Sunday Thought -16

Sunday Thought – 16
The Object of Our Worship

God is always triune. Christian believers know and believe that God is one but three persons are in the Godhead- the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are one in essence and substance but three as to the mode of existence and function is concerned. This concept of trinity is confusing to many minds. Often, people either reject or ignore this triune God concept.

We believe the doctrine of trinity primarily because that is how the Scripture presents God. Our position of the Scripture as the word of God settles our belief in trinity. But beyond this, the Scripture helps us with evidences for the Trinitarian Godhead. Only after the incarnation of the son of God, the second person of the trinity, the concept of a Trinitarian God would make sense to people’s minds. Hence, the monotheistic concept of the Jewish community before and after the coming of Jesus.


Now, since we know that there are three persons in the Godhead and all three are fully and equally God, the question is who then the object of our worship is? Both the Old and the New Testaments give us the idea that it is God the father, the first person of the trinity who is the direct object of our worship. Jesus stated “..…the hour is coming and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the FATHER in spirit and truth; for the father is seeking such to worship HIM” (Jn. 4:23). Paul says, “For this reason,..we do not cease to pray for you that you may…. give thanks to the father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love…” (Colo. 1:9, 12, 13).All the doxologies of Paul is in praise of the father (Romans 11:33-36; Eph. 1:3-14;3:14-15;1Tim. 6:15-16). Jude worships God the father in his doxology (v. 24-25). In the worship of the elders and the living creatures in heaven, the one who sits on the throne, the father who lives for ever is worshipped (Rev. 4:8-11;5:14). God’s angels call forth the inhabitant’s of the earth to worship God the father who made everything(Rev. 14:7) The kingdom rule of Jesus will culminate when Jesus submitting the kingdom to the father so that the father may be all in all (1Cor. 15:24-28). The Jewish community worshipped YAHWEH as their God. Even while Jesus was on the earth, devout Jews came to Jerusalem to worship the same Jehovah God only.


To the question who is the object of our worship then, we may answer ‘God’. This may be further clarified by saying, ‘God the Father’. Does that mean God the Son and God the Holy Spirit does not deserve worship? Never. Jesus himself received worship from people while on earth (John 20:28; Matt. 2:11; 8:2;;9:18;14:33;15:25;20:20;28:9,17;Lk. 24:52;Mk. 5:6;John 9:38;). God commands all His angels to worship His Son (Heb. 1:6).So it is not that Jesus deserve no worship or no one shall worship the Son; rather, it is God the Father, who is our object of Worship.

Christian believers today worship God the father by the help of the Holy Spirit due to the work of the Son. Any worshipper therefore is to exalt the Father through the Holy Spirit remembering the work of the Son. Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension are the cause for a believer to approach God in worship today. What Jesus did is the means for us to worship God. This is why the Lord’s Table is so relevant in our worship of God. So, we use the means which Christ opened to come before God. And having come before Him we worship God, giving praises, honor and majesty to God. So reading or sharing or thinking about the death of Jesus alone does not make worship complete. Worship is more than doing any of these. Worship is not complete unless we ascribe praises, honor and glory to God the father. The worship of heaven models this aspect. The elders and the four living creatures did see and remember the slain lamb. And they ascribed glory honor and power to God the father, the one who is sitting on the throne for ever. The very sacrificial death of Jesus was to make a people for God to worship Him. The regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in man is to make a people worthy to worship God. The electing, predestinating, redeeming, forgiving and adopting God did to us is for the praise of the gory of His grace (Eph. 1:6, 14). Thus the perfect object of worship becomes God the father.


As we prepare for worship meeting this week, let us be reminded of the fact that God the father is the object of our worship. We worship Him by the help of the Spirit of God and exalting the Son of God.
Yours in The gloriuos ministry of God Joji George Abraham