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Worshipping Jesus

A visitor to our website asks:

"If, in Exodus 20, we are forbidden from worshiping any other gods but the one true God, then is it wrong to worship Jesus?"

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Dear friend,

In Exodus 20 - the passage in which we find the ten commandments (along with Deuteronomy 5), God gave this as the first commandment: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me" (Ex. 20:2-3). And He also gave this as the second commandment: "You shall not make for yourself a carved image - any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments" (Exodus 20:4-6).

These commandments, of course, forbid us from ever bowing down and worshiping any god but the one true God; and they forbid us from ever making an image of the one true God and bowing down to it as if it were God. Your question, as I have understood it, is asking if that commandment forbids us from giving worship to Jesus.

I suggest that behind your question is another question: Is Jesus the one true God? That's the question to answer first; because if Jesus is God, then it is not only in keeping with the commandments to worship Him, but it would also be an act of disobedience to the commandments NOT to worship Him!

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One of the doctrines that is clearly impressed upon us from the Bible - although not stated by name directly - is the doctrine of the Trinity. This doctrine teaches us that there is only one true God (Deuteronomy 6:4); but that the being of this one God exists in three Persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). This is not to say that there are three Gods. There is only one God. But this God is not one Person, but three.

This doctrine is tough to express; but here's my best attempt. The doctrine of the Trinity acknowledges what the Bible teaches about the nature of God: that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; and that all three are equal in power and divine glory, sharing the same essence of being as one God. But the three are distinct in the state of their individual existence. In other words, the Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. They exist in perfect tri-unity as one God; but they exist in this tri-unity as three distinct Persons. (A good passage to demonstrate that is Matthew 3:16-17. There, we see Jesus - the Son of God - being baptized; and present at His baptism was the Father and the Holy Spirit.) It's important to point out that as Christians, we do not worship "three Gods" - as some unbelieving people say; but rather, that we worship "one God in three Persons".

This is, I admit, a great mystery. There is nothing on this earth that is in any way analogous to the triune nature of God. We can't think of anything that is "one" in essence and at the same time "three" in individual subsistence; so I never feel badly about the fact that my puny little mind can't "understand" the Trinity. But it is what the Bible teaches us about the nature of God; and it is what Bible-believing Christians - including myself - believe.

And the importance of this doctrine to your question is that it reminds us that Jesus - the incarnate Son of God, who walked upon this earth in human flesh - exists as the Second Person of the Trinity. He is every bit as much "God" as the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches us that He existed as God with the Father and the Holy Spirit before the worlds were ever made (John 1:1-2). In fact, the Bible tells us that it was BY Him that the worlds were made (John 1:3). It tells us that "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consists. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross" (Col. 1:15-20).

Jesus presented Himself to the world as God in a very clear and unmistakable way. In Exodus 3, God introduced Himself to Moses by the name, "I AM" (Ex. 3:14). The Jewish people have always revered that name (YHWY in the Hebrew language); because it was the sacred, covenant name of God. But when Jesus was once confronted by those who opposed Him, He said this very amazing thing: "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58). The Jewish people who heard Him say this immediately picked up stones to stone Him to death, because they believed He had committed a great act of blasphemy - daring to call Himself by the name of God. And though He escaped from their hands; He did not correct them as if they had misunderstood His claim. He meant what He said.

On another occasion, He was again talking to those who opposed Him. He told them, "I and My Father are one" (John 10:30). The people who heard Him say this understood Him to mean that He was as much God as was the Father; and they again picked up stones to execute Him. Jesus asked, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" And they answered, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God" (vv. 32-33). They clearly understood Jesus' words to be a claim that He was God - and again, Jesus didn't correct them as if they misunderstood. There are other passages that show this; but the point is that, plainly, Jesus claimed to be God. And if His claim is true, then we owe Him our worshiped.

Those who followed Him also understood Him to be God - the second Person of the Trinity. Jesus was once walking along with His disciples; and He turned to them and asked who people said that He was. The disciples told Him of many of the different things that people said about Him; but when He asked, "But who do you say that I am?", Peter responded, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). Jesus didn't correct Peter. In fact, He assured Peter that the answer He gave was the authoritative answer from the Father (v. 17).

I believe that we have been given the greatest proof of all that Jesus was God in human flesh by the fact that He was raised from the dead. The apostle Paul said that He was "declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" (Rom. 1:4). In fact, after Jesus was raised from the dead, and the apostles watched Him ascend bodily to the Father in heaven, we're told, "And they worshiped Him . . ." (Luke 24:52).

Because these passages teach us that Jesus claimed to be God (and there are many others), and because He gave proof to that claim in many ways (including and especially the resurrection), then Jesus should be worshiped as God. We would only be breaking the first and second commandment in worshiping Jesus if He was NOT God; but because He is the Second Person of the Trinity - every bit God as the Father and the Holy Spirit - than it is not only 'okay' to worship Him, but would be a sin not to. As Philippians 2:10-11 teaches us, every knee will bow to Him, and every tongue will confess "that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

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How should we begin to worship Jesus? Let me share a story with you that, I believe, teaches us how. Jesus once healed a blind man and then slipped away into the crowd. And after He had healed the man, and the man could see, Jesus met Him again. The man had never seen Jesus; but he had surely come to love Him, because He had given him his sight. Jesus found the man and asked him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?" And the man said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" Jesus said, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you." And the man said, "Lord, I believe!" (John 9:35-38). And then the Bible tells us, "And he worshiped Him." (v. 38). I believe the first step to worshiping Jesus - and we all SHOULD worship Jesus - is by believing all that the Bible teaches us about Him. You can't worship Him and disbelieve in Him at the same time.

I would recommend that you read through the Gospel of John. Read it very carefully, and in a translation of the Bible that you can understand easily. And every time it tells you something about Jesus, and reveals yet another proof to you that Jesus is the Son of God, stop right then in your reading and pray. Say something like this in your own words: "Father in heaven, I believe what this is telling me about Jesus. Thank you for showing me the truth about Him. I place my faith in what it says." Do that as you read through the Gospel of John. It was written specifically "that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:31). As you do this faithfully, you will soon find that - in reading, believing, and praying in this way - you will be worshiping Him. He is alive; and He loves you, and wants you to know the truth about Him so that you can indeed worship Him as you should.

Sincerely, and in Christ's love,
Pastor Greg

(All Scripture quotes are taken from the New King James Version.)

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