“What Is Worship?”
Sermon Title: What Is Worship?
Scripture: Romans 12:1-2 ESV
Introduction
Our vision statement for 2026 is Overflowing with a gospel-centered, missional spirituality. If you’ve been in church long enough, you’ve probably heard something along the lines of how everything we do is not done by our own strength, but by God’s strength. Every bit of that is true. Scripture shows us that there are really only two ways we live and serve: by God’s strength or by our own. The difference between the two is clear. God’s strength is infinite and sustaining, while our strength is limited and eventually leads to burnout.
The idea of overflow helps us understand this. We receive the strength, power, and grace that the Lord gives, and out of that abundance we pour into others and into the life of the church. This raises an important question: how do we receive the downpour of God’s grace so that our lives overflow? The answer Scripture gives us is worship.
Today, we are looking at Romans 12:1–2 to understand what worship truly is, so that we may begin to understand how we receive the downpouring of God’s grace.
Romans 12:1–2
Paul begins Romans 12 with the word “therefore.” Whenever we see that word, it points us backward. The “therefore” refers to what Paul has been teaching throughout the first eleven chapters of Romans. Paul appeals to believers in light of the mercies of God.
The mercies of God summarize the gospel itself—who God is and all that God has done for us from creation to Christ. These mercies include God’s love, grace, forgiveness of sin, and the gift of salvation through faith in Christ alone, not by human merit or works, so that no one may boast. Paul is saying that because God has done everything for us, we are now called to respond.
That response is described as presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. In verse 2, Paul also speaks about the renewal of the mind. Though body and mind are mentioned separately, they are not meant to be divided. Paul is calling believers to offer their entire lives—body, mind, and heart—to God. Worship is the offering of our whole selves.
Paul also urges believers not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewal of the mind. This command is given to Christians. It is not that believers intentionally choose to be conformed to the world, but through compromises and unchecked influences, we can leave space for the world to shape us. At the same time, the renewal of the mind is not something we accomplish by our own power. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. Our responsibility is spiritual vigilance—placing ourselves in faithful patterns of obedience where the Spirit is actively at work.
Paul describes this relationship clearly in Philippians 2:12–13:
“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
As the mind is renewed, believers grow in wisdom and discernment, learning to recognize and live according to the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. Romans 12:1–2 therefore gives us a clear foundation for understanding worship.
Worship
Often, we think of worship primarily as what happens on Sundays—singing, prayer, preaching, giving, communion, fellowship, and gathering together. And rightly so. These practices are biblical and modeled after the early church in Acts 2:42–47, where believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, prayers, generosity, testimony, and praise. However, these are the outward expressions of a deeper reality. Romans 12:1–2 shows us that worship begins not with our actions, but with the gospel.
First, worship is centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our worship today is grounded in the truth of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. Everything we believe as Christians, and everything we offer in worship, flows from the gospel. The worship of Israel under the Law pointed forward to what God would accomplish in Christ. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, the veil was torn, and we are now invited to step directly into the presence of God. Worship begins, is sustained, and is shaped by the gospel.
Second, worship is our response to the gospel. To present ourselves as a living sacrifice means that worship is not driven by feelings, but by intention, obedience, and gratitude. We do not earn God’s favor through worship. God loved us first. God showed mercy first. God gave His Son first. Worship is our response to what God has already done.
In the Old Testament, worship involved the offering of dead animals at the temple. In Christ, we offer something greater—our lives. How we live each day, every thought, every word, every action, and every act of service becomes an offering to the Lord. Paul is not introducing a new idea, but echoing what Scripture has always taught, as Jesus says in Luke 10:27:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Worship is loving the Lord your God with all that you are.
Third, worship is grounded in truth. Paul describes this offering as our “spiritual” or “reasonable” worship. True worship is shaped by right knowledge of God and right understanding of the gospel. Worship is not merely emotional; it is rooted in truth and reason and offered in Spirit and truth, as Jesus teaches in John 4.
Fourth, worship transforms us. Paul says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” Worship does not change to fit the world; worship changes us. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, believers are shaped into the likeness of Christ. Christianity is not about trying harder to be good Christians. It is about growing into Christlikeness.
Finally, worship aligns us with the will of God. As our minds are renewed, we grow in spiritual discernment and learn to live according to what is good, acceptable, and perfect in God’s sight. Worship frees us from being driven by culture, politics, or personal agendas and aligns our hearts with the heart of God.
Worship is not something we attend. Worship is what we are becoming in Christ. Through the righteousness and merit of Jesus Christ alone, we are made acceptable before God.
Conclusion
Scripture commands us to ascribe worth to the Lord—to testify that God matters most and belongs at the center of our lives. Worship is not flattery or an attempt to get on God’s good side. It is an honest proclamation of truth and awe, giving God the honor and glory that humanity has failed to give Him, as Paul explains in Romans 1–3.
What if worship were both simpler and deeper than we often imagine? What if worship began each day by lifting our hearts to God in reverence and gratitude—declaring His holiness, surrendering ourselves as living offerings, and abiding in His presence?
This is the picture David gives us in Psalm 23:5 - “You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” As we draw near to the Lord in worship, we receive the downpour of His grace so that our lives overflow for the sake of others.
Brothers and sisters, let us come before the Lord as living sacrifices—holy and acceptable—so that we may become a church that overflows and moves according to God’s good and perfect will. Let us pray.
Reflection:
Perhaps you have been struggling because it feels like you’re not the kind of Christian you should be. Perhaps you have been feeling like an imposter wondering why you can’t seem to present yourself as a living sacrifice to the Lord even if you want to.
Brothers and sisters, I ask you what the desire of your heart is. Are you frustrated maybe grieving that you’re not able to live your life in the way Christ calls you to live? That you feel powerless in being a living sacrifice. That you don’t seem to be transformed in anyway in heart and mind.
May the Lord encourage you because those questions in your heart is the prodding of the Holy Spirit who is working even now, who is inviting you into a deeper life of worship.
We may not always give to the Lord the best holy and acceptable worship he deserves, but the Lord seeks out his people who have the heart of worship. The Lord invites us into worship so that he may transform the hearts that seek the Lord’s presence. The Lord invites us to do worship but to become worship as living sacrifices unto the Lord.
And as you abide in his presence, may you experience heaven here on earth, and may you receive the downpouring of the Lord’s grace and power. May it transform you, may it transform this church, so that we may know the loving heart of our God.
