"How Do You Do?": Living a Life of Worship

Introduction & Background

An Invitation to a New & Living Way: The Gospel & A Life of Worship

Bible Passage: Colossians 3:1–17, 1 Peter 2:9, Romans 12:1

Big Idea: Living a lifestyle of worship transforms our everyday actions into sacred expressions of devotion to God, reflecting our identity in Christ as a holy priesthood.

Summary: These passages collectively emphasize that worship is not confined to moments of singing or gathering, but is to be woven into every aspect of our daily lives—shaping our identity, actions, and relationships with others.

Application: This sermon encourages believers to redefine worship beyond the church walls, recognizing that every action, conversation, and decision can honor God. It prompts individuals to examine their daily routines and consider how they can intentionally include worshipful acts in them, aligning our actions with His will and demonstrating His love to the world.

Teaching: The teaching highlights that true worship is holistic, calling for our whole lives to be an offering to God. It teaches that our identity as chosen people and living sacrifices demands a lifestyle that reflects God’s glory in practical terms.

The first step toward living a life of worship rests in prioritizing the Gospel.

Why?

It is the means by which we are able to have a relationship with God. The life, sacrificial death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the incarnate Way, Truth, and Life and only way to the Father. It is the only way for our justification, the only way for our redemption, the only way for us to go home. It is the catalyst for our knowing, seeing, hearing, experiencing, loving, and worshiping God. Without it we are lost and left separated in our sins. Without it we are incapable of a relationship with God.

The Gospel is more than just a message, it is more than just a one time proclamation. It is an implied living invitation to follow Jesus, to “deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Him. We are called to imitate Christ, and walk in His steps. Jesus lived to glorify God.

In many ways, our discipleship is rooted in our understanding of what it means to live out the Gospel through a life of worship:

Jesus came for the Gospel

Jesus proclaimed and taught the Gospel

Jesus embodied and became the Gospel even to the point of death

Jesus rose from the grave to make a new and living way for us to live out the Gospel

Jesus walked this Earth, lived, died, rose, and ascended to Heaven for the purpose of honoring and bringing glory to God the Father; to fulfill God’s promise to make a way for all of His children to be redeemed. This Proclaimed, Embodied, and Lived Gospel is GOOD NEWS and an invitation to a Living Gospel and a Life of Worship!

This connects the Great Commission (Go & Make Disciples) with the Great Commandment (Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and mind....and love your neighbor as yourself).

Loving God with all of your heart, soul, and mind is WORSHIP

Loving your neighbor as yourself is GOSPEL

So How Do You Do? How do we begin?

Paul in his letter to the church at Colossae offers us “first steps” toward living a Gospel life toward a Life of Worship where following Jesus meets worshiping God in our day to day lives.

I. Pursue Gospel Priorities

Colossians 3:1–4 (ESV)

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

A. In Chapter 3 of Colossians, Paul begins by framing our lives and daily reality with the priority of the Gospel and his own “If/Then” statement.

(v. 1) 1 If then you have been raised with Christ

He bookends this statement in (v. 3-4) with a description of our new lives (through the Gospel) and a description of what our new lives are meant for (Worship)

a. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

b. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

B. In between Paul’s ‘If/Then” and Gospel declaration book ends in verses 1 and 3-4, we find both instruction and invitation to pursue these “Gospel priorities.”

1. (v. 1) SEEK

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

2. (v. 2) SET

2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

II. Put Away the Past

Colossians 3:5–11 (ESV)

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.

8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices

10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

A. One of the first steps to Pursuing Gospel Priorities toward a Life of Worship is to Put to Death Our Past. How do we do this?

NOTE: We cannot put to death our past by our own works (Eph. 2:8-9), only Christ can do that through Gospel. When Paul admonishes the Colossae Christians to do this, it is with the understanding of the Gospel realities of Col. 3:1, 3-4.

B. First, We must clarify and understand the difference between our Past and our Present.

1. The Reality of Our Past: (v. 5-9)

In verses 5-6, Paul offers instruction on what to do (Put to death), provides perspective as to where what we are “putting to death” comes from (What is earthly in us), and provides both examples and the reality of pending consequence.

Colossians 3:5–6 (ESV)

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

v. 5 “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you”

He offers a general (but not exhaustive) list of some of the basic “earthly/part of our past ‘sin’ nature” things that mark our past: “immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness.”

And classifies them, with warning, as to what they are and the consequence they ultimately lead to:

(v. 5) “which is idolatry.”

(v. 6) “On account of these the wrath of God is coming.”

In verse 7, Paul pairs the reality of our sinful behavior with the time frame of life before Christ, before the Good News of the Gospel, our past.

Colossians 3:7 (ESV)

7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.

In these you too once walked

When you were living in them (and not IN Christ)

c. Again, in v. 8-9, Paul urges believers to “Put them all way” (the things of their Past) followed by another reminder of a changed reality: “you have put off the old self with its practices”

Colossians 3:8–9 (ESV)

8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices

2. The Redeemed Reality of our Present: (v. 10-11)

In v. 10, Paul affirms the Redeemed Reality (through the Gospel and separate from our Past) in which believers live because of Christ that helps us to realign our values through the realization of who we are and our purpose.

i. Colossians 3:10 (ESV)

10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

ii. Redeemed Reality of our Present: We have put on the new self

iii. Realigned Values: We are being renewed in Knowledge (Holy Spirit)

iv. Realized Purpose: We are created after the image of our Creator and meant to live our lives reflecting the glory of our Creator (worship)

b. In v. 11, Paul expands the our Redeemed Reality beyond previous understanding to bring glory to God’s faithfulness in fulfilling His ultimate promise of redemption as He reaffirms that the Good News of the Gospel is Hope to All because CHRIST IS ALL AND IN ALL! (Bridging Gospel and Glory)

Colossians 3:11 (ESV)

11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

III. Practice Gospel Living Toward a Life of Worship

Colossians 3:12–17 (ESV)

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,

13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

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.

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.

A. In Colossians 3:12-17, Paul frames our New Lives/Selves toward a Life of Worship through the reality of a daily rehearsal of the Gospel and Gospel living. Paul provides a general ethic of how Christians are supposed to live in light of being IN CHRIST. This life is present through the living fruit of the Holy Spirit at work within us and bound in love. (Interesting: God is Love, Christ is ALL and in ALL, Love binds EVERYTHING together in prefect harmony).

Finally, Paul closes this passage with passage with 5 key instructions that are foundational to connecting the Gospel to the Discipleship Through Gospel Living toward Living a Life of Worship.

A Daily Rehearsal (v. 12a)

Colossians 3:12a (ESV)

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones,

2. Gospel Living (v. 12-13)

Colossians 3:12–13 (ESV)

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,

13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

3. A Binding Thread (v. 14)

Colossians 3:14 (ESV)

14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

4. Five Key Instructions Toward a Life of Worship (v. 15-17)

Colossians 3:15–17 (ESV)

15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

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.

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.

Let the Peace of Christ Rule in Your Hearts v. 15 (Worship begins here)

Called in one body (Daily Personal Worship Connects to Frequent Gathering for Corporate Worship as the Body)

Be Thankful v. 15 (Gratitude Fuels Worship)

Let the Word of Christ Dwell in You Richly v. 16 (The Word Roots Discipleship and Informs Worship)

Daily Discipleship: Teaching and Admonishing One Another in All Wisdom

Life together

Prov. 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron”

Daily Worship: Singing Psalms/Hymns/Spiritual Songs with Thankfulness in Your Hearts to God.

And Whatever You Do, Do Everything in the Name of the Lord Jesus v. 17 (Our Words and Actions/Discipleship & Worship Must Reflect Jesus)

Whatever We Do IN WORD or DEED (When Talk Meets Walk)

Give Thanks to God the Father Through Him v. 17 (It All Ends With a Grateful and Thankful Heart to God)

IV. Closing Invitations

Proclaim Your Priesthood Daily (Living Gospel Toward Living Worship)

1 Peter 2:9 (ESV)

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Present Your Life (Daily Offering)

Romans 12:1 (ESV)

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.

How Do You Do?