LOCATION OR RELATIONSHIP?

I worship on Sundays at South Georgia Baptist Church. Maybe you worship somewhere else.

Our church has a building with a large room especially equipped for our worship. Pulpit, piano, and pews… We call it the auditorium, the sanctuary, or the worship center.

Jesus had a discussion with a woman who was confused about the proper location for worship. “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem” (John 4:20).

Ten centuries after David’s kingdom underwent a civil war, the citizens in the south worshipped in Jerusalem. The folks up north didn’t. They worshiped elsewhere.

Jesus explained that it’s not location that matters most… Rather it’s relationship! “An hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth” (John 4:23–24).

While visiting the south African country of Mozambique, I found a church that met under the protective branches of a huge Baobab tree. They didn’t require a pulpit, piano, or pews… They didn’t need an auditorium with four walls. They were true worshippers who worshipped “in Spirit and in truth.”

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).