Spiritual Act of Worship

 

“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.” - Romans 12:1 

Paul wrote this to a people who understood sacrifice.  They saw it daily and participated in it often.  They understood the need for sacrifice and how to do it.  Let's take a moment and look at this.  In view of God's mercy, His pardoning of our sin and His declaration of righteousness on our behalf, we should offer ourselves as a living sacrifice.  We must understand the nature of sacrifice if we are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices as an act of worship.  First let's look at the verbs use to describe sacrifices: to slaughter (done by the worshiper), to present (to bring near) a present, to prepare, to bless, to offer up, to burn up, and to vaporize.  Are we worshiping God as living sacrifices?  Are we asking Him to prepare us?  Are we bringing to death those things in our lives which do not please Him?  Are we presenting ourselves to Him as a present?  Are we a blessing to God?  Would others say our life is being spent in pursuit of God, that it is being burnt up (vaporized) pursuing Him?  Is our life a suitable offering to Him?  Remember the animal for sacrifice had to be without defect, blemish or spot. 

Let's look at the types of offerings in the order they were to be presented: sin, guilt, burnt, cereal, drink, peace, wave, thank, votive, free-will, and ordination.  The sin offering was given for the unintentional braking of the Lord's commands.  The guilt offering was given for braking the law concerning the treatment of God's holy things.  This offering was also given for unfaithfulness, deceit, lying, cheating, stealing, extortion, or losing someone's property and required the full payment and a 20 % return above that.  The burnt offering was a voluntary act of worship, an atonement for unintentional sin or as an expression of devotion, commitment and complete surrender to God.  The cereal and drink offerings were given as voluntary acts of worship in recognition of God's goodness and provision.  They also were used to show devotion to God. 

The fellowship offering was also a voluntary act of worship that was used to convey the desire for fellowship and to express thanksgiving.  This sacrifice included a meal to be eaten in fellowship with God.  These sacrifices were also called offerings of peace, wave offerings, thank offerings, votive offerings (given upon taking a vow), free-will offerings and ordination offerings (used in consecration to divine service).  Here is the pattern for approaching God through the sacrifices demanded in the Old Testament: asking forgiveness of unintentional and intentional sin, expressing our  devotion to Him, committing and completely surrendering to Him, recognizing His goodness and provision, desiring His fellowship, thanking Him, choosing to follow Him of our own free-will, living at peace with Him, vowing to serve Him, consecrating ourselves to His service. 

These are the spiritual acts of worship Paul had in mind when he urged us to “offer our bodies as living sacrifices” as our “spiritual act of worship”.  Are we following the pattern of sacrifice which God has prescribed?  Ask yourself “Is this really how I come to church ready to worship or am I trying to work through all of this during worship?  More than that, am I continually presenting myself to God as a living sacrifice as an act of worship to Him?”

References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.

Do Not Enter - Casually

Heb 9:7 But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance….

Heb 9:12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption….

Heb 9:24 For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people…

Here is the perfect, spotless, sinless, high priest BECOMING the sacrifice for us, once and for all.  Jesus death was the greatest sacrifice ever made; sinless man dying for the sinners.  Allowing holiness to be marred by our shame, He who is the truth taking on our lies.  Perfect love traded in for absolute fear, the humblest man ever to live bearing our selfish pride. He who knew the wonderful joy of heaven filled with depression and sadness.  He who defined loyalty completely abandoned, in short, the perfect example of living the fruit of Spirit now enduring the utter lawlessness of man, infinite power submitted to the finite power of man.

In light His sacrifice, even in light of who He is alone, we must ask ourselves about our attitudes in worship.  Do we stroll casually into the presence of God, treading on the immeasurable sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf?  Are we more concerned about the kind of song, the rhythm, the music, and the words than we are our sacrifice of worship to the Almighty God?  Does it matter what the person next to us will do or will think?  Have we abandoned ourselves in worship to the only Worthy One?  Does the lighting, temperature, style, sound system, etc really matter all that much?  Here, in the depths of our souls, does God reign supreme?  If He does, all these other things really don’t matter much.  If He doesn’t, these things become our focus and we loose sight of the fact that He is worthy no matter the condition in which we find ourselves.  Let me encourage you to be prepared to enter into worship, to come with your heart ready to enter in, with your mind made up to worship no matter the distractions.  Consider His sacrifice on our behalf, on your behalf.  Let us come ready to enter into the most holy place of His Presence anticipating the wonderful things that can happen only in the place of full surrender.

First Use of Worship in the Bible

One of the rules of hermeneutics (the interpretation of Scripture) is the law of first mention.  Usually the first mention of a topic in the Bible is indicative of the rest.  It gives us a snapshot, a context, a reference point of how the topic should be viewed and interpreted in the rest of the Bible.

Genesis 22 contains the first mention of worship in the Bible.  Let us look closely at this passage to gain insights about worship.

    ¹ Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!"
      "Here I am," he replied.

Ø Abraham was actively listening and responded in submission.  His initial openness and attentiveness led to further instructions from God.

    ² Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."

    ³ Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

Ø Abraham obeyed the instructions he received from God.

Ø Abraham made preparations for the sacrifice.  He came prepared.

⁴ On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. ⁵ He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you."

The word worship here is defined by Strong's as to prostrate, pay homage to God, bow, humbly beseech, do obeisance, do reverence,... worship

             

            Hebrews 11:17-19  ¹⁷By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, ¹⁸even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." ¹⁹Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

Ø Abraham had faith in what God had promised him, that thourgh Isaac his lineage would be maintained.  He believed (had faith that) he and his son would return, even if God had to raise him from the dead.  Abraham over-came his personal obstacles to worship.

    ⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, ⁷ Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, "Father?"      

"Yes, my son?" Abraham replied.
      "The fire and wood are here," Isaac said, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"  ⁸ Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.

Ø Abraham had faith that God would provide the sacrifice.  He understood that where God leads, He provides.

    ⁹ When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

Ø Abraham was ready to sacrifice that which was extremely important to him in honor of God. It was a sacrifice of love.

Ø Abraham was tested in is belief in what God had spoken to him.  He had a total abandonment to God’s will.

¹¹ But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!"
      "Here I am," he replied.

Ø Here again Abraham is actively listening and immediately responding to God.

¹² "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

Ø Abraham feared God. He held God in reverence or awe and dared not to disobey Him.  God was testing Abraham’s obedience with something He Himself had promised and something Abraham truly cherished.  God was asking Abraham to lay down the thing of most importance.  After all, God was not asking Abraham to do anything He would not.

Romans 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?

 ¹³ Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram ^[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴ So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."

Ø Here God provides where He has led.  Verse 14 is translated “And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh. As it is said to this day, In the mount of Jehovah it shall be provided. ” in the American Standard Version.  This is the only place I found in the Bible where God is called Jehovah-Jireh or Jehovah will see (to it).

 ¹⁵ The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time ¹⁶ and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷ I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, ¹⁸ and through your offspring ^[b] all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

Ø Great Sacrifice is rewarded with Great Blessing.  God promises that through Abraham’s lineage the Messiah will come and all mankind will be blessed through Abraham’s seed.

Romans 12:1-2  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^[reasonable] 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.

Here is the essence of worship -- when we actively listen to God and respond immediately with total obedience and reverence, no matter the cost, He will reveal Himself to us as our provider, provide for us, and bless us for our obedience.

References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.