What is true worship?

Worship in Truth and Spirit.
John 4:24: God is spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24)

What is true worship? The many churches around us do many different things, and they all are calling it worship.
Some churches observe a great deal of formality and ritual. Things are always done exactly the same way without any deviation.
Other churches have no printed order, although everyone has unwritten orders or practices. When informal and unexpected things happen, they are not considered disruptions in “informal” churches.

There are many styles and customs. Are some right and others wrong? The truth is that any style or tradition or custom or order can be done rightly or wrongly, because the customs we observe are but outwardly practices that either help us to worship God, or distract our minds from God. To worship God in truth and Sprit has nothing to do with style, yet it has everything to do with the worshipper.

Because praise, worship and the communion of believers are all God’s idea and should not in the first place be about our preferences. We need to seek what the Lord says about worship and seek to understand what God expects.

When reading the Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments, we see that God commands praise and worship, created us to worship him and that praise and worship are not two separate acts, but one act that brings praise to the Lord as grateful believers who worship because we received God’s grace and mercy. For example, in Psalm 150 we hear over and over the command to "praise the Lord!"
Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
Praise the Lord!

As God did since the beginning of mankind, he still commands us to praise him. God is saying to us as his Church today: Honour and praise me, by worshipping me!

And Gods does not command this because of himself or any need he may have for our worship. He commands it, because we need to worship him. We cannot be changed, restored, equipped or empowered without worshipping our Maker, our Saviour, our Redeemer!

God commands us to worship, because our worship does something for us.
Without fellowship with God we are on our own – and we need God to have a life filled with meaning, purpose and joy.
Through worship we are healed and encouraged to live for the Lord.
Worship turns our hearts of stone into hearts filled with love and compassion for our neighbour.
Worship binds us with our Church family and turns a lonely journey into a life supported by love, empathy and recognition as someone who lives in God’s community.

Style, custom and tradition has very little to do with worshipping in truth and in Spirit. These may sometimes even distract us from focusing on God, if it becomes self-gratifying and people pleasing instead of focused on our God whom we worship. But if we come as needy people to be received by the King of all, and as we worship him, our broken relationships with the Lord, his community and our friends in Christ are reinstated. This glorifies God and testifies about our complete dependence on him. And it keeps us in the fold, and responds to our need for God and his church!

This we will get right when we remember that all the cultural, material actions we use to accomplish it, are mere aids to do the right thing. We will really only get it right when we worship in Spirit and truth, because God is Spirit! And we need God, who comes to us in Christ Jesus, to live and to die comforted and with true joy.