But worshipping in Spirit is not enough. It is only half the answer. The second aspect of worship is that we must worship in truth as well. Look at the comparison Jesus draws for the Samaritan woman at the well. He explains to her that the Samaritans know very little about the one they worship while the Jews know all about Him. Neither is desirable however. We already saw that while the Jews knew everything about God, they did not operate in the Spirit of who He is. To some extent, God became an intellectual venture instead of a Spiritual one. That is the danger today of legalism. Where we take the teachings of God and intellectualize them into stringent rules, ignoring the very Spirit of the Lord.
The Samaritans on the other hand did not know much about the God they were worshipping. Their doctrine was flawed. They dismissed everything after the Torah thus dismissing a great portion of who God is. They were not worshipping in truth. There are some who think that all that matters is sincerity and they are mistaken. What we believe is extremely important to God. Doctrine is extremely important to God:
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. 2Timothy 3: 16-17 (NLT)
Salad bar theology, where you pick and choose what parts of the Bible you want to believe and discard the rest, is not the will of God. To do so and then worship makes no sense because who are you worshipping? The Bible teaches us that God is His Word. The Samaritans dismissed the vast majority of the Old Testament, yet would go to their temple and worship the God they already dismissed! While that sounds crazy, realize that it is even worse today. Entire denominations that once followed the Word of God are now dismissing portions of it as being culturally irrelevant or "symbolic." When God talks about worshipping in Spirit He is talking about our lives. When He talks about worshipping in truth, He is talking about our doctrine:
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. 1Timothy 4: 16 (NIV)
Realize that anything that deviates from the full teaching of the Bible is merely man recreating God in his own image. It is becoming more and more pervasive as we enter into these end times. God has warned us:
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 1Timothy 4: 1-2 (NIV)
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 2Timothy 4: 3-4 (NIV)
