There is a fundamental problem of light worship in our Christianity today. Most of the time we are not even aware that the songs we sing are theologically lacking. We’ve dulled our senses to such an extent that we don’t even realize the limited ways in which we both intellectually and emotionally engage with God through our prayers, and even at times our sermons. But it’s true and it’s real. Our light worship is passive and mediocre at best, and it’s time for all of us to wake up.

A Problem of Approach

Psalm 50:7–15 has something to say about this form of light worship, and it is this: God’s judgment is coming for it. In these verses, God pronounces His judgment, and it begins with those who are actively obeying God. You see, God takes issue with those who are already obeying Him. In verses 7 and 8, God is not angry with the Israelites because they have forgotten to offer sacrifices at the temple. They are diligently doing this. They are faithful at bringing the sacrifices. But God has to rebuke them because of the way in which they are expressing worship.

He rebukes them because they have the wrong mindset. The Israelites have failed to be truly grateful to God because they think they are doing God a service. They have imagined that God needs them, and that without their help, their worship and their praise, somehow God would be lost. The Israelites treat God as if He existed along a human spectrum.

We see this specifically in verse 12 when they act as if God really needs to eat; thus, they think that their offerings of food are truly feeding Him. Help, praise, and worship is never real, it is never sincere, when you see yourself in a position of superiority, or when you think of your “offering” as something that has infinite value.

God Is Not Dependent On Our Worship

This is what prompts God to talk about material objects in verses 12 and 13. Does God need to eat food to survive? Of course not. The living God needs nothing from His subjects.

To reiterate the fact that God does not need the Israelites, God brings up a comparison. Look at verse 9. God tells the Israelities, “What makes you think I need your animals?” In other words, God says, “What good are the thousands of animals you have in comparison with the millions of animals that belong to Me? Every animal in the forest is Mine. Every animal in the hills and mountains are Mine. Every animal in the field and the sky belong to Me.” For God, He doesn’t need the Israelites’ sacrifices because everything belongs to Him.

Now do you see the Israelites error? They think God needs them. Although these Israelites are faithfully obeying the covenant, even though they are fulfilling their responsibilities, they are committing idolatry because they have a wrong view of God. In their minds, God has become small and that is idolatry. They have envisioned God to be something that He is not, and that’s exactly the kind of thanks that God does not want.

Don’t Play At Worship

Now, lest we think that we are exempt from the Israelites’ folly, let me explain how we do the same today. We, as New Covenant believers, can veer into the same thinking. This can play out in our Sunday worship. Christians gather thinking that God somehow needs their worship. We can think that we need to put on a big show and then God will be pleased, or better yet that certain songs are necessary to “usher” the Spirit into our sanctuary.

Do you see the problem in this? This mindset can play out in our evangelism and mission too. We think that God needs us. We speak as if God is helpless to save people unless we step up and do something. But, God does not need us. God is not dependent on our singing or our praying or our Bible teaching. He is not dependent on us to save people. God has a major problem with His people who think that He needs them, and His judgment will come for them. May we each take a hard look at the ways in which we worship God, and consider which practices have deep roots and which ones do not.

God does not need our worship. Sunday morning singing should never be about putting on a big show and trying to "please" God. Click To Tweet