Worship from the Heart

Today we have come together to praise and magnify the Lord. We typically call this worship. Worship takes many forms and sounds. We often associate worship with good music, singing, and prayer. King David gave us many reflections of his worship to His God in the Psalms.

And aDavid was dancing before the Lord with all his might, and David was 1bwearing a linen ephod.

     15     So David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouting and the sound of the trumpet.

     16     Then it happened as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David that aMichal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.

a Ex 15:20, 21; Judg 11:34

1 Lit girded with

b Ex 19:6; 1 Sam 2:18, 28

a 2 Sam 3:14

New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (2 Sa 6:14). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

Romans 12:1

 Therefore aI urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to bpresent your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

b Rom 6:13, 16, 19; 1 Cor 6:20; Heb 13:15; 1 peter 2:5

1 Or well-pleasing

2 Or rational

New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Ro 12:1). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

The verb “present” in this verse means “present once and for all.” It commands a definite commitment of the body to the Lord, just as a bride and groom in their wedding service commit themselves to each other. It is this once-for-all commitment that determines what they do with their bodies. Paul gives us two reasons for this commitment: (1) it is the right response to all that God has done for us—“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God” (italics mine); and (2) this commitment is “our reasonable service” or “our spiritual worship.” This means that every day is a worship experience when your body is yielded to the Lord.

Wiersbe, W. W. (1996, c1989). The Bible exposition commentary. "An exposition of the New Testament comprising the entire 'BE' series"--Jkt. (Ro 12:1). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.

As we recognize all (the word ‘mercy’ is plural in the Greek) that God has done for us in his Son, as Paul has surveyed it in chs. 1–11, we realize that offering ourselves to God as living sacrifices is, indeed, a ‘reasonable’ (logikēn) act of worship (see the niv mg. for this translation). The word living reminds us of what God has made us: we are people who are now ‘alive to God in Christ Jesus’ (6:11). Paul encourages us to look at our entire Christian lives as acts of worship. It is not just what is done on Sunday in a church building that ‘ascribes worth’ to God, but what God and the world see in us every day and every moment of the week. niv New International Version

mg. margin

Carson, D. A. (1994). New Bible commentary : 21st century edition. Rev. ed. of: The new Bible commentary. 3rd ed. / edited by D. Guthrie, J.A. Motyer. 1970. (4th ed.) (Ro 12:1). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press.