Entering His Courts
Psalms 100
March 7, 2021
In the late 1990’s a church called “Soul Survivor” in Watford, England had appeared to grow stale in their song services.
• In response the pastor temporarily suspended the use of all instruments and sound equipment.
• He simply asked the congregation, “When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as an offering to God?”
• One of the members noted the embarrassing silence to that question. This same member wrote a song seeking to express what he learned from that period. https://www.crosswalk.com/church/worship/song-story-matt-redmans-the-heart-of-worship-1253122.html
The song is called: “The Heart of Worship”
And in it Matt Redman writes:
When the music fades; All is stripped away, And I simply come;
Longing just to bring Something that’s of worth, That will bless Your heart
I’ll bring You more than a song, For a song in itself Is not what You have required
You search much deeper within Through the way things appear
You’re looking into my heart
I’m coming back to the heart of worship, And it’s all about You, it’s all about You, Jesus
I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it ,When it’s all about You, it’s all about You, Jesus
Redman’s song expresses a personal awakening
That is often needed among the people of God.
Even in the Old Testament we run up against this reality time after time;
• Namely that the people of God had forgotten God
• And their worship had become routine, apathetic, and even sinful.
The greatest error in all of that
Was not just that worship may have lost its excitement,
But that it became clear that God was actually offended by it.
Isaiah 1:11-15 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts? “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies — I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”
TURN TO: Malachi 1:6-14
God saw their worship as a burden, not a blessing.
• God was frustrated by the lack of honor He received
• In fact He had grown to hate worship just as much as they did.
Other times in Scripture we see a tremendous apathy break out
When the call to worship God actually
Became seen as UNWELCOMED INTERRUPTION into life.
For example:
Amos 8:4-6 “Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land, 5 saying, “When will the new moon be over, So that we may sell grain, And the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market, To make the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger, And to cheat with dishonest scales, So as to buy the helpless for money And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”
These people saw the Sabbath requirements
As a real interruption into their daily objectives.
One of the passages I find most interesting in this is found in Jeremiah.
TURN TO: JEREMIAH 17:19-27
• If you’re familiar with the book of Jeremiah you know that judgment is eminent.
• God has outlined all kinds of sin against His people, not the least of which was
idolatry, child-sacrifice, licentiousness, and blatant worldliness.
What is interesting is that in Jeremiah 17 God actually gives the people of Jerusalem a sort of opportunity at redemption.
Read (19-27)
Here it is all about the Sabbath, which of course was the day set aside for worship of the LORD.
Now breaking the Sabbath was hardly their only sin.
• However, God promised that if they would get that one right He would
relinquish on His threats of destroying the city.
In short, God was looking for people
Who understood the goal and purpose of worship.
He would even overlook their many moral flaws
If they would simply return in a genuine heart of worship.
Of course they did not, and they were destroyed.
That is NOT to say that God did not care about all those other sins;
• He most certainly did.
• But it is to point out that perhaps at the root of all those sins was a lack of love
for God and desire for worship.
Perhaps if they would have gotten their worship corrected
The other issues might have fallen into line as well.
WORSHIP MATTERS
It matters to God and so it certainly matters to us.
AND IN OUR WORSHIP
We must continually return to the question of our motive in all of this.
We must continually consider purpose of our appearing
Imagine a bereaved family who has just lost a loved one.
• You know the drill. People will cook food and take it to the family as an expression of compassion and love.
• Suppose you make a lasagna and take it by the house.
• Only when you get there you find they are already eating a lasagna that someone else made.
• So you say, “Well if you’re going to eat that lasagna and not mine, I’m just taking mine home. Here I went to all this trouble and y’all don’t even appreciate it.”
We might call that missing the point of why you visited in the first place.
Imagine a baby shower or a wedding shower
• And you go and buy a gift that is on the registry and attend the shower.
• And then after the mother or the bride opens the gift you give her a receipt and ask her to reimburse you for the gift you brought.
We might also call that missing the point of attending a shower.
Now imagine a worship service
• Scheduled for the purpose of glorifying God and giving thanks to Him for all that He has done.
• But you show up in a bad mood and are upset the songs aren’t the songs you wanted to sing and it takes entirely too long and the thermostat is set too high or low, and so you grumble and complain at how miserable it was to have to be there today.
We might also call that missing the point of attending a worship service.
We are talking about the purpose of appearing.
WHY DID YOU GO?
Isaiah 58:3 “Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And drive hard all your workers.”
It is the needed reminder that worship is not about us, but is all about Him.
• We don’t come here for our glory or fame or even enjoyment.
• We come here for His glory and fame and enjoyment.
We enter this place to delight the heart of God.
We enter this place to tell God how great He is.
We enter this place to tell God how grateful we are.
We enter this place to focus on Him and give Him all our attention.
WE COME HERE TO WORSHIP.
Psalms 100 is a simple and yet profound Psalm that remarkably captures both the expression of worship and the depth of why it occurs.
It is a wonderful reminder and BLUEPRINT
For what every worship service ought to be.
We’re going to break it down into 3 points tonight.
#1 APPROACHING GOD
Psalms 100:1-2
Here we are talking about when we “Come before Him”
• Now certainly we know that God is omniscient and so in one sense we are always before Him.
• But the idea here is when we come to that point that we are setting aside our other distractions and duties that we might intentionally present ourselves before God for the purpose of worship.
There are some words that jump out at us in these first two verses.
We see the PARTICULARS.
“Shout” – “Serve” – “Singing”
And we see the ATTITUDE behind each of these actions.
“Joyfully” – “with gladness” – “joyful”
There are proper actions which occur
And there are proper attitudes when they occur.
To miss either is to fail to approach God correctly.
If you refuse to shout, serve, or sing
Or if you do it without joy or gladness then you are missing the point.
The Psalmist says:
“Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.”
This is a famous line in the Psalms.
If you read the KJV it says, “Make a joyful noise”
Derek Kidner commented on that:
“The joyful noise is not the special contribution of the tone-deaf, still less of the convivial, but the equivalent in worship to the homage-shout or fanfare to a king.”
(Kidner, Derek [Kidner Classic Commentaries; Psalms 73-150; IVP Academic; Downers Grove, IL; 2008] pg. 388)
As Kidner point out, often times this verse is quoted as the cop-out
For the person who can’t sing on tune.
“Well you know the Bible says to make a joyful noise to the Lord,
So y’all bear with me while I sing.”
This verse isn’t a copout for justifying a minimal effort.
Rather the idea here is enthusiasm and joy and cheering!
We’ve all been in sports stadiums where fans cheer with excitement not just at a good play, but even when a favorite athlete is announced.
The political world has seen the massive Trump Rallies that have taken place with massive crowds that will impromptu start yelling “We Love You!”
If an athlete can receive it… If a politician can receive it…
Then certainly the God of the universe is worthy of it.
He deserves a joyful shout!
The Psalmist continues:
“Serve the LORD with gladness;”
We never forget that service is an integral part of worship.
Romans 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
And it is a service with “gladness” even eagerness.
We read about JACOB and his pursuit of Rachel.
Genesis 29:20 “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her.”
Should we not be able to say the same in our service for the Lord?
Or would we be more like those priests in Malachi who disdainfully sniff at the sacrifice and say “my how tiresome it is”?
We all love it as a parent
• When we ask one of our kids to clean their room or fold their clothes or do the
dishes
• And we get back that shrug and sigh as though we just asked them to rewire
the attic.
God deserves service and He deserves that it gladly done.
And the Psalmist adds:
“Come before Him with joyful singing.”
WHY?
• Because apparently God likes “joyful singing”.
• And no other reason is really needed.
• God even an inspired a song book with 150 entries so that His people would have something to sing.
It is simply what God desires.
When you put all these three together,
It essentially boils down to the attitude.
What is your attitude when you come before Him?
• Do you want to be here?
• Are you happy about it?
• Are you glad to be able to be in a worship service?
Because throughout the Scripture we find that
When the people aren’t glad to be there,
God doesn’t want to be there either.
Things like bitterness and grumbling and complaining
Are NOT things that we see God smiling upon in Scripture.
1 Corinthians 10:6-10 “Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY.” Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.”
Do you notice that Paul put grumbling on the same level as idolatry, sexually immorality, and testing God?
Attitude matters to God.
When you approach God in worship, do so with a good attitude.
• Shout joyfully
• Serve gladly
• Sing joyfully
Approaching God
#2 APPREHENDING GOD
Psalms 100:3
This is such a powerful verse
And one that could be pondered and chewed on for hours.
But it carries the idea that in worship
You take a moment and contemplate who you are approaching.
• You are not standing before some athlete…
• You are not standing before some politician…
• You are approaching the God of the universe.
• The One that filled Moses with fear and trembling at Mt. Sinai…
• The One that caused Isaiah to cry “Woe is me!”
• The One that sent fire from the altar to consume Aaron’s sons…
• The One that struck Uzza dead for irreverence…
• Also the One who said “Let there be light”
• The One who delivered Israel out of Egypt with a mighty hand
• The One who met their every need in the wilderness
• The One whose glory drove the priests out of the tabernacle
• For us the One who sent His Son to die for our sins
It carries with it the perspective we gained last week
When we read “Holy is He.”
Who are you approaching?
Well the Psalmist here gives you a truth to chew on.
“Know that the LORD Himself is God;”
When we come to worship, we are approaching God.
Isaiah 44:6-8 “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me. ‘Who is like Me? Let him proclaim and declare it; Yes, let him recount it to Me in order, From the time that I established the ancient nation. And let them declare to them the things that are coming And the events that are going to take place. ‘Do not tremble and do not be afraid; Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it? And you are My witnesses. Is there any God besides Me, Or is there any other Rock? I know of none.'”
Isaiah 45:5-6 “I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other,”
Isaiah 45:21 “Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me.”
And as Isaiah also said,
• He is the God who poured out the oceans in the hollow of His hand.
• He is the God who measured the heavens by the span.
He is the God who reminded Job that
• He alone knows the storehouses of the snow and hail.
• He is the God who contains the sea.
• He is the God who holds all things in place.
One of the things we love about attending church is the fellowship.
When we come in fellowship we come as ABSOLUTE EQUALS.
Paul told us that in Christ “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.”
We are equals and we approach each other as equals.
But when we come to worship
We are approaching One who is not our equal.
WE ARE APPROACHING GOD.
Certainly there is an idea here of humility and submission.
BUT EVEN MORE SPECIFICALLY
The Psalmist points out something else we should know.
“It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
One of the commentaries I read pointed out the difficulty in this translation.
He points out that the word for “not” and the word “His”
Have a very similar sound in their pronunciation.
More likely the translation is “It is He who has made us and we are His; His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
Really either way, the focus is on this.
• God made us
• We did not make God
• We belong to God
• We are His possession
As our maker He holds total autonomy over
Our design, or ability, our duty, and our use.
We have often said it that He is the potter, we are the clay.
Romans 9:20 “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?”
I shared with a person last week a passage I like to share with youth; understanding the struggles and frustrations that many youth feel.
(When you are a youth it’s tempting to think that the only thing that matters is athletics and so if you’re not an athlete you feel like an outcast)
So I like to remind youth that they were not created
To play sports or even make good grades. (Those things are fine)
They were created for the glory of God
And to accomplish the specific thing He created them for.
Psalms 139:13-16 “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.”
Every human would do well to camp in that passage for a while.
Do you see that your creation was not accidental?
Words like “formed” and “wove”.
• There was a definite method to your creation.
He says “fearfully and wonderfully made”
• Which speaks of an intentional and meticulous design.
• Are you tall?
• Are you short?
• Are you skinny?
• Are you big boned?
It’s not a mistake, you were designed.
I remember at one youth camp seeing a young man with a massive blue birthmark that covered half of his face.
• Some might even call that a “birth defect”,
• As though God just haphazardly threw a bunch of parts together without care.
Let me remind you for a moment about Moses.
• When God wanted to send Moses back to Pharaoh to save His people you
remember that Moses felt totally incompetent and argued with God.
• Most remember that one of Moses’ complaints was that he had a stutter.
Exodus 4:10-11 “Then Moses said to the LORD, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” The LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?”
Are we to believe that Moses stuttering was a “birth defect”
Or was it by design?
God knew all about Moses problem.
God created him that way.
WHY?
I don’t know.
• Perhaps it was a way in which God humbled Moses.
• God certainly humbled Jacob by putting his hip out of socket.
• Perhaps it was to demonstrated God’s great power through stuttering lips like when God gave Paul a thorn in the flesh.
• Perhaps Pharaoh knew about Moses stuttering and was amazed that he would speak?
• Maybe someone else in Israel stuttered and that made them more willing to listen to Moses.
I don’t know.
But God did, and it wasn’t an accident.
Remember this guy?
John 9:1-3 “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
Not an accident.
Created fearfully and wonderfully for the glory of God.
Now, the sooner you grasp that the more fulfillment your life will be.
• I don’t care if you can throw a 125 mph fastball,
• YOU WERE NOT CREATED TO BE A BASEBALL PLAYER.
• I don’t care if you can run an 8 second 100 meter,
• YOU WERE NOT CREATED TO RUN TRACK
• I don’t care if you can sing like a bird,
• YOU WERE NOT CREATED TO BE A SINGER
YOU WERE CREATED FOR THE GLORY OF GOD
• Now you might play baseball for the glory of God (Jim Abbott did)
• Or you might run for the glory of God (Eric Liddell did)
• You might sing for the glory of God (Many do)
Paul said:
Colossians 3:17 “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”
But you were created for God.
YOU WERE CREATED BY HIM AND FOR HIM.
1 Corinthians 8:6 “yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”
So that means when you come to worship,
You are approaching the One who created you for Himself.
You are coming home to your Creator.
You are appearing before Him to do what you were most designed to do.
WORSHIP
“It is He who created us, and not we are ourselves;”
“We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
By Him and for Him
Remember what God told the children of Israel?
Exodus 19:5 “Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine;”
God saved them to be His; to be “My own possession”
The church shares that distinction:
1 Peter 2:9-10 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION,A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”
We are His people a people for His possession.
Do you understand why God was so angry then when His people would go worship other gods?
• Those were His people!
• What were they doing acting like they were Baal’s people?
• That is why it is so often referred to as adultery.
• That was His wife, what is she doing with another lover?
WE ARE HIS
Created by Him
Created for Him
It is important to understand that.
• It is not about us here.
• It is about Him.
It is NOT about Him shouting over us, or singing over us, or serving us.
It is NOT about our pleasure or our purposes.
We come here before our Creator
To render the worship we were designed to give.
We are pots coming before the Potter
We are here for His enjoyment, use, and glory.
Approaching God, Apprehending God
#3 APPRECIATING GOD
Psalms 100:4-5
Here the Psalmist had an INVITATION of sorts.
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.”
And instantly we remember that not just anyone was allowed to enter those gates or those courts.
• There were places that Gentiles couldn’t go.
• There were places that women couldn’t go.
• There were places that laymen couldn’t go.
• There were places that no man could go.
And so when you were privileged to enter,
You should enter with “thanksgiving” and “praise”.
And especially us now because by the blood of Jesus we can draw near all the way into the most holy place.
Hebrews 10:19-22 “Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
What a blessing that now we can come near.
There are those who can’t.
Revelation 21:27 “and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
• Do we not often read about those who will be shut outside where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth?
And even the corporate worship that now occurs on earth.
Might I remind you what a privilege it is?
• Might I remind you of the protective bubble that exists over the congregation of
God’s people?
• In fact, when a brother sins, what is the most severe punishment that the
church inflicts upon that brother who will not repent?
• He is removed from the blessing of the fellowship.
1 Corinthians 5:5 “I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”
Worship is a privilege.
(IF COVID TAUGHT US NOTHING ELSE, IT TAUGHT US THIS)
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.”
• You are God’s people because He chose you to be God’s people…
• You are here because He granted you the privilege of being here…
• This is not a burden, this is a blessing!
And the Psalmist reminds again of WHY God deserves such thanksgiving.
(5) “For the LORD is good;”
He is; we aren’t; and yet He still bids us come.
• He is good
• He is loyal
• He is faithful
We are none of those things
And yet He still welcomes us into His presence.
Psalms 103:8-14 “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.”
He is good to us.
The Psalmist says:
“His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.”
It never ends.
He never stops.
That also answers the question then of when our worship should end.
Revelation 4:8 “And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME.”
Worship is the official duty of heaven.
Shouting, Serving, Singing
• In heaven there will be NO EVANGELISM for all will be saved.
• In heaven there will be NO PREACHING for all will know fully.
• In heaven there will be NO MARRIAGE for we are like angels.
• In heaven there will be NO LABOR for we rest from our labors.
• In heaven there will be NO BENEVOLENCE for there will be no poor.
But one thing remains: WORSHIP
That means that you never have a truer taste of heaven on earth
Than when you worship God.
It is that important.
And it must be done right.
So I would remind you again of why you are here.
• We approach God joyfully,
• Contemplating who He is,
• And gratefully participating in the worship He deserves.
And this is true every time we assemble together.
