Notes
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2
The true way to worship God is by giving our whole selves over to Him - by becoming living sacrifices. God desires that we know Him and seek Him in everything. What does it mean to worship with your whole life? With everything that you are? The Bible gives us several ways to seek God and come to know who He is:
1) Songs
Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.
Ephesians 5:18-19
2) His Word
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
3) Prayer and Communion
All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.
Acts 2:42
Worship starts in our heads, and then it moves to our hearts, the core of who we are. Once it takes hold of our hearts, our worship begins to flow from our hearts to our hands through action. The purpose of our spiritual gifts is for us to use them to worship God in everything that we do - not just for a couple of hours on Sundays, but every day throughout the week. When our worship moves from our head, to our heart, to our hands, that is God transforming the way we think.
Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.
Romans 12:3-6
God’s will is for us to become who He created us to be. Each of us are designed to make the body of Christ better, to play our part to help the body grow both numerically and in maturity.
Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically … Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
Romans 12:11, 21
What does it look like to really worship God? Have what He puts in your head and your heart come out of your hands. We work together for the sake of Jesus’ name by sharing the Good News to grow the Kingdom and by doing good in His name.
Group Questions
- What is worship?
- What does it mean to be a living sacrifice?
- Why is it important that our worship moves from our head to our heart to our hands?
- What are some examples of doing good for the Kingdom?
Prayer
We want to worship you with every area of our lives. Show us how to worship you with everything - with our family, our friends, our jobs, our money, our time.