“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, 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.”

What Paul was really saying is that worship is not only the song you sing but the life you live. Everything you do expresses you in worship. Some of us do great with worship with song, but what about the rest of the time? How are we doing in that? Over this series we want to unpack what Paul is talking about and dive into the subject of worship. Come along with us as we learn more about worshiping our amazing Father in Heaven.

Probably the best way to understand worship is for us to understand more of the reason why we were created. There are many people who believe they are here for different reasons, but we have been placed here for a specific reason and that is to serve and worship our God. Sometimes we casually toss this to the side, but our God desires for us to worship him wholeheartedly. By God’s design we are all created differently and as parts of the body of Christ. With that in mind we all connect in different ways to our God.

Worship happens when we have an intimate connection with our Heavenly Father. It requires a heart interaction as opposed to a head interaction. Our attention is focused on Him, and we end up feeling much closer to God in times of worship. Some people can’t fully engage in a worship song, but the way they worship is through acts of service or quiet times. The fact is that we as Christians tend to find it strange when someone isn’t engaged in worship on a Sunday morning, but that’s the beauty of the way God made us all unique.

When we look in Romans, Paul says  “Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices…” He presents a paradox for us, because traditionally in Biblical times you would sacrifice animals as atonement for your sin. What most people don’t do is look at the context of this verse to understand that the idea of being a living sacrifice isn’t a paradox at all.

The word therefore means that we have to look at what was said in the past verses. Paul has been writing about how God has sent His Son to save all of us through His mercy. In response we should offer ourselves as living sacrifices, because His Son was the ultimate living sacrifice.

We know worship is having a connection with our Father. When we think about it there is no way to obtain that status without the blood of Jesus Christ, but even that is not enough. Paul goes on to say in Romans 12:2 that we:

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”

We can not stay stagnate if we are to truly worship our God. If we are connected to the Father we will want to change. Paul is communicating to us that we can not just show up in church every Sunday, sing a few songs and call that worship! We must change something within us, because if not we aren’t really worshiping our Father. Our change starts on the inside deep in our soul and overflows to our outward appearance. Worship becomes a process, not a moment.

If you wonder how you are worshiping God look at how you act in day to day life. Are you truly allowing a transformation to take place and renew your mind, or are you just worshiping without the heart. Paul was passionate about followers grasping this concept. In this series we want to unpack what it really means to worship our Father who has poured out His mercy on us. Take this week and do a self inventory of how you are really worshiping our God and begin to see where you need to undergo a transformation.

Dive Deep,

KC

If we look back at the story of Samson we see a great example where God gave him boundaries, but Samson decided to go against them. Judges tells us that before Samson was born he was chosen to be a Nazarene, set apart by God to deliver Israel from the Philistines. God also gave Samson boundaries and commanded that he never cut his hair. As Samson grew up things were good. He was blessed by God and given great physical strength.  One day he was walking down the road and he saw a prostitute so he went to spend the night with her. This is where Samson’s downfall began with something that he probably didn’t think much of, but it significantly impacted the rest of the story.

Samson got into a habit of giving into women when they would nag him about things. After he saw the prostitute he saw another Philistine woman named Delilah and he fell in love with her. Out of Delilah’s greed and being bribed by the Philistines she began to ask him about what made him strong. At first he lied to her several times,  but she finally nagged him enough and he gave into her. He reveled the true reason he had strength was because he never cut his hair. That night Delilah shaved his head. The next morning she cried out to Samson that the Philistines were upon him. Samson discovered the Lord had left him and he no longer had the strength he had been blessed with by God. He decided to cross a boundary God had set for him. In the end of the story, Samson is killed by the Philistines.

There is much to be learned from Samson’s story and he exhibits many similarities to us. The Bible tells us that we are made in God’s image. Although we are born into sin, Jesus has redeemed us from sin. As Christ followers we are set apart from the rest of the world just as Samson was. We may not have super strength, but God is our strength. He has also set boundaries for us. When we cross over those boundaries we disappoint God. He doesn’t leave us, but He is saddened by our actions. We then must deal with the consequences of those actions.

God has given us some boundaries for relationships so we don’t end up like Samson. He is very clear in the Bible about intimacy before marriage and putting Him before everyone else. These boundaries are not set up to stop us from having fun, but to protect us from getting hurt. So many people constantly break boundaries in relationships and other areas of their lives. Since we live in a fallen world, as Christians we should be upholding the boundaries God has set forth. We are called to be different, not like the rest of the world. (Romans 12:2)

If we begin to follow the standards of purity that God has set for us, God will bless our actions. We need to strive to run from things that would make us compromise God’s standards. This is the only way we can be free to have relationships that are pleasing to God and truly enjoy the relationship. God wants your relationships to be set on Him, and follow His ideas makes for a much better ending than Samson had. We have to take a stand in this fallen world that we will follow the boundaries even when its not socially acceptable, because we know that our lives will be filled with greater treasure from God.

Sometimes we all stumble and cross some boundaries, even if they aren’t in relationships. We begin to feel like God hates us, and are afraid to come back to Him. The reason why Jesus died on the cross was to give us life! He wants us to come back to Him when we stray and cross boundaries. He seeks to restore us and help us though the pain of our mistakes.

If you have been living outside of the boundaries God has set for you, I encourage you to begin to come back to Him. It may feel awkward at first not only between you and God, but also in your relationships where you have been crossing boundaries. This may require some changes of you that are going to feel weird, but in the end God is worth it. He is longing for you to reach out to Him and lean on Him to get back on track. The greatest thing about God is that you can always come back. His love and forgiveness are always available. Boundaries protect us from spiritual, emotional, and sometimes even physical harm. God is our protector, and for Him to move in our lives we must live within His boundaries.

Dive Deep,

KC

It might be helpful to offer some insight on change itself and what the Bible says about change. Change is defined by Websters dictionary to be:

To make radically different

Out of all the definitions for change, this seems to be the one that captures what change means. It also means if you change- it is significant. In a world that casually talks about change, we must be committed to change and become more of what God has called us to be.

Paul addresses the issue of a God type committed change in Philippians 3:21 . Scripture says :

…by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body

This means as we grow, God will change us as we allow Him to work in our lives.

The hardest thing to do is actually make the effort to change. We like who we are, so why do we need to change? We use this argument to justify being stagnant. If we begin to stop changing ourselves we become blind to who we really are, or we become something that we are not. If we fall into resistance to change, we will never become the people that God has intended for us to be.

Lets take a minute to address the topic of positive change. We as a ministry seek to inspire positive change, and use the communication tools that we have been given to help others dive deeper into a relationship with Christ. We believe that Christ centered change is the only good change, and as the definition says, this change can be pretty radical. The Bible says in Romans 12:2:

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.

We are not supposed to be the normal people, we are supposed to be different. If we become normal, we risk falling out of a desire to change. When you really think about it, the only change that we as Christians should make is those that are pleasing to God.

Sometimes we end up changing in ways that break us down. They might not seem like significant changes, but the more small changes we make tend to pile up and consume us. These can be things such as hanging out with the wrong crowd or choosing a lifestyle that is not pleasing to God. A common argument among people is that Christians don’t have great lives, but if you stick with the journey God blesses those who are faithful.

It seems that we as Christians have become masters in hiding what is wrong about us and ignore the issues so we are only motivated and accountable to ourselves. We hold back and don’t share with others to avoid the encouragement and accountability that would help us be better people. Some of the issues may be addictions, selfishness, friendships, and a host of other things holding us down. In these situations we start to wonder why God isn’t helping us anymore. The answer is quite simple–we quit allowing change so He can’t move within us.

The best change is one that is initiated by us and moves in a way that is pleasing to God. We tend to get confused on what to change so we need to look back to the One who never changes.  He is the only absolute truth, and the only thing that we can fully rely on.

Change is a process that takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight. We encourage and challenge you to search yourself for areas that you need to change no matter how insignificant you may think the change may be. You might be thinking, “Well its no big deal, just a small thing”, but do you really want to justify not changing just to become a lukewarm Christian? Its time to stop hiding what we don’t want to change, and just do it. Life is so much better when you are running towards the God who loves you, and changing your life to align with His principles.

Dive Deep Ministries is always looking for ways to change and reach others.  Starting next week, we are going to address relationships in a series of blogs we are calling Awkward Relationships:

Relationships can be pretty awkward at times-things like asking someone out, asking them to marry you, and all the relationship issues that go with all that. We are going to look at some of the common issues among dating relationships, and what we believe is God’s design for relationships. He, after all, is the Creator of the big idea. This is a series that will benefit everyone–dating, single, married, or engaged. We are excited about what this is going to bring-don’t miss it!!  Encourage your friends to check this out as well.

This week, we challenge you to find one thing in your life that is in need of change and begin the process. Don’t try to change everything  at once, but start with little things and work toward the bigger things. As you change, you will be amazed how freeing it will be for God to do even more in your life.

Have an amazing week and look for our first post of Awkward Relationships next Monday!

Dive Deep,

KC