Alright, for those of you who are you into sports? Who is your favorite team? Is it a basketball team, or a football team, baseball, or maybe hockey, Do you absolutely love to see a great play? Do you get excited and shout when you see a touch down, a home run, a goal, or a slam-dunk? Do you enjoy entering the gates of a ballpark, a hockey rink, or a stadium? Do you love the excitement? Then again, do you like going in and sitting down in front of the television and getting all psyched up for the "main event?” The Rose Bowl? The World Series? The Olympics etc.? Do you know all the names of the players on your favorite team along with their hits, errors, or fouls? Do you know the batting averages of five or more players? Do you vicariously bask in the glory of your team’s victory? Do you praise the wonders of your pitcher, your goalie, your quarterback? Do you love talking about them? Do you get excited?
There are different things that get us excited, that cause us to shout for joy. For me its Pac-Man, trains, seasonal sales at Express. For others it could be a new Ipod or cell phone, a new car, going to a party, buying a new C.D., or maybe even getting even or seeing someone get what’s coming to them. It could even be gossip, envy, talking behind someone’s back.
Let me ask you, are you excited about God? Do you love Him? Do you know all about Him? Do you enjoy entering His gates with praise? Do you shout for joy and praise His name with joyful songs?
It isn’t wrong to shout for a team, to support them, to talk about how great they are. But the question is, "Do you know that you are called to give the same, if not more, devotion and dedication to the Lord as you do to your favorite team?"
You are called to glorify the Lord, to spend the same kinds of energy on Him. In fact, He even tells you how to glorify Him. Did you know that you are called to glorify the Lord and that the Lord even tells you how to do it?
Just now we read Psalm 100. The first way you’ll see we are called to glorify the Lord is through the makings of a joyful noise! I’ll come back to joyful in a second but I want to take some time to help yall understand noise. Cause often that’s the question: do I have to praise him by clapping? Do I have to sing? Do I have to shout? Is dancing appropriate? The funny thing is the word noise comes from the Latin word nausea. Nausea means seasickness. Its caused by high seas! Its what sailors get when they are going through some rough channels and get uncomfortable, unsettling stomachs. Don’t we owe God noise?
Don’t we inconvenience him? He can’t sleep cause he’s too busy watching over us, keeping us out of harm’s way! He can’t hold onto anything nice cause he’s always pouring out blessings! The least we can do is step out of our comfort zone once in awhile when we worship! Your worship oughta be so intense that it almost makes you sick! Worship ain’t gotta be comfortable! Don’t sit up so straight! Don’t forsake moving just so you can stay cool and dry! I got bad knees but I can bow down and worship him! Its uncomfortable to wake up early on my day off, put on a hot suit and drive over where there’s no TV, no radio, no Twinkies, no pop, no snacks, so I can worship him! Its uncomfortable for me to give from the first of my earnings! Do I have to praise him with a shout? Do I have to sing? Do I have to clap? Do I have to dance? YES! GET UNCOMFORTABLE! Get nauseous! Make some NOISE!
Your comfort isn’t in you making noise! But it is in you making a joyful noise! After all, what is JOY but Jesus Over You! And with Jesus over me, I have a comforter. When I’m lonely, he gives me comfort! When I’m feeling sad, he cheers me! When I fall, he’s there to catch me! From a heart filled with joy, the mouth speaks!
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands! Black folk ain’t the only people called to worship! White folk ain’t the only people called to worship! Latinos no son la unica gente que tiene que alabarse al Dios! Toda la gente! All people! Toda la tierra! All the lands! We worship you Lord in English! Se alabamos senor en Espanol! Vir beten dich Lord in deutsch! Nous vous adoron seignor en francois! Li adoriamo signore en italiano! In the Upper Penninsula they say “we worship yous Lord!” In Boston they say “we wahshup ya Lawd!” In California its “like, we totally worship you Lordio!” In Texas its “we worship ya Lord yeehaw!” But all ye lands need to praise him!
We are called to glorify God by serving him with gladness. Serve comes from the Spanish verb servir, which is from the Latin word servire meaning to perform duties as a serf. A serf back in the days of the class system was a slave. So again, serving God is not always comfortable! Some times I’m serving God and I feel like I’m being whipped and beaten! Sometimes I feel there are people who’s only lot in life is to bring misery to mine when I’m serving God! I’m out in the hot heat sometimes when I’m serving God! There’s no way for me to break free from serving God! A slave is a living sacrifice! Paul says in Romans 12:1 I beseech thee brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice! My body is a tool of service! All of me from my hands to my feet! Bless the Lord oh my soul and ALL that is within me! Bless his holy name!
I’ll gladly present my body a living sacrifice! Glad comes from the Old English word glaed, akin to the Greek word glatt which means smooth. This has the Indo-European base ghel which means to shine like gold. So here we see another paradox of worship. We’re called to worship out of our comfort zones to the point we get sick, yet we’re comforted while doing it! We’re called to do the work of the Lord like a slave, enduring their hard lifestyles yet we should shine like gold when we do it! So while I’m serving the Lord, I’ll go through the fire. But that’s what has to happen in order for me to be refined! So I’ll gladly worship him! I’ll gladly praise him! I’ll gladly serve him! I’ll gladly love him!
I’ll sing for him! We are called to worship the Lord in singing! Its not just the choir’s job! Everyone can sing! The voice is able to go up and down! It inflects! Its designed to sing! Everything sings a song for God! The wind whistles! The water wooshes! The birds sing sweetly! The crickets chirp cheerfully! Even the lights hum harmoniously! God loves him some singing!
Every angel’s number one priority is singing to the glory of God! Whenever you’re in his presence you are called to sing! Not just sing but sing songs from the heart! Singing is nothing more than an outpouring of the heart through the voice! Our songs should reflect how we feel about him! They should reflect his blessings! They should reflect his presence! They should reflect his glory!
What some of yall call songs I just don’t understand! How can you pour out your heart and words of hatred for your mother come out? How can you pour out your heart and words of lustful desires come out? Those ain’t songs! Songs are “my Jesus I love thee, I know thou art mine! For thee all the follies of sin I resign!” Songs are “Lord My God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made! I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, thy power on earth-the universe displayed! Then sings my soul, My savior God to thee! How great thou art!” We’re called to sing songs that exhalt the Lord!
We are called to “know ye that the Lord he is God!” Knowledge comes from experience. And we experience him all day everyday. So I guess even more importantly, knowledge involves acceptance! Its one thing to know who woke you up this morning; its another to accept it! Its one thing to know who gave you activity of your limbs; its another to accept it! Its one thing to know who put food on your table; its another to accept it! You might know about the trinity, but do you accept it? You might know about One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, but do you accept it? You know about the resurrection, but do you accept it?
Do you know that it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves? We are his people and the sheep of his pasture! He made you! He created you! Come, let us bow down in worship! Let us kneel before the Lord our maker! We are his people, he is our savior! My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you! I whom you have redeemed! We are his sheep, he is our shepherd! He keeps us protected! He keeps us nourished! He keeps us clean! He keeps us healthy! He keeps us at night! He keeps us by day! Oh to be kept by Jesus! Kept by the power of love!
We’re called to worship by entering into his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise! That is to say, whenever I’m even on the edge of his gates…when my toe is over the boundary line of his presence I gotta give Thanksgiving! So since he’s omnipresent: Since he’s here, there, and everywhere, we’re always in his presence! So its thank you Lord everywhere! Thank you Lord in the gates! Thank you Lord as I sit down in the church! Thank you Lord when I’m with my family! Thank you Lord among believers! Thank you Lord among non-believers! Thank you Lord when I kneel down to pray!
Why do you give thanks? Being in the presence of the Lord invokes a feeling of thanks! Thank you makes room for more! Do you always send your prayers up alone or don’t you supplement them with praise? Observe that you’ll have trouble finding evidence of where people in the Bible “thanked” God. What you’ll see is they praised God! When the Israelites made it across the land of the Red Sea praised God! When Jericho’s walls fell down the people praised God! Daniel walked out of the Lion’s den without a scratch and praised God! The Hebrew boys walked out of the furnace unscathed and praised God! All throughout the New Testament they saw the miracles and praised God! Yes, thank you makes room for more but when the praises go up…
Who else is worthy of all the praise? Praise God because of his great mercy in Jesus our Savior! Praise God because he is Good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth through all generations! True worship is an acknowledgement as well as a flow from the knowledge of the goodness of the Lord! It should flow out of the abundance of the love, gratitude, and appreciation that dwells in your heart! You know it dwells in your heart because Jesus put it there! It’s the transient property of Jesus: If a=b, and b=c then a=c! God is Love! Jesus is God in the flesh! Jesus is in my heart! Therefore I’ve got Love in my heart! I’ve got the salvation! I’ve got a reason to praise the Lord!
True worship comes from the heart! I wanna see somebody praise him today! I wanna see somebody clap your hands! Shout unto God with a voice of triumph! You know what shout means? Shout is a cognate of the Old English word shoute, from the Old French word taunt! When you taunt somebody you call then names over and over again! I just wanna taunt him today! I just wanna call his name over and over and over! Jesus!… Jesus! Jesus! There is no other name by where men must be saved! At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow! Every tongue must confess that Jesus is Lord!
