Youth Group Lesson On Worship

Youth Group Lesson on Worship

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Topic: Are You Really Worshiping?

Main text: Romans 12:1

Description: We talk a lot about worshipping God, but too often we assume that worship is something that only happens when we lift our hands and sing during the slow songs at church. Really, worship is so much more than that.

As seen in Romans 12:1, true worship is what happens when we offer ourselves as a pleasing sacrifice to God. Worship cannot be summed up in just one action; it’s an entire lifestyle.

Opening Game: I Forgot the Lyrics

Supplies:

• A sound system or an iPod that is easily paused and will play a song loud enough that everyone can hear
• Ten trophies, or small knick-knacks that can act as trophies
• A pack of Oreos
• A clear bowl
• A bag of gray stones big enough to write one word on (enough for everyone in the group)
• A bag of stones painted yellow
• Sharpies

Split the group into two teams and have them each form a single file line with the front of the line being at least a few feet away from a table where there is a plate of Oreos set up. Give each team five trophies and explain the rules.

You will begin playing a song—these can be songs that are popular on the radio, songs that you sing at church a lot, or a mix of the two. You will pause the song at random intervals right before a lyric. Once the song is paused, the two people at the front of the lines must run to the table and each pick up an Oreo and begin to lick the icing off of it.

The first person to lick the icing completely off the Oreo gets to guess what the next lyric was. If they guess the correct lyric, the other team must give them one of their trophies. If they guess wrong, they must give the other team one of their trophies. The first team to have all ten trophies wins.

Lesson – Worship

You guys sure know your lyrics! Well, at least some of you do. So now, we’re going to talk about a subject that you probably associate with songs: Worship. I have a question for us to answer tonight. Are you guys ready?

Here’s the question: What does it mean to really worship God? Before we get started on answering that question, I’m going to pass a piece of paper around, and I want everyone to write a number on that piece of paper. That number should represent what percent of your week you spend in worship. There’s no wrong answer, and I won’t know who wrote which number down. Just be honest.

The numbers you get back will probably be pretty low. Pick a number that seems to fall in the middle of the numbers you see. Okay, thanks guys. So, the average number here seems to be about ___ (for the sake of this lesson, we’ll use the number ten).

So you guys spend roughly ten percent of your week worshipping. I’m a visual person, so I like to see examples of things rather than just saying them. So we’ll say that these gray rocks represent the time spent worshipping, and these yellowrocks represent the time spent on other areas of your life.

Pour the rocks into the bowl accordingly. 90 percent yellow, ten percent gray. Okay, cool. Now we have a visual of that. I’ll just leave this up here for us to look at while we try to answer the question of what it means to really worship God. That should be pretty easy to answer, right? After all, we’re at church. Chances are, you’ve been here for what we call praise and worship. Or, you’ve listened to worship music. So that must mean that worship is about singing, right?

Well, what if I told you that worship was more than that? It is. Actually, it’s far more that that. While we may call times of singing worship, true worship requires a lot more than songs. Of course, the times you spend singing to God are times of worship. But true worship isn’t something you can fit into a few minutes of songs.

Oh, no. It’s so, so much more. True worship causes you to make big decisions. So, what exactly is true worship?

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” – Romans 12:1

Well, we asked what worship was supposed to be, and it looks like we’ve got ourselves a pretty clear answer. There’s a lot we can learn from this verse, so let’s take a few minutes to really look through all that it says. The first thing that stands out is that is says we are supposed to do this “in view of God’s mercy.”

If you were wondering why we worship God, well, there you have it. I think we can all agree that God has been very merciful to us. If you’re having a hard time thinking of ways that God has shown you mercy, let me remind you of a few things. God loved you so much—even before you were born—but He knew couldn’t be with you because of your sin.

So He sent His one and only Son to die in your place so that your sins could be forgiven and you could be in Heaven with Him forever. Even before you were born, God showed you more mercy than you could possibly imagine!

Next, it says “to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.” Wow. That sounds a little weird, doesn’t it? Sacrifice is defined as “the act of giving up something that you want to keep.” So offering our bodies as a living sacrifice really means to give ourselves totally up to Jesus. It’s giving him control of us, control of our lives and what we do with them.

It’s saying, “God, I want to be in control of my own life, but I know that You have much better things in store for me that I could ever come up with on my own. So I offer my life as a sacrifice to you—do with it what you will.” Is that a huge deal? Yes. But is it also completely worth it? Absolutely.

The next part of the verse says that our sacrifice should be “holy and pleasing to God.”How do we make our lives holy and pleasing to God? Let’s see what the Bible has to say about that. “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” – Hebrews 13:15-16 So what pleases God? When we praise Him by openly professing His name, when we do good, and when we share with others.

Let me just put something in perspective for you here. God is completely powerful. He controls everything. He can have anything He wants, He can do anything He wants. He is the God of the entire universe…and it pleases Him to hear you profess His name and your faith in Him. That is incredible! It pleases God when you do good and when you share with others.

Sometimes, it can be a hard decision to choose to do good, or to choose to share with those around you. But when you really think about it; when you take into consideration that by doing those things, you’re pleasing God, it’s really not a hard decision!

Romans 12:1 ends by saying, “this is your true and proper worship.”Now, let’s be honest for a minute. How many of you really only consider worship as something that takes place during the slow songs at church? It’s okay that you think that. As followers of Christ, we should strive to always be learning and trying to live better for Him. But now you know, worship isn’t a song set.

It isn’t something that only happens when the songs are slower or when the lights or dimmed. It isn’t only raising your hands, singing along, and praying. No, it’s an entire lifestyle. Worship—real and true worship—is deciding to live your life as a sacrifice to God.

Not only that, but to live your life as a sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God. It’s living a life that pleases God by not being ashamed of His name, but by being open about your faith in Him. It’s doing good, doing the right thing by following what the Bible says. It’s sharing with others—sharing your life, your faith, your belongings. So yeah, true worship is a little bit more than just lifting your hands and singing. That’s part of it, of course—the Bible says God loves to hear you profess His name.

Psalms 100:2 says, “Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” Singing songs of worship is awesome, and I know God loves to hear you. But it’s important to understand that true worship doesn’t just stop there, it goes way beyond songs. If you want to truly worship God, you have to decide—are you willing to offer yourself as a living sacrifice to Him?

Small Group Discussion Questions:

1. Do you view worship as something that mainly happens at church, or does it happen in other areas of your life?

2. Did reading what Romans 12:1 said change your view of what it means to worship?

3. Based on the verse we read in Hebrews 13, do you think you are currently living a life that is holy and pleasing to God? If not, what could you do to change that?

4. After tonight’s lesson, how are you planning on making sure that worship is a part of your everyday life?

5. Romans 12:1 says, “in view of God’s mercy.” We talked about how He had mercy on us by sending Jesus to die in our place, but what are some other ways you have seen God’s mercy in your life?

6. Why do you think God is worth worshipping?

7. How does it make you feel to know that it pleases God when you profess His name, do good, and share with others?

8. Do you feel closer to God when you spend time worshipping Him?

9. How would your life change if you decided to live a lifestyle of true worship?

10. Are you willing to offer yourself as a living sacrifice to God? If so, what does that mean for you? 

Lesson Wrap up

If you came here tonight thinking that worship was something that only involved music, you may be feeling overwhelmed right now. I want you to know that I understand that, and that, more importantly, God understands that. Let’s look at this bowl of rocks again.

We said earlier that the gray rocks represent time worshipping, and the yellow rocks represent time spent not worshipping. After what we’ve learned tonight, I think it’s clear that the whole bowl should be filled with gray rocks, because our whole lives should be worship.

The call to worship isn’t a call to perfection. It’s not a call to never make mistakes or choose the wrong things. If that were the case, no one would be able to lead a life of worship. You don’t have to be perfect to offer yourself as a sacrifice to God. He already knows you, so the good news is, you don’t have to pretend. He already knows you’re not perfect!

I’m going to pass these out now. (Pass out the gray stones you used to represent worship so that everyone gets one and everyone gets a sharpie.)

I want everyone to think about what they learned tonight and what that means for their life. When you’re ready, write down one thing on this rock that you need to change in your life in order to be living a life of worship that is pleasing to God.

It could be a sin in your life that you need to get rid of, or it could be something like loving others that you would like to do better. When you get home, put this rock somewhere where you will see it.

Let it remind you of how every part of your life should be a part that worships God. Worship isn’t about being perfect; it’s about loving God.

It’s about loving and respecting Him and all that He is so much, you just can’t help but worship Him. Worship Him with songs, with your words, with your actions, and—most importantly—with your life.

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