WORSHIP SHOULD BE the hallmark of every redeemed life. Romans 12:1 reads, “Therefore, 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.” The same passage in the King James translation calls for our sacrifices to be “holy and acceptable unto God.”
THROUGHOUT HISTORY God has delivered explicit instructions to his people concerning the offering of sacrifices which constitute acceptable worship. We need go no further than the fourth chapter of Genesis to see that not just any sacrifice will do. The sons of Adam and Eve both offered sacrifices to God, but we are told that, “The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.”* The nation of Israel worshiped God by offering animal sacrifices as prescribed by the Law of Moses, but through the prophet, Jeremiah, God expresses his displeasure with some saying, “Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me.”**
UNACCEPTABLE: WHY? The attitude of one’s heart and the manner of one’s life are far more important than the ritual of sacrifice. Today worshipers are called upon to offer themselves as living sacrifices to God. Typically we think of worship as offering thanks to God for what he’s done for us. But that is just one aspect of worship. We must remember that God is worthy of all our praise and adoration simply for who he is, even if we could not call to mind a single benefit for which to thank him. Thanksgiving and praise are vital components in the worshiping life, but to offer our bodies as living sacrifices is to worship with every part of our being.
CHILDREN OF LIGHT are whole-life worshiping people. By that I mean, they recognize God’s worth – his supreme value – and they respond by honoring and adoring him with their whole life. They have an overwhelming longing to give themselves to God. They yearn to honor him and express their love for him with their attitudes, in their relationships and by the sharing of their possessions, until worship touches and colors every aspect of their way of life!
INWARDLY, they seek to please God by hiding his Word in their hearts. They allow his Spirit to apply the Word to their lives as needed to produce spiritual fruit consistent with “goodness, righteousness and truth.” Outwardly, their worship of God shows in the way they treat others. Expressing the love of God for others in tangible ways they demonstrate his compassion and honor him. Finally, their offering of thanksgiving and praise to God for who he is and what he has done is their upward dimension of worship.
“THROUGH JESUS, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”***
*Genesis 4:4-5
**Jeremiah 6:20
*** Hebrews 13:15
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