True Worship: A Living Sacrifice to God
Summary
### Summary
Today, we delved into Romans 12:1 to explore the essence of true worship. We began by reflecting on the profound theological truths Paul has laid out in Romans 1-11, emphasizing God's righteousness, human sinfulness, and the incredible mercy shown through Jesus Christ. These truths set the stage for understanding what true worship entails. True worship, as Paul describes, is offering ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is not about following a set of rules but responding to God's mercies with our entire being—mind, heart, and body.
We discussed how true worship is a reasoned response to God's mercies. It is logical and thoughtful, engaging both our intellect and emotions. Worship is not merely an emotional experience but a deliberate act of offering our lives to God in gratitude for His grace. This involves every aspect of our lives—our work, home, and even leisure activities. We are called to dedicate our entire lives to God, making every action an act of worship.
We also touched on the importance of engaging our minds in worship. True worship involves understanding who God is and what He has done, which in turn deepens our worship. Emotionalism without sound doctrine is dangerous and misleading. Instead, our worship should be rooted in the truth of God's Word, making it a lifelong response to His unchanging nature.
Finally, we were reminded that true worship requires surrendering our ambitions and plans to God. This means offering our best to Him, not holding back or waiting for a more convenient time. True worship is a constant, daily offering of ourselves to God, in every decision and action.
### Key Takeaways
1. True Worship as Living Sacrifices: True worship involves offering our entire selves—mind, heart, and body—as living sacrifices to God. This is not about following a set of rules but responding to God's mercies with our whole being. Our actions, whether at work, home, or leisure, should reflect our dedication to God. [34:26]
2. Reasoned Response to God's Mercies: Worship is a thoughtful and logical response to God's incredible mercies. It engages both our intellect and emotions, making it a deliberate act of gratitude. This reasoned response ensures that our worship is grounded in the truth of God's Word, not just in how we feel. [49:34]
3. Engaging the Mind in Worship: True worship involves understanding who God is and what He has done. This deepens our worship and makes it a lifelong response. Emotionalism without sound doctrine is dangerous; our worship should be rooted in the truth of God's Word, making it both heartfelt and intellectually satisfying. [51:02]
4. Surrendering Ambitions and Plans: True worship requires surrendering our ambitions and plans to God. This means offering our best to Him, not holding back or waiting for a more convenient time. Our dedication should be evident in every decision and action, reflecting our gratitude for God's mercies. [45:12]
5. Daily Acts of Worship: True worship is a constant, daily offering of ourselves to God. This involves micro-surrenders in our everyday decisions, whether in moments of anger, temptation, or routine tasks. Every thought, word, and action is an opportunity to worship God and demonstrate our dedication to Him. [01:02:02]
### YouTube Chapters
[0:00] - Welcome
[00:47] - Announcements and Upcoming Events
[09:18] - Testimony by Brother Charles Peterson
[28:30] - Introduction to Romans 12:1
[29:42] - What is True Worship?
[30:50] - Reflecting on Romans 1-11
[33:01] - Responding to God's Mercies
[34:26] - Offering Ourselves as Living Sacrifices
[39:40] - Worship Involves Our Bodies
[41:16] - Practical Ways to Worship
[45:12] - Surrendering Ambitions and Plans
[49:34] - Reasoned Response to God's Mercies
[51:02] - Engaging the Mind in Worship
[56:09] - Engaging the Mind in Corporate Worship
[01:02:02] - Daily Acts of Worship
[01:07:00] - Prayer and Invitation to Communion
Study Guide
### Bible Study Discussion Guide
#### Bible Reading
- Romans 12:1 (ESV): "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."
#### Observation Questions
1. What does Paul mean by "living sacrifices" in Romans 12:1? How does this concept differ from Old Testament sacrifices? [34:26]
2. According to the sermon, what are the "mercies of God" that Paul refers to in Romans 12:1? [36:23]
3. How does the sermon describe the relationship between sound doctrine and true worship? [35:44]
4. What practical examples did the pastor give for offering our bodies as living sacrifices in our daily lives? [42:29]
#### Interpretation Questions
1. Why does Paul urge believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices? How does this reflect a reasoned response to God's mercies? [49:57]
2. How does engaging both the mind and heart in worship protect against emotionalism and ensure that worship is rooted in truth? [51:02]
3. What does it mean to surrender our ambitions and plans to God as part of true worship? How does this challenge our daily decision-making? [45:12]
4. How can understanding the depth of God's mercies inspire a lifelong commitment to worship and obedience? [36:58]
#### Application Questions
1. Reflect on your daily routine. How can you offer your work, home, and leisure activities as acts of worship to God? What specific changes can you make this week to dedicate these areas to Him? [42:29]
2. Think about a recent decision you made. Was it influenced by your understanding of God's mercies? How can you ensure that future decisions reflect your gratitude for His grace? [58:45]
3. Identify an area of your life where you have been holding back from fully surrendering to God. What steps can you take to offer this area as a living sacrifice? [45:12]
4. How can you engage your mind more deeply in worship during church services and personal devotion times? What practical steps can you take to ensure your worship is both heartfelt and intellectually satisfying? [56:09]
5. Consider a time when you felt emotionally moved during worship but lacked a deep understanding of the truth behind it. How can you balance your emotions with sound doctrine in future worship experiences? [51:56]
6. Reflect on your ambitions and plans. Are there any that you need to surrender to God? How can you prioritize His will over your own desires in these areas? [45:12]
7. Think of a specific moment this week when you can practice a "micro-surrender" to God. How will you respond in a way that reflects true worship in that situation? [01:02:02]
This guide is designed to help your small group delve deeper into the essence of true worship as described in Romans 12:1 and the sermon. Use these questions to foster meaningful discussion and personal application.
Devotional
Day 1: Living Sacrifices: A Whole-Life Offering
True worship involves offering our entire selves—mind, heart, and body—as living sacrifices to God. This is not about following a set of rules but responding to God's mercies with our whole being. Our actions, whether at work, home, or leisure, should reflect our dedication to God. [34:26]
Romans 12:1 (ESV): "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."
Reflection: In what specific ways can you offer your daily activities—whether at work, home, or leisure—as acts of worship to God today?
Day 2: Worship as a Reasoned Response
Worship is a thoughtful and logical response to God's incredible mercies. It engages both our intellect and emotions, making it a deliberate act of gratitude. This reasoned response ensures that our worship is grounded in the truth of God's Word, not just in how we feel. [49:34]
1 Peter 1:13 (ESV): "Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Reflection: How can you engage both your mind and emotions in worship today, ensuring that your response to God is both thoughtful and heartfelt?
Day 3: Engaging the Mind in Worship
True worship involves understanding who God is and what He has done. This deepens our worship and makes it a lifelong response. Emotionalism without sound doctrine is dangerous; our worship should be rooted in the truth of God's Word, making it both heartfelt and intellectually satisfying. [51:02]
Colossians 3:16 (ESV): "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."
Reflection: What steps can you take to deepen your understanding of God's Word, ensuring that your worship is both intellectually satisfying and heartfelt?
Day 4: Surrendering Ambitions and Plans
True worship requires surrendering our ambitions and plans to God. This means offering our best to Him, not holding back or waiting for a more convenient time. Our dedication should be evident in every decision and action, reflecting our gratitude for God's mercies. [45:12]
Proverbs 16:3 (ESV): "Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established."
Reflection: What is one area of your life where you find yourself holding back from surrendering to God? What would surrendering this area to Him actually look like in terms of daily habits?
Day 5: Daily Acts of Worship
True worship is a constant, daily offering of ourselves to God. This involves micro-surrenders in our everyday decisions, whether in moments of anger, temptation, or routine tasks. Every thought, word, and action is an opportunity to worship God and demonstrate our dedication to Him. [01:02:02]
1 Corinthians 10:31 (ESV): "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
Reflection: How can you turn routine tasks and daily decisions into acts of worship today, demonstrating your dedication to God in every aspect of your life?
Quotes
1. "Let's briefly reflect on the magnitude of what Paul has taught us so far in Romans 1 through 11. This is in your notes there in the context section. He has told us about God's righteousness and human sinfulness, all of us have sinned, and we all fall short of the glory of God. But God, at our worst, said his best, the Lord Jesus Christ, to bleed and die on the cross for us, to demonstrate his love for us while we were still sinners. Isn't that amazing? We're justified by faith. That means we're declared right with God just on the basis of believing what Christ has done for us." [31:37] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
2. "True worship is offering ourselves as living sacrifices. True worship is offering the entirety of ourselves as living sacrifices. Again, Paul's therefore shows a link between belief and action. In case you have misheard, true Christian living isn't just adopting a set of rules and trying to live by them. That is legalism. We are not asking you to try to do the Christian walk in your own power. We don't think you can. What we're wanting you to see is that it flows from faith in the truths we believe. We believe that Jesus bled and died for us, that he rose again, that he sat down at the right hand of God the Father, and he pours his Holy Spirit out and into all who believe. And this radically changes people. It changes them from the inside out." [35:04] (59 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
3. "Notice that this sacrifice of our lives, it is grounded in the mercies. I love that Paul put it in the plural. He didn't say it's in the mercy of God. He said the mercies of God. Now what are these mercies? God has justified you by faith, crediting you. He has reconciled you with the righteousness of his Son. He credits you as perfect in his eyes because of what Christ has done. And you simply believe it. He has reconciled you to himself. You were an enemy of God, hostile in your mind and heart towards the things of God. And he says, come over here onto my side, and we'll be friends. He's broke sin's power over us. That doesn't mean we don't ever have a sinful desire, but God, through Christ, has implanted the Holy Spirit in our hearts to battle against those sins. He's adopted us into his family. He calls us his children, saints. You call the creator of the universe, Abba, Father, Dad." [36:23] (63 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
4. "True worship is a reasoned response to God's mercies. Now this doesn't, it, depending on your, your translation, this may not appear readily in the text. This is why I'm here to point it out. Look at what it says here. Romans 12, one, 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. And this last phrase, this is your true worship. Some of your translations are going to have two different words there at the end. True worship. Who's got anything else? I'll take some from the audience. Reasonable worship. That's really good. Anybody else? Spiritual is fine as well. So the word there in front of the word worship or service, CSB translates it true. I think the King James may say reasonable. Other translations will say spiritual. The Greek word is logikos, logikos. And we actually get our word logical from it. It's your logical worship. Now in the context, Paul's not just simply talking about intellect. What he's saying is in view of the mercies of God, you giving your bodies and the entirety of your life is the only thoughtful, logical, deliberate response to what God is saying. That's why it says it's your true worship. It's your spiritual work. The only way to kind of show a little bit that you get the gravity of what God has done is it just makes sense, that's the idea, to give your life in service to God." [49:57] (93 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
5. "Worship is a thoughtful response to God's mercies and engages our minds and our bodies, not just our emotions, saints. What do we see in our churches today? A troubling trend exists where Christianity divorces the head from the heart, where it exalts feelings over the truth of God, where it replaces sound doctrine with empty experiences. This emotionalism that poses as true worship only misleads believers. And I'm not just talking about music. I'm talking about when a pastor gets up in this pulpit and preaches a sermon that's devoid of the scriptures, but full of pop psychology, he's not feeding his flock, he's poisoning them with worldly wisdom. Emotionalism is misguided and dangerous. It produces believers who feel strongly, but don't think critically. It makes them easy targets for false teachers. They've never learned to engage their minds in worship." [51:56] (66 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
6. "If you ground it in the truth of God, as your knowledge of God grows, your worship of him will deepen. I love saints when they go, man, I was reading the same old passage I read a thousand times and saw something I never saw. And I saw it and I just was like, wow, God. You see how that works? They grew in knowledge and their worship deepened. Can't do that if worship is just emotional based. It won't work that way. Too many of us approach worship as something that makes us feel good. Well, did you enjoy worship today? No, we were trying to make you proud and pleased. Had nothing to do with you. We didn't. I don't mean this mean. When Rick and I sit down to factor the service, we didn't think one bit about y'all. I'm going to be honest. We're here to praise and worship God, not you. Worship isn't about you. It's about God. If you worship for your satisfaction, you've offered something empty to God today. Worship requires more than feelings. It's full. It's a full response of mind, body, and heart." [54:55] (71 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
7. "How should you engage your mind in corporate worship? I'm going to help you. You go, Josh, what am I supposed to be doing then right now with my mind in this setting? Can I give you a couple of things? During the sermon and Bible study, so this works for Sunday school as well. Now, this is Josh. This is Josh. It's not necessarily scripture. I'm going to just give you some wisdom. Pay attention. And for me, it helps to take notes. Take notes. I'm more interested in this. As you hear me preach and your teacher teach, you should be asking yourself, how does what is being taught and preached, how does it change how I think? How does it change how I feel? How does it change how I act? You need to question yourself as well, not just the teacher, both of you. You question the teacher and you go, I'm supposed to be applying this to my life. How can I be doing this? As always, anytime anybody claims to be speaking for God, whether it's me, another pastor, or your Sunday school teacher, always do what the Bereans did in Acts 17, 11. It's there in your notes. The people who were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica since they received the word with eagerness and examined the scriptures daily to see if those things were so. Y'all, fact check me. As I'm preaching to you, I do not, again, I don't want you to ground your worship in Josh's words. I'm a man. I can fail. I want you to ground your worship in the word of God. He'll never fail you." [56:09] (95 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
8. "When your coworker offends you and you feel that anger surge up your spine, will you explode in rage or will you surrender to God as a living sacrifice? You see that? When your spouse upsets you and you want to rant, Paul would say, that's a moment of worship. Will you choose to forgive? Or will you allow resentment to poison your heart? Men, when you're alone at night and that website you've struggled with beckons, that's where your worship is tested. Will you click and indulge your lust or will you cry out to God for strength and choose holiness? Those are the real altars. Right? You see that? I'm not saying this isn't an altar, but that's where the crucible is. These moments reveal the authenticity of our worship. Every thought, every word, every action is a chance to truly worship God." [01:03:47] (55 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
9. "I want to finish this way. Saints, I want you to picture yourself at the foot of the cross. The sky is dark. The earth is shaking. Before you hangs the Son of God. His body is broken. His spirit is poured out. Every wound, every gasp, all of it is a testament to the depth of His love for you. This is not just suffering. It is a summons to surrender to this King. Every drop of blood invites you to lay down your life as a living sacrifice. This is not a burden. It's actually an invitation to worship. And it is the only true response to such mercy. In the searching light of the Scripture and the Spirit, I want you to examine your life. This is where it comes to you. Right? And it's game, Tom. What are you withholding from the Lord Jesus? Your ambitions. Your wealth. Your relationships. Your Tom. Today, I'm going to ask you to choose one concrete act of surrender. Open your clenched fist and release God's portion of your finances. Carve out Tom for communion with Christ. Offer your talents, not for applause, but for His glory. Lay your career, your relationships, your marriage, your family, your very dreams upon the altar of God's will. This is not a call for a chosen few, but it's for every believer. Imagine your entire life is cradled in your hands. And now open them wide and offer it all to the Lord Jesus. That is the Christian life. A living sacrifice. A life that's fully surrendered. It's the person who says, I surrender all. My time, my talents, my treasures. I surrender all. My relationships, my dreams, my identity. I surrender all. My every breath, every beat of my heart, every fiber of my being. That is the essence of a life lived for Christ. That is the only response to Calvary's call. And that is true worship." [01:04:34] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
10. "A living sacrifice means every day, every hour, every moment. Right now, you have to deliberately, consciously, continually, and perpetually offer yourself to him. It's constant. It's never over. N.T. Wright, the Anglican scholar, says, True worship doesn't look at the watch. And he's not just talking about worship time. It's not going, God, I'll give you the next ten minutes. God, I got the, no, no. When you give your, you take that watch off. The time's yours, too. It's all yours. Now, what I would tell you, I hope you'll come flood this altar and dedicate yourself to God. But I'm a pastor now for seven, almost eight years at Mount Carmel. And I've learned decisions are one thing. Monday through Saturday is a different thing. And really, if you want to stay on the altar, you're better off developing habits of what I'm going to call micro-surrenders. All right? Where you practice yielding your will to God in all the decisions of your everyday life, big and small." [01:02:02] (66 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)
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