by Angus Harley

Back in the day, Roman Catholicism painted God the Father as severe, and to remedy that we needed baby Jesus in the arms of his mother. The Holy Spirit was mainly absent in Catholicism of that day.


Fast forward a few centuries and there were some in the Reformed camp who sang only psalms during worship. Although the psalms are fantastic, to sing about God from merely an Old Testament point of view misses the point entirely. There is another issue with these Old Testament psalms: they concentrate on “God” or “Yahweh”, rarely the Father as such, and although we do get psalms mentioning a Messianic figure, these OT records naturally do not have the clarity, depth, and quality of the NT revelation of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, these psalms do not have much to say directly and explicitly about the person of the Holy Spirit.


Modern worship

In the modern age, the Charismatic Movement in particular drew our attention to the person and work of the Holy Spirit for Christian life, service, and worship. Even so, worship (which is the weekly ‘service’ and its singing) centered on the person of Jesus Christ himself as the Redeemer, healer, Savior, and Lord. In this form of worship, the Father is not mentioned too often, and even less the Spirit. As the modern song says, “It’s all about you, Jesus”. 

Certainly, there can be no complaint to being Christ-centered. We cannot follow the model of exclusive psalmody. Nor do we have any time for the Mary-Jesus model of Roman Catholicism, a form of ‘worship’ that is idolatry.

Yet, modern Evangelical worship is almost entirely about Jesus, and this is not healthy. The Father and the Spirit are rarely mentioned. To some extent, I can see why this is the case with the Spirit, for he is the One who magnifies the Christ and the Father. The NT, however, puts the Father squarely at the center of worship. Just think of the most famous text of all, “For in this way God loved the world: that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). It says that “God loved the world”. It does not say “Jesus loved the world”, however theologically accurate that is. Look at Jesus’ prayers and teaching on prayer: they are about the Father mainly (e.g., Matt.6:9-15; 11:25-27). The salutations, exhortations, and praise of the apostles draw in the Father (e.g., Rom.1:1-7; 8:31-39). Notice how in Romans 8:39 the model is, once again, of God’s love in his Son. Indeed, this is the pattern throughout the NT, so that you rarely have one person without the other in regard to worship, prayer, praise, and so on. This pattern is evident throughout the book of Revelation, for even though there are times that Jesus Christ is praised in himself, there are just as many times when the Father is, and others again when both together are praised. 

Modern thinking

It is not just the praise and worship team that are guilty of presenting this lopsided view of the Godhead, it is the teachers of the assembly, too. I’ve witnessed it in so many different ways. It is shown in the baptism of believers where the elders ask the question: ‘Do you believe in Jesus?’ The baptizand says, ‘Yes’. The elders say, ‘Then I baptize you in the name of Jesus.’ It is also represented by these new believers’ ‘testimonies’, for in the recent baptism of six at an assembly, I never heard one reference to the Father or the Spirit, nor to the Triune God. Why not? For they are reflecting the teaching and guidance of the teachers in that assembly. Prayers are dominated as directed to Jesus. In the sermons there is more chance of a reference to God or the Spirit, but, inevitably, the application is predominantly about what Jesus has done and can do for us. 

Goals-centered

Those modern assemblies that have this Christ-only, or Christ-mainly, outlook are dominated with pragmatism and goals. ‘How to’ sermons abound. Exhortations to follow one’s path in Jesus proliferate. There is a hunger to realize Jesus’ power in their lives to go and achieve this or that goal. The ‘troops are mobilized’ to be busy in achieving these goals. Everybody has a service, a gift, and, above all, a goal, and so all must be busy and active within the assembly to those ends.

In that environment, the bible is merely the primary teaching tool of these goal-facilitator teachers. For, in respect to the bible as God’s word, it is mined for its wisdom, steps, and goals that the modern Christian must aim at. The ‘pastor’ and ‘assistant pastors’ are all facilitators; they are not, properly speaking, biblical leaders prepared to bring to bear the bible’s full counsel on all things. Church discipline is hardly a thing. Theology is non-existent, and is usually scorned. We should not be hung up on doctrine, is another refrain.

Jesus the victor and facilitator

The two main concepts about Jesus that are driven home in these goal-oriented, pragmatic, assemblies are Jesus the victor who is able to extended his power throughout the earth to conquer all kinds of problems, and Jesus the facilitator, for he will empower the Christian to overcome this or that problem or issue, and by doing so reveal his glory.

Calling out the name of Jesus

A prime example of this view of Jesus is the attitude and songs that refer to shouting, or calling out, the name of Jesus. It is literally believed that by shouting out Jesus’ name that this will accomplish some mighty spiritual victory. If I declare the name of Jesus against cancer, for example, Jesus will bring some kind of victory to bear. Maybe healing. But most likely some kind of peace of mind or strength of attitude.

I am an advocate for praise being a form of spiritual warfare, as the book of Revelation reveals and Isaiah 6. I, too, am 100% for calling upon Jesus and his power and healing, “Lord, have mercy upon me!” But let us be clear on one thing: the mere chanting of words achieves nothing. The calling out of the name of Jesus has no innate power, and is not a magical incantation. We are not Buddhists who have flags with divine incantations printed on them, and when the wind blows these incantations spread into the world to bless it! Let us not return to Romanism and its belief in priests uttering religious words that give to ‘sacraments’ their divine power! By calling on Jesus, by calling out his name, it is up to our Lord to respond how he sees fit. He may answer directly, or not. He may do what we call for, or he may not. He does as he pleases.

It’s all about Jesus, for it’s too much about me

I come back again to my recent experience of the baptism of six. Each and every baptizand- bar none- spoke about Jesus and how he delivered them from this or that problem, and was helping them to cope with that problem. Not one baptizand referred to sin or repentance. All focused upon personal problems: predominantly anxiety, also marriage and drug addiction, and other individual issues. Jesus is now helping them to build on the victory that they received when they believed in him: they will keep fighting their anxiety, the temptation of drugs, and so forth.

And there you have it: the focus is upon Jesus only, for only he is capable of helping modern believers negotiate their issues in life. Everything else normally associated with Christianity is put to the periphery, or it is enrolled to facilitate the Christian’s journey and walk in dealing with the difficulties of life.

Ironically, this model is very similar to the Roman Catholic notion of the ‘partnership’ of Mary and Jesus, for both exist in that system to facilitate and help the Catholics negotiate their way to good works.

Getting back to basics

There can be no true worship, no divinely-approved discipleship, no proper Christians goals, without the bible as the foundation for all these things. The bible is not ‘a tool’. It is the lamp to our feet and the light to our path. For it reveals the triune God and his redemptive will for his assembly. It teaches us how to worship, how to evangelize, praise, disciple, preach, teach, pray, and so forth. And as God’s word- not the words of humans calling out Jesus’ name- it ministers to us to bring the salvation of God to bear in both the spiritual and physical realms. The bible also tells us, more specifically, of the main Christian ‘goals’ and how to ‘achieve’ them, goals such as entering into glory by denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Christ. In the bible, ‘anxiety’ is not a mental issue but a spiritual sin; it is a form of lack of trust in the God of creation, in the Father who provides (Matt.6:25-34).

More to the point, the bible reveals to us God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It’s not all about Jesus; it’s about the Father and Spirit, also. Our fellowship is with THEM as one, not with ‘Jesus’, our power is in, and from, them as one, not with ‘Jesus’.