True Praise & Worship: Psalm 100 Pt. 2

Good morning to each of you.

It is a cool but sunny Saturday and we received about 1 inch of rain in the last 36 hours. God's perfect timing since everything is growing fast and the water was readily absorbed.

Today, we will look at verse 2 of this beautiful worship Psalm. This verse has two unique phrases not used anywhere else in the Bible, so I would like to look at each phrase individually.

Psalm 100:2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. 

Psalm 100:2 (a) Serve the LORD with gladness.

Here is the first unique phrase. The word “serve” refers to labor we undertake that can be focused upon things, focused upon other people or focused upon the LORD. When the focus of our labor is the LORD, it is an act of religious service to worship Him. 

This word does not carry any connotations of the people of God doing dreary duties or tackling tedious tasks.  It refers to serving the Lord as a joyful experience of liberation. 

I think that this word teaches us that even when we are doing  things like mowing, cleaning, raking leaves, doing dishes or laundry, that each of the mundane tasks of life can become acts of worship! Try listening to Godly music while you work and see if your soul is not re-oriented to the things of God even while you are doing chores or working.

The word “gladness” refers to the reality, the experience and manifestation of joy and gladness. In this context, it refers to a happy celebration of the LORD was we engage in joyful and cheerful activities. 

Webster’s 1828 defines the word “glad” as pleased, cheerful, joyous, exhilarated. We see an example of a cheerful heart in Psalm 91:1-2. He is praising Jehovah, witnessing for Jehovah, having a glad heart because of his God, rejoicing for who his God is and singing praises to His wonderful name. 

Psalm 9:1-2  I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I

will show forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.

We have a second example from the book of Acts. This one tells us what happened in the early days after the church was born in Jerusalem. The early converts to Christ focused upon apostolic doctrine, Christian fellowship, and the common cause of living for the Lord. They experienced a gladness of heart as they single mindedly pursued the things of God.

Acts 2:42-47 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.  

And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 
And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

We see the glad labors of a faithful servant of Jehovah in the first phrase of Psalm 100:2.

Psalm 100:2 (b) Come before His presence with singing.

Here is the second unique phrase. It is amazing that we can come into the presence of the LORD. It speaks of the new and living way that Jesus opened for us. There is something very special about lifting up our voices together in singing to praise Jehovah. True praise & worship, including congregational singing, is done with the idea that Jehovah is present with us when we gather to worship, which He is.

Hebrews 10:19-22; 25 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 

Paul teaches us much about true praise and worship that seems to be strongly connected to Psalm 100. Note what he wrote to the church at Ephesus below. 

Ephesians 5:18-20 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Psalms refer to the Hebrew hymnal and songs that are about the deliverance and mercies received by the hand of Jehovah.

Hymns are from a word that means a song given in honor to God and is a magnificent musical declaration of how exceedingly excellent Jehovah truly is.

Spiritual songs are confessions of spiritual truth or expressions of praise to God, communicated or imparted by the Holy Spirit. It means we are singing songs to our God that are filled with truth about God. All of this leads us to a happy heart filled with praises to God above.

The Word and Worship are connected. Paul also wrote to the church at Colosse about true praise and worship. Notice the strong correlation of worship with our intake of the word of God. The apostle sums it all up by telling us that whatever we do in words or in our activities, do it for the glory of God. 

Colossians 3:12-17 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

What we see in the second phrase of Psalm 100:2 is the joyful sounds of saints singing. 

Points to Ponder.......

• What is the posture of my heart when I am worshipping the Lord?

• Am I happy in spirit in whatever I am doing? 
• 
  

My wife and I are so blessed to be part of a "singing" church. That is, folks young and old in our church family love to sing and lift their voices in praise and worship to our most worthy God. 

True praise and worship flows out of us being changed as we read God's word and it is a beautiful complement to preparing our hearts to hear a sermon from the scriptures. 

I pray this for all of you, that you might share in the joy of extolling the greatness of God in your worship with your church family.

Bob