Everybody Should Worship Jesus Christ!

Everybody Should Worship Jesus Christ!

John 1:1-13

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - July 13, 2014

*We call this a worship service, and most of us are here today to worship the Lord. But what do we mean when we say we have come to worship the Lord?

*Melvin Newland gave one of the best explanations I have ever heard, and he said: "The English word 'worship' means 'to assign or give the highest worth to something.' So when we worship, we're saying, 'God, you're number one in my life. You come before anyone or anything else.'

*There at least 9 Hebrew and Greek words in the Bible that we translate as 'worship'. But the main Hebrew word means 'to bow down, to humble ourselves, to recognize God's sovereignty, and to express our reverence in His presence.'

*The main Greek word for 'worship' has the root-word picture of a kiss. And it is the same word used in the sentence, 'A dog licked the hands of its master.' This word expresses the ideas of love, loyalty and undying gratitude.

*So when we worship the Lord, we are coming to Him and saying: "God, you are number one in my life. I humble myself before You. I recognize that You are the Sovereign King of Kings. And I want to express my love, loyalty and undying gratitude to You!" (1)

*That's worship. And everybody ought to worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Today's Scripture shows us why.

1. First of all: Everybody should worship Jesus, because He is the Lord God.

*The Bible shows us this truth in vs. 1-3, where John called Jesus "the Word," and said:

1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2. He was in the beginning with God.

3. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

*We live in a world where millions and millions of people have never even heard of Jesus Christ. That is a terrible tragedy. Many other people have heard of Jesus, but they never give a second thought to who He really is. That is a terrible mistake, because Jesus Christ is the Lord God Almighty!

[1] The Scripture confirms this truth by telling us that Jesus continues to exist.

*Jesus has always existed, and He will always continue to exist. That's the point John made in vs. 1, when he said: "In the beginning was the Word." In eternity past Jesus already was. And that is why in Revelation 1:8, Jesus could say: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.''

*For all of us, time marches on. When Anita Milner turned 50, her oldest daughter gave her a pin that said "50 is nifty". Anita wore it to work that day, and had a lot of fun with it. All day long, people kept saying things to her like: "Anita, you don't look fifty." And "Why, Anita, you can't be fifty."

*Then just as Anita got home, the doorbell rang. It was a young girl from the florist, bringing flowers from a friend. Anita stood there admiring the birthday gift. And the delivery girl stood there, waiting for a tip. The girl noticed the pin on Anita's jacket and said, "Oh, fifty, eh?"

*"Yes," Anita answered, and she waited to hear one last compliment before her birthday ended. "Fifty," the delivery girl repeated. "That's great! -- Birthday, or anniversary?" (2)

*Time marches on for us, but not for Jesus Christ! He is from everlasting to everlasting. And that's why everybody should worship Jesus! He is the Lord God Almighty. We see this truth in the way Jesus continues.

[2] We also see it in His connection.

*Verse 1 tells us that in the beginning, Jesus "was with God." Jesus Christ was and is connected with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit in a unique way. This fact points us to the Trinity or the reality that God exists as three persons in one.

*Because God exists as a Trinity, our English Bibles sometimes show God speaking of Himself with a plural noun. In Isaiah 6:8, the prophet "heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for US?" In Genesis 1:26, Moses recorded the same kind of conversation within the Godhead when God said, "Let US make man in OUR image. . ."

*Jesus Christ is one of the three persons in the Godhead: Father Son and Holy Spirit. And right now Jesus and His Father IS up in Heaven. They IS up in Heaven. That improper grammar sounds awful, especially to the Language Arts teachers here today. A plural noun with a singular verb makes them cringe. But that is exactly the way we talk about our country all the time. We would never say, "The United States are my home." When it comes to our country, we always use a singular verb with a plural noun.