The Proper Attitude Toward The Church

            Many people don’t understand what the church is all about. There are many who don’t understand the importance in being connected with the church. So today we want to look at how the proper attitude toward the church can help us to elevate our lives to a different level and please God.

          This particular psalm unveils to us the proper perspective every individual ought to have in, at, around, and about the church. The first verse suggests we should have an:

I.                  Attitude of Excitement

a.     In church one Sunday a small child was turning around smiling at everyone. He wasn’t gurgling, spitting, humming, tearing the hymnbooks apart, or rummaging through his mother’s purse. He was just smiling. Suddenly his mother jerked him around, and in a stage whisper that everyone could hear, and said, "Stop that grinning. You’re in church." With that she gave him a slap on his thigh, and as the tears rolled down his cheeks she added, "That’s better," and returned to her prayers. There are actually people who believe church is supposed to be a dull and sad occasion. But look, church going ought to be exciting.   

b.     To be in the presence of God. To be able to just stand in the door way. To witness the mercy of God. He let you see another day, brought you out of harms way, and watched your back when folk were trying to stab you in it. You oughta be excited to get to the church to see the lord and testify to the saints about what God has done. 

c.      To Give Thanks to God. We should be running to get to the house of the Lord to say thank you. I mean that’s enough to be excited about. The opportunity to say lord thank you for being so good to me. You woke me up. You put food on my table. You watched over me all night long and I just wanted to say thank you.

d.     Look yall, if you want to really be blessed, if you really want to feel happy about life get excited about the church get excited about how blessed it is to be in the presence of God, to feel His spirit moving down in the inside. It’s exciting, it’s uplifting, and it’s exhilarating to be in God’s house. 

II.               Attitude of Commitment

a.     To service for God. There should not be anything or anyone for that matter capable of influencing you to stop serving the Lord. Your commitment level to the service of the Lord should be as such that there is nothing that can keep you from doing what you know God has assigned you to do. I must admit there are those who are seeking there own vain glory, so the minute something they don’t like occurs it validates their excuse to quit. Let me help somebody, the service you render to and for the church is to God. Not to the choir, not to the usher board, not to the deacons, not to junebug, Aunt Betty, big mama, not even the Pastor. What you are doing is for God. So when you quit you ain’t quitting and hurting nobody but yourself. When you quit you’re quitting on God. So it is imperative that we have an attitude of commitment to His service.

b.     Worship God. Our minds should be made up that regardless of what goes on in my life I’m going to worship God. I utilize worship here in the sense of coming out to church and worship Him. We ought not to be easily stopped from coming to church. Look, your attitude should be God has done so much for me the least I can do is go and worship Him.  Often the devil gives us excuses as to why we can’t go to church. You know the excuses some of us use, I ain’t got nothing to wear, and I got to get myself right first. These are all just excuses. What if God used the same excuses with us? The devil also uses what he knows will cause worry in our life so that we don’t have time to worship God. We must commit ourselves to worship God at all costs. Even when it doesn’t look favorable to us, worship should be primary in our life. When you worship it tells God just what you feel about Him. It shows how much you really love Him. Some people don’t know how crazy they sound when they say well the Lord know my heart. Well, that’s true, but He also sees your action. God wants to see action in your life not just what’s in your heart. He wants to see you move; not just what you thought about doing. If we all just decided to live thoughtfully, nothing would ever get done. We would just be a lot of thinking people with hearts supposedly in the right place. God should mean more to us than we mean to ourselves. I know that’s tough because a lot of us are extremely selfish. I want you to think of everything you are willing to do for yourself, how much you want for yourself, and all that you want to accomplish and after you do that tell yourself none of this is worth it if I can’t make the same sacrifices for God. Everything you do calls for some type of sacrifice. Yet we want sacrifice to come out to worship God.

III.           Attitude of  Prayer

a.     Pray for peace. Many of us when we pray for the church usually say lord bless the church. What we must remember though is that there are enemies of the church and often the enemies of the church come into the church. Now the job of the enemy is to destroy, conquer, and defeat us. So when we pray to God we must be specific as it pertains to the church. It is necessary that we pray to God for peace in the church. Pray to God that peace begins in you. Ask God to make you an instrument of peace. Sometimes many of us are being used by the devil and don’t know it. Let me bring it to life for you. Negative ness is not of God, gossip is not of God, tattling is not of God, lying is not of God, sowing discord is not of God, bickering is not of God, fighting is not of God, jealousy is not of God, and envy is not of God. So if it is not of God, obviously it is of the devil. That’s why it is imperative that we pray to God for peace. When we pray for peace it opens the door of protection which keeps us from falling into the traps and snares of the enemy. Some people don’t ever have anything good to say about other folk. Just pray for peace. There are people who love mess and will always be in the middle of it. Just Pray for peace. You know what you should do when folk come to you with negative talk, evil ideas, personal grudges about others, and gossip, you ought to tell them let’s pray about it as a matter of fact let’s pray right now. Come brother, come on Sister, let’s Pray. I guarantee you they want come back with nothing else. The bible says, “resist the devil and he will flee…” You know how you do that Pray for peace.   

b.     Pray for the Prosperity of the Church. If you want the church to go further you must pray for it. Not only should we pray for peace in the church, but we must pray for the prosperity of the church. Pray daily for the success of the church. Not just for money, but also that the church be used by God. Pray that the church fulfill its purpose. Pray for the power of God to be unleashed in the church. That the church may grow by leaps and bounds.

Look if you want to be blessed by God you must have the right attitude toward His church. You must feel for the church the way His Son Jesus felt for the church. We ought to be willing to make a sacrifice for the church. I know it gets rough sometimes but I have discovered there is no better place for me to be than the church. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for the church. He made the ultimate surrender for the church. that’s why I love to sing that hymn from Sunday school. “Yes Jesus loves me for the bible tells me so.”  

(Matt. 1:16) says, He was born for the church.

(Luke 22:44) says, He prayed for the Church

(John 11:35) says, He cried for the church.

(John 19:34) says, He bled for the church.

(Romans 5:8) says, He died for the church.

(Matt. 28:6) says, He Rose for the church.