How Should We Sacrifice to God?

Why did Paul write chapters 12-16 of Romans?

Why not stop after chapter 11’s marvelous conclusion:

O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! … From Him, through Him, and to Him are all things! To Him be the glory forever! (From Romans 11:33, 36)

Or why doesn’t he proceed directly to his plans to visit them, discussed in chapter 15?

Because in Scripture truth always leads to change.

  • We don’t learn biblical truth so we can become Bible answer men
  • Nor do we learn biblical truth to satisfy our intellectual curiosity – what is God like? What is man like?

God breaths out Scriptural Truth that is profitable “for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” – Why? – so “that the man of God may be” competent, perfected, fully “equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

The structure of Romans reflects this. Paul applies the truths of chapters 1-11 in chapters 12-15.

Romans 12:1 is thus the hinge in the letter:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Let’s focus on four phrases from this verse:

1) Therefore, By the Mercies of God

“Therefore” indicates the application of the subsequent chapters is closely linked to the theology that Paul discusses earlier. We are to live our lives differently because we understand what God has done, because we have taken to heart Who He is. How we think is to affect how we act – every minute of every day.

Realize: This is not the case in many religions. There is theology on the one hand, and a moral code on the other. There is little or no link between them.

Note that of all the truth Paul has brought out so far in Romans, he emphasizes here God’s mercy. Romans has made clear: No one is righteous. All have sinned. The wages of sin is death. But God put forward Jesus as the atoning sacrifice by His death on the cross. So God declares His people righteous, He redeems His people as a gift – a gift that comes to us through faith in Jesus as our Savior.

Furthermore, Paul has said in chapter 11 that this is true for peoples as well as for individuals. God consigns all types of people to disobedience so that He might have mercy on all types of people (Romans 11:32).

So because of that great mercy, because of who God is and who you are, because He offers you salvation, indeed, Himself in Jesus, because nothing can separate you from the love He has for you in Christ Jesus, therefore respond, therefore live out Romans 12 through 15.

2) I Appeal to You, Brothers

Notice what Paul does at this point. He is an apostle. He has authority. He could say, “I command you.”

But instead he appeals to them to respond from the heart.

Why?

Because what he is going to tell them to do cannot be done in a perfunctory manner. It cannot be checked off as completed once you obey a rule or two.

He is going to tell them to do something that will characterize the rest of their lives – until they die.

So he says: “I exhort you. I encourage you. I appeal to you: Think of God’s mercy. Think of Who He is, who you are. Think of who Jesus is, what He has done on your behalf. Think of the promises of God – and respond! Act and, indeed, feel in a way consistent with these truths. Take these truths to heart and be changed by them.”

3) Present Your Bodies as a Sacrifice

Let’s unpack this appeal in four ways:

a) God Doesn’t Need Us

You may have heard people say: “We are God’s hands and feet to accomplish His work.”

What do you think of that?

God does indeed equip and use us to accomplish His purposes. He tells us to go and disciple all nations (Matthew 28:18-20); He tells us to let our light shine before men so they may see our good works and give Him glory (Matthew 5:16).

But you could infer from that statement that God needs us. We are to offer Him our bodies because He doesn’t have one.

No. God is not needy. He created us. He can create others. All our abilities, all our intelligence, every cell in our bodies is from Him. When we offer ourselves to Him, He gains nothing. We are the ones who gain.

b) Present as a Sacrifice

God instituted the sacrificial system to picture His work and our relationship to Him. That system includes several different types of offerings, including whole burnt offerings, grain or present offerings, sin offerings, and fellowship offerings (see Leviticus 1-7).

Christians are most familiar with the sin offering, rightly seeing Jesus as the fulfillment of that offering. An ancient Israelite would lay his hands on the living animal, identifying with it, and then kill it. Similarly, God transfers the sins of His people to Jesus on the cross. He became a sin offering for us.

But in Romans 12, Paul is not telling us to offer ourselves as a sin offering. The image instead is of other offerings – two of which we will consider here: the whole burnt offering and the grain or present offering.

The primary distinction of the whole burnt offering is that the entire animal is burned in the fire. The offeror or the priests eat at least part of every other offering.

The grain or present offering consists of their staple food, what the people effectively are made of.

Thus, considering the two together: I am to offer all I am to God – even all the details of my daily life.

Furthermore, note that both offerings are celebrations! The idea is not, “Oh, I’m giving up this expensive animal, or this food that we could use!” Rather, the idea is: “I belong wholly to Him. I am accepted by Him completely. Indeed, I am without blemish before Him. He has covered every stain, every sin in me. So like a spotless lamb, loved by Him, redeemed by Him, I can offer myself to Him – and He rejoices!”

So Paul’s exhortation here is not so much for commitment but for surrender, complete surrender.

That’s what Jesus did. In addition to becoming a sin offering, He is an example of complete surrender, offering Himself to God (see, for example, John 5:30).

c) Present Your Bodies

Why does Paul emphasize our bodies?

He clearly is not limiting the command to our bodies. Indeed, he speaks of the “renewal of your mind” in verse 2.

He emphasizes “body” because of the temptation in his day and ours to separate the body from the mind or soul, to think of our relationship to God as solely interior, and day to day life in the body as separate, even relatively unimportant.

So Paul is saying: “Present your entire person to God as a sacrifice – including your body” (see also 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

This has important implications for the way we live. That passage from 1 Corinthians emphasizes how we live sexually. But there are additional implications for how we eat, how we exercise, and, indeed, what we do with our bodies throughout the day.

One preacher summarizes this truth: “I must not regard even my body as my private property.”

Don’t we all tend to do that? Doesn’t our culture encourage us to think that way?

We are to offer our bodies to God – they are not our private property.

d) What Type of Sacrifice

Paul uses three adjectives to describe the sacrifice:

Living:

The point here is not that the Old Testament sacrifices were dead – they were alive when they were offered! Rather the point is that this is not a one-time event, a one-time offering and then we die. We are to offer this sacrifice day after day, continually – our entire life is an offering to God.

Holy:

Old Testament sacrifices had to be perfect, without blemish. We are stained, but as we noted we become unblemished because of Jesus’ work. So our offering of our bodies is holy.

Acceptable or Well-Pleasing

“Acceptable” is problematic here. Imagine as a student you work hard on an essay for English class. You’re pleased with the final version and you eagerly await your teacher’s response. When you get it back, the teacher has written across the top, “This is acceptable.”

How do you feel? Not happy! That sounds like your essay is barely good enough. You want the teacher to write, “Excellent!” or “I’m quite pleased with this!”

The Greek word means much more than “acceptable” in that sense. Thus some translations render it “pleasing.”

God is indeed well-pleased with our offering ourselves to Him in this way. He is delighted when we see Jesus as our Redeemer, and see ourselves as loved and accepted in Christ, and thus following Him with joy all our lives.

4) This is Worship, This is Life                   

Paul concludes the verse by emphasizing that our continually offering ourselves as a sacrifice to God is our “spiritual worship.”

The phrase is rather difficult to translate. The word translated “spiritual” in the ESV can mean “logical, rational, inner, genuine.” Thus the NET translates it “reasonable service.” One commentator suggests rendering the phrase, “which is the logical thing to do.”

So let’s try to tie together the living sacrifice idea with insights from this phrase. We’ll consider three negatives and then three positives:

First, as we’ve said, our offering ourselves to God is not an occasional or even regular act. We are to offer ourselves continually, every minute of every day.

Second, our offering ourselves to God is not an act of perfunctory obedience, just going through the motions. It must be inner as well as outer.

Third, our offering ourselves is thus not simply obedience to a set of rules, a set of behaviors to avoid.

Instead, fourth, our offering ourselves is rational, logical, reasonable, genuine. That offering is the right response to our understanding of His mercies!

Fifth, this offering is spiritual. Remember what Jesus said to the woman at the well: “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23).

Finally, this offering of ourselves to Him is indeed worship. Worship is acting, thinking, and feeling in a way that reflects the glory of God. And the inner dynamic of worship is valuing Jesus far above all earthly goals, attainments, joys, and accomplishments.

Therefore, I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God: Present your bodies to Him as a sacrifice – living, holy, well-pleasing to God. This is only logical. This is the way you worship Him: Seeing your entire life as His, and then living that out – to your great joy.

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee….
Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine….
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee. (Frances Havergal, 1874)

[This devotion is shortened and edited from a sermon on Romans 12:1 preached January 7, 2018. You can listen to the audio of that sermon via this link. The quote from “one preacher” is from Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans: Exposition of Chapter 12: Christian Conduct (Banner of Truth Trust, 2000), p. 65.]

To Desire God

[This devotion is based on one section of the July 21 sermon. Audio will be available at this link soon.]

We call ourselves Desiring God Community Church. Verses 25 and 26 of Psalm are therefore central to who we aspire to be:

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Think of what these verses tell us concerning, first, this present life, and, second, our future life.

In this present life, we have many desires: We want security; we want joy and satisfaction; we want a sense of accomplishment, to feel like we have some importance; we want to be loved and cared for. And to the extent we have attained the objects of those desires, we don’t want to lose them. We don’t want to lose our strength, or our friends, or our family members, or our other joys.

Yet our bodies are weak and eventually wear out; in the vicissitudes of life we are always at risk of losing what we have; in addition, many of our desires are never fulfilled – and then, even when we attain what we think we desire most, so often we remain unsatisfied, longing for that unarticulated something that is still missing.

The psalmist recognizes this. Left to his own resources, his flesh and heart fail. His body loses strength and his thoughts and affections grasp for what he does not have. No matter what he might have, no matter what he might have attained, eventually he is dissatisfied and disgruntled.

But as he comes into the sanctuary, as he worships (Psalm 73:17), he sees God for Who He is. He encounters the reality of the one true God – and that reality strengthens and changes him.

He sees that today, in the midst of whatever trials and difficulties God’s people might face, God Himself is the strength of our hearts:

  • He lifts us up
  • He enables us to fight temptation
  • He listens to our cries
  • He comforts our souls
  • He answers our prayers
  • He accomplishes His work through us.

We see even more than the psalmist from our side of the Cross:

  • He sent His Son to die for us
  • He reconciled us to Himself through that death
  • He provides us in Christ with life and breath and everything pertaining to life and godliness
  • He works all things together for our good and His glory
  • He loves us as His own precious possession in Christ, hearing our prayers and giving us Himself.

So if we have Him – what else should we desire?

But note: When the psalmist says, “There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you,” he is not denying that he has the desires detailed above – for joy, satisfaction, health, accomplishment, or love. Rather, he is saying:

Now that worship has sobered me, I see: There is no joy apart from You, there is no satisfaction apart from You. I do not deserve, I do not earn anything good in this life – indeed, I only deserve and earn Your judgment on me. But worshiping You among Your people has made clear to me: Everything good in this life is an undeserved gift from you – life and breath and everything. If I have You, I have the source and fountain of all good. So there can be nothing I desire on earth apart from You.

That’s true now, in this present life. What about in eternity, in our future life?

The psalmist says these same truths hold even then, even in heaven: “Whom have I in heaven but You? … God is … my portion forever.”

That is, my great inheritance – what I can look forward to receiving – is God Himself.

What do you look forward to in heaven? There is an overflowing abundance of good promised to God’s people: Bodies that don’t grow weary and never wear out; reunion with loved ones who are in Christ; the opportunity to get to know giants of the faith who lived centuries before (or after!) us; knowing all of God’s people made perfect, without any sin, without even any wrong desires; all the goodness of material prosperity without selfishness or smugness.

Yet all that abundance of good cannot compare with the greatest good of knowing God, of knowing Jesus (John 17:3). God Himself is not only the source of all those other goods, but the One to Whom they all point. He opens the way for us to come to Him, He brings us to Himself in and through Christ, and He rejoices in us in Christ for all eternity. All things are from Him, through Him, and to Him (Romans 11:36). Jesus Himself is our peace (Ephesians 2:14), and in heaven in Him we have the true peace, the true shalom, of being part of God’s beloved family forever.

So the psalmist speaks this precious truth that we today can see even more clearly: Now and for all eternity, God’s people have Him – and in Christ, life-giving relationships with one another, with ourselves, and with the created order. All of that is true shalom.

Do you have this peace? Can you say with the psalmist, “Earth has nothing I desire besides You”? Do you recognize that far and away the greatest joy in eternity is knowing God?

Worship Him – and so desire Him above all else. In this way – and only in this way – will you find your greatest joy.

 

Study and Worship

[Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached 372 sermons on the Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Romans on Friday evenings at Westminster Chapel in London between 1955 and 1968. Some people considered these Bible lectures rather than worship services. He reacts strongly against that idea in this excerpt from one of his last sermons in the series – Coty]

Bible study should never be regarded as an entity in and of itself. … I call our Friday night meeting a service and that is what it is. I do not recognize a Bible lecture or anything like that; I do not understand it and I do not believe in it. There is only one way to expound the Scriptures and it must always be the same way.

Now some people do not agree with that. They say, ‘Oh, no, you need Bible lectures and you need Bible instruction; you must not apply it, and you must not preach.’ I think that is absolutely fatal. The Bible is always to be preached, and must always be applied.

Still less do I believe in holding examinations on peoples’ knowledge of the Scriptures. To sit an examination on your knowledge of the Bible, in the way you would take an examination in geometry or chemistry or history, is to ask for trouble. … People have this knowledge, they have it all classified and divided, and it is all purely intellectual, purely academic, purely theoretical, and it is all wrong. People who study the Bible in this way are guilty of the very thing that the Apostle tells us [in Romans 14] we should never be guilty of.

And so I come to this: the church has often got into trouble through neglect of this principle in the matter of theological seminaries. … You will often find evangelical people saying that the trouble with the church today stems from the colleges, and, of course, they are perfectly right. But here is the question: Why has there been trouble in the colleges? And the answer is because theology has been taught as a subject.

People in earlier times used to boast that theology was the queen of the sciences. What they really meant was that it was the most interesting and the most profound of all the studies that a person could ever be engaged in, and, of course, that is right. But they should never have put it into competition with the others; it does not belong there. No, we must say that theology is different from every other study.

Why? Because with every other study you can be objective, and the more objective you are the better. You are detached, you look on. But if you study theology like that, it would be better for you never to have started. What is theology? It is the study of God. And can you study God objectively? Can you just look on intellectually? You cannot, it is impossible. To be strictly accurate, you cannot study God in any sense, but if you are trying to get knowledge about God and to know God, your whole attitude is immediately different because this is worship. When you are studying sciences or history, then you can lounge in an armchair or lie on you back in bed. But you should not study theology like that, because the study of theology always involves a relationship with God. That must never be forgotten. Indeed, if I may use [Romans 14:17], I can put it like this: The kingdom of God is not logic-chopping about particular theological points of view or definitions, but it is my relationship to God – ‘righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.’

It is obviously necessary that the man who is to preach and teach should be rendered capable of doing so. … He therefore needs a certain amount of training. That is all right, but the history of this matter shows very clearly that the moment you have a theological college there is danger and those involved must be watchful and careful. …

You will find, if you go into the history of these matters, that the people who, say two hundred and three hundred years ago, formed academies and colleges for the training of preachers, always realized the danger of separating theory from worship. So they reduced the course to the minimum, and tried to make it as practical as they could. But – and this was the most important thing of all – it was all in an atmosphere of worship. So the lecturer on theology would never dream of starting his lecture without prayer, without worship, without adoration, without reminding the students that the ultimate object was to bring them to a greater knowledge of God, in order that they might be better able to impart this truth to others; they always kept their teaching ‘living.’ I am thinking, for example, of the Independents like Philip Doddridge and others, who started their academies; I am thinking of William Tennent, who started the famous Log College, which later became Princeton University and the Princeton Seminary. …

These men always safeguarded the study of theology, but the trouble was that as the years passed and as the spirituality of the professors and teachers went down and down, so the element of worship was forgotten and theology became an abstract science to be handled like any other subject. …

You will find that evangelical people in this century have failed to remember this principle. They have become more concerned with academic qualifications and results, with degree and diplomas … than with the spirituality of the men who are being trained. These men are packed with theoretical knowledge, and often a man who goes in with his heart ablaze with the truth and the desire to preach it and to propagate it, comes out as a man whose head is full of knowledge but who has lost the fire, and is neither a preacher nor really an adequate teacher. …

The troubles that have arisen in all these areas have come because men have forgotten that the kingdom of God is not this, that or the other, but ‘righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.’ Throughout the centuries there has been a divided church and a dead church, a quarrelling church and a scandalous church, simply because this great principle has either been forgotten or has not been implemented.

[Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans: Liberty and Conscience, Exposition of Chapter 14:1-17 (Banner of Truth, 2003), p. 212-215. This message was preached in 1968. Italics are in the original; I added the underlining. You can download or listen to the audio of this sermon via this link (the sermon is entitled “A Sense of Balance (1).”) The excerpted section begins at 33:16 of the recording.]

Worship and the Blood of Christ

What impact does the blood of Christ have on those who believe?

Of the many different ways to answer that question biblically, consider the answer provided in Hebrews 9:14: “The blood of Christ . . . [will] purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” What does this mean?

First: Jesus’ blood will “purify our conscience.” “Conscience” here includes what the English word suggests: our sense of right and wrong, especially whether or not we are under God’s judgment for what we have done. See, for example, Hebrews 9:9: Speaking of the rituals ordained for ancient Israel, the author states, “Gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper.” No matter how many animal sacrifices the Israelites offered, they knew that the penalty they deserved was not fully paid. They stood guilty before God. They could not access Him directly. And the regulations restricting access to the Holy of Holies to only the High Priest, and to him only once a year, underlined the inefficacy of the sacrifices. Those worshipping could not enter into the very presence of God. Something more was needed.

But “conscience” in Hebrews is also intimately related to “heart,” all of our inner desires and longings, as well as our will. In Hebrews 10:22, the author writes, “Let us draw near [to God] with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience.” The cleansing of our conscience by the blood of Christ leads to full assurance of faith, thereby enabling us to approach God Himself with a true heart – that is, with all our inner being truly focused on Him, delighting in Him, comforted in His love, embraced as His child, and loving Him with all our heart.

So in purifying our conscience, the blood of Christ is changing us thoroughly from the inside out.

With that understanding of “conscience,” consider the next phrase in Hebrews 9:14: Our conscience is purified from “dead works.” Think of these both as “works that are produced by deadness” and “works that can’t produce life.” Apart from Christ we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). Apart from Christ, we are impotent; we can do nothing (John 15:5). So whatever deeds we do – whether those are acts that look like worship, or acts that seem to help another person or produce something worthwhile – are all sin-stained, the production of sinful, dead hearts. And such dead works logically cannot produce life. They cannot save us, they cannot make us alive when we are dead in trespasses and sins – no matter how religious those works may appear – nor can they effect life in any other person.

But when the blood of Christ purifies our conscience from such dead works, what happens? What are we now able to do? We are able “to serve the living God.” Note that the same verb translated “serve” in Hebrews 9:14 is translated “worship” in Hebrews 9:9. The blood of Christ enables us to worship the living God.

So now we can summarize the impact that the blood of Christ has on believers, according to Hebrews 9:14: Jesus’ blood cleanses us from the inside out, providing us with a clear conscience and purifying our hearts, so that we no longer offer to God unacceptable worship or sin-stained deeds, but, made holy, we draw near to God, truly worshiping Him in word, in thought, in affections, and in deeds, thereby glorifying His Name.

That is: The blood of Christ enables us to worship God.

Ponder that thought. We so often think of Jesus’ blood as saving us from hell, or as saving us from guilt, or as saving us from the power of sin, and thus saving us from destroying our lives. Praise God, His blood does all that. But it does even more. Jesus’ blood enables us to worship God in the only way He can be worshiped – in spirit and in truth (John 4:23).  The blood of Christ enables us to worship God on Sunday mornings – and indeed every hour of every day, as we display what He is like through our thoughts, our feelings, and our acts.

So, Christian: Jesus’ blood enables you to worship. Do so. Even today. Even now.

 

Who Am I?

“Who am I?”

Many people spend years trying to answer that question.

We Americans in particular spend time and energy trying to discover ourselves. So we take personality tests and, in evangelical circles, spiritual gift inventories. We want to know who we are.

At the beginning of Exodus 3, Moses thinks he has answered that question. He had an extraordinary childhood:

  • Hidden in the Nile River to escape Pharaoh’s edict that all Hebrew baby boys should be killed
  • Found by Pharaoh’s daughter
  • Brought into the palace and raised as her son
  • Given the best upbringing, the best education
  • He became “mighty in words and deeds” (Acts 7:22)

As a young man, he rightly identifies himself with God’s people rather than with the Egyptians. He turns his back on riches and power. He seems to have seen himself as the logical vessel through whom God would rescue His people from Egypt.

But then Moses acts in his own power, not God’s. Thinking he is the key actor in this drama, he kills an Egyptian who is beating a Hebrew. His own people reject him as leader (Exodus 2:11-14). So the highly-educated and talented Moses leaves Egypt, and becomes a shepherd out in the sticks. He stays there for forty years.

Initially Moses seems to miss Egypt; he gives his first son a name that laments his exile. But over time that lamentation turns to contentment. Moses hadn’t taken a Myers-Briggs test or a spiritual gift inventory, but after all these decades, he has decided who he is. “Who am I? A shepherd. Nothing more.”

Then one day Moses sees a bush burning, but not consumed by the fire. As Moses approaches, God speaks to him: “Go! I’m sending you to Pharaoh! Bring my people out of Egypt!”

Moses is flabbergasted. God challenges his self-assessment. Who is he?

So he asks:

”Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11)

God answers in two ways – two ways that are absolutely key for Moses as well as for us.

The first answer is in Exodus 3:12:

God’s first answer: Surely I will be with you.

God is saying: “What matters is not your personality, your experience, your education, or your preparation. What matters is that I am with you! What defines you is that I work through you!”

Do you see? This is why Moses failed before! He was in the prime of life, well-connected, energetic, mighty in speech. And he blew it. He blew it because God was not with him in the actions he took.

For all of us: This is the most important aspect of who we are. Not our personalities. Not our education or life experiences. Not our family or ethnic backgrounds.

Instead: Is God with you? Are you stepping out in God’s power for His glory? As you seek to help others – are you leaning on Him? Depending on Him? Trusting Him?

Moses tells God: “Who am I? I’m inadequate for this task.” God tells him: “Yes, you are – by yourself. You proved that 40 years ago. But you’re the one that I am with! And if I’m with you – my grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in your weakness.”

Now look at the rest of Exodus 3:12:

“And this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

God’s second answer: You shall worship God

Many commentators struggle over this sentence. We normally think of a “sign” in such a context as something that encourages us, something that shows us we’re able to complete a task, or something that gives us direction in a task.

But Moses thinks he is inadequate for bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. How does the fact that they will worship God after they are already out of Egypt help or guide Moses now?

This is a key point. God is here answering not only the question: Who is Moses. He’s also answering the question: Who are the people of Israel? His answer is: “You all are the ones who may worship Me. This defines you. This is who you are.”

Remember, God is holy. Left to ourselves, we are repugnant to him. Defiled. Unholy. Stained. In this state, we cannot approach Him to worship Him – except on His terms. He – and only He – can tell us how we may worship and who may worship.

So understand: Who we are is a result of our relationship to Him. That is: Our identity is defined by this relationship to God.

  • Those who reject Him forever ultimately become irrelevant and unimportant. Their only purpose in eternity is displaying God’s justice.
  • Those who are His spend eternity fulfilling the purpose of their creation: Worshiping Him, giving praise, honor, and glory to Him, delighting in Him and they learn more and more of His inexhaustible goodness forever and ever. This defines them.

So as Moses showed us through his earlier failure, we will do nothing for God apart from His working in us. Indeed, we have nothing to offer others. We are inadequate. But if He is with us – we can offer everything pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). Indeed, God has promised to work in us and through us to bring about the filling of the earth with the knowledge of His glory. God has promised to bring about worship through us.

So, ask yourself: “Who am I?”

Scripture tells us: “I am by nature an object of God’s wrath. I am a rebel against my rightful King’s purpose for me.  I am one who will not submit to God. I am one who wants to be god of my life.”

But through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we rebels, like Moses, can have a new identity. We can be forgiven. We can become children of God. We can become ambassadors of God, God making His appeal through us. We can become worshipers.

Therefore: “Who am I?”

May we all be able to say truly:

“I am the one whom God is with.  And I am the one who worships God.”

(Parts of this devotion are taken from a sermon, “I Am Who I Am” on Exodus 3:11-22, preached December 27, 2009. Audio of that sermon is available online.)

 

Let the Little Children Come to Me

Then children were brought to [Jesus] that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away. (Matthew 19:13-15)

In Sunday’s sermon on Matthew 19:13-30, we considered these opening verses primarily for how they help us to answer the question posed by the rich young ruler: “What good deed must I do to inherit eternal life?” If the kingdom of heaven belongs “to such,” to those who approach Jesus like children, then the question is completely wrongheaded.

But this vignette also informs our understanding of the place of children in the life of the church. Consider these five simple implications:

1)     Children need to come to Jesus.

2)     We can hinder them from coming.

Scripture uses children as negative as well as positive examples (see Matthew 11:16 and Ephesians 4:14). So in Matthew 19, Jesus is not saying children are perfectly innocent and pure.

Thus, these first two implications go together. Hindering children from coming to Jesus is serious – serious enough for Jesus to rebuke His disciples. Children need Jesus – and are hurt when we keep them from coming to Him.

How do we do this? Obviously, when we fail to teach them anything about Him and fail to bring them to settings where they can learn about Him. But we also hinder them when we mouth Christian faith and then are, on the one hand, harsh and domineering, or on the other hand, overly permissive, abdicating our responsibility to discipline. We also hinder them when we go to church and proclaim Christ, and then come home and fail to live out those truths.

3)     Instead, we must help them to come to hear about the Kingdom and to come to Him.

In Matthew 19, those bringing the children want Jesus to lay His hands on them and pray for them. They helped the children to come where they might be blessed by Him. That is our responsibility – as parents, certainly, but also as other adults within the church body. We other adults do this both through encouraging and assisting parents, and by ministering to the children ourselves.

4)     Ministry to children is much more than child care.

It is easy for churches to fall into the error of thinking, “This teaching is so important for the adults! We need to get the children somewhere else so their parents can listen without interruption and profit from what they hear.” While parents may at times need help caring for their children, the children also need to hear about Jesus, about Scripture, about God’s plan of redemption: About creation, fall, the cross, the resurrection, and Jesus’ return. We can hinder children from coming to Jesus by treating them as obstacles to their parents’ faith, rather than as those who, like their parents’, need to hear these great truths.

So we put a high value on work with children, formally in nursery and Sunday School, and informally interacting after church and in homes, living out the Gospel, speaking the Gospel, displaying the love of Christ, teaching the love of the Father.

5)     We value having children in our worship services.

In corporate worship, we come together to God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son. Worship is acting and thinking and feeling in a way that brings glory to God, as we value Christ more than all the world has to offer. Our children benefit from participating in such corporate worship, seeing their parents and other adults who love them expressing joy in Christ and deepening their joy in Christ. Indeed, might excluding them from that setting actually hinder their coming to Jesus?

In addition, we communicate an important truth when families in corporate worship sing together, read Scripture together, pray together, and respond to the preached Word together: The Gospel is for everyone. A young child benefits from hearing the Gospel in its simplicity; the most seasoned believer who has read the entire Bible 100 times benefits from hearing the same Gospel in its complexity. A two-year-old can understand the essence of the Gospel; the most brilliant scholar can never plumb the depths of God’s revelation. “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33).

So please pray, thanking God for the children of Desiring God Community Church, and ask yourself: How can I spur on these little ones to love and good works? How can I help them to know Jesus and to love Him? Have I done anything, even inadvertently, that hinders their coming to Him?

So may the God of encouragement grant us to live in such harmony with one another as we follow our Savior that all of us together, young and old, with one voice, may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What is Worship?

What is worship? That is: What is the nature of true, biblical worship?

In response to the question, “What is worship?” many think primarily of singing. Indeed, Christians often ask each other, “Is the worship in your church traditional or contemporary?” The question, of course, refers to musical style. But biblically, worship is both much broader and much narrower than singing praise choruses together. Broader, in that worship includes much more than singing; narrower, in that it is perfectly possible to sing praise choruses for hours and never worship.

Let’s probe this issue by examining a well-known passage that at first glance seems to have little to do with worship: Philippians 1:20-21. Paul is in prison, not knowing for certain what is ahead of him. But he maintains his focus on one central goal, writing:

It is my eager expectation and hope . . . that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Paul writes Philippians from prison. He has come close to death several times. Looking forward, he realizes he might live for several more years, or he might die soon. But neither possibility concerns him. Paul’s concern, Paul’s major desire, is that God be honored, or magnified.

The Greek word translated “honored” here means to make large; we might say “make much of”. Mary uses this same word in her song of rejoicing at the house of Elizabeth, saying, “My soul magnifies the Lord” (Luke 1:46). The Greek translation of the Old Testament uses this same word often; a good example is Psalm 70:4: “Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; And let those who love Your salvation say continually, ‘Let God be magnified.’” Given the context of Philippians 1:20, I think it likely that Paul had Psalm 70 in mind as he wrote these words. He is rejoicing and being glad in God despite his circumstances; and he is asking that God would be magnified continually in his life and even in his death.

Now, God created mankind to glorify Himself, as Isaiah 43:6b-7a tells us:

Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory.

But to magnify, exalt, extol, or make much of the Lord is to glorify Him. Thus Paul is fulfilling the purpose of creation even while in prison.

The implications for worship come out as we consider verse Philippians 2:21. Since this verse begins with the word “for”, it explains why verse 20 is true. Let’s consider how this explanation works for each of the two possibilities, life and death, in turn. Paul says, “It is my hope . . . that Christ will be honored in my body . . . by life . . . for to me to live is Christ.” And Paul says, “It is my hope . . . that Christ will be honored in my body . . . by death . . . for to me . . . to die is gain.”

Do you see what he is saying? Paul’s death will honor or magnify Christ, because he knows that dying is gain – dying is “far better”, as he says in verse 23. In his last seconds of life, Paul will be confident that he is being ushered into the very presence of Christ, to live with Him for all eternity, to see Him face to face, to know even as he is fully known; Paul knows that the Lord will give him the crown of righteousness. So he can go to his death honoring Christ by taking no account of the loss he is suffering. To be with Christ is better than to be alive; to have Christ for all eternity is better than to have all the possessions and accomplishments and fame the world has to offer. In this way, Paul honors Christ in his death.

What if he lives? Paul honors Christ in his life by saying, “to live is Christ.” He elaborates on this idea in chapter 3 verse 8:

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.

Paul says nothing else matters to him other than knowing Christ Jesus. Remember, Paul was a man of considerable accomplishment and influence; he had been to the best schools, he was on a career track to be a leader of the Jews; indeed, he may have been on the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council, at the time of his conversion. He likely was a man of some wealth also. But Paul threw all that away in order to follow Christ.

Furthermore, does Paul sit back and say, “Weighing the two in the balance – knowing Christ versus all my worldly accomplishments and possessions – knowing Christ is a little better. I made the right decision”? No! Paul says all that he once held dear is rubbish compared to knowing Christ. And “rubbish” is a rather euphemistic translation of this crude Greek word, which was often used to refer to human excrement. There is no comparison. The value of Christ far surpasses the value of everything else. For Paul, to live is Christ. Thus, Paul honors or magnifies Christ in his life by living in such a way that all will see that Christ is worth far more to him than anything this world has to offer. Nothing else matters.

What does this have to do with worship? Everything! For worship in the New Testament does not refer to a regular religious event, but to the attitude of our hearts, and the continual outward expression of that attitude. Consider: When the Samaritan woman tries to divert Jesus from his pointed statement concerning her life by asking about the right place to worship, He emphasizes the internal attitude of worship by saying, “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). Paul tells us in view of God’s mercies to “offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship” (Romans 12:1). Our act of worship is thus a spiritual act – having the attitude that all of our time and all of our members belong to God, to be used for His glory. Thus when Paul writes, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31), he is saying, “Make all of your life worship! Value Christ above all, and display His value in all your outward actions – even seemingly trivial actions like eating and drinking.”

So what is worship? Worship is acting and thinking and feeling in a way that reflects the glory of God. And the inner essence of worship is valuing Christ far above all earthly possessions and attainments. May we live in continual worship, and may God see fit to bring many more worshipers to Himself through us.

[This is a lightly edited excerpt from a longer document on worship written as we were laying the groundwork for planting this church. Here is the entire document, which includes a section on why public worship is of great importance. John Piper’s exposition of Philippians 1:20-21 was helpful in preparation.]

How Can I Approach God?

How can I approach God?

As we saw in last Sunday’s sermon, God reveals Himself as unapproachable. Paul tells us that God “dwells in unapproachable light . . . no one . . . can see [Him]” (1 Timothy 6:16). God sets up limits around Mt Sinai for the Israelites, and more than once warns the Israelites not to touch the mountain, on pain of death.

God tells us He is holy. He is other. We cannot study Him as we would a plant, or an insect, or another human being. He is above us. He is beyond us.

And yet this same God says to the Israelites that they can be His “treasured possession” (Exodus 19:5); He calls them His “firstborn son” (Exodus 4:22). He promises through Isaiah, “With everlasting love I will have compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:8). Indeed, the author of Hebrews says that those in Christ have “confidence to enter the Most Holy Place” (Hebrews 10:19 NIV).

How can this be? How can God, on the one hand, be unapproachable, and yet, on the other hand, invite us to enter into His very presence?

Keep reading in Hebrews 10: “We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus” (Hebrews 10:19 NIV).

Reflect on this. Don’t dismiss the idea, thinking, “Oh, of course, I’ve heard all that before.”

Let this thought seek deep into you: There is absolutely no way for you to approach God through your investigations, through your searching, through your moral choices – unless He chooses to reveal Himself to you. And He graciously has decided that there is one way He will allow those who deserve His condemnation to approach Him: Through their trusting in the death of His Son, through their uniting with His risen Christ, the Lord Jesus.

So we can approach this holy, other, unapproachable God through the one means He provides: His Son.

Some of you may be thinking, “Oh, yes, I did that years ago!”

But, my friend: Have you done that today?

God tells the Israelites to consecrate themselves before He descends on Mt Sinai and speaks to them (Exodus 19:10). What is the equivalent for us today?

Every morning as you wake and thus enter God’s presence; every Sunday before coming to worship Him publicly, live out Hebrews 10:19 by building up your confidence to enter boldly into God’s holy presence by appropriating for yourself once again the blood of Jesus.

How can we do this?

Begin by examining your heart (1 Corinthians 11:28): Pray that God would help you see if there is any grievous way in you, any hidden sin (Psalm 139:24; Psalm 19:12). Confess those sins you are aware of to Him. Pray words like these: “Father God, I am worthy of your eternal punishment. I deserve nothing from you, not even to be alive this moment. But you have showered me with your blessings, including . . . (thank Him for specific gifts). Most of all, you have opened my eyes to see the beauties of the Lord Jesus Christ, and have saved me from the punishment I deserve by His blood shed on the cross. Forgive these sins I have just confessed by that same blood; cleanse me from all unrighteousness as You promise (1 John 1:9). Amaze me once again that I have access to Your very presence through the cross. Enable me this day to worship you from the heart, to encourage others in their walk with you, spurring them on to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24-25).”

How can I approach God?

  • Not on the basis of my intelligence – His intelligence is of a completely different order of magnitude!
  • Not on the basis of my holiness – He “is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
  • Not on the basis of my good works, or my obedience – for even my best works are stained by improper motives, and His command is, “Be perfect, as Your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

But I can approach God as a condemned sinner desperately in need of His grace. I can approach God through faith in His Son who died for His enemies. I can – and must – approach God daily as a supplicant, asking forgiveness on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice.

And when I do, He says to me: “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”

Preparing to Worship

[For a version of this devotion that is easier to print, follow this link.]

How do you prepare for corporate worship?

God gave the Israelites extensive regulations regarding how they were to prepare for tabernacle or temple worship; someone who was unprepared was unclean (see the first sermon on Acts 10). Living a normal life in this world could lead to uncleanness; explicit acts of sin were not necessarily involved.

Mark 7, Acts 10, and other passages make clear that the specific cleanliness regulations God gave the Israelites are not binding on Christians today. But those same passages make clear that the picture they provide of the need to prepare ourselves for worship still holds.

So we too must prepare ourselves for worship. How? (more…)