Live to the glory of God

Worship is more than music, words and services. Of course its important to sing and share and manifest the gifts of the Spirit as we 'come together’ and attend services of worship (1 Corinthians 14:26). 

But worship is also a matter of living every single moment to the glory of God. Romans 12:1 issues the call 'to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.’ 

Everything we do in and with our bodies, should be a part of our ‘spiritual  worship’. This life of worship is to be our grateful response to the gospel, which Paul has expounded in detail for eleven chapters of his letter to the Romans and which he summaries in Romans12:1 as 'the mercies of God’. 

Because God in Christ has been merciful in coming himself to pay the penalty for our sins and then rise from the dead to justify us through faith in Jesus as Lord (Romans 3:21-26; 10:9), we should want to say thank you by the way we live the rest of our lives on earth, in the body, as ‘a living sacrifice’ of ‘spiritual worship’.

Paul develops this idea of living to the glory of God in his first letter to the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says; ‘Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.’ 

There it is again, worship is the outcome of the impact of the gospel. Because 'you were bought with a price' by Jesus death as a ‘ransom’ (Mark 10:45), you should respond and ‘glorify God in your body.’ 

And this life of living to the glory of God is possible because the indwelling Holy Spirit has turned your body into ‘a temple’. You are walking ‘worship centre’, a carrier of the presence of God. 

Enabled by the perpetual presence of the Holy Spirit ‘within you’, every part and moment of your life can become worship. 

1 Corinthians 10:31 sums this all up saying; 'So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.’ 

That’s the goal of the gospel, to orientate our lives around God so that we live to his praise and glory, now and forever. Amen.