The Work of Worship

Good morning church! It’s so great to see you this morning. If you are new here, we are pumped to have you with us! We actually have a gift we would love to give you today. It’s waiting at Next Steps in the Lobby. If you will take that card in the back of the seat, fill it out with your info. You can take that to Next Steps and trade it for a tshirt and info about our church. Sound good?

Those cards can also let us know about prayer requests any of you have or changes of contact info.

The last couple weeks on Sundays, we have been addressing basic spiritual disciplines that are crucial to our walk with the Lord. Two weeks ago, we talked about the importance of reading God’s Word. Delighting in God’s Word is the key to the Christian Walk! And last week we talked about prayer. We saw the prayer Jesus prays in Matthew 6 not as a prayer we are to repeat daily, but as a teaching on what prayer is and should include.

The hope behind each of those sermons was that you would see the Biblical importance behind each of those and work to develop a rhythm of bible study and a rhythm of prayer into your life. The time spent and the methods are going to be different from person to person. But the goal was for us all to take some steps in those things!

This week, we are wrapping this series by looking at Romans 12. GO on and turn there if you have a Bible.

If we google images for the word WORSHIP, what do you think we would find? Well, I did it this week. There were two types of images. One of a guy with his hands in the air and an awesome sunrise behind him or a pasture, or just some really cool colors.

The other image type was a group of people with hands up around a stage with lighting and smoke. Some of them had crosses on stage.

But that’s it. Tons of different images, but all fitting in those categories.

That’s probably not shocking to you! When you think of the word, those are more than likely the images in your head too, right?

We can definitely worship through song, lifting our hands, closing our eyes. But that is not all that the Bible tells us that worship is! In fact, we will see today that when we google worship images, there should be no shortage of different types of images! People doing all kinds of different things, living a life of worship.

Let me read the passage we will be studying today, I’ll pray, and then we will come back and start walking through this, OK?

Romans 12:1–6 CSB

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s faith;

PRAY

There is so much here, so let’s get started.

Notetakers, point number 1 is...

1. The Sacrifice of Worship

Romans 12:1 CSB

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.

What’s the first word there? (THEREFORE)

This is word that we must take notice of. It is THERE FOR a reason: to connect what he is about to say, to something already said. Some people will say it is connecting back to the whole previous 11 chapters.

But there seems to be a clue in here as to what Paul is pointing back to here. Look verse one… “IN VIEW OF THE MERCIES OF GOD.”

If you are not familiar with the word MERCY, it is very similar to GRACE. They are both undeserved actions. But grace is a giving of something. Mercy is the NOT giving of something. I’ve heard it said this way...

Grace is giving someone a gift they don’t deserve.

Mercy is NOT giving someone what they DO deserve.

They have often been thought of as two sides of the same coin. In salvation, there are things that God GIVES us that we certainly don’t deserve: access to the creator, eternal life, indwelling of the Spirit, etc. However, there are things that we do deserve, that God doesn’t give us in salvation: separation from God, eternal punishment, separation from God, right?

Both of these have been themes throughout Romans, more so than other letters of Paul, mainly because Romans tells us so much about SIN! Where we talk about sin, we will have to eventually talk about God’s goodness in grace and mercy!

Here are two of the most quoted verses on sin in Romans. But notice what is said right after them…

Romans 3:23–24 CSB

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Notice that?

Romans 6:23 CSB

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul has already made it clear that God’s mercy is legit. It’s a big deal. And it seems that Paul is telling his readers to do something BECAUSE they have experienced God’s mercy.

“In view of the mercies of God, go to church.” “Because of the mercy you have received, be a good person.” That’s not what he says. He says, “In view of the mercies of God, die.” Right? Sort of...

He says “offer your bodies as a sacrifice.” Just as Christ has died for you, so you should die for him.” But Paul adds the word LIVING to describe sacrifice. This isn’t killing yourself for Jesus. It is offering your life as a sacrifice. This is what worship really looks like! Worship of God begins where we end! We have to stop living for ourselves and live only for God.

I read in a commentary this week...

“Christian worship does not consist of what is practiced at sacred sites, at sacred times, and with sacred acts.… It is the offering of bodily existence in the otherwise profane sphere.”

What we do here can absolutely be worship. But worship is a lifestyle of sacrifice.

2. The Separateness of Worship

Check out verse 2…

Romans 12:2 CSB

Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

From the very beginning of creation, we see that humans can easily be influenced by others. Looking through the book of Genesis, we see it over and over again. The natural draw of humans is to have others tell us how to feel and act.

Paul helps the Roman believers recognize that if they are going to live a life of worship, they cannot let others control them and influence them! He says, “Do not be conformed to this age.” Do not allow yourself to become like the world.

Which is good advice, right? But That would just be try hard theology. But Paul gives an antithesis of the conforming...

He says, instead, be transformed.

This word is only used 4 times in the New Testament. It’s used here and in 2 Cor. 3: 18 in somewhat similar ways to refer to something that happens to us. But the other two uses are referring to something that happened to Jesus, found in Mark and Matthew. Jesus is “TRANSFIGURED” right before a few of his disciples. We don’t really get a whole lot of other details of what this looked like. We simply see that he was changed before their eyes.

As you read all of Paul’s other letters and the rest of Romans, you realize more of what Paul is talking about here. Jesus talked about a “NEW BIRTH” that needed to occur to be saved. This refers to the instantaneous action of God that occurs at your moment of salvation. God sends his Spirit to not only FILL you, but to give you NEW LIFE. He brings spiritual life to a spiritually dead body.

But the way Paul talks about this transformation is different. It doesn’t sound instantaneous. It sounds like a process one that is the opposite of conforming to the world.

This is what Paul would call in other places “being sanctified” or being “made in the image of Christ.” This is a lifelong process that every believer is on.

Part of that process is learning from the Spirit in us, how we can live SEPARATE from the world and FOR Christ. This involves talking in a way that honors Christ instead of the way in which the world walks. Helping others in a way that is out of love for them and God not out of a love for self or praise.

That’s the idea behind “renewing your mind.” Allowing God to change the way you think. “Reprogramming” the way you act and react is really needed! Because the way we act and react is sinful! We need to look more like Jesus in all of these things.

There is a separateness to our worship!

The third point is this...

3. The Selflessness of Worship

Romans 12:3 CSB

For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one.

The one thing that will fight against your desire to worship God through your whole life is PRIDE! It is a natural reaction of our flesh, but it is SINFUL!

Pride will detract from any “reprogramming of your mind” that has occurred. I’ve had my hands raised before in worship and hoped someone would see them up. I’ve been on a mission trip and wanted everyone to know that I had gone so that people would think I was the real deal. Do you see how real actions of worship can be totally derailed by pride?

An action is not worship if the heart is centered on self, not God and others. This was the whole point of the study we did for 12 weeks through Matthew 5-7, what we call the Sermon on the Mount. The sincerity of our worship is determined by the direction of our heart. If upward towards God, that’s worship. If inward, not worship.

The selflessness of worship...

The fourth thing here...

4. The Service of Worship

Romans 12:4–6 CSB

Now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, in the same way we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s faith;

It is interesting that Paul is not content to talk about worship in light of the individual only. Did you notice that? As Paul talks about worship he ties it seamlessly into the idea that we are the body of Christ! Worship is a naturally corporate thing.

It is an unbiblical argument to say you don’t need the church. “I can worship on my own. Me and God are good.” I’ve heard that many times over the years of ministry. I won’t argue whether they are Christians or not, but I will argue that they are not effectively worshiping God! You can worship God on your own, but without being connected to a local body of believers, you are not walking according to God’s Word.

Let’s walk briefly through these verses. Paul uses imagery here to drive home his message. It’s a body and the church.

Many parts

Different functions

ONE BODY

Many members (same word as before)

Different Gifts

ONE BODY!

With the spirit of God at salvation comes a unique draw and effectiveness for ministry. Paul mentions several examples of spiritual gifts here and in other places. It is unclear if we are to take these lists as exhaustive or just a sampling. But either way, it is good for every believer to KNOW the way that you have been gifted to serve others within the church. We have a spiritual gift survey on our website that you can find. It’s also good to just read the passages about gifts. Study the different ones. And prayerfully consider, with the help of friends who know you help you decide which way you may be gifted.

But Paul doesn’t just say to acknowledge you gift. From the end of verse 6 through verse 8, he walks through a few gifts and says, if you have been gifted this way, USE IT! USE IT! That’s a novel idea, isn’t it!? Use the gifts you’ve been given!

Do not be the one guilty of just sitting on your gift. If you were given a higher dose of mercy/compassionate, use that to build up the church. THe gift of leadership? USE IT to build up the church! Ability and willingness to give more than most of us financially? USE THAT GIFT to build up the church! Teaching, shepherding, whatever! USE YOUR GIFT! That’s what it looks like to be part of the church! All of us using our gifts together for the glory of God in us our neighbors and the nations!

One more thing to note in verse 5. Paul says that we are individually members of one another. In the Bible, Jesus talked about him being ONE with the Father and his disciples being ONE with him. But that’s not what this said.

The Bible also says that a husband and a wife are ONE when they are married. But that’s not what Paul said either!

He said that we are ONE with one another. The complexity and intensity of the marriage relationship is similar to that of the church family relationship! Just a good reminder to get in a group and get to know these people God has wed you to!

Paul is helping his readers see that if you are planning to worship God, you need to be active in his church! You need to be connected to the members, the parts, here and you need to be serving in some way. If you don’t know where to start, don’t make that excuse. Grab the connect card today, give me a name, number or email, and say “I want to serve!” We will find a place for all of you on whatever schedule you need! It’s so important!

THe Service of WORSHIP.

Response:

If you are planning to worship God this week, let me remind you...

Worship is sacrificial. Giving of yourself for others.

WOrship is about living separate and holy life!

Worship is Selfless.

WOrship is Service.

Each part of this is perfectly modeled in the life and death of Jesus Christ! His coming was itself sacrificial in that he took on flesh to live as a human just like us. His life was separate because he lived a perfectly holy life, in a sinful world, while remaining sinless. His ministry was selfless giving to others and never choosing himself over others. His death was service to all of us because he took our sin on himself and died! Paying the debt that we deserved to pay because of our sin! But God raised him up from the dead and he now sits at the right hand of the Father as our mediator in grace and prayer.

If you have never trusted in Jesus as your Savior, we would love to help you walk through that today! During this last song, we would love to start that convo. You can come let me know you want help with that or you can go to the back door where we have counselors waiting. They will walk you into one of the small rooms in the hallway to talk with you about this ever so important decision.

For those of you who are already believers, think about your own worship today. How are you doing in it? Which part of this speaks to you?

I’m going to voice a prayer, and then we will all stand. You are welcome to sing today as a form of worship, but remember it’s about the heart, not the words.

You are also welcome to come and confess whatever sins you need to before the Lord or come to pray for the lives of others.

Or i will be here to pray or talk with you about any decision you need to make.

What is your NEXT STEP?

Let’s pray