It is impossible to make too much of the Lord Jesus. He, Who as a babe received the homage of the wise men from the East (men, who, it has been finely said, though accustomed to instruct youthful princes, could only worship that little Prince), He, equally with the Father, is worthy of the fullest and most exalted honor. When Thomas addressed Him as “My Lord and my God,” our Savior accepted the homage. In the Epistles the Father and the Son are habitually coupled in a way that would be inconceivable if Jesus were not God. All this is beyond dispute. But because through grace we are free from the ruinous error of Arianism, Unitarianism, etc., we must not slip into another error, less common no doubt (for it is not a question of denying the Deity of a Person in the Godhead), but still very grievous; we must not practically exclude the Father from our adoration.
We “give thanks unto the Father.” Does this mean at the prayer or the open meeting only? Nay, it is a grave and deplorable omission when the Lord Jesus only is addressed at the breaking of the bread. It all springs of course from the one-sidedness that is inseparable from trusting the human mind; and believers are by no means exempt from this snare. Perhaps such are more liable to this infirmity for the simple reason that the truth, even partial truth, when received from God, claims and produces the devoted allegiance of the soul. And there is the deepest claim on our affections in the humiliation and sufferings of the Lord Jesus. He, and He only, suffered for our sins; He loved and gave Himself for me. What believer's heart could be dead or dull to such an appeal as this? But in fact both the Father and the Son are to be worshipped now; as in the Revelation we see them both the joint object of heaven's adoration; and the Holy Spirit using the word as the standard is the only safe guide as to where and when. Undoubtedly when we worship God as God, we include Father and Son—and Holy Spirit. There is room and place for all.
The writer is aware that some think that the worship of the Father is on a higher plane than thanksgiving to the Son in the breaking of bread. And beyond doubt it calls for more maturity in the truth, and more spiritual power in the worshipper. But in reality can anything be higher than the adoration of the blessed Lord, once the holy sufferer, now the risen Head and exalted Savior? Everything should lead up to that supreme act of thanksgiving at the holy Supper. Yet even there the Spirit of God might guide, not to separate the Persons of the Godhead, but to join them in praise, and so to direct address of the Father, though there is doubtless a peculiar fitness in addressing the Lord Jesus at His table. But who is entitled to dictate or exclude, since scripture shows us the contrary? Let us abide simple and subject to God's word.
There is indeed to be no bondage to human thought or will or fancy, but contrariwise holy liberty. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” Only let us remember that it was the Father that sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, the Father that spared not His Son, but delivered Him up freely for us all, that the Father of lights begets believers by the word of truth and of His own will, and, last but not least, that He seeks worshippers and that the true worshippers worship the Father in Spirit and truth. This is the testimony of our Lord Himself.
It is the Father Who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. None more jealous than He for His Father's glory, unless it be the Father for the Son's. As scripture abundantly proves we should thus exalt both in our praises. Let us beware of any unauthorized regulations, and of setting one against the other in any way.
Enough has been said to enforce a most important truth that seems in danger of being disregarded. Let us heed it and worship both the Father and the Son; and let us recollect too the claims of God as God. “For God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship in Spirit and truth.” Indeed all the names and titles of the Godhead have an inexhaustible fullness, not least surely the name of Father. “I have declared unto them thy Name” said our Lord—the name of Father. What infinite love is wrapped up in it Elevate the human conception of fatherhood to the highest degree, and we fail to touch the fringe of that divine relationship. “I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.” It is παιδια too, not τεκνια, which latter term embraces all. And to know Him leads to the worship of Him, to giving Him thanks now and forever.
R. B.