Author:
Teacher Maria vonAnderseck
Maria serves as a called and confirmed Chief Teacher in the restored government of God and she is an IDCCST Spiritual Life Coach. She is the co-founder of s8w Ministries. Teacher Maria walks you through spiritual transformation from start to finish, God’s way. View my profile.
How many times have you heard a minister say that he is preaching about relationship, not religion? It’s such a hot topic, and at first it seems like an important point because you’ve been in search of the true way to worship God; a way that captures how you personally relate to Him.
Everyone has a different way of describing the difference between religion and relationship, but for most, it comes down to being less controlling and ritualistic (religion) and more flowing with what you feel (relationship).
The word “relationship” can be a tricky word. Most of the time, when a person talks about having a relationship with God, they’re talking about how they relate to God. To translate this dynamic, it says to God that we want a relationship with Him that is based on our needs, feelings, wants, desires, and ideas about our own search for our true inner self-identity. This, of course, is a recipe for disaster because this relationship is self-referencing.
At its core, the meaning of the word relationship is “the state of being connected” (thefreedictionary.com) and that’s why we’re going to use the word “tether” to describe our connection to God and we’ll use it as a verb; something we do.
Let’s look at how Jesus laid that out for us in John 4:24 as He teaches us how to relate to God. Jesus first defines God in a way that will break the mold of religious (ritualistic) thinking. He says, God is a Spirit, or God is a tether. God’s intention is to join you to Himself; so God is a tether (noun), but He has supplied us with the knowledge and power to separate us from the world to Himself and to create in us His divine nature; so God is a tether (verb) because there’s a part we play.
We are not the Tether
We are not the tether, meaning that our relationship with God does not start with our fallen nature, and does not consist of the affairs of this life. Nothing in us can tether us to God; we are not the bonding power. So, Jesus finishes His teaching by saying, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship him in Spirit and in truth.”
When Jesus says the word “must”, He is stating that worship is conditional; it is bound up in God’s new covenant provision in Jesus Christ (truth) and empowered by His Holy Spirit (Spirit).
This focus on God’s covenant provision changes how we reason with God and shapes our relationship with Him. A religious mind reasons with God about his broken down condition, how he feels about being humble and transparent. The well he is drawing from is his heart (feelings), which is what most people want God to relate to: their history, their wounds, their set of circumstances, their fears. They are trying to be real by being human.
Remember that in John chapter 4 Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well. She engaged Jesus in conversation to convert Him to her religion. Her religion was based on her roots. As she drew water from Jacob’s well to quench Jesus’ thirst, she also drew from the well of her proud history to give Jesus an opportunity to relate to her. Everything she said was correct, but how she used all of that to relate to God was wrong. And this is the same message Jesus is speaking to the church today.
A person can be so right in relating to the history of Jesus’ birth and His ministry on earth, His death and resurrection, but their worship of God will still be wrong because they are drawing from their own well (heart) to self-relate, forgetting that God is looking for “true” worshippers—those who relate to Him on new grounds.
What is a True Worshipper?
Jesus said, “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” (John 4:23)
And then Jesus followed up with verse 24 saying, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
Jesus is not simply repeating Himself; He is showing that man does have an inborn need and desire to connect to God, and He understands that; but God is seeking those who accept the terms and conditions of the new covenant to worship Him in a new and living way.
God is a Spirit (tether) and those who relate to Him, must (on these conditions) relate to Him: by accepting His covenant truth that embodies Jesus in His apostolic stewardship and priesthood, God initiates a true and living relationship to build the bonds of peace.
If you are wondering what you can do to enter into a true and lasting relationship with God, our IDCCST online Course is made just for you. From start you finish you will learn how to relate to God in a new and living way. Start today! Registration is free. https://s8w.org/idccst-online-course/
