Thanks-Living: Living A Vitality-Enriched Life

In one electrifying moment a hush would fall over the congregants. It was the moment for which they had prepared themselves. The priest would meet them at the entrance to the temple, motion for the people to stand and call them to worship.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

come before him with joyful songs.

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.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving

and his courts with praise;

give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

His faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100

And, with that call to worship they would break forth with a “joyful noise.”

Festivals always have an energizing effect on the people. It iss like going to a race track and feeling the intensity build until finally you hear the words, “Gentlemen, start your engines.” Or it is like a football team who is 12 and 0, going into tightly packed stands for the game that will move them one step closer to the state championship--people are excited, as the players of the home team are introduced, the thunderous roar becomes almost unbearable!

A pastor told about an experience where their church had run out of space. A neighboring church deeded the property and building, agreeing to join with them. A man not a part of their church, agreed to give them an organ if they would pay for an appraisal needed for a tax exemption. It appraised for more than $40,000.

People were excited! They gathered in full force for a thorough cleaning of their new facility, the day before the first Sunday in their new facility they sang and talked as they worked. The energy was building; there was a sense of joy and wonderment.

The pastor kept saying things like, “I can’t wait for Sunday! I’m just so glad to be a part of this and to see it happening before my eyes!”

Sunday came. The people came. The sanctuary was packed. “The atmosphere was electric. I’ve never found it so easy or so much fun to lead people in worship.” Joy was abundant in the place.

Afterwards an elder, Bryan Jones said, “I never in my life heard singing like that before. Barry, there was so much noise! You know I can’t sing for anything. . . but it was so loud, I knew they’d never hear me. So,--and he was laughing--I just shouted too!”

One of the most beautiful experiences of life occurs when the average, the routine, and the sometimes monotonous are surprised by serendipitous praise. I have often asked, why do our attempts for orchestrating praise often fall short of our expectations? In bringing this question to our text, I found myself asking the text several questions.

Does his entreaty to “Shout for joy“ imply there should always be a laud, an acclamation, and building toward a crescendo of faith expressed in joyful noise? Is he referring to worship that flows from lived experience or is the Psalmist pressing praise as discipline? Or both?

The kind of praise to which the Psalmist speaks incorporates both; it involves maintaining a sensitivity to God’s mercy and grace and then employing the discipline of praise. To put it in simple language: we are to practice Thanks-living. Thanks-living means we approach life from a perspective of hope.

When we have an appreciation love for God and a disposition of hope, we, too, will join the Psalmist in worship of the Lord. “Enter to Worship” will elicit reverberating songs of praise.

I. JOY IS AN INTENSE EMOTION WAITING TO BE EXPRESSED TO THE LORD (:1)

The language of emotions reflects the intensity of our lives; our emotions are linked to the very essence of life. When we grieve, we cry; when we are happy, we laugh; when we feel all is well, we want to celebrate.

We should not keep our emotions bottled up.

One Monday morning, on my way to Monroe, Louisiana, I stopped at the Post Office in Ball. I noticed a man walking--not really, it was more like supercharged frolicking. He didn’t look dangerous, in fact, the corners of his mouth were stretched across his face. He seemed to be daring someone to push his button. When I returned to the parking lot, I understood the reason for his exuberant excitement. A friend, or maybe an innocent passerby, had given him occasion to erupt into cheer. They were looking at something in the back of his pickup truck--there I saw the head of a beautiful eight point buck. It did not bother him to know that he had created a traffic block--he had intense joy, an emotion he could not contain. If you go through Ball, he’s probably still driving around showing that deer. And, if not, you can at least recognize him by his grin.