Spiritual Worship

Sermons of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 603 Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2026

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What is “reasonable” service? How are service and worship connected in the Scriptures? What might it practically look like for Christians to present their bodies as living sacrifices? In this sermon on Romans 12:1–2 titled “Spiritual Worship,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones tackles these questions and others. In this practical sermon, he teaches on things like sex, sleep, exercise, the tongue, and eyes. He relates these physical activities to Paul’s teaching on Christians offering their physical bodies to the glory of God. Moreover, he capitalizes on the apostle’s teaching that worship should be “reasonable”; that is, thoughtful and internal. Many groups such as Roman Catholics elevate the importance of external rituals, but Dr. Lloyd-Jones says this is a mistake. The Christian must be careful not to externalize worship.. This is not reasonable worship and not New Testament teaching. Presenting your body should be done in a thoughtful manner and always with the ability to justify it according to the Scriptures. What matters most, says Dr. Lloyd-Jones, is regarding the physical body as a gift for God, not using it for oneself, but offering it to Him to use for His glory and His praise. Listen as he provides guidance for Christian discipleship and maturity.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We are still dealing, as most of you will remember, with the first two verses in the 12th
0:05.4	chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans.
0:08.2	I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies
0:15.8	a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
0:24.4	And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
0:33.1	that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
0:41.9	Now, this, as I must remind you again, is a most important and a most crucial statement.
0:49.5	Some of the greatest tragedies in the history of the church and in the lives of individual
0:53.9	Christian people
0:54.8	have been entirely due to the fact that they've never grasped the teaching of these two
1:00.0	verses. This is one of those great junctions, if you like, one of these great connecting links
1:07.7	which connect the great doctrines of the Christian faith with the living
1:13.9	of the Christian life. Junctions are always important and always dangerous places.
1:22.1	You can foul the lines, and it can lead to endless and grievous trouble.
1:27.8	A junction is always important.
1:29.9	It's particularly important in the scripture.
1:32.4	And there have been great tragedies, as I say,
1:34.9	because people have never understood the meaning of this, therefore,
1:40.2	and the mercies of God.
1:42.1	In other words, here we are being introduced to the living of the Christian life.
1:47.8	It's the introduction to the remainder of this great epistle.
1:51.9	Now, we've been looking at this, and what I've tried to show you is this, that we are told here why we should live the life, the multians.
	...

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