We don’t worship God by singing Him a song; we worship God by living His life through us. Yes, I said that right — living His life as opposed to living our life. You see, we can’t even live our life for Him. We’re not good enough to do that. We must have His life in us in order to please Him.

A little red flag should go up every time we hear or say, “for Him.” “For Him” sounds like we are doing God a favor and He doesn’t need any favors. He needs a life. Paul calls us “living sacrifices” (Romans 12:1). Most sacrifices are dead – all burned up on an altar. We are still alive, but we are dead to ourselves (that’s the sacrifice part) and alive to Christ (that’s the living part). We are yielded to God so that Christ can live through us by the Holy Spirit.

“Through Him” works; “In Him” works; “for Him” doesn’t. Even “with Him” is a bit off, because it puts God next to us — like we’re walking alongside each other. That isn’t it. God walked alongside people when Jesus was here. That was God “with us.” But now that He is gone, it is God “in us” through the Holy Spirit that He left us. Walking alongside is what we do. We walk alongside someone with Christ in us. That’s the way He gets His point across.

“For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing” (2 Corinthians 2:15). The prepositions are very important here. What pleases God is Christ in us. It’s not us running around doing all these great things for God that pleases Him. Truth be known, He probably finds that a bit annoying. It’s Christ living in us through a life yielded to Him that pleases God.

Look at the prepositions again. The aroma is of Christ; the aroma is to God (it pleases Him) and all this happens among other people who sense something going on they can’t explain. I know it sounds a little complicated but Christ and God are carrying on this thing in us. They’ve always had a thing together from the beginning of time; they’re just carrying it on through the Holy Spirit who lives in us. That’s all those three parts of God working together and you and I are the proving ground for all this – that is if we are sacrificed to His will and not crawling off the altar all the time, trying to do our own.

It sounds complicated when you try to explain all the pieces, but all working together, it’s not. It’s all about yielding your life to God and allowing Christ to live in you. And here’s the thing: when you do all this, that is worship. Paul calls it your “true and proper worship” (Romans 12:1). That’s a lot more than singing a song for God.

Speaking of worship, last week I began a five-part series on “What is Worship?” in an adult education class at Irvine Presbyterian Church, 4445 Alton Parkway, Irvine, California. The class is in the Jack Davis Room (I keep wanting to say Jack Daniels Room — got to watch that) at 9 a.m. on Sundays. Those of you in southern California are invited to attend. We’re over a little after 10:00 so you might have time to get to your own church service, or you are certainly welcome to attend the morning service at IPC at 10:30 a.m.. The sessions are being recorded so if the rest of you would like to listen in, the audio can be found by clicking HERE. Hope to see some of you there next Sunday!