Let's pray as we come to God's Word. Our precious Lord, how we praise you, how we thank you for the power that you supply in our lives, for the knowledge that you give us through your Word and through the strength that is provided in the Holy Spirit, that we might live lives that are pleasing to you, and Lord, that are good for us, Lord, thank you for your gifts, your grace, your mercy extended to us through Christ, for it is in his name that we pray these things. Amen. Well, today we are going to wrap up our summer series. We're almost to the end of fall already, but nevertheless, we're going to wrap that up today. And as we do so, let me remind you once again of all that we've seen. In our first message, we said that to be in Christ means to have a personal saving relationship with Jesus. and in being united to him, thereby we enjoy all the blessings and benefits of our position as promised by Christ. And in Christ, I am free from all condemnation. In Christ, I have a new mind. I am a new creation. I'm now dead to sin and alive to Christ, and in Christ I've been brought from death to life, spiritual death to spiritual life. I'm an adopted child of God. I have a glorious future. I have free access to the throne of grace through prayer. I have two heavenly intercessors, the Holy Spirit and Jesus himself. I will be made like him. In Christ I'm safe from all accusation. I am utterly secure and I am a member of his body. that's only a partial list, by the way. We could have carried on with this a while longer, but last week we focused in on the privilege. The last three weeks, really, of this series, we've touched on privileges, but also on responsibilities that we have. And This great privilege that we looked at last week is that God calls us to be his worshipers, which is both for his glory and our good. In that message, we focus primarily on the benefits and the blessing that come through participation in worship through song. And we consider This list comprising so many of the blessings that believers possess because we're in Christ, I suggested that based on these scriptures, because of all the benefits we receive by being in Christ, believers should be joyful worshipers. All these things God has given to us, how do we not love him and worship him? We saw that God's people have been commanded to sing throughout the Old and New Testaments more than 60 times in the Psalms alone. God's people are commanded to sing to him, usually with the caveat to do so joyfully or to do so with joy. And we looked at the number of New Testament commands that say the same thing. Now, it's our responsibility to obey these commands, but that shouldn't really be a burden to us. because of all these additional reasons that we cited last time. The second being that God uses worship through song to remind us of the great truths of the faith. Music, as we said, has an innate ability. It's been designed into it by God. Did you know that God created music? God created music for his glory, that's the primary purpose of it, and he designed it to stick in the human mind, so well-chosen songs help us to more easily remember God's great truths. He also uses worship through song to connect our heads and our hearts, and therefore joyful participation in worship is strong evidence that one is truly saved. So when we know and celebrate the truth of who God is and what he has done for us, how is it that we don't just spontaneously break out in songs of praise as we're driving down the road thinking about him? And I suggested also another reason why we should participate in worship and song was that God releases spiritual power as people sing. Now during the week I received a question from one of our sermon discussion groups that went as follows regarding the fourth point of Sunday's sermon. More than one of us in small group were puzzled. My question is, how did the two descriptive passages that included singing turn into a principle that God releases spiritual power as his people sing? Are there other texts that support this? If this is true, how are we to apply this in our lives and what can we expect to be the results? Great questions, I love Bereans. If you don't know what that means, look it up in your Bible. If this point was puzzling to some, then it may well have been puzzling to others, so let me share with everyone my response to those questions. Though scripturally only based on these descriptions without any real didactic, direct teaching passages that affirm my proposition, I believe logically, however, that the general principle is true. This, of course, is with the caveat that it's not singing in itself, per se, that is the cause, but what I'm referring to is the outflow of genuine worship in spirit and in truth that William Temple describes in his definition if this is the motivating force for our songs. Remember we said that he, this quote, worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness, the nourishment of the mind with his truth, the purifying of the imagination by his beauty, the opening of the heart to his love. and the surrender of will to his purpose, and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable, and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all sins. So, if our songs of praise are genuinely motivated by such desires, then when we sing for joy as God commands, I think there's little doubt that we will see positive results, at least in us, because I see true worship as informed by God's truth so that our hearts are moved to greater devotion to the Lord as very much akin to prayer. We don't move the hand of God, but rather we come before him in submission and independence to whatever his will may turn out to be in any situation. God may or may not choose to transform our situation in response to our prayers or to our worship, but our hearts are more willing to love and trust him when we bow the knee to him in worship and in prayer. Empty mouthing and mumbling of prayers, Hail Marys, Our Fathers, God is good, let us thank him for our food, those kind of things. And as well, half-hearted participation in singing has little, maybe no power whatsoever. actually may result in God's disappointment in us. But if we have fervent please and fervent prayer praise I believe these please him and that results in blessings that are not available to those who are just going through the motions. In some true worship, of which singing should be a primary outlet, especially when the songs are well chosen and theologically accurate, because all sugar and no meat is neither healthy nor helpful, true worship acknowledges who God is and all that he has done. It reminds us of who we were, before his intervention and who we are afterwards. And it expresses our thanksgiving, our adoration, and our honor to he whom we are called to love with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. So how can spiritual power not be released as we become increasingly conformed and transformed into the image of Christ when we truly worship him? Well, how do we apply this desire to know and strive to love the Lord more and more every day and then be willing to express that love verbally in heartfelt worship and in our conversations with others as we extol his greatness and his goodness? What do we expect as results? At least personal spiritual strengthening. Increasing faith in, increasing reliance on and love for the Lord, that is really the blessings of obedience. God may or may not release us from prison as he did Paul, or he may or may not keep us from martyrdom even, but we will increasingly be able to love and trust him even in the storms and the fiery trials of life. That's my answer to that question. Hopefully, having clarified that point a bit more, I'm finally reminded that worship will be a primary pastime in our heavenly experience, and we saw the various visions given to God's prophet that confirm that great truth. And as A.W. Tozer said, I can safely say on the authority of all that is revealed in the word of God that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not yet ready for heaven. Message title, Today in Christ, My Motivations Need to be Right. And today we wanna close this Who I Am in Christ series with the thought that worship and song, as valuable as it is, is only a first Shall I say baby step in the Christian life? There's so much more that God wants for us and from us, but sadly many people misunderstand the proper motivation for obedience in the Christian life, and it's this important subject that I want us to consider today. So let me encourage you to ask yourself at the outset, Are my efforts in living the Christian life being done for the right reasons? Are my efforts in living the Christian life being done for the right reasons? Why do you do what you do as a Christian? Today we'll look at three possible motivations for our life of obedience to the Lord, and I hope to encourage you then to choose your motivation wisely. all the other religions of the world, instruct people that there are certain things that the individual must do in order to reach their conception of heaven. Do more good than bad. Follow certain rituals. Say a certain number of prayers. Make certain sacrifices. atone for your own sin in some particular way, meditate in order to obtain enlightenment, and so on and so on and so on. Every other religion in the world is based on human beings doing something to earn their place in eternity. Christianity is all about what God has already done for us at the cross. Therefore, good works that are done for the purpose of earning or keeping God's favor are not acceptable to him. He sent his son to die in our place to pay the penalty for our sins. If we are trying to add our good works to that work, God does not accept. what we are doing. Good works done for the purpose of earning or keeping God's favor are not acceptable to him. Turn with me if you will this morning to Galatians chapter three, the book of Galatians. Just right after Corinthians, first and second Corinthians. In this passage, Paul is concerned with the people in the region of Galatia, most of whom he and Barnabas had personally led to the Lord during Paul's first missionary journey. And unfortunately, these folks had begun to listen to a sect, a group known as the Judaizers. And the Judaizers taught that in order to be saved, one did not merely need to believe in Jesus, but people must also continue to follow the Old Testament law of Moses, particularly for the men, by means of circumcision, in order to be saved. Practically, though, we can draw from this that trying to add anything to the sacrifice of Christ in the hope of earning or deserving salvation, any doing of works on our part to secure our salvation is both futile and utterly worthless in God's eyes. And he begins this chapter Chapter 3 with the words, you foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Now, you need to know that the fool in scripture is someone who rejects God's revelation. The fool is someone who disregards God's revelation. One senses in reading Paul's words a very real frustration, almost a degree of derision here that is designed to shock his readers back to their senses. And he writes, before your very eyes, Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. What does he mean here? Well, the apostle is referring to the gospel message he had preached. Christ died on the cross to make full atonement, that is, complete payment for the sins of all who will admit their need and believe in him and his sacrifice. Nothing else need ever be added, period, full stop. But many find that hard to believe. Very hard to believe. It's too easy. Come on. There's got to be something more that I need to do, isn't there? Paul continues asking a series of rhetorical questions once again to remind his readers of what happened in their salvation experience. Verse two, I'd like to learn just one thing from you. Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law? or by believing in what you heard. Paul's inspired point here encourages his readers to remember what had happened at the point of their salvation. The reception of the Holy Spirit is when we are saved. And in that moment, the Spirit seals a believer in Christ for all eternity. So Paul asks, were you attempting to follow the law of Moses when that happened? or were you listening to and believing the proclamation of the gospel, Christ crucified for our sins? Well, in this case, the clear answer is the latter. And he goes on in verse three, are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Paul says, are you fools? Are you rejecting the revelation that was given you about Christ's sacrifice in order to now attempt to add your own works to that sacrifice? That's like trying to add a piece of cotton thread to the great steel cables that support the Golden Gate Bridge. Paul didn't unfortunately have that particular illustration available to him at that time. You get what I'm saying? How do you tie a little piece of cotton string to a steel cable that big? He asked, verse four, have you experienced so much in vain, if it really was in vain, The idea here is that those who actually turn back to the old sacrifices and the old atonements are rendering Christ's sacrifice useless because they're looking to something other than him. And in verse five he asks, does God give you his spirit and work a miracles among you by works of the law or by believing what you heard? Paul's letter to the Galatians is one of the very earliest books in the New Testament. It was written around 49 AD. It was likely either the first or the second of all of the New Testament books. And during this period in church history, God was still allowing the apostles to perform miraculous signs in order to authenticate their message as they went about establishing churches. And The recipients of those messages often began to speak in other tongues unknown to them previously as a demonstration that they had indeed received the Holy Spirit. But if you read the biblical record closely, you'll find that those miraculous gifts ended by God's design in the latter part of the first century after the gospel had sufficiently spread into the Gentile world. Believers today now have the records of that eyewitness testimony of those who saw those works, particularly in the Book of the Acts and more instruction about it in 1 Corinthians, as well as the completed New Testament that tells us about all of these things. And so the question here at hand in Galatians, because remember, the Bible wasn't finished with its New Testament writings until the very end of the first century, like in the late 90s. So they didn't have the New Testament yet. It came in pieces over the course of the last half of the first century. we have that advantage of having the whole record that God wants us to have. And so the question at hand then Here in Galatians 3, 1-6 is how are sinful people saved and made righteous in God's eyes? Not by any sort of works. Paul says as he continues, so also Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. We are declared to be righteous by God not by cleaning ourselves up enough or doing enough good things, but rather by admitting that we're not good enough, that we are not righteous enough. and therefore we believe in and receive Jesus Christ and his righteousness as our sole reason and our sole means of salvation. Early in the same letter Paul wrote, we know that a person is not justified by works of the law. but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we too have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law because by works of the law, no one will be justified. They can't be or God wasted his time in sending Christ to die on the cross. It was a useless, unnecessary sacrifice Our friends at God Question makes a profound point about this. Let's assume that a person does contribute something to his salvation. Well, if that were possible, who would get credit in heaven? If we somehow contribute to our own salvation, it would follow that we get the credit. And if we get the credit, this will certainly distract from God's getting the credit. And if it were possible to contribute something to attain heaven, then people, upon their arrival, would be patting themselves on the back because of what they did in order to obtain their heavenly citizenship. These same people would be singing, praise myself, I contributed to my own salvation. It's unthinkable that people in heaven will be worshiping self rather than God. For he said, I will not give my glory to another. The fool says, I must do this or do that to contribute or to deserve my salvation. And this, my friends, does not please God. It angers him, because he says to the prophet Isaiah, these are the ones that I look on with favor, those who are humble and contrite in spirit and who tremble at my word. Good works done for the purpose of earning or keeping God's favor are not acceptable to him. But having said that, we also need to know that good works are the expected result of God granting us salvation. It's not a, let alone the, reason for it. So let's be clear. Good works are the expected result of our salvation. It's not the reason, though, for it. And understand this, we need to look once again at Ephesians 2, 8 through 10. Look up here. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves. It's the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. What is grace? Grace is undeserved favor. That's the whole point of God's grace. We did not and cannot do anything to deserve it. It's a gift from God. And even the faith we need to believe and trust in that gift is a part of the gift. It's incredible. Works have nothing to do with our receiving of salvation. Otherwise, we as fallen and self-centered human beings would indeed boast of our grand accomplishment in contributing something to our own salvation. As one wag put it, the only thing we bring to salvation is our sin. But just as surely as spring follows winter, so good works are the expected result of God granting us salvation. Because when we are saved, we are God's handiwork. created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2.8 and 9 are important, but 2.10 comes right there, right behind it. The word that's translated here in the NIV as handiwork is from the Greek word poema. It's where we get our English word poem. Poema means a work of art, a masterpiece. You are God's masterpiece. And as a master worker, God has created us and then recreated us in Christ Jesus. This word created is the Greek word kitso, it's translated here, describing something that is only God's activity and it speaks of something that only he can produce. Constable writes, Good works are not the roots from which salvation grows, but the fruit that God intends to bear. God has not saved us because of our works, but he has saved us to do good works. In the other of these earliest New Testament letters, James argues that genuine faith is always accompanied by good deeds. If you would, turn with me to the book of James, back a little bit farther in your Bible. James chapter two, beginning in verse 14. These good deeds are not the result of our human efforts, but the product of the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It's he who produces fruit in the life of the believer. He writes in verse 14 of James 2, What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Well, can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, go in peace, keep warm and well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, you have faith, I have deeds. Well, show me your faith without deeds and I'll show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there's one God, the Jewish Shema? Good, even the demons believe that, but they shudder when they don't worship. You foolish person. Do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for believing God for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together and that his faith was made complete by what he did and the scripture was fulfilled then. that says Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. And he was called God's friend. You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. In the same way was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction. As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. And James' inspired point here is not that we contribute works to our salvation, but that the good works that we do can be the visible, tangible evidence that we are indeed saved. And I say can be the evidence because unsaved people can appear to be doing good works too. But if they're done in the flesh, if they're done in human strength, if they're done for the purpose of trying to earn their place in heaven or earn God's favor or just to get credit for oneself just to look good to other people we've already seen. God despises that. God utterly rejects it because he says in Isaiah chapter 64, all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. The believer on the other hand does good works because God has prepared and empowered him to do so. Jesus said that there'll be varying degrees of fruitfulness in the lives of believers according to his sovereign grace. He said this in his parable of the soils, where he said that others, like seeds sown on good soil, hear the word of God, accept it, and they produce a crop, some 30, some 60, and some 100 times what was sown. So we want to be careful Not to be too judgmental about the degree of good fruit that we see in the lives of Christians around us, because God produces a wide variety of results in us. But we should expect that we will see some fruit of the Holy Spirit's presence in our one another's lives. First and foremost, character traits like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Because Paul writes to Timothy, the spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but it gives us power, love, and self-discipline. So we should be seeing these things in one another. But the paradox of the Christian life is though we can't earn our salvation by good works, God does expect the believer then to produce good works once he is saved. The beauty is he gives us the divine power through the ministry of the Holy Spirit to make that possible. if we rely on him and not on our own strength. That's why Paul prayed for the Thessalonians. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and the God and Father who loved us and by his grace gave us internal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and what? Strengthen you in every good deed and word. The Spirit strengthens us in every good deed and word. Okay, having said all that, knowing that we can contribute nothing in ourselves to our salvation, what then is the proper motivation for the believer to live the obedient and fruitful life in Christ? Let me suggest two possible options. Good works done in the hope of eternal rewards is an acceptable Christian motivation. Good works done in the hope of eternal rewards is an acceptable Christian motivation. But it's not the best motivation. Jesus had a good deal to say about God rewarding people in heaven, both in warning and in encouragement. Matthew 6.1, be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you'll have no reward with your father in heaven. And later he said, for the son of man is going to come, son of man is a title for himself, is going to come in his father's glory with his angels and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. Paul too wrote of rewards to come for believers. First Corinthians chapter three, By the grace given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ." And this goes right back to what we've been talking about. You can't put any other stones into your foundation other than Christ. Nothing goes on the foundation layer. What causes your salvation but Jesus? No one can lay any foundation other than the one that has already been laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hair, straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light. It'll be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss, yet be saved. even though there's only one escaping through the flames. The author of the Hebrews puts it this way, without faith it's impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. And several times in the scriptures these rewards are described as crowns using the same terminology as the prize that was given to the winning competitors in the Greek Olympic games. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9, do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly, and I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified from the prize. Poeter Jay Timothy, Paul wrote of his own imminent death that would result in the reception of such rewards. He writes, now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day. And not only to me, but also to all, every one of us who long for his appearing. Peter, too, writes of these crowns of reward. When the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away, as does James, who writes, blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because having stood the test. That person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. And Paul advises the believers in Colossae, whatever you do then, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for human masters since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It's the Lord Christ that you are serving. Good works done in the hope of eternal rewards are an acceptable biblical Christian motivation. Not the best though, because the best is love for God and thankfulness for what he has done for us, that is worship. That is the highest and best motivation to live the Christian life. Love for God and thankfulness for what he has done for us. Worship is the highest and best motivation to live the Christian life. That's why Paul was inspired to begin the 12th chapter of... his letter to the Romans with these words, Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, in view of all that he has done, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, for this is your true and proper worship. that therefore refers back to 11 chapters of profound doctrine and theology describing the total depravity of man and the sovereign grace of God in providing salvation. And as a result of those great truths, Paul's inspired to urge us all to offer our lives, our bodies, as an acceptable offering to God. This, he says, is our true and proper worship. Not merely the first step of joyfully singing God's praises, but living our very lives as ongoing acts of worship. GodQuestions points out that worship originates with an inward posture of the heart that is always bowed down in humble, awe-filled recognition of God's worthiness, honoring and revering him at all times as the supreme authority over one's life. Turn one more time this morning, this time to Colossians chapter three. We looked at this passage last time, We wanna dig a little bit deeper here. Colossians chapter three. In verse 13, Paul begins, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. The peace here that Paul is speaking about is the blood-bought peace that now exists between believers and God, where we were once his enemies. Peace translates the Greek word Irenae, and in this context it means the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God, and content with its earthly lot, no matter what that lot might be. That's the lexicon definition of Irene. Verse 15 continues, since as members of one body you were called to peace. There's that reminder again that we as believers are members of Christ's body and as a result there should also be peace rather than strife between us. And Paul continues instructing what again should be natural to the new nature of the believer. Be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Now, we won't belabor those points since we talked about them last week, but in verse 17, Paul gives the highest and best motivation for living the obedient Christian life. Whatever you do, whether in word or in deed, Do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. And that's precisely what Jesus said, anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them and we will come to them and we will make our home with them. If you love me, you obey him. But again, our ability to do so comes from him as well, as John writes in his first epistle. You see, our love comes as a result of his loving us first. That's the original living Bible's paraphrase of that. We love him because he first loved us. Love and worship for God is Worship for all that God is and all that he has said, all that he has done, all that he will do is the highest and best motivation for the way that we live our lives as believers. Why did God do what he did in saving us? First, the Bible says obviously that he loves us, but Scripture shows that his primary motivation was the magnification of his own glory and goodness. Paul writes in Ephesians chapter one beginning in verse four, praise be, please note the highlighted and underlined verses that say it again and again in this passage. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. for he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. There's a purpose for us. In love he predestined us for adoption into sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us in the one he loves. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us. And with all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect until the times reached their fulfillment to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In Him, we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with what? The purpose of His will, in order that we who were the first to put our hope in Christ might be for the praise of His glory. and you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession. And again, to the praise of his glory. Is there anything in that passage that speaks of what believers have done to earn or deserve our salvation? A single thing? One little bitty fingernail? Uh-uh. No, our salvation is about what God has done for us. So we then in turn, in worshipful response to him, obey and offer him all of ourselves as living sacrifices, all to the praise of his glory. Our church purpose statement is loving God and loving people as we grow, serve, and share the good news of Jesus Christ. But our purpose statement really isn't just for us as a whole. It should pertain to each of us as individuals. Worship, the love for God, is the hub around which all the other purposes revolve. Because Jesus said that the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And the second is this, love your neighbor as yourself. We've talked about these two today and in recent weeks, so I won't belabor that point further, but what about spiritual growth? How can that be considered an act of worship? Well, Peter wrote, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To him be the glory, both now and forever. We do this in order that we not conform to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind. this transformation into the image of the one who died for us. Because we love him, because we worship him, we ought to want to increasingly be conformed to his image. And how do we learn how to be conformed? through studying God's Word, through the Holy Spirit's work in us. We need to know who God is, who Christ was, what he has done for us, and how it is that we are changed, what God wants for us, what God wants from us. All of that is wrapped up in growing in Christ, and that, as we desire it more and more, too, is an act of worship. John writes in his first epistle, this is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of this judgment. In this world, we are like Jesus. We also have the issue of service. Peter makes clear and helps us understand that service to the Lord and service to others should be seen as acts of worship. He writes in 1 Peter 4, if anyone serves, they should do so with the strength that God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Christ Jesus. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. And Paul writes in Galatians, you, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free, but don't use your freedom to indulge the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love. Well, finally, we need to ask, how can evangelism, sharing the good news of Christ, be considered an act of worship? Well, if we've come to know God for who he is and how he has rescued us from the pit of hell, and how he has given us new and eternal and abundant lives, how do we not desire to tell other people about him? Scriptures tell us that believers are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light. In the Psalms, God's people are commanded to declare his glory among the nations. his marvelous deeds among all people. And so when we come together to wholeheartedly join to worship the Lord, we testify to our brothers and sisters in Christ and to the watching world that Jesus is precious to us, that we love him. and that this time that we spend together here is valuable, it's meaningful. But even more than that, as we leave this place to go out into the world, we want to worship God by living as he commands us to. And what I find fascinating about this idea of, let's call it lifestyle worship, is that when we finally do arrive in heaven and receive our rewards, scripture seems to indicate that we will be so transformed and so aware of how little we actually did and how much the Lord did in and through us that we'll actually lay those rewards at his feet in homage and in honor of him as John saw in his vision of heaven recorded in Revelation chapter 4 beginning in verse 9. It's written that whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down before him who sits on the throne and they worship him who lives forever and ever and they lay the crowns before the throne and say you are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and praise and power for you created all things and by your will they were created and have their being. These crowns are more than likely these incorruptible crowns, the crown of righteousness, the crown of life. the crown of glory mentioned in various places that we've seen today. These are the rewards for the faithful. And these 24 elders show by casting their crowns before the Lord that they owe all their achievements to him. And I believe we will do the same thing. The Apostle Paul acknowledged that no one can take credit for the spiritual results that he sees. He wrote, what then is Apollos? What then is Paul? Servants, through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but it's God that gives the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth. So let me close with this final summation thought of this. In Christ, every obedient choice I make can and should be an act of worship. Every obedient choice that I make can and should be an act of worship unto the Lord who's given us all these blessings. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this incredible list of what we are in Christ because of what you have done for us. And so Lord, we would pray today that you would help us to become what I've called a lifestyle worshiper, not merely one who sings songs and Sunday morning and then goes off and lives like hell the rest of the week. May we be what you call us to be, not because we can do that in our own strength, but because you have given us your Holy Spirit to show us the truth, to cause us to desire the truth, and to give us the power to live out the truth that you have given us through your Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, may he be glorified in us, for we pray these things in his precious and most excellent name. Amen.