God is worthy of our praise and worship!
- Paul concludes chapter 11 by basically just worshipping from Isaiah and Job in such a way that illustrates some of the incredible characteristics of our God.
Romans 11:33-35 - “33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34 Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? 35 Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them? 36 For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”
Isaiah 55:8-9 - “8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, 9 As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
- As humans, we have this habit of questioning God when bad things happen in our lives, or even when there is something that we simply don’t understand. At some point we just need to let go of our attempts at controlling life and just let God work, having faith that He knows what is best for us.
- Romans 11:36 is a bit confusing “for from him and through him and for him are all things”. What does that even mean?? Let's break this down
- “From him are all things” - God created the heavens and the earth. Literally everything comes from Him. All of our possessions, all of our time, all of our food, everything that we receive comes from God.
- “Through him are all things” - God is active in the world today
- “For him are all things” - Everything points back/flows back to God.
- Basically, Paul is saying here that God is worthy of our praise and worship! Because of all of these incredible reasons, we should sacrificially live lives filled with praise and worship of the one true God.
What should our praise and worship look like?
- So how should we respond to this?
- Because of God’s mercy, we should offer all of ourselves as a LIVING sacrifice.
- We don’t do this out of compulsion, it is not required for our salvation, but rather it is a result of our lives being transformed by the cleansing blood of Jesus.
Romans 12:1-2 - “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. 2 Do not conform 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.”
- “To offer your body as a living sacrifice” means to constantly be searching for ways in which we can honor God with our actions and our physical selves.
- Be genuine and consistent
- “Transforming and renewing our minds” means that God’s will and our will should align with each other.
- When Paul says “I can do all this through Him who gives me strength” in Philippians 4:13, that is only possible when our will aligns with God’s will.
Romans 12:3 - “3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you."
- Our service and worship of the Lord should be filled with humility and selflessness.
Motivational gifts
- This next passage of scripture is referred to as the “motivational gifts”, which are used to build up the body of Christ (the Church).
- They are ways that we can “offer our bodies as a living sacrifice”.
Romans 12: 4-8 - “4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”
- Prophesying
- Serving
- Teaching
- Encouraging (Exhortation)
- Giving
- Leading
- Showing mercy - Luke 6:36 “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
- Each one of these gifts is not exclusive - it is possible to have more than one spiritual gift!
Practically how do we do this?
- Discover your gift(s)!
- Once you know what your specific giftings are, use them!
- Whatever your specific giftings are (and I KNOW God has blessed each and every one of you with something), seek out ways to use them.
- Offer up your whole selves as a “living sacrifice” in service of God who is worthy of everything that we have.
