Subtitle: Should our worship be focused internally or externally?

Excerpt: Should our worship be focused internally or externally?

Author: Jeff Hilles

We are told in Scripture that we should worship God as a sign of our love and dependence on Him. God is represented by the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19, 2 Cor. 13:14). So logically we should be worshiping the Holy Spirit. But, is that really true?

When was the last time you closed a prayer with “in the name of the Holy Spirit”? Or, lifted up the Holy Spirit in formal worship in a church service or in prayer?

What is Worship

Webster defines “worship” as the ability, “to honor or show reverence for as a divine being or supernatural power”. Numerous verses in the Bible command the believer to worship God. 

John 4:23-24 – But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Psalm 150:1 – Praise the LORD! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens!

Romans 12:1 – I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Colossians 3:16 – Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Other verses include John 4:24, Eph. 5:19, Psalm 150:6, 95:6, Heb. 1:6, 12:28-29, among many others. 

Who is the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is not some mystical force such as that portrayed in movies like Star Wars. Further, He is not an impersonal power that God simply uses as a conduit to communicate with man. The Holy Spirit is God, just as powerful, sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-8) as the other two parts of the Trinity.   

We know from the Bible that the Holy Spirit is a divine person. 

Ananias, in Acts, was chastised by Peter with the question, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land… You have not lied to men but to God.” (Acts 5:3-4)

Paul, in writing to the church in Ephesus, expressed the point that the Holy Spirit has emotions and a personality when he said, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30). The Holy Spirit actively helps the believer commune with the Trinity.

Romans 8:26 – Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 

Finally, the gospel of John brings out our need for the Holy Spirit as a teacher, or counselor. 

John 14:26 – But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

If we are to worship God, it would make logical sense that we are to worship the Holy Spirit. But typically we don’t. Why?

Why should the born-again believer be cautious in “worshiping” the Holy Spirit?

The Bible makes it clear that Christians should worship and praise God. However, it is always in the context of God the Father and God the Son. Of more than 50 verses on the subject of worship, not one is a direct command to worship the Holy Spirit (details here). 

One interesting verse that touches on the Holy Spirit in worship can be found in Philippians…

Philippians 3:3 – For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—

Note that we are to “worship by the Spirit” rather than worship the Spirit. 

What is the point?

We are filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4, 1 Cor. 6:19-20) so, unlike a worship of the Father and the Son, a worship of the Holy Spirit would be internally centered and self-directed. 

We already find ourselves in conflict and confusion between our spirit and the Holy Spirit as we try to follow the commands called out in Scripture, yet find our behavior operating through our sin nature (Rom. 7:24). Further, there are false new age religions who glorify man as having the internal power to be successful, rather than acknowledging the supremacy of the supernatural. Meditation (see detail here and here) is often an internal focus in these religions rather than directed toward an external God as Scripture commands (Psalm 19:14).

The Holy Spirit is a critical component of the Trinity. He is a divine person, separate, yet fully connected to the Father and the Son. However, each part of the Trinity, though unified, has separate duties and responsibilities as they function in unity. Part of those differences is how we relate to each aspect of the Trinity and, without really making an active decision, Christians have gravitated toward the worship of God the Father as supreme, and God the Son as our Savior, through the support of God the Holy Spirit as our helper. 

POSTSCRIPT — from a reader… excellent!

I really enjoyed reading this. I’m surprised you did not turn to John 14:13–14 where Jesus makes it clear the Holy Spirit never speaks of Himself but always points to Jesus. Here is my understanding of our interactions with the Trinity. The Holy Spirit brings us into the presence of Jesus (we are drawn by the Spirit). Then, Jesus, as our mediator, hears our words and presents them to the Father, who is currently King. Whatever the Father decrees, Jesus then commands the Holy Spirit or other messengers (preachers, for example) to relay the message to us.

To me personally, the Holy Spirit is the most humble of the Trinity because He never seeks to be exalted or even paid attention to: He delights in connecting us to Jesus. Of course, much of this is speculation, and I look forward to the day I shall see God as He is in all His glory and all that He is.

John 14:13–14 — Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.