Monsignor Pope Ping!
Earthly fathers who love their children do not want their love reciprocated from a sense of obligation. How much more our heavenly Father? God's order is this: the Father loved us first as demonstrated in the giving of His Son for our salvation. Once received, the love of the Father can then be shed abroad from our heart. "And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love." Romans 5:5
If a man or woman understands and receives the love of Jesus in their life, they will, out of the abundance of their heart, desire to love and worship the One who first loved them. If the gospel is merely "religion" and "obligation" to a person, there will be no agape love or true worship in that person .
John 4: 19-26: "Sir, "the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." "Woman," Jesus replied, "believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." The woman said, "I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us." Then Jesus declared, "I, the one speaking to you - I am he."
“through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name”
The passage tells us what a sacrifice of praise is. Dear Arch...Pope missed it. Always good to read the passage you’re writing about.