6/27/2021
Troy First Assembly of God
Worship That Costs
Romans 12:1-2
Let’s begin this morning with 2 Samuel 24. This is a story about the end of David’s life and how, after sinning against the Lord by counting all the fighting men, the LORD brought judgment on Israel. When the Lord put an end to the plague He then told David to go to the threshing floor that belonged to Araunah and to build an altar there. This is the place where Solomon would eventually build the temple.
Araunah was willing to give the threshing floor to David, but David made a comment that resonates to believers today. 24 But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."
That is where I want to get us to this morning – to the place where we don’t just worship as just something we do – but worship as something that costs.
Romans 12:1-2,
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Let’s look at this scripture and see what the LORD wants to say to us about worship that Costs.
(Prayer)
1. Remember God’s Mercy.
I like when Paul starts out a section with the word “Therefore”. It automatically connects what he is about to say with what he just said… it is normally the culmination of a discourse that he had laid out. In this case he was contrasting the Gentile believers with the Jews, saying that Gentiles had been grafted onto the vine… but they aren’t any better than the Jews. If God could save them, then He also will save the Jews.
So, in view of God's mercy…
Let me explain mercy this way… When I played golf in Palmyra at the local course, hole #1 was straight. 339 yards downhill to about half way then uphill slightly. On the left was an out of bounds line. To the right, at the halfway mark a cluster of trees. I always played to not hit out of bounds. If I could get it past the midway point or a little further then it was about a 7 iron to the green.
So I lined up my shot, positioned my feet to hit it right down the middle… and I rarely did. Most of the time I ended up hitting the trees. Despite my best efforts, it didn’t turn out good. I got what I deserved… normally a bounce straight back at me or into the nest fairway… which would then require extra shots.
But! There was that one time I lined up swung through and headed straight for the trees. Only this time it hit off the top of a limb changed directions a little to the left and ended up right where I needed to be… I didn’t get what in spite of my best efforts, I deserved.
That’s mercy. The Lord gives us His mercy like that. When our best efforts still are not even close to what God expects from us and for us His mercies are new every morning. Lamentations 3:22-23…
With that in mind how should we respond?
2. Living Sacrifices Keep on Living … offer your bodies as living sacrifices…I heard someone say once that the worst thing about “living sacrifices” is that they tend to crawl down off the altar after a while. I look at this a little differently. I think the worst thing about “Living Sacrifices” is that they never live up to the potential that God has granted them – by His mercy and grace. This is what I’m talking about. We put the old man to death. Galatians 2:20, I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. If we want to place an emphasis on dying to self – and it is important – then we would stop with I have been crucified with Christ… But, if we realize that there are more scriptures about the kind of life that God desires for us right here and right now, we read the rest of the verse … The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
…offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
What pleases God? Living a sacrificed life – with the emphasis on living. For a long time after I was saved I focused on holiness as being what I can’t do… Paul says that I put to death the misdeeds of the body. Important stuff right? But what happens when your mindset changes from “what I have to do to” to “what I get to do”?
Romans 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
3. Worship is spiritual, but it translates into the natural…
Your spiritual act of worship is reflected in your willingness to agree with the word of God and what He says about you.
I am a co-heir with Christ…
I am seated with Him right now in the heavenly realms…
I have all authority over the enemy…
I can lay hands on the sick and expect them to get well…
I can resist the enemy and he has to flee…
I am the head and not the tail…
I am blessed and not cursed…
4. Worship Your Way.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
I think we all understand that worship is more than just a time of singing at the beginning of a church service – although that is an important part of our worship experience.
William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, defined worship as a quickening of the conscience by the holiness of God, feeding the mind with the truth of God, purging the imagination by the beauty of God, opening the heart to the love of God, and devoting the will to the purpose of God.
Worship is giving yourself over to God’s purpose for your life. And the only person who can do that the right way is you. There are plenty of well-intentioned people in the church who will plan your “church” activity for you if you let them. But doing what others thing you should be doing is not worship. Worship comes when you don’t try to meet other people’s expectations. Worship comes when, being transformed by the renewing of your mind, you begin to get a sense of what God’s plan for our life is, and then begin to move in that direction.
In 1997 I began to sense a call of God for my life in ministry. I didn’t know what it was, but I began taking classes, moving toward credentialing… then I sensed the Lord saying that I would be in pastoral ministry. I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but I started working towards an associate degree in pastoral ministry. Then 10 months as interim pastor in Montgomery City and finally, pastor at Palmyra. It was a step by step process. And listen – I didn’t get it right every time. But just like my golf shots were intended to be straight, when I missed it there was mercy and then grace. If I had listened to the District’s wishes, I would still be at Montgomery city. If I had listened to the will of the people in Palmyra, we would still be there. But I purposed in my heart to offer myself as a living sacrifice, receiving from God and walking (at least trying to walk) according to His will for my life.
5. True Worship is not always easy, but it is Good, Pleasing, and Perfect
Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
One of the most asked questions in the church today is, “What is God’s will for me and how can I know it”?
1John 5:14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
1) God’s will is revealed in the written word. This is where we get tripped up sometimes. We know that God has given His children so many great and precious promises, and yet, when it comes right down to it, we allow the enemy to place doubt in our minds and he whispers, “Did God really say that or is that what He really meant?” So when we are promised victory, deliverance, provision, healing, peace… many lean toward doubt instead of acting in faith. This is the connection to the beginning of the verse – offering ourselves as living sacrifices. Accepting God’s promises as truth and then living by faith in those promises. The eternal God who promised sees all His promises as done and is just on the back side of them waiting for us to grasp it. So god’s will for us is to live in the power and authority that He has given us as adopted children.
2) God’s will for our specific lives is revealed through the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. The book of Acts gives example after example of that. How did the church in Antioch know that they were supposed to send Paul and Barnabas on the mission field? Acts 13:2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." The Holy Spirit told Peter to go with the men who had come from the house of Cornelius… The Holy Spirit prevented Paul and associates from going into Asia and Bithynia and through a vision sent them to Philippi. Oh, but God only speaks to certain people that way… Really?
God is still speaking to His people… And He is waiting for us to say, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening”.
So let’s try to tie this all together.
True worship requires offering yourself. Whether it is singing, of giving financially, or just giving yourself to serve, let your offering – your spiritual act of worship – be alive. Stand in faith according to what God has promised and then act on it. I like Pastor Joseph’s definition of radical faith. Radical faith is believing God’s word is true and then acting like it is. That is a living sacrifice.
But Mike, I don’t have much to give. I’m not talented. I don’t have much education. I don’t have a lot of money.
This scripture doesn’t tell us how much to give. It simply says to offer ourselves as living sacrifices.
The woman at the temple that Jesus saw put two copper coins into the offering while the religious leaders were making a show of their giving, and Jesus said she gave more than all of them.
Offer yourself and then watch God take this living sacrifice and make it much more than you could ever imagine. Not because of who you are but because of who He is.
So will you do that today? Offer yourselves as living sacrifices and then live…?
Worship like this isn’t cheap. It costs your life.
It isn’t easy… but it’s always good.
It isn’t easy but it’s always pleasing.
It isn’t easy but it’s always perfect.
Because it is given to the LORD.
