Philippians 3:2 “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. 3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.”
To “worship God” is to experience joy and peace that is beyond our human ability to adequately describe. Most definitions of “worship” list and describe the activities of “worship”; that is, we bow before our “God” and we sing, pray, preach, and do those holy servile things that He has Commanded us to do. But, “true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23). True “worship” requires the mystic internal presence of the Holy Spirit, moving and working in the “worshipers”, and motivating and guiding them in “true worship”; that is, they are entirely and exclusively motivated by the “Holy Spirit”. In “true worship”, the Holy Spirit mystically presents Himself within the hearts and minds of His “worshipers”, and when they come together to “worship”, He unites and binds them together, giving them a common purpose and equipping them with the means with which to “worship God”. These “true worshippers” adore and wholly and joyfully submit themselves to their Lord, and they declare their adoration of “God” in words of praise, songs of praise, preaching with praise, and declaring themselves to be loving servants of God. Mankind is mentally wired to worship. The unregenerate will “worship” themselves, some other human being, some inanimate object, some carnal activity, or some organization. In their “worship”, the unregenerate exalt themselves with material grandeur, music designed to ignite human emotion, expositions of power, etc. Some insincere “worshipers” will even adopt the scenes of “true worship”; “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:9); they speak the name of God, but their thinly vailed motive is to adore and promote themselves. Some are simply confused and disoriented by either no teaching or false teaching, for they “worship” they “know not what” (John 4:22). Paul explains it this way: “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” (Romans 8:5-6). There is an old adage, that explains how to discern the difference between “true worshippers” and those who “worship” “in vain”. It goes like this, ‘you can tell the difference between a sheep and a wolf in sheep’s clothing by looking at their tracks’! That is, it doesn’t take long for false “worshipers” to reveal themselves, for ungodly behavior will soon show who they really are. Those “which worship God in the spirit” are perpetually kind and gentle and loving and humble and attribute all blessings and successes to “God” and seek no glory for themselves but glorify “God” in all things! Thus, we are exhorted to give good attention to true “worship”: “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” (Hebrews 13:15)!