Worship in Romans (33)

[Romans 12:1]

Take me, body and soul, and make me the instrument of Your glory in the world. Let the renewal You are working from within show on the outside. This is my spiritual worship. To show the world that You are my all-satisfying treasure. . . .

“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16) All of life is the outshining of what you truly value and cherish and treasure. Therefore all of life is worship. Either of God, or of something else.

—John Piper, “All of Life as Worship” (Romans 12:1-2), sermon 11/30/97

Worship in Romans (32)

The implied motivation for life is thankfulness in response to God’s mercies in Christ, described in preceding chapters.

—Michael B. Thompson, “Romans 12.1–2 and Paul’s vision for Worship” in A Vision for the Church, 121

Worship in Romans (31)

 [Romans 12:1] Church marquee: “Come in and Altar Your Life”

—Ziggy cartoon (cited in Ben Patterson, Serving God: The Grand Essentials of Work and Worship, 156)

Worship in Romans (30)

I cannot think of a better place to conclude this chapter on worship than at the beginning of Romans 12. For here Paul describes the Christian life to which he summons us as our “spiritual act of worship.”

For eleven chapters the apostle has been unfolding “the mercies of God.” And now, in view of God’s great mercy which we have received, he appeals to all the members of God’s international family to present our bodies as living sacrifices to God. He calls this physical offering our “spiritual” act of worship. Logikos is the word he uses, which could be translated either “reasonable” (logical in response to God’s mercy) or “rational” (intelligent, the offering of heart and mind, spiritual as opposed to ceremonial).

It is clear that Paul is thinking of a worship which is expressed not only in a church building but in the home and in the workplace. One kind of worship is unbalanced without the other.

—John Stott, The Living Church: Convictions of a Lifelong Pastor, 45-46

Worship in Romans (29)

[Romans 12:1-18]
I think there is a progression here:

1) self-giving worship
2) transformation
3) Christian community
4) witness to the world

—Paul A. Richardson, “Spiritual Formation in Corporate Worship,” Review and Expositor 96 (1999): 521

Worship in Romans (28)

Thankful self-offering to the true God in response to His mercies is reasonable, right-minded worship [Romans 12:1], in contrast to the topsy-turvy mentality that withholds thanksgiving and trades truth for a lie (1:21,25).

—Michael B. Thompson, “Romans 12.1–2 and Paul’s Vision for Worship” in A Vision for the Church, 125

Worship in Romans (27)

The beginning of the second ‘half’ of Romans [12:1] amounts to a call to participate in the reversal of the downward spiral described at the beginning of the first ‘half.’

—Michael B. Thompson, “Romans 12.1–2 and Paul’s vision for Worship” in A Vision for the Church, 124