Sunday Music - The Battle Belongs to the Lord

Persecution and America

Lately I have been reading a book called Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand.  You can receive a free copy by signing up for the Voice of the Martyrs magazine.  This magazine is a great resource that (especially taken along with this book) is very startling.  As an American I think we should all be aware of how spoiled we are.  It is incredible how well off we are, and we take so many things for granted.  I think of how active the church is in evangelizing outside of the United States where they are tortured bodily and imprisoned for proclaiming the gospel.  And we have freedom of speech to proclaim whatever we want, and we shy away from proclaiming the gospel.  Whatever persecution may come on us is less likely to be bodily. More likely, it will be in the form of being an outcast at school, or "that" person at work, or the person that people generally avoid.  We have let ourselves be backed into a corner.

It is sad to me that most American churches do not actively teach the full gospel of Christ.  More and more are chopping off the "offensive" parts of Jesus' life and teachings.  Less and less churches have active Bible studies that seek to focus entirely on a discussion of the biblical text.  Instead, they use books that seek to teach a moral lesson rather than delve into the Bible.  (Do not get me wrong, not all of these study books are equal.  There are some amazing ones.  My point is that clear and concise explanation and interpretation of the Scripture should be the focus of Bible Study in order to bring a deep understanding of God's word to the participants.)  America has gotten so worried about the number of people attending the service that we forget that the main purpose of our church service is to worship God and praise Him, and in the process strengthen and encourage believers through biblical preaching and exposition.  We are to build unity and fellowship (Colossians 3:14) with each other and with God (1 John 1:3).  We are to love each other as believers (John 13:35).  As we do this, the Spirit will work through us to grow the church.  We work so hard to show a loving outreach to the community, but in my observance we forget to give them the gospel while giving them a free meal or a ride home or a Christmas tree.  How has the church become the place to go for handouts rather than for spiritual knowledge and sustenance?  How has the salvation of souls through the work of Christ on the cross taken a back burner?

In our freedom, it seems we have gotten lethargic.  We have gotten lazy.  Luke warm.  This all too sobering letter comes from the Lord Himself to such churches as ours:

To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:  'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold not hot; I wish that you were cold of hot.  So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.  Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.  Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.  Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.  He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.  He who has an ear, let Him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' - Revelation 3:14-22

This sounds like a letter written directly to the church in modern day America.  Of course, there have been churches just like this all throughout church history.  But we are seeing it on an ever growing scale.  Instead of working for wealth and comfort, we need to realize that we are pathetic and need the grace and mercy of God to clothe us.  Of course, this is the line of thinking that is offensive.  Who wants to believe that we are worse than menstrual rags (Isaiah 64:6)?  But we are, because God said so.  But for His name's sake, He sent His Son to die a gruesome and brutal death on the cross to satisfy His just and divine nature--which cannot coexist with sin--in order to reconcile us to Himself not only as servants and warriors but as sons!  We have kicked Jesus out of the church, and He stands at the door and knocks!  In His everlasting patience, He does not wish for any to perish.  But His Spirit will not strive with man forever (Genesis 6).  Judgement and punishment will come.  But those who repent and obey Him will be granted to rule with Christ forever.
Heaven is not of this earth.  We know that this earth will pass away (2 Peter 3:10).  However, if we keep our eyes focused solely on Jesus, the rewards will be great.  I am, of course, thinking of the only reward I can kind of sort of wrap my mind around (and I think the most important): an eternity in the physical presence of Jesus and God in eternal and ecstatic worship.

Do not let the offensive nature of the cross be a deterrent to proclaiming the gospel.  "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" - 1 Corinthians 1:18.  The cross is supposed to be foolish to unbelievers.  But to those who it has been granted to be sons of God, it is our hope!  How full would our churches be if we actively went out and spread the true gospel of Jesus without shame?  How knowledgeable would American believers be if we spent just an hour a day seeking God's will through His word and through prayer?

I believe that a time is coming when American Christians will begin to face persecution for their faith.  It is already beginning.  After the apostles died, "churches began to focus on legalities and not the essentials of Christ, and Christians were either tolerated or persecuted throughout various time frames within history. Which sounds a lot like our churches and politicians today!" (source).  My hope is that we are all grounded in the word and in faith and in obedience to hold fast to the name of Jesus in all hope.  Do not be ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16).  There is nothing greater than the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It should be our burning passion. He should be our greatest source of joy and hope.

Do not forget those who are suffering.  Pray for them.  Love them.  I encourage you to check out the Voice of the Martyrs and sign up to send letters of encouragement to those imprisoned for the Gospel of Christ.  Read and study Hebrews 13:3 and the book of Philippians to learn about remembering and sharing with those in chains.  Pray for America and the church.

I would like to offer this as a final thought:

Do not love the world nor the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.  The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.  They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.  But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.  I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.  Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ?  This is the antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son.  Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.  As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning.  If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.  This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.  These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.  As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.

Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. - 1 John 2:15-28 

Praying Unceasingly - Romans 1:8-15 - Part 4

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.  For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.  For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established  that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith both yours and mine.  I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.  I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.  So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. - Romans 1:8-15

In a series of blog posts looking at this passage of Romans, we are looking at what it means to serve God in the spirit.  We know that our service is worship to God if done from the spirit instead of our own selfish gain through the flesh.  We saw that the first characteristic of genuine spiritual service to God is thankfulness.  The second attribute or characteristic is a heart for preaching the gospel.  As we continue to look at these characteristics Paul demonstrates in this introduction, we should be continually checking our own character to see what areas we need to work on application.

Paul says that God can testify about his unceasing prayers for the Romans.  He wants to stress to them how earnestly he has prayed for them; and to do so he does not just say 'I have prayed for you' or even 'I have prayed unceasingly for you,' but he says here, 'I call on God as my witness to testify about how unceasingly I have prayed and interceded for you.'

So how do we pray unceasingly?  Praying should be like breathing.  We should be in constant communication with God.  In a way, this could be considered being God-conscious at all times.  Always be conscious of His presence, and just speak with Him here and there as something strikes you.  Instead of blowing up and getting mad about something coming up that you were not planning on, ask God to take care of it.  Pray for the people around you.  Pray for people as they come across your mind.  Instead of getting all worked up about that driver who is swerving all over the road, pray for safe travel for him and others.  What strikes me when I do this is how passionate I become for people's souls.  I stop praying that the person stops speeding, and instead pray that they come to know Christ and that if they are a believer that they will fall ever more deeply in love with Him.  It is amazing how living like that changes our outlook.  You become more conscious of the way God moves and works. You find yourself seeking to filled with His will.  I love how Paul says it in Colossians:

For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. - Colossians 1:9-12

I wrote a blog post not too long ago on this passage here. This should be our goal.  We should all seek to never cease to pray to be filled with knowledge of His will, and to have spiritual wisdom and understanding so we can obey Him and bear fruit and continue to increase in all of these so that we will be strong in His might; and with all perseverance and joy we should seek to praise to God for His great mercy and grace in our redemption and future glory.  And we should pray for this in others as well.  And as we pray and seek His will, we must also seek His will in His word.  As we absorb and study His word we will be instructed in the knowledge of His will and will pray that His will shall pass on Earth as in Heaven.

On this subject, MacArthur says, "if I want to have a persistent, consistent prayer life, I'm going to have to have certain desires in my heart that generate that, that motivate that.  Those desires become in my life the fruit of my faithful and intent study of God's Word which reveals these things to me in fresh new ways every time I study it, and therefore prompts my own prayer life. Rarely do I ever come out of a study time in the Word of God without a new kind of commitment to pray in one dimension or another more faithfully than I have*."

So pray without ceasing in all joy in you remembrance of fellow believers (Philippians 1:3-5), and that they would be filled with the Spirit and walk in uprightness.  Pray for the conviction of those who do not know Christ or have rejected Him.  Pray that the Spirit would soften their hearts for the Gospel to take root.  Pray to be filled with the knowledge of God to serve Him and worship Him correctly.  Pray for those going through trials and persecution.

Set aside some time specifically for prayer.  I suggest a prayer journal to organize your thoughts in some manner.  And then don't let your prayer stop there.  Continue it through the day as things come up.  Keep your heart open before God, and He will listen and respond.  This is the heart of a Christian who is passionate for God, and who seeks to serve Him in the spirit at all times.  Unceasingly.

This is a song I had not heard in a long time, but popped in my head as I was rereading this:

See Also:
Macarthur, John.  Praying Unceasingly (1 Thessalonians 5:17), April 21, 1991.      http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/52-28

Preaching the Gospel - Romans 1:8-15 - Part 3

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.  For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in m prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.  For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established  that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith  both yours and mine.  I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.  I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.  So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. - Romans 1:8-15

In a series of blog posts looking at this passage of Romans, we are looking at what it means to serve God in the spirit.  We know that our service is worship to God if done from the spirit instead of our own selfish gain through the flesh.  We saw that the first characteristic of genuine spiritual service to God is thankfulness.

The second attribute of service in the spirit is a heart for preaching the gospel.  I don't mean that only preachers serve in the spirit.  But we are all called to tell everyone about what Christ has done for us (Matthew 28:16-20).  We are all to preach the gospel to whoever will listen.  This attribute could also be expressed as a 'zealous heart for the preaching of the gospel.'  The gospel is the best news that has ever been heard.  We should break our backs trying to tell others.  Read the passage above again, and see how Paul has been trying and trying to make it to Rome to preach the gospel to them.  We should wish to encourage others through the gospel.  It is our hope and our joy.  It is the source of our faith.  The gospel is the core of Christianity.

The early church actively preached the gospel to all who would hear.  What is it about America that we are afraid to so much as bring up the name of Jesus?  Has our freedom hindered our urgency?  Are we afraid that if we mention the name of Jesus we will be persecuted?  Take heart, because we should be thankful for persecution.  Remember our dear brothers and sisters around the world who face real physical torture for preaching the gospel, yet they still evangelize on the street amid the danger.  I am reading a book titled Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand where he describes a man in prison in Russia who preached the gospel to the men in his jail cell.  When the guards heard, they pulled him out of the cell and beat him brutally. As soon as they threw him back in the cell and left, he managed to sit up and say, "Sorry for the interruption, where did I leave off?"  You see, by His strength, we can do all things.  What a wonderful promise He has give us.

I challenge all of us to live and breathe the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Let Him truly be Lord of your life, and obey the greatest calling He has given to us:

But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated.  When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful.  And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:16-20

Also see Part 1 and Part 2 

Sunday Music - Give Me Jesus

Thankfulness - Romans 1:8-15 - Part 2

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.  For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in m prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.  For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established  that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith  both yours and mine.  I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.  I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.  So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. - Romans 1:8-15

Thankful for Faith and Love of Others

The first attribute of someone who serves from the spirit is that they possess a heart of thankfulness.  Paul was always very thankful.  We are blessed to have thirteen letters from Paul, and all of them (minus Galatians) starts off with Paul expressing his thankfulness for something.  Here in Romans he is thankful for their faith.  In  Ephesians, he said:

For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.  - Ephesians 1:15-17

Paul was also thankful for the faith of the Ephesians as well as for their love for all the believers.  We should be thankful for all of our brothers and sisters in Christ.  He says that he ceaselessly gives thanks for them.

Thankful for the Service of Others

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. - Philippians 1:1:3-5

Not only should we thank our God for other believers, we should be joyful when we remember them.  We are also to thank God with joy when we remember the service of other believers.

Thankful for the Fruit of Others

We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit. - Colossians 1:3-8

As we give thanks for our brothers and sisters, their faith and love and joyful service, we should be thankful for their understanding of the grace of God and the fruit that comes from it.  We should be thankful that we will see them in Heaven.

Thankful for the Conviction of Others

We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father, knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you; for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction  just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. - 1 Thessalonians 1:2-4

We should be thankful that the Holy Spirit moved in their hearts and caused them to be fully convicted of the truth of the gospel.

Thankful for Trials Brought Upon Others

I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy. - 2 Timothy 1:3-4 

Although it sounds against our understanding sometimes, we should be thankful for the trials that others go through.  We should be thankful for trials, because we know that through these comes blessings from God and abundant strength to serve Him evermore in our spirit.

Thankful for The Knowledge, Witness, and Hope of Others

I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. - 1 Corinthians 1:4-8

Paul was thankful for their knowledge of God, and the witness of their testimony as well as their joy in the hope of His coming.   These should be things that we are thankful for, not only for our knowledge, witness, and hope, but for that of others as well.

Thankful for His Mercy in Our Lives

 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.  Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. - 1 Timothy 1:12-13

We should not only be thankful for what God has done for others, but we should be extremely thankful for what the Lord has done for us.  It is the Lord who has given us strength.  It is He who gave us a ministry.  It is He who showed us mercy and saved us from sin.   We should be constantly thankful for what He has done in our lives.  Our heart should always be joyful for the promises that He has given to us.  How great is our God, forever and ever to be blessed, amen!

Thankful for the Intercession of Others

...so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many. - 2 Corinthians 1:11

When we ourselves go through persecution, we should give thanks for the prayers that are offered up by other believers.  It should give us joy that others are in this way sharing in our trials.  We should be thankful for their appeals to the Father that we may come through them having been proven through the testing of our faith.

To sum up, we should be thankful for the faith, love, service, fruit, conviction, endurance, knowledge, witness, and hope of other believers.  We should also be thankful for God's mercy toward us and the intercession of others in our behalf.  The Christian should never stop giving thanks, always thanking God with joy in every prayer.

Thankfulness is the first characteristic of someone who serves in their spirit.  Look out for the next ten.

Grace and Peace.

Attributes of Spiritual Service - Romans 1:8-15 - Part 1

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.  For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in m prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.  For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established  that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith  both yours and mine.  I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.  I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.  So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. - Romans 1:8-15

Anymore it is hard to imagine receiving a letter from someone that you do not know very well.  With Facebook and other social media becoming so interlaced with our lives and culture, it is hard to imagine not being able to know their likes, dislikes, music preferences, hair color, phone number, or address with the click of a button.  But when the church in Rome received this letter from Paul, they did not know him.  They knew of him.  They had surely heard tale of how he became an apostle, and had heard of his ministry; but they had never met him in person or received correspondence from him.

In light of this, the long introduction in Romans makes sense.  We saw that Paul was so eager to write to them about the Gospel that he poured his heart out in a short summary in verses 2-6 before he even got to the greeting.  Then from verses 8-15 he writes this quick little introduction for them to get to know him.  He did not need to establish his credentials.  They had heard the stories.  He did not need to establish his authority as an apostle.  He did that already in verses 1 and 5.  Instead, he opens his heart to them to show them his passion for the preaching of the gospel, and his love for the brethren.

The central idea of this passage is actually in verse 9: "...God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son..."  In the New Testament, the word "latreuo" is always used of religious service or worship.  So this could also be rendered "I serve God in my worshipful service in the preaching of the gospel of His Son."  Serving is worship.  In John 4:22, Jesus makes a dynamic statement to the Samaritan woman at the well:

"You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is of from the Jews.  But an hour is coming and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.  God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" - John 4:22-24

In Philippians 3, Paul writes against legalism saying, "'...we are the true circumcision, who worship in the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh'" (Philippians 3:3)"  So a Christian's worship is not external.  Our worship is not about performing rituals or performing fleshly signs of allegiance (i.e. circumcision), but our worship is in our spirit.  When we wish to imitate Christ and to align our will with His and to put off sin and follow Him, we worship Him in our Spirit.  To the Colossians, who were being overrun by a strange mix of hyper-knowledge pre-Gnosticism and Jewish legalism, Paul writes, "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ (Colossians 2:8).  After contrasting man-made religious philosophies with true salvation which comes from Christ, Paul continues, "These [commandments and teachings of men] are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and sever treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence" (Colossians 2:23).  Religion that is crafted by men can seem to be wise and logical, but if it deviates even a little from the simple truth of the gospel, it is worthless.  The gospel as presented by the Word of God is the wisdom, truth, and reality for salvation.  For "His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence" (2 Peter 1:3), emphasis mine.  The Word presents the complete picture of salvation, and does not need anything added for anyone to gain salvation.

Back to Philippians 3 for a moment, Paul continues by reminding his readers that he was a Pharisee.  Not only was he a Pharisee, he had a killer resume.

If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless (Philippians 3:4b-6).  

If anyone had external worship down, it was Paul.  But he knew that it is worthless.  The Law does not save, so being a Pharisee and keeping the Law to the greatest human possibility are worthless accomplishments.  Jesus said, "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20).  The purpose of the Law is to make one realize how impossible it is for mankind to live without sin.  It was to show men their need for a Savior.  But the Pharisees missed that.  They thought they had salvation through the Scriptures and following the Law, but Jesus told them in John 5:39 that the Scriptures testify about Him.  Christ is the only way to salvation.  You must become a bondslave of Jesus Christ and worship God in spirit and truth.

This brings us back to Romans.  If it has been granted to us to be born again into life, we will seek to worship God through our service in the spirit.  We will look at eleven characteristics demonstrated in this portion of the text that make up spiritual service.

To close:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  For this reason also  God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  - Philippians 2:5-11

Seek to serve God from the deepest part of your spirit in all that you do.  Do all things as if to God.