Life is a Sanctuary -pt.3

[A Series of thoughts on Romans 12:1-2]

"Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy,
to offer your bodies as living sacrifices,
holy and pleasing to God,
WHICH IS YOUR SPIRITUAL WORSHIP."
(Romans 12:1)

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” declares Jaques in Shakespeare’s play ‘As You Like It’. Jaques is waxing eloquent here about the developmental “stages” (no pun intended) of life and how it is a place to present our performance to a watching world. Had the Apostle Paul been exposed to Shakespeare he may have described his words in Romans 12:1 like this: “All the world’s a sanctuary, and all the men and women merely worshippers”.

Have you ever thought about worship like that? We tend to think of worship as an event that we attend and how well we worship is often dependent upon how good the action is up on the stage. Or if we are a bit more spiritual we might think that worship can also take place in our own devotional times of prayer and the reading of Scripture. I think Paul is talking about something much deeper here when he says we are to “offer” our bodies as living sacrifices as an act of “spiritual worship”. He has already talked about offering ourselves to sin and impurity (Romans 6:13 &19), now he speaks of the opposite of this which is to offer ourselves fully to God in worship.

If indeed, “all the world’s a sanctuary, and all the men and women merely worshippers” the question, then, is who (or what) are we worshipping? We all bow down to something don’t we? Our careers, our family, habits, leisure activities, addictions, possessions. We all have a tendency to place something or someone at heart of our life, a place that should be reserved for God alone. We do this, I believe, because humanity was created to worship. What we worship is as varied as each individual personality.

Whenever I see a Hollywood "red carpet" event where all the stars arrive and strut and pose for the photographers I can’t help but think I am watching a worship event. The gods and goddesses of our culture are everywhere. They wear sports uniforms or star in movies. They hold public office or run large companies. Sometimes they are teachers or musicians or even pastors. Sometimes they are not people at all but rather ideas or value systems. Anything that captures a place in our hearts that belongs to God alone is a form of worship. The Bible calls it idolatry.

“Spiritual worship”, Paul says, is a sacrifice of our whole selves to God alone. It’s not an event like Sunday morning worship. It can’t be reduced to a particular form (traditional, contemporary, formal, informal). It’s not restricted to certain body postures (kneeling, hands raised, dancing, standing). All of these can express our worship but worship by nature must transcend these and be something that encompasses all of our lives, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.

The essence of “spiritual worship” is that it is a life style rather than an event. It’s a daily decision to live in such a way that everything we do, everything we say, everywhere we go is an act of worship. We cannot offer our bodies as living sacrifices once a week on Sunday morning. We must offer ourselves totally and completely to God, body, mind and spirit. Anything less is not really “spiritual worship” and runs the risk of becoming something closer to idolatry.

“All the world’s a sanctuary, and all the men and women merely worshippers” really does describe this life. The only question left to answer is who is on the red carpet?