The Worshiper God Seeks
**Romans 12:1** — *"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship."*
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Everyone seeks a better environment. A better job, a better home, a more comfortable life. But the Bible tells us that God, too, is seeking something. Jesus said to the woman at the well: *"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks."* (John 4:23)
**God is seeking worshipers.** Throughout Scripture, we see this pursuit continuing: *"For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him."* (2 Chronicles 16:9) *"The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God."* (Psalm 14:2)
God called Abraham. He brought Israel out of Egypt. Jesus sought out the Samaritan woman. All of it was to raise up worshipers. And the reason God has saved you and me today is the same — **He has called us to be worshipers.**
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## So then, what is worship?
The text says: *"Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship."* (Romans 12:1)
**Worship is a life that pleases God.** The Apostle Paul writes: *"We make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it."* (2 Corinthians 5:9) And again: *"Find out what pleases the Lord."* (Ephesians 5:10) A worshiper is someone who lives asking the question: *"How can I please God?"*
We please God by doing His will. Jesus summarized God's two greatest commandments: love God, and love your neighbor. These are not only the greatest commands but the summary of all commands. Therefore, worship can be described as the act of loving God and loving our neighbor. The writer of Hebrews confirms: *"Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased."* (Hebrews 13:15–16) Praising God and serving others in love — these are the sacrifices that please Him.
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## How then can we become true worshipers?
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### 1. We Must Yearn for God and Grow in Knowing Him
God said to Israel: *"For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings."* (Hosea 6:6) God desires that His people know Him more than He desires the act of sacrifice itself. The prophet Hosea declares that Israel was destroyed not because they stopped offering sacrifices, but because *"my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge."* (Hosea 4:6) Their failure in worship was not a failure of ritual — it was a failure to know God.
What about us today? We attend worship services every week, but are we, like Israel, failing to grow in the knowledge of God? God is not seeking those who attend worship ceremonies — **He is seeking worshipers.** Like David, who thirsted for God even in a dry and parched land where there is no water (Psalm 63:1), who declared God's words *"more precious than gold… sweeter than honey"* (Psalm 19:10) — those who truly hunger for God and treasure His Word are the ones living the life of a true worshiper.
What allowed the Apostle Paul to love the Lord so deeply? *"I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ."* (Philippians 3:8) *"For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified."* (1 Corinthians 2:2)
Whether or not we are worshipers pleasing to God is determined by **how closely we draw near to His Word today** and **how earnestly we pursue knowing Him.** We can only worship God to the extent that we know Him — only to the degree that we have grasped His love. The confession *"in view of God's mercy"* can only arise in the heart of one who truly knows that mercy. That is when true worship becomes possible.
Are you attending weekly worship services, yet genuinely thirsting for God and prioritizing the knowledge of Him? If not, we are those who seek the satisfaction the world offers — and we can never truly please God. Only those who grow in knowing God through His Word can become the worshipers He delights in.
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### 2. We Must Understand That Worship Is Something We Give to God
The text says: *"Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice."* Worship is not something we receive from God — **it is something we give to Him.** The most foundational and essential journey of a worshiper is growing in thirst for God and in the knowledge of God and His love. Yet knowledge of God, or even the awakening to His love, is not itself worship. **Worship is expressing love to God in response to His love.** In response to the love of *"God so loving the world that He gave His only Son"* — we offer ourselves, our lives, our hearts, our resources. That is worship.
The word *worship* comes from the word *worth* — value. It is showing God His worth, His importance, through our lives and our expression. By willingly giving our time, possessions, talents, and effort, we demonstrate through our lives that God is the most important One. Abraham offered Isaac. A woman broke open an alabaster jar of perfume and poured it on the Lord. David said: *"I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."* (2 Samuel 24:24) Abel succeeded in worship by offering the firstborn of his flock — his most precious possession. Cain failed by offering whatever was convenient. Worship is not offering God our leftover time. It is not offering our leftover money. **It is offering what is most precious. It is offering our priority.** Worship is the life confession: *"Lord, You are my everything"* — showing God that He is the most important One in our lives.
The greatest obstacle to confessing *"Lord, You are my everything"* is ourselves — our self-centeredness. Tragically, many in the church today are unable to shed this self-centeredness: those who cannot reconcile with one another, who cannot forgive, who insist on their own righteousness, who cannot yield. The Lord told us that before we bring our offering to the altar, before we pray, we must first go and be reconciled — and forgive those we need to forgive. If we cannot lay down our self-centeredness before the Lord, **He cannot receive our worship.** The standard Jesus calls us to is a love so deep that we would lay down our lives for one another.
I pray that as we reflect on our relationships with one another, each of us will examine whether we have fully laid our self-centeredness before the Lord — and whether we are prepared to offer even our most precious things to Him, so that we may be devoted as worshipers who offer themselves completely.
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### 3. We Must Always Remember That Worship Is Faith, Not Feeling
Just as in the Old Testament there were acceptable and unacceptable sacrifices, so today there is worship that pleases the Lord and worship that does not. What do you think the standard is?
Many people evaluate a worship service by asking: *"Did I receive grace today?"* or *"Did I feel God's presence?"* If they don't experience these things, they tend to feel as though the worship was empty and in vain. But the more important question is: **"Was God pleased?"** The audience of worship is not us — it is God.
There are times when we do not feel God's presence. Times when our prayers seem to go unanswered. Times when neither the sermon nor the songs move us with special emotion. But the more important posture of a true worshiper is to keep asking: *How do I obey God's Word? What can I offer to God? How can I please the Lord?*
*"Without faith it is impossible to please God."* (Hebrews 11:6) Even when I do not feel His presence, when I believe according to His promise — *"Where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them"* (Matthew 18:20) — that He is here, whether I feel it or not, **that is what pleases God.** Feeling is emotion; His presence here is truth. God is present even when we are unaware of it.
The same is true in personal worship. You may pray for hours and feel no response, no sense of God's presence. Even when there is no visible evidence of His work in your life — to continue loving God, trusting Him, obeying Him, and worshiping Him in faith: **this is the posture of a worshiper who pleases God.**
Abraham spoke with God directly only a handful of times in his entire life. From Job chapter 1 through chapter 37, God said not a single word to Job — yet Job did not lose his trust in God. Even if it seems God is not answering my prayers, even if humanly speaking the most tragic things occur in my life — when by faith we accept that the God who loved us enough to not spare His own Son is worthy of all praise, worship, and thanksgiving for the remainder of our days, **we become the worshipers God delights in.** What gives God joy is not our emotion — it is our faith.
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## Closing
Jesus gave up everything for us. He died on the cross — so that we might become worshipers who give thanks for His grace. Therefore, we must ask ourselves:
> **Am I a worshiper — or merely someone who attends worship?**
A true worshiper is one who **grows in knowing God**, who **gives to God**, and who **pleases God by faith.** And God is still searching for such worshipers today.
