Psalm 100

This morning we are going to be in Psalm 100, which is one of the shortest psalms in the Bible. In just 5 verses, the writer packs rich theological truths together with practical application that extend to us today. 

Read Psalm 100

What we see here is a pattern of worship. In verses 1 and 2, we are encouraged to praise. Make a joyful noise. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into His presence with singing. And then in verse 3 there is substantive motivation provided. Why do we worship in this way? Because the Lord is God. He is the Creator. He is our Shepherd. And then in verse 4 we have another encouragement towards worship. Enter His gates with thanksgiving. Enter His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him. Bless His name! Why? Because He is good. His steadfast love endures forever. His faithfulness extends throughout and to all generations. 

To put it simply, we worship God because of who He is and what He has done and what He is doing and what He promises to continue to do. Put another way, when we dwell on the character and nature of God and reflect on how He has worked in our lives, the only and proper response is to worship Him, to exalt His name. 

For the sake of our time together, we are going to break these verses into 2 parts.  We are going to look at the theology that drives our worship (vs. 3 and 5), and then we are going to walk through the elements of praise that are laid out in verses 1, 2 and 4. So let’s first look at who God is. What is this psalmist’s theology that drives his call to worship? My prayer for us this morning is that the beauty found within would just wash over us in a fresh way.

Because of Who He Is! (vs. 3, 5)

He is God…

The LORD is God. Lord from the Hebrew, “Yahweh,” is God. The One true and only God. We don’t have time to get into the etymology of Yahweh this morning, in fact, we could dedicate a whole message to just that word, but it’s important for us to know that when the word “Yahweh” or “Lord” was used in Old Testament writing, it would have taken the reader’s mind back to when God showed His power in the saving of the Israelites out of Egypt. This is when He introduced Himself as I AM. So the writer begins there. The “Lord,” 10 plagues, parting of the Red Sea, pillar of smoke and fire, FREEDOM. The Lord is God, the Hebrew word “Elohim.” 

It would be impossible to place a concise definition on this word. It is used over 2,500 times in the Old Testament, beginning with Genesis 1:1, “in the beginning, Elohim created…” Now again, could preach an entire message on the name Elohim, but for the sake of our message this morning we are going to borrow a very simple definition. “Elohim is the infinite, all-powerful God who shows by His works that He is Creator, Sustainer, and Supreme Judge of the world. 

So just in the first line of theology alone we have 2 of the deepest, complicated titles of God in all of Scripture, Yahweh and Elohim. And underneath the immensity of those words we find clarity around what the writer is pointing the reader to. 

He is Creator…

God spoke and matter formed. God spoke and trees were born. God spoke and animals came to life. God spoke and stars, planets, the universe came to be. God formed humanity and breathed life into him. And He didn’t stop there. 

Psalm 139 says, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” God continues to be intimately involved in creation. 

We are His…

Galatians 4:3-7 - “In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

As Christians, we belong to God. We are adopted into His family. He is our Father. And what Paul tells us in Galatians is that as a result of this adoption, we have been given the Holy Spirit that compels us to cry out to our Father. Not only that, but as sons and daughters we have been made heirs to an inheritance imperishable and eternal, reserved for us in heaven.

He is Shepherd…

A shepherd protects his sheep. A shepherd feeds his sheep. A shepherd guides his sheep. A shepherd fights off the animals that want to attack his sheep. We have the spiritual benefit of all of this! “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness. He is with me. He comforts me.”

He is good…

1 John 1:5 - “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” It can be said that goodness is the absence of evil. God is perfectly good, holy and righteous. In Him there is no sin. In Him we have the standard of morality. He is true. He is right. In Him there are no flaws. He is good.

His steadfast love endures forever…

Steadfast, unwavering, unchanging, constant. This is the love of God. God is love. God has loved. God does love. God will continue to love. He can’t not love. It’s impossible. And the promise we have here in Psalm 100 is that it is an enduring love. It lasts through trials. It lasts through hardships. It lasts through suffering. It is reliable and sure. People in this life will fail us. People will love conditionally based on merit, based on how we treat them. Not so with God. Unconditional, never-ending, steadfast, enduring love. 

This truth is revealed through Jesus. Who, because God loved the world so much, died so that we could be brought into relationship with the Father. All of our sins, covered by the blood of Jesus. The consequence of our sin, covered by the blood of Jesus. The wrath of God that we deserve to experience, covered by the blood of Jesus. In Christ we are secure, eternally so. Nothing can snatch us out of the hands of God. No matter what we do. No matter how we fail. The cross of Jesus proves a steadfast, forever enduring, love. The same can be said about His faithfulness. 

He is faithful to all generations…

His faithfulness is marked by Him keeping His word. When He says He will do something, He will do it. He promises to comfort us, and He does. He promises to protect us, and He does. He promised us peace, and we have it. He promised salvation through Jesus, and it’s available for anyone who believes. He promised us the Holy Spirit, and He indwells us. He promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church, and they haven’t. He promised that Jesus would rise again, and He did. He promised that Jesus will come back again, and He will. He promised that He would restore all of creation to it’s original design, and He will. He promised us eternity in His presence, and that is going to happen. 

God’s faithfulness, past present and future, to all generations. His promises remain, He does not change. 

Alright look, in just 2 verses we see Almighty God, Creator God, Father God, Shepherd God, a good God, a loving God, a faithful God. And because of this, the psalmist is driven to praise.

Exalt the Lord… (vs. 1-2, 4)

Make a joyful noise…

Joyful. Full of joy. Make a noise that is full of joy! We have all most likely experienced this in some way. The Olympics start this week, where the best athletes in the world will gather to compete to be crowned the absolute best in their sport. When a runner crosses the finish line, a swimmer touches the wall, a jumper clears the bar, a gymnast sticks the landing, and this year, for the first time ever, when a b-boy or b-girl scores the highest on their breakdancing routine, cheers will erupt, the athlete will scream and yell. They will be filled with joy and their response will be to express that joy through good ole fashioned hootin’ and hollerin’. Millions across the world will be doing the same from behind a screen.

If we are willing to shout for joy at a human being that represents our country in sport, how much more when we reflect on the character and nature of the God of the universe?! We come in here every week and exalt the name of the Lord in song. But we don’t do it just to do it. We do it because He is deserving of it. We do it because we want to celebrate who He is. We do it because we want to celebrate what He’s done. But have we become timid in our worship? Are we fearful of what others might think about us if we offer a shout of praise (whoo!) during a song. Are we fearful of what others might think if we sing too loud and they hear our voice? Make a JOYFUL noise. When people walk through those doors, and perhaps experience church for the first time, will they leave this place thinking, “wow, those people are full of joy!” What else should our response be?

Serve the Lord with gladness…

This can be taken a few different directions. We could talk about serving the Lord by how we lead our families. We could talk about serving the Lord in terms of our places of work. But I think the psalmist had in mind serving the Lord in a place of worship. He uses language like “come into His presence, enter His gates, enter His courts.” In whatever area of ministry you serve in, do it with gladness, why? Because you have an opportunity to share with others what the Lord has done in your life. We are glad because we get to lead others to a place of worship, to speak truth, to love like Jesus. 

Those of you that have kids, have you ever heard this noise when you ask your child to do something: “UGH!”? We ask them to do something and they do it begrudgingly, dragging their feet, like it’s the worst thing ever. Not so with the Lord’s church! We are happy to serve His people. We are happy to teach children about Jesus. We are excited to play instruments and sing, to welcome people into what the Lord is doing! We should find joy in getting here at 7:15 to set up a space for people to comfortably and safely worship. Serve with gladness!

Come into His presence with singing…

We don’t need to spend too much time here, but to carry on from making a joyful noise, that noise should include singing! “I love you Lord, and I lift my voice, to worship you, oh my soul rejoice…take joy my King, in what you hear, let it be a sweet sweet sound in your ear.” God doesn’t care if you are on key or off key. You know what is beautiful to me? I was talking to Hayden on Thursday night, and he was sharing with me that he started getting a little emotional a few weeks back hearing the kids singing out. Isn’t it great that our children can be such a great example to us? They sing out. They sing unashamedly. They sing no matter how on pitch they may or may not be. I love that! Come into His presence with singing. And…

Enter the gates with thanksgiving…

Come with thanksgiving. Thankful for what the Lord has done in your life. Thankful for who He has shown Himself to be. Thankful for the community that He has blessed you with. Thankful that your kids are being taught about Jesus. Thankful that He woke you up this morning and let you live another day. Thankful for freedom. Thankful for coffee :)

Bless His name…

This can sometimes feel tough to understand. How can I bless the Lord? The Hebrew word behind bless is also translated as “praise” and means to “kneel.” So we can gather, then, that to bless the Lord is to praise the Lord. Exalt His name.

Application

Who is God? What has God done? What is your response?