"Finding Joy in Worship (Psalm 100) Pastor Timothy Song May 22, 2016

"Finding Joy in Worship (Psalm 100) Pastor Timothy Song May 22, 2016 (Psalm 100) 1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. Core Idea: Find joy and satisfaction in worshipping God through thanksgiving. Opposing Idea: We look to other things to satisfy us. Last week we had Rev. Song preach and today we re coming back to the Psalms, but before we get to the passage, I want to ask a question: What makes you joyful? Think about a time, place, situation, occasion, thing that makes you joyful. Recently I graduated from Seminary. A flood of thoughts filled my mind! I felt happiness and relief. I felt overwhelmed and grateful. Many emotions. How about you? There are many joyous moments (graduation, career, marriage, birth of a child, etc.), but when you look back and remember these moments, we feel joyful. And that s true. Joy is an emotion, but there s something deeper about joy, especially for a Christian, that we fail to tap into. John Piper defines Christian joy as, a good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as He causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the Word and in the world. We will get back to this definition soon, but in order to answer that question of what makes you joyful? we must ask ourselves a couple questions: First, what is joy? And what does it mean to be joyful? Another way of putting it is What is the attitude of joy? For me, the greatest joy is worshipping God. We see that in today s psalm. The psalmist illustrates the beautiful connection between joy and worship. Through today s passage, I hope that we will find answers to these questions. Let s open our Bibles to Psalm 100. 650 McNicoll Avenue, North York, Ontario, M2H 2E1 Page 1 of 9

A psalm. For giving grateful praise. 1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his [a] ; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. What a beautiful psalm. Before we address what brings the psalmist joy, we need to know the context of his joy. And it is worship. We hear that word a lot. Worship. But what is worship? For Christians, worship is adoration to God. I ll always remember something I read in which it said that worship is worth-ship. It is giving worth to God. What we do here every Sunday is worship! The goal of each Sunday is that we, as individuals AND as a community, gather together to give worth to God. To sing and to hear the truth of who God is. If you look in today s Did You Know section, Pastor Woohyun wrote a wonderful blurb on what worship is. Go home and read through it because there are many things I hope our church gets to learn and know about worship and the first point mentioned is that worship is all about God! Worship affirms and proclaims the worth, wonder, and work of God. Worship is a Trinitarian experience. We worship God the Father for who He is and what He has done. Jesus Christ makes worship possible by offering His body as a sacrifice for us. Essentially, He enables for the unholy to enter the presence of the holy. And the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, reveals the beauty of Christ and leads us to the Father. Worship leads us to the Gospel. We are reminded of the fullness of God s goodness: His love, mercy, justice, and grace. Worship is life. Worship is life with God. We live with God and for His glory and pleasure. This is why we gather together every Sunday. Like the song says, Not to us, but to Your name, God s name, be the glory! But, why is it that there are many occasions where we fail to worship God with joy? One big reason is due to our idolatry. Idolatry is when you place something of greater importance and value than God. I see many idols in my life. For example, sports. Last year, when the Blue Jays made the playoffs, all I can think about was baseball. I remember Jose Bautista s historic homerun and the iconic bat flip. I couldn t control my emotions as I watched every game, every pitch. When Toronto was winning, I was so happy. When they lost, I was sad. Nothing else mattered to me. I let baseball become my god. I treasured the Blue Jays more than anything at that moment. And I see it prevalent these days with the Toronto Raptors. It amazes me how many people make comments, posts, tweets, whatever about the Raptors. I see people thanking the Raptors for winning and their emotions are influenced and controlled by how well or poor the Raptors are playing. Sports is not the only idol. There are many things in our lives we treasure or worship over God. What is it that you idolize? 650 McNicoll Avenue, North York, Ontario, M2H 2E1 Page 2 of 9

So, why is idolatry so bad? I mean, I love the Blue Jays, but good things become sinful when, as a result of these things, we become distracted. Everything we do is half-hearted because we re fixated on our idols. Worship must be pure, but idolatry taints and adulterates it. As believers, as God s people, we have made a commitment to God and our worship to Him must be priority. When we look at the Old Testament, we see the Israelites constantly falling in their idolatry. Though they knew God, they looked to other things, created things, than the Creator Himself. Though they saw with their very own eyes what God had done for them, they chose to trust in worldly things. Are we any different from the Israelites in the Old Testament? It is for that exact reason why we cannot joyfully worship God. If joy was just about feeling, we can find joy in our idols and idolatry. We idolize because we are drawn to it. That s earthly joy and it s temporary. However, we should be searching for a deeper joy. For the psalmist, the only way he could worship God was with this incredible joy. And we are called to worship God with this same joy. There are two main points I want to share regarding this psalm. The first addresses the attitude of joy and the second gives us the reason why we worship with this joy. So, first, addressing the attitude of joy: when we look at the first 2 verses, there is a sense of strength and directness: Shout for JOY to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Right off the bat you get the heart of the psalmist. He wants us to worship God with joy. But in order to know what it means to joyfully worship God, we need to understand what joy is. Going back to John Piper s definition, he defines Christian joy as a good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as He causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the Word and in the world. Let me say that again. Christian joy is a good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as He [the Spirit] causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the Word and in the world. Let s break that down. Christian joy is a good feeling. Yes, joy is a feeling. Or, you can use another word interchangeably here joy is an emotion. It is not an idea. With an idea, you have control over it. Why? Because you are able to think and process it. With feelings and emotions, you don t have control. You can t decide to feel things. Piper uses an example of camping. You wake one morning and there is a gigantic bear outside your tent. The bear is big, it seems hungry. You re not going to sit in your tent and start processing how you feel. Now let me think. There is a bear. Bears are big. Bears are dangerous. Therefore, I should feel fear so I will be afraid. Emotions don t work like that. Thinking does but feelings do not. When you look in the Bible, it is filled with commands that are immediately outside of our control commands to rejoice, to fear, to be grateful, and to be loving and compassionate. We know that we must produce these feelings and emotions, but because we are fallen and sinful, we struggle to obey God s commands. Joy is a good feeling, but it doesn t stop there. in the soul What does that mean? The good feeling of joy is in the soul, not the body. The soul experiences joy. The body may feel the effects of that; butterflies in my stomach, an extra spring in your step, tears of joy. But none of those effects are in and of itself joy. Each action that is taken is driven by your will or your emotion. I feel joy so I want to hug you. 650 McNicoll Avenue, North York, Ontario, M2H 2E1 Page 3 of 9

produced by the Holy Spirit The movements of the soul are produced by the Holy Spirit. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. And like the rest of the fruit, joy comes from the work of the Spirit. And it is the Spirit Who causes us to see the beauty of Christ. If you read Philippians, the theme of that letter is joy. Why does Paul instruct the church of Philippi to rejoice in the Lord? How can you rejoice in the Lord if you don t know anything about the Lord? How can rejoice in Jesus if you don t see the things about Him that causes joy to rise up in your hearts? This is what the Holy Spirit does. The Spirit is given to us to glorify Jesus Christ (John 16:14). Therefore, the Spirit opens the eyes of our hearts to see Jesus and all that He has done, is doing, and will do. Only then are our hearts filled with joy towards Him. We see the beauty of Christ. Lastly, we see His beauty in the Word and the world. The Bible, the Word of God, is where we see the most authoritative and clearest picture of His beauty. That is why we read it; to know Christ. We also see it in people. We see the gifts and the good things God has done in and through people. We get a glimpse of His goodness in His works. God continues to display His beauty through creation, redemption, and His character. Again, the definition of Christian joy according to Piper is a good feeling in the soul, produced by the Holy Spirit, as He causes us to see the beauty of Christ in the Word and in the world. Do we understand joy to be this? Many of us may stop at joy being a good feeling. But it is more than that. Now that we have a definition, what is the attitude of joy? Going back to the psalm, the psalmist is able to come before God with a joyful heart because he found satisfaction in Him. So what does that look like? Well, when we look into the Bible, the first person that comes to mind is David. Do you remember when David was dancing and singing as the Ark of the Covenant was brought into Jerusalem? David and the people of God were all celebrating with all their might and with singing and music! Can you picture it? David, who was king, was the one rejoicing and dancing with such enthusiasm. He wasn t thinking about the person on his left or right. He wasn t thinking about his reputation as king. All he was fixed on was God; that in the presence of God, he was going to rejoice with all his might. There was genuine joy in his worship to God because he found complete satisfaction in Him. When we read that episode of David worshipping, singing, dancing, rejoicing, how can we cultivate this heart of worship? How can we nurture a spirit of joy? In 1 Thessalonians 5, there is a very short verse. This verse instructs an attitude. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 says, Rejoice always. That s it. In Hebrew, the adverb comes first and so it is better translated always continue to rejoice or always be rejoicing. This is a command as well as an attitude. There are plenty of reasons in the world in which we are sad, distressed, disturbed, upset, concerned, anxious, stressed out, fearful, full of doubt But we are commanded to rejoice always. 650 McNicoll Avenue, North York, Ontario, M2H 2E1 Page 4 of 9

You can find this command throughout Scripture. But read through Philippians. See how Paul was able to be joyful even amidst his circumstances. Look into the life of Jesus. See how He dealt with persecution and trials. Life is not easy. But we are commanded to always be rejoicing. We struggle to do this. Even this past week, as I was preparing to preach on joy, I didn t feel joyful. I struggled all week! We go through many trials and hardships. Many, if not all, of us are dealing with something that is difficult. How can we be joyful in those circumstances? You re not going to come home and when your spouse asks, How was your day?, come in skipping and leaping with joy when you had a miserable day. When you re going through suffering, can you obey this command to rejoice always? The only thing that can legitimately steal your joy is sin. But if you re a believer, it shouldn t be taken away from you very long. Because once you confess your sins, you can rejoice in God s forgiveness! Then, how can we obey the command to rejoice always? The attitude of joy stems from a deep confidence that God is in perfect control of everything and that He works for our good and for His glory. It is a feeling, yes. But it is not dependent on circumstances but in the deep confidence that God is in control. Only then, can you thank God for this trial. The attitude, then, is a complete satisfaction of who God is and what He has done and IS doing in your life. Let s look at another story of David. We all know the story of David and Bathsheba. Just a few chapters after David is joyfully worshipping God as the Ark enters Jerusalem, we see his great sin against God. David sought temporary satisfaction in his adultery. But what always puzzled me was how David responds to the death of his son. He pleads with the Lord as his son becomes ill. But once he heard the boy had died, David gets up, freshens up and enters the house of God and worships Him. In that circumstance, how can you joyfully worship God? David was not worshipping God due to his circumstances; he was worshipping God because He was God. His satisfaction did not come in anything else but Him. David knew who God was. And apart from being in relationship with Him, he could not worship with joy. Joy is an act of proper response to the character of God. It was because of David s sin his son died, not a fallacy of God s character. Joy starts because we know God. I know Him and He knows me. Therefore, I have confidence and satisfaction in God because I trust Him. One last attitude of joy we find in the text is gratefulness. Without being thankful, you cannot find joy. How does the psalmist write with such conviction to shout for joy and come before Him with gladness? It is because he is thankful. As he knows God more, he cannot help but be thankful. As he understands who he is, his identity, in relation to God, he cannot help but be grateful. Joy is the outcome of thanksgiving. You cannot separate the two. Being thankful allows you to find satisfaction. And so for the psalmist, he is able to joyfully worship God in all circumstances because, ultimately, he is grateful and gives thanks to God. A thankful heart is a joyful heart. When you are thankful, you are satisfied. So, what about you? If the attitude of joy is being thankful for, confident and satisfied in, God, who is God to you? We must find satisfaction in who God is. We must find joy in our worship to God because of the relationship God established with us. And that leads to our second main point. 650 McNicoll Avenue, North York, Ontario, M2H 2E1 Page 5 of 9

Our joy in God grows deeper when we know that God is God and when we understand who we are in relation to God (v.3). I ll say that again: Our joy in God grows deeper when we know that God is God and when we understand who we are in relation to God. For the psalmist, verses 3 and 5 tells us how he knew God. God is God, He is our Creator, we are His people, and His sheep. God is also good, His love endures forever, and His faithfulness continues through all generations. It is because God is all of this that the psalmist found a reason to praise. I think v.3 is really at the center of this psalm. We need to understand this verse in order to see what the psalmist is saying. God is the one who made us. He is our Creator and knows us intimately because He made us. It is like when you become a parent. When the baby enters the world, and you hold that baby in your hands for the first time, there is a bond that becomes unbreakable. You didn t know the child a moment ago, but you already love him/her. How much more would God love His creation? The psalmist also mentions that we are His sheep. Do you know what sheep are like? Sheep are easily influenced and led. Sheep are foolish and slow to learn. They are not the brightest animal. They stray and wander. Sheep don t seem to learn from past experiences. Shepherds are constantly having to watch and to guide them. So when Scripture says we are like sheep, it is implying that we are dependent on something or someone. We are God s sheep; therefore, we see that God cares for us. He has tender love towards us and protects us from external things as well as from ourselves. There are many occasions in the Bible where the image of a sheep is used. Psalm 23 says The Lord is my shepherd. He is the one that guides and leads me. In John 10, Jesus says that He is the gatekeeper and the Good Shepherd. It says that He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice (John 10:3-4). Jesus continues by saying, I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So, when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me (John 10:11-14). This is the Gospel! When we are described as sheep, it means we stray and wander; we get lost. Just like a defenseless sheep, we were ready to be devoured by the wolf. As we wander, we get caught in the barbed wire. And when we are set free, we don t learn and get caught in it again. We are like this. We are sinners that keeping falling into sin. Even when the Good Shepherd has freed us, we are like sheep who go astray, but praise God because He could have let been killed by the enemy. But God chose to send His Son, Jesus to be our Good Shepherd; to save us from our sins, to care for us, guide, lead, and protect us. 650 McNicoll Avenue, North York, Ontario, M2H 2E1 Page 6 of 9

As long as we trust our Good Shepherd, we are safe. Jesus is searching and searching for all the lost sheep. Brothers and sisters, we are sheep in need of a shepherd. We are sinners in need of a Saviour and we have found Him: Jesus. Jesus is the One who gave His life for us. Jesus is the One who saved us from sin and death by becoming the sacrificial Lamb Himself to pay for the penalty of our sins. It is by His blood we are saved. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. We are His. And we must know Him like sheep recognize the shepherd s voice. To know is not only to learn and understand, but to consider and acknowledge. We must hear Jesus voice, recognize it, and follow Him. The psalmist ends in verse 5 mentioning 3 characteristics of God: He is good, His love endures forever, and His faithfulness continues through all generations. What does it mean that God is good? The goodness of God reveals His kindness towards us. He is tender-hearted and is quick to sympathize. God s unfailing attitude towards us is open, straight-forward, and friendly. He takes holy pleasure in the happiness of His people. Every page of Scripture teaches of God s goodness. If God was not good, there would be no distinction between kindness and cruelty, or heaven and hell. God created us because He felt good in His heart and He redeemed us for the same reason. We repent of our sins not because repentance is meritorious but is a condition of receiving grace and forgiveness which God gives in His goodness. A.W. Tozer writes that The greatness of God rouses fear within us, but His goodness encourages us not to be afraid of Him. To fear and not be afraid that is the paradox of faith. Therefore, God is good, but His love also endures forever. Love is an essential attribute of God. Love wills the good of all and never wills harm or evil to any. There is no fear in love, as Apostle John writes, and love casts out fear. As we understand that God s love is like being wrapped in the safety and warmth of the arms of a mother, we get to see that His love comforts, assures, and protects us from fear and harm. The love of God is not dependent on how good we are. Though we are still sinners, God sent His beloved Son to die for our sins. He demonstrated His love for us through the blood of Christ. His love is unchanging and unfailing. Finally, the psalmist writes that God is faithful. We become unfaithful out of desire, fear, weakness, loss of interest, or because of some strong influence. But God is not affected by any of them. The faithfulness of God passes through the processes of understanding and goes on to become nourishing food for the soul. Scripture not only teaches truth, but it reveals truth put into use and action. God s faithfulness provides motivation, strength and hope to His people. It is God s faithfulness that our hope rests in. Only as He is faithful will His covenants stand and His promises be honoured. When we have complete assurance of God s faithfulness we may live in peace and joy. These are the reasons why the psalmist worships God with joy. They are not isolated traits, but these attributes of God help to remind us of Who He is that leads us to worshipping Him with joy; with confidence and satisfaction. There are many more attributes of God, but the psalmist uses God s goodness, love, and faithfulness to come before Him in joyful worship with gratitude. 650 McNicoll Avenue, North York, Ontario, M2H 2E1 Page 7 of 9

God has made us. We belong to Him. We are His sheep. Therefore, we can find joy in Him. But the phrase that hits home is that we are His people. What does that mean? It means that God has chosen us. He has chosen us to be His people. There is nothing we could have done. The only thing we could have contributed was our sinfulness. It is only by God s grace that He has chosen us to be His people. Everything that is said prior to this phrase leads up to this fundamental affirmation of God s relationship with His people. We can shout for joy and come before Him with gladness and sing joyful songs BECAUSE we are His people. No matter what you re going through, no matter the circumstances you are in, no matter how sinful you are God has chosen you out of His sovereign grace. And finally, because we are His people, we get to know and experience that the Lord is good; that His steadfast-love endures forever. We are saved from eternal death as we believe in Jesus. And He remains faithful to us. As I spent time wrestling with this psalm, I had a difficult time. As a worship pastor, you d think that this text is easy and simple. The message is clear. But to live it out is something else. It was only later in the week that God taught and convicted me. I kept asking myself, How can I be joyful always? I find myself caught up in my own concerns and the things that need to get done. How can I come before Him with a joyful heart? It is only when I remembered that my life is to reflect worship. And worship is all about God and giving Him glory. I was caught up in my own concerns and worries that I forgot to find my confidence in Him and be satisfied by His Word. What I find beautiful about Psalm 100 is that this is not a journey you take on your own. Shout for joy ALL THE EARTH. The psalmist starts by instructing the whole earth to shout for joy. But then he narrows it down to what? The people of God. The commands we find in this psalm, all the verbs in Greek are plural. There is importance is worshipping God together. We are to shout for joy, come before Him with gladness, sing joyful songs, enter His gates and His courts with thanksgiving and praise TOGETHER. That is why we gather here every Sunday. I am thankful that we are able to meet like this every week. And I find joy in Him through each of you -- especially as I stand up here and see that your worship to God is joy-filled (filled with joy). When I listen to what God is doing in your lives and hear of how you are growing in your knowledge of and obedience to Him, I praise God. Friends, we do not gather together mindlessly. We come together to obey what Scripture says. Yes, worshipping God with joy is a command. But go deeper. As you know God and know what He has done, through gratefulness, we worship Him with joy. Whether that means shouting and singing, dancing, raising hands, or even in stillness, with our hearts filled with joy, may we be a people of God who responds to Who He is and what he has done. Two applications I want to leave you with. First, spend time with God. I know it sounds simple. But we really do need to spend time with Him. Through His Word and prayer, we get to know that God is God; we get to know who He is. Apart from His Word, we cannot grow. Secondly, how are your jade plants doing? I m going to boast a little bit here. My plant is growing quite a bit. It s time to get a bigger pot! But let s not forget the purpose and reason for those jade plants. It s about discipleship. We are called to worship God in joy, love and obedience -- and the highest worship is imitation. 650 McNicoll Avenue, North York, Ontario, M2H 2E1 Page 8 of 9

The Lord is good; let us be good. He is merciful and loving; let us be merciful and loving. He is true; let us be faithful. See the beauty of God in your relationship with Him and with others. Spur one another on towards love and good deeds. And let your worship to God be joy-filled as He is your confidence and satisfaction. May you be able to rejoice always because He is our joy. Let s pray. 650 McNicoll Avenue, North York, Ontario, M2H 2E1 Page 9 of 9