Living lives of Worship (week 4)
Living lives of Worship
(Week 4 in a 4 week study)
Preached in Quabbin Valley on 6/21/09
Lesson Text: Romans 12:1
Introduction:
15 Through him (Jesus) …let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. (Heb 13:15-16 ESV)
5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1Pe 2:5 ESV)
We talked last week about worshipping in truth and how we need to know Jesus who is the way the truth and the life in order to worship God acceptably. We also looked at the cooperate worship service an noted that God has called us to worship him in certain ways when we assemble on Sunday morning. This week will be our last week on the subject of worship. I want to encourage everyone to continue on your own looking at and thinking about what it means to worship God. None of these sermons were meant to be taken individualy or by themselves but much of what has been discussed in each week overlaps with the others. So keep in mind the definition of Worship and the idea of worshipping in spirit and truth and also what we will say this morning.
This final sermon will look at what Paul says in Romans chapter 12.
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. (Rom 12:1 ESV)
Another translation says this:
And so, dear brothers and sisters,* I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.*[1]
Worship is intentional it’s not something we do without thinking about it. It doesn’t matter what we do, excluding things that are sinful and wicked, if we do it with our hearts focused on God it can be an act of worship. One man wrote
“’Worship’ isn’t accidental. Worship takes in deeds and acts done in the direction of God. Acceptable worship involves words and deeds done in honor of God which he has approved and authorized…”(Jim McGuiggan Romans pg350).
God has said through Paul:
Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Col 3:17 ESV)
1) Personal life
1. Work
a. We often don’t think about it but when we are working we have the opportunity to be worshipping God.
b. I have a choice when I show up to my job I can go in and do my job with no real motivation and just get the job done or I can go in and as I am working think about it as an offering to God.
c. What kind of offering should I be bringing God? It should be one without spot or blemish it should be done with the right motive and attitude and if I approach my job with that in mind conscious of God and wanting to please him then the very routine of going to work becomes an act of worship to the one true God of the universe.
2. Love our wives
a. Did you know, men, that when we love our wives we can be worshipping God?
i. Colossians 3:19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. (Col 3:19 ESV)
b. Think about it we have the opportunity to be worshipping God when we love and cherish our wives.
c. When we are committed to God, when we desire to love and obey God we are committed to our wives because God says to love them as Christ loved us which is a selfless act. Loving our wives can be an act of worship.
d. Think about that the next time you’re about to have a fight. Say to yourself “I am going to worship God”. You don’t have to agree with whatever brought about the fight but you can talk about it without losing control you can discuss it without sinning and you will be worshipping God.
e. Now we are to love our wives as an act of worship all the time not just during fights.
3. Respect our husbands
a. 8 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. (Col 3:18 ESV)
b. 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.(Eph 5:22-24 ESV)
c. Ladies those of you who are married, you too get an opportunity to worship God. When you submit and honor God you will submit and honor you husband because he is the one who said to submit to you husband as to the Lord.
d. The next time you’re having a disagreement with your husband and you have, in a loving God honoring way, said what you needed to say and he still disagrees then remember the Lord and with love for God in your hearts submit to your husband and you will be worshipping God.
e. To be in submission has nothing at all to do with being less than he is but it means taking your God given role seriously and wanting to honor and worship God by submitting to your husband.
4. Children obey you parents
a. 20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. (Col 3:20 ESV)
b. It is hard to be a child or a teenager sometimes especially when your parents just don’t understand you. You might want to do something or buy something or go somewhere or have certain friends that your parents may not approve of but children and teens are called by God to obey them and when you do that you too will be worshipping God if your mind is set on pleasing God by obeying your parents.
5. Love our neighbors
a. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 37 And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Mat 22:35-39 ESV)
b. Yes even loving our neighbors is an act of worship if we have our hearts set on God.
c. Jesus said whatever you did to others you have done to me.
i. Turn with me to: (Page 831)
ii. Mat 25:31-46 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' 40 And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' 41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' 44 Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' 45 Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Mat 25:31-46 ESV)
d. Jesus tells this story to motive his disciples to look at serving other as a way of serving Him. If we keep in mind that we are serving Christ when we serve others we are worshipping God the way he has called us to serve him.
e. What is the motto of the Quabbin Valley church of Christ? Anybody know? All of you should it’s on our business cards and on the church letterhead and on the website. It says “Serving Christ by serving you”. Serving Christ by serving others. That’s what we’re about; we are about loving God and worshipping him by loving others and serving them. Were about being like Jesus.
6. Everything we do
a. Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
b. Romans 12:1 And so, dear brothers and sisters,* I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.*[2]
Conclusion:
It would take us forever to go through all the areas of our lives and all the things we could do that would be acceptable to God and seen as worship but you can fill in the blanks. Think about your life as an offering, a sacrifice to God. How does God want me to act and what does God want me to do and what does he want me not to do or what does he want me to stay away from. What would Jesus do was a great saying that got turned into a popular saying that lost its meaning but it is always a good idea to ask what would Jesus have me do and how would Jesus have me act. This is living a life of worship to God, when every though, word, and deed is done with the intent that God be glorified.
Jim McGuiggan in his book on Romans said: “Life that is lived without a God-ward reference is ‘secular’ but a life that is lived with God’s honor in view is a life of worship.”
The worship assembly is important and is God ordained but it is not the only place of worship we must stop thinking of worship as only the Sunday morning service. What we are doing right now is worship to God but let’s move our hearts and our minds and our actions to be worshipping God every day and all through the day. That’s what God wants, not one or two hours a week but a life lived in worship to him.
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* Greek brothers.
* Or This is your spiritual worship; or This is your reasonable service.
[1]Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. "Text edition"--Spine. (2nd ed.) (Ro 12:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
* Greek brothers.
* Or This is your spiritual worship; or This is your reasonable service.
[2]Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. "Text edition"--Spine. (2nd ed.) (Ro 12:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.