Jesus Worhsip

Was Jesus Christ Worshipped in the Bible?

Did Jesus EVER Tell Us to Worship Him?

Should we worship Jesus Christ? And if so did he explicitly tell us to? There is a surprising number of people who say that since Jesus did not explicitly say ‘worship me’ implies he is not God and we should not. A similar question does God ever tells us to worship him anywhere in the Bible?

Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”

Jesus quoting Ten Commandments in Matthew 4:10

Jesus never used the command “worship me.” But does that mean he was not God? I’d argue that it does not. Jesus actually went far beyond the command “worship me” many times. Actually it was Satan who said “worship me.”

And saith unto him, ‘All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.’

Satan in Matthew 4:9

Now does that me that satan is God? of course not. The idea that because Jesus did not say ‘fall down and worship me’ is proof that he is not God is utterly preposterous. Who are we to put that demanding test on God?

What Does it Mean to Worship?

The word worship is both a noun and verb. The first thing that comes to mind with worship is bowing down and prayer. More than once in both the old and new testaments angels are quick to turn down worship.

  1. noun – the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity.
  2. verb – display of reverence and adoration, honor with religious rights.

The Greek word used in Matthew which was translated worship is Strongs #4352 proskuneo. This means to prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore)

The Hebrew word translated to ‘worship’ is 7812 shachah, meaning to bow down.

Who Did Jesus Worship?

The only thing close to Jesus worshipping is found when he would pray to His Father. At times he would bow down, other times he would stand and look up to heaven. The most notable time is found in John 17 recalled his time in heaven with the Father in glory. Affirming his deity he recalled the glory he shared with the father in heaven before creation.

Now Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

John 17:5

Three Times That Jesus Was Worshipped

1. Palm Sunday:

As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, 38 shouting: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher rebuke your disciples”. 40 But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!”

Luke 19:37

Jesus is entering Jerusalem, his followers start worshipping, this offended the Pharisees because they thought they were seeing blasphemy. Then Jesus essentially said if they were not loudly praising God even the rocks would worship me. In other words it was appropriate and right for them to be worshipping God / Himself at his entering the city of Jerusalem.

Later in this same passage he wept for Jerusalem (represented by the accusatory Pharisees who would be putting him to death in a few days). Saying Jerusalem did not recognize the time of your visitation from God. Luke 19:44

2. After his resurrection

Matthew 28:9 And as they went to to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. 10 Then said Jesus unto them, "Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me."

3. Doubting Thomas

And Thomas (after putting his hands into Jesus’ side and hand wounds) answered and said unto him, “My Lord and My God.” 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou has seen me, thou has believed blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

John 20:28

They key is to notice Jesus’ reaction to Thomas. Jesus affirmed and commended Thomas’ statement of faith in him personally as ‘Lord and God.’

Bonus Examples of Jesus being Worshiped in Scripture:

The Leper in Matthew 8:2-3, The Magi in Matthew 2:11,. The Men in the Boat in Matthew 14:33, His disciples after the resurrection in Matthew 28:9, the man born blind who Jesus healed in John 9:33-38.

On every occasion of Jesus being worshipped Jesus responded positively, not once did he say “don’t worship me.” As other servants of God on when they are worshipped in scripture. Apostles strongly deflect worship see Acts 14:14-15 , angles deflect worship see Revelation 19:10 (and many other places).

If Jesus were just a prophet or a good and godly man he certainly would have stopped people from worshipping him. Like the apostles and the angles do.

For more on a similar topic check out my article series What Jesus Said About Himself beginning here.

Do you Worship Jesus? Comment Below

Failure To Seek First

The Meaning of Seek First

to seek: VERB (seek meaning)

seeks (third person present) · sought (past tense) · sought (past participle) · seeking (present participle)
  1. attempt to find (something):
    “they came here to seek shelter from biting winter winds”
    synonyms: search for · try to find · look for · be on the lookout for · be after · hunt for · be in quest of
    • attempt or desire to obtain or achieve (something):
      “her parents had never sought to interfere with her freedom”
      synonyms: try to obtain · work toward · be intent on · aim at/for
    • ask for (something) from someone:
      synonyms: ask for · request · solicit · call for · entreat · beg for · petition for · appeal for · apply for

      (seek someone/something out) search for and find someone or something:

    • archaic go to (a place):
Jesus Christ placed seeking him and his kingdom as top priority. So it follows that failure to seek first Jesus Christ and his kingdom is the root of all Christian struggles.

Now the question becomes what exactly is the meaning of seek first the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

Does doing general Christian things qualify as seeking first?

What about attending church meetings and listening to sermons? How about reading the bible? Or what about praying? I think the answer is that they can qualify as seeking his kingdom but they don’t necessarily qualify. We know if we are seeking the kingdom of Jesus, sooner or later it becomes evident to us deep within. Here is a great article about why reading bible and praying is sometimes inadequate.

So if we read this passage in context he was talking about the gentiles who eagerly seek after food and clothing. So he was talking about the principle of provision. Jesus is essentially saying if you will seek the kingdom of God there is all the provision you will ever need. Failure to seek his kingdom should be expected to result in lack of provision.

Satan’s Counterfeit System of Provision

Satan has a counterfeit kingdom which has its own system of provision and seeking. This system is deeply flawed and results in extreme wealth and extreme poverty. Satan’s systems enslave us and require us to constantly and eagerly seek daily provision itself, as Jesus mentioned.

In Satan’s kingdom of provision greed and theft is rewarded. Honesty and generosity are rare and typically have ulterior motives. The love of money rules supreme and the vast majority become poor while the tiny minority become extremely wealthy.

Jesus’s kingdom and system of provision runs counter to Satan’s. Jesus’ kingdom and system of provision is founded on love and has as its source God himself the true source of all things.

The days of Satan’s kingdom and system are numbered, while Jesus and his kingdom are the future of all things.

So don’t worry just seek Jesus himself and his kingdom. If you have question about the meaning of “seek first” Jesus Christ then don’t worry. Just refocus and center your effort on knowing Jesus Christ, pursuing him and making him known. When in doubt refocus on him personally and you cannot go wrong.

for more on this topic try this article (Everyone is Seeking Him)

What is the meaning of seek first to you? please leave a comment.

 

to gather together

Don’t Post That – Don’t Talk About Her

In January 2015 I began to intensely seek only Jesus Christ. I began to study him, to seek him early and constantly with intensity. It was the best thing I could have ever done, I have come to know him in a much greater way than ever before. Looking back I see this as a fixing of my eyes on Jesus Christ (as described in Hebrews 12) alone. It has made all the difference. This resulted in me wanting to share and post blogs and Facebook comments about his church.

As a result of this I have written hundreds of thousands of words of blog posts, chapters, sermon notes. I have connected with amazing authors and leaders like Frank Viola who leads the deeper Christian life network. A group of Christians in Austin who are blogging and podcasting and sharing Christ and teaching about the ecclesia. Richard Jacobsen and his Unchurching book and Facebook network. There are many others too numerous to list.

I have discovered an amazing bible teacher named T. Austin Sparks. Who I’ve not heard anyone teach like he does about the Lord’s purpose and his church. This personal pursuit of Christ has inspired a fiction book that is ready for publish and nonfiction book being written. I’ve learned the major difference between studying on my own and the Lord intentionally teaching me something.

Don’t Talk or Post About Her

I’ve also learned that there is something that I just cannot easily talk about. That something is church practices. I can’t talk about church because it sometimes creates hostility, hurts, offends, challenges and can cause division among friends and family. Those who are loyal to and who attend churches or the idea of typical church.

If I get insight about a certain church practice that we are neglecting or have added and continue out of tradition. And if I talk or post about it, someone is almost always offended. Someone suddenly wont speak to me, someone thinks I am a know it all, the unfriends and the cold shoulders increase. Church practices are extremely controversial, much more so than I had anticipated. And to talk about her is especially a challenge to those who make church their profession. (I get the ‘don’t tell me how to do my job’ remarks.)

Teaching and seeking and proclaiming things about the Lord Jesus himself is one thing that almost always unites Christian people (Christology). But teaching and proclaiming things about church practices (ecclesiology) can be extremely divisive. Some have estimated there are at least 33,000 different denominations among protestant Christians alone.

Why Jesus but not His Church

Why can we exalt and talk about the Lord but we can’t get along as it concerns his body in the earth (the ecclesia)?

Even within congregations you can sometimes see this dividing over doctrine. The competent leaders are good and snuffing it out and creating compliance. To counter this we set up king-like structures of hierarchy within “churches”. And as a result of this some of us shop around to find some our preferred king that we like and agree with then stay there. We then idly listen in order to agree with them for decades (I’ve been guilty of this).

Tower of Babel All Over?

Some have said that the divisions in church are a Tower of Babel-like phenomena where God actually is confusing our “languages”. Confusing our languages to the extent that we are trying to reach him in our own human strength and power. Like Babel, mans religious reaching toward the heavens to make a name for ourselves causes the confusion of our languages (denominations).

I believe this is the case. As we choose our ‘king’, our ‘great man with authority’ to tell us what to do, what to think, to essentially be our religious example and hero. This humanistic religious thing in order to reach God and make a name for ourselves (or our great pastor or our great church or our great denomination). To the extent that we do this, he confuses ‘our languages’ so that we naturally divide over time.

IF this is accurate and I am correct in describing what is happening, then I’ve seen this done by people with good motives, who honesty don’t know better. Our traditions are so entrenched and assumed I can barely blame anyone for thinking this way.

When I think of the tower of babel story, I think of men not surrendered to the Lord, I think of idolatry. I think of men trying to be God, similarly to how Satan tried to exalt himself. I don’t think of Christians trying to reach God on their own human strength and wisdom because I am one of them, I know their motivations, but maybe, just maybe those people at Babel were a lot like us and the story of Babel was written for us. Played out and written for our benefit because that is exactly what the modern church is doing.

What a Disappointment

So in the mean time I cannot discuss the eclessia of Jesus Christ openly unless I want to offend friends, family and ‘church authorities’ and possibly cause division among people that I don’t want to divide or separate from.

I can’t tell you how deeply disappointing this has been to me. How frustrating its been to be labeled as a rebel or selfish and to be misunderstood. People assume they know my motives without a conversation. I cannot openly discuss or post about the main thing that I want to discuss. Being the body of Jesus Christ, the house of God on earth. The very thing which the Spirit of God is actively teaching me about.  I cannot share about… without hostility.

I hope that there is coming a day though when we will be able to open about this without hostility and restraint. It may be in a book or on this site or to a group of friends but for now Jesus seems to often be saying “don’t post that”.

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