Who do we need to worship? Now days there is so much controversy surrounding worship and what would be proper. I think Paul may have helped clear that up in Acts 17. I think every believer needs to understand that it is in God the Father we move and have our being. Then it is in Christ the risen savoir we have been restored to that place of fellowship with the Father.
The first and up most part of our heart worship needs to be to the Father in whom we have life and being. We need to completely surrender to the God of all living and the provider of salvation. It is God who sent His son and gave him for a ransom for all our sins. It is God who raised his son up on the third day to be the first born of the coming resurrection. This is the very reason I have hope in the promise that God will raise us all up one day if we should die before that day.
(1 Cor NIV) By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.
Now, last week I had a short list of things we often wrongfully worship. I did leave out unintentionally angels, but I hope to clear up that list and thought.
These days in our churches there are so many songs that direct so much attention to Jesus, or simply written about him. Many of these songs accredited him for things that belong to the Father. Then there are songs that give recognition to angels and others. I want to make clear that praise and honor to one who acts in obedience to and for God could be praised for their works. But, still it is God alone who created all things and gives life. Jesus himself said he could do nothing outside the Father and even told one person that there was none good But God the Father (John 5.18-19, Mark 10.17-18)
You will not find one single scripture that has any worship directed towards Holy Spirit. Even in Revelations we find the Father and His son, but where is the Holy Spirit. Yet, today we have preachers and books telling us to direct such worship to Holy Spirit. I feel this is wrong.
In the understanding of worship believers need to rediscover worship toward God the Father of all things. We need to humble our hearts in submission to the God who is the giver of life. Our very life, how we live and treat others should be a part of our worship to God. Look in the Bible, discover who God is and turn our hearts toward Him. This is what Jesus was confirming in Mark 12.28-31, as he recited the Hebrew Shema. We are to love the one and only God with our whole life and effort. This is not just words spoken from our hearts, or songs that we sing in a service. Just going to church and calling it a time of worship makes it true worship. It is what we do from day to day in honor to God that creates a lifestyle of worship. Everything we do or say in the everyday experience of live can be worship to our God. The writer of Hebrews says, (Heb 11:6 NIV) And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. In pursuing God you can’t help but become a true worshiper.
Concerning Jesus the son of God we can direct praise and worship as long as we know why. Jesus did obey the father completely even unto death. It is through Him we have salvation and access to the Father. (Eph 2.18, John 14.6) It is Jesus who authored our salvation and will return to establish God’s kingdom. It is in Jesus we have life and we are renewed. I worship Jesus for the work He has done and the life he has given me. He is the giver of holy spirit, that gives me power to overcome in this life. It is Christ in us the hope of glory, ( Col.1.27).
Yet in my worship to Jesus I recognize that it is also giving honor to his Father. Jesus is the perfect representative of the Father and he works in perfect unity with the Father (John 17). Is it OK to worship Jesus as long as we know why and understand his role? Yes. We may worship him as the son of God, but not as God. God the Father gives glory and honor to His son and speaks of worship to His son. Read the following verses.
(Hebrews 1:6 NIV)And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,
"Let all God's angels worship him."
Luke 24:52 NIV Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem
Matthew 14:33 NIV Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
Revelation 5:11-14 NIV Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they were saying: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.
This now brings us back full circle. God is the object of our worship, Jesus is the perfect image of that subject so worship can be directed to him in thanks giving and honor to his work and obedience to the Father. Worship to the Father is what Jesus was trying to drive home to the woman in John four. In verse twenty-two, he makes it very clear that the Hebrew people were the example of how to worship. Read the book of Deuteronomy and see God’s heart and desire for worship. Even to this day every Jew learns the Shema that Jesus also learned (Duet. 6.4-6). Everything the Hebrew people did in their daily lives was to be an act of worship in thanksgiving to their God for their daily provision.
Jesus directed the woman at the well toward worship in spirit and truth. He told her that the father is seeking such worshipers. This is where we will pick this up next week. Until then get in the word and ask God to direct you in your worship, I just know he will. Don’t be like so many in our churches today and even in Jesus time. Matthew 15:8-9 NIV “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.'"
Hebrews 12:28 NIV Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
Revelation 22:8-9 NIV I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. But he said to me, "Don't do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your fellow prophets and with all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!"
Revelation 4:10 NIV the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
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