“But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy. Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy.”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Worship! Why did Paul relate the whole of life to worship? It seems that whatever happened to him, or even whatever he did, was about worship. 

What is worship?

“In the Bible, worship is a total response of awe, honor, obedience, and love to God’s supreme worth. It is not just a song sung on Sunday, but an inner attitude of the heart and an outward way of living every day.”(Google AI)

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew words used that relate to worship are mostly about posture and the ways they were to use the body to express God’s worth when directed towards Him. 

Paul, in the New Covenant, expands the expression of worship to everything we do in the body…so that all of ordinary life, when directed towards God, becomes worship. 

Worship, once again, starts with attitude. When our attitude is towards God as both the source and centre of our existence, what we say and do flows out of that attitude and back to Him as the expression of how much we value Him. 

So, from the most ordinary of human activities…eating and drinking…to the very life God has given us, we offer everything back to God, acknowledging Him as the giver of everything. 

“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭31‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The context of Paul’s conclusion here suggests that their behaviour…in this case, whether his Corinthian readers should or should not eat meat offered to idols, was to be regulated by the way they honoured God’s worth. 

“And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.”

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

For Paul, life itself, together with all its ramifications…every detail… was an offering to God, a drink offering…. 

“In the Bible, a Hebrew drink offering (nesek) is a liquid libation—usually wine—poured out before God as an act of total devotion, worship, and gratitude. It was typically poured onto or beside the altar alongside animal and grain sacrifices rather than consumed…”

“Complete Devotion: Because the liquid sank into the ground or altar and could not be recovered or drunk, it symbolized holding nothing back from God.” (Source: Google AI)

That’s the bottom line. If he could offer what he said and did as an offering to God…if it is in keeping with His character…if it expressed something of His worth…then that word, action, behaviour, was worthy worship. 

Paul’s circumstances, as far as he was concerned at that moment, was literally a “dead end”. He was in jail, not only for refusing to honour Caesar Nero as God and Lord, but also for actively proclaiming that an executed Galilean peasant, one Jesus of Nazareth, was God and Lord. He declared that Jesus was alive…and called everyone who heard his message to follow this Jesus, believing and confessing Him as Lord. 

Is it any wonder, from Nero’s perspective, that Paul was a danger to him and must be exterminated? For the sake of his place and authority as emperor of the Roman Empire, he could not tolerate rivalry, even if Paul preached that this Jesus was Lord of a spiritual kingdom. Nero demanded absolute allegiance from everyone, regardless of religious persuasion. 

Let’s examine the implications of Paul’s declaration. 

In this context, Paul viewed his impending execution, not as punishment, martyrdom, or a travesty of justice, (definition…a false, absurd, or poor imitation of something serious that makes a mockery of it)…but the sacrifice of his life as an offering poured out to God! 

With this outlook, this perspective, this philosophy of life, we cannot be overcome. What if, instead of viewing our lives, not as one situation, one circumstance at a time…separate and disconnected…but as an uninterrupted act of worship? What if we see God in the centre of everything we are and do and offer everything up to Him as our continual worship? 

How would our hearts, our attitudes, our lives change?

To be continued