Why does God demand, seek, or request that we worship Him?

The Father seeks worshippers of this sort. He has made Himself known in order to produce this response. The downward flow of His love, in the revelation made to us, produces the upward flow of responsive love in worship. This is acceptable to Him and He seeks it.

Much less than this would have satisfied us. We would have been quite satisfied to be delivered from hell and judgment. That was all we desired when we discovered that we were lost. But less than these wonderful blessings could not satisfy God, or fulfil the desires of His heart. He was seeking worshippers (John 4:23). It does not say He was seeking "worship," but "worshippers," His purpose was to have a people near unto Himself, made like His Own dear Son, "holy and without blame before Him in love." (Eph. 1:4).

Thank God, it is not being merely saved from the consequences of our sins that will suit the heart of the blessed God, wonderful and necessary as that is, and we ought never to lose the wonder of it. But God desires our company, and to be consciously in His presence means worship. Worship is the highest exercise the creature is capable of. Not only are we saved, but we are brought to God, and “accepted in the Beloved”—sons before the Father’s face, priests in association with the Son of God, our great High Priest.

If God has given a new life to His children, and reconciled them to Himself by Him who has borne their sins in His own body on the tree, wherefore has this great work been done ? No doubt for His own glory and out of His own love; but it is as a part of that glory and an answer to His love that He calls upon His children to praise as well as serve Him now. And we have before us the consideration of this very subject-Christian worship, which demands the gift of the Pentecostal Spirit quite as much as either the assembly or ministry can do-a part of the homage of the children of God, and a return of heart which God claims from all that are His.

If God has given a new life to His children, and reconciled them to Himself by Him who has borne their sins in His own body on the tree, wherefore has this great work been done? No doubt for His own glory and out of His own love; but it is as a part of that glory and an answer to His love that He calls upon His children to praise as well as serve Him now. And we have before us the consideration of this very subject — Christian worship, which demands the gift of the Pentecostal Spirit quite as much as either the assembly or ministry can do — a part of the homage of the children of God, and a return of heart which God claims from all that are His.

John 4:23 states: ‘for the Father seeketh such to worship him'. This is so much more remarkable as it never says He seeks teachers, pastors or evangelists — or anything else. This shows how much God delights in a response from worshipping hearts.

Having briefly dwelt in our meditations on the only foundation of worship — the sacrifice of Christ — we will now refer to the only power of worship — the Holy Spirit. When "born again" we receive a new nature, which is holy and suited to the presence of God. It is also capable of enjoying Him, which truth surely gives us the highest thought of creature-happiness; and yet, as the apostle says, that blessed state may be enjoyed even now. "But we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. 5:11) Without this new nature there could be no worship. It is the children that the Father seeks to worship Him. Sonship is essential to worship. But the Father delights in the worship of His children. Not only does He accept it, but He seeks it. Wondrous, gracious truth, O my soul! our God and Father seeking worshippers! "For the Father seeketh such to worship him."

And the Father was seeking worshippers, those who would worship Him in spirit and in truth. He wanted His poor creature to know Him in His true character, so that he might no longer be under the power of darkness, but in the light, where only life and satisfaction of soul are found; and that he might be there with his cup of happiness full to the brim and his heart flowing over in praise and worship.

"The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him" (John 4:23). God is known as Father by His children and worshipped as such in spirit and in truth. He has made Himself known as a Father seeking and adopting children to worship Himself. God has gone out in His own redeeming love in quest of worshippers, seeking them under the gentle name of "Father," and placing them in a position of nearness and freedom before Himself as the children of His love. This is the blessed place the Christian is brought into, and now our loving Father is looking for the worship of His blood-bought children. Let us, then, freely give Him daily the praise, thanksgiving and worship which is due Him and which He is seeking from His children.

We are not, however, to think only of the value of gatherings of an assembly character to ourselves. Are we not told that the Father seeks worshippers? Where does He receive worship in Spirit and in truth as He does from those who are redeemed by the blood of Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit when assembled together? The vast creation cannot render this to Him as they do! It is said, Let all the angels of God worship Him. They do this, but they have not the same Spirit of relationship, nor do they yield the same character of worship as the redeemed. Even our growth in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is furthered in such gatherings, is not only of great value to us but to God also. We are told that “a wise son maketh a glad father”. As we grow in wisdom we minister to the pleasure of God. Is not this an incentive to us to seek to promote each other’s spiritual advance—for His sake? The praise and honour, and glory too, of which we have spoken, found as the result of trial of the faith of these wise sons in the day of Christ’s glory, will be of great value in His holy sight.