We Believe In Jesus: The PriestExemplo

Responding to Christ with Worship: Romans 12:1

As Christians, we often find ourselves motivated to worship Jesus when we think about what he did for us on the cross. His selfless sacrifice rightly inspires our hearts to praise him for the great love he showed to us. And it moves us to thank him again and again for the incredible blessings of salvation that he purchased for us. 

And Jesus’ sacrifice should also motivate us to worship the Father and the Spirit. After all, according to passages like John 14:31, Jesus’ sacrifice was the plan of the Father. And Hebrews 9:14 teaches us that Jesus offered his sacrifice through the power of the Holy Spirit. So, the Father and the Spirit deserve the same praise and worship that we give to Jesus.

And besides motivating us to worship, Jesus’ sacrifice also serves as a model for worship. Consider what Paul wrote in Romans 12:1:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1).

This passage naturally raises two questions. First, how was Jesus’ death on the cross an act of worship? And second, how can we pattern our own worship after it?

In answer to the first question, Jesus death on the cross was an act of worship because it fulfilled the Old Testament types and foreshadows set by the sacrifices in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, God’s worship centered around sacrifice. And Hebrews 9 teaches us that Jesus’ sacrifice was the substance to which all these Old Testament sacrifices pointed. It also says that Jesus was not passively sacrificed for us. Rather, he actively sacrificed himself. He was the high priest that followed the worship regulations of the old covenant, and presented himself to God as an act of sacrificial worship. And for this reason, our sacrificial acts also constitute worship.

But how can we pattern our worship after Jesus’ sacrifice? What kind of sacrificial acts should we offer? Well, Scripture indicates many things we can do that God counts as sacrifice. As we’ve already seen, Romans 12:1 says that one way we imitate Christ’s sacrifice is by offering our bodies to God. But verse 2 goes on to explain the meaning of this: We are not to conform ourselves to the behavior of the world; rather, we are to let our renewed minds in Christ lead us into new patterns of behavior. We are to abstain from sinful uses of our bodies, and to behave in new ways that honor God.

Ephesians 5:1-2 teaches that a second way we imitate Christ’s sacrifice is by living a life of love. Jesus’ death on the cross was the ultimate act of love. So, when we are kind and compassionate to each other, we’re patterning our own lives after Christ’s loving sacrifice.

And Philippians 4:18 suggests a third way we can worship God through sacrifice: by giving our money, resources and time to help other believers. Paul said that the Philippians’ gifts to him were offerings and sacrifices to God because they were costly to the Philippians and because they benefited those that God loves.

Now, of course, these suggestions don’t exhaust the possibilities of worshiping God through sacrifice. But they’re a good starting point for us as we follow in Christ’s footsteps of worshiping God through loving sacrifice.

Now that we’ve looked at some ways we should draw practical applications from Jesus’ sacrifice, we’re ready to see how his priestly reconciliation should impact our lives.

Click here to watch We Believe in Jesus: The Priest, lesson four in the series We Believe in Jesus. Biblical Education, For the World, For Free. thirdmill.org