"Poor Praise" Indeed

When we hear the rather old-fashioned term “poor praise” what does it bring to mind?

I don’t think it speaks of a less-than-polished and professional worship team, or a congregation that has members that tend to sing a bit off-key. When I think of the rather rustic term “poor praise” I think of “worship” that may or may not sound pleasing to the ear but is sung without the sincerity of a humble heart and a lifestyle of obedience. “Poor praise” in that sense is the person who can sing songs to God while in church, but then lives a life that treats others poorly. It is the hypocrisy of pride and a lack of the love of God that makes for poor praise.

But, to turn the phase a little, have we ever stopped to consider the relationship between our attitude towards the poor and the quality of our worship? I was considering this recently as I was reading through Proverbs 14 and a couple of verses captured my attention.

Proverbs 14:20-21, 31 

The poor is disliked even by his neighbor,
    but the rich has many friends.

Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner,
    but blessed is he who is generous to the poor…

Verse 20 declares the normal inequity of our selfish disposition to favor those who have something of value for us while we tend to despise the poor because not only is there nothing in it for us, but acknowledging them can actually cost us something. The rich have many so-called friends who seek to benefit from their wealth—wine, cheese, oil, etc. This phrase has always reminded me of famous boxers and their entourage or posse—the group of “friends” and financial parasites that often drain the athlete/celebrity’s resources. Such friends are of the kind who helped devour the prodigal son’s inheritance, but when he had nothing left all despised him…except his father (Luke 15).

Verse 21 goes beyond stating the status quo in our attraction to the well-resourced and our avoidance of the poor to call out the moral and spiritual implications of such behavior. In this parallel construction our neighbor is the poor. When we despise our poor neighbor the text labels us as “sinners.” So perhaps we don’t fall prey to what would be considered great moral failure, our very pride in that fact can cause us to look down on the poor around us and in so doing we fall into sin. I don’t know about you but I would rather err on the side of generosity shown and grace given…for in so emptying ourselves in love there is found the blessing of God.

A few verses further along this idea is further articulated as we read in verse 31,

Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker,
    but he who is generous to the needy honors him.

It is from this verse that I draw the idea of “poor praise.” If I am oppressing a poor man by my actions or attitudes then I am insulting “his Maker” the Lord himself! If my praise of God is to be truly honoring and representative of his character, then I should make sure that I operate generously with the needy.

Photo by Colin Michel on Unsplash

This same error was addressed by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians when he confronted their selfish attitude at the celebration of the Eucharist. The wealthy had been arriving early and stuffing their face without any concern for the working poor who would arrive late and hungry only to find there was not enough left for them. Such behavior disqualified their corporate praise.

What? Don't you have your own homes for eating and drinking? Or do you really want to disgrace God's church and shame the poor? What am I supposed to say? Do you want me to praise you? Well, I certainly will not praise you for this! (1 Cor. 11:22—NLT)

So how do we, as the church, either oppress or show generosity to the poor? Do the poor feel welcomed into our table fellowship as our true brothers and sisters in the grace of God? Is there room at our table for them? I think that such questions are more accurate in evaluating our community worship than how well the band played or how inspiring the sermon was. 

If we despise the poor, then our praise is meager at best.