Be The Church: Be A Worshiping Church

What makes for a good church?  Great music? Stunning visuals? Friendly greeters? Comfortable seating? Relevant preaching? Fresh coffee?  A lot of churches have spent a lot of resources and energy trying to create the kind of environments that cater to what 21^st North Americans want in a church service.  And as much as those things can enhance a worship service experience and leave us feeling pretty good about our church, most of those things fall pretty low on the priority list when it comes to what God is looking for in His Church.  So that begs the question: What is God looking for in His Church?   Or let me say it this way:  What are the characteristics God wants to see in His People?

After all, if you were here last week, we learned something quite powerful about God’s Church, and that is this: Jesus Loves His Church.  Jesus loves His church so much that He literally gave His life for the Church.  Jesus gave His life for the Church so we could be adopted into His family. We are brothers and sisters with Christ. Jesus gave His life for the Church so He could save us from eternal death and give us life with Him. Jesus gave His life for the Church so He could create a new kind of life in us, so we might be His hands and feet in our world.  Jesus gave His life for the Church so He could fit us together as a dwelling place for Him. We are His home. And if that wasn’t incredible enough, Jesus gave His life for the church so we would actually become part of His body… and because we are part of Him, Jesus cherishes us with a tender affectionate love.  We are the apple of His eye. You’re the apple of His eye. Jesus loves His Church.   And the reason Jesus loves His Church so much, is that Jesus has set us apart to be a blessing in the world.  That’s why when it comes to being a good church, a dynamic church, a Jesus Church, we must answer the question: What is God looking for in His Church?    After all if we are going to be the Church God wants us to be, what’s that going to take?  How are we to BE THE CHURCH?

Well that’s what we’re going look at in God’s Word today, and in the weeks to come from Romans, chapter 12.  For it is in this chapter, God’s Word tells us what makes for a good church: the kind of Church God is looking for.  So if you brought your Bible today, let me encourage you to find Romans 12:1 where we are going to look at the very first characteristic God is looking for In His Church.  And that is this:  That we might BE A WORSHIPING CHURCH

So if you’ve found Romans 12:1, please stand and read God’s Word with me: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 

What is God looking for in His Church?  He’s looking for brothers and sisters in Christ who worship Him, by willingly giving their all to Him. That’s what this verse says.  This verse gives us God’s definition of worship:

True worshipers give their all to God Worship is so much more than singing praise songs.  Worship is more than praying and saying, ”I love you Lord.”  And worship is more than giving our offerings or giving our time. True and proper worship comes from within – when we freely and willingly surrender all and give ourselves to God.  It’s offering our bodies as a living sacrifice, moment by moment, in the course of our everyday lives, because God gave His all for us.  Let me begin to unpack this for us.

First, lets look at the verb Paul uses here: It’s a worship term, a sacrificial term:  “offer”  First-century people were familiar with offering sacrifices whereas we are not.  They we bring their offering to the altar and stand near and watch as an animal was identified as their own, as it was slain in the ritual manner, as its blood was poured out, and as the sacrifice was burned on the altar and the flames rose to the deity they worshiped.  Now for Paul to suggest that they/we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice is a shocking image.  It pictures us willingly putting our own bodies on the altar as an offering to God.  It’s an image of going all in with God, it’s holding nothing back.

And Paul urges us to offer our “bodies,”not just our hearts.  We sing, “Lord I give you my heart,” but this offering entails so much more. This word focuses on the “embodied” nature of us as persons, reminding us that we are physical beings, interacting with a material world.  So by using this word, Paul is telling us that worship involves every part of our lives.  We are to give Him our heart, our mind, our will, our bodies. And when you offer your bodies as a “living” sacrifice this is an act of worship.  This pleases God because God can now work through your life.

You see, if you give your all to God as a living sacrifice, you make yourself available for God to use wherever your feet may take you.  If you give your self moment by moment through out each day, you will free your self from a compartmentalized faith.  You will now walk with Him throughout your day. When you give your mind, it will become more attuned to what God is doing.  Your lips will become instruments of grace and truth.  Your tongue will bring encouragement, healing and life. Your hands will be available to lift up the fallen.  Your arms will give comfort to the lonely and broken. Your ears will become attuned to the cries of the distressed. And your eyes will begin to see everyone in light of eternity…

As a living sacrifice, you’ll be available to be used by God 24/7.  He can use your wisdom in the woodshop, your encouragement on the pickle ball court, your patience on the golf course.  When you continually give your life to God you can be present with your spouse, a voice of reason in our community, a shoulder hold lean in times of trouble.  When you give yourself to God daily, moment by moment…  every conversation, every encounter becomes an opportunity to be the ears, eyes, hands at feet of Jesus.  For when God has your all, God can use us all to be a blessing; and your life will please Him.  This is true and proper worship.  True worshipers give their all to God.

Now this sounds great, doesn’t it?  If we all did this, if we all willingly offered ourselves moment by moment as a living sacrifice, we could truly turn this community on it’s head.  This is also how we can truly tap into our potential as His people. So, let me ask: What holds us back? Why is this so hard for us?  Why aren’t we all doing this every moment of everyday? Couple of reasons:  First, is fear. We are afraid.  We feel if we give our all to God, we’re afraid He might take us out of our comfort zone.  We’re afraid God would have us do something we’re not equipped to do. Or we’re afraid He’ll disrupt the life we’ve worked so hard to attain.  We’re afraid God’s going to make us become a monk or nun or something.  But the problem with our fears is that we struggle believing that God really wants what is best for us.  So we hold back, and don’t go all in with God.

Another reason is that we struggle with this whole concept of surrender.  It’s hard for us to surrender.  We like to be in control.  We say, “I love You God.”  We even pray, “Your will be done.”  But we often want His will to be done on our own terms.  So we have this ongoing battle within us.  We want to do God’s will, we want to change, but we don’t see any models of a fully surrendered life, so we grow accustomed to giving God only parts of our lives, and learn to live in this middle ground with God.  But if God is to be worshiped, if we are to be the kind of Church God is looking for, we’ve got to learn how to surrender.

So how does that work?  Paul already told us when he said, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. God doesn’t expect us to give our all to Him until we grasp all He has done for us.  That’s why Paul says, surrender comes when allow the mercy of God to change us. We are to let God’s mercy lead us into a life of surrender.  In other words,

Giving your all to God is a reasonable response to all God has given you! We need to grasp the mercy of God! For 11 chapters, Paul has made a case for the mercies of God. And if we receive all God gives us, then our reasonable response will be to give our all to Him. But if you can’t grasp what God has done for you, then surrender makes no sense.  That’s why some find it hard to surrender to God – you’ve never really grasped God’s mercy for you.  And yet, that’s why Paul wrote this letter. To show us how desperately each one of us needed God’s mercy.

In the first three chapters of this letter, Paul lays out an argument detailing how each one of us offends God by our sin.  First, we offend God by refusing to value Him.  Instead of worshiping Him, the Bible says, They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator. Rom. 1:25  Another way we offend God is by rejecting His truth:  For those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.  Romans 2:8.  And finally we offend God by claiming to have a corner on His truth but we’re not really living it: You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?  As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Rom 2:23-24   And the result of our rejecting God and rejecting His truth, is to be rejected by God.  But God didn’t do that.  Instead, out of His great love for us, He sent Jesus, to give us mercy:

Rather than poor out His wrath on us, He gives us Christ’s righteousness (Rom 3:21-26)  Rather than leave us as His enemies, He makes us His friends (Romans 5:1-11)            Rather than leaving us enslaved to sin, He sets us free from sin (Romans 6:8)             Rather than condemning us to death, He gives us the Spirit of life (Romans 8:2)               Rather than letting us go our own way, He adopts us as His own (Romans 8:14-16) Rather than giving us what our sins deserve, He gives us inheritance with Christ (Romans 8:31-39) Rather than letting us live in shame, He rescues us through our faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9-13)   You see all of God’s mercies were poured to us in Jesus when He died for us on the cross.  He gave Himself for us, so God could forgive us and give us life.  God gave His all, so He could give us everything.  Therefore, says Paul, I urge you, in view of God’s mercy, give your all to God. Giving your all to God is a reasonable response to all God has given you!  And when you do that, this is what God calls true worship!

Here’s the thing: Giving your all to God is better than you may think:  Too often we have our own ideas of what this might look like.  But we need to see it from God’s perspective.  When you give your all to God, when you offer your body, your thoughts and dreams, your skills and talents, your heart and soul, you are putting your life in the hands of the One who gave you all these things in the first place.  So when you give your all to Him, it’s not really a sacrifice at all.  For you are putting your life in the care of the One who gave you life.  And the life He has for you is better than you can imagine:

As a “living sacrifice” you make yourself available for God   This is what the Christian life is all about. When you give yourself to God, the Spirit of Christ can flow through you to be a blessing to others.  You will be alive to God and Jesus will be able to live His life through you.  What can be better than that?

As a “holy sacrifice” you show yourself to belong to God  That’s what it means to be “holy.”  Once you allow God to live through you, you will stand out.  It will be apparent that you are different.  And the difference they’ll see is Jesus living through you; Jesus loving through you, because you’ll allow the Spirit to flow through you.  And you’ll start to bear a family resemblance – and people will know you belong to the Father.  What can be better than that?  And finally,

As a “pleasing sacrifice” you give delight to God  Your trusting in Him will please Him, because you’ll be living the life God destined you to live.  It will give God pleasure, but you will be the one experiencing the joy, for you will know God’s smile, experience His presence, walk and not grow weary.  Your burdens will be light and your hope will be strong.  I mean, what can be better than that?   But we will never experience this life until we are willing to give our lives fully to Him.  And here’s the kicker:

Giving your all is something you get to do… not have to do!  You see giving your all to God is a grace thing.  We don’t have to do this, we get to do this.  That’s why Paul wrote, “I urge you, brothers and sisters.”
 This is not a command.  It is simply a heartfelt encouragement to look at what God has done for you and respond accordingly.  If this were a command, then we would be disobedient if we weren’t living surrendered lives.  But we are not commanded to do this.  God believes we will be so taken by all He has given us, that we will want to give our all to Him. And when we freely and willing give our all to Him, that’s worship!  For God is now glorified by your offering!  And isn’t that what you want to do?

Doesn’t it seem reasonable for God to expect you to give yourself completely to Him after all He has done for you?  He’s set you free from sin, He’s adopted you into His family, He gives you the Spirit of life, He gives you Christ’s righteousness, He’s promises to always be for you, He’s removed your sin and shame through, and He’s given you a relationship with Him that will last forever.  And He leaves the response to you. So it’s really a question of trust. Is all that God has given you sufficient for you to give your all to Him?  Can you trust Him in every situation, conversation, decision in life?  Can you surrender all?

Years ago, Queen Mary made it her practice to visit Scotland every year.  She was so loved by the people there that she often mingled with them freely without protective escort.  While walking with some children one afternoon, she went farther than she had planned.  Dark clouds came up unexpectedly, so she stopped at a nearby house to borrow an umbrella.  “If you lend me one,” she said to the lady who answered the door, “I’ll send it back tomorrow.”

The woman didn’t recognize the Queen and was reluctant to give this stranger her best umbrella.  So she handed her one that she intended to throw away.  The fabric was torn in several places and one of the ribs was broken… The next day another knock was heard at her door.  When the woman opened it, she was greeted by a royal guard, who was holding her old, tattered umbrella.  “The Queen sent me,” he said.  “She asked me to thank you for loaning her this.”  For a moment the woman was stunned, then she burst into tears. “Oh, what an opportunity I missed,” she cried.  “I didn’t give the Queen my very best.”

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  God has given you His best.  God has given you His mercies.  God has given you Jesus. Perhaps it’s time we learned how to give Him our best, and our all to Him in everything.

That’s the kind of worship that pleases God.  That’s the kind people God is looking for to be His Church. Surrendered People. For through surrendered people God can turn the world upside down.  May we be that kind of people: the kind of people who give our all to Him in the everyday course of life, and so worship Him.