Is all of life worship, or only what happens on Sunday?
All of it. Paul calls your ordinary body the sacrifice, and says whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. The gathered service is the rehearsal; the week is the performance. Work done honestly, meals eaten thankfully, and justice loved quietly are all worship when they are offered to Him.
This question arose from studying What is worship, really? and Can God actually hate a worship service? and What is the Spirit's role when the church gathers?.
Begin by reading
Go into the Word
Not a summary of these passages: the passages themselves. Read them, then come back to the study below.
The study
What the Scripture says
The offering is your body, not your Sunday hour
Paul's worship vocabulary lands on the most everyday thing about you: 'present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.' Your body goes to work, eats dinner, drives the carpool, and answers emails. By making the body the sacrifice, Paul makes Monday through Saturday part of the act of worship, not the intermission after it.
Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Eating and drinking can glorify God
Paul picks deliberately mundane examples: 'Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.' And he writes the same truth to Colossae: 'Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.' If eating lunch can be done to the glory of God, then worship is not an activity you attend; it is an aim you bring to every activity.
Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
God's own list of requirements is almost entirely weekday material
When Micah's Israel asks what God wants, the answer contains no festival calendar: 'to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.' Justice at the gate, mercy in relationships, humility before God. This is why hollow-ceremony passages like Isaiah 1 hit so hard: God never accepted ritual as a substitute for the ordinary obedience it was supposed to express.
He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Ordinary faithfulness preaches to outsiders
Even Paul's advice about work is missional: 'make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands... that you may walk properly toward those who are outside.' Jesus said our good works are meant to be seen so that observers 'glorify your Father who is in heaven.' Your quiet competence this week is part of someone else's evidence for God.
and that you make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, even as we instructed you; that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
As you read, you may wonder…
Scripture raises the next question
Studying the Word naturally opens more of it. Follow what you just read: it leads somewhere.
Continue this trail
What will worship be like in the new creation?→“I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple.And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.”What is Paul saying about men and women in the church?→“But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.”Explore further
How do I know God's will?→Suffering & God's Will trail“Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path.Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
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