Worshiping happens when we declare the greatness of something else, and as Christians we worship God. We live our lives in the worship of God because of who He is.
Do Christians worship Jesus? Yes, Christians worship Jesus. They worship Jesus because He is God, and deserving of all the praise and glory because of who He is and all He has done. Jesus is divine and worthy of our praise. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Throughout the Old and the New Testament, many verses in the Bible point to Jesus as divine. Because of Jesus’ divinity worshiping him is not idolatry. He is worthy of our praise because He is God.
The Divinity Of Jesus
We know that Jesus is divine because of what He did while on earth and from what we read throughout scripture.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
At the beginning of John, we read about the Word which is God and is eternal became flesh and dwelt with us on earth.
We even read Jesus Himself saying He is the son of God, and divine multiple times.
Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’
John 8:58
When Jesus says this He is saying what was said to Moses in the burning bush in Exodus.
God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
Exodus 3:14
When Jesus says “I am,” He is making the same claim that God made.
As we read in John 8:58,59, the Jews knew that the claim that He had just made meant that he was claiming to be the eternal God, they got upset and started throwing stones at Him not believing what Jesus had said.
Why Christians Worship Jesus
The biggest reason that we as Christians worship Jesus is because of who He is. God is worthy of our praise and worship.
Jesus is worthy of praise because of who He is, what He has done also should inspire our praise.
What Jesus has done for us causes us to be more thankful and full of praise knowing that we do not deserve forgiveness.
Jesus humbled Himself and came down to earth and took on flesh and its weaknesses. We read in the gospels that Jesus became hungry and tired, He was tempted but did not sin.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:5-8
Jesus humbly took on flesh and even more than that He died on a cross.
Jesus’ life included the betrayal of one of his disciples, being called crazy by even His own family, and being nailed to a cross to die.
Jesus knew this when he came down to earth, He humbled Himself to save us from the bondage of sin.
We worship Jesus because of all that He has done for us.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 4:15
Jesus walked the earth and lived life as we do on earth, and because of this our high priest can sympathize with us, but we know that He is still without sin.
He was tempted but did not give in to temptation, we give in to temptation often, but can come to God to ask for forgiveness because of the sacrifice He made on the cross and the life he lived on earth.
Throughout the New Testament, multiple occasions point to the divinity of Jesus, giving us, and the early church confidence that Jesus is the Christ. Peter even said it when asked, and Jesus confirmed.
Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’
Matthew 16:16
Today as Christians we should acknowledge the same thing, that Jesus is the Christ and worthy of praise.
Worshiping God Alone
We know that the first and second commandments are about worshiping God and Him alone.
You shall have no other gods before me.
Exodus 20:3
This is the first commandment that was given to Moses on Mount Sinai.
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or 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 or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God
Exodus 20:4,5a
The second commandment makes it clear that there shall be nothing else that we should bow down or serve. Because of what we see in the New Testament we can have confidence that Jesus is God, and we are worshiping him alone.
The Trinity is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. From Genesis, we can see all three persons of God.
We read in Genesis 1:2 the “Spirit of God” was over the waters in Genesis 1:1 God creates, and the Angel of the Lord who speaks as God appears in the Old Testament including, Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18:1.
Going through the New Testament, you will also find many situations that point towards the Trinity including, Matthew 28:19 which mentions the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Because of the evidence throughout scripture of the Trinity, we do not have to doubt how the Father and Son are one. Jesus, a person of the Trinity, 100% man and 100% God is worthy of our praise.
Why Do Christians Worship?
Why do Christians worship God regularly? Our day-to-day life is about living to the glory of God and not to the glory of ourselves. The Psalms is full of verses that praise God, and encourage their readers to do the same.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
Psalms 95:6
God is the creator of all, he deserves praise for who is He and what He has done. Our praise reflects our gratefulness and thankfulness for all that He has done and will do.
We as humans are broken and sinful, we mess up and make mistakes again and again, but God who is all-knowing all-powerful, and has sovereignty in our life is working all things for good.
When we worship we are acknowledging who he is what He has done and our heart of thankfulness. He is deserving of all the praise because there is no one greater, and he loves and died for us.