Shouldn't Christianity be more about living by Christ's teachings than worshipping him?

Question

Seriously, the whole "Only through me shall you see the Kingdom of Heaven" (paraphrased) thing was clearly about listening to what he had to say and living your life by it. Love thy neighbour/enemy and turn the other cheek, stuff like that?

Why do people worship Jesus as a god but don't live by his teachings? After all, doesn't the very word "Christian" mean Christ-like?

Uncle Dud, worshipping him alone is not living by his teachings. In fact I don't recall him ever saying "Worship me"

Answer 1

Good point. Christ himself makes this point when he says, "Why call my Lord and do not the things that I say?"

Answer 2

To serve God in a way that is most profitable to everyone concerned including God Himself we must learn to spend time in His presence.

It would be foolish for us to think that we can understand what God wants from us if we don't spend time listening to Him.
Worship serves to bring us into His presence where we can hear His voice speaking to us. It should be something that is a continual process throughout the day as He is worthy of all our worship and praise.

That doesn't mean we sit in our house all day and do nothing but worship. I am speaking about an attitude of worship and giving God glory for everything.

Worship should spur us to action so that we can live the rest of our lives doing what God "tells us to do." Loving our neighbor and turning the other cheek are an infinitesimal part of the whole. There are souls to win, ministry to the sick, visiting those in prison, holding Bible studies, Counseling the oppressed and needy, giving of our resources to those in need when we can, and a host of other things.

It begins with worship and listening to the voice of God - then leads to action. We can't get the cart before the horse without messing everything up.

Answer 3

Good question, puppy! You have a good point. As Christians, we should live by Christ's example. John 1: 17 says: "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." Jesus gave grace and he showed love. We should do the same.

Why do people worship Jesus as God? Notice I didn't say, "a god", but God. The reason why people worship Jesus as God is because He IS God! John 1: 1- 2 says: "In the beginning was the Word, and Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." Jesus was (and is!) that Word. How do I know this? John 1: 14 says: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."

Jesus gave witness of Himself in John 10: 30 when He said, "I and my Father are one." Jesus spoke constantly about the One who sent Him. It was the Father who sent Him.

People worship Jesus because they were saved from a death they deserved, but Jesus took upon Him that death that He didn't deserve. He showed his love for us, that while we were still sinners, He died for us.

Now, why some people worship Jesus as God and don't live by His teachings leaves a lot of questions. If we truly worship Jesus, then we would live by His teachings.

Answer 4

Very good question. The fact is that we should not worship Jesus. Period. Jesus told Satan as much in Matthew 4. When Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he would just fall down and do an act of worship to him, Jesus said "It is written, it is Jehovah your GOD you must worship." Some translations may say, "the LORD thy God".

The problem you address, people who claim to worship God but not living by Christ's teachings is actually one of the signs that Paul told Timothy would point to the last days. 2 Tim 3:1-5... in one of those verses... it says that people would have "a form of godly devotion but proving false to it's power."

Answer 5

49Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel." (a)

58"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" (b)

I am = what God used to call Hiself in the old testament.
there are other examples of Jesus claiming to be God, but this should be sufficient.

I doubt anyone worships Jesus as God and is not influenced by his commandments. It is true that many seem to have done a poor job of applying them, but the goal of a disciple is to become like the teacher. I hope you do not go on saying that Jesus didnt claim to be God.

17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. 18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. (c)


edit: flametime.

Mello, please cite your source.
tawaen: so Christianity is ok, as long as they dont contradict you, or are serious about it?
jimi: that is not all what Christianity is about, see the above cited verse.
sara: actually, if one understood grace, they know they dont have to do anything to be saved-it's a free gift. technically they could commit twice as many sins as before and they could still be Christians. However, another result of understanding grace is that there is no reason not to do anything. works is a logical conclusion of faith.
ie if a then b
if there is faith there will be works.

omer: again, jesus clearly stated He was God, the reasons for doing so was to die and overcome death by resurrecting as a human.

qa queen: did you really think you could dismiss an entire religion with a short sentence and an exaggerated period? If you bothered to read my two quoted verses, you would know that Jesus claimed to be God. Even the devil quotes scripture. You used strange logic. According to Jesus:
-He is God
-you should only worship God

and you say that we shouldnt worship Jesus? why should i listen to Jesus if He lies?
and i should believe you as to who the deciever is?

Answer 6

True worship is God-centered worship. People tend to get caught up in where they should worship, what music they should sing in worship, and how the worship looks to other people. Focusing on these things completely misses the point. Jesus tells us that true worshipers will worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). This means we worship from the heart and the way God calls us to. Worship can include praying, reading God's Word with an open heart, singing, participating in communion, and serving others. It is not limited to one act, but is done properly when the heart and attitude of the person is in the right place.

Answer 7

You have made such a good point, and I think your ideaology is correct. Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) was merely God's messener; his job was to preach the message of Christianity and spread the religion. He did not ask to be worshipped either. Yet many people elevate him to the status of God. Some even go so far as to believe he IS God, the son of God, and then part of the trinity as well. Why would God, the omnipotent, omniscient, need to bring himself down as a pitiful human (compared to God, we ARE pitiful, no hard feelings) just to spread His message?

I think that Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) DID indeed mean to abide by his teachings, therefore through him, one will reach salvation. "Through him", meaning through his words and teachings. I do not believe he was sent down as God in human flesh; I believe he was sent BY God. I don't think that he was sent down by God to be worshipped, but instead as a messenger of God to give birth to Christianity. Besides, that would be worshipping something other than God, right? Unless of course someone believes he IS God.

Once again, I think you have made a great, valid point.

Answer 8

With a genuine believer in Christ the two above statements go hand in hand. Living by Christ first requires that we KNOW Him through His Word. When we spend time in the Word of God, Christ is able to infuse us with Who He is, with all His teachings and the grace to carry it through. The true worshippers of Christ are not those who lift their hands in a christian gathering and mouth out praises to God yet when they leave this environment proceed to walk according to the flesh, not heeding the speaking of the Holy Spirit with regard to how we conduct ourselves at home.. work... with people in general. The Lord is not a teaching.. He is living person in us and He has made all His rich attributes available to us through the Spirit.. so that these attributes can be worked into us to become our human virtues.
True worship is in spirit and truthfulness.( jn 4) Its in how we live as believers. Worship is not objective..its very much a subjective living out of Christ FROM us. It has everything to do with Galations 2:20's " Not I but Christ that lives in me"
The Lord has to have a way to regulate us inwardly. But unless we go back to feeding on His Words of Life then there will always be the result of this in how we treat and address matters, persons and situations in our lives. Most of the time people do not contact the Christ in us, but they face our flesh, our self, our old man.. the natural man.
May the Lord truly bring us back to Him who is from the Beginning (1John 1). That we can walk in the Light as He is in the Light. May he clear up all our darkness and bring us fully into Vertical fellowship with God and Horizontal Fellowship with brothers and sisters..and that we are in contact with.

Peace

In Christ
sandy

Answer 9

Living by Christ's teachings means many things, one of which is worshipping Him as God.

Answer 10

"Talk the talk, can't walk the walk". Christians are constantly told they are sinners, but that they can be forgiven just by asking Jesus. Just because someone goes to church (or synagogue) and plays the whole game, does not mean they aren't human. Believe me, no one, not even the clergy, can escape being a sinner. When you catch a sinner, let him/her know that you know.

Answer 11

We can only hope they would get that but modern Christianity has become ALL about getting to Heaven simply by believing.

You only have to read here for a couple of days to see that most Christians who post here are only concerned with their salvation, not with living as their god instructed them to live.

You have to wonder how they will explain themselves when their time comes.