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Attitude in Worship

There are times when we are very few in number when we gather for worship on Sundays. Our eyes scan the room to find who has come and who has missed that Sunday. Our spirits are down when we are few and up when there are many people. The preacher feels less "anointed" when there are more empty chairs than people and the spirit of the worship team depends on the number of people too. I have been pasturing an urban church for three years now where the number dwindles during the holidays. During the holiday season, most of my church members would like to travel, visit their families and only a faithful few will be left during for weeks. I have learned to cope with this and am teaching my leaders to cope with this. We are learning to keep the same level of "anointing" and the spirit whether we are few or many!
The first thing that we realize is that we are not few in worship even when there are empty chairs around. Christian worship is a joint celebration with the angelic hosts in heaven and believers all over the world. The angelic hosts in heaven are in constantly in worship of the Jesus Christ; they don't take any break! So when we are in worship we are only joining them for an hour or two and withdraw. The writer of the Book of Hebrews puts this truth this way:
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect& (Hebrews 12:22-23 NIV).

To put it in another way, the strength of a worshipping congregation is not the number of people who occupy the chairs but includes myriads of angels in worship in heaven. Christian worship is not just the worship of the congregation that is gathered in one given place. When we worship at any given place we also need to realize that we are joining other worshippers who are in worship of Christ at the same time in different places. At any moment in time, there are thousands of Christ-worshippers in worship before him and no one is alone! This is to say that there is no one who is in solitude when it comes to Christian worship. Whether in multitude, a large stadium with thousands of people, a great band and a golden-tongued preacher what pleases God is our attitude in worship. The number and the performance don't really matter to God.
Though it addresses a situation in ancient Israel, Psalm 50 teaches some important principles of worship of God. It addresses people who were keen on worship by offering sacrifices and offerings and paying their vows. That is the mode of worship that they were used to. There is nothing wrong with that however. But God's problem with them was their attitude to worship. They thought that God is dependent on them for food (Psalm 50:12).
What God expects from them was not sacrifices which they thought is feeding a hungry God but sacrifices they offered as symbols of their gratitude to God. The psalmist called such sacrifices "thank offerings" and "vows" (Psalm 50:14). God invited his people to pray to him when they are in trouble so that he can help them out of those troubles (Psalm 50:15). When worshippers engage God in their struggle they worship him with grateful hearts. So all that God expects is the right attitude in worship; he expects people to recognize him as their savior, deliverer and bring a heart of gratitude to worship. They recognize their dependence on God rather than God's dependence on them! The multitude without this attitude doesn't please him.
So, let us remember this: Whether in solitude or in multitude, what matters in worship is our attitude.
Paulson Pulikottil Ph. D. is Professor of Old Testament at Union Biblical Seminary, Pune, India and Pastor of the COMMUNITY OF THE REDEEMED (CORe) a Full Gospel Church in Pune, India.


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