True Worship Pt. 2

This text provides for us five traits of the kind of worship that ought to characterize those whom God has redeemed through Christ. It teaches us that true worship is a response to God’s mercies, is sacrificial, pursues holiness, begins in the heart, and is based on what is known and not felt.

Outline

1. True Worship is a Response to God’s Mercies

2. True Worship is Sacrificial

3. True Worship Pursues Holiness

4. True Worship Begins in the Heart

5. True Worship is based in what is known not felt

Study Questions

1. 12:1 bases the appeal to worship on the mercies of God, which is God’s gracious response to our total rebellion, helplessness, and desperate need for Him to act on our behalf.

   1. Where else in Scripture can we read about God’s mercy (see 1 Pet 1:3; 2:9-10; Eph 2:1-8; Tit 3:5)?

   2. How can an understanding of God’s mercy 1) protect us in moments when we feel like we’re not good enough for God and 2) fuel our worship and sacrifice?

2. The mercies of God compel us towards whole-hearted sacrificial living for Christ.

   1. What does it mean to be a living sacrifice?

   2. What does the grammar suggest should be the nature of this sacrifice (individual or corporate)?

   3. How does the rest of Romans (12:3-15:33) protect us from thinking that a sacrificial life is one that abandons everything to be a missionary?

3. The nature of this sacrifice is to be “holy and acceptable to God,” which suggests that the pursuit of personal holiness is an act of worship.

   1. What do passages like Mt 5:16; 1 Pet 2:11-12; Tit 1:16; 2:10; Phil 1:27 teach us about the connection of holiness and worship?

   2. How does our knowledge of our bodies as a temple (see 1 Cor 6:19-20) connect personal holiness and worship?

4. In Matthew 15, Jesus said the difference between true worship and vain worship is what is in the heart. In this sense, spiritual worship must begin in the heart.

   1. Is this something we must stir up in ourselves, or is it something God gives us through His Spirit? (see Rom 8:14-17; 1 John 3:1-3; Rom 5:5).

   2. How would you counsel someone who feels cold and distant towards God (see Ps 42, 43; Lam 3:22-26)?

5. It’s been said that the revelation God gives us of Himself is the standard of all true religious worship and obedience.

   1. What must be renewed in order for us to worship rightly?

   2. How can we bring our emotions in line with God’s truth (See Ps 42, 43)?

   3. What does 12:2 teach us about the importance of knowledge in framing our thoughts and habits?

   4. What is this grounded in? (see Col 3:16)