When Do We Worship?

Part 4 of 4

Text: Romans 12:1-2


Romans 12:1-2, NIV 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Corporately

· “When” is whenever we decide to worship.

· Sunday is the accepted day of worship, but what about Wednesdays? What about choir rehearsals? What about in your Bible Study class? Or a home Bible study group?

· Is corporate worship only possible on the “Sabbath”? No, corporate worship is possible wherever two or three are gathered together in Jesus’ name (Matthew 18:20).

· Note that have discussed “possibilities”. It is also possible to come together ‘in His name” and not worship.

o If we sit and choose to not commune with God, then we are choosing not to worship.

o That choice is sin but it is possible.

· Psalm 47:1 “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy”

· Psalm 98:4 “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music.”

· Also, remember that worship is a meeting WITH God, not just a meeting ABOUT God!

Individually

· Romans 12:1-2, although addressed to the church meeting at house in Rome, was talking here to individuals.

· We must never overlook that “the church” will never be more spiritual than its membership.

· 2 Corinthians 5:16-19, NIV 16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Thoug
h we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

· Worship is a lifestyle of living for Christ. It is everyday!

o Galatians 2:20, NLT I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So I live my life in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

o Galatians 5:22-23, NIV 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

· We are not our own.

o 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NLT 19Or don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

· That “high price” was the blood of Christ!

o Ephesians 1:3, THE MESSAGE How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him.

o Ephesians 2:1-10, NIV 1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Romans 12:1-2, THE MESSAGE 1So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life–your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life–and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

“The focus of worship is not human experience, not a lecture, not entertainment, but Jesus Christ—His life, death, and resurrection.” –Robert E. Webber in Worship is a Verb.