A Joyful Worship Service
How would you describe our worship to the Lord? Worship is to be joyful and expressive. “Make a joyful noise to the Lord; shout joyfully to the Lord.” As we come into this Thanksgiving week, we look at what is one of the most beloved and familiar psalms in the entire Jewish hymn book. It’s called “A Psalm for Giving Thanks,” and it’s actually the only one psalm in the whole Scripture that is specifically designated that way. There are lots of psalms that have thanksgiving and praise in them, but this one actually has as its heading “A Psalm of Thanksgiving.”
So we’re going to be looking at Psalm 100. As you read through the book of Psalms, there are lots of different kinds of psalms. You may find that there are some psalms of lament, psalms of sadness, psalms of confession. There are psalms of instruction. But this psalm is different one.
There’s no mourning in this psalm. There’s no grieving in this psalm. There are no tears in this psalm. This is a hymn. It’s a hymn of praise. It’s a doxology. It’s a hymn of joy and gladness and singing. This is a psalm that may have been sung by the Jews in the Old Testament era as they approached the temple in Jerusalem to worship. “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into his presence with singing.”
The first two verses are a call to worship. In that call to worship, that invitation to worship, there are three imperatives: Make a joyful noise to the Lord; serve the Lord with gladness; come into His presence with singing.
Then in verse 3, there’s a cause for worship, a reason to worship. And that takes the form of three affirmations: He is God; He made us, and we are His.
And then, verse 4, we have another call to worship, another invitation to worship. And, again, there are three imperatives: Enter His gates; give thanks to Him, and bless His name.
And then, finally, in verse 5, we have once again a cause for worship; three attributes of God: His goodness; His steadfast love, (or as some of your translations say, His mercy); and His faithfulness.
So you see here the Trinity of God—threes everywhere in the call to worship and in the cause for worship—they just go back and forth. And today we want to see about our thanksgiving and our worship. How should our worship service be?
Worship is to be Joyful and expressive:
The first thing we notice is that worship is to be joyful and expressive—joyful and expressive. “Make a joyful noise to the Lord.” One translation says, “Shout joyfully to the Lord.” another translation: “Shout for joy to the Lord.”
It can be translated: “A joyful noise,” or “Shout joyfully.” But it’s loud. It’s noisy. It’s joyful. It’s expressive. It’s celebrative. “Shout for joy.” This isn’t because God is hard of hearing. God hears fine when we whisper. He hears what we’re thinking even if we don’t say it. But when we “shout for joy,” we’re celebrating. We’re being expressive of our thanks to the Lord.
And the concept here of shouting joyfully is like an earsplitting, celebratory fanfare for a king. The King is here! The King is coming! We’re in His presence. We’re entering His presence, and we want to shout for joy. It’s a word that could be used as a victory cry in battle. It’s the same word that’s used in the book of Joshua when he commanded the people to shout outside the city of Jericho, and the walls fell down.
Sometimes we wonder if the walls of discouragement, depression, fear, anxiety, anger would crumble as we “shout to the Lord,” as we joyfully express our celebration of who He is. Shouting out to the Lord means, “sing to the Lord,” worship to the Lord, cry unto the Lord, pray to the Lord with a sound. Can we join in praise and thanksgiving as well?
You see this concept all through the Psalms. “Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise!” - Psalm 66:1.
“Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob!” - Psalm 81:1.
“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! Sing praises to the Lord with the harp, with the lyre and the sound of melody! With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord!” - Psalm 98: 4–6. And then, continuing in Psalm 98, even nature is called to join in this great symphony of praise. “Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who dwell in it! Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together before the Lord” (vv. 7–8).
Well, we can see that there is nothing subdued or halfhearted or lackadaisical about this kind of praise. Praise is not a quiet game. Now, it can be quiet at times, but at times, it needs to be warm, hot-hearted, enthusiastic, passionate, expressive, exuberant.
Thanksgiving is not a spectator sport. It’s not us sitting on the sidelines. It’s actively participating. Now, this kind of praise, this kind of thanksgiving, can’t be manufactured. It can’t be manipulated. It’s a work of grace. It’s a work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. But it is our passionate response to our God when we see who He is and what He has done, and our hearts.
Worship is to be Universal:
Secondly, we see in this very first verse that worship is to be universal. “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth”—all the earth. You see, praise and thanksgiving is not just for God’s covenant people. Now, certainly those of us who know Him and belong to Him should lead the way in praise and thanksgiving. We should show the earth what wholehearted worship looks like.
But in this passage and others throughout Scripture, all people everywhere are commanded to bring their praise to the King of kings. That’s because He deserves the praise of every creature in the universe. “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” And we have to say that outside our house, all kinds of creatures that have breath that are praising the Lord. Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all the depths; 8 Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy wind, fulfilling His word; 9 Mountains and all hills; Fruitful trees and all cedars; 10 Beasts and all cattle; Creeping things and flying fowl; 11 Kings of the earth and all peoples; Princes and all judges of the earth; 12 Both young men and maidens; Old men and children. 13 Let them praise the name of the Lord, For His name alone is exalted; His glory is above the earth and heaven. (Psalm 148:7-13). “All the earth makes a joyful noise to the Lord.”
“He is the Lord of all the earth,” Psalm 97:5 tells us. He’s not just the God of the Jews. He’s not some tribal deity. “The Jews have their God. The Moabites have their god. The Ammonites have their god.” The Indians have their god. No! Jehovah reigns over all the earth. He is the God above all gods, and He has poured out His blessing, lavished His common grace on all the earth.
He has created everything that lives. We owe our lives to Him. That means He is to be praised, and every person, in every corner of this world, from every religion owes praise to Jehovah, whether they realize it or not.
The solution to our world’s problems is not for us just to say, “Oh, we have lots of gods; we have lots of religions. We’ll all just tolerate each other, enjoy each other, let everybody have their way.” Now, we’re to be kind. We’re to love people of all faiths, but never will this world be in the condition it was intended to be “until one unanimous shout adores the only God.”
We anticipate by faith that day when “every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phi.2:11). We look forward to that day, not only on earth but in heaven and in the new heaven and the new earth when “a great multitude from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”. (Rev. 7:9-10)
When we praise the Lord here with shouts of joy, with celebration, with expressiveness coming from our hearts to His throne, we are having a dress rehearsal, a practice for what we will spend an eternity doing in heaven around the throne. So our praise is to be joyful and expressive. It is to be universal.
Worship is to be Glad-hearted:
We are to worship Him with glad-hearted service. Verse 2, “Serve the Lord with gladness!” Now, the word for worship and for service in the Old Testament are the same. Worship and service are intermingled. They’re closely connected. You can’t separate one from the other. To worship God is to serve Him. To serve Him is to worship Him. And that’s why some of our translations say, “Worship Him,” and some say, “Serve Him.” “Serve the Lord, worship Him with gladness.
Now, on the other hand, to serve other gods, other things, other loves, other affections is to worship them. And our private and our corporate worship is one way we say, “Lord, we serve You. We acknowledge that You alone are our Master, our Lord. We serve You. We worship You with gladness.” Notice that we’re not to worship Him unwillingly, or with gloomy hearts. There’s lots of excuses people will say nowadays. Oh, I’ve got a project, I have to go to work. This Sunday I wish I could skip church. I am tired. We’re not to worship Him reluctantly.
We’re not to worship Him with gloomy hearts. “Oh, what a tough week it’s been. I’m so sad.” Now, listen, there are sad times. These are tough weeks. There are hard things. There are busy times. But God’s Word tells people that even in harvest times, even in difficult times, even in times of suffering, they are to worship Him, not grudgingly, not gloomily, but gladly, cheerfully because worship is a privilege.
This verse, “Serve the Lord with gladness,” is one that comes back to me over and over again. He wants my glad service. He wants your glad service. Whether what you’re doing seems major and significant, or it seems minor and insignificant—doing that same task day after day like our work, “Serve the Lord.” It’s the Lord God you serve. Not serving man; serving God. “Serve the Lord with gladness.” It’s a privilege.
God told His people in Deuteronomy 28:48, “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything”.
“Serve the Lord with gladness,” or you’ll find yourself being a servant to oppression and depression and discouragement.
Now, sometimes our hearts are heavy. Sometimes we’re burdened and anxious and concerned and troubled because there are troubling things happening in our world and in our little worlds. There are lots of troubling things. But Jesus said to His disciples, as He was about to leave them and go back to heaven. “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.”- John 14:1. You see, you get centered on God, and your whole world looks different.
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:5–6.
Rejoice in the Lord! You see, our worship, our praise expresses faith that God is more real than our circumstances, that heaven rules, that God is good and wise and kind in all His ways.
This psalm reflects a God-centered life, a God-obsessed life, a God-drenched life. And in this kind of praise and thanksgiving, we realize that nothing else really matters at all. So sickness and loss and tears and difficult relationships, strained family relationships, heartaches, pain, grief, sorrow, they’re real while we’re here on this earth, but they are all eclipsed by a bigger, grander, greater, all-encompassing vision of God. And seeing Him, there is still every reason for joy, no matter what may be going on in my life.
So, “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness!” God has called us to worship Him; and there are a lot of causes for worshiping our God. This is how our worship should be: Worship is to be joyful and expressive, worship is to be universal and worship is to be glad-hearted. Amen.
