Worship: A Closer Look

Introduction

is considered an exhortation. The basis of Paul’s challenge to the Roman Christians (and us as well) is the mercy of God—that is, the blessings of the new covenant delineated in : justification, sanctification, glorification, and so forth. Thus, the indicative is the basis of the imperative. In light of those mercies, Paul challenges believers to live out the will of God. God’s will is spelled out in 12:3–15:33: using one’s spiritual gifts for the body of Christ (12:3–8); being a witness of Christ to society even if persecuted for doing so (12:9–21); obeying the government (13:1–7); living in the light of the imminent parousia (13:8–14); accepting one’s fellow Christians (14:1–15:13); and supporting evangelism and missions (15:14–33). Thus, 12:1–2 introduces the theme of 12:3–15:33: commit to being witnesses of the new covenant.

Romans The Text in Context

Romans 12:1–2 is, in genre, parenetic (exhortational) material. The basis of Paul’s challenge to the Roman Christians (and us as well) is the mercy of God—that is, the blessings of the new covenant delineated in 3:21–11:36: justification, sanctification, glorification, and so forth. Thus, the indicative is the basis of the imperative. In light of those mercies, Paul challenges believers to live out the will of God. God’s will is spelled out in 12:3–15:33: using one’s spiritual gifts for the body of Christ (12:3–8); being a witness of Christ to society even if persecuted for doing so (12:9–21); obeying the government (13:1–7); living in the light of the imminent parousia (13:8–14); accepting one’s fellow Christians (14:1–15:13); and supporting evangelism and missions (15:14–33). Thus, 12:1–2 introduces the theme of 12:3–15:33: commit to being witnesses of the new covenant.

Here, we see Paul following his usual pattern whenever he wrote to his friends. He always ends his letters with practical advice. His mind, just like ours sweeps through infinites, but he never gets lost in them. His feet are firmly planted on the ground. He can, and does, wrestle with the deepest problems which theology has to offer; but he always ends with the ethical demands which govern us all.

The Letter to the Romans The True Worship and the Essential Change (Romans 12:1–2)

‘Present your bodies to God,’ he says. There is no more characteristically Christian demand. We have already seen that that is what a Greek would never say. To the Greeks, what mattered was the spirit; the body was only a prison house, something to be despised and even to be ashamed of. No real Christian ever believed that. Christians believe that their bodies belong to God just as much as their souls, and that they can serve him just as well with their bodies as with their minds or their spirits.

The Letter to the Romans The True Worship and the Essential Change (Romans 12:1–2)

‘Present your bodies to God,’ he says. There is no more characteristically Christian demand. We have already seen that that is what a Greek would never say. To the Greeks, what mattered was the spirit; the body was only a prison house, something to be despised and even to be ashamed of. No real Christian ever believed that. Christians believe that their bodies belong to God just as much as their souls, and that they can serve him just as well with their bodies as with their minds or their spirits.

There is no more characteristically Christian demand than to, “present your bodies to God.” During this time, the Greek would have never say that because all that mattered to them was the spirit. They believe the body to be a prison house and something to be despised and even to be ashamed of. No real Christian ever believed that. As Christians, they believed and we should believe that our bodies belong to God and our souls to and they can serve him just as with with their mind, body and spirits.

God wants to fully operate through our lives in every way. We are to be earthly witness of this new covenant. Paul declares in these verses that the most appropriate way to worship God is sacrificing our lives, our every thing to God because of His mercy.

He can, and does, wrestle with the deepest problems which theology has to offer; but he always ends with the ethical demands which govern us all.

the mercy of God is the basis of Christian sanctification and service.

the Christian ethic consists of doing the will of God by making a break with this present age and aligning oneself with the age to come.

God’s will is in the best interest of his people.

English Standard Version Chapter 4

21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.

Worship is Walking with God

- His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.

Often there is confusion that worship is a “song” and it isn’t. Music is a means to an end to created an atmosphere for people to connect with their creator but it isn’t worship itself.

7 Generations before the birth of the musicians. If we were created to worship God, what did they do for worship?

: 9-11

English Standard Version Chapter 1

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy

When we walk with the Lord we draw closer to the Lord with all our heart. He becomes our focus. Our hearts longs for Him. Our heart seeks His presence. Our desire to have fellowship with Christ and be like Him will grow while our worldly desires will decrease.

When we walk with God, we spend time with him. our ways, thoughts, outlook, actions etc will become an imitation of Him. Just like with our spouses, we begin to rub off on each other.

Worship should be in accordance with God’s commands

Worship should be in accordance with God’s commands

So,’ Paul says, ‘take your body; take all the tasks that you have to do every day; take the ordinary work of the shop, the office, the factory, the shipyard, the mine; and offer all that as an act of worship to God.’ The word in verse 1 which we, along with the Revised Standard Version, have translated as worship has an interesting history. It is latreia, the noun of the verb latreuein. Originally, latreuein meant to work for hire or pay. It was the word used of the labourers who gave their strength to an employer in return for the pay the employer would give them. It denotes not slavery but the voluntary undertaking of work. It then came to mean quite generally to serve; but it also came to mean that to which one gives one’s whole life. For instance, someone could be said latreuein kallei, which means to give one’s life to the service of beauty. In that sense, it came very near to meaning to dedicate one’s life to. Finally, it came to be the word distinctively used of the service of the gods. In the Bible, it never means human service; it is always used of service to and worship of God.

Worship should be in accordance with God’s commands

Genesis 22:2 ESV

He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

John 4:23–24 ESV

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.”

See also

1 Chronicles 16:29 ESV

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;

Isaiah 29:13 ESV

And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

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1 Corinthians 14:40 ESV

But all things should be done decently and in order.

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Worship should be grounded in godly and obedient living

Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice … your true and proper worship. Paul’s challenge is that the Roman Christians (and all believers) present their bodies to God as a living sacrifice. Three words call for comment here. First, by his use of the verb “offer, “Paul is not suggesting that we offer our bodies only once to God. Instead, as the verbs in 12:2 indicate, “offer” is a continual action, a daily occurrence. Second, “bodies” includes the whole person. Third, “living sacrifice” might mean a live versus a dead sacrifice. But more likely it is “living” in a spiritual dimension—those alive spiritually in Christ.

Just as the Old Testament sacrifices were to meet the divine requirements, so should Christians present themselves as a sacrifice, “holy and pleasing to God.” That is, the Christian should live a holy life that pleases God. Logikos is translated as “spiritual” in the NRSV. This is true, but the word logikos has a long history in Greek philosophy and in Hellenistic Judaism as meaning “reasonable,” in the sense of appropriate or suitable. Thus, Paul declares in 12:1 that it is most appropriate that believers worship God by being living sacrifices for him because of God’s mercies to them.

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind … to test and approve what God’s will is. This verse gives the means and result of commitment to Christ. The means for doing so is not to be conformed to this age but rather to be transformed to the age to come (implied) by the renewing of the mind. The two verbs are imperatives. While older scholarship distinguished these verbs as outward conformity and inward transformation, recent scholarship rightly rejects such a distinction. Rather, both verbs suggest a total commitment. Thus, Christians should continually reject this age in favor of the age to come. The renewed mind is, in effect, the renewed heart of obedience envisioned by the new covenant. The result of being a living sacrifice is that the Christian discovers and does the will of God (12:2b). “Test and approve” , not in the sense that God needs our approval for his will to be good, but rather that we experience in practice that his will is good. The will of God is worth discovering, for it is good, acceptable, and perfect. God’s will, the ethic of the new covenant, steers the right path between legalism and libertinism. In other words, for the Christian, God’s will is no longer dictated by the Torah but is instead found in Spirit-guided discernment.

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The proper attitude of worshippers

Closing

Preparation for worship

God gave to us, an undeserving people, His most precious sacrifice through his son. He died in our place and rose again. The least we our to him is our lives as living a sacrifice.

1 Corinthians 11:28 ESV

Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

The Letter to the Romans The True Worship and the Essential Change (Romans 12:1–2)

When Christ becomes the centre of life, then we can present real worship, which is the offering of every moment and every action to God.

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The Letter to the Romans The True Worship and the Essential Change (Romans 12:1–2)

We might say: ‘I am going to church to worship God’; but we should also be able to say: ‘I am going to the factory, the shop, the office, the school, the garage, the mine, the shipyard, the field, the cowshed, the garden, to worship God

Deuteronomy 6:5 ESV

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

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Confidence in approaching God

Hebrews 10:22–23 ESV

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

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