By Michael A. Milton
Living worship is not concerned with mountains or cities. Mount Zion is the place of God wherever God's people are gathered. The City of God is no longer just Jerusalem, it is the place of God's habitation, and He inhabits the praises of His people.
Campbell Morgan preached,
Worship ... is not a question of locality . . . It is not a question of intellect merely. To worship, men must get down to the deepest thing in their personality, spirit and truth. There must be honesty; there must be reality — by tearing off the mask and compelling you to face your own life.1
This is the Gospel principle of worship. Worship is not about a prop, but the Person of Christ.
Worship has principles and elements and expressions. Most of the time, like this woman, we don't talk about the principles and elements, we talk about the expression. A key principle is that our worship is centered in the Person of Jesus, not in some prop or lack thereof. It is not on a mountain, not in Jerusalem, but in the hearts of people who confess Jesus as Lord. Jesus didn't let this woman off of the hook by getting bogged down in this or that way of worship. He led her to the principle of worship. Jesus will not let you off of the hook by talking about worship expressions only. He is always pointing us to the principle of worship: the Lord Himself. Jesus Christ is our Worship.
2. Living Worship is set in Living History.
We can locate a second definition of Living Worship when we read: "You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22). Here we see that "Living Worship is set in Living History."
Now when I say "Living History," I mean to say that Jesus is teaching that worship happens in the context of real life events, which happen under the direction of God. We cannot worship outside the Story of what God is doing in history.
Jesus was telling her that true worship is not accepted just because it is motivational, or makes the worshipper feel religious, or anything of the sort. Jesus is telling her that true worship, a living worship, is set in the history of God's redemption. There must be clear, objective truths tied to worship. God is sovereign. God created us. Man fell into sin and rebellion and misery and is on his way to eternal punishment and separation from God, unless something is done. Something was done, and God Himself initiated it. God came down and took upon Himself flesh and became Man in order to save Man. Jesus will reveal Himself as that God-Man.
Now, we cannot worship unless our worship is set in that historical-redemptive context. It doesn't matter how good it makes you feel, how motivated you are, Living Worship is tied to a Living History of God's Plan of Salvation, centered in Christ.
Dr. Bryan Chapell, the President of Covenant Seminary, says that worship must be a week to week re-telling of the Gospel story. I think his statement is reflective of what the Bible is teaching us:
