Psalm 100

Transcript

Rob McFarlane: 0:58

We're going to look at Psalm 100. Let's read it together out of the English Standard Version of the Bible. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come into his presence with singing. Know that the Lord He is God. It is He who has made us, and we are His. We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good, His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations. Today we're having a fresh look at our relationship with God from Psalm one hundred. We'll see three things today. Number one, who He is, number two, what He does, and number three, how we can worship Him. So let's start with number one. Who He is The Lord is God and the Lord is good. Let's look at Psalm one hundred verse three and verse five. It says at the beginning of verse three, Know the Lord. He is God. And then at the beginning of verse five it says, For the Lord is good. We serve a God who is good. Psalm 145, verse 9 puts it this way. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made. Our God is always good. He's always kind. He's always merciful. Someone once said, God is in a good mood yesterday, today, and forever. That's who our God is. God is good all the time. And all the time God is good. Why don't you say that with me? God is good all the time. And all the time, God is good. God's goodness is not just a theological concept that we should understand, but it's an experience that we can all personally have. We can know his goodness in our relationship with him. So the first point we've seen today is the Lord is God and the Lord is good. We also see in this psalm that the Lord is our creator and the Lord is our shepherd. Verse 3 tells us, it is he who has made us and we are his. One version puts it this way: it is he who has made us and not we ourselves. God is created us for a purpose, and I believe that he's put within us strengths and weaknesses. And I love the way the Bible says that his grace is sufficient for us. His grace is made perfect in our weakness. It also says in Psalm 100 and verse 3, we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. There's so much in the Bible about the Lord being our shepherd and we are his sheep. A psalm that we can uh we can meditate on and we can celebrate and we can enjoy is Psalm 23, where the Lord reveals himself to us as our shepherd. That he leads us, he feeds us, he guides us, he protects us, he is with us. So we've seen first of all that God is good and that we can experience his goodness not just as a theological concept but as a life experience. Number two is what he does. The Lord is good and we experience his goodness in our relationship with him by two things. First of all, through his steadfast love, and secondly through his enduring faithfulness. What a wonderful thing to know that we can experience his steadfast love and his enduring faithfulness. This reminds me of Lamentations chapter 3, verse 22 and 23. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Just last week, Jill and I went to Milton Keynes, which is a city not far from us, and spent some time shopping. Jill was enjoying her shopping, and I thought it would be good for me to go and sit and enjoy a coffee. I had coffee for a while, and after enjoying my coffee, I just started to walk around the mall and I found myself singing this song, The Steadfast Love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. New every morning. Great is your faithfulness, O Lord. Great is your faithfulness. And that's something that I've experienced in my life. His goodness expressed through his steadfast love and his great faithfulness. And I want to encourage you to not just adhere to this as a theological concept, but to taste and see that the Lord is good. To taste for yourself and experience his goodness and his grace in your life. And if we put him first and if we follow him and we acknowledge him in all our ways, the Bible says that we will experience his goodness and his grace in our lives. I love the way Romans says it's the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. And I think we need to tell people about his goodness and his love so they too can experience the steadfast love and the faithfulness of our God. Number three, how do we worship him? Psalm 100 reveals three ways that we can worship God. We sing, we serve, and we be thankful. So first we can sing. Psalm 100 and verse 2 says, Come into his presence with singing. Singing is a wonderful way for us to be able to worship God together. Colossians chapter 3, verse 16 encourages us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, to teach and admonish one another with all wisdom. And then it continues: singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. If you look up those words, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, you could translate it, traditional songs, songs with skilled music, and spontaneous, spirit-led worship. It's all worship. Whether you sing out of a hymn book or you sing with a band or you just sing spontaneously from your heart to God, even making up words led by the Holy Spirit. It is all worship and it is wonderful. The second way this psalm tells us that we can worship is through our serving. Psalm 100 and verse 2 says, Serve the Lord with gladness. Notice it doesn't say serve the Lord with sadness, but with gladness. And I believe anything that we do in our everyday lives or in our service for the Lord, if we do it with a cheerful heart and with gladness, it becomes worship to God. It's been said our worship of God is not limited to singing and praying, but also includes serving and loving others. Our serving is basically taking our gifts, our talents, and our abilities and using them for God by serving others. And as we do this, it's an act of worship to God. Whatever we do, whether it's ironing at home, whether it's doing the garden or helping somebody else or serving in church with teas or coffees or greeting someone at the door or helping set up or pat down. If we do it with a heart after God and with cheerfulness and gladness, it indeed becomes not just our ministry, but an act of worship to God. And number three, we can be thankful. Being thankful is part of our worship to God. Psalm 100 and verse 4 says, Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. When we express our gratitude to God, we're saying, you are sovereign, you are good, and you are faithful. Thankfulness is an act of worship. And it's God's language as we express our thanks to God, we acknowledge who He is, His greatness and His goodness in our lives. The more we give thanks, the more we realize how much we have to be thankful for. Thanksgiving is a key to unlocking a deeper sense of joy and contentment. And I want to encourage us to pause and count our blessings, to say thank you to God for his blessing in our lives, to say thank you to people for what they have done for us. And as we have an attitude of gratitude, it indeed, according to this psalm, becomes something that ushers us into God's presence, and we will experience his joy in our lives. So today, let's pray together. And as we do, ask the Holy Spirit to show you what he wants you to do as a result of what you've heard in today's sermon. Remember, we can worship God in three ways. We can worship him through our singing, through our serving, and by being thankful. And all of this is a response to the Lord our God who is good and shows us his steadfast love and his great faithfulness. Let's pray. Father God, thank you that you are God and you are good. Thank you for your steadfast love and your great faithfulness. Thank you that you are our Creator and our shepherd. We are so grateful for all that you have done, all that you are doing, and all you will do in our lives. Today, we want to take every opportunity to sing your praise, whether that's in private or in a public gathering, to sing praise to you. Lord, we want to use what you have entrusted to us for your glory by serving you and serving others. Help us to serve you with gladness and let our service be an act of worship to you. And God, please give us a grateful and thankful heart. Help us to count our blessings and to say thank you to you and to others. And as we do that, we know that we will experience a greater sense of joy and contentment in our lives. Thank you for all you've done. Please help us to live Psalm 100 in our everyday lives. In Jesus' precious name we ask. Amen.