Why We Worship Jesus - Week 1

and all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God is with us

, right? That name is significant. And that isn't enough to believe Jesus is God quite yet, because there's other names that would make one reflect upon God. But, but here, that's a significant name is God who is with us. I want to back up that word fulfill. In chapter two, verse 15, chapter two, verse 17, chapter two, verse, uh, 23. Matthew is building up and scripture must be fulfilled and scripture must be fulfilled. There's a significant way in which he's proving all of the old Testament is coming, crashing together in fulfillment of what's happening now with this baby Jesus. That's significant. There's a name, uh, chapter two, verse nine.

After listening to the king, they, the Magi, went on their way, and behold, the star that they had seen, when it rose, went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.

That is Jesus.

And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

This should be startling as we read Matthew for the first time. They're worshiping a baby human. All right, they're from the East. They're wrong, right? That's why. Here at Matthew's opening, God with us, fulfilled, fulfilled, fulfilled. I'm not going to go through what those mean. You can look them up and read later, but here, This baby human is being worshipped by these royal great figures from the East who were in opposition to Herod, the king of Israel. Again, our idea here is, why is it we worship Jesus? Well, here we see these men worshipping Jesus. All right, fast forward one more time, Matthew 3, should be the next page.

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water and behold, the heavens were open to him and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from the heaven said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

Who do we see in this passage? That's not a rhetorical question. I get to monologue from that pulpit. Every Sunday, I get to dialogue from this one. Okay, so we got John the Baptist. Jesus is there, he just got baptized, he's wet. The Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove. And I heard somebody say the Father. Where do you see the Father? Yeah, who else could say, this is my son? From the heavens, David. Go to the back. Yes, Joseph could have said that. But it's important, raise your hand if you're a father. At what point did you become a father? Okay, you were once not a father, always a son. But you were once not a son in terms of you didn't exist. And you're that there's a relational term, nor be a father. You have to have a son. Okay. So we, we, we have that concept. The, the, the important concept is the eternal God is eternally father and eternally son, perfectly father, perfectly son. There's something significant here in this. This is my beloved son with whom I'm well pleased. That's a. a declaration of his joy and delight in his own son, but that relationship is what's going to be drawn out through Matthew. This is the first public revelation of the Trinity, all three persons first publicly seen together distinctly but in relationship to one another. What's the first private revelation of the Trinity? I know some of you know because we've talked about it. No, no, not Genesis, later than that. With Mary, when the angel says, you're gonna have a baby, and the Holy Spirit is the answer for her question. That's the first revelation that there's three persons all together, that specifically. This is my son with whom I'm well pleased. The assumption is, it's the father speaking, and this is where Deuteronomy 6.4 starts getting complicated. There's one God, and he's father and son. This is a thinking faith. We, we, we have to, we have to think through how is it we're going to worship one God who is father and son. Um, all right, we're going to skip ahead. Matthew eight. These are simple teasers in Matthew eight, beginning in 23. I'm not going to read it. There's a storm. The disciples are freaking out. They say, save us, Lord. We're perishing. Jesus then in verse 26 rose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was great calm. Of the actions of God that only God can do, which one would be in view here? We see a creator declaring with such authority over the creation. All right, next week we'll see much more clear creation declarations, but we see he has the power of the creator. If we fast forward to Matthew 9, there's a packed house, a paralytic gets let through. Jesus says, your sins are forgiven. The scribes say, who can forgive but God? Jesus, knowing what they're thinking, says, so that you know that I have the authority to forgive sins. Stand up and walk. We actually see creator and forgiver there. Matthew 11, 25. So the four actions only God does, receive worship, receive creation, salvation.

At the time Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wives that are standing and revealed them to the little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. And no one knows the son except the father and no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.

What action of God is here? Yeah. God revealing God. And it's not just God. He's able to reveal God as God. Notice the unique relationship of the father son. Only the father knows the son intimately perfectly. Only the son knows the father intimately perfectly. And it's, it's only the son who would show you the father here that we just want to see that there's a power of revealing who God is. That's present. All right. Now turn to Matthew 16. God with us. He's worshiped. He is the son of God. He has authority over creation. He has authority to forgive sins. He's claiming to know the father explicitly and uniquely and able to reveal him. Now we come to Matthew 16 and I'll begin in just verse 15.

Jesus said to them, but who do you say that I am? And someone, Peter replied, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

Now, it seems like this should be where the story could stop because we now have someone confessing one of the most unique truths of Jesus and that he is the Son. Does Peter fully understand what that means yet? Peter seems to always say better than he knows He speaks before he really knows what he's saying. It's important that right after this passage, Jesus is gonna predict his suffering. And Peter's gonna say, no, it can't be. And Jesus is gonna say, get behind me Satan. Peter can't grasp that the son of God has come to suffer. That is one of the most significant things. We've been looking at this through first Peter with a theology of suffering. This is one of the most significant things about Islam. They don't have a category for how Jesus, the son of God, oh no, he's not the son of God, sorry. How Jesus, there's one God, he doesn't have a son, that's the Muslim mantra. They don't have a category for someone who is holy as Jesus the prophet could die on the cross. They don't believe there's such a suffering for a holy one. Here, the significance is, no, the son of God must come to die. Uh, jumping ahead to Matthew 17, uh, verse one.

And every six days, Jesus took with him, Peter, James, and John, his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them and his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them, Moses and Elijah taking with them. And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here. One for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. He was still speaking when behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them saying, rise and have no fear. When they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one, but Jesus only

here, the amount of transfiguration. Uh, we see a number of things coming together. Jesus is transformed into what his glorious being would have looked like, right? He set aside his glory. We'll see that when we look at Paul, Lord willing, later on in Philippians, Here he, he, he, he's transformed into the glory that he, he will appear to us one day. They see that glory. And then Moses and Elijah appear. And I believe that's capturing that, that fulfill theme, everything, the old Testament is promising there. He's coming to fulfill all of that. These professors are with him only in the sense of he's the one they've been telling. Uh, they were for telling and Peter. Again, he speaks first. He gets it wrong because he wants three tenths. Who speaks at that point in verse five? Who's speaking? How do we know it's God the Father speaking? Because he said, this is my beloved son. Again, that unique relationship within God. Again, he with him, he is well pleased and the focus being It's not Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. It's Moses and Elijah telling you, listen to Jesus. And now the father is emphasizing he alone stands as the glorious one you've been waiting for. This and the baptismal, it really stands together because it's God testifying who Jesus is as God. The father has publicly testified who Jesus is, and they fall on their face and they're terrified, that probably there's a voice there. Fast forwarding still, Matthew 21, the triumphal entry, the crowds are crying out, Hosanna in the highest. Is that worshiping Jesus? It appears so because in Luke chapter 19, we're told that Jesus has said, rebuke them. And he says, no, if they don't praise, the stones will cry out. They don't quite know what they're getting into yet, but there's some praise and Jesus accepts it. Jesus accepts it. It's a significant point there. Only two more passages. We're gonna land quickly. Matthew 22, verse 41. This is after the Pharisee scribes They've been trying to stump Jesus. They they've, they've, they've gotten nowhere.

Now the Pharisees were gathered together. Jesus asked them a question. What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? They said to him, the son of David, he said to them, how is it then that David and the spirit calls him Lord saying,

and he quotes Psalm one 10 here.

The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. But if David calls him Lord, how is he as his son? And no one was able to answer him a word from nor from that day. Did anyone dare ask him any more questions?

Second Samuel seven is significant as we understand David and what he's saying. What did God promise David in second Samuel seven? Yeah, there, he would have a son on the throne forever. And God would be like to him a father and, and, and he would be like to him a son. And so there's, there's already that, that hit and, and, and, uh, uh, foreshadowing of the real relationship within God. But the question Jesus asked is how is it? David is calling his own son Lord. Even in some one 10 there, there's the clear idea. There's, there's, there's a father and son, as we know them already revealed, foreshadowed in the Psalm and what Jesus wanting them, the Pharisees to see is that David had already seen that David was already aware of. Cause it, it's not just one of David's descendants. This is his Lord. He's referring to, Hey, this is what we're getting at with Christmas. Jesus is a descendant of David by being born of Mary. He's a son of God by his everlasting existence. And we know he's a son of God by his everlasting existence by attested by the resurrection. All right, the passage I was gonna spend most of my time on, so here we are, Matthew 28. All that to kind of get up to here.

Now, the 11 disciples went to Galilee,

I'm in verse 16,

to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And they saw him and they worshiped him. But some doubt it.

Peter has denied him. Judas has betrayed him. The disciples fled in fear before the cross. Jesus was crucified. He rose, he appeared. Now he's appeared again. And when they see him, notice, the disciples are leading us in what we should do. This is descriptive and also prescriptive. They worshiped him. Notice what Jesus receives willingly is worship. So if we're asking why is he worthy of worship? He's a son of God who created. He's a son of God who forgives sins. He's a son of God who reveals God. He's the son of God who's worthy of all worship. So the disciples recognize it. Why? Because of the resurrection, they now see it. And let's think about this great commission.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the ages.

What kind of divine claims does Jesus make in the great commission? He starts off the entire great commission with a divine claim that, that he he's, he's more than a human born, died and risen. He has all authority in heaven and earth. He is the creator God claiming here from the beginning. And this preamble is important for what he's going to commission them to do. But, but in knowing who Jesus is, he's worthy of worship as he himself declares, I have all authority in heaven and on earth because he created it and he's redeeming it. Okay. What else? Okay. Baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son of the Holy spirit. Why is that a divine claim? It's a grammatically odd passage in that it's intentionally pretty explicitly baptizing the name, which is singular. And then there's three of them. Uh, this is where the father declaring Jesus, his son. And we now know as well, we didn't look at the Holy spirit. There are three who are the one God or to grammatically just mess it up. There are three that is the one God we can't, our grammar doesn't work with the great being who's beyond our comprehension, much less our grammar, much more grammar, but there's, there's one, one name, one God. And now Yahweh was the most significant name of the old Testament, the covenant making name of God. We now have a more personal specific way of knowing God by name, father, son, spirit, because he's eternally the father. He's eternally the son. And we know the Holy spirit. So, so it's, it's a, it's a new name. It's a new covenant. It's a new sign. But the very fact that he's attaching himself to being baptized, why would somebody be baptized? For the forgiveness of sins. The Father forgives your sins through the Son's forgiveness by the Holy Spirit applying that forgiveness. All three persons all do what only God can do and they must do it together. Okay, what's the other divine claim? other than commanding, not the most explicit one. I am with you always. Only God can make such a statement. He is forever to the end of the age, and I am with you always. As we think about this, I want us to consider he who is above the heavens of the earth, he who created the heavens of the earth, That's who we're celebrating who came down. That's who we're worshiping. So there's a wonderful way in which God gave us this story that has such texture to it, the nativity, to draw us in, to think about what that looked like, but it's almost impossible to capture the glory of God being set aside from the, for the son so that he could take that lowly posture, that lowly estate, our own nature to save us. He has come down to us so that we can worship him. I wanted to see why we worship him. He's the son of the father who created saved reveals God. And therefore we, we commit to worship him now. Let's get into the practical question. How do we worship him? It's right here in the same text. How would you worship Jesus? If you're convinced he's God, how would you worship him? By obeying all that he commanded. By making disciples. This is a wonderful season to think about, right? There's a lot of parents have been with children today, or you're wrestling with, you know, children right now, maybe. What a wonderful joy to think about how we can teach our children who the son of God is. To teach our children, if you can wrestle with children all day, you can be thinking, all right, you can be worshiping God by making disciples of those children. You're worshiping God in what might feel like a mundane, difficult task. But now, because he is the all authority in heaven and earth, everywhere you go, you can be worshiping him by being a faithful disciple, seeking to make disciples. In your home with your children, at work with your coworkers, here at church specifically, that's exactly what we intend to do. So here, it was a brief overview to give you a texture of Matthew. Next week, we're gonna come back, we're gonna look at John, and I doubt I'll be able to do all of John. Whew, I definitely can't do all of John. I'll have to choose even more how to skip around. But I hope we can at least see the texture of how Matthew presents Jesus as the Son of God, as declared by God, what he does, and why he's worthy of worship. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you, Lord, that you have revealed yourself to us as the one God with such great clarity, and as Father, Son, Holy Spirit, so that we know you more personally. Lord, may we see you in your glory. May we desire to see you as the glorious God worthy of worship who came down to us. May we know how to teach our children these truths. May we know how to teach others these truths. May we know how to worship you as you are worthy. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.