Worship and sacrifice
Romans 12:1-2
Who defines worship? The obvious answer is God through His written Word .
God Himself defines worship in Scripture. We should "serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear" (Hebrews 12:28 NKJV). In this verse, the Greek word which is translated "serve" is a form of the word "worship" and is used 21 times in the New Testament in the contexts of service and worship. That means worship and service (the offering up of oneself) are intertwined in Scripture. Other Greek words translated "worship" are prokeneuo (G4352)meaning "paying homage" (1 Corinthians 14:25), sebazomai, (G4573) meaning "to render religious honor" (Romans 1:25), and sebomai (G4576) meaning "to revere or adore" (Acts 16:14). Jesus used the Greek word sebomai to describe the vain, hypocritical worship of the scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 15:9) leading us to the conclusion that not all "worship" is acceptable to God.
True biblical worship is to be first and foremost reverent (Hebrews 12:28), and offered with the understanding of the nature and attributes of the God being worshiped. God is holy, just, righteous, perfect, powerful, loving, wrathful, etc. If we want to worship biblically, we must worship God as He is revealed in Scripture.
Second, we must worship in truth (John 4:24). Personal expressions of worship are not indicated anywhere in Scripture and can actually lead to activities that are not God-honoring.
Third, true worship is worship in Spirit. Because God is Spirit, true worship is a pure, holy, spiritual worship, the offering of the soul and the homage of the heart rather than merely words or emotions of the moment.
Finally, true worship always accompanies a change in the heart of the worshiper, causing a greater desire to love and obey God. If worship does not propel us toward greater obedience, it isn't really worship. Many today come out of emotional worship services with a seemingly greater feeling of love in their hearts for God. But Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). Unless our worship leads to a greater commitment to obedience, it isn't worship and the feeling it generates isn't love.
True biblical worship is a lifestyle, not a moment in time (1 Corinthians 10:31). Worship is not meant to occur only at church. Instead, it encompasses our entire lives. Our working, serving, relating with others, eating, sleeping, all that we do in our daily lives should be done in a spirit of worship of God. True worship is given to God from the depths of our inner being. It is given in song, in praise, in prayer, in giving of ourselves , in learning, in living in obedience, etc., and should always be offered in spirit and in truth.
The apostle Paul described true worship in Romans 12:1-2: “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable, or well pleasing and perfect.”
This passage contains all the elements of true worship. The “therefore” in Romans 12:1 shows the call to surrender ourselves as living sacrifices is predicated on the reality of the “mercies of God” described in chapters 1-11. These first eleven chapters of Romans instruct us in God’s plan for sinful man through the saving life and death of Jesus Christ. In other words, in view of all that God has done and is doing for us in Christ, it is illogical for the Christian to do anything else but give his life back in devoted surrender and sacrifice to God.
First, there is the motivation to worship: “the mercies of God.” God’s mercies are everything He has given us that we don’t deserve: eternal love, eternal grace, the Holy Spirit, everlasting peace, eternal joy, saving faith, comfort, strength, wisdom, hope, patience, kindness, honor, glory, righteousness, security, eternal life, forgiveness, reconciliation, justification, sanctification, freedom, intercession and much more. The knowledge and understanding of these incredible gifts motivate us to pour forth praise and thanksgiving—in other words, worship!
Also in the passage is a description of the manner of our worship: “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice.” Presenting our bodies means giving to God all of ourselves. The reference to our bodies here means all our human faculties, all of our humanness—our hearts, minds, hands, thoughts, attitudes—are to be presented to God. In other words, we are to give up control of these things and turn them over to Him, just as a literal sacrifice was given totally to God on the altar. But how? Again, the passage is clear: “by the renewing of your mind.” We renew our minds daily by cleansing them of the world’s “wisdom” and replacing it with true wisdom that comes from God. We worship Him with our renewed and cleansed minds, not with our emotions. Emotions are wonderful things, but unless they are shaped by a mind saturated in Truth, they can be destructive, out-of-control forces. Where the mind goes, the will follows, and so do the emotions. First Corinthians 2:16 tells us we have “the mind of Christ,” not the emotions of Christ.
There is only one way to renew our minds, and that is by the Word of God. It is the truth, the knowledge of the Word of God, which is to say the knowledge of the mercies of God, and we’re back where we began. To know the truth, to believe the truth, to hold convictions about the truth, and to love the truth will naturally result in true spiritual worship Music as such has nothing to do with worship. Music can’t produce worship, although it certainly can produce emotion. Music is not the origin of worship, but it can be the expression of it. Do not look to music to induce your worship. True worship is God-centered worship. People tend to get caught up in where they should worship, what music they should sing in worship, and how their worship looks to other people. Focusing on these things misses the point. Jesus tells us that true worshipers will worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). This means we worship from the heart and the way God has designed. It is not limited to one act, but is done properly when the heart and attitude of the person are in the right place.
True worship is not confined to what we do in church or open praise (although these things are both good, and we are told in the Bible to do them). True worship is the acknowledgment of God and all His power and glory in everything we do. The highest form of praise and worship is obedience to Him and His Word. To do this, we must know God; we cannot be ignorant of Him (Acts 17:23). Worship is to glorify and exalt God—to show our loyalty and admiration to our Fa-ther.
True, biblical worship, as defined by A. W. Pink in his exposition of the gospel of John, says this: “It is a redeemed heart, occupied with God, expressing itself in adoration and thanksgiving.” Likewise, A. W. Tozer said, “True worship is to be so personally and hopelessly in love with God, that the idea of a transfer of affection never even remotely exists.”
So, the true worship of God is distinguished by the following criteria:
First, it comes from the redeemed heart of a man or woman who has been justified before God by faith and who is trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness of sins. How can one worship the God of heaven if his sin has not been dealt with? Never can that worship be acceptable that proceeds from an unregenerate heart where Satan, self and the world hold sway (2 Timothy 2:26; 1 John 2:15).
Second, true worship of God comes from a heart that desires Him alone. This was precisely where the Samaritan people erred; they sought to worship both God and idols (2 Kings 17:28-41), and this is reaffirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ when He speaks on the subject of true worship with the Samaritan woman who came to fetch water from the well. “You Samaritans worship what you do not know” (John 4:22). These people worshiped God “halfheartedly” because their total affection was not set on God. It is possible for even true believers to fall into this second error. We might not assent to having physical idols, like the Samaritans did, but what absorbs our will, our time, our resources most of all? Is it careers, material possessions, money, health, even our families? Let us cry out, like King David in Psalm 63:5, “My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips, my mouth will praise you.” Nothing less than God should satisfy the heart of the regenerate man, and his response to that divine satisfaction, comparable to the best food ever, is the fruit of lips that sing God’s praise (Hebrews 13:15).
Third, true worship of God is the desire to continue to build up our knowledge of God. We have lost that desire in these days! We need to fill our minds constantly with the things of God; God should always be on our mind, and everything we do should be done with reference to Him (Colossians 3:17; 1 Corinthians 10:31). It is interesting that the Greek word for “worship” in Romans 12:1 can also mean “service.” So, our daily lives should also be considered as worship. Every day we are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. The church is supposed to be impacting the world by its worship of God. Far too often, it’s the other way around.
Finally Worship involves a sacrifice. Right from the beginning, the altar featured prominently in Old Testament worship. It was dedicated or set aside as the place of sacrifice – the place of true worship. Beginning with the first altar of earth, we see the altar ‘grow’ as God’s relationship with His people grew. It moves from a simple earthen altar in the wilderness – from Abel through Abraham and those who followed until the Exodus – to a more detailed structure. Throughout the Old Testament, we see men like Elijah raising altars to God when the need arose. While all these may have varied in look and structure, they shared critical principles that still apply in true worship.
From the beginning, God instructed that the altar contain no man-conceived marks or shaping. They were required to be set aside for the sole purpose of sacrificing to God. Never ever did an altar double as some other object in daily life. It had only one purpose – a pure and holy place on which to make the necessary sacrifices required by God. It was the centre of true worship of a holy God.
This principle remains absolutely true and utterly unchanged even in the New Testament. God’s altar remains the center of worship, and He still requires that it be kept pure, holy, and set apart for Him. Unless we abide by these requirements, we simply cannot claim true worship. The difference, however, is that our New Testament altar has nothing at all to do with the often elaborate altars still found – and built – in modern churches. Grace has done away with need for a physical altar, but not the principles it embodied in the Old Testament is still relevant today.
In the New Testament the altar on which the sacrifice is offered is not the same as the Old Testament one. The New Testament altar is far more personal, because it’s our heart. Each of us, at the point of new birth, are required to raise up an altar to God. When we ‘give Him our hearts,’ to quote a popular expression, we raise up a temple. God still requires that it remain pure, holy, and set apart for Him. He still demands that it contain no personal embellishments. It still has a single purpose – a place to sacrifice our acceptable true worship to God. While the nature of sacrifice has changed, along with the ‘placement’ of the altar, the commands of God have not. It’s also enormously significant that the first altar was of the earth and the last altar is also. Man, who is now the living altar, was shaped from the earth. That’s a profound and thought provoking truth.
Every sacrifice in the Old Testament had a particular purpose, to be offered in a particular method, and applied in a particular situation. One sacrifice couldn’t ‘double’ for another. Each was separate and individual, and each required a ‘perfect’ sacrifice – the best, without blemish, and which, inevitably carried a cost for the person making the offering. The first thing we need to take hold of, therefore, is that the sacrifice was an ‘investment’ in true worship for the worshiper. It required commitment and carried a price. As David said in 2 Sam 24:24 " I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." It should be noted that God provided very detailed instructions that dictated true worship.
The second important principle is that Old Testament sacrifice could only be made by the High Priest. His was an intercessory ordained by God. He was appointed and anointed by God to act on behalf of the people, and was required to keep himself pure and set apart for this purpose. His life essentially belonged to God, who then used it on behalf of the people. The implied responsibility is enormous, and we should therefore look long and hard at this if we want to understand our new role in true worship. It involved no ‘feel-good’ interaction. Rather, it was demanded complete commitment .
We cannot afford to ignore the truth that true worship in the New Testament still requires acceptable sacrifice as shown in Rom. 12:1-2. We should also remember that Jesus was and always will be the one-and-only perfect sacrifice. There is no denying this. In the same way, we cannot deny that Christ is also our great High Priest and eternal intercessor. These lie at the very heart of our faith.
But we, as followers of Christ, have a particular – or, rather, a peculiar – role in true worship. We are required to live as examples of Jesus. Just as Jesus embodied a total commitment to true worship by being both High Priest and sacrifice, we must do the same. He set aside His life, not only to intercede but as the perfect sacrifice. Our altar is our heart. Our sacrifice is our life. This dual role is critical to understanding true New Testament Worship. We have become, in Christ, priests, sacrifices, and altars.
Matthew 22:37-40 provides a beautiful and powerful understanding of this: Jesus said , “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” It’s also good to remember that Christ came not to do away with the Law but to fulfill it. These two ‘new commandments’ epitomize the principles of true worship.
They also contain the principles of every single law and commandment contained in the Old Testament.
By obeying the first, we raise ourselves up as the altar – holy, pure, and set apart for God. Our hearts are set on Him alone, dedicated to loving Him and worshiping Him. We devote ourselves to making sure that our "altar heart" contains nothing of self or the world. When the world sees our heart, it sees a holy altar to a living God, consecrated to His service. By obeying the second, we daily mirror Christ’s perfect sacrifice. Of course, we can never be perfect. But by devoting ourselves as living sacrifices, we lay down self so that others can see what Jesus did for us. Just as Christ came into the world to manifest the Father, so we live in the world to manifest the Father by reflecting the Son. Our sacrifice includes loving others, embodying the truth of ‘greater love’ even unto death. These are the Old Testament principles that are, today, empowered by true worship under grace.
These principles of living temples – altars – and living sacrifices are still the foundations of true worship. As New Testament worshipers, we must live according to these principles, just as the Old Testament worshipers had to live according to the Law. The difference between the two is grace and the dynamic intimacy of a God who now dwells in His living temples. He not only records His name in us but He lives in us to enable and empower us to deeper intimacy.
When we give ourselves completely in true worship, we enter into God Himself through Christ. We are connected, inseparable, and identified with Him. This intimacy is the greatest blessing we could ever hope for. But God is immeasurably good, beyond anything we deserve. If we worship Him on pure "altar hearts" with our lives as daily sacrifices, His blessings will abound. Where God is, there is the blessing also.
What a person does with his life depends on the clarity of his vision as to what is truly valuable and lasting. As Jesus made so indelibly clear in the metaphors of Matthew 6:19-24, a man’s heart (his aspiration, desires, pursuits) depends on what he treasures, and what he treasures depends on his perspective or insight to life according to biblical and eternal values versus worldly and temporal values. Thus, holding tightly to God’s kingdom values determine priorities which in turn will determine one’s objectives and pursuits—what one is willing to surrender to and sacrifice for. Therefore, one who holds tightly to God’s kingdom values may often have to say no to many things, even many good things, because they will get in the way of those goals that are based on biblical values and priorities. This is the issue of pursuing what is excellent or best over against what is simply good (see Phil. 1:9f).
We cannot but notice how the Israelites prepared for worship. Clearly, they did not just fall out of bed and head to the temple to offer their sacrifice. Many Christians give no thought to preparation for worship. No wonder many people leave the church saying, “I didn’t get anything out of that.”
Why does this happen? It happens in part because most believers don’t prepare for worship. As demonstrated in the Parable of the Sowers (Matt 13), nothing is wrong with the seed which is sown; the problem is with the ground of our hearts. Therefore, as with farming, the ground of our hearts must be cultivated to worship God. The seed was in the ground but it did not germinate or bring about any harvest because the ground was not prepared. An unprepared heart is an unacceptable worship.
The transfer of the sacrificial system of worship from the Old Testament to the New Testament clears up the definition of what is an act of worship. The physical sacrificial worship of the Old Testament holds vital information for understanding the whole of New Testament worship. The priestly worship as shown in the Old Testament essentially consists of the temple, the priest-hood, the offerings, and temple services . The physical Old Testament elements of worship are essential spiritual elements of New Testament worship.
The tabernacle in the Old Testament is a foreshadow of the temple of the Law of Christ in the New Testament. According to 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 6:19, and Ephesians 2:21; the temple of God is now the individual believer in Christ. God dwelt among the Israelites in the tabernacle (Exo. 25:8), and 1 Corinthians 3 and 6 and Ephesians 2 also point out that the Spirit of God dwells within the temple of the New Covenant, the believer. According to the Law of Moses, no one was to defile the temple (Lev 15:31; Num 19:13, 20; Ezek 5:11, 23:38), and this command still stands in 1 Corinthians 3 and 6 which stress the temple of the New Testament - the believer- should not be defiled.
In the temple of the Old Testament, the priests of the Law of Moses accomplished services (Heb 9:6), and the priesthood of the New Testament now does the same in a spiritual fashion (1 Pet 2:5). What is the service of the New Testament priests? The priests of the Law of Moses and those priests that came before are certainly a spiritual pattern for the priests of the New Testament and give greater insight into New Testament worship. As early as Genesis 14, a priest of God by the name of Melchizedek lived in the time of Abraham. According to the order of Melchizedek, the High Priest of the New Testament is Jesus Christ (Heb 6:20). Hebrews 5:1 and 8:3 affirm that every high priest are from among men and ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. With this in mind, the book of Hebrews expands on the duty of Jesus Christ as High Priest, and how He spiritually fulfilled the services of the High Priest by sacrificing Himself (Heb 7:27, 9:24-26, 10:8-14). The High Priest of the New Testament, Jesus, also made Believers into priests (Rev. 1:6, 1 Pet. 2:5, 9).
Therefore according to 1 Peter 2:5, believers are priests who are to offer up spiritual sacrifices. These spiritual sacrifices define Christian worship just as Jesus referred to true worship that was to come. These spiritual sacrifices are acts of worship. The Scriptures define these acts of worship. This is not to deny the acts of the worship in the assembly, which are the Lord’s Sup-per, teaching, praying, singing, and giving (1 Cor 11:17–34; 14; 16:1–3)
Sacrifices are an essential part of worship in the Old Testament. As far back as Cain and Abel, sacrifices have been a form of worship to God. In Genesis 22, God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac as a burnt offering (22:2), and in verse 5, the Scripture described Abraham’s offering as worship (cf. Isa 19:21). Abraham’s worship was intentional. He went to worship God (Gen 22:5).
Certainly, sacrifice is worship as Jesus affirmed in John 4:20–24. To know what Christian worship consists, one may simply know what spiritual sacrifices Christians are to offer to God. The answer is clear in Hebrews 13 and Romans 12:1-6. Hebrews 13:15–16 state that Christian sacrifices consist of praising God, doing good deeds, and sharing with each other. In Romans 12:1, the sacrifices of Christians also consist of the sacrifice of one’s body as a living and holy sacrifice. Sacrificing one’s body is worship, but this does not infer that all of life is worship or that involuntary actions are worship.
Notice that these two passages are not the only verses that address the sacrifices of the Christian worship, but these serve best for the most comprehensive understanding of the worship of Christians. Worship is not involuntary. Hebrews 12:28 says, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God pleasingly with reverence and awe for our "God is a consuming fire."
“Worship” is one of the most misunderstood words of the Bible. Many believers have confused the word “worship” confining worship to assemblies. The following are the conclusions of scholars who clarify a biblical concept of worship.
When Christians use the word “worship,” many err by thinking that only the assembly and spiritual meetings of Christians are “worship.” “Worship” and “assembly” are not synonymous in the Scriptures. Assemblies are a form of worship but not the whole of worship.
For a head start, read Hebrews 12:28, 13:15–16, and 1 Peter 2:5 about spiritual sacrifices, offerings unto God. These are acts of worship and the extent are “doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased” (Heb 13:16).
We seem to have lost the connection of personal sacrifice and worship. The fundamental principle is that praise is connected to sacrifice. Scripture notes this in many places, using expressions such as “a sacrifice of praise” and “a sacrifice of thanksgiving.”
When the Israelites came up to Jerusalem to worship, they were to bring animals from their flocks and offerings of wheat and fruit from their fields, and whatever other gifts of gratitude they wanted to give to God. God did not need the food to survive (see Ps. 50); Israel was to bring the offerings to God not because He needed them, but as an expression of the Israelite’s need of God. To refuse to offer the gifts to God was to say that God was not necessary to the success of the people, when in fact without him they could not survive.
What they brought had to pass two important tests, and in many cases only they and God would know if they passed them. What they brought had to be the " first" and the" best". Nothing else mattered. It had to be the first-born animal, or the first fruit of the crops or the orchards.
(1)God gets his share first, because He is most important.
(2) And it had to be the best--the best firstborn from the sheep or cattle or first fruit offering.
To bring God an inferior gift would say that one did not think much of God, for the quality of the gift indicates the value the giver places on the one receiving the gift. That is true in any human relationship, and it certainly is true in the spiritual relationship we have with the Lord.
But people are always falling short of pure worship, or at least pure worship on a sustained level. And so the prophets came on the scene in Israel to rebuke, reprove, correct, and exhort the people. In the earlier periods the prophets had to deal with idolatry and pagan corruptions in Israel’s worship. After the exile that was no longer a major problem. But instead, worship was being corrupted by the indifference and selfishness of people. And so Malachi had to address a whole different set of problems in the nation. His first sermon, directed at the priests but certainly speaking to the worship of the people, deals with their making a mockery out of worship by bringing inferior offerings. God was not pleased with that kind of worship.
Motive is crucial in everything we do. Have you ever had someone act nicely towards you and then you found out later that he was doing it to manipulate you into doing something for him? His ulterior motive canceled everything nice that he had done. Your motive for giving yourself totally to God is crucial.
Let’s read our text again (Rom. 12:1), “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
Paul was using a picture that was instantly recognized by everyone in that day, but is probably foreign to us. The Jews were all familiar with the ritual of taking a lamb to the temple and watching the priest slit its throat and collect the blood in a basin. After the life had ebbed out of the lamb, it was placed on the altar and burned as an offering. The Gentiles also often had witnessed animal sacrifice to the gods at pagan temples. Perhaps some of the Christians in Rome had done that before they were saved.
But most of us have never watched an animal being slaughtered, even if it’s for a meal. We buy our meat shrink-wrapped in the grocery store, without thinking about the animal being killed.. But this picture of animal sacrifice was behind Paul’s appeal here to offer ourselves, not as dead sacrifices, but as living sacrifices to the Lord. It means offering everything that you are and have to the Lord as an act of worship.
It isn’t automatic. It’s a decision that you must think about rationally and then make. No one else can do it for you. You may have grown up in a Christian home. Perhaps you trusted Christ as a child. But as you get older and begin making your own decisions, you have to decide to give your body, your possessions, and your entire life completely to God.
Paul also uses the word "present" in connection with our bodies in Romans 6:13, “And do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” (See, also 6:16, 19.) In our text, Paul may be using bodies to refer to the total person, but he probably wants us to think specifically about our physical bodies. In verse 2, he zeroes in on the mind, and so his emphasis on the body in verse 1 is probably deliberate.
The Greek philosophers commonly thought of the body as something evil or degrading from which an enlightened person sought to free himself. But the Christian is to view the body as a living and holy sacrifice to be offered to God for His service. The verb "present" is also used of a father giving his virgin daughter in marriage (2 Cor. 11:2). She presents her body exclusively to her husband in the marriage relationship. Even so, the Lord has bought us with His blood out of the slave market of sin, so that we are His bride. Therefore, we are to present our bodies to glorify God.
Our bodies also encompass our minds, which Paul focuses on in verse 2. It includes our eyes and ears, what we expose ourselves to through the media. Do we look at pornography? Do we look lustfully at attractive women? Do we listen to off-color jokes? The body includes our tongues, which we should use to praise God (Heb. 13:15) and to build up, not tear down, others (Eph. 4:29). We should use them to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15). Our bodies include our hands and feet. We should labor with our hands to provide for ourselves and our families (Eph. 4:28). We should use our feet to take the good news to others (Rom. 10:15) and to take us quickly away from evil (Rom. 3:15).
There is a paradox here, in that presenting our bodies to God is a positive thing, as a bride joyfully gives herself to her husband. But it’s also costly, requiring all that we are and have. Jesus put it this way (Mark 8:34-35), “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” (See, also, John 12:24-25.)
This sacrifice is" living". Animal sacrifices were killed and consumed once and for all. The sacrifice of our bodies is ongoing and repeated. God has given us new life through the new birth. We now gladly offer it back to Him.
This sacrifice is" holy". It is set apart to God. We dare not offer God a defiled sacrifice. If we have sinned, we must come to God for cleansing and then walk in obedience so that we do not disgrace the name of our Savior.
This sacrifice is" acceptable" to God. Just as the animal sacrifices were a pleasing aroma to God, so we should live so as to please Him in all that we think, say, and do. Again, the motivation to offer our bodies to God in this way is that He gave His Son for us.
