A Psalm for Giving Thanks Psalm 100 Church this is why we worship the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, because the LORD is good, and his love endures forever, and his faithfulness continues through all generations. His Kindness is forever, his goodness is forever, his mercy is forever!!!! Creator God wants nothing more than to be in the most intimate of relationship with you. He invites you into an eternal relationship with him. He is so good! He is so gracious! He is so merciful, He is so kind, He is so faithful! And his love endures forever! This past week I had the privilege to take 6 of our High School students (PIC) to Lead the Cause University to join over 250 other high school students from across the nation who are passionate about advancing the gospel. We prayed, we worshiped, we trained, we hit the streets, we cried, we prayed again, we worshiped again, we studied the word, we meet with God and we were literally set...on…fire. My encouragement for you church is to follow the example of these students, and be apart of the revival that is going to happen in this county. God be praised! This week we have the privilege to study Psalm 100, also known as the Ol’ Hundredth. This Psalm is the only Psalm out of 150 that identifies itself as a Psalm for Giving Thanks. Psalm 100 comes at the end of the series of “Enthronement” Psalms, therefore making it the climax of the Psalms that are occupied with the Lords kingship and sovereign rule. Throughout our Series in the Psalms God has been revealing a pattern. We began in Psalm 93 with an “enthronement Psalm” and an intimate look at the attributes

of God, his Sovereign reign, his transcendence, his majesty, his glory his holiness. Then we came down and uncovered his nearness, his immanence, in Psalm 139. We have a God who searches us, who knows us, and desires to be known by us. He is creator God who magnificently created us, we are fearfully and wonderfully made, literally FULL OF WONDER! Each and every single one of us, believer or unbeliever, we have God’s fingerprint on our lives, and this is revealed all the way down to our DNA. And now, after being in awe of God’s aboveness, his transcendence, and marveling over his nearness and design of us, we now point back to him and a response of giving Thanks! So Psalm 100 points us back up to the heavenlies as we make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Psalm 100 is about responding rightly to the one and only true God, who is our Creator, Redeemer, and Shepherd. Psalm 100 shows us commands that we must obey in relation to our worship. And Psalm 100 illuminates God’s goodness, loving kindness, and his faithfulness. Psalm 100 is going to make us examine our own worship and examine how we come to his house and how we worship there. This morning church I am not here to build a case for why we should worship the LORD, but to tell you we are commanded to do so. It is not my goal to convince you we are to shout to the LORD, God tells you himself to do it, therefore we must. I am in no way trying to divide the congregation and begin any type of Worship Wars. My heart this morning is to tell you what God’s word commands us in relationship to our worship. These commands are not conditional. They are not based on your feelings, your personality or your current circumstances, they are soley based on God alone. (let me lovingly repeat that for you)

I’m going to go ahead and say it, and your not going to like it, but I still have to say it. Our worship reveals much about 1) our heart for God and 2) our understanding of the gospel. There, I said it, It’s out there, you may not like it but it’s true. Psalm 100 reminds us of what our heart, attitude and actions should be as we approach the House of God, as we enter His House, as we come into his presence and as we remain there responding to who he is and what he’s done. Before we begin our study, would you pray with me?......(Pray) Before you are seated please great someone you may not know. Before we begin our study this morning I want to remind you that we are studying Hebrew poetry. Hebrew poetry was the expression of ancient Israel. Hebrew poetry is not written in quantitative meters. It’s nothing like Western poetry. We must reboot our thinking and our approach to handle this the proper way. We cannot fully understand the text if we try to apply our western thought to Hebrew Poetry. I want to remind you of an element of Hebrew Poetry and that is the Chiastic structure. It is a unique writing style that uses a repetitive pattern for clarification and emphasis. (Picture of Psalm 100). Simply put, a chiasm is a repetition of similar ideas in the reverse sequence. (V1/4b)(V2/4a) The importance of the chiastic structure is found in its hidden emphasis. For example in todays passage we are really going to be leaning into verse 3. Psalm 100 is great example of this chiastic structure and with that in mind, it will clearly reveal to us what the Main Emphasis is. I sat down with Patrick Korn for help in understanding the structure. You probably have noticed on your bulletin: Topic, Explanation, Requirement, and Reason,

with this framework we will be able to discover what this Psalm of Thanksgiving is all about. Topic/Theme: Vs 1, 4b 1) Our worship of the LORD is not to be silent and subdued but with shouts of jubilant songs. It is in our nature to celebrate, it’s human, it’s natural, it’s how we were created, raising our hands, bursting with shouts of joy. There is something that every one is passionate about. Something that stirs you, something that ramps you up. Something you moves you to respond by putting your arms up or shouting as a response. Notice the natural tendency to celebrate by shouting and thrusting your arms in the air. (Soccer Pic)(Golf pic)(bassmaster). When we are overcome with joy whether it is a winning touchdown, or opening the perfect gift you were hoping to get, we tend to shout out loud in celebration. Now consider this in the context of the House of the Lord, we are commanded to SHOUT for Joy to the LORD. Kids will love this, Adults will start to feel uncomfortable. (LTCU worship) Notice Psalm 100:1(ESV) “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!” and because Psalm 100 is a chiasm look down now to Psalm 100:4b, “Give thanks to him; bless his name!” The NIV begins by saying, “Shout for Joy to the LORD.” The Hebrew word here is very descriptive in nature, there is no grey area. ‫ רוע‬ruwa` meaning: to shout, to raise a sound, to cry out, to give a blast. This same word can be used to describe a battle cry, to a shout of joy or triumph. But it just doesn’t seem like the way we were raised, this is God’s house, this is church, not a football game. Let me

remind you this isn’t a suggestion here in Psalm 100, this is a command. Just glance at the whole of Psalm 100 and see the commands: Shout, Serve, Come, Know, Enter, Give, Bless, Praise, Worship. Could it be that in our worship we are commanded to literally Shout for joy to the Lord? That we are to make a joyful noise to him? You better believe it. Maybe this is a mistake, maybe the Psalmist didn’t actually mean Shout, maybe this is the only place its mentioned in scripture so we can just pretend it’s not there. No. This Hebrew word RUWA shows up all over Psalms. Psalm 47:1, “To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!” Psalm 66:1, “To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm. Shout for joy to God, all the earth;” Psalm 95:1, “Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!” Psalm 98:4, “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!” We could go on and on, consistently throughout scripture we see the commands to Shout to God, to Shout for Joy! To Break forth into joyous song, to make a joyful noise. Our Worship of the LORD is not to be silent and subdued, but with shouts of jubilant songs! Our response to who God is and what he has done should surpass the crowds touchdown response. Maybe you’re still not convinced, it’s ok, I’m not here to convince you, just share with you what God commands. It’s the same command that is given to creation, Isaiah 44:23, “Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel.” Did you see it, SHOUT O depths of the earth! I like that it’s in the context of redemption. What truly convicted

me was to see this word RUWA, not only as a command for us and a command for creation but as a description of God himself. Isaiah 42:13, “The LORD goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes.” The one who commands us to Shout and make a joyful noise is the one who himself shouts aloud concerning himself! There is something interesting about this command, it’s a command to the entire earth. For all man to Shout to the LORD. We are all called to recognize YAHWEH. And, as a church, it is our duty to corporately give thanks to him, and to honor his reputation! To Praise his name, to bless his name! The Psalmist explains it again for us in Psalm 111:1, “Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation.” There is something to us joining together corporately, as a body, as the church and giving thanks to God through shouts of praise with our whole heart. May our worship together be forever changed. Maybe even a little Rowdy, maybe even a little undignified for his NAME! Explanation: V2, 4a 2) Our worship of the LORD includes serving Him and entering into his presence with thanksgiving and praise. This is now the explanation of how we must respond rightly in worship, and specifically how we are to approach and enter the House of God. The NIV translates ‫` עבד‬abad (ävad) as Worship, but a more literal translation could be “Serve”. But is it possible that worship and service go hand in hand? True worship leads to service and service leads to worship. We serve God by our worship, our service is our worship. Out of the joyful songs and shouts to God we

should then move naturally into a response of serving him. And we are told specifically we don’t serve him with a grumpy attitude, we serve him wholeheartedly with gladness. Notice Psalm 100:2 (ESV) “Serve the LORD with gladness!” Have you ever been guilty of that? Either when you are serving somewhere or in a ministry or coming to church Sunday morning and having a sour attitude, being grumpy, your unhappy, your cold, your moody, maybe you’re even cranky. (I just saw a movement of elbows) This is not the attitude we are to have when we serve the Lord or when we come into his house and worship him! We are to have a heart of gladness. The text says “Serve the LORD with gladness!” There is this animated radiance about you! There is this beauty! Your saying, regardless of my week, my circumstances, even my current emotions, I will choose to come to you with gladness in my heart! There is a deep pleasure that we should have when we have the opportunity to serve! We serve and worship the LORD with gladness. Psalm 100:2, “Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!” also notice beginning of verse 4, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise!” I want to start with verse 4. Again, we have a command to Enter into his gates, and into his courts. This absolutely captivates me, that God himself extends not only an invitation to come in to his house, but it is actually a command! We are commanded to enter into his gates with thanksgiving. This is his house, not ours. We are to enter into his courts with praise! We don’t come quietly, we aren’t supposed to slip in, sit in the back and slip out! In fact if I am reading this right, it has everything to do with how we

come to worship. What we are doing on the ride over, what we are doing at the breakfast table that morning, what we are doing when we wake, maybe even it has everything to do with how we are preparing the night before, or for that matter maybe it has everything to do with our entire week leading up to the moment we are able to come into his house! Could it be that we are to be overwhelmed with hearts of thanksgiving for who God is and what he has done? Could it be that even before we arrive we are singing songs of praise and we are overflowing with thanksgiving! But it doesn’t stop there, because the scripture tells us, once we get here, we pull up the drive, and we walk if not run across the parking lot, (looking at each other saying, “Can you believe we get to do this again!”) we enter into his house and into his courts, that we are to continue to come into his presence with singing. Psalm 100:2b, “Come into his presence with singing!” Oh that God would extend to us the invitation to come into his presence, and what do we do as we arrive? We sing! And what do we do when we are there? We sing! And what do we do as we leave? We sing! The Hebrew word is the same for “Enter” and “Come” and the word is ‫ בוא‬bow' and is defined as to go into, to enter, to come, or go in. God commands us to come into Him, to come into his presence. How gracious is God that he would extend that invitation to us. And when we come into his presence we enter with singing! With Shouts of Praise, with Gladness in our hearts, with Joyous Songs, with thanksgiving for who he is and what he has done! Psalm 100, a Psalm for giving thanks. And oh what a privilege to come into his house week in and week out. And as we now near verse 3 we realize as we worship with overflowing hearts of thanksgiving we are commanded to KNOW who he is! This is of great significance in this text! We must

know who God is and what he has done. It directs our worship. Requirement: V3 3) As we worship the LORD we are commanded to KNOW who He is: Right in the middle of Psalm 100 we have arrived at what the Psalmist is trying to emphasize, he’s really spotlighting this verse, he’s really saying this is what it’s all about. Verse 3 is what directs our worship, it’s what drives our worship, its what keeps us from being derailed in our worship. It’s our requirement for worship, Derrik Kidner says, “This is the prerequisite to praise”. In college before you sign up for upper level classes there may be some prerequisites you have to complete in order to take a particular class or qualify for that class. In our worship, our prerequisite is that we know, I mean really know who God is, and what he has done. Psalm 100:3 says this, “Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” To know this Truth about God is to literally have a firm grasp of it. We are commanded to KNOW who God is and what he has done! We aren’t commanded to just know a lot about God, but to know him and to know him intimately, there’s a significant difference. The word in Hebrew in this passage for know is yada. This word is used to describe the most intimate of connections, says, Kyle Idleman, author of Not a Fan. It’s literally the word that was used to describe when Adam lay with his wife, it says he KNEW her. Yada is the same word used in Psalm 139 that speaks of how God knows us, it’s the most intimate of connections. And it’s used here in the context of worship that we are to KNOW intimately who God is! And who is he? As we prepare for worship, as we come into worship as we reside in worship we are to have a

firm grasp, the most intimate of connections with the LORD who is God, who is Creator, who is our Redeemer and who is our Shepherd. We begin with…. a) The LORD is God. Literally YAHWEH is GOD! We spent the entire week of VBS driving home this truth that there is only one True God! Most of us probably know for memory the Shema from Deuteronomy 6:4-5, “Here, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” The Lord our God, The Lord is One. The Lord is God! Yahweh is God. God is God himself, and no one else is, there is no one like our God. Numbers 9:5-6, “…Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.” Psalm 86:10 testifies to that, “For you are great, and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.” And finally God testifies himself about himself in Isaiah 44:6, “This is what the LORD says – Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.” God has rightly declared that apart from him there is no other god. He alone is God. The question of application for not only our worship but also our lives, is who sits on the throne of your life? Is it the One true God? Or do you try to take that role as God, sitting on the throne of your own life and determining what is best for your life. If you are on sitting on the throne of your own life, I assure you this, it’s a dangerous slippery slope, being the god of our own lives, never works out. My prayer is you would trust in Christ alone today. We are commanded to

Know that the LORD our God, the LORD is One! He stands alone as sovereign King and Ruler of the Universe. In our worship, we must KNOW, yada, that HE IS GOD, and there is no other. Next we are commanded to KNOW that the LORD is Creator. b) The LORD is Creator. Boice says, “If we miss this, we miss everything. If we don’t know God as creator, then we don’t know who we are.” The passage today says, “It is he who made us and we are his.” Last week Tim shared the intricacies of our DNA. It’s overwhelming to consider how we were made, The God of the universes signature is seen in the cells that make us up. Creator God created us in his image and in his likeness, he hand crafted us in our momma’s womb. He spared no expense. He created our inmost being, he knits us together, we are fearfully and wonderfully made! You are FULL OF WONDER! He created the heavens, even the highest of heavens and all their starry host, they give testimony to him every day! He created the earth for it displays his majesty moment by moment! And if you don’t believe me, spend a week in Colorado! How did God do this? He spoke! He spoke and separated the light from the darkness, He spoke and separated the waters, He spoke and ground appeared, He spoke the land produced vegetation, He spoke and created the Sun and the Moon, he spoke and filled the skies with a countless number of stars that he knows by name. He spoke and filled the waters with living creatures, He spoke and filled the skies, he spoke living creatures appeared on the land, he spoke and did the unthinkable, created man. Unlike anything he had created prior, he made man in his own image and likeness. God spoke and gave life! To everything!

And from the beginning God’s plan was to create this gorgeous landscape and give it to us as a gift. He told Adam and Eve to rule over it! What a gift, oh how Creator God loves us, that he would give us reign and rule over his creation. Genesis 1:26, Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Consider this church. You were created by him and for him. You were created to be in relationship with him! The LORD is CREATOR! Why do we make a joyful noise to the LORD, and enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise and come into his presence? Because He Is God, He is Creator! We must know this as we respond with thanksgiving to who he is and what he has done! He made us and the text says, we are his! Believers, we are his possession, his prize, his people! But this only happened because the LORD is Redeemer. c) The LORD is Redeemer. Psalm 100:3, “…We are his people..” What sticks out to us in this verse? His….We are HIS people. This doesn’t mean everyone, this means those that put their trust in Christ alone. And for those that do, we are his people. This tells us The LORD is our Redeemer. How? Because we were bought with a price, we were purchased. 1 Corinthians 6:1920, “19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” You were bought at a price, and that price wasn’t cheap. When God created, everything was perfect. When sin entered the world, everything changed. “All have sinned and fall short of the

glory of God.” That includes you and me. But God’s heart was that we would not remain separated from him for all of eternity. Because sin separates us from Him. So he Paid the price. How? Romans 5:8, “Yet while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” By taking your place on the cross, the only way for things to be reconciled would be if there was a perfect sacrifice. 2 Corinthians 5:18 (NASB), “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” So through the shed blood of Christ he made atonement for our sins. Jesus lived, he willingly died and rose again. Conquering sin and death. And providing a way for us to be saved! To God be the glory! This is the Good news, this is the gospel. This is the greatest news of all time we are commanded to share with everyone. Remember the context, this is a Psalm of thanksgiving! In our Worship we are to KNOW that The LORD is God, He is our Creator and he is our Redeemer. If we were to truly grasp, believers, that we are HIS, it would move every fiber of our being into a chorus of praise and thanksgiving! And that is exactly what Psalm 100 is saying! We give thanks because he is God, he is Creator and He is our Redeemer. Verse 3 says we also give thanks that he is our Shepherd. d) The LORD is our shepherd. Not only is God our creator, but he is our relator. (Can I get an amen from the counseling team) We are his people and Psalm 100:3, “…the sheep of his pasture.” He is the Good Shepherd, who takes care of his flock. This here reveals the intimate care that God gives his people. David knew this intimacy, he KNEW God, remember yada. In Psalm 23:1 “The LORD is my shepherd.” The LORD was David’s

guide, his protector and his constant companion. As he is for us too. Jesus calls himself the Good shepherd in John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” And again in verse 14,15, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep.” The one who tends to us, is the one who laid down his life for us. We like sheep, have a tendency to stray. Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” We, as sheep, are helpless creatures, we wonder off, we get lost, sheep aren’t the smartest, they really stink too, we are in need of a Shepherd. The LORD is our Shepherd. We must KNOW this about the LORD because in our worship we can express our thanksgiving to him because we are totally dependent on him! We come before him with Shouting, making a joyful noise, we serve him with gladness, we enter into his house and his presence with thanksgiving and praise and as we worship, what drives our worship, what directs our worship, what keeps us from being derailed in our worship is that we are commanded to KNOW that The LORD is God, He is Creator, He is our Redeemer, and he is our Shepherd. And as the shepherd he tends to us, guides us, protects us, he is our constant companion. KNOW this, have the most intimate of connections with Him in your worship, in your thanksgiving and in your praise. And finally we arrive at verse 5 which answers the question of “Why do we worship?” Although verse 5 stands alone in the chiastic structure it is very much connected to verse 3. Reason: vs 5

1) Why do we worship the LORD? As I mentioned in verse 5 the psalmist steps out of the chiasm and gives us now the reason for our Psalm of thanksgiving. We will end this morning by looking at 3 aspects of the nature of God. Psalm 100:5, “For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” Why do we worship the LORD? First, because of his a) goodness. Arthur Pink says, “The Goodness of God refers to the perfection of his nature. God is not only the greatest of all beings, but the Best. All the goodness there is an any creature has been imparted from the creator; but God’s goodness is underived, for it is the essence of his eternal nature.” Understand what this is saying. No one made God good, he is inherently good, and has been for all of eternity past, and will be for all of eternity to come. The Psalmist gives us an invitation to Taste the goodness of God. Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the LORD is good…” He’s saying, come check it out, taste, see what we are talking about, you will see, he is Good!. Savor the goodness of God church, and respond with shouts of jubilant songs! We have much to be thankful for, for starters, that God would share with us GOOD NEWS which is the gospel! For the LORD is GOOD! And because of this we respond rightly with songs of thanksgiving! b) loving-kindness. Psalm 100:5, “For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;” The LORD who is God, who is Creator who is our Redeemer and our Shepherd is Love. 1 John 4:8 rightly says, “God is love”. But understand it’s not just that God loves, but he is love himself. It’s the same as his majesty we studied a couple weeks ago, God doesn’t just have majesty, he is majesty. That is true of his love too. And we can’t think of love as just another component of God.

Aurthur Pink says, “It’s not just one of his attributes, but his very nature.” God’s loving kindness is spotlighted throughout the redemptive story. Why do we love him? Because he first loved us, but keep in mind, God’s love is uninfluenced. Bottom line is that there is nothing in us that causes God to love, says Pink. He loves strictly because he himself is love, his love is according to his own purpose! And he has loved his people for all of eternity. God’s love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out! His love never changes! His love is eternal, from everlasting to everlasting. Jeremiah 31:3, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” And to be consistent it will never increase or diminish over time. God is love, perfectly and fully, he will never grow tired or weary but his love will endure forever! Oh how the cross is the greatest expression of love. Thank you for the Cross Jesus! And because of this we respond rightly with songs of thanksgiving! c) Faithful. And finally in closing this morning. Psalm 100:5, “For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” God is eternal, his goodness is eternal, his love is eternal and his faithfulness is eternal. If it were not so, he would not be God. Deuteronomy 7:9 says, “Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God…” This is so crucial to understand about God. The scriptures clearly and principally teach that God is faithful and we can see that it is an essential part of his divine character, Pink says. “Everything he is, everything he does, everything he says and everything he promises are right, unwavering and everlasting”. God’s faithfulness is beautifully displayed in his plan of redemption. He is a keeper of his promises. So

we know that through all generations God is who he says he is continually. God is faithful, he is faithful, he will never leave you, he will never forsake you, he will never forget you, he will never go back on his promises. He is the same yesterday, today and forever! And because of this we respond rightly with songs of thanksgiving Church, what do we now know about Psalm 100? We know it’s a Psalm of thanksgiving, we know that we are commanded to Shout for Joy to the Lord! We are to Give thanks to him and praise his name, for who he is and what he has done. We know that we are to serve the LORD with gladness, and that we are to come before him with joyful songs! We are to come into his house with Thanksgiving and Praise! Worship is linked with a nearness/intimacy with the LORD. And we know that in our worship we are to know who he is and what he has done, we are to have the most intimate of connections with him, The LORD is God, he is creator, he is redeemer and shepherd. And finally Why do we worship? Because of His Goodness! His Loving Kindness and His Faithfulness! Church don’t miss the opportunity to come into his House with Songs of Thanksgiving! May your worship be forever changed. And if you do not know him yet as your Redeemer, my question is, is there anything holding you back? Put your trust in Christ alone! And allow Creator God to transform your life FOREVER!!!