Disciples are called to honor God through honoring Jesus. This daily devotional looks at two ways in which to do that.
Nuggets
- We should honor the Father by imitating Him as Jesus did.
- We aren’t going to have the honor without the redemption.
Devotions in the In Jesus’ Name series
We bring glory to God when we honor Jesus. Wilkinson, in his sermon entitled Doing All in the Name of Christ, told us two ways to do that.
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Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Let's Put It into Context #2
Glory expresses the majesty, splendor, and beauty representing the attributes of God resulting from the authority and holiness of God.
We give God glory by worshiping Him alone after we have repented of our sin. We also do this by loving Him and others and obeying Him.
Honoring the Son to Honor the Father
“that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.” (Jn. 5: 23 ESV).
We should honor the Father by imitating Him as Jesus did.
All that Jesus did in His ministry was in accordance with God’s Will.
Beith made a good point. He wrote, “These words assert that as it is impossible for the Son to do anything of Himself, so it is impossible that the Father can do anything without the Son. The cure of the impotent man, therefore, was by both.”
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God could not save us until Jesus became the sacrifice. Jesus could not be the sacrifice until God sent Him and accepted His sacrifice.
In other words, God made the Plan of Salvation, and Jesus carried it out. Both have a hand in it.
The relationship of the Father and Son is based on love. Part of the love is because God and Jesus have the same attributes.
Not long ago we talked about the attributes of God. They are
- A spirit
- Transcendent
- Mysterious
- Incomprehensible
- Omnipotent
- Omniscient
- Omnipresent
- Eternal
- Self-existent
- Unchangeable
- Sovereign
- Pure
- Unified
- Jealous
- Wrathful
- Glorious and beautiful
- Perfect
- Holy
- Just
- Righteous
- Faithful
- True
- Loving
- Gracious
- Compassionate
- Merciful
- Forgiving
- Providence and caring
- Goodness
To read a devotion in the Finding Our Center series, click on the button below.
Jesus has all of those. “I and the Father are one” (Jn. 10: 30 ESV).
Because they are the same, God and Jesus should be worshiped the same. Since we only have access to God through Jesus, we must go through Him to get to God.
Honor in the Future
“Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’ And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!’” (Rev. 5: 11-13 ESV).
We aren’t going to have the honor without the redemption.
Redemption is where God bestows His gift of grace on us in order to deliver us from sin.
- Grace is a free and unmerited gift of love from the Heavenly Father, given through His Son, Jesus Christ, that enables salvation and spiritual healing to believers by the work of the Holy Spirit.
- Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
Glossary
The honor is all tied up with the sacrifice. Yes, Jesus would have still been God if He hadn’t sacrificed Himself.
We wouldn’t be there to give the honor. We wouldn’t be there to worship.
I see you jumping up and down. Yes, the angels would still be worshiping God.
But let’s look at the angels a second.
Even though the Bible has many references to angels, there are opposing opinions of what and who angels are and do and how they came to be. There are a large group of angels, with descriptions of
· “… ten thousands of holy ones …” (Deut. 33: 2 ESV),
· “… thousand thousands …” (Dan. 7: 10 ESV),
· “… tens of thousands and thousands of thousands” (Ps. 68: 17 NIV),
· “… innumerable angels …” (Heb. 12: 22 ESV),
· “… legions …” (Mt. 26: 53 NIV) and
· “…thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand …” (Rev. 5: 11 NIV).
They have also been referred to as “… host …” (Lk. 2: 13 NIV) and “… army …” (Rev. 19: 19 NIV). It sounds like the population of angels rivals the population of mankind.
The first and foremost purpose of angels is to worship and praise God. That is why they are around God’s throne.
Johnston brought up a good point. He wrote, “And it is worthy of notice that they secure ample leisure for worship. It is a lesson that ought not to be lost upon our hurrying age.”
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Notice, angels worship Jesus as well as God. “… ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’” (Rev. 5: 12 ESV).
The angels are not worshiping Jesus because He was God. They worshiped Him because of His accomplishment of the Plan of Salvation.
We are called to worship Jesus in the same way. Remember, “I and the Father are one” (Jn. 10: 30 ESV).
We can worship Jesus in trust and confidence. He is worthy of our praise.
Making the Connections
So, I am reading this as we are to give Jesus the honor due Him now and in the future. When we give honor to Jesus in His name, we also give it to God.
How Do We Apply This?
- Admire and imitate Jesus’ attributes.
- Confess Jesus as our Redeemer.
- Follow God’s Will.
- Give Jesus as well as God honor and worship.
- Prepare ourselves for worship in Heaven by seeking God.
- Evaluate our character and relationship with God to ensure we delight in worship.
- Focus on God and Jesus rather than this world and its materialism.
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Father God. We worship Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer. We know that, by doing this, we are also worshiping You. Help us to imitate Jesus so that we can imitate You. Help us to evaluate where we are on the Sanctification Road in order to be navigating it to grow closer to You. Amen.
What do you think?
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