Shout to the Lord
Psalm 100
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
11-20-19
[Video Introduction]
Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart
In October of 1621, Governor Winthrop declared a day of Thanksgiving and a feast was held for the 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims that had made it through that first harsh winter alive.
In December of 1777, George Washington declared a Day of Thanksgiving after the defeat of the British at Saratoga.
In the middle of the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, prompted by a series of editorials written by Sarah Josepha Hale, proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the 26th, the final Thursday of November 1863.
On December 26, 1941, President Roosevelt signed this bill, for the first time making the date of Thanksgiving a matter of federal law and fixing the day as the fourth Thursday of November.
And so this Thursday we will gather with family and friends to gorge ourselves with wonderful food, watch hours of football, and get ready for Black Friday shopping.
In the midst of all that celebration, it could be possible to miss out completely what the holiday is for - thanksgiving!
President Lincoln proclaimed:
“The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God….I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
Let’s begin the week with our eyes focused on being thankful to God for His many blessings in our lives.
Turn to Psalm 100.
Prayer
Background for Old 100
Psalms 93-100 are known as “enthronement” Psalms. These songs look ahead to the millennial reign of Jesus when the whole world will be filled with righteousness and everyone will exalt the name of the true King - Jesus Christ.
Thirty five times in the Psalms we are commanded to give thanks but Psalm 100 is the only Psalm that is specifically called a Psalm of thanksgiving.
Other than Psalm 23, this is probably the most well known Psalm and is known as Old 100.
Psalm 100 is the last of this section of Psalms and serves as a doxology of praise to the soon coming King. Jesus, Himself, would have sang these Psalms.
Structure of Old 100
There are only five verses in this short Psalm but these verses are full of commands of action. Listen to the verbs- shout, worship, come before Him, know, enter, give thanks.
The psalm follows an ABAB pattern. Verses one and two are calls to worship and verse three is a call to remember who God is and who we are. Verse four is another call to worship and then verse five gives us the why of it all.
This morning, we will break it down this way
v. 1-2 Worshipping God
v. 3 Knowing God
v. 4 Thanking God
v. 5 Trusting God
Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow
“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalm 100:1-2)
Your translation might begin, “make a joyful noise to the Lord.” It’s actually one word in Hebrew that means raising a cry of praise to recognizing arrival of the king to take the throne or when he returned from battle.
Look at who the Psalm is addressed to - all the earth. This is an evangelistic psalm - let every corner of the globe shout with exceeding joy to the Lord.
The word worship and serve are the same in verse two. We are called to serve God with gladness, not with drudgery.
Worship of God leads to service of others. This is the cheerful service of sons not slaves.
We are to serve with exceeding joy. No language has as many words for joy than Hebrew - 13 roots for 27 different words!
Remember that joy and happiness are different things. Happiness is based on circumstances. Joy is based on knowing who God and who we are.
One of the pastors I listened to this week noted that the shortest verse in the Greek New Testament is “Rejoice always.” The shortest verse in the English New Testament is “Jesus wept.” I think that is a good balance.
Paul encouraged the believers in Galatia to not give up in their serving:
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” (Galatians 6:9-10)
The Psalmist then commands us to come into God’s presence with joyful singing. This word is literally “a ringing cry.”
We read the same command in Psalm 68:
“Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord, to him who rides across the highest heavens, the ancient heavens, who thunders with mighty voice. Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the heavens. You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God! (Psalm 68:32-25)
The praise that is commanded in Scripture should be visible:
Clapping: Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. (Psalm 47:1)
Lifting hands: Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who minister by night in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord. (Psalm 134:1-2)
Dancing: Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets. (2 Sam 6:14
You may already be feeling a little uncomfortable.
You may say, “Pastor Jeff, I really don’t have a very good voice. When I sing, I sound like a cat in a dryer.”
The command is to make a joyful noise -to shout. Everyone here can do that. A pastor I listened to this week said that you could actually help others to sing louder…to drown you out!
Or you may say to me that you just aren’t “the emotional type.”
Imagine you are standing at a par three tee you hit absolutely perfectly and watch in amazement as it goes in the hole for a hole in one.
Will you stand there arms crossed and say, “Well I’m not the emotional type.”
Or you are in the 12th frame and you have 11 strikes. The whole bowling alley is silent as you let go of the ball and watch it hone in on the head pin for a strike and perfect game. Would you simply say, “Well that was interesting?”
In 2011, with the Seattle Seahawks leading 34-30 late in the NFC Wild Card game, Marshawn Lynch (Beast Mode) broke nine tackles during a jaw-dropping 67-yard run. The noise level in CenturyLink Field — then called Qwest Field — was so deafening that activity roughly equivalent to a magnitude 1 earthquake was recorded by a Pacific Northwest Seismic Network seismograph in the area. It has been known since as the Beast Quake.
A stadium full of people literally caused an earthquake cheering for a football team!
I remember being at a University of Memphis basketball game as a teenager with my brother and the team was down 20at half time. During the halftime, the announcer challenged us to not sit down and never stop yelling in the second half. It was deafening.
The team roared back and Andre Turner stole the ball with seven seconds to go and drained a three pointer to win the game. My brother jumped so high that he actually landed on the people in the row in front of us.
Psalm 95 begins in the same way:
“Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.” (Psalm 95:1-2)
There are times when our praise should be subdued, quiet, even somber. But many times we miss out on the chance to shout to the Lord for the incredible things He has done, He is doing right now, and that He will do in the future.
Let’s be like a church in Detroit that was actually cited for a noise ordinance violation due to their worship being “too loud!”
Let’s do that right now.
Glory to God, Forever
Shout to the Lord
Knowing You
The second section of this song focused on knowing who God and who we are in relation to Him.
“Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” (Psalm 100:3)
In order to worship God properly, we must know Him. Hosea wrote, “…my people are destroyed by a lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6)
We must know His power- He made us.
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:26)
The Hebrew literally reads, “and we not ourselves.” A little boy overheard a man bragging that he was a self-made man. After looking him up and down a couple of times, the little boy finally said, “Why’d you make yourself that way?!”
He is God and we are not. He is Lord and we are not. He is King and we are not.
We are to stand in awe of who He is and that He has made us.
One of the candidates running for President has repeatedly claimed that abortion up to nine months is fine because the Bible says that life begins with the baby’s first breath outside the womb. This is blatantly false and wicked. One picture destroys this entire argument.
On July 1, 1999, while doctors were performing a surgery on a baby in the womb, they were astounded with that little girl reached out her little arm and grabbed the doctor’s hands.
He knit us together in the womb (Psalm 139). Jeremiah wrote that He knew us before we were born (Jeremiah 1:6). We are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are no cosmic accident. We were born on purpose, with a purpose, and for a purpose.
We must understand His purchase - we are His people. He redeemed us. He bought us back. It’s the language of the marketplace.
Jesus “gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:14)
Peter wrote:
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (I Peter 1:18)
When we were drowning in our sin, hopeless and helpless to save ourselves, Jesus rescued us and freed us from the chains of sin.
We need to know his power, his purchase, and his passionate care for us.
We are the sheep of his pasture. In language reminiscent of Psalm 23, we are reminded that God cares for us as a shepherd cares for the sheep. In John 10:11, Jesus would later say that a good shepherd would be willing to lay down His life for the sheep.
Psalm 95 describes us the same way:
‘Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.” (Psalm 95:7)
He is God, we are not. He made us, we did not make ourselves. He cares for us, and we are the sheep of his pasture.
Micah, writing of the coming Messiah, said:
“He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.” (Micah 5:4-5)
Knowing these truths will lead to praise.
[Songs]
O Praise the Name
Knowing You
Thanksgiving
Knowing God should lead to worshiping God and that will lead to thanking God!
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” (Psalm 100:4)
The gates would lead to the Temple and the courts were the open space around the temple. This is where worship would happen.
“Praise awaits you, our God, in Zion; to you our vows will be fulfilled. You who answer prayer, to you all people will come. When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions. Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.” (Psalm 65:1-4)
Alistair Begg wonders if the password at the gate isn’t ”thank you.”
We are commanded to give thanks to God and praise/bless His name. Blessing God’s name is a way of showing gratitude.
I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.” - Psalm 69:30
Gratitude is the distinguishing mark of every born again Christian.
Being grateful is part of God’s will for you:
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (I Thes 5:18)
This gratitude should permeate every part of our time here on Sunday mornings. This is how Paul directed the Christians at Colosse:
“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:16-17)
Let’s do that now. Christians are a singing people. Do you have a reason to sing?
Songs: Forever
Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart
Trusting God
As we come to the last verse, we encounter the word “for.” Why do we worship, why do we seek to know Him more, why do we give thanks?
“For the Lord is good and his love endures forever, his faithfulness continues through all generations.” (Psalm 100:5)
This is the “why” of the whole Psalm.
* For the Lord is good. Do you really believe that?
I remember losing a student in Mississippi to a car wreck in 1997. I stood beside the casket and was asked to pray. My mind was numb from grief and I could even put words together. I simply whispered, “God You are good.” And then I said it louder…and louder. I wanted everyone to know that God is good, even when car wrecks happen, even when cancer happens, even when divorce, or you lose your job, or whatever you are going through.
"The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.” (Psalm 145:8-9)
Even though He is good it doesn’t mean that we will also understand what He is doing.
In C. S. Lewis’ classic, “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” Lucy asked Mr. Beaver about Aslan:
“Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"..."Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”
For the Lord’s love endures forever. This word is where the Hebrews got their word for a stork. They watched how the stork tenderly took care of its young and said God is the same way.
In the middle of Jeremiah laments about the fall of Jerusalem, he writes these famous words:
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lam 3:21-23)
For His faithfulness continues through all generations. Ray ?Pritchard makes an interesting comment about this idea. If a generation is 40 years, and Moses wrote this Psalm about 3,500 years ago, then we have about 36,500 years before God’s love comes to its limit!
God is good. God is loving. God never fails.
I found a little poem by J.S. Baxter that I hope will encourage you this morning:
He never fails the soul that trusts in Him;? Tho’ disappointments come and hope burns dim,? He never fails.
Tho’ trials surge like stormy seas around,? Tho’ testings fierce like ambushed foes abound,? Yet this my soul, with millions more has found, He never fails; He never fails.
He never fails the soul that trusts in Him;? Tho’ angry skies with thunder-clouds grow grim,? He never fails.
Tho’ icy blasts life’s fairest flow’rs lay low,? Tho’ earthly springs of joy all cease to flow,?Yet still ‘tis true, with millions more I know, ?He never fails; He never fails.
He never fails the soul that trusts in Him;? Tho’ sorrow’s cup should overflow the brim,? He never fails.
Tho’ oft the pilgrim way seems rough and long,? I yet shall stand amid yon white-robed throng,? And there I’ll sing, with millions more, this song—?He never fails; He never fails.
J. S. Baxter, in Explore The Book
Let’s respond to God with worship, with knowing Him better, with thanksgiving, and with truth of His goodness, his love, and his faithfulness.
I’m going to put some prayers on the screen for us to just quietly talk to God about:
God help me to worship and serve you with gladness and joy. Please protect me from a hard heart.
God help me to know you as Lord and to know myself as a sheep under. Your care.
God help me to be thankful for all that you have given me. Give me eyes to see all that You’ve done, are doing, and will do.
God help me to trust Your goodness and faithfulness, no matter what the circumstances are.
Songs: You Never Let Go Great is Your Faithfulness
Is He Worthy
