SERIES: Worship 101 Message: How We Worship

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Louie Giglio – The Air We Breathe
1. this is how worship is defined by Louie Giglio in his book, The Air I Breathe –
worship is…

our response,
both personal & corporate,
to God –
for who He is
and what He has done
expressed in and by the things we say
and the way we live

2. the key word is response. Worship is our response to God. We don’t initiate worship, God does.

3. this is exactly what Paul wrote in Romans 12:1. Worship is our response to God for who he is & what he has done = in view of God’s mercy

4. we express our worship in and by the things we say and the way we live = offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy & pleasing to God

therefore
1. therefore is a pivot point in Paul’s letter to the church at Rome. For 11 chapters Paul has been painstakingly unfolding, point by point, this thing called salvation – how God in Christ has saved us from our sin.

2. 11 chapters of some of the weightiest theology in the entire Bible:
§ God’s wrath & righteousness & judgment upon sin
§ our fall and sin and death
§ Christ’s death & resurrection
§ coming of the Spirit to sanctify & keep us
§ God’s faithfulness to his elect & to Israel

3. and now Paul starts in a different direction – therefore. At 12:1 Paul moves from
§ doctrine to practice
§ theology to ethics. From who we are in Christ to how we are to live in Christ

I urge you brothers
1. urge is a strong. This is no suggestion. A word of passion & conviction. Urge was used in the ancient world with troops about to go into battle.

2. it’s not a think word; its an action word. Because of the wonderful things of God written in chapters 1-11, there is a way of life waiting to be lived. Urge – get to it, live it, do it.

in view of God’s mercy
1. this phrase has knocked me off my feet all week. Listen closely. Paul sums up 11 salvation chapters with the word mercy. It’s all about God’s mercy. The foundation of our new life in Christ is God’s mercy!

2. not God’s wrath or righteousness or judgment. Not Christ’s death or resurrection. Not the Spirit’s sanctifying work.

3. but the mercies of God! Mercy, the one word that sums up all of the words of Romans 1-11.

4. what is mercy? Simple meaning. In the Bible mercy is what God shows to the weak & helpless. Mercy is God helping the helpless do what they cannot do for themselves.

5. and in this case, what we are helpless to do for ourselves is save ourselves. Is get back in good standing with God, our Creator & Father.

6. Paul to the Romans, to all of us – you weak, helpless, unable to undo your sin people. God has helped you to find salvation in Christ. In light of his help, his mercy, let me tell you about the only appropriate response.

7. mercy calls for a response, deserves a response, begs for a response. And the response that mercy calls for, urges us to, is to live a life of worship. Worship is our response to God’s mercy.

to offer your bodies as living sacrifices
1. our response to God’s mercy – offer our bodies to him as a living sacrifice. This is the language of worship. This language finds its beginnings in the Old Testament sacrificial system.

2. offer is a technical term used of Old Testament sacrifices. Paul is forming a contrast here between Old & New Testament sacrifices:
§ OT sacrifices given to make atonement for sin – since Jesus has become our atonement, we offer our bodies to God out of gratitude
§ OT sacrifices included sheep, goats, bulls, cereal – we place ourselves on the altar as a sacrifice
§ OT sacrifices were dead when offered – our sacrifices are living

3. body is key. Body is a way of saying our whole life. Worship is a way of life. Wherever our bodies go, whatever our bodies do, can become places & acts of worship.

4. how? If we give our bodies, our very lives, to God. If we commit ourselves to honoring him in & by the things we say & the way we live. This Pauline, Romans 12:1 understanding of worship, goes far beyond our Sunday morning worship as the community of faith. It both includes it & transcends it.

5. where do your bodies go? What do your bodies do?:
§ church – singing, prayer, preaching, teaching, serving, loving, giving
§ workplace – teaching school, pumping gas, writing memos, building houses, managing money, building computer systems, raising nursery stock, driving truck, selling electrical supplies, working in a hospital
§ neighborhood – the way you keep up your property, the kind of neighbor you are
§ community – how you treat people, cheer for your kids soccer game, coach your kids basketball team, interact with the checker at Thriftway or the waiter at Thai Dish or the person pumping your gas at Chevron
§ home – the way you treat your spouse or kids or parents, spend your money, plan your days, use the internet, deal with conflict & disappointment, celebrate special days, cooking, eating
§ world – the way you deal with issues of poverty, injustice, care for God’s creation, view your enemies, treat our public officials, vote at election time, carry ourselves in the public square
§ sexuality – the way we use our bodies in celebration of our sexuality matters to God, can be an act of worship if done within the parameters God has placed around sex to safeguard it
§ sports – way you run cross country, play football, play soccer, swim, respond to a controversial call
§ relationships – how you treat your enemies, those who hurt you, frustrate you, the way you love those you love
§ the arts – painting, writing, drawing, sculpting, dancing, acting, making music

6. these are things we do with our bodies. And offered to God, committed to God, done God’s way with God’s honor in mind, can every one of them be done as worship before God.

7. worship is…
our response,
both personal & corporate,
to God –
for who He is
and what He has done
expressed in and by the things we say
and the way we live

this is your spiritual act of worship
1. bodies & spirit go together. Bodies matter to God. Our bodies carry great spiritual meaning both to God & to ourselves. The only way we can worship God in this life is with our bodies – hands, feet, fingers, eyes, mouth, ears, legs, arms, lungs

2. the Psalms burst forth with bodily worship – hands clapping, hands raised, voices shouting, voices singing, bodies kneeled, bodies bowing, bodies prostrate, hands & mouths playing instruments, bodies dancing, bodies silent, bodies at attention before God.

3. tonight @ 6pm – be here!

4. worship is our all-the-time bodily & spiritual response to God’s mercy. We leave our places in our Monday-Saturday world. We come together on Sunday as the community of faith. We gather to worship God through music, song, prayer, Word, giving, service & community. We gather out of thirst for God, need of God. We gather to respond to his unfathomable mercy.

5. and we go forth into our Monday-Saturday worlds to continue our worship of God. With our bodies. In & by the things we say & the way we live. Where we live, work & play.

6. and then we return on Sunday & bring with us the stuff of our week both good & bad. We offer it up to God in worship. We give thanks. We confess our sins. We confess our failures. We confess our need of Christ. We listen for his Word. We gladly give him our money, time & gifts.

7. this is the cycle of a life lived in worship. And we do all of this in our bodies, bodies that we offer to God as sacrifices. Living sacrifices. All because of his mercy & love.

Bob Dylan
1. years ago during Bob Dylan’s Christian phase he sang a song called What Can I Do For You? The song is about responding with one’s life to God’s mercy.

You have given everything to me, what can I do for you?
You have given me eyes to see, what can I do for you?
Pulled me out of bondage
And you made me renewed inside
Filled up a hunger that had always been denied
Opened up a door no man can shut
And you opened it up so wide
And you’ve chosen me to be among the few
What can I do for you?

You have laid down your life for me, what can I do for you?
You have explained every mystery, what can I do for you?
Soon as a man is born you know the sparks begin to fly
He gets wise in his own eyes, and he’s made to believe a lie
Who would deliver him from the death he’s bound to die
Well you’ve done it all & there’s no more anyone can pretend to do, what can I do for you?
You have given all there is to give, what can I give to you?
You have given me life to live, how can I live for you?
I know all about poison, I know all about fiery darts
I don’t care how rough the road is, show me where to start
Whatever pleases you tell it to my heart
Well I don’t deserve it but I sure did make it through, what can I do for you?

Gerda Weissman Klein
1. I want to end with a story. It comes from the New England Holocaust Memorial and is from a death camp survivor, Gerda Weissman Klein –
Ilse, a childhood friend of mine, once found a raspberry in the camp and carried it in her pocket all day to present to me that night on a leaf. Imagine a world in which your entire possession is one raspberry and you give it to your friend.

2. Gerda Weissman Klein’s friend gave her all that she had, her prized possession, a raspberry. Our most prized possession is our life. It’s all we have of any significance to give to God.

3. When we give our lives to God as a living sacrifice than our whole life becomes worship. From Sunday gathered together as the community of faith to Monday-Saturday where we live, work & play!

4. take the raspberry that is your life & give it to God. And then let worship come!