Surrender - Hanna Isakov

Worship is the very reason we exist. Worship is much more than singing, worship is presenting yourself as a living sacrifice, dying to sin and giving your life to God (Romans 12:1). Worship is living to glorify God. Worship is serving. Our worship is only made possible by God Himself. It takes a marvelous trinitarian action for us to be able to worship at all. We are saved for the purpose of worship. God displays this purpose in Exodus as Israel is saved from captivity in Egypt in order to worship the Lord (Exodus 3:12,18 ~ 5:1,3,8 ~ 7:16 ~ 8:1,20 ~ 9:1,13 ~10:3,7-11,24-27). Parallel to Israel being stuck in Egypt, we are by nature stuck in sin. We were captives, dead in our sin. As Romans 8:6-8 says, in our flesh we cannot please God. We had no hope or way of escape. Romans 6:17-19 says that we were “slaves to sin,” but by the trinitarian work of salvation we have become “slaves to righteousness.” Just like Israel was saved from Egypt so that they could serve and worship God, we are saved from being slaves to sin so that we can become servants and worshipers of our redeemer! God saves us for worship. Each part of the trinity plays a unique role in our salvation and in making worship possible. The father made the plan, and it was a well calculated and long prepared plan: Ephesians 1:3-6 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” The Son accomplished the plan given to Him by the Father: He became human, lived perfectly, died for our sins, and rose for our justification. Philippians 2:6-8 says, “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” And the Holy Spirit applies the finished work of the Son to believers: We are sealed and sanctified by His indwelling presence. 1 Corinthians 6:11 says “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” “Without the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we would be dead in our sin, unable to recognize God, much less worship Him” (Zac Hicks Doxology and Theology). Jesus not only died for our sins, but He gives us His perfect life. We cannot bring an acceptable offering to God; we cannot live anywhere close to His standard. We cannot even look upon His holiness, let alone give Him the worship He deserves. Christ provides us with the worship God requires of us. He was obedient in living a perfect life and worshiping the Lord perfectly. God sees Christ’s perfect worship as we continually worship imperfectly. Jesus Christ is the only Worship Leader. He worships for us. Similarly to how we pray, we worship the father, through the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our great God is why we worship, how we worship, and who we worship. Apart from Him we are dead and we have no worship. He has graciously gifted us a pardon from sin, eternal life, and the ability to worship Him. Key Verse: Romans 12:1: "I appeal to you therefore brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."