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[0:00] Excited for this series. So we are doing, as Dave mentioned, a series on worship that will be for the next four weeks.! Worship matters now because it will matter then, forever.

[0:34] Here's another quote. Worship matters. It matters to God because He is the one ultimately worthy of all worship. It matters to us because worshiping God is the reason for which we were created.

[0:48] And so we use the word worship a lot, right? In our preaching, in our Bible studies, in our quiet times with the Lord. We call this time, right? What we're doing right now is our worship service.

[1:00] On our website, it actually invites people to worship with us, to worship our God and King. There's worship bands, worship nights, worship music. But what is worship?

[1:11] Why do we worship? Who do we worship? When do we worship? How do we worship? Can I worship by myself? Or do I need to be here with the gathered church?

[1:21] Is singing the highest form of worship? Is all we're going to do in heaven someday sing, right? And some of you are thinking, if so, I definitely don't want to be there. Is it better to worship God with my mind or with my heart, right?

[1:34] Should I guard against an overly emotional response? What place do physical postures have in worship? Are they even biblical? If worship matters so much to God and to the nature of our current and our future existence, then it would behoove us to be able to answer these kinds of questions.

[1:54] And that's exactly what we hope to do from God's Word as a church over these next four weeks. And so our hope and our prayer is that by the end of this series, that we as individuals and our church body as a whole will understand more fully and will desire more passionately the true worship of God.

[2:16] I want to say that again. Our hope and prayer is that we as individuals of the church body will understand more fully and desire more passionately the true worship of God. Jesus said this to the Samaritan woman at the well, but the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

[2:38] So if God is seeking such people to worship him, then we should concern ourselves with being those kinds of people. So we've titled this series, Worship on Earth as it is in Heaven.

[2:52] This thing's not working, is it? Oh, there we go. It's going the wrong way. Worship on Earth as it is in Heaven. Because all the time now and forevermore in Heaven, God is being worshipped.

[3:06] He is being worshipped right now in Heaven and right now on Earth. And in Heaven he's being worshipped perfectly, right? We want that kind of perfect worship that's going on in Heaven now and forevermore to be ushered forward into the present.

[3:23] And we want our worship on Earth to increasingly look like our future worship in Heaven. And I got news for you if you didn't know. Our worship on Earth, it's not perfect.

[3:35] It's not perfect. We have a lot of, there's a lot of reasons why that is. But I think we all know that our worship on Earth is far from perfect. But in Heaven, it's not going to be imperfect.

[3:46] It's going to be perfect. We're going to be perfectly worshipping God forever with all that we are. And so we want to talk about what that actually looks like. What does it mean to worship God perfectly? And we want to bring that forward into the here and now.

[4:00] Into the here and now. So, worship on Earth as it is in Heaven. And here's where we're going the next four weeks. This sermon is called Worship is All of Life. And we're looking at Romans 12.

[4:12] And we'll talk more about that one today. The second one, and Ethan is going to be preaching, Ethan Weiklingit, is zeroed more in on corporate worship. What's the big deal about corporate worship? Why do we gather together as a body of believers?

[4:25] Do we need to be doing that? The third, and that's going to be from 1 Peter 2. The third sermon is going to be from Psalm 63. And it's going to talk about why and how we ought to engage all of our being in corporate worship.

[4:38] Heart, soul, mind, strength. How do we do that? And finally, from Revelation, Jordan will be preaching Revelation 20 and 21. An actual picture of Heaven and what that worship looks like.

[4:51] And so that's where we're going. It's a lot of ground to cover. And so let's pray again before we jump in for today. Heavenly Father, again, God, we want to worship you with all that we are.

[5:06] And God, we recognize that, God, our selfish desires, the old self, the flesh, is constantly waging a war against our souls.

[5:16] Lord, you have redeemed our souls. God, we're called and justified and sanctified and glorified. And yet now we live in these bodies of flesh that constantly fight for control and for their own worship.

[5:29] And Lord, we need your help here. God, this is lofty stuff. And so we need your spirit to guide us into all truth. God, we pray this in your name. Amen. Amen. So the big idea today is this.

[5:43] True worship is a holy, all-of-life response to God for who he is and what he's done as we find all our satisfaction in him. To put it another way, true worship is a glad, holy, and total response to God for who he is and what he's done.

[6:02] And so we're going to be in Romans chapter 12. And the first point is this. Worship is a response. Worship is a response. Romans 12, 1.

[6:14] I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

[6:26] Paul says, I appeal to you. I appeal. To appeal, it's to make a serious or an urgent request, right? It's to beg, to beseech, to implore, to exhort. And so what Paul is about to request is something urgent.

[6:39] It's something that we should pay attention to, right? And he says, I appeal to you, brothers. So Paul is writing this letter of Romans to the church in Rome. He's writing to believers in Rome.

[6:50] He's writing, as he says in 1 and 7, to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints. So Paul here has an urgent request to make of believers, right?

[7:00] And he says, I appeal to you, therefore. Therefore, that's the big word that we look for, right, as students of the word. This is a clue that what Paul is about to say, what he's about to request to believers, it's based on what he's already said.

[7:15] And so you see, Romans 12 marks a major shift in the letter of Romans. And as Paul does in lots of his other letters, he divides it up into two major sections. This is just high-level view, doctrine and practice.

[7:29] And he does this in a lot of his letters. And it's important to note that our doctrine informs our practice, right? What we believe determines how we live.

[7:40] And this isn't just true of Christians. This is true of everybody. Everybody in this world has a set of beliefs. We often call it a worldview. And they live their lives based on that worldview.

[7:52] And something else that's true of everybody, which we talk about, I feel like, a good amount in this church, is that everybody worships. Everybody worships. Christians worship God, the one true God. Everybody worships something.

[8:03] One pastor put it this way, truly everybody worships, but not everybody worships truly. Bob Coughlin simply defines worship as exalting something with our hearts and actions.

[8:16] See, we're always exalting something with our hearts and actions. And what we exalt is based on what we believe, what our worldview is. And so you see, in this verse, Paul is urging us to worship truly, to exalt God with our hearts and actions.

[8:33] And it's based on the preceding 11 chapters of Romans. Paul spent 11 chapters telling us about this magnificent, mind-blowing plan of redemption determined from before time began.

[8:47] And so Paul is basing this request on that. And he appeals to us specifically on the basis of what? He says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God.

[8:59] And so Paul is pointing back to the mercies of God. Notice it's not the mercy of God, but mercies. It's plural. Because Paul is pointing back to all the things in the preceding 11 chapters that God is for us and that God has done for us that we do not deserve.

[9:17] And let me tell you, it is a big and grand list. And that's where we're going right now. So I want to take us through the book of Romans. We're not going to take hours.

[9:29] We're hopefully going to, you know, hopefully under an hour here. But we're going to march through the book of Romans. We're going to see who God is and what God has done for us. So if you can flip in your Bibles back to Romans chapter 1.

[9:39] I want you to see for your own eyes until you follow along with your eyes and your fingers. Romans chapter 1. Look there in verse 20.

[9:51] God is powerful, right?

[10:02] That's what we see here in verse 20. We see that God is divine. God is creator. He spoke this world into existence by His words. The world was formless and empty.

[10:13] He said, let there be light. And there was light. God is glorious. God is eternal and immortal. We get that from verse 20 and also 23. They exchange the glory of the immortal God.

[10:26] We see in verse 18 that He's wrathful towards sin. Why? Because that implies something about God. He's actually holy. God is holy. 1 Samuel 2.2 says, There is none holy like the Lord, for there is none besides you.

[10:38] There is no rock like our God. We've learned here that being holy means being set apart, right? It means being different, utterly distinct. That's what the word holy means, and that's what God is.

[10:50] He is totally holy. There is no one like Him. Now, last week, if you were here, Dave laid a fantastic foundation for a series on worship, and he said this, The living God is not a bigger version of you or of me.

[11:06] He's not just bigger. He's fundamentally different. Two amazing passages that help us realize how different God is.

[11:17] Write these down. Job 38 through 41. One of our community groups went through Job recently. Isaiah chapter 40. If you're ever feeling puffed up about yourself, read these passages.

[11:29] We're actually going to read some of Isaiah 40 right now. Isaiah 40 verse 12. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span and closed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains and scales and the hills in a balance?

[11:46] Who has measured the spirit of the Lord or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice and taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding?

[11:58] Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are counted as the dust on the scales. Behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

[12:12] All the nations are as nothing before him. They are counted by him as less than nothing in emptiness. To whom then will you liken God or what likeness compare with him?

[12:24] Down to 21. Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them like a tent to dwell in, who brings princes to nothing and makes the rulers of the earth emptiness?

[12:49] Verse 25. To whom then will you compare me that I should be like him? Says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these. He who brings out their hosts by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might.

[13:05] And because he is strong in power, not one is missing. Verse 28. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth.

[13:17] He does not grow faint or weary. His understanding is unsearchable. Amen. We saw last Sunday how, as humans, everything must be revealed to us for us to know it, right?

[13:32] We don't intrinsically know anything that we don't see, experience that's not revealed to us. And we see here that God has chosen to reveal a small part of who he is.

[13:44] And that small part is beyond our powers of comprehension, right? And that small part compels us to worship in response. Worship is a response to God for who he is.

[13:59] For who he is. 1 Timothy 6. He is the blessed and only sovereign, the king of kings and lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see.

[14:14] To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. Let me read that again, and maybe God's people can respond this morning. To him be honor and eternal dominion.

[14:24] And all God's people said, Amen. Dave also said last week, he is greater. He is higher. His majesty is inexpressibly great. His being is beyond comprehension.

[14:37] And yet, he reveals himself to us. Not fully, because my brain is too small, but truly. And I'm telling you this morning, the only proper response, the only proper response, is worship of God.

[14:53] Psalm 48, verse 1. Great is the Lord, and what greatly to be praised. Psalm 96, 7 through 9. Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples.

[15:04] Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name. Bring an offering, and come into his courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

[15:15] Tremble before him, all the earth. When's the last time you trembled before God? When's the last time you got on your knees before God, in a posture of humility and dependence on him, and said, God, you alone have all majesty and all power.

[15:30] I worship you. This is jumping ahead. We're going to talk about kneeling in a few weeks, but I encourage you, in your own times, to be on your knees before God.

[15:44] It's a posture of submission to the Lord. It's a posture that says, God, you're king and I'm not. We don't do that in America before the president, but God is the king of the universe, and he deserves our all.

[15:55] I encourage you to try that in, in your own quiet time in prayer. Worship is a response to God for who he is. But that's not all.

[16:07] It's also a response to God for what he's done. We're only in chapter one of Romans. We better keep going. In Romans 118 through three, verse 20, we see this argument from Paul that basically is showing us that both Jews, or we can think today, the religious Jews, the religious, and Gentiles, the irreligious, are wicked sinners before God.

[16:31] The Jews were hypocritical, upholding a law that they couldn't even keep for themselves. And what Paul proves is that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Romans 3, 23, and will be held accountable for their sin.

[16:46] And we see that no one is righteous. But then the good news of the gospel, Christ comes, right? God makes a way for our redemption, Jews and Gentiles alike, through faith in Christ.

[17:00] Look at chapter three, verse 21. God makes us righteous. Verse 24 and 25, God bestows mercy and grace on us through the blood of Jesus.

[17:12] Verse 26, God is both just, because he requires a penalty, and he's the justifier, because that penalty was paid for by Jesus on our behalf. Chapter four, we see that with Abraham, we are justified.

[17:28] We are made righteous before God through faith in Jesus Christ because of the sacrifice that he made on our behalf. That's chapter four. And chapter five, I love chapter five, one through 11, and maybe one of my favorite passages, at least lately.

[17:43] Verse one, again, we are justified by faith. Verse one, we have peace with God. We're reconciled to the Father. Verse two, we have a standing in grace, a standing in grace.

[17:57] Also, God gives us joy. We see in verse two, in verse 10 of chapter five, God gives us hope and a future participation in the glory of God. Verse four, God forges endurance and character and hope even through suffering, right?

[18:14] In other words, God redeems even our most difficult circumstances in our life and he uses them for his glory and our good. Some of you need to be reminded of that this morning.

[18:26] He redeems even your most difficult circumstances for your good and for God's glory. Verse five, God, it says that God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Spirit.

[18:37] We have God's love poured into our hearts. Verse six through ten, we see that God loved us by sending Jesus to die even when we were weak and we were sinners.

[18:48] Weak, we could do nothing. Sinners, we were dead. In that state, Jesus came for us. And what does that mean for us? Verse nine through eleven, in this act, God secures for us not just salvation now, but for eternity.

[19:03] We have salvation. salvation. We see in the rest of chapter five, our sin problem, it isn't just my sin problem, it's actually the human race's sin problem. It goes all the way back to Adam, right?

[19:14] Through whom sin and death entered the world and it affects everybody. But through Christ, God's gracious free gift of justification, of righteousness, of eternal life is now made available to all people for all time.

[19:30] Amen? We're still going here. Verse six, God gives us, chapter six, verse four, God gives us newness of life. Verse six and seven and fourteen, we see God destroys the power and the dominion of sin in our lives.

[19:46] Verse seventeen, God transform our hearts of disobedience into hearts of obedience. Verse twenty-two, God is sanctifying us. He's continually making us more like Christ.

[19:59] Verse twenty-two and twenty-three, God gives us eternal life through Jesus. We've got more chapters to go. I hope this is stirring up your heart to worship God.

[20:11] This is incredible. You were dead in your sins. You couldn't do anything and God is doing this for you, for us. Verse seven, God freed us, chapter seven, I'm sorry, God freed us from the law to live by the Spirit.

[20:26] And then we see this battle raging on in Paul's heart. He says that I don't do what I want to do and I do what I don't want to do and who will free me from this body of death. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ.

[20:39] Chapter eight, one of the greatest chapters in the Bible, I think, if you can say that. And Jesus, we are no longer condemned.

[20:51] Verse two, God frees us from sin and death. Verse three and four, God sent his only son to trade our sin for his righteousness. Verse nine, God gives us the Holy Spirit. That's God in us.

[21:04] God in our hearts. That's amazing. We have life now and forevermore through the Spirit. Verse 13, God gives us the ability to put sin to death by the Spirit.

[21:18] Verse 14 and 16, God adopts us as his children. Because of that, verse 15, we have continual access to the Father.

[21:31] Verse 16, we are co-heirs with Christ. That means we look forward to future glory in heaven in the presence of God with perfected bodies. Then we see in verse 26 and 34, both the second and the third persons of the Trinity, the Spirit and Christ himself are interceding for us on our behalf to the Father.

[21:52] Verse 28, God works all things for our good. Verse 29, God is making us like Christ. Verse 30, God predestined us, called us, justified us, glorified us.

[22:05] It's so certain that Paul uses the past tense. He glorified us. Verse 38 and 39, nothing can separate us from the love of God.

[22:17] God. We see in chapter 9, verse 23, that God has made known to us the riches of his glory by his mercy. Chapter 10, we see that on those who hear and believe, again, he bestows his riches.

[22:33] Chapter 11, we see that by the grace and mercy of God, the failure of Israel resulted in our salvation. In our salvation, the Gentiles were brought into the family of God because of Israel's failure.

[22:47] What mercy. We see that God is severe towards sinners, but he's kind toward those who repent. 11, 29, we see that God is a promise keeper. He is faithful to his word.

[23:00] Verse 32, again, we see that God is merciful to those who are disobedient. And so in 9 through 11, we see God's infinite wisdom and his infinite mercy as he made a way for all people to be brought into his family.

[23:16] And so at this point in Romans, Paul cannot contain his worship any longer. He says, oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways.

[23:30] For who has known the minds of the Lord or who has been his counselor or who has given a gift to him that he should be repaid for from him and through him and to him are all things.

[23:42] To him be glory forever. And all God's people said, amen. Paul's worship is a response back to God for who he is and for what he has done.

[23:57] Right? And so Paul models the thing he then urges of us in chapter 12 in response to the revelation of God, in response to all that God is and all that he's done for us in his boundless mercy.

[24:10] Worship him. And so you'll see what this means is that worship is radically God-centered and God-focused. It is not about us.

[24:22] It's radically God-centered. And even, so I say that worship is a response to who God is. And what I don't want you to think is that worship is a response to what God has given to me.

[24:34] Worship as if I'm worshiping the things that he's given to me. And I think Dave mentioned this last week. No, no, no. That's not what I'm saying because what God has chiefly done for me is reconcile me to the Father.

[24:48] So what he's chiefly done for me is give me himself. So when I say that worship is a response to what God has done for me, it's still a response to who God is because what he's done for me is give me himself.

[25:00] So we worship God because of who he is.

[25:12] Our friend Rhys Bizant, Australian, he spoke here, I think it was for the Lord's Prayer he was here. And he's got, he teaches a set of Sunday school classes about worship and one of them is worship is a potty.

[25:31] And the reason worship is a party is because we are invited into the divine fellowship of the Trinity. We're invited into that and Dave helped us see more about the Trinity last week which is such so, again, it's awesome and it's just a small part of who God is.

[25:50] We're invited into that and this is actually what we were made for from the beginning. We were made to worship God as we fellowship with him in response to his gracious revelation to us.

[26:05] We read together Isaiah 43, I'll just read the last two verses of that section, verses 6 and 7, I will say to the north give up and to the south do not withhold. Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth.

[26:20] Everyone who is called by my name whom I created for my glory, whom I created for my glory, we are created for the glory of God whom I formed and made.

[26:34] See, this was our original purpose, right? When Adam and Eve were created, this was their purpose, but it was destroyed through sin. And we can never again fulfill that purpose.

[26:45] We can never get back to that state. We can never worship God truly, but God by his mercy reconciles us to him, right? And now he enables me, he enables you to fulfill that created purpose of worship.

[27:01] So, worship, first and foremost, is not us coming to God, right? It's not us coming to God, it's rather our response to him graciously coming to us, revealing himself to us.

[27:15] That's who he is, redeeming us back to himself, what he's done. So, worship is a response. Second point, and the other points will go a little faster, worship is surrender.

[27:30] Worship is surrender. So, back to the text, Romans 12, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

[27:44] So, we're going to focus on present to God. So, the Greek word used to present, it actually, well, it means to place beside or near, to present, to offer, to put at one's disposal.

[27:57] In chapter 6, verse 13, Paul uses the same word when he says, do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

[28:16] This term, it's actually the technical term for the Levitical priests presenting the sacrifices before God, offering them up, giving them to be used for God's disposal, to present.

[28:27] And so, our worship to God in response to who he is, in response to what he's done, involves a yielding to God, a putting at God's disposal. And so, worship is surrender, surrender.

[28:41] But surrender of what? Point number three is that worship is total. Paul says, present your bodies as a living sacrifice.

[28:56] Question for you guys. The sacrifices the Levitical priests would offer to God. Were they dead or living? Yes. It wasn't a trick question. I mean, they started living. But, they had to kill them, right?

[29:09] They had to slit their throats. They would take a bull or a goat. They would kill it. They would cut it in pieces. This is gruesome stuff. And then, they would offer it to the Lord as a dead sacrifice, a burnt offering.

[29:20] Now, thank God that it's not what Paul is urging us to do. He doesn't say, offer your bodies as a dead sacrifices. Thank God. He no longer requires a dead sacrifice, right?

[29:32] Why? Why? Because Jesus was the final dead sacrifice. Hebrews 10, 11, and 12. And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which could never take away sins.

[29:48] But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. See, Christ offered up his life unto death, a gruesome death on a cross that we might receive his righteousness in place of our sin, right?

[30:06] And Christ was raised to newness of life that we might receive eternal life. And so, Paul is urging us out of overwhelming gratitude for who God is and what he's done, offer him your life.

[30:20] Put your life at God's disposal for his glory. Paul said in chapter 6, verse 4, we were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that, why?

[30:32] Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. So what does he mean then when he says offer your bodies, present your bodies?

[30:44] Does he only have our physical actions in view here? And I'm going to say I don't think so. 1 Thessalonians 5, 23, Paul says this, Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[31:04] See, Paul always has all parts of the man and the woman in view, not just our physical bodies, the things that we do with them. And what did Jesus say is the greatest commandment?

[31:15] Luke 22, verse 27, Jesus confirms what somebody said when Jesus asked him what the greatest commandment is. Jesus says, You shall love the Lord your God with what?

[31:28] With all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. The reason Paul says bodies is because our bodies are the houses that the rest of our being exists in while we're on this earth.

[31:42] He's not just saying your physical actions. Paul is urging us to all of life, all of our being, worship of God. He's calling us to offer up all that we are.

[31:53] We're just saying about it. Our thoughts, our emotions, our attitudes, our wills, our words, our actions, every part of us to the service of God for his glory.

[32:04] Right? Worship is total. So worship is a response. Worship is surrender. Worship is total. And then next, worship is pure.

[32:21] Worship is pure. Paul says, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

[32:36] One author wrote this. Both Testaments, talking about the New and Old Testament, both Testaments attest that nothing less than holiness will fully satisfy the nature of God.

[32:48] Nothing less than holiness. See, throughout Scripture, we see holiness used in two ways. The first, we already talked about of being distinct, of being different, separate.

[32:59] But there's another component of holiness, and that is of being pure. Right? Of being blameless, of being free from sin. And this is God's standard for our lives.

[33:13] How many of you have looked up to that standard? Raise your hands. This is a standard we could never attain. Right? Romans 3.23, we quoted earlier, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

[33:26] And see, like the Old Testament sacrifices that could never atone for sin, our lives could never atone for sin. Right? In other words, by themselves, our lives could not be a holy and acceptable sacrifice to God.

[33:41] So we look to a sacrifice already made on our behalf. Right? The perfect, spotless Lamb of God slain for us, Jesus Christ. We read from Hebrews 10, verse 14 says, for by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

[34:02] The author just mentioned above goes on to say, redemption is not complete in deliverance alone. Believers are set free to become like the one who redeems.

[34:13] It is his will that we would be like him in every respect. So, positionally, before God, God sees us. He sees holy and acceptable because of the blood of Christ.

[34:25] But we're also called to holiness practically, right, in our daily lives. And that's why Paul, that's why the author of Hebrews said, Jesus perfected for all time.

[34:36] Positionally, I'm declared righteous. I'm declared pure and holy, right? But then he says, who is he perfected? Those who are being sanctified. What? I am holy, but it's the whole already not yet.

[34:50] I am holy, but in my daily life, I'm not holy all the time. I sin, I struggle. My inner man is waging war against my soul. But we're called to lives of holiness.

[35:01] We saw this from the Sermon on the Mount last year, right? The Sermon on the Mount, it was both an impossible ideal that only Christ could fulfill, right?

[35:11] But at the same time, Christians are called to live out the Sermon on the Mount. It's a practical guideline for our lives to be lived out in the power of the Spirit. And see, in the same way, we could never offer anything to God that's holy and acceptable.

[35:26] Only Jesus can, right? But now, as Christians who have the righteousness of Christ, who have that, we are continually to live out that righteousness.

[35:37] We're continually to offer up our lives as holy and acceptable sacrifices to God in the power of the Spirit. He worshiped as pure. Now, this here takes us into verse 2.

[35:51] We're only going to address verse 2 briefly, but I think it's important for us, so let's read verse 2 here. Paul says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

[36:11] So what does it look like for our worship to be pure? Paul says here it looks like rejecting the corrupt, self-exalting, self-worship of the world, right?

[36:23] The world's values, the world's desires, the world's pursuit. It's rejecting that. And it's embracing the good and the acceptable will of God. That's what pure worship looks like.

[36:34] If we're not doing that, then our worship is not pure. And if it's not pure, God is not glorified, so it's not true worship. We'll be worshiping something else. How do we do this?

[36:45] Paul says, our minds need to be continually, continually renewed by the Holy Spirit. And by mind, he's not just talking about my logical thinking abilities.

[36:58] Rarely is that true in Scripture where it says mind, it only means my logic. He's talking about my motives, my desires, my values, my pursuits, my affections. That needs to be renewed continually by the Spirit.

[37:11] And how does that happen? Our minds get renewed by the Spirit as we take in the revelation of God. 2 Corinthians 3.18, And we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

[37:33] For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. And so you see here, we're actually, we're right back where we started. We're right back at revelation. Our worship is a response to the revelation and so this, this is the drumbeat of our lives.

[37:46] It's revelation, response, revelation, response, continually being renewed by the Spirit as we take in more of who God is. And so, so we take in God's revelation or you could say we experience God or you could say we behold the glory of God through His Word, right?

[38:05] And in times of prayer and in our corporate gatherings and in community group, watching a sunset, going on a hike, we take in the revelation of God and as we take in that glorious revelation by the power of the Spirit, our minds are transformed, right?

[38:22] To think the way He thinks and our wills are transformed to desire what He desires and our affections are transformed to love what He loves.

[38:33] And so, our lives become a response. They become a response that's holy and acceptable and it's a sacrifice of worship to God. Now, when Paul says there, he says, don't be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern.

[38:55] That whole phrase is actually one word. It's only one word in the Greek and apparently it was quite a difficult word to translate into English. And some versions say that you may prove.

[39:06] If you have the NIV, it says test and approve. the word, the one word carries the idea that you have put something to the test. You have examined it and you have approved of it.

[39:19] You have deemed it worthy. And so, Paul's not just talking about gathering knowledge. He's talking about a practical proof of experience. In other words, I have experienced the will of God for my life and I have found it to be worthy.

[39:35] This is a statement of the heart's valuing, right? This is a statement of the heart's treasure. And so, here's where, as we move towards the end of this sermon, we're going to connect these two verses and hopefully get at the essence of worship and close with some specific applications.

[39:52] So, remembering our big idea. This was our big idea. True worship is a holy, all-of-life response to God for who He is and what He's done as we find all our satisfaction in Him.

[40:08] Or, true worship is a glad, holy, and total response to God for who He is and what He's done. I will admit, this is by no means a perfect definition of worship.

[40:19] There are lots of definitions. This is coming from Romans 12, 1 and 2. So, it's the, as we find all our satisfaction in Him, it's the glad. That's what we're going to aim at right now.

[40:31] And so, Paul said, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

[40:44] And then he gives us more in verse 2. And so, let's summarize. What is, what is your spiritual worship? We've seen this. Your spiritual worship is your holy and acceptable all-of-life response to God for who He is and what He's done, which happens as your mind is renewed by the Spirit and your heart finds that, yes, I have experienced God and I have found Him to be of highest worth.

[41:10] That's your spiritual worship. In other words, you find God to be your all-satisfying treasure and so gladly respond to Him with all that you are.

[41:22] That's worship and that's God's goal for mankind. J.I. Packer says in his book Knowing God, he says, his ultimate objective is to bring them to a state in which they please Him entirely and praise Him adequately, a state in which He is all in all to them.

[41:43] And He and they rejoice continually in the knowledge of each other's love, people rejoicing in the saving love of God set upon them from all eternity. And God rejoicing in the responsive love of people drawn out of them by grace through the gospel.

[42:02] You see, God doesn't want your singing. He doesn't want your time in the Word even. He doesn't want you here or in community group if your heart is not surrendered to Him.

[42:16] He doesn't want those things if He doesn't also have you. He doesn't also have your heart. We're going to see in Matthew 15 that Jesus condemns the Pharisees quoting Isaiah, this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me.

[42:38] In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. John Piper says, logic exists for the sake of love.

[42:54] Reasoning exists for the sake of rejoicing. Doctrine exists for the sake of delight. Reflection about God exists for affection for God.

[43:06] The head is meant to serve the heart. Knowing the truth is the basis of admiring the truth. In Psalm 16 9-11 David says, therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices.

[43:21] My flesh also dwells secure for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your Holy One see corruption. You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy.

[43:35] At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. See, this is the essence of worship. It is a response to God from our hearts.

[43:45] It's a glad response where I am seeing and savoring who Christ is and the only thing that I can do is respond to him with all of my lives because he is my all-satisfying joy.

[43:58] And so if we gather here on Sunday mornings week after week and all we're doing is singing songs with our lips but nothing's going on in our hearts, God says, I don't actually want that. I don't want you to come into this room and only say words to me if your heart isn't surrendered to me.

[44:12] I want you, I want your heart. That is worship. That's worship. Now we're going to talk, there are times where we come in and our hearts just not there and God actually uses the singing to draw us back to him.

[44:27] That's for another time. Right now we're saying worship is from the heart. The essence of worship is about your heart. It's you savoring Christ, all that he is, all that he's done for you, where he is the one that you desire, the one that you want, all else, it pales in comparison.

[44:46] My heart is glad, my whole being rejoices. That's worship. so what does it actually look like practically to offer up to God a glad and holy all of life response for who he is and what he's done?

[45:06] What does it look like to truly worship God in all things? Showing him to be your all satisfying treasure? Looks like this. When you look at my driving, my driving habits, it says, I worship you, God.

[45:20] I will gladly put others before myself. I will choose a response of love rather than hate for your glory, right? Because you chose to pour out your love upon me.

[45:31] When you look at my schedule, it shouts, I love you, God. You have the first and the best of my time and my energy, which I gladly spend for the advancement of your kingdom. freedom. I lay down my binge watching.

[45:44] I lay down my me time that I have to have. I lay down even my sleep to prioritize your purposes. When you look at my interactions with unbelievers, it says, I treasure you, God.

[45:56] I want people to come to know you, and so I lay down my fears, my worries, my anxieties, so that for their eternal good and for your glory. When you look at my marriage, it shouts, I delight in you, God, and the love that you have poured out on me.

[46:11] I want to pour out to my spouse, and so I sacrifice myself for him or her. When you look at my finances, it says, I worship you, God. This money is not my own, it's yours, and so I give it to you generously to use however you want.

[46:28] When you look at my participation in church, it says, I love you, God, even though my voice can't hold a pitch for anything, I will gladly sing to you because you're worthy of my praise.

[46:40] When you look at my response to sermons, it says, God, I love you and I'm hanging on to every word from your word because I delight in you and I want more of you.

[46:52] Making dinner, eating and drinking, doing the dishes, cleaning up after your kids, changing the brakes, suffering through periods of difficult time, suffering through the loss of a loved one, all of these things can either be done as worship of God or worship of self.

[47:12] You can do all of those things to say, I'm my greatest treasure, I love me, and I'm doing these things for me, or you can do them and say, God, you are my greatest treasure, I'm doing them for you, I lay down everything that I have for you.

[47:27] He wants your heart. this morning, may we, may we, church, may Shoreline be found numbered among the worshipers of God, reveling and rejoicing in him, treasuring and cherishing him, holding him as our greatest reward and continually offering all of our lives to him in holy worship, in response to who he is, in response to what he's done, no holding back, that is worship and he is worthy.

[48:10] Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, you are the matchless king of this world.

[48:27] God, when you speak, it is so. When you say, let there be light, there is light. When you say, you who are dead, be raised to life, it happens, God, because you are powerful and you alone are sitting on a throne, reigning sovereignly over all things.

[48:53] God, you have revealed yourself to us and we cannot comprehend what you've shown us.

[49:05] God, you are divine, you are holy, you are utterly different than us and so we worship you. God, and even in our sin, when we were weak, ungodly sinners, God, then you sent Christ to go to the cross, God, to die in our place and to give us his righteousness.

[49:40] God, you have made us your children, you have bestowed upon us mercy upon mercy, you are making us more like Jesus, you are bringing us to a state of future eternal glory forever to be with you and all of your saints.

[49:57] And God, our lives are a response to that. God, may our lives shout, we treasure you, God, you are our all in all.

[50:10] God, everything that we do, may it proclaim you as the greatest thing in the universe because you are. And God, we recognize that even when our lives don't say it, you still are.

[50:23] You just, you are. You are the greatest thing in this universe. You are matchless, you are powerful, you are merciful, you are loving, no matter what we do. God, we want to be part of the glory of you that your people are giving you for all of time, that your angels are right now, they're worshiping you.

[50:40] God, we want to be a part of that. We want to join in with heaven, declaring your matchless worth. God, this morning there are so many things keeping us from doing that.

[50:57] God, we're waging a war here, not against flesh and blood. And God, we recognize that our sinful selves are always battling to be on the throne.

[51:11] God, I want my name exalted. I want my praise to be heard. I want my reputation to be built. God, that comes from a heart of sin. And so, God, there are areas in our lives where we need to surrender them to you this morning.

[51:31] And so, God, I pray that by your spirit you would carry the words that have been spoken and you would do a deep inner work in our hearts and that you would change us, you would break the chains that are holding us back from pure and holy total worship of you.

[51:47] God, we surrender our lives to you this morning. God, maybe there's people here that have never done that before. God, there's people that when I say that you're the greatest thing that we treasure you and cherish you, it's a foreign thing to them because they just don't get it because their hearts haven't been opened to you.

[52:08] Lord, I pray that you would break down the walls that are holding them back, Lord, that they would for the first time accept you as their savior and recognize you as their Lord and they would find you to be their all-satisfying joy.

[52:24] God, that's a work that only you can do and so we beg that you would do it and that you would be glorified through it, Father God. God, we worship you.

[52:37] You are worthy of all the glory and all the honor and all the praise now and forevermore. I pray this in your name. Amen.

[52:48] Amen. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

[52:58]  Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.