True Praise & Worship: Psalm 100 Pt. 1
Good morning to all of you....
This morning I would like to bring something before us that is intimately connected with the primary reason God created man: to worship and praise our Glorious God.
I want to speak with you about the attitude of our hearts in responding to Jehovah with true worship and praise. My focus is not on the style of worship and praise, but on what a heart genuinely praising God, looks like in the scriptures.
I would like to explore Psalm 100 with you. It is only 5 verses but they tell us much about true praise and worship, from God's perspective. Let us read the text together and then look into it verse by verse.
Psalm 100:1-5 1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. 5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
This Psalm is rightly titled “A Psalm of Praise”. This Psalm is entirely focused upon the Christian’s glad privilege of freely offering praise to Jehovah, our most gracious LORD. As such, this Psalm is particularly a Psalm to encourage the wholehearted participation of every redeemed child of God.
8 Action Words: We must have our hearts
engaged.
As you read this text, did you notice the 8 action words that show the Psalmist's responding with praise to Jehovah? The action words include to make, to serve, singing, to come, to know, to enter, to be thankful and to bless. I think that these are actions that should be evident in my own life when I am praising and worshiping Jehovah.
4 Adjectives describe the happy heart of the Psalmist toward God.
The heart of the Psalmist is described with these 4 words: Joyful; Gladness; Thanksgiving and Praise. Again, I think that the attitude of the Psalmist's heart must also reflect what is going on in my own heart.
The divine name Jehovah (LORD) is used 4 times in this text and this reminds us Who is listening to our praise and Who is receiving our worship. It is Jehovah who receives our worship and listens to our songs of praise.
Jehovah is by definition, the self existent God; the God who inhabits eternity but stoops to meet my needs; the unchanging God; the promise keeping God; the God of lovingkindness. He is the One listening to and receiving my worship and praise. He is my audience and He is your audience when you offer Him praise and worship.
Verse 1: We see the joyful noise of a true worshipper of Jehovah.
Making a joyful noise unto the LORD, is an action that means to split the ears with sounds of unrestrained joy, for who Jehovah is and triumph we enjoy because of what He has done.
The second example occurred after King David had died and his son, Solomon, was made king. Solomon built an incredible temple for Jehovah. There was a lengthy prayer of dedication and lavish sacrifices were offered by the king. A period of great celebration ensued.
You will notice the orderliness of this time of worship. The people were cleansed and ready to worship Jehovah. The instrumentalists stood at one side of the altar and the singers stood on the other side of the altar. They stood in their courses, meaning that there was structure and order in each group.
They sang and played as "one". This means the music for voices and instruments was an orderly arrangement and that the words and sounds were clearly articulated. The message of the praise and worship went out with clarity and could easily be understood by those who were listening.
Now, the text also tells us the reason why they were praising and worshipping Jehovah: because He is good and His mercy endures forever! This gets to the heart of true praise and worship.
The words and music of worship & praise must be consistent with the truths of scripture. By that I mean, that we ought to be singing to God the truths which we read in the Bible about God. We sing His truth back to Him. This is perhaps the highest form of worship that man can offer to God.
2 Chronicles 5:11-14 And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course:
Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:)
It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;
So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.
True worship and praise is a thought provoking subject worthy of our consideration. We can be thankful that God has not left us in the dark about these things. We can be joyful that the Psalmist is showing us what true praise and worship can be like for the redeemed child of God.
Bob
This morning I would like to bring something before us that is intimately connected with the primary reason God created man: to worship and praise our Glorious God.
I want to speak with you about the attitude of our hearts in responding to Jehovah with true worship and praise. My focus is not on the style of worship and praise, but on what a heart genuinely praising God, looks like in the scriptures.
I would like to explore Psalm 100 with you. It is only 5 verses but they tell us much about true praise and worship, from God's perspective. Let us read the text together and then look into it verse by verse.
Psalm 100:1-5 1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. 2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. 5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
This Psalm is rightly titled “A Psalm of Praise”. This Psalm is entirely focused upon the Christian’s glad privilege of freely offering praise to Jehovah, our most gracious LORD. As such, this Psalm is particularly a Psalm to encourage the wholehearted participation of every redeemed child of God.
8 Action Words: We must have our hearts
engaged.
As you read this text, did you notice the 8 action words that show the Psalmist's responding with praise to Jehovah? The action words include to make, to serve, singing, to come, to know, to enter, to be thankful and to bless. I think that these are actions that should be evident in my own life when I am praising and worshiping Jehovah.
4 Adjectives describe the happy heart of the Psalmist toward God.
The heart of the Psalmist is described with these 4 words: Joyful; Gladness; Thanksgiving and Praise. Again, I think that the attitude of the Psalmist's heart must also reflect what is going on in my own heart.
The divine name Jehovah (LORD) is used 4 times in this text and this reminds us Who is listening to our praise and Who is receiving our worship. It is Jehovah who receives our worship and listens to our songs of praise.
Jehovah is by definition, the self existent God; the God who inhabits eternity but stoops to meet my needs; the unchanging God; the promise keeping God; the God of lovingkindness. He is the One listening to and receiving my worship and praise. He is my audience and He is your audience when you offer Him praise and worship.
Verse 1: We see the joyful noise of a true worshipper of Jehovah.
Psalm 100:1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD,
all ye lands.
Making a joyful noise unto the LORD, is an action that means to split the ears with sounds of unrestrained joy, for who Jehovah is and triumph we enjoy because of what He has done.
It looks forward to the day when the Lord Jesus Christ is enthroned as
King of kings and Lord of lords. It reminds us that the whole world and all people will one
day bow the knee to the all glorious King Jesus.
The expression “joyful noise” occurs about 33 times in the Old Testament and refers to the action of shouting or the making
of a loud noise. Usually, this word was used for shouting orders during
military action or to sound a civil alarm. It was also used for religious
purposes. I have a couple examples to illustrate this wonderful word for us.
The first example is a military one that happened when Israel conquered the walled city of Jericho in the land of Canaan. For 6 days the people marched around the city and did not make any noise. The 7th day, Jehovah instructed them to shout with a great noise and the walls collapsed and they took the city.
Joshua
6:20 So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets:
and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up
into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
The second example occurred after King David had died and his son, Solomon, was made king. Solomon built an incredible temple for Jehovah. There was a lengthy prayer of dedication and lavish sacrifices were offered by the king. A period of great celebration ensued.
You will notice the orderliness of this time of worship. The people were cleansed and ready to worship Jehovah. The instrumentalists stood at one side of the altar and the singers stood on the other side of the altar. They stood in their courses, meaning that there was structure and order in each group.
They sang and played as "one". This means the music for voices and instruments was an orderly arrangement and that the words and sounds were clearly articulated. The message of the praise and worship went out with clarity and could easily be understood by those who were listening.
Now, the text also tells us the reason why they were praising and worshipping Jehovah: because He is good and His mercy endures forever! This gets to the heart of true praise and worship.
The words and music of worship & praise must be consistent with the truths of scripture. By that I mean, that we ought to be singing to God the truths which we read in the Bible about God. We sing His truth back to Him. This is perhaps the highest form of worship that man can offer to God.
2 Chronicles 5:11-14 And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place: (for all the priests that were present were sanctified, and did not then wait by course:
Also the Levites which were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen, having cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets:)
It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;
So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.
POINTS TO PONDER.....
- Is my heart engaged with the actions of praise and worship?
- Am I remembering Who the recipient of my praise and worship is?
- Is my worship and praise worthy of God's attention?
- Am I offering heartfelt joyful noise unto my Lord?
- Is what I am singing consistent with the truth of God's revelation in His word?
- Is the focus upon me or the God I am worshipping?
Bob
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