthians 6: 16)

Now connecting the Truth of God's rest, the Sabbath, and who we are in the Body of Christ, let us read over the first evangelical sermon, delivered by Peter on the day of Pentecost:

"Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.

"For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:

"Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:" (Acts 2: 24-26)

Peter refers to Psalm 16: 8-9, which reads:

"I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

"Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope."

Let us look also to the one and final sermon of the first martyr, Stephen:

"Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,

"Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?

"Hath not my hand made all these things?" (Acts 7: 48-50)

In both sermons, the term "rest" appears. In Peter's sermon, "rest" translates the word "kataskénoó: to pitch one's tent, encamp, dwell κατασκηνόω.

David speaks of his flesh dwelling in Hope. For the believer, Christ is his hope
(cf Colossians 1:27, 1 Thessalonians 2:19)

In Stephen's reference of Isaiah, "rest" translates "

katapausis: κατάπαυσις, which in the Old Testament of the rest was supposed to be attained by the Israelites resting and dwelling in the Promised Land.

Yet the writer of Hebrews tells of another rest:

"For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

"And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.

"Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:" (Hebrews 4: 4-6)

The writer of Hebrews continues:

"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

"For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

"Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrews 4: 9-11)

Here, "labour" is not the best translation, for "rest" implies a cessation of one's activity. The original word is "σπουδάζω spoudazó -- which means "hasten, to be eager, or to be zealous". It's a matter of getting in as quickly as possible, rather than striving to get in.

And what is this "rest" that the writer of Hebrews is referring to? The same rest that God is looking for, which Stephen cited in his sermon before being stoned!

So, by the power of the Holy Spirit, God is able to take rest in us, and by His presence we have the rest which the Israelites did not receive upon entering the Promised Land. We have a rest that never leaves us nor forsakes us.

Church attendance, if anything else, is about affirming for believers this Peace thorough Christ that lives and dwells in every believer by the Power of the Word
of God. Worship is now no longer about any one place, but who we are and whose we are.

Therefore, we can fulfill the prophecy that Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well, that with the Holy Spirit within us, we can worship the Lord in Spirit and Truth-- a worship that is not limited by a "holy" location, for we are made holy, the righteousness of God in Christ.