Yesterday we started looking at “worship” as a Christian life style. Firstly we looked at the qualifications for worship and found that in essence worship needs to be a lifestyle by someone who is born again. Today I would like to consider (2) The Object of Worship.
Now that we know that one needs to be in a right spiritual condition we need to know whom our worship as a lifestyle is directed too. We need to be very clear about this … there is One, True, Living God. He is the Creator, Sustainer and Ruler over all creation. There is no such thing as a plurality of gods such as the Sun god or the Moon god or the Rain god. Neither are there localized gods ruling over clans or tribes or towns and cities. Yes there are demonic forces who inspire people to create their own gods, often shaped in the mind (fantasy) or made as an idol.
Christians believe the Bible to be the true, inerrant, inspire, authoritative Word of the One, True, Living God. The God of the Bible denounces all imitation gods as false. So in short, there is one God and this God is the God of the Bible. Many have tried to tell us that we Christians worship three gods because we have coined the phrases “Trinity” and “Triune” … or because we say “God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit”. To those unfamiliar with the teaching of the Bible might think this to be the case, but the Bible never says this at all. The Bible is extremely clear that there is one God, yet it implies that within the Godhead there are three persons, yet one substance. From Genesis chapter 1 we see the plurality of beings with one God and this continues throughout all the Bible. As an example, what we call the Grace indicates one God as three persons within its oneness:
2Co 13:14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
God Himself became incarnate of the virgin Mary and became made. How did He do this? Within the Godhead there is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit … we say … God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Each person having distinct functions and roles but together are one God in one substance.
God counsels within the Godhead and decides that the person, God the Son will come to planet earth on a Rescue Mission as God incarnate. In some mysterious and miraculous way, without ceasing to be God, the Son takes on humanity yet remaining sinless, for the express purpose of being the sacrificial lamb to deal with the sin of God’s elect. In a similar mysterious way God the Holy Spirit lives within all believers giving them a desire and passion for God and the things of God, including His Word.
To return to an earlier thought above … God created and all things are owned by Him, including human beings. God sustains all things. By His power Word He holds everything in all creation in their place … and He reigns. As Lord, God, Owner and King He has the right and the privilege of being acknowledged for whom He is and what He does … the greatest for us humans who believe is to acknowledge His awesome “grace” in salvation. Whilst we marvel at Him creating everything out of nothing … we rejoice in ecstasy at His new creation … taking a dead, sin laden soul and giving it spiritual life, pardon and eternal life. So how do we actually acknowledge God for whom He is and what He has done and for what He is doing? This drives us to deal with The Object of Worship. We acknowledge Him through our worship and praise. We lift Him high. We make much of our Lord. We give Him glory and honour! The Apostle John explains it like this …
Rev 19:10 At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God!”
Rev 22:8 ‘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. 9 But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”’
There we have it … the true object of worship is God! When Jesus interacted with the Woman at the well in Samaria we read:
Jn 4:19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
It is idolatry to make an object, be it a statue or relic to use to help you worship God. Because God is “spirit”, access is spiritual without the need of any “helps”. You don’t need a picture because you don’t know what God looks like. You don’t need a charm or a “cross” or an image because God the Spirit lives within all Believers, God the Father sees and hears all believers all the time and God the Son reigns over you as Lord and King. So whether you sing His praises or surrender in worshipful prayer or conduct your life in holiness, you are as His child in His presence and the whole of your life is then worshipping God who is always the object of Worship.
So here’s the thing then … are you constantly aware that you are always in the presence of Your Lord and King? When you are aware of this you become conscious of the fact that your daily conduct needs to be an act of worship directed at the One, True, Living, God of the Bible. Is He the object of your daily life style of worship?
Dear Loving and Gracious Lord, help us to be aware that we are never away from your sight and hearing. Please grant us Your Spirit in great measure to help us love You so much that we live constantly in Worship and Praise as our lifestyle that brings You pleasure and will eventually be rewarded with “well done my good and faithful servants, come enjoy my glory with me” … for we pray in faith in Jesus’ name … Amen.