Worship the Father
Notes
Transcript
The language Jesus employed when speaking to the Samaritan woman in John 4 holds significant weight. Throughout his discussion on worship, he emphasized the importance of a fitting response to a correct understanding of God's nature. Jesus redirected the focus away from the physical location of worship, emphasizing that it's not about where one worships, but rather who and how one worships.
Addressing the woman at the well, Jesus used two key nouns to denote the "who" of worship— "Father" and "spirit"—both crucial in identifying the only legitimate object of genuine worship.
In the previous messages on this subject, the heart of worship, we delved into some of God's attributes, recognizing Him as a personal, spiritual, trinitarian being, immutable, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, and holy.
In John 4, Jesus encapsulates these attributes for the woman, emphasizing that the true worshiper must perceive God as the Father and as Spirit.
We've already established that God is an immortal, invisible, omnipresent spirit, beyond representation by idols. Hence, worship offered to Him must be spiritual.
However, even with a grasp of God's holiness, omnipotence, omnipresence, love, righteousness, and spiritual nature, a worshiper may still fall short of worshiping the true God.
The most all-encompassing and clearest distinguishing characteristic of the true God is found in the title Jesus used for God more often than any other—Father.
"Father" was Jesus' preferred title for God. Throughout the gospels, Jesus addressed God around seventy times, invariably referring to Him as Father, except during the moment of bearing the weight of humanity's sin on the cross, when he cried, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46).
WORSHIP THE FATHER
WORSHIP THE FATHER
Three times in John 4, Jesus spoke of worshiping “the Father.” In John 4:21 we read, “worship the Father.” In the middle of verse 23, we read, “worship the Father.” And at the end of verse 23, “such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”
The understanding of God's fatherhood often veers into misconception.
When we envision God as Father, it's typically in the light of a loving parental figure. We acknowledge ourselves as His children, He as our Father, and we worship Him not just as an all-encompassing, eternal, omniscient Spirit, but also as an intimate, caring, and personal Father.
Indeed, God embodies all these qualities. However, it's noteworthy that Jesus only directly refers to God as "our Father" once, and that instance occurs within a sample prayer (Matthew 6:9). Throughout the same chapter, Jesus addresses God as "your Father," directed at the disciples, indicating a communal understanding of God as our Father.
But in John 4, and all other times in the New Testament, when Jesus refers to God as “the Father,” He is not speaking of God’s fatherhood in relationship to believers. Whenever He used the term, Jesus’ reference was to God the Father’s position in the Trinity, particularly as it relates to Him, the Son.
HOW IS GOD JESUS’ FATHER?
HOW IS GOD JESUS’ FATHER?
When Jesus acknowledges God as His Father, it's crucial to understand that He isn't implying any origin or lineage. The Father-Son dynamic within the Trinity emphatically does not diminish Jesus' full divinity.
It's not about Jesus being conceived in time by God or being a literal genetic offspring of God the Father. His status as God's Son doesn't imply any beginning; Jesus is an eternal being, devoid of descent from anyone. In other words Jesus didn't descend from anyone, He is eternal just as the Father is eternal and the Spirit is eternal.
The core of this relationship lies in the Son sharing the same essence, the same nature, as the Father. When Jesus uses this title, He's asserting equality of deity. Just as a father and son share the same nature and characteristics, Jesus, by calling God His Father, claims equality with God. His contemporaries, particularly the Jews, grasped this implication.
Lets take John 5:17 as an example.
17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”
18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
In this verse, Jesus responds to persecution for His actions on the Sabbath by declaring, "My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working." His audience's reaction underscores their understanding of His claim to equality with God (verse 18).
In John 10:29, Jesus states
John 10:29 (NKJV)
29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all;
and then declares, in v.30.
30 I and My Father are one.”
Which then prompts the Jews to pick up stones to stone Him.
Jesus answered them,
32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”
33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”
When Jesus said God was His Father, they knew He meant that He shared God’s essence. He was asserting deity, affirming that He was fully equal to the one true sovereign, holy God.
John 17:1–3 records Jesus’ great prayer to the Father the night He was arrested. He begins:
John 17:1–3 (NKJV)
1 “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,
2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.
3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Once again, Jesus aligns Himself with the Father, asserting that eternal life hinges on knowing not only God the Father but also the Son of God.
In verse 5, He petitions, John 17:5
5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
Jesus is affirming the enduring equality between Himself and God the Father.
Matthew 11:27 which emphasizes Jesus' unique relationship with the Father, stating,
27 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
This underscores the profound intimacy of knowledge shared exclusively between Father and Son, beyond human comprehension.
In John 14:9 Jesus boldly declares to His disciples,
John 14:9 (NKJV)
9 He who has seen Me has seen the Father;
Each time Jesus refers to God as His Father, it serves as an affirmation of His deity, reinforcing His equality with God.
Now it should be noted that the distinct identification of God as “the Father of the Lord Jesus” holds significant importance, a truth frequently underscored in Scripture.
In Ephesians 1, Paul launches into a grand hymn of praise, spanning from verse 3 to verse 14—a continuous exaltation—and commences with the declaration, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Likewise, in verse 17 of the same chapter, Paul offers a prayer to "the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,"
Second Corinthians 1:3, the opening of Paul's second epistle to a troubled church, echoes this same expression: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
In Romans 15:6, Paul further emphasizes the church's adoration of "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Other New Testament authors adopt the same perspective.
Peter, in 1 Peter 1:3, echoes Paul's language, proclaiming, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Likewise, the apostle John, in 2 John 3, extends blessings, declaring, "Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father."
THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD
THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD
Those who claim to worship God, acknowledging Him as the eternal living Spirit, omnipresent and addressed as Father, yet reject the essential divinity of Jesus Christ, offer worship that falls short. Genuine worship of God requires recognizing Him as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Some argue that Muslims, Jews, and Christians worship the same God in different manners, but this assertion is not true.
The true God is specifically identified as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and cannot be defined otherwise. Those who, like cultists or certain groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses or liberal theologians, claim to worship God while denying Jesus Christ's deity, and actually worship a different deity from the God revealed in the Bible, rendering their worship unacceptable.
Merely acknowledging God as the Father of all humanity without adhering to the biblical understanding of His nature is insufficient.
In the same context where Jesus declared, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father," He also stated, "No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).
Acknowledging God solely as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the only valid approach to truly coming to Him.
TRINITARIAN WORSHIP
TRINITARIAN WORSHIP
Trinitarian doctrine, therefore, is crucial for genuine worship.
John 5:23 serves as the logical extension of Jesus' teaching regarding the unique relationship between God and Himself:
23 that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
The term "honor" carries the weight of worship; we are not only called to worship the Father, but also to worship the Son.
This has profound implications for the direction of our worship. Indeed, the only authentic way to worship the Father is by also worshiping the Son.
When Thomas knelt before the resurrected Jesus, declaring, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28), he exemplified the proper posture of worship.
God can only be worshiped when recognized as inseparable from His Son, who deserves the same reverence as the Father.
Jesus prompted the Samaritan woman to recognize Him as the Son of God—to worship Him. He didn't explicitly command, "Worship Me," but by affirming God as His Father, the implication remains clear: Jesus Christ is Lord.
Thus, at the core of all worship lies in approaching God solely through Christ, understanding that worship of the Father cannot be detached from worship of the Son.
While Scripture does not explicitly instruct us to worship the Holy Spirit, worship cannot be divorced from His work. It is the Spirit who enables us to boldly approach God's presence, crying, "Abba, Father," as noted in Galatians 4:6 and Romans 8:15–16.
Given the Spirit's equality with the Son and the Father, it is evident that He is deserving of worship.
Throughout Scripture, the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ, indicating His unity with the Father and the Son. When Jesus spoke of the Spirit as "proceeding" from the Father (John 15:26), He affirmed the Spirit's status as the Third Member of the Trinity, likening Him to the very breath and expression of the Almighty. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is unquestionably deserving of our worship.
Within the Trinity, each member has a distinct ministry. The Holy Spirit draws us to the Son, and the Son leads us to the Father. Hence, our worship inherently involves all members of the Trinity, each deserving of adoration.
THE FOUNDATION OF TRUE WORSHIP
THE FOUNDATION OF TRUE WORSHIP
It becomes evident that in John 4, when Jesus uses the term "Father," He is intentionally pinpointing the focal point of authentic worship. It is the God depicted in Scripture—the singular God of both the Old and New Testaments—not some nebulous, ill-defined spiritual entity who accepts worship under various names and guises, but rather the God who stands as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, united in essence with Him. Thus, access to the Father is exclusively through the Son and solely empowered by the Holy Spirit.
This reaffirms that only a sincere follower of Jesus Christ possesses the capacity for genuine worship. Only a believer in Christ has the means to approach the Son through the Spirit, thereby having the privilege to present worship before God.
In a brief proclamation, Jesus encapsulated this truth: "No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6
John 14:6 (NKJV)
6 No one comes to the Father except through Me.