A BELIEVER'S ULTIMATE WORSHIP PT. 1 ROMANS 12:1-2
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Some years ago, a tearful and obviously distraught young woman approached me at a conference where I was speaking. She told me a story I have heard many times. "I just can't seem to live the Christian life the way I should," she said. "I'm frustrated. I don't have spiritual victory or a sense of accomplishment. I struggle with the simplest forms of obedience, and I'm constantly defeated. Can you help me?" I said, "What has been your approach to solving the problems yourself?" She replied, "I've tried everything. I've attended churches where they speak in tongues, have healings, and have all kinds of extraordinary spiritual experiences. I've spoken in tongues myself, had ecstatic experiences, been prophesied over, and experienced several supposed miracles. I've been 'slain in the spirit.' But despite all of that, I'm not pleased with my life and I know God isn't pleased. I've tried to get everything from Him that I can, but I'm not satisfied. I'm still miserable and want more." "I think you have just put your finger on the problem," I said. "The key to spiritual victory and true happiness is not in trying to get all we can from God but in giving all that we are and have to Him." Countless thousands of people today, including many genuine Christians, flock to various churches, seminars, and conferences in search of personal benefits—practical, emotional, and spiritual—that they hope to receive. They do just the opposite of what Paul so plainly emphasizes in . In this forceful and compassionate exhortation, the apostle does not focus on what more we need to receive from God but on what we are to give Him. The key to a productive and satisfying Christian life is not in getting more but in giving all. Jesus said, "True worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers" (). God gave Himself for us in order that we might give ourselves to Him. Paul defines Christians as those "who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh" (). Every Christian is a priest of God Most High" (). Together, we are a spiritual priesthood, as much so as the Levitical and Aaronic priesthoods of the Old Covenant. The church is "a holy priesthood," whose calling is "to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ... [It is] a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (, ). Our supreme calling is to serve God with all our being, first and foremost in worship. Through Christ, the writer of Hebrews tells us, we are to "continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name" (). True worship includes many things besides the obvious ones of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. It includes serving God by serving others in His name, especially fellow believers. Sacrificial worship includes "doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased" (; cf. ). But above all else, our supreme act of worship is to offer ourselves wholly and continually to the Lord as living sacrifices. Tragically, that is far from the approach that is so common today by which believers seek the key to the abundant life. We are told that victory in the Christian life is to have more of God and to have more from God—although "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, [already] has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (, emphasis added). And in Christ, we already have "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," so that in Him we "have been made complete" (, ). Peter said that in the true and saving knowledge of Christ, we have "everything pertaining to life and godliness" (). And we have the resident truth teacher, the Holy Spirit, whose anointing, John says, "teaches [us] about all things" (). In the deepest, eternal sense, therefore, we cannot have more of God or from God than we now possess. It is more than obvious, however, that most of us do not have the fulness of joy that this fulness of blessing should bring. The joy and satisfaction for which so many Christians are vainly striving can be had only by surrendering back to the Lord what He already has given to us, including our inmost being. The first and greatest commandment is what Jesus said it has always been: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" (; cf. ).
In this forceful and compassionate exhortation, the apostle does not focus on what more we need to receive from God but on what we are to give Him. The key to a productive and satisfying Christian life is not in getting more but in giving all. Jesus said, "True worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers" (). God gave Himself for us in order that we might give ourselves to Him. Paul defines Christians as those "who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh" (). Every Christian is like Melchizedek, "a priest of God Most High" (). Together, we are a spiritual priesthood, as much so as the Levitical and Aaronic priesthoods of the Old Covenant. The church is "a holy priesthood," whose calling is "to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ... [It is] a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (, ). Our supreme calling is to serve God with all our being, first and foremost in worship. Through Christ, the writer of Hebrews tells us, we are to "continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name" (). True worship includes many things besides the obvious ones of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. It includes serving God by serving others in His name, especially fellow believers. Sacrificial worship includes "doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased" (; cf. ). But above all else, our supreme act of worship is to offer ourselves wholly and continually to the Lord as living sacrifices. Tragically, that is far from the approach that is so common today by which believers seek the key to the abundant life. We are told that victory in the Christian life is to have more of God and to have more from God—although "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, [already] has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (, emphasis added). And in Christ, we already have "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," so that in Him we "have been made complete" (, ). Peter said that in the true and saving knowledge of Christ, we have "everything pertaining to life and godliness" (). And we have the resident truth teacher, the Holy Spirit, whose anointing, John says, "teaches [us] about all things" (). In the deepest, eternal sense, therefore, we cannot have more of God or from God than we now possess. It is more than obvious, however, that most of us do not have the fulness of joy that this fulness of blessing should bring. The joy and satisfaction for which so many Christians are vainly striving can be had only by surrendering back to the Lord what He already has given to us, including our inmost being. The first and greatest commandment is what Jesus said it has always been: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" (; cf. ). In the present text we discover four elements of presenting ourselves to God as a living, holy, and acceptable sacrifice—essentially the same four elements found in the first and greatest commandment. They are: offering God our souls, our bodies, our minds, and our wills. While recognizing that these four overlap, we still can see how they provide a useful outline for grasping this text.
MacArthur New Testament Commentary, The - MacArthur New Testament Commentary – .
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
SINCE FINDING THE BELIEVER FINDS SATISFACTION AND FULNESS IN GIVING TO GOD, WE ARE GOING TO TALK ABOUT GIVING GOD THE ULTIMATE WORSHIP
TEACHING US THINGS SUCH AS, ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD, THERE IS THEREFORE NOW NO CONDEMNATION, NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE
HOWEVER WITH THE CULTURE BEING SO INFLUENTIAL UPON THE LIVES OF HUMANITY, IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO WORSHIP PROPERLY OR FIND GOD’S WILL AGAINST TODAY’S IDEAS
YET, LOOK AT
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
BODY
BODY
IN THE TEXT, PAUL HAS JUST FINISHED ELEVEN CHAPTERS OF THE INDICATIVES OF THE BELIEVER
THE INDICATIVES ARE THE STATE OF THE BELIEVER ACCORDING TO THE WORK OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS AND HIS PRECIOUS BLOOD
IT IS WHO YOU ARE IN CHRIST
NOW HE MOVES TO THE IMPERATIVES
THE IMPERATIVES ARE THE NECESSITIES OF THE BELIEVER
LIKE MOST PAULINE WRITINGS, HE BEGINS WITH THE INDICATIVES AND THEN MOVES TO THE IMPERATIVES
HE BEGINS WITH WHO YOU ARE AND MOVES TO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO
AND WHEN IT COMES TO THE IMPERATIVES OF THE BELIEVER IN THIS TEXT, HE DOES SO WITH URGENCY
HE SAYS, “I BESEECH”
WE MUST REMEMBER THAT THIS IS PAUL WHO IS WRITING THIS LETTER
PAUL HAD RECEIVED 39 STRIPES ON 5 DIFFERENT OCCASIONS, 3 X’S BEATEN WITH RODS, ONCE HE WAS STONED ALMOST TO DEATH, ANS SPENT A DAY AND A NIGHT IN THE DEEP
IT IS PAUL WHO WAS ABLE TO SAY
From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.
IT WAS PAUL WHO SAID, I HAVE FOUGHT A GOOD FIGHT, I HAVE KEPT THE FAITH, I HAVE FINISHED MY COURSE
THAT IS WHY IT IS INTERESTING TO SEE SUCH A MAN BEGGING THE ROMAN BELIEVERS
WHAT WOULD BRING PAUL TO HIS KNEES
PAUL WASN’T THE KIND OF PERSON TO BEG ANYONE
BUT, HE SAYS, “I BESEECH YOU”
THE WORD BESEECH MEANS TO BEG, TO REQUEST
IT WAS THE TYPE OF WORD USED TO BRING FORTH A PARTICULAR EFFECT
PAUL IS REQUESTING THEM TO PRODUCE A CERTAIN EFFECT
HE CANNOT MAKE THEM STEP INTO A PLACE OF ULTIMATE WORSHIP, THE DECISION HAS TO BE THAT OF THE ROMANS
THE SURRENDER TO GOD MUST BE COMPLETELY WILLING
JUST LIKE NO ONE CAN MAKE YOU DO WHAT IS REQUIRED AS A BELIEVER, YOU HAVE TO BE COMPLETELY WILLING
HE IS DEALING WITH BELIEVERS WHO HAVE NOT BEEN TRANSFORMED
HE IS DEALING WITH BELIEVERS WHO HAVE NOT PRESENTED THEMSELVES AS LIVING SACRIFICES AND HE IS DEALING WITH BELIEVERS WHO HAVE NOT PROVEN WHAT THE WILL OF GOD IS
AND PAUL SAYS, I BEG YOU
YOU DON;T HAVE TIME TO PLAY GAMES, BE JEALOUS, TALK ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE, OR WORRY ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
HE SAYS, I BEG YOU TO STOP PLAYING CHURCH, BECAUSE YOU ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME
YOU HAVE THE BEST SHOES BUT YOU ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME
ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR THE GOOD.....
YOU HAVE THE BEST CAR, JOB, SHOES, BUT YOU ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME
WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERERS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US
TELL YOUR NEIGHBOR, YOU ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME
SO, WHAT YOU NEED TO DO, DO IT NOW
PREACH NOW, TESTIFY, WRITE THE BOOK, START THE BUSINESS
DO IT NOW
PRAISE HIM NOW, WORSHIP HIM NOW, GET HEALED NOW, GET DELIVERED NOW, GET YOUR BREAKTHROUGH NOW
PAUL SAYS, I BESEECH YOU THEREFORE
WHAT IS THE WORD THERE FOR?
THE WORD THEREFORE CONCLUDES ALL THE THINGS THAT GOD HAS DONE FOR THEM IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
ROM 1
(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
ROM 3:
And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
ROM 4:
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
ROM 7
ROM 6
For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
ROM 7
HE TALKS ABOUT THE INWARD STRUGGLE
NOTHING CAN
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
ROM 8
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
ROM 9
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
ROM 1136
THEN HE SAYS, I BESEECH YOU THEREFORE “BRETHREN”
THEY HAVE NOT LIVED UP TO THEIR EXPECTATION, BUT HE CALLS THEM BRETHREN
THE WORD, ‘BRETHREN’ IS A WORD OF GRACE
GOD DOESN’T WAIT UNTIL YOU HAVE EVERYTHING TOGETHER
BUT WHILE YOU ARE STAGGERING BETWEEN YOUR OLD LIFE AND NEW LIFE
AND YOU ARE TRYING TO BE ALL THAT HE WANTS YOU TO BE, HE STILL CALLS YOU BRETHREN
ON CREDIT
BY FAITH
WE HAVEN’T ALWAYS DONE THE RIGHT THINGS AS BELIEVERS BUT WE WERE INCLUDED
WE HAVE MESSED UP, MISSED THE MARK, MADE SOME MISTAKES
SOME OF US ARE STILL MAKING MISTAKES, BUT HE STILL CALLS YOU BRETHREN
HE SAYS, I BESEECH YOU THEREFORE BRETHREN BY THE MERCIES OF GOD
HERE IT IS
PAUL IS BEGGING OR USING THIS WORD TO PRODUCE A PARTICULAR EFFECT THROUGH THE CHANNEL OF MERCIES
I’M REQUESTING YOU THROUGH A CHANNEL CALLED MERCY
IT IS WHAT JEREMIAH SAID WERE NEW EVERY MORNING
MERCY IS WHAT GOD GIVES YOU WHEN YOU DON’T DESERVE IT
WHAT ELSE COULD PAUL REQUEST US BY BUT BY THE MERCIES OF GOD
SOMETIMES, YOU JUST HAVE TO STOP AND THANK HIM FOR HIS MERCY
MERCY WOKE ME UP THIS MORNING, BROUGHT ME TO CHURCH, GAVE YOU YOUR JOB, WIFE, HUSBAND, CAR, HOUSE, ANOTHER BREATH TO PRAISE HIM, STOPPED THE DEVIL FROM KILLING ME
EVERYTHING THAT I HAVE RIGHT NOW, I HAVE THROUGH HIS MERCY
SOME PEOPLE ACT LIKE THEY DON’T NEED ANY MERCY
BUT THE REAL ME NEEDS SOME MERCY
I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT DEACON DILLIP OR BISHOP BABA
I’M TALKING ABOUT SLICK SATISH AND DIRTY DINESH\
SOME OF US WOULDN’T BE HERE RIGHT NOW IF IT WASN’T FOR THE MERCIES OF GOD
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THGIS SCRIPTURE IS THAT IS DOES NOT REDUCE GOD’S MERCY TO ONE
HE CALLS MERCY IN PLURALITY MERCIES
IF GOD DEALT WITH US ACCORDING TO OUR SIN, WE WOULD NOT BE HERE RIGHT NOW
WE SHOULD THANK GOD FOR HIS MERCY
SOME OF YOU SHOULD BE DEAD, BUT MERCY KEPT YOU ALIVE
SOME OF YOU WOULD HAVE GIVEN UP B UT MERCY STEPPED IN
MERCY GAVE YOU HELP, STRENGTH
YOU SHOULD BLESS THE LORS AT ALL TIMES
YOU ARE A MIRACLE OF GOD’S MERCY
ANYTHING CCOULD HAVE HAPPENED, BUT GOD WHO IS RICH IN MERCY-MERCY SAID NO
PAUL SAYS, I BESEECH YOU.........THAT YOU PRESENT
HERE PAUL MOVES FROM THE BROTHERHOOD TO THE PRIESTHOOD
NOW HE IS TALKING TO THEM AS PRIESTS
TO PRESENT YOUR BODIES A LIVING SACRIFICE
YOU CAN GO BEFOR THE THRONE OF GRACE TO OBTAIN MERCY
YOU DON’T NEED ANYONE GOING IN FOR YOU
IT IS NOT THE GIFT THAT GOD DESIRES, IT IS THE GIVER THAT GOD DESIRES
JUST LIKE CHRIST2, HE WAS BOTH THE OFFERING AND THE OFFERER
BUT YOU CAN’T COME IN THE ANYWAY THAT YOU WANT TO
IT MUST BE HOLY-MEANING THAT WE MUST OFFER OURSELVES SET APART FOR GOD
SET APRAT FROM THE PROFANE WAYS OF THE WORLD AND SET APART UNTO GOD
THEIR LIVES HAVE TO BE ACCEPTABLE
WHEN YOU ARE LIVING HOLY AND PLEASING TO GOD YOU CAN OFFER YOURSELVES AS A LIVING SACRIFICE
WHERN YOU ENTERED INTO THE TABERNACLE, THE FIRST PIECE OF FURNITURE THAT YOU WOULD SEE WOULD BE THE BRAZEN ALTAR
AND THE SACRIFICE HAD TO BE TIED DOWN TO THE FOUR CORNERS-TO THE HORNS
STILL MOVING
CHRIST DIED FOR US THAT IS WHY WE MUST LIVE FOR HIM
THE SACRIFICE WOULD BE UNACCEPTABLE IF IT WAS DEAD
A LIVING SACRIFICE, TIED TO SOMETHING THAT IS KILLING YOU
IT MEANS THAT IF YOU WALK WITH GOD, SOONER OR LATER ON YOUR JOURNEY GOD’S WILL WILL TIE YOU TO SOMETHING THAT KILLS YOU
SOMEONE’S SACRIFICE:
IS LOVING SOMEONE THAT DOESN’T LOVE YOU BACK- AND YOU ARE TIED
LIVING IN A MARRIAGE WHERE YO DON’T FEEL APPRECIATED-AND YOU ARE TIED TO IT
HAVEN’T BEEN LOVED FOR YEARS AND YOU ARE LONELY, BUT YOU ARE TIED TO IT
HAVING A CHILD THAT WON’T OBEY, AND IS UNAPPRECIATIVE, YOU GIVE HIM EVERYTHING BUT HE CUSSES YOU OUT- TIED TO IT
PASTORING A CHURC THAT WON’T GROW, PREACHING EVERY WEEK WITH PASSION, BUT TIED TO IT
GOD KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT YOU NEED TO KILL YOUR FLESH AND HE WILL TIE YOU TO IT
THIS IS WHERE YOU LEARN HUMILITY, HOW TO PRAY
I HEAR JOB, THOUGH HE SLAY ME YET .......
THIS IS YOUR ACCEPTABLE WORHIP
WHEN GOD ACCEPTS A SACRIFICE, HIS FIRE FALLS
SOMETHING FROM HEAVEN IS ABOUT READY TO FALL ON YOU
HIS FAVOR, PROSPERITY, HEALING, PEACE, GRACE, MERCY, ABUNDANT LIFE, COMFORT, GOODNESS, LOVE, FAITHFULNESS