“When one bases his life on principle, 99% of his decisions are already made.” Unknown.

I spend the majority of my time with people much younger than my 51 years. Most of the younger generation with whom I spend time have a passion for Jesus and yearn to serve Him. They recognize we were created to worship the Most High God. But sometimes in their worship they over-think. Growing up in a culture with microwave food and instant access on the internet, they want to find a fast track to effective service to God. But some things cannot be achieved in the time it takes a heat up a hot pocket. Relationships take time. Unpacking the line from God’s great purpose in eternity to our individual service to Him cannot be found in the click of a mouse.

I have had more conversations with Jesus-loving young men and women than I can remember. So many of them have to do with their desire to live hard for God all their lives. My advice to them is actually quite simple, and comes from Romans 12:1-2. When you truly know Christ through the gospel, and give yourself to serve Him with radical affection, finding His “will” or “plan” for your life has less to do with geography on a map and more to do with proximity to Him, less to do with a position and more to do with your posture of worship. It is less a roadmap and more a relationship.

In Romans 12:1-2 Paul picks up after teaching for 11 chapters on the amazing gospel from creation to eternity, from our sinfulness to His salvation. Paul then asserts that in response we present our bodies as a living sacrifice. In other words, we live to worship (verse 1).

Everyone worships. Most worship today is simply depraved. We worship stuff, we worship comfort, or ourselves. Through the gospel we learn to worship Christ, and learn the amazing irony that the only way to truly live is to die to ourselves, the only way to be free is to be a slave to God, the only way to win is to surrender all we are.

This means rejecting the things of this world and being transformed increasingly through the renewing of our minds, and in so doing we discover the very thing we seek—the will of God. Just read Romans 12:2.

Do you worship God? Do you constantly renew your mind, rejecting the lures of the culture and embracing the gospel’s power?

As a freshman in high school I was a shy, nervous, skinny little kid. If you told me then that God would call me to be a teacher and to give my life training leaders, I would have become a Buddhist monk and taken a boat to Tibet. I actually told a teacher that year I could not do an oral book report because I feared I would wet my pants or throw up or both due to nerves. But I genuinely loved Jesus. And I believed and tried to live Romans 12:1-2 as best as I could. Today at 51 I teach at one of the greatest seminaries on the earth, equipping leaders to take the gospel literally all over the world. If the Lord allowed me to write out the rest of my life, I would do what I am doing right now. I had no idea as a freshman in high school that I could do what I do now or that I would enjoy it. It was not my in my career plan even as I started college. But over the years God has been gracious to make clear His remarkable plan. I have done nothing to earn it and nothing to achieve it. But I have worshiped Him, and that has made all the difference.

*** Alvin L. Reid, PhD, serves as Professor of Evangelism and Student Ministry at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. Author or co-author of over a dozen books on missional Christianity, spiritual awakenings, and student issues, Reid is a popular speaker young adults and young leaders. He and his wife have 2 children, Josh and Hannah. Find more at www.alvinreid.com.

In his incredibly helpful book Christ-Centered Worship, Dr. Byran Chapell writes, “Our worship should show the face of Jesus to those who have gathered and to those who need to gather to worship him.”

Chapell suggests that kind of worship honors God in its “re-presentation” of the gospel. It is the proper response to the grace he lavished upon us, the grace that allows us to worship him rightly.

As Chapell points out later in his book, many pastors rightly attempt to do “re-present” the gospel story in the sermons they preach and in the sacraments they administer, worship leaders rightly attempt to do that in the songs they sing, other participants in the service try to do that in the prayers they pray and the testimonies they give.

Chapell argues that this gospel representation should not only take place in each element, but also in the whole service itself.

I remember one of my seminary preaching professors encouraging us to do more than “just add Christ” to our sermons, like we might add salt to our dinner. Instead of making Christ an optional add-on to our sermons, he encouraged us to preach Christ-saturated sermons.

As pastors and worship leaders plan their worship services, they should plan Christ-saturated worship services. Those types of services require not only Christ-centered elements, but also a Christ-centered service. Christ-centered worship is aided by a Christ-centered liturgy.

Every worship service has some kind of liturgy, even if its leaders wouldn’t dare use that word. It’s the way they structure their worship service. Each liturgy tells a story—either intentionally or unintentionally. I think each liturgy should be planned to intentionally tell the gospel story.

Through that liturgy, you are telling those gathered something about God, their relationship to him, and how they should worship him. Through that liturgy, you have an opportunity to re-present the gospel story with the liturgy as a whole, not just through some of the elements of that liturgy. Use the pieces of your liturgy to tell the story of the gospel to those gathered to worship Jesus, and those who have joined you who need to worship him.

Here are some helpful resources for creating a Christ-centered liturgy:

http://www.cardiphonia.org

http://www.theopensourcebook.org

Christ-Centered Worship, Bryan Chapell

The Worship Sourcebook, John D. Witvliet and Emily Brink (eds.)

Leading in Prayer, Hughes Oliphant Old

Ancient-Future Worship, Robert Webber

Elliot Grudem is the network coordinator for the Acts 29 Network and a pastor    at Mars Hill Church. Prior to his work with Acts 29, Elliot served as the senior  minister at Christ the King Presbyterian Church, a church he replanted in  Raleigh, NC. He has worked for an urban ministry in New Orleans. He worked  for a Fortune 100 company prior to seminary. He is the editor of Christian Beliefs,  a book he completed with his father Wayne. Elliot holds degrees from Miami  Univeristy (BA, History and English) and Reformed Theological Seminary (M.Div.).

James tells us that one of the aspects of “true religion” is caring for the fatherless in their affliction (James 1:27), reflecting God’s own care for the fatherless (Ps. 68:5). One of the ways we do orphan care is through adoption.

Adoption is often viewed as plan B, or only something that’s done if you can’t have “your own kids.” However, adoption is really an act of worship. Our motivation in orphan care and adoption should be the same reason we perform any act of biblical obedience, namely: “that they may see your good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). We don’t do orphan care to be seen by others, or receive praise from others, but rather, we do it to put the love of God on display before a watching world that they may come to know and worship our perfect Heavenly Father. Orphan care is an offering of ourselves to God for the good of millions of orphans and for the glory of His name.

But adoption is not only an act of worship; it also demonstrates the Gospel, inspiring others to worship, as they consider the character of God.

5 years ago, I never dreamed of adopting five children, and the thought of writing a book on it was nowhere on my radar. But it has been awesome. Every day I see visual reminders of the Gospel that compels me to worship our gracious God. For example…

When we returned at 2:00AM from our 30+ hour trip from Ethiopia, where we adopted our fifth child (and second son), we were in great need of a bath. We all cleaned up, including our new addition Joshua, and introduced him to spider-man pajamas. Then we got the kids up to meet their new brother. I was interested in seeing how his new older brother, James, would respond.

James walked over and casually put is arm around Joshua, saying, “hello.” Joshua did the same, and then … he jumped up and kissed James on his cheek! He began smiling from ear to ear his two cracked two-front teeth. They continued mingling, and James said, “Papa, I’m so excited.” Now, I know that type of thing will not always go on – there will be fights and feuds – but it was amazing to see these two boys together. What a strange combination, a ten year old Ukrainian from the border of Belarus, and a five year old Ethiopian from the Sudanese border, gathered in a house in Hattiesburg, MS: made brothers through the grace of adoption.

As we witnessed this first meeting of the brothers, I immediately thought about Russell Moore’s book, Adopted for Life and the chapter entitled, “Are They Brothers?” Dr. Moore brought up how he received questions after their adoptions like “Are they brothers?” He would respond, “yes” repeatedly. But then follow up questions would come like: “I mean, are they really brothers?” To which Dr. Moore would respond, “They are now.”

And so it is with Joshua and James. They are really brothers. Two kids from tiny obscure villages, one from a mud-hut in Africa, and one from a poor village where they still drive horse and buggies, gathered under the roof of a house in Hattiesburg.

This is a picture of what has happened to us in Christ. We’ve been adopted by God, in his grace, and placed into the family of God, even though we may look quite different.

The Apostle John said it well:

See what kind of love the father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. (1 John 3:1a).

When you consider afresh what God has done for us in Christ through adoption, how can we not give Him praise? J.I. Packer wrote that adoption is the highest privilege that the Gospel offers. This privilege of knowing God as Father should prompt us to worship.

*** Tony Merida serves as Teaching Pastor at Temple Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, MS as well as Assistant Professor of Preaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of Faithful Preaching and the soon to be released book Orphanology. In the last 15 months, he and his wife have five adopted children.