Romans 8 – Why do I Worship God

The Light of God’s Truth Brings Clarity

This Sunday’s sermon by my preacher, Terry Cooper, was so powerful.  He asked a very pointed question.  Do I worship God for what He does or who He is?  Now I muddled over that quite a bit yesterday and this morning.  As I considered this question I kept falling back to Romans 8.

First thoughts were in Romans 8:28

Romans 8:28 (ESV) ²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

I first was led to this passage because it is not what God does that is important to me.  I know that because of who He is no matter what it might be all he does works together for my good.  How he chooses to work in my life is because of who He is.  But there is more to this chapter than this one verse so I started looking at all of Romans 8, and some of 7 and 9.

Romans 8:1-4

I read Chapter 7 and the battle that wages in us all and the struggle to do what is right but so often falling short.  That chapter filled with hope by the struggle Paul describes because it is in me too.  I love the close of the chapter.

Romans 7:25 (ESV) ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

That brings me into Romans 8:1-4.

¹ There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ² For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³ For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

What a glorious gift God gives to those who believe in His son…”² For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”

I read these verses several times before moving forward to verses 5.  I even sort of skipped over verse 5  as I read the Chapter, but God brought me back to it.

Romans 8:5

I could not pass over this verse.  The Lord kept drawing me back to it. 

Romans 8:5 (ESV) ⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

This verse struck me.  I thought about the first half, “or those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh”, and I started thinking about what are the things of the flesh.  The first thing that came to mind was WIIFM.  It is an old sales adage, what’s in it for me, and that hit a nerve.  Do I worship God because of who He is or for WIIFM?

As I pondered that I realized that was the very thing the adversary wanted me to focus on.  That was not God’s desire.  His desire is, “those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”

What a powerful thought.  My desires do not rest in the things of this world but in the promises of a loving and faithful God.  And I do not simply hold on; for in me rest the Holy Spirit.  I do not make that claim on my own God tells me so.

Romans 8:9-11

⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

What a glorious gift.  I have life in Christ Jesus, and it comes by faith in the Son of God.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV) ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Now I think of all these things and I weighed what God does for me versus who He is, and I reflect on why I worship Him.

Romans 8:12-17

Then I came to verses 12-17 and my heart was filled with joy.  I read this over and over.

¹² So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

I am a blood bought son of God, “by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God”

Just like my earthly father I do not love God for what He can do for me, but for who he is. I could think but nothing but a passage in John 1

John 1:12-13 (ESV) ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

What joy there is in this understanding and knowing that my fruit defines who I am.

Fruits of the Spirit

I am lead to Galatians 5:19-24

Galatians 5:19-24 (ESV) ¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹ envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentlenesses, self-control; against such things, there is no law. ²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Verses 19-21 are the “WIIFM” verses, (what’s in it for me).  Those verses describe my flesh who would only worship God for what He can do for me.  Verses 22-23 are the verses of selfless love.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

This love comes from God and it fills my heart with a selfless love for Him.  Not for any one thing, He might do for me, but for the love, he had for me like a father for a child.  And verse 24 reaffirms that for me.

²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Conclusion

When I look at these verses and I know God has done so much for me but my earthly circumstances do determine how I worship Him.  I do not love my Heavenly Father because of what he can do for me.  My worship of Him is because of who He is.  I am reminded of Romans 8:28

Romans 8:28 (ESV) ²⁸ And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

I know that what may come in my life will build on the faith that I have in the Holy Trinity of God.  In Him rests my hope.  I worship Him because of who He is.  Like Paul said… I cry out Abba! Father!

Prayer

Father God, thank you for who you are.  Thank you for your love and mercy, and the guidance that comes to me through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Lord God I love you and I praise you in the name of your blessed Son, Jesus Christ, Amen!