A friend once asked me: “Since both claim to be worshiping the God of Abraham, do Christians and Jews worship the same God?”
I told her no, and gave her my
reasons. She asked a bible teacher at her church and he responded by saying
yes. He backed up his point by quoting the story of Paul while at Athens when he said “Men
of Athens , I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For
while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also
found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim
to you.” (Acts 17:21-23). His (the bible teacher) point being that
the Athenians were worshiping God, but they were just doing it in ignorance.
Notwithstanding his point, I still believe
the answer is no.
I think the question should
really be; “Does God accept their worship?” Many people “claim” to worship God,
whether they are a Jew or a Gentile but does God accept or is He pleased with
their worship?
When speaking of whether we
worship the same God, I understand the question to be all encompassing,
concerning our entire life offering, meaning; do we serve the same God? Do we
pray to the same God? Do we have faith in and are we trusting in the same
God? Do we know the same God and are we
known by Him? Do we all have equal access to Him? Are we all a part of His
family? But even more importantly, does He accept or receive our worship, our
prayers, our service, our life? Is He pleased with it? We may claim to be
serving, worshiping, and praying to Him, but is it on His terms?
I believe the answer to this
question is clearly, No. Reason being that Jesus Christ is the only way of
access to the Father.
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes
to the Father but through Me.” (John 14:6)
“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (I Timothy 2:5)
There is no other way to come to the Father. All access to the
Father is in and through Christ. Access to the Father not only for salvation,
but also for prayer and worship as well. It is not possible to come to the
Father some other way, to side step Christ and then expect Him to accept our
worship. Only those (both Jew and Gentile) who have been adopted by the Father
and have born into His family are at peace with the Him. Those who are outside
of Christ, whether Jew or Gentile, are still abiding under the wrath of God.
They have never been reconciled to the Father. Man may claim that he is
worshiping the Father and that the Father is pleased with or accepts his
worship but that is not the case.
“The sacrifice of the wicked
is an abomination to the
LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.” (Proverbs 15:8)
“He who turns away his ear
from listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination.”
(Proverbs
28:9)
Scripture is filled with examples of God rejecting the
worship of man. This was particularly true of the covenant people of Israel and Judah . God rejected their worship in
Isaiah 1:11-15 saying:
“What
are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings
of rams and
the fat of fed cattle; and I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or
goats. “When
you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My
courts? “Bring your worthless
offerings no longer, incense
is an abomination to Me. New moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies—I
cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I
hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, they have become a burden to
Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you;
Yes, even though you multiply prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are covered with blood.”
This is an example of people coming to God
based mostly on the fact that they are the physical descendants of Abraham and
assuming that He will be pleased with and will accept their worship. They
overlooked the fact that their hearts were not right before Him. They still had
hearts that were evil and corrupt. They possessed hearts of stone. They were
never forgiven, cleansed, washed and purified. God will never accept worship
from such a vessel. Even we as His children today will have our worship and
prayers rejected if we cherish sin in our hearts, so how much more those who
are outside of His family?
Being a descendant of Abraham wasn’t
enough. John the Baptist said to the Jews of his day, “Do not suppose that you can say to yourselves,
‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God
is able to raise up children to Abraham.” (Matthew 3:9). Jesus
said to the Jews who claimed that they were Abraham’s children, “You are of your father the
devil.” (John
8:44). All who are outside of
Christ are children of the devil, whether they are a Jew or a Gentile. So in
what way can it be said that God accepts their worship? It can’t.
Old
Testament saints
So what about the OT believers?
Since Jesus had not yet come, was their worship, etc. accepted by the Father. Was
it pleasing to Him? Where they coming to Him on His terms? Yes, it WAS accepted by Him. It was accepted by
Him because they also were coming to God based on the cross of Christ. There is
only one way of salvation. The cross of Christ is the way of salvation under
both Covenants, the old and the new. Humanly speaking, they were looking ahead
to the cross just as we look back to the cross. It was necessary for Christ to
step into time during the incarnation but from God’s viewpoint, Christ’s
atoning work was already accomplished. “For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last
times for the sake of you.”
(I Peter 1:20). He does not exist in time. He does not
see “history” and “time” as we do. He sees as one, what is to us the past,
present and future. Because of this, God accepted Abel, Enoch, Abraham, Moses,
David, etc. because from His viewpoint, their sins were already atoned for. Christ’s
atoning work was a done deal. These godly men of faith understood that “the one who does not work, but believes in
Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as
righteousness.” (Romans 4:5). They had
placed their faith Him and understood that salvation was to come from and be
provided by Him. They may not have
had the understanding that we do today but they were trusting in the One who is to come, just as we trust in the One
who has come.
Those who are outside of Christ (Jew and Gentile) are
separated from God and still have their debt of sin remaining. It’s still
between them and the Lord. It hasn’t been dealt with. As a result, God’s wrath
is abiding on them.
”Your iniquities have made a separation between
you and your God, and
your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” (Isaiah
59:2)
“He who believes in the Son has eternal life;
but he who does not obey the Son will not see
life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36)
There is simply no other way to the Father than through
Christ for both Jew and Gentile. Claiming to worship the God of Abraham without
faith in the Christ (Messiah, Anointed One, Branch, Servant of the Lord) wasn’t
acceptable in the OT and it is still the case today.
Worship in
truth
Concerning worship, Jesus said, “But an hour is coming, and now is,
when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such
people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship
Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John
4:23-24). To worship in truth is to worship in and through Jesus
because He alone is the
truth.
“I am the
way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father
but through Me.” (John 14:6)
“truth is in Jesus” (Ephesians 4:21)
The Holy
Spirit
It is necessary for the Holy Spirit to be
present for all true worship to take place. At least worship that is pleasing to the Lord. It’s only what the Holy Spirit
produces in us that is pleasing to the Lord. Apart form the Holy Spirit, no
good indwells us. There’s nothing but our wicked, corrupt flesh. And since the
unbelieving, unregenerate do not have the Spirit within them, all that’s left
is their wicked flesh and the wicked flesh cannot produce a life that is
pleasing to the Lord. “The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to
the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot
please God.” (Romans
8:7-8). Those who are outside of Christ, whether
they be a Jew or a Gentile possess neither the Holy Spirit or know the truth. They are still abiding in darkness. In fact, those who have never been born
again with the Holy Spirit don’t even have the ability to understand the truth. “ The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from
the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (I Corinthians 2:14)
Regarding the Gentiles in Athens , Paul never said that the Father
accepted or was pleased with their worship. He claimed that what they were
doing was done in ignorance. That’s not a commendable place to be spiritually.
I’m not sure why someone would use this verse to prove that those who are
outside of Christ are presenting worship that the Father accepts. Paul proclaimed the truth to them. He didn’t
want to leave them where they were, in ignorance. He wanted them to convert.
The same with the Jews of their day.
Peter, James, John and the other Apostles took the gospel to them
because without it they were still rejected by God. If God accepted their
worship, why would the Apostles have endured all the suffering and persecution
that they did in order to try and persuade them to turn to Christ?
“Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the
Father and the Son. Whoever
denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the
Father also.” (I John 2:22-23)
Salvation
is available to all today, no matter what our ancestry may be. No matter where
we are born or where we live. We may be born a Jew or we may be born a Gentile.
The salvation that God has provided for man is in/through and by His Son. The message
that Paul proclaimed to those in Athens
is still true to man today. He concluded by saying:
“God
is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through
a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all
men by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31)
Jesus says:
“Come to Me, all who
are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke
upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy
and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
2 comments:
Nicely said and biblically based Scott. Though Jews and Christians pursue the same God who refers to Himself in scripture as “I AM,” it is by way of Jesus Christ only that we might come into a personal relationship with Him. Only through one’s acceptance of Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord, as you will point out, can his/her prayers, praises, and offerings of worship be heard. Of course, there is quickly coming a day, as we both know, when every knee shall bend and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord and I say, amen to that!
Blessings!
Thought of the Week Devotion
Thanks Darryl. I agree that the day is quickly coming that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. We could very well be the generation that is on earth when He returns. That would be something! Thanks for stopping by again and for your thoughtful comments.
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