Introduction

This talk was given at St. Peter’s Church on 1 June 2025. Mark Fletcher explores what it means to worship God, examining Romans 12:1-3 to reveal true worship as offering ourselves as living sacrifices rather than mere religious ritual. The sermon challenges us to move beyond superficial worship to wholehearted surrender, recognizing that everyone worships something—the question is what deserves our ultimate devotion.

One of the things that we are still really struck by about living in Switzerland is those amazing clear night skies. We lived in London for 20 years, and you really could barely see the stars. Whereas here, on a clear night, you step outside and the majesty—the array of the universe—is there before you, and you stand slack-jawed in wonder. And then, I don’t know about you, I always then run into the house and say, Hey everyone, you have to come and see the stars.

I think it’s the right response to wonder and beauty. I hope we never become jaded. But if that’s the right response to the stars, how much more should we respond to the God who created the stars?

So we are thinking in these few weeks after Easter about what it means to be Church. And we thought last week about service and serving one another—and how we find ourselves in that service. And we’re thinking tonight about what it means to worship. If there was one very obvious thing to say about this, it’s that it is a place of worship. But that idea might also be one of the most uncomfortable things about church.

I remember, as someone who was on the edge of faith and exploring and finding my way into church, that there were lots of things I liked. I liked a well-crafted sermon. I enjoyed the singing. Community was obviously a really good thing. But there was this sense that there was something else going on—that people were worshipping, that they were giving something of themselves to God. And perhaps that’s where the real challenge lies.

We’re going to reflect a little bit on what it means to worship. We’re going to do so with the help of probably the defining New Testament passage on the subject, Romans 12:1:

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

That is as good a definition of worship as you will find anywhere in the New Testament. And did you hear that the Apostle Paul, who wrote this, is talking about what true worship looks like? And that’s important, I think, because the world is not divided into those who worship and those who do not worship. No…

Everybody worships. The question is what or whom we worship. It’s as if human beings are hardwired for worship—and the question is, what does good, right, and true worship look like?

The ancient world was full of temples. Whatever you did, there was a temple to serve that. And you could find a god whom you could make a sacrifice for in order to get what you wanted.

So if you were off on a journey and you needed safe passage across the sea, there would be a temple to the god Neptune. You could make the appropriate sacrifice in order to hopefully have a safe journey. Or if you were a soldier and you were off to war, you would go and make a sacrifice at the god Mithras or Mars in order to hopefully come home safely.

Now, the secular world might be more sophisticated than that, but we are no less tempted to sacrifice our lives—or the lives of those that we love—on the altars of the things that we think will grant us what we want. Whether that’s our careers, or our appearance, or our bank balance, or fame, or freedom.

A few years ago, the celebrated actor Jim Carrey was presenting the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture, and he stood up and he said:

“Hello, I am two-time Golden Globe winner Jim Carrey. And when I get up in the morning, I’m not just anybody getting up in the morning. I am two-time Golden Globe-winning Jim Carrey. When I walk down the street, I’m not just anybody walking down the street. I’m two-time Golden Globe-winning Jim Carrey. And when I go to bed at night, I don’t dream just any old dreams—I dream of being three-time Golden Globe-winning Jim Carrey. Because then I would be enough.”

He’s a wise man.

And what has always set Christians apart is that they say there is only one true God—only one who is worthy of our worship and our sacrifice. And that everything else that we serve before God—everything else that we sacrifice for instead of him—will let us down and disappoint us and ultimately enslave us.

If we do not allow God to be God, then something less worthy, less forgiving will become our god.

And another distinctive about Christian worship is we don’t worship in order to get something. Christian worship is not transactional. It’s not a quid pro quo. It is a response of gratitude for what has already been done for us.

So verse 1 says, “Brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy…” And that view of God’s mercy that Paul’s talking about is the whole scope of the wonderful epistle to the Romans, which speaks of God’s amazing plan of redemption. The great story: that though we had gone astray, turned our backs on God, worshipped created things rather than the Creator, and yet he never gives up on us.

He goes to the ends of the earth to reconcile us, and in Christ, redeems and restores and reveals to us his love.

True worship is simply an expression of gratitude for what has already been done for us. And what it requires of us is not some token thing, not some fleeting offering, but our very selves.

Paul writes, “Offer yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.” True worship is offering our hearts and our lives—just as the old Christmas carol put it. Do you remember? It said: “Yet what can I give him? I give my heart.”

In the ancient world, religion was all about sacrificing something else. Paul says, no—true worship is giving your very self.

And true worship challenges the ways we get caught up in the thinking of this world. Verse 2 said, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.”

True worship dethrones the false gods. Someone said, You become like the thing that you worship. And so those who worship power become callous, and ruthless, and paranoid, and treat people as expendable.

Those who worship celebrity become entirely transactional in their relationships—and people are just there for what they can do for you. They become egotistical and self-obsessed.

Those who worship money only value things for their price tag, and judge people based on their bank balance. Materialism means that you love things and use people, instead of loving people and using things.

You become like that which you worship. And worship is the means by which our minds are transformed.

We sing these songs week by week, speaking of the wonders of God—of his love and his mercy, the way that he has redeemed us and set us free. We retell that story over and over in order to transform our minds and set our hearts on that which really matters.

That’s why our worship should be rooted in the Scriptures. That’s why our central act of worship is Holy Communion—where we tell the story once again of the redemption of the world through the body and blood of Christ.

And worship is an act of loyalty, a pledge of allegiance—a place where we choose and find the courage to stand for the truth of God, which sets us free.

Verse 2: “So that you may discern what the will of God is—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” And that choice, that allegiance, allows us to see clearly.

Instead of being swayed by the demands and loyalties and compromises of this world, tossed and blown by every storm, worship allows us to discern the truth of God and set a course by it that will chart us through the storms of this life and help us to live wisely.

Finally, worship puts us in our right place in this world.

Verse 3: “Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought, but rather with sober judgment.”

So much of our struggle—so much of the difficulties we might have with worship—comes from our pride, from thinking too highly of ourselves and of our own importance, and therefore carrying too much weight, thinking too much of our own abilities.

Worship frees us to recognize that we are not in control—and are not expected to be. We cannot manage the future. We can barely predict the weather.

But your loving Father is in control, and the future is in his hands. Worship allows us to trust in him—to allow God to be God—and stops us from pretending that we are.

In worship, we discover that our worth, our value, our meaning in life is not based on what we own or what we’ve achieved, but in who God is and how he has loved us.

Worship is a sort of “It is well with my soul” experience. And it makes us part of something bigger than ourselves.

In this lonely and individualistic world, worship makes us part of a family, of a body. As Paul writes in verse 4: “For as in one body, we are all members and all have a part to play.”

Our belonging here is as a child of God in the family of our Father.

And we are part not just of this family, but of a rich, diverse worldwide family of God’s people. Here we find a place to serve, to be useful, to bless others. We find new meaning and belonging. We find our true selves.

So this is worship. And worship is not about a style of music or a type of church service. It is a posture. It is an attitude of the heart.

Worship is offering yourself to God—serving him before everything else. And worship is often difficult, because our proud hearts are so attached to the gods of this world. But worship humbles us and sets us in the right place in the world, and challenges us and shows us the way to freedom and joy.

And so, week by week, we sing these songs. We sing of the love of God, of the freedom that he has won for us, of the redemption that he has earned. We take time to worship. And I think we should do that every day.

That Sundays should set a pattern for the rest of the week—even if that simply means to bow your head, to remind yourself that God is God and not you, that you are here to serve him and not yourself.

Someone once said, Fear God, and you need fear nobody else.

Day by day, remember who God is and who you are, and join with all God’s people as we express our joy and gratitude for the goodness of God and the wonders that he has done.

So perhaps, as we end, we should do just that. Let’s just take a moment to be quiet—perhaps bow our heads and still our hearts—and recognize that posture, that attitude of worship and gratitude to God.

Father,

You have made us for yourself, and true worship is turning our hearts and our lives towards you—allowing you to be God, and putting our trust in you, to serve with gratitude all the days of our life.

Amen.