The Father sent Jesus, and the Father was with him (v. 16, 29). Subsequently, in verse 42 - Jesus said more succinctly, that God sent him. Thus, it is clear that when Jesus referred to his Father, he was referring to the Only true God, YHWH Almighty: his God and our God (see John 17:3, 20:17).
Jesus told only what he heard from the Father, who sent him (v.26, 38, 40). He always did what pleased the Father (v.29). Note especially verse 40, Jesus told the truth that he heard from God. Here, again, we can see without doubt that God is the Father.
Furthermore, Jesus honoured his Father and did not seek his own glory. (John 8:49,50). He did not honour himself, but instead received honour from his Father. (John 8:54).
Dear Christians, I urge all to ponder over how much, or perhaps how little, attention we have paid towards honouring God, our Heavenly Father, in our lives. In our Churches today, we have been continually surrounded by and immersed in teaching, proclaiming, affirming and singing that invariably honours Jesus "as God", to such extent that we have neglected, even ignored almost altogether, giving our honour to our only true God, YHWH, our Father in heaven.
All the calls that we hear Sunday after Sunday, from gospel meetings to revival meetings, in Youth fellowship and Adult fellowship, telling us to Praise Jesus, to Bless Jesus' Name, and to proclaim Jesus as Lord (in the sense that he "is God") has subtly and successfully lulled us into worshipping our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the son of God, who is the Son of Man, whom the apostles call "a man" (Acts 2:22) and "the man" (1 Timothy 2:5), as if he is the real God!
In doing so, we have turned away from worshipping YHWH, as our only true God.
Brothers and Sisters, I urge you to follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ to live our lives in honour of God our Father. Like Jesus, let us endeavour to please our Father in all that we do. Let us not seek our own glory but instead, like our Lord Jesus, seek to honour YHWH, our God and our Father in Heaven.
"Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name"!
P.S.:
For a survey of how the early Apostles honoured the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, please view my earlier post: Thanksgiving, Prayer and Praise in the Epistles.
For a survey of how the early Apostles honoured the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, please view my earlier post: Thanksgiving, Prayer and Praise in the Epistles.
See an updated summary of this post: The Master Yeshua honoured God.
