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3. Gather to Worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit


Introduction

To some of you, the title of this lesson may seem simple and need little explanation. But be aware that many do not understand who God truly is and what it means to worship Him. Some are way off the mark in their assertions of who He is and who He is not, while others claim that God is a “grey area”, of whom we cannot be certain. But Jesus said, “We worship what we know.” (Jn 4:22). And Paul said that we must know who God is in order to be saved and avoid the penalty of hell (2 Thess 1:8, 9). And moreover, as we will study more carefully in this lesson, God expects His disciples to worship Him in spirit and in truth (Jn 4:24). And what is truth but fact or knowledge? So we must know the truth about the God whom we are worshiping. We cannot be ignorant or mistaken on who God is and expect to be saved. So gain everything you can from this lesson to know Him. I am talking specifically about written or revealed truth on God and how to worship Him, not things that are unwritten or unrevealed concerning Him.

The Bible Tells Us to Only Worship God

The Bible plainly informs its readers to exclusively worship God.
  1. Moses Taught This to Israel

    In the old covenant, Moses instructed all of Israel to: “Fear only the Lord your God; and you shall worship Him.” (De 6:13)


  2. An Angel Instructed an Apostle About It

    In the new covenant, an angel told John to not worship him but to: “Worship God.” (Re 19:10)


  3. Jesus Refuted the Devil Over It

    Jesus said: “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” (Mt 4:10)


So we know that we are to worship just God, but who is God? Is He one or is He three in one? Is Jesus the Father? Is Jesus a created being? What does the word worship mean? How should we worship the Lord? In order to do what God said to do, to only worship Him, we need to find clear answers to these questions.

WHO IS GOD?

(A) The Old Testament Describes God

View of North America from Apollo 16 Spacecraft, 16, 1972 From the very beginning of earthly time—from the beginning of the Bible, God has revealed to us who He is. Think about who God is as you read part of the creation account below.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” (Ge 1:1, 2) A few verses later, God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” (Ge 1:26)

Those verses begin to tell us much of who God is. They reveal three important things about Him:
  1. That God is the Creator (“God created” vs. 1)
  2. That He is the Spirit (“the Spirit of God was moving” vs. 2)
  3. That He is plural, i.e. more than one person
    (“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” vs. 26)

.... more about this in the Bible Study on Gathering in Spirit & Truth, Part 1