As Christians, do we worship God or Jesus?

[bekkilyn]

I dont have a delimma. I think I should only worship God and praise Jesus. If I dont "worship" Jesus, am I doing something wrong?

Father = God
Jesus the Christ = God
Holy Spirit = God

One God in three co-equal and co-eternal persons. You cannot worship God without also worshiping Jesus (or the Father or the Spirit).

 

[ViaCrucis]

I dont have a delimma. I think I should only worship God and praise Jesus. If I dont "worship" Jesus, am I doing something wrong?

In one of the ancient Christian creeds (confessions of what we believe as Christians) we read the following:

"We worship God in Trinity, and Trinity in unity, neither confusing the Persons, nor dividing the Substance." (from the Athanasian Creed)

We worship the Trinity, that means as Christians we worship the Father, we worship the Son, and we worship the Holy Spirit.

Because the Father is God.
The Son is God.
And the Holy Spirit is God.

Not three gods, but one God.

So we worship Jesus Christ, because He is God. He is God the Son. Christians have always worshiped Jesus, because Jesus is God, even as His Father is God.

We also worship the Holy Spirit, because He is God, even as Jesus is God, and the Father is God.

The question is why, since Jesus is God, would you not worship Him? He is worthy of your worship, He is Almighty God.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[ViaCrucis]

Dear OP, it would be a good thing I think for you to have a nice conversation with your pastor, as this seems like an area of theology that you are struggling with.

In addition, I would strongly familiarizing yourself with the historic creeds of the Church, the most important of which is the Nicene Creed. If you don't fully understand some of the language in it, that's okay, don't hesitate to ask questions. We learn by asking questions. For example you might be confused reading the word "catholic" in the Nicene Creed, the Creed uses this word to describe the Christian Church because the word "catholic" as used historically in Christianity simply means "the whole" or "universal", and simply means "the entire Christian Church". So again, ask questions, questions are good things.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[1an]

I dont have a delimma. I think I should only worship God and praise Jesus. If I dont "worship" Jesus, am I doing something wrong?

Bow down to Jesus and worship Him.

Matthew 2:11 After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Mark 5:6 Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him;

Philippians 2:10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

Luke 17:16 and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.

John 11:32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Revelation 1:17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,

Revelation 5:8 When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

Luke 5:12 While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
.

 

[Jamdoc]

My wife and I were having dinner this evening and we started talking about our church and the music. While talking, I mentioned that I had to read the lyrics before singing because I was very careful to not worship Jesus.
The church we attend is southern baptist and it great, but I definitely disagree with some of the music and prayers I hear where people are..basically...worshiping Jesus. Now sure, I know trinity and all that..but we are to workship God, not Jesus.
In my head, God is our father, Jesus is our savior, and the holy spirit moves in all things. All three work to make each other possible, but through and through..Jesus is my savior, my leader, and my friend while God is my God.

What say you oh mighty Christian forums? Thanks and God Bless....
brady

John 10:30
John 20:28
Reread the Gospels, you'll noticed that all throughout the gospels, people worshiped Jesus and Jesus never rebuked them or declined worship. To accept worship is pretty much declaring yourself God.
Peter rebuked Cornelius in Acts for worshiping him, and an Angel rebuked John for worshiping him in Revelation.

 

[steppinrazor]

When you say, "I had to read the lyrics before singing because I was very careful to not worship Jesus," and that you "disagree with some of the music and prayers I hear where people are..basically...worshiping Jesus," that sounds like a dilemma. Besides, you are the one who brought this "non-dilemma" subject matter about "worship" to a public forum asking for opinions. I see an individual afraid to worship Jesus who, I assume, you felt secure enough to accept His death and resurrection to forgive your sins and restore God's life to you. Yet, you struggle to worship Him. When Jesus was born, the Magi "bowed down and worshiped Him (Matthew 2:11)." When Jesus made His entry into Jerusalem the crowd, "took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, 'Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel (Matthew 21:9; John 12:13)!" The crowd was worshiping Him. After Jesus walked on water, "those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God (Matthew 14:33)." Shortly after His resurrection some of the women encountered Jesus and they "came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him (Matthew 28:9)." When Jesus came to Thomas after His resurrection, Thomas said, "My Lord and my God (John 20:28)!" In none of these instances did Jesus refuse their worship or tell the people to stop. My question to you is, "Why are you afraid to worship Jesus?"

Thanks for your reply (and everyone else also). To have one God. I understand how Jesus IS God. I really don't need an education in the trinity. But for the longest time, it has always struck me very weird to worship Jesus. Now, we may need to define the word worship here, but I dont repent to Jesus or ask for his forgiveness...I pray to God for those things.

Worthy is the Lamb...

That is worship. (worthship)

You better learn to do this... we all will.

hmmm, interesting. Why am I being forced to worship Jesus? So follow up question, if I worship God, am I also already worshiping Jesus also? I see Jesus as my friend, confidant, savior, leader, and inner self...all those things live inside me now (being saved)...so I think it would be weird to try to worship a part of yourself.

 

[Jamdoc]

Thanks for your reply (and everyone else also). To have one God. I understand how Jesus IS God. I really don't need an education in the trinity. But for the longest time, it has always struck me very weird to worship Jesus. Now, we may need to define the word worship here, but I dont repent to Jesus or ask for his forgiveness...I pray to God for those things.

You should. Jesus is our mediator with God, our intercessor, our advocate, our defense, our high priest, our King and our Lord and our God. Anything to God is in Jesus' name.
1 Timothy 2:5

 

[public hermit]

I have to say, never have I seen a CF thread with so much agreement!! Praise, Jesus!

 

[steppinrazor]

I have to say, never have I seen a CF thread with so much agreement!! Praise, Jesus!

very true!

 

[Strong in Him]

My wife and I were having dinner this evening and we started talking about our church and the music. While talking, I mentioned that I had to read the lyrics before singing because I was very careful to not worship Jesus.
The church we attend is southern baptist and it great, but I definitely disagree with some of the music and prayers I hear where people are..basically...worshiping Jesus. Now sure, I know trinity and all that..but we are to workship God, not Jesus.
In my head, God is our father, Jesus is our savior, and the holy spirit moves in all things. All three work to make each other possible, but through and through..Jesus is my savior, my leader, and my friend while God is my God.

Jesus is God.
He has reconciled us to the Father and is the only way to the Father - yet he is God.
Paul says that one day every knee will bow before Jesus and every tongue confess that he is Lord.

 

[Redwingfan9]

My wife and I were having dinner this evening and we started talking about our church and the music. While talking, I mentioned that I had to read the lyrics before singing because I was very careful to not worship Jesus.
The church we attend is southern baptist and it great, but I definitely disagree with some of the music and prayers I hear where people are..basically...worshiping Jesus. Now sure, I know trinity and all that..but we are to workship God, not Jesus.
In my head, God is our father, Jesus is our savior, and the holy spirit moves in all things. All three work to make each other possible, but through and through..Jesus is my savior, my leader, and my friend while God is my God.

What say you oh mighty Christian forums? Thanks and God Bless....
brady

Jesus is God, any theology that says otherwise is heretical.

Having said that, most music sung in churches today is atrocious and man centered. It's based on subjective feelings and emotion. It is wise to consider the lyrics of these songs. Perhaps it will push you towards God's hymnal: The 150 Psalms.

 

[Jamdoc]

Jesus is God, any theology that says otherwise is heretical.

Having said that, most music sung in churches today is atrocious and man centered. It's based on subjective feelings and emotion. It is wise to consider the lyrics of these songs. Perhaps it will push you towards God's hymnal: The 150 Psalms.

Problem with the psalms as music is that translated into English.. they don't really flow as music anymore, you REALLY have to stretch to make a song out of them.
Undoubtedly they sounded better in Hebrew.

 

[steppinrazor]

amen to that

Jesus is God.
He has reconciled us to the Father and is the only way to the Father - yet he is God.
Paul says that one day every knee will bow before Jesus and every tongue confess that he is Lord.

 

[Strong in Him]

Why am I being forced to worship Jesus?

You're not - but God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so worshipping God means worshipping the Father, the Son and the Spirit. They can't be separated.
To use a very inadequate and human example, it would be like saying "I eat cheese sauce but I don't eat cheese." The cheese is in the sauce; you can't help but eat cheese if you eat cheese sauce.
You can't help but worship Jesus if you worship God.

So follow up question, if I worship God,

Jesus is God.
If you worship God you are worshipping Father, Son and Holy Spirit - that's who God is.

 

[Strong in Him]

amen to that

So one day, people who don't worship Jesus will bow the knee and worship him.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

My wife and I were having dinner this evening and we started talking about our church and the music. While talking, I mentioned that I had to read the lyrics before singing because I was very careful to not worship Jesus.
The church we attend is southern baptist and it great, but I definitely disagree with some of the music and prayers I hear where people are..basically...worshiping Jesus. Now sure, I know trinity and all that..but we are to workship God, not Jesus.
In my head, God is our father, Jesus is our savior, and the holy spirit moves in all things. All three work to make each other possible, but through and through..Jesus is my savior, my leader, and my friend while God is my God.

What say you oh mighty Christian forums? Thanks and God Bless....
brady

The Father is God, Jesus Christ is God, The Holy Spirit is God.

Jesus Christ says I am the Truth.

Jesus Christ also said that the Father seeks those who will worship Him in Spirit and Truth.

The Father is God, Jesus Christ is God, The Holy Spirit is God.

Worship God.

 

[Redwingfan9]

Problem with the psalms as music is that translated into English.. they don't really flow as music anymore, you REALLY have to stretch to make a song out of them.
Undoubtedly they sounded better in Hebrew.

There are plenty of decent psalters out there.

 

[chevyontheriver]

I hate to brake the news to you, but you don't know the trinity.

I hate to break it to you, but nobody really does. We can know a few things about God, yet we can never know God exhaustively. The inner workings of God are a mystery we can only see a tiny bit of. We know there is such a thing as the Trinity, we know a few things about God as Trinity such as what is in the Athanasian Creed. But beyond that we are all ignorant. We know that each member of the Trinity is due worship, and we can have a glimmer of an idea as to why.

 

[chevyontheriver]

I’ve been through this with JWs before, so I can say that unlike the apostles when they were worshipped, who stopped it instantly, and said “don’t worship us, worship God only”, Jesus accepted worship of Himself many times, and did not stop them.

Here’s where the apostles worshipped Jesus:

Mat 28:9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.

The JWs are basically Arian, believing Jesus Christ to be a creature who is not god. Of course no mere creature is to be worshiped. But if Jesus Christ is true man AND TRUE GOD, we owe him worship and praise and adoration. The JWs won't go there. Some very fundamentalist Christians don't go there either. Is that where the fear of worshipping Jesus comes from?

 

[chevyontheriver]

Thanks for your reply (and everyone else also). To have one God. I understand how Jesus IS God. I really don't need an education in the trinity. But for the longest time, it has always struck me very weird to worship Jesus. Now, we may need to define the word worship here, but I dont repent to Jesus or ask for his forgiveness...I pray to God for those things.

While defining 'worship' maybe also define 'praise' and 'adoration' and maybe also 'honor'. Praise and adoration are due to God alone. We can honor other people even though God is also due the highest honors.

hmmm, interesting. Why am I being forced to worship Jesus? So follow up question, if I worship God, am I also already worshiping Jesus also? I see Jesus as my friend, confidant, savior, leader, and inner self...all those things live inside me now (being saved)...so I think it would be weird to try to worship a part of yourself.

I would say that in your baptism you have the indwelling of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. They are not actually you but in you, close to you. As they are not you, you may worship Father or Son or Holy Spirit. There is a process the Orthodox call 'divinization' where it is as if God were to become part of ones self, but it is the indwelling of God that becomes more apparent. We do not actually become God, or even gods. We just get closer to God. That closeness is what allows us to better worship God.

Don't let this stuff antagonize you. Jesus is worthy. We have always thought Jesus is worthy.