THE WORSHIP OF A HOLY LIFE

“Worship is the offering of everyday life to God.”

Worship Pure & Simple

Worship is giving—not getting from—but giving all that I am and all that I have all the time all to God for His purpose and His pleasure.

“erefore, I urge you, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer 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.”~Romans 12:1-2

Worship Defined

“How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing, it is irresistible.”

~C.S. Lewis

Irresistible Holiness

• To be holy is to be one through whom God’s light shines!

• Holy and pleasing worship is to offer a lifestyle of purity through which the glory of God can be displayed.

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare

the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Holiness: To be called out from the spiritual darkness of my previous life of sin and set apart in purity for God so that through my worship His glorious light can shine forth.

Irresistible Holiness

“For though your hearts were once full of darkness, now you are full of light from the Lord, and your

behavior should show it!” ~Ephesians 5:8

Irresistible Holiness

Practical Holiness: To marshal all the powers of my being—spirit, body and mind—and consciously give them up for the glory of God in my everyday, moment-by-moment life.

1. Holiness is the gateway to worship because God is holy.

Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy.

~Psalm 99:9

Why Holiness?

2. Holiness is the gateway to worship because God has called us to be holy.

“As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he

who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”

~I Peter 14:16

Why Holiness?

3. Holiness is the gateway to worship because a holy life is the prerequisite for seeing God.

“Without holiness, no one will see the Lord.” ~Hebrews 12:14

Why Holiness?

“Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of

impurity, with a continual lust for more.” ~Ephesians 4:19

The Lure of Impure Things

Lost all sensitivity: To be beyond feeling, to become calloused, to behave in a way that grieves the Holy Spirit.

1. The entrapment of the sensual.

“...they have given themselves over to sensuality.” ~Ephesians 4:19

Given to sensuality: To be brazen and shameless, a total absence of moral restraint, particularly in the area of sexual sin.

The Lure of Unholy Things

2. The enticement of the selfish

“...they indulge themselves…” ~Ephesians 4:19

Given to self-indulgence: To be focused on self; to lose sensitivity to God.

The Lure of Unholy Things

3. The excitement of the sensational

“…a continual lust for more.” ~Ephesians 4:19

Given to continual lust: To allow a steady diet of things other than God to awe and attract.

The Lure of Unholy Things

1. Continual exposure to violence

“Man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”

~James 1:20

Unholy Influence

“I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.”

~I Timothy 2:8

2. Continual exposure to sexual immorality.

“God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his

own body and live in holiness and honor” ~I Thessalonians 4:3-4 (New Living Translation)

Unholy Influence

3. Continual exposure to materialistic enticements.

Unholy Influence

“Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see,

and pride in our possessions. ese are not from the Father. ey are from this evil world.”

~I John 2:15-16

Unabated and unchallenged exposure to what the world, the flesh and the devil offers will harden our heart toward of God. When we get entrapped by the sensual, enticed by the selfish and excited by the sensational, we lose our sensitivity to the things God.

When we are wowed by everything else, we will no longer be awed by Him.

Warning

“Nowhere among the pagan gods is there a God like you, O Lord. There are no other miracles like yours. All the nations—and you made each one—will come and bow before you, Lord; they will praise your great

and holy name. For you are great and perform great miracles. You alone are God.”

~Psalm 86:8-10

Awed by God

The Lure of the Holy“Because we have these promises, dear friends, let

us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward

complete holiness because we fear God.” ~II Corinthians 2:7 (New Living Translation)

“A holy life is an awesome instrument of worship in the hand of God.”~Robert Murray McCheyne (Paraphrase)