Let us consider the matter of worship again. John 4 tells us that “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness” (v. 24). We have pointed out previously that the word “truthfulness” can be translated as “reality.” The emphasis is the spirit, but it also mentions reality. Those who worship God must worship with their spirit. Anything that is of the spirit is real, and anything that is not of the spirit is not real. One does not worship God by the emotions, the feelings, or the mind. To worship God, one must be in spirit and in reality. Otherwise, one cannot touch spiritual reality. What is reality? When the spirit touches God, there is reality; when the spirit does not touch God, there is no reality. Anything that is of the spirit is real, and anything that is not of the spirit is not real. Formalistic worship is, of course, not up to the standard. But the so-called spiritual worship is, at times, unworthy of an amen. One may not be able to put his finger on the problem, but there is a feeling that it is not the real thing. Then there are those who are truly worshipping God; they may not say anything. However you can say amen, because you have touched something real in them; you have touched the reality in them.
Thanksgiving and praise are good things. But many thanksgivings and praises are ritualistic. They are not what the Bible describes as reality. Brothers and sisters, have you had the experience in which someone was thanking and praising but there was not an amen within you? In fact, you felt quite cold within. It seemed that the more the person praised, the colder you became. Sometimes a person encounters a problem, and he continues to thank and praise the Lord in a loud way, acting as if there is no problem at all. Is this good? It seems good. But the more he praises and thanks the Lord, the more you cannot say amen. You do not understand why. But something within you says, “It is good to thank and praise the Lord, but this kind of thanksgiving and praise is not genuine. It is not the reality.” Some people seem to be unconcerned about their problems; they fill their mouths with joyful and happy thanksgivings and praises. But within, you feel that there is something wrong, that it is not right, and that it is not the reality. You may meet another brother who is not as loud as the first one in thanking and praising the Lord. He may not appear as joyful and may, in fact, show some sadness in his face. But the strange thing is that when he thanks and praises the Lord in a soft way, you can say amen. You feel that it is right, that it is the real thing, and that he has touched the reality.
Take prayer as another example. I will not mention formalistic prayers. Seemingly zealous prayers and long prayers often do not strike an amen in others. On the contrary, the more these prayers are offered, the more others become cold. This is because the prayer has not touched any spiritual reality. Luke 18 speaks of two persons praying in the temple. The prayer of the tax collector who “beat his breast, saying, God, be propitiated to me, the sinner!” (v. 13) touched others. But the prayer of the self-justifying Pharisee who praised God loudly did not touch others. This is because one was praying to God, while the other was only praying “to himself” (v. 11). Many prayers that are prayers to oneself do not strike any amen. On the contrary, they make others sick. A real prayer may be short in words and may even be inarticulate, but when one prays such a prayer, he touches reality. He touches the depth of others’ beings, and others can respond with a spontaneous amen.
Another matter is the blood of the Lord Jesus cleansing our conscience. Physically speaking, this is an impossible thing. When the Lord Jesus was crucified on the cross, could anyone take the blood which was shed and sprinkle it on himself to cleanse his conscience? No. The Holy Spirit is the Executor of all spiritual things. When the Holy Spirit cleanses our conscience with the Lord’s blood, He is cleansing us with the spiritual reality of the blood rather than the physical blood. Something is real only when it is in the Holy Spirit. When we touch the reality in the Holy Spirit, we touch life. But if all we touch are doctrines, the result is death, and we will not have life.
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