Theology and Doxology: Know the God You Worship and Worship the God You Know
There are millions of people around the world—even some Christians—who are worshipping however they want. The terrifying truth is that God delights in none of it. So it's worth asking a question: What kind of worship does God want?
There is a movement in the church that pits theology (the study of God) against doxology (the worship of God), as if they were mutually exclusive—as if the more you know about God, the further it takes you from God. But the two were never meant to be separated. Theology is meant to lead to doxology, and doxology is meant to be informed by theology. When we untether them, our worship goes wrong. Nowhere is this clearer than in a single conversation Jesus had at a well in Samaria.
Knowledge As A Shield
In John 4, a Samaritan woman is in the middle of a conversation with Jesus, and he has just named her sin—her previous marriages and her current sexual immorality. That's why she says, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet." She recognizes there's something unique about this man, but instead of opening up, she puts up a wall. When we grab something hot, we instinctively pull our hand back; when this woman felt exposed, she instinctively deflected by changing the topic.
What does she change it to? A theological debate. "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain," she says, "but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship" (John 4:20). As Jesus confronts her sin and draws her to himself, her flesh fights against it—and she reaches for doctrine as a shield.
This is what you and I do when we feel like Jesus is getting too close: we dismiss, distract, or deflect. As God is drawing you in, maybe even right now, do you find yourself putting up boundaries and barriers? Do you change the topic, point the finger, walk away—whether in marriage, or with parents, or with a pastor, or in a small group?
Here is the warning: if we are not careful, we will use knowledge of God to keep us from worship of God. That's exactly what this woman does. She deflects into a theological debate to distance herself from intimacy with Jesus. Knowledge of God is good and necessary. But if all that information is just information, then it is useless. Knowledge needs to lead me somewhere. Knowledge of God needs to lead me to intimacy with God.
The irony is that she brings up a theological issue about worship to Jesus instead of worshiping Jesus.
Worship Is About a Person
"Woman, believe me," Jesus says, "the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father" (John 4:21). This is not an invitation but an assertion. He is not asking her to believe what he says is true; he is asserting that it is.
The Samaritans believed worship was about a place—Mount Gerizim. The Jews believed it was about a place too—the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. But Jesus comes along and says it's about a person. In fact, it's been about a person this whole time. Do you see how wrong doctrine can lead to wrong worship? To put it another way: misinterpretation leads to misapplication.
When Jesus says worship will happen "neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem," he is implying: no more temples. No more temple means no more priest, no more sacrifice, no more veil. The way people worshiped under the old covenant was at the temple, through the priest, with a sacrifice, behind the veil. Hebrews 9:6-8 describes it:
These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing.
But now—Jesus is our high priest who mediates between us and the Father, our sacrificial lamb who atones for our sin, and the torn veil who welcomes us in. Hebrews 10:19-22 declares:
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
God wants us to worship differently than they did. Consider how they worshiped before. Each year, as hundreds of thousands of Israelites journeyed to Jerusalem for Passover, they would sing the Songs of Ascent (Psalms 120-134). Because temples were built at the high places, they would literally lift their eyes to the hills where the temple stood. Psalm 121:1-2 says, "I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." We no longer look to the hills for our help. We look to God, who was hanged on one hill, who died and rose. He is our help. Look to him.
Ignorant Worship
Jesus goes on: "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22). The Samaritans worshiped, but it was wrong worship, because it wasn't the one true God—the Triune God. They placed their faith in a God they did not know.
You might be thinking: How can worship be wrong if it's sincere? We live in a culture that values authenticity over truth, but Jesus, being truth incarnate, says sincerity is not enough. And this wasn't just a Samaritan problem. Paul says of the Jews in Romans 10:2-3:
For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
They had zeal—passion, sincerity—but it was without knowledge. You can be sincere and still be sincerely wrong. The problem with much of modern worship is not that it lacks passion; it's that it lacks truth. The Samaritans meant it when they worshiped on Mount Gerizim, but they were wrong. The Jews meant it when they rejected Christ, but they were wrong. The Mormons, the Muslims, and the New Ageists all mean it, but they are all equally wrong.
So how can we worship a God we do not know? This is the heart of the matter. Jesus corrects the Samaritans for worship without knowledge, and Paul critiques the Jews for the same. If your study of God leads anywhere but worship of God, then whatever you think you know, you actually know nothing at all. Truths about God should lead you to love for God. Theology leads to doxology. Knowledge is not the thing; it is only a means to the thing, which is worship. And yet you cannot worship without knowledge.
The Christian rapper and pastor Shai Linne put it this way: theology without doxology is cold, dead orthodoxy; doxology without theology is idolatry—a random expression of praise not informed by Scripture.
Worship in Spirit and Truth
"But the hour is coming, and is now here," Jesus says, "when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:23-24).
Do you want to be a "true worshiper"? The Father is looking for that kind of worship. But if you want to worship truthfully, you need to know what true worship is—and the only way to do that is to read God's word. That is the truth half of "spirit and truth."
The spirit half matters too. Jesus says to worship "in spirit" because "God is spirit"—he is not material and earthly. The Second Commandment prohibits making idols; Isaiah 42:8 has God saying, "I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols." We do not need created things to worship the Creator of all things.
But idolatry isn't just carved images. Idolatry is whenever our worship moves in the wrong direction. Think of worship like gravity: it moves toward the object that is biggest or closest. The moon orbits the earth because it's drawn toward us; the earth orbits the sun because it's drawn toward it. When you jump, you come back down, because your body is drawn toward the earth. We all have an internal draw toward something. What direction is your worship going?
To be a true worshiper is to have your worship move in the right direction. When it moves in the wrong direction, that's idolatry. Tim Keller defines an idol as "anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give." Our problem is that we love our idols. John Calvin said our hearts are idol factories. Your worship should move toward God, who is worthy of it—not toward idols, who are not.
The Kind of Worship God Wants
To know what kind of worship God does want, we need to know what he does not:
God does not want ceremonial worship without a broken spirit. David says in Psalm 51:16-17, "For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." It does not please God to go through the motions without love. Tithing, prayer, church attendance, daily devotionals—if it's not for God, it doesn't please him. Action without affection is heartless.
God does not want emotional worship without sound doctrine. It does not please God to have heartfelt worship without understanding, because affection without knowledge is meaningless. This one might ruffle some feathers, but be careful not to replace your worship of God with worship of worship. Do you know the God you're worshiping? Are you worshiping the God you know?
God does not want idolatrous worship without spirit and truth. If you're going to worship God, you must worship in spirit (not fleshly idols) and truth (not false doctrine). Right worship in the wrong direction is still wrong worship.
So how do we worship in a way that pleases God? Here is where theology and doxology finally meet. As you know God more and better and longer, your love for him will grow, sweeten, and deepen. If your theology doesn't lead to doxology, or if your doxology isn't informed by theology, then it's empty and cold and wrong.
But if you open the Scriptures hoping to "taste and see that the Lord is good," you will. God is the most interesting person in the universe—the kindest, smartest, strongest, funniest, sweetest, wisest, and whatever other good thing you can think of. It is impossible to exaggerate how good God is. The more and better and longer you know him, your love for him will inevitably grow, sweeten, and deepen.
Know the God you worship, and worship the God you know.
