Worship is a Lifestyle
Worship is perhaps the single most important activity that Christians participate in. Yet the New Testament teaching about worship is sometimes misunderstood. Worship is not simply an event that one attends or participates in, but rather it is essentially offering one’s life to God. Paul implores in Romans 12:1, “I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.” Jesus has said that God seeks a certain kind of worship. Paul speaks in this text of worship that God accepts. Notice some translations of Romans 12:1:
•I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship. NCV
•Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer. GNT
•…this is your spiritual act of worship. NIV
The Greek word translated “service” in Romans 12:1 in the KJV is actually the word from which we derive our English word “liturgy.” The word means worship and therefore most translations render it that way. The context here speaks of an offering brought in worship to God. The offering referred to here is the offering of our bodies- our lives given as an act of worship to God. The way we live our lives should be worship that God accepts. Colossians 3:16-17 says that whatever we do should be done “in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Verses 22-25 tell slaves to serve their masters “for the Lord.” Ephesians 5:22 tells wives to “submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” Our daily activities and lifestyle should be an offering to God. True worship is about offering our lives in response to what God has done for us in Christ.
Unfortunately, however, some have an unhealthy and unbalanced view of what constitutes acceptable worship. Worship is often understood entirely in the sense of corporate worship when the whole local body of believers assembles. Even though scripture speaks of the importance of these occasions, worship is certainly not limited to them. Furthermore, the corporate worship often defines a group’s identity, determines fellowship boundaries, identifies true discipleship, and provides the litmus test for who God accepts or rejects. Such a view of worship provides for an inaccurate and unbalanced view of Christianity. We must not weight corporate worship more heavily in importance than what scripture does. Such an approach may cause a community of believers to slip into a perspective of Christianity where other aspects of the Christian faith, doctrine, spirit, ethics, and practice are either completely disregarded or else given limited significance resulting in an attitude that one’s salvation is essentially tied almost entirely to one’s corporate worship. Accordingly, corporate worship may be understood to be the necessary means to achieve the end of one’s final salvation. Since worship is generally conducted in church buildings, one’s concept of Christianity becomes limited to what happens “at church.” This is what I mean by “an unhealthy and unbalanced understanding of Christianity.” Such churches, then, exist only to carry out the worship service, and doing so constitutes faithful Christian living. The bible teaches that worship is much more than corporate worship. In fact, very little is said about corporate worship in the New Testament. Corporate worship is addressed in the New Testament and is very important, but it is not what defines Christianity or discipleship.
•I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship. NCV
•Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer. GNT
•…this is your spiritual act of worship. NIV
The Greek word translated “service” in Romans 12:1 in the KJV is actually the word from which we derive our English word “liturgy.” The word means worship and therefore most translations render it that way. The context here speaks of an offering brought in worship to God. The offering referred to here is the offering of our bodies- our lives given as an act of worship to God. The way we live our lives should be worship that God accepts. Colossians 3:16-17 says that whatever we do should be done “in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Verses 22-25 tell slaves to serve their masters “for the Lord.” Ephesians 5:22 tells wives to “submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” Our daily activities and lifestyle should be an offering to God. True worship is about offering our lives in response to what God has done for us in Christ.
Unfortunately, however, some have an unhealthy and unbalanced view of what constitutes acceptable worship. Worship is often understood entirely in the sense of corporate worship when the whole local body of believers assembles. Even though scripture speaks of the importance of these occasions, worship is certainly not limited to them. Furthermore, the corporate worship often defines a group’s identity, determines fellowship boundaries, identifies true discipleship, and provides the litmus test for who God accepts or rejects. Such a view of worship provides for an inaccurate and unbalanced view of Christianity. We must not weight corporate worship more heavily in importance than what scripture does. Such an approach may cause a community of believers to slip into a perspective of Christianity where other aspects of the Christian faith, doctrine, spirit, ethics, and practice are either completely disregarded or else given limited significance resulting in an attitude that one’s salvation is essentially tied almost entirely to one’s corporate worship. Accordingly, corporate worship may be understood to be the necessary means to achieve the end of one’s final salvation. Since worship is generally conducted in church buildings, one’s concept of Christianity becomes limited to what happens “at church.” This is what I mean by “an unhealthy and unbalanced understanding of Christianity.” Such churches, then, exist only to carry out the worship service, and doing so constitutes faithful Christian living. The bible teaches that worship is much more than corporate worship. In fact, very little is said about corporate worship in the New Testament. Corporate worship is addressed in the New Testament and is very important, but it is not what defines Christianity or discipleship.
Thanks for the insights Terry.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting that Paul says to present your BODY as a living sacrifice, which is how we worship. Our body, the physical representation of our person is the vehicle through which worship is expressed, or is seen by others(?). Of course worship involves our hearts/minds/souls, spirit, emotions, every part of us. So is Paul using BODY to include all our faculties or is there something significant? It seems, since we use our bodies in a host of ways, that the BODY is the primary expression of our worshipful lives. For eg, Rom 6:14ff-use your body as an instrument of righteousness. How we use our body is extremely important, as the wrong use of it can impede our worship, while exercising discipline can express the worth of Jesus in our lives. And isn't that the point: to use our lives to express Jesus to others? What better way than through the proper use of our body. Any thoughts, clarifications or corrections? So much more to say about this. Thanks again for expressing how there is so much more to worship than what we do on Sunday.
Great post, Terry!
ReplyDeleteI would encourage everyone to go to Youtube.com and look up Stanley Hauerwas on the Liturgy Alternative. By the way, I've always tied what Paul says in Romans 12:1 to what the Priests did in the Temple, as in Hebrews 10:11 (same Greek word is used for "service" or "worship, offering" in each case).
peace and all good,
ryan