You know the story. Jesus and His disciples passed through Samaria en route to Galilee. The disciples went into town to get some Doritos and Dew. Jesus plopped down to rest and struck up a conversation with a local woman.

As the conversation progressed, the woman began to see Jesus was more than an average guy in serious need of a water bucket. In fact, after Jesus revealed some insider info about the woman’s life, she knew there was something special going on. So she brought up a subject that must have been weighing on her mind: worship. Jesus used the occasion to give His most specific recorded teaching on the subject, giving us a simple framework for student worship.

As you read the passage below, keep an eye on what God is looking for.

John 4:22-24, NIV

"You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

Think About It

Much has been written on this passage, but maybe you have some elbow room for a few more observations.

First, did you notice the lowercase “s” in Jesus’ assertion that God is looking for worshippers who worship in spirit? In this case, Jesus wasn’t talking about the Holy Spirit, but rather spirit as the diametric opposite of physical.

Perhaps you also observed that the “truth” Jesus spoke of isn’t uppercase Truth, as in the Word of God or even Jesus Himself. Rather, it’s lowercase truth, as in reality and authenticity.

Simply put, God is looking for people who worship from the spiritual place inside their being, yet firmly rooted in reality and with all the authenticity they can muster. Sounds like great goals for student worship.

Apply It

If worshipping in spirit and truth is a clear-cut way to be what God is looking for, then anything less is a clear-cut way to miss God—especially since God is spirit, as Jesus said.

Think about what it means to worship “in spirit.” Imagine taking a snapshot of your students’ thoughts at any point during worship. You might see: I’m hungry. She’s cute. I should have gone to the bathroom. How do they get those lights to hang up there? This is worship “in physical,” not “in spirit.” The more we can reduce the physical distractions for our students, the better their chance of finding God.

Now think about what it means to worship “in truth.” In Matthew 5 Jesus tells us if we come to worship and remember a brother has something against us, we should leave our gift at the altar—stop worshipping!—and go be reconciled to the person. That’s the authenticity God is looking for. Anything less is fake worship, and we know how God feels about that.

Thankfully, authenticity isn’t a problem for most students, who tend to have a better radar for hypocrisy than most adults. Our struggle in youth ministry is the “in spirit” part—the challenge of minimizing distractions that become roadblocks to worship.

Obviously Jesus was speaking about a lifestyle, not necessarily a designated hour of worship, but the worship hours we spend with our students may be their best chance for spirit-and-truth worship, and can serve as a launch pad to help them become 24/7 worshippers—the kind God is seeking.

For a deeper and wider exploration of John 4, check out Shafer’s study “Hungering for His Word: A Teen Study in John 1–6” at http://www.inword.org/