Turning the page…
Turning the page…
Glory · Worship
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.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/is-all-of-life-worship · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Romans 12
As you read: How fast the chapter moves from offering your body to ordinary life: gifts, work, love, enemies.
1Therefore 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.
2Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
3For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.
4For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function,
5so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
6Having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, if prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith;
7or service, let us give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching;
8or he who exhorts, to his exhorting: he who gives, let him do it with liberality; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
9Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.
10In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate one to another; in honor preferring one another;
11not lagging in diligence; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
12rejoicing in hope; enduring in troubles; continuing steadfastly in prayer;
13contributing to the needs of the saints; given to hospitality.
14Bless those who persecute you; bless, and don’t curse.
15Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.
16Be of the same mind one toward another. Don’t set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Don’t be wise in your own conceits.
17Repay no one evil for evil. Respect what is honorable in the sight of all men.
18If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men.
19Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”
20Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.”
21Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Micah 6:1-8
As you read: What God says He requires, and how little of it is ceremony.
1Listen now to what Yahweh says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say.
2Hear, you mountains, Yahweh’s controversy, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for Yahweh has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.
3My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me!
4For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of Yahweh.”
6How shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
7Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8He 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?
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.”Romans 12:1
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.”1 Corinthians 10:31
“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.”Colossians 3:17
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?”Micah 6:8
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.”1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
“Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”Matthew 5:16