TODAYS MUSLIM CHALLENGE: PROVE CHRISTIANS ARE WRONG TO INCLUDE JESUS IN OUR WORSHIP WHEN JESUS ALWAYS RECEIVED WORSHIP

If a Muslim wishes is to prove that Christians are wrong to worship Jesus, and are engaging in idolatrous worship of multiple Gods in doing so, then they have an insurmountable obstacle to overcome, in explaining away why Jesus always accepted and never rejected worship of Himself. 

■ JESUS GAVE THE BASIS FOR INCLUDING HIM IN WORSHIP IN JOHN 5:23

Here Jesus claims equal status and equal honour (which includes worship) as God 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.” (John 5:23)

Of the many facets of Jesus’ deity, always the biggest clincher of all is that He demanded received and never rebuked worship of Himself. And His own words in John 5:23 are ALONE sufficient warrant for doing so.

We worship Jesus because He is truly God. Jesus came to earth as a humble servant (Philippians  2:7-8). He came to serve, not to be served and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). His mission on earth was to die for the redemption of sinners, for this reason, God became flesh. Hence, it was not His primary role on earth to demand His creatures worship Him — believers did this naturally, responding to His first loving us.

However, in John 5:22-23, Jesus states that the purpose of the Father giving all judgment to Him was for the result of all honouring the Son in the same way (kathos) they would honour the Father. The honour that is given to the Father is clearly divine honour — namely, reverential worship. Therefore, Jesus asserts His essential equality with God by expressing that the worship/honour given to the Father is to be given to the Son and if one does not worship/honour the Son, he or she “does not honour the Father who sent Him.” Further, we find many examples in both the OT and NT where Jesus was worshipped in a religious context and He accepted it (Daniel 7:14; Matthew 14:33; Hebrews 1:6; Revelation 5:13-14)

Worship means “reverence paid to a divine being.” If Jesus was offered and accepted worship, then by doing so He was confirming His divinity. This is important because there are those who deny the deity of Christ, relegating Him instead to a lesser position than God. Yes, Jesus accepted worship. As the second Person of the Trinity, He was and still is worshipped. Without His inclusion it is impossible to please or worship God. The Bible could not be clearer.

■ EXAMPLES WHERE JESUS RECEIVES WORSHIP

# The wise men worshipped Him from the moment He was born. “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.” (Matthew 2:10-12)

# The leper worshipped Him at his healing: “And behold, a leper came to Him, and bowed down to Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” (Matthew 8:2)

# The synagogue ruler worshipped Him: “While He was saying these things to them, behold, there came a synagogue official, and bowed down before Him, saying, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will live.” (Matthew 9:18-19)

# The disciples worshipped him in the boat. “And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshipped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Matthew 14:32-33)

# The Canaanite woman worshipped Him. “But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!” (Matthew 15:25-26)

# The mother of James and John worshipped Him. “Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Him with her sons, bowing down, and making a request of Him.” (Matthew 20:20-21)

# The blind man worshipped Him at his healing. “Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him.” (John 9:35-38)

# The women worshipped Him at the empty tomb. “So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.” (Matthew 28:8-10)

# The disciples worshipped Him at the Ascension. “Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him” (Matthew 28:16-17)

# Thomas worshipped the risen Jesus with the acclamation of “my Lord and my God” upon seeing His crucifixion scars. Note in all these instances Jesus never once rejected worship. Indeed in the last mentioned case, not only did Jesus not rebuke Thomas for worshipping Him explicitly AS HIS GOD, He adopted His confession as the foundation for a blessing to all who similarly believe even without seeing, but by faith. 

“Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and observe My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Don’t be an unbeliever, but a believer.”  Thomas responded to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed.Those who believe without seeing are blessed.” (John 20:27-29)

All these acts of worship were in obedience to:  “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.” (John 5:23)

No we do not worship Jesus in vain or in error we do so in OBEDIENCE adopting the command of Jesus Himself and the example of His disciples and followers.  

■ JESUS GIVES SATAN A UNIQUE REBUKE

Satan opposed Jesus. When Satan tried to get Jesus to throw Himself down, Jesus rebuked him with “do not test the Lord your God” (Matthew 4:7)

When Satan tried to get Jesus to worship Him, Jesus told him no one is to be worshipped but God:

“Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him.” (Matthew 4:10)

In both responses Jesus declared His divinity. Muslims will reject them both but when read in conjunction with other Scripture it should be obvious. Matthew 4:7 is self explanatory. As for Matthew 4:10, since Jesus response to Satan here is used nowhere else by Jesus, He has reserved that right to be worshipped to include Himself. 

The significance of Matthew 4:10 cannot be overstated. Jesus ONLY used this rebuke for Satan. He never used it again; had He not included Himself within the scope of Matthew 4:10 He would have rebuked all those who worshipped Him in similar terms. The fact that He did not employ this same rebuke on any of the other occasions to those worshipping Him is profound and determinative. I have yet to see any Antichrist explain this away. 

There is other easy ways to confirm the correctness of this view. What happened when others were worshipped? There are several examples of others who people tried to worship but their worship was rejected.

■ MEN OF GOD REFUSED WORSHIP

Peter refused Cornelius’ worship:

“When Peter entered, Cornelius met him, fell at his feet, and worshiped him. But Peter helped him up and said, “Stand up! I myself am also a man.” (Acts 10:25-26)

Paul and  Barnabus refused worship when the crowds tried to make them gods:

“When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the form of men!”  And they started to call Barnabas, Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the main speaker. Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the town, brought oxen and garlands to the gates. He, with the crowds, intended to offer sacrifice. The apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their robes when they heard this and rushed into the crowd, shouting:  “Men! Why are you doing these things? We are men also, with the same nature as you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.” (Acts 14:11-15) c.f. Acts 12:21-23

■ ANGELS REFUSE WORSHIP*

Angels refuse to accept worship:

“At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’” (Revelation 19.10; cf. 22:8-9).

Angels are not to be worshipped. That includes fallen angels. Back to the original text of Matthew 4:10. See also Colossians 2:18.

* The Old Testament exception is The Angel of the Lord who did receive worship. The Angel of the Lord is the pre incarnate Jesus. It’s another affirmation of His deity and unique right to receive worship.

■ QURAN DILEMMA

Muslims not only have an insurmountable challenge in proving Christians wrong for including Jesus in our worship of the One True God, they have another conundrum. The Quran says that IF GOD HAD A SON HE WOULD BE WORTHY OF WORSHIP!

Sura 43:81 “Say: “If (God) Most Gracious had a son, I would be the first to worship.”

So the Quran endorses worship of the Son of God. Let that sink in Muslims.  That is a double whammy for Muslims. The challenge just doubled in difficulty. Now they must first prove that Jesus is not the Son of God, as well as that its wrong to worship Him, IN SPITE of the Quran saying He should be with that qualification.