Topic: Worship
What it means the word “worship?” Do we know how to worship our God? Most of us it means to sing praise to our King of kings and Lord of lords. Or we think it means to raise your hands, clap our hands and sing to the Lord.
This word “worship” means more than to raise our singing voices to our God. It also means that we are fully devoted to serve our God. All the other parts, which I mentioned above, are parts of it. Prayer is another part of worship.
Before we would go further, let’s read Romans 12:1-2. In this passage, Paul explains to us how we need to worship our Lord Jesus Christ.
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
In the first verse of Romans 12, Paul explains us how we need to present to our God to worship Him. The second word, “beseech,” is a Greek word that comes from a root which means “to call alongside to help.” Jesus used a related word, often translated “comforter,” in reference to the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). How many times we’d ask for help when we cannot figure out the problem? In this text, Paul wants to give us advice to encourage us while we are living in this corruption world.
Of course, we all need help. In the Gospel of John, Jesus gave His disciples promise that He will bring the Comforter to them after He will go to His Father, which it happened after He left them in Acts 1-2.
Why He brings the Comforter to us? Was just enough if we have Jesus? If we turn to John 14, notice what Jesus said in verse 18. He said, “I will not leave you orphans…” Then He said, “I will come to you.” He will not leave us in this corruption world. We will not be poor. If we loose all the money and job, we will not be poor, because Jesus is the solution to all our problems. The job description of the Holy Spirit is to teach us and bring us remembrance all things Jesus taught us (see John 14:26) in His Word. This is why God provided us His written Words and the Holy Spirit.
Let’s go back to our context of this topic. Now, some preachers would misinterpret Romans 12:1-2. Some preachers may teach us that we need to have more Bible reading and prayer times, more giving, helping needing to renewal our thoughts to Jesus Christ. All these activities may seem good and acceptable to Him. But we need to learn how to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.
Living sacrifice: It doesn’t mean that we need to be fasted for 40 days and nights without food and drink. No! It also doesn’t require us to hang on the cross. If God want us to do these things, His Words would become useless. Although Paul said that we need to live as a living sacrifice, we need to learn how we need to help others, even if the situation is risky. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends (John 15:13).
Holy: Do we think we are worthy to be called holy children of God? What it means to be holy? The word “holy” means devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity, but here in Romans 12:1, it means devoted yourself entirely to God with pure heart.
You might think that this statement to be shocked: We are not holy as God without sins. Even though God knows that we are not holy or perfect as Him, He still wants us as His babes. But we need to accept Him as our Savior and ask for forgiveness all of our sins and to make as holy as His children. So we can be acceptable children to God.
The Bible tells us the only way God can accept us if we surrender our wills to Him. Some of us cannot do this; because we want do in our ways to handle our lives. If we believe all the TV evangelists surrender to God’s will and do His given tasks, we might believe them and believe what they say from their own experiences. Unfortunately, this is not the case, if we do further research on TV evangelists.
In this message, we touched the surface of this topic. On our next message, we will go more details of renewing our minds. We cannot worship God truly until we learn to surrender our wills to Him.
This message may seem uncomfortable to some of you. But God calls us to worship Him with all our hearts, minds, and strengths. God wants to us go after Him as just as we are. If you cannot afford to give Him a penny, He still wants you to be in His house and let you worship Him. He just wants you to surrender all your wills, so that He can take care and love you forever.
This message may speak to you today. I don’t have to know who you are and where you are, because there’s God who wants to take care and love you in this very moment. The purpose that I didn’t date the message is that it’s never too late to receive Jesus Christ in your life. If you read this a week from June 10, 2005, and you still are living, you didn’t miss the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ. Today, you have the chance to accept Him. If you do it tomorrow or next week, it might be too late. Accept Him today.
Are you saved? Are your love ones and friends saved in the grace of God through Jesus Christ? The purpose of this study is to help you to become closer relationship with Jesus Christ. As Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3.)
If you are lukewarm in your relationship with Jesus Christ and want to know Him as your personal Savior and Lord of your life, please consider asking Him to forgive your sins and invite Him into your life. Paul says, "That if you confess with your mouth, `Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believed and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved." (Romans 10:9-10.) If you have done in your private room or workplace, then you need to tell to your friends or love ones about what you have done, so they may rejoice with you and want to have that relationship with Christ in their own life. There are many occults in the world, which do not know the love of God and His great plan for those who believe in Him. As it is written in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
