Worship Services Throughout the Day

Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title: Worship Services Throughout the Day ------------------- Date: 11/3/2002
Keyword: "sacrifice"
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Passage: Romans 12:1*

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

Questions

1. What is the "therefore" of this verse there for?

 

2. On what basis does Paul urge Christians to present themselves to God?

 

3. What is different about the sacrifices Paul envisions and every sacrifice of the Old Testament?

 

Practical help

In the Old Testament, there were numerous sacrifices of animals. They all had one thing in common: They were all dead! Paul urges Christians to climb on to the altar of obedience and commitment to God WHILE LIVING. We are to live "sacrificially" - that is, viewing ourselves as being just as committed to God as the sacrifices of the Old Testament were, the only difference being that we get to live out our sacrifice; they gave up their lives in sacrifice.

As we "sacrificially" walk through our day, we hold services of worship. Amazing! Worship services don’t just happen at 11:00 on Sunday mornings. They take place first thing in the morning when we purposefully place ourselves on the altar of obedience to God. And we continue to hold these worship services as we obey God — sometimes sacrificially during the day.

Saying "no" to the temptation to view Internet pornography is one way to present our bodies to God as sacrifices. We are sacrificing the lusts of our flesh to God, choosing instead to pursue holiness.

And why would we do this? Because of "the mercies [of] God" (v. 1) has shown us in sending His Son, Jesus, to die for us on the cross. Climbing up on the altar of sacrifice is a great way to say, "Thanks!" to Jesus for all He has done for us.

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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."