Worship and the Gospel

INTRODUCTION

Read Romans 12:1

§ “Spiritual…worship” = “understanding worship”

§ Implication: there is worship NOT based on understanding

§ Not an easy/popular proposal

§ Worship means many things to many different people

Ø Church (“going to worship”)

Ø Singing hymns or songs (“worship part of service”)

Ø Praying

Ø Listening to sermon

Ø Communion

Ø Self-expression

Ø Fulfillment of needs for comfort, encouragement, etc.

Ø Seeking a sense of “God’s presence”

Ø Religious ecstasy/spiritual elation

Ø Moment when “now we are worshipping” or “Now God is here!”

§ Enormous pressure on churches and pastors

Ø They will inevitably fall short and disappoint some

Ø Countless needs/desires/feelings to meet

Ø Churches judged by how worship meets these needs

§ But is this really what worship amounts to?

§ What if have too narrow, subjective, and personal a definition of worship?

§ What if we’ve defined worship by our terms rather than God’s terms?

§ My Fear:to get to the end of life and discover that my worship was unacceptable to God

A. W. Tozer

It is entirely possible for humans to have recognized forms of worship apart from Christ and apart from the salvation he offers. I need to go on even a little further beyond that statement to point out a similar and parallel truth. Authentic religious experience is altogether possible apart from Christ.

Now, I hope you are not misunderstanding me and charging me in your own mind with heresy. Yes, I said there may be worship apart from Christ and I said there may be authentic religious experience apart from Christ.

But I did not say—and I do not believe—that such religious experiences or forms of worship are acceptable to God. There are certain kinds of worship that God will not accept, though they may be directed toward Him and meant to be given to Him.

§ If we want to offer acceptable worship—understanding worship—then we have to allow God to set the terms

§ Scripture identifies worship with something much more foundational than singing, or prayer, or religious experiences.

David Peterson

True worship is engaging withy God on the terms that He proposes and in the way that He alone makes possible.

§ In that very simple definition of worship lies the whole of the gospel.

§ There is no true worship without the gospel

§ Christians who don’t realize this—or acknowledge it in a passing, flippant, superficial way—are in grave danger of engaging in unacceptable worship

TRANSITION

§ To show you this, I want to look at this passage in Romans

§ But we can’t just start with Romans 12—we have to go all the way back to the beginning

§ Not just the beginning of Romans, but the beginning of history

§ And that’s exactly what Paul does

ROMANS 1

18 God’s wrath revealed against sinners

19 WHY? God has clearly revealed himself to them

20 HOW? God’s power and divine nature is clearly evident in creation.

Ø RESULT? Men are inexcusable for not worshipping

21 Knowledge didn’t lead to appropriate response—honor and thanks

Ø Instead they developed futile minds and dark hearts

Ø They couldn’t think—irrationally suppressing the absolute rational truth!

22-23 Darkened minds led to idolatry—worship!

Ø They never stopped worshipping

Ø They just exchanged God’s glory for idolatry

25 Exchanged truth for life

Ø Worshipped creatures rather than Creator

28 They refused to honor God as God

RESULT: the wrath of God (cf. 1:18)

24 Abandoned them to immorality

26 Abandoned them to the unnatural

28 Abandoned them to consequences of depraved minds

Ø Produced every sordid expression of unrighteousness

PAUL MAKES IT CLEAR THAT THIS ANALYSIS REPRESENTS EVERYONE

§ Rom 2 speaks of Jews who received the law practicing lawlessness

§ Rom 3:23 – “all have sinned…”

§ Rom 1:23 – “exchanged”

Ø Ps 106:20– Thus they exchanged their glory for the image of an ox that eats grass

Ø Jer 2:11– Has a nation changed gods when they were not gods? But My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit

§ All are included in this analysis of human history!

WHAT’S THE FINAL ANALYSIS?

§ Man knowsGod—has no excuse for false worship

§ Yet he refuses to worship God and irrationally suppresses knowledge of God

§ He turns to idolatry—focuses worship on everything else

§ So God has revealed his wrath by abandoning them to their own devices

§ Man is left with depraved minds that rejoice in sin

§ And man cannot change his situation nor wants to!

ROMANS 3-5

§ So what can be done? If it was up to man, nothing could be done and nothing would be done!

§ SO GOD ACTS!

Read Romans 3:21-24

3:24 God redeemsthrough Christ

Ø Two parallel thoughts presented here

Ø OT Redemption: Israel redeemed from slavery

Ø Greek Commerce: cost was paid to gain that freedom

Ø God paid a redemption price: the death of Christ

Ø But who paid the price and who received it?

Ø Answer: God and God!

3:25 Jesus’ death was a propitiation—satisfaction of wrath

Ø Common in pagan religions

Ø But there the idea was to appease/manipulate gods

Ø Here, God supplies the sacrifice of appeasement

Ø In other words, only God could satisfy his wrath

3:26 So God is both just and justifier at the same time

TIMING—“grace” peppered throughout section

3:26 Justified “as a gift by His grace”

5:6-10– Progression of worsening relationships

Ø While helpless (v. 6) – without power to change

Ø While still sinners (v. 8) – still living in sin

Ø While enemies (v. 10) – still actively rebelling

Ø Cf. Eph 2:1-4

RESULTS OF CHRIST’S REDEMPTION

Ø Peace with God (5:1)

Ø Justification (5:9a)

Ø Saved from wrath (5:9b)

Ø Reconciled to God (5:10)

Ø All through the death of Christ

APPLICATION OF REDEMPTION--“faith” scattered

3:22 “through faith”

3:28 “justified by faith apart from works”

4:5 “faith credited as righteousness”

5:1 “having been justified by faith”

§ Redemption is a gift—by grace

§ But it must be appropriated by a faith-response

§ Man must set aside his attempts to engage God on his terms and come to Him on God’s terms—with trust that God has done it all

§ This is how it has always worked, even in the OT

Ø OT worship was always to be offered only by those who had been redeemed

Ø God’s acceptance of a person’s offering was always contingent on a proper faith and repentance

Ø It was never a mechanical ritual that guaranteed forgiveness

Ø It was only accepted by those who obeyed God’s word and sought forgiveness in repentance and faith

§ So all the OT dots are being connected by Paul in the death of Christ—the ultimate sacrifice—and the necessary response of sinners

ROMANS 6-8

§ The redeemed find more than justification and reconciliation in the death of Christ

§ They are now freed to serve and obey God for the first time ever!

BAPTISM WITH CHRIST

6:3-4 Believers baptized into Christ’s death

6:4-7 Believers baptized into Christ’s life

6:7 Believers are fundamentally different

Ø 2 Cor 5:15 – and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf

Ø 2 Cor 5:17 – believers are new creations

Ø Obedience is only possible through death of Christ

Ø Obedience is at the center of acceptable worship

Ø Deut 10:12-13 – Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fearthe LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the LORD’S commandments and His statutes…

Ø That’s not possible for unredeemed people (Rom 1)

Ø But those baptized into Christ are freed to do just that

6:11 dead to sin alive to God in Christ Jesus

Rom 7 – there will be struggle and challenge and failings

Ø But we’ve also been given the Holy Spirit

Ø We are freed to serve God empowered by the Spirit

Read Rom 8:5-8

ROMANS 12:1

“Therefore”– connects everything before with this

“I urge you, brethren” – implore, exhort, plead w/

Ø Command yet not a command

Ø 2 Cor 5:20 – “beg you…be reconciled”

Ø Speaking to those he knows can do what he asks

“by the mercies of God” – based on all God’s done

Ø b/c of what you used to be and do

Ø b/c God rescued you and redeemed you

Ø b/c God sacrificed his own Son in your place

Ø b/c God freed you from slavery to sin and idolatry

Ø b/c you can now freely serve God in Spirit-empowered obedience

“present your bodies” – like priests

Ø LXX – priests presented offerings for sacrifice

Ø Believers are priests (1 Pet 2:5) presenting offerings

Ø The offering is your own body—entire life

Ø Christ as High Priest offered His own life/blood

Ø Believers also offer up their lives

“a living and holy sacrifice”

Ø OT sacrifices were ultimately killed

Ø This sacrifice is living

Ø It is holy—set apart completely for God’s purposes

Ø A living sacrifice dedicated to God in every area of life

“acceptable to God” – the question we began with

Ø The only acceptable worship is when a person redeemed by God responds in repentance and faith by offering all of himself God in Spirit-empowered service to God.

“your spiritual service of worship” – understanding

Ø Worship based on a right understanding of the gospel

CONCLUSION

§ Is worship about Sunday services, singing, praying, or sermons?

§ Is it about feeling religious experiences, emotions, etc.?

§ Well, yes and no

§ Yes, they can be, but these don’t define worship

§ And no, if it comes from a person who doesn’t understand the implications of the gospel in their life

§ Christians who don’t understand the relationship between worship and the gospel—or who acknowledge it in a superficial way—are in grave danger of offering unacceptable worship to God.

1 Thess 1:9 – For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God…”

That is worship and the gospel