If you want to preach a sermon on Worship that Pleases God, this article is going to provide you with an outline you can work with. The topic is a unique one and there are several perspectives from scriptures you can use to pass across the message as it is supposed to be.
Whether it is for a midweek service or Sunday service, this article on Sermon on Worship that Pleases God will help you on your way.
Sermon on Worship that Pleases God Outline
Introduction: Talking about worship as Christians is not new. We have heard and listened to a lot of sermons about worshiping God. It is a core part of our Christian obligation to God according to Revelation 4:11 which says,
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
While God expects us to worship Him, there is a worship that is “pleasing” to Him. There’s a kind of worship He will not accept. This is evident in Genesis 4:5.
But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
The scripture shows that God rejected Cain’s offering of sacrifice which is a form of worship into God. Rejecting Cain’s offering and accepting Abel’s shows that there’s a way God expects worship and He won’t accept it from anyone except it meets the requirements.
Exodus 30:9 gives us a clearer idea of offering worship into God that will not be accepted. It says
Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.
Aside from Cain, there is another example of people who offered unacceptable worship to God. It was Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron which is found in Leviticus 10:1
And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.
In verse 2, the Bible records that fire from the Lord came and devoured them.
For us, we are in the era of grace which makes us get away with a lot of things but it is important for us to know what to do that would be pleasing unto God. Everything we are expected to do as individuals and as a Body is supposed to give God pleasure as we’ve seen in Revelations 4:11.
Main Text: Romans 12:1
And so, dear brothers, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living sacrifice, holy—the kind he can accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? (TLB)
From the text we just read, the appeal of Apostle Paul was for us to offer ourselves. The worship that pleases God is not a worship of melodious songs and harmonious musical compositions. It is worship of ourselves.
Paul compares us to a “living sacrifice.” Normally, a sacrifice is dead. Because we are alive on Earth but sacrifices unto God that is why he has called us that. We are going to look at some points about how you can offer worship that pleases God.
How to Offer Worship that Pleases God
Become the Worship
Yes. As funny as that sounds, becoming the worship is the first step to offering worship that pleases God. This is what the main text says. Paul begs us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices unto God.
Your life, how you conduct yourself, how you speak, your work ethics, and everything about you should reflect the excellence of God. Let’s read Matthew 5:14-16.
Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
The emphasis is on verse 16. When you live a life that shows excellence and virtue what happens is that men would “glorify your Father which is in heaven.” That is another dimension of worship to God – other people praising God and having good things to say about God and Christians because of the kind of life you live.
As a husband, live in such a way that your wife and children will be happy and praise God for your life. Same goes for wives and children.
As a CEO, operate your business with true and honest principles so that anyone who deals with you can attest that you are a good person and when they find out you are Christian, they’d be proud of that.
As a college student, be the best in your class. Being Christian doesn’t mean you should be mediocre. Give yourself to your studies and be excellent as God gives you grace.
Our lives is the worship God expects first before the fruit of our lips and when we live right, we don’t just give Him pleasure, we make others worship Him as well.
Live Holy
When Paul asked us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices in Romans 12:1, he added a clause to the contract. He said “be a living sacrifice, holy—the kind he can accept.” The idea is not just to be a living sacrifice but to be holy.
The command for holiness is one that we have gradually thrown out the window. We talk about a lot of things but become complacent when we need to talk about sin. However, the Bible is clear about how God hates sin and doesn’t respond to the prayers and sacrifices of a sinner.
There are several scriptures to backup this point:
Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. – Isaiah 59:1-2.
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight. – Proverbs 15:8.
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: – Psalms 66:18.
Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. – John 9:31.
From these scriptures, it is clear that God will only answer the prayers and consider the worship of a Christian who lives holy. In Proverbs 15:8, the Bible refers to the worship attempt of a sinner as an abomination. That is clearly the reason why Nadab and Abihu were consumed by fire in Leviticus 10:1-2.
You cannot be playing in the courts of sin and expect to be accepted in the courts of God. The only prayer God will accept from a sinner is that of mercy and repentance. Any other prayer apart from that is a waste of time.
If you want to offer worship that is pleasing to God, you must live right. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve dwelled in sin or the struggle you have with it, the Bible says
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. – 1 John 1:9.
Once we are clean, our worship can come from purity and it can be acceptable to God. Holy living is on its own worship to God.
Worship Him in Spirit and in Truth
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. – John 4:23-24.
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; – Ephesians 5:18-19.
When Jesus told the Samaritan woman in John 4 that true worshippers must worship the Father in spirit and truth, He was showing us how accurate worship cannot be done without the help and aid of the Spirit.
The kind of worship that will be pleasing to God is the kind that is done by the Spirit, in the Spirit, and according to the Spirit. It is Spirit-influenced worship. This is why Paul said in Ephesians 5:18 that we must be filled with the Spirit.
There’s an outpouring of the Spirit and an intimacy you can have that provokes worship in your heart and from your lips. No true worshiper is capable of worshiping without the aid of the Spirit. In fact, you aren’t a true worshiper unless you are filled with the Spirit.
If you must offer worship either in the way you live or the worship of your lips, you must be filled with the Spirit of God. This should be the earnest desire of every believer – being filled with the Spirit in increasing measure.
Another scripture that validates how true worship can only be done by the help of the Spirit is Hebrews 9:14.
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Jesus could only “offer” Himself by the Spirit and the Bible records how the offering was calling it an offering “without spot.” You want your worship to be “without spot” when offered to God? It must be aided, inspired, and guided by the Spirit of God.
What You Must Do to Ensure Your Worship is Pleasing to God?
- Decide to live a life that is morally upright and influences by the ways and principles of God
- Stay away from sin
- Earnestly ask for the empowerment of the Spirit
Prayers
Oh Lord, give me an excellent spirit so that my life may bring your glory in the Earth (Daniel 6:1-3)
Father, I ask for the grace to live above sin. This sin that I am struggling with, O Lord, you were manifested to destroy the works of darkness, destroy it, Lord, in the name of Jesus (1 John 3:8).
Anoint me with your Spirit afresh. Let your Spirit come with the power and enablement I need to worship you accurately (Acts 1:8).