Sermon on Psalm 100
Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
You may remember from last week, that there are several categories of Psalms in the book of Psalms. Last week we studied Psalm 1, which is a Wisdom Psalm. It contains a lesson for the reader. This Psalm 100, however, is a Thanksgiving Psalm. The obvious purpose of the Psalm is to give God thanks with a song of praise and thanksgiving.
Now, ever since man began to worship God, thanksgiving was an important part of that worship. In the OT God even gave his people instructions regarding a specific thanksgiving offering. You can read about this sacrifice for instance in Lev. 7,11vv. It is quite possible in fact, that Psalm 100 was used for exactly such an occasion, at the time of offering a sacrifice. Vs 1a of the Psalm says that this is a Thanksgiving Psalm. And in vs 2b and 4a we find a call to enter the temple. This call is quite likely a call to come into the temple to offer a thanksgiving sacrifice. Psalm 100 is therefore sometimes also called an entry Psalm, meaning that the Psalm was sung by the people of Israel or a choir of priests or other individuals at the occasion of the entry into the temple for the specific purpose of offering a thanksgiving sacrifice.
Now when you read through the Psalm carefully, you will find that it has a distinct structure, a structure which must be seen and understood to properly and correctly explain the song. First of all we notice that the Psalm contains seven imperative verbal forms, that means that they are like commands: Make a noise (1b); Serve the LORD (2a); Come into his presence (2b); Know that the LORD is God (3a); Enter his gates (4a); Give thanks (4c); Bless his name (4d). You will know that the 7 is number of completeness. Furthermore, these imperatives form somewhat of a concentric circle, meaning that the middle one is the most important one, which is the one in 3a: ‘Know that the LORD, he is God!’ The whole Psalm must therefore be understood from that central and most important statement.
There is another remarkable feature to this carefully composed Psalm: it is built up out of four sections of three statements each (with the exception of vs 1a which is the title of or introduction to the Psalm). These sections are vss 1b-2, vs 3, vs 4 and vs 5. The last section is different from the others in that it does not contain a call or a command, but it gives the underlying reason for thanksgiving. To do justice to the Psalm we must explain each section separately and determine what distinguishes the one from the others. But we must also see what joins the one to the others. And to see what binds the four sections together we must find a common theme. This theme is in fact a call which combines the title of the Psalm in vs 1 with the reason given in vs 5 and it is therefore the overarching theme for the sermon this morning/afternoon:
Give thanks to the LORD for he is good!
Using this comprehensive theme we will consider the four different sections of the Psalm in the four points of the sermon. And we will see that although this Psalm is composed in a specific cultural situation and circumstance and for a specific liturgical purpose, its message and meaning are timeless and therefore this Psalm may be sung by the church of the NT as well. The words of Psalm 100 should be our words as we give thanks to God for his goodness and blessing. The points of the sermon are as follows:
- This call goes out to the whole world
- This call is based on the covenant
- This call is a call to worship
- This call is based on God’s goodness
This call goes out to the whole world
The first imperative (command) in vs 1 goes out to the whole world: ‘Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!’ ‘All the earth’ means more specifically ‘all the peoples of the world’. So not only the people of Israel are called to give thanks to the LORD God, all the people of the whole world are encouraged to do so. To see that this one verse in Psalm 100 carries quite some weight, we must realise that Psalm 100 can be seen as the concluding Psalm of a small collection of Psalms, starting with Psalm 93. This small collection can be called a collection of King-Psalms because they consistently make mention of the LORD God as the King of the world. Some do so quite clearly, others do so more implicitly. Ps 93,1 for instance speaks of the reign and the majesty of the LORD God. Ps 97,1 does the same. Ps 99,2 speaks of the LORD God being exalted over all the peoples.
Psalm 100 is no exception. Although the LORD is not called King specifically, vs 1 does indicate that this is an important element. The God of Israel lays claim not only to his own people of Israel, but to the whole earth and to all the people who inhabit it. All are called to serve the one God of heaven and earth with gladness. If we agree that the message of Psalm 100 is timeless, then this call should go out today as well. As such this one verse is a convincing incentive that the people of God of all times and all ages should be a missionary people in essence. Not just we, but all people should recognise God as the maker and maintainer of the world we live in. In our mission work and evangelism and personal witness, this is what motivates us: the world belongs to God and all who live in it and therefore all should serve the Creator with gladness.
One may ask: does the world have reason to serve the LORD with gladness? What is the reason that we will hold up to unbelieving people? First of all his saving grace in Jesus Christ our Lord, no doubt. But even when people have a hard time accepting salvation through the cross of Jesus, they should still see that without God this world would be a living hell. We should all realise that this world is the hunting ground of the devil who prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. But the only reason why this world is, in spite of that, not a living hell, is because it is the kingdom of God. God still rules the world. God is still King over this world. He sees this world groaning in the pains of childbirth. He sees the sin and devastation, but he does not abandon the world. The devil is powerful, but not all-powerful. He is not king of this world. He can not move a muscle without the King allowing him. It is only because of God’s mercy and love for his creation, that the world still exists and that people still have the chance and the opportunity to turn to him for entry into the perfect kingdom.
So evil does not have free reign. The LORD reigns. And therefore the world indeed has reason to serve the LORD. If it were not for him and his patience, there would be no world to live in and no opportunity or time to find him. That being said, brs and srs, we must remember that this time is limited. I think of the words which Moses was to speak to Pharaoh (Ex 7,16): ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, ‘Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.’ One day the children of God will be called from the wilderness of this world to serve the LORD with gladness in his perfect kingdom. Let us use our time wisely and actively call all the earth to serve the LORD so that many more will be saved and may serve the LORD with us.
This call is based on the covenant
In vs 3, the second of three statements, the address of the Psalm is narrowed down to the people of Israel only. Some feel that the whole Psalm addresses all the earth, but in vs 3c the people of God are singled out and they are exclusive called the sheep of the pasture of God. Therefore the imperative of vs 3a, which is the fourth one and therefore the most important and central one of the seven imperatives in the Psalm, is addressed to the people of God.
The use of words in vs 3, ‘The LORD, he is God!’, reminds us of the history of Elijah on Mount Carmel. During the reign of king Ahab, Elijah challenged the king and the people of Israel to a contest. Both he and the priests of Baal would build an altar and sacrifice a bull on it. The god who would answer their prayer with fire from heaven, would be the true and only god. When the people heard the terms of the challenge they agreed. ‘It is well spoken,’, they said. And you know how the story goes. The children will remember this too. The priests of Baal prayed for hours on end. They cut themselves to the point where the blood gushed out of them. When Baal did not answer they raved on for several more hours. But there was no answer. Then came Elijah. He spoke a short prayer and then, we read in 1 Ki 18, 38-39: ‘The fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.’ And do you remember how the people responded to that awesome display of power? ‘They fell on their faces and said: the LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God!’
Do you see, brs and srs, exactly the same words as in vs 3a of Ps 100! That is what the people of God must acknowledge time and again. That is what is the most important profession of faith. Only God is God. There is no one else, there is nothing else. Only God cares for his people. God will not share his worship with anyone else. And why not? Because he has made his people. That is what it says in 3b. He made us and therefore we are his. The NKJV translates incorrectly. The NKJV reads: ‘He made us, and not we ourselves.’ It should read, with the ESV: ‘He made us, and we are his.’ In the Hebrew there is only one letter the difference, but it is a significant difference. The point is not that we have not made ourselves. That is too obvious, also for the people of the OT. The point is rather that, because we are of God, God lays claim to us rightfully.
Furthermore, the words ‘he made us’ should not only make us think of God’s creative work, but also of God’s redemptive work in history, his choice to make a covenant with his people. Many texts in the OT indicate this. For instance in Isa 43,1: ‘But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.’ Those are covenantal words. God has created man and chosen a people from all the people who he created. And he has consequently committed himself to that people to care for it and to redeem it.
And so, not only the world has all the reason to worship God and serve him. His covenant people have all the more reason to do so! God has redeemed them. They have received his promises and they enjoy his love and care. They can not but thank him for this privilege. For there is no reason why they would be any better than all the other peoples of the world. They have nothing to commend themselves to God. It is only because of God’s grace, that he chose a people, this particular people of Israel, to go the way to the coming of the Messiah.
In our time the Messiah has come. We are not in the same position as the people of God in the OT in that respect. The Messiah will not come from our midst. When he comes he will come from heaven, on the clouds of heaven, for the second and final time. But the church of the NT is still the covenant people. We may still enjoy the promise of God’s love and care. We still graze in the pasture of God’s love, as says vs 3c. But our time is different in that our Shepherd is Jesus Christ. In John 10 we find that he is the Good Shepherd who gave his life for his flock. We may live because Jesus died for us. For that we give our LORD God thanks, today, and every day of our lives. We must give him thanks, for we are his. Jesus Christ has bought us with his blood. Let us see more of this in our third point.
This call is a call to worship
Vs 4 is the third triplet of statements. It calls the people of God to worship in the temple. This verse is the reason why this Psalm is sometimes called an entry Psalm. As the people entered through the gates of the temple and walked onto the outer courts, they would sing this Psalm in anticipation of the thanksgiving sacrifice that would be offered.
The temple of God is of course the place of worship in the OT. There the priests sacrificed animals, many tens of hundreds of thousands of them. Daily the blood of animals was shed as atoning sacrifices for the sins of the people of God.
Nowadays, in the time of the NT, we no longer go to the temple. The temple offerings and rituals have come to an end as they are fulfilled in Jesus Christ our Lord, the Good Shepherd. So, when it comes to applying this verse to the time of the new covenant, we quickly say that nowadays we do not go to the temple anymore, instead we go to church. That is where we now offer our worship. That is where we go to give thanks to the LORD, like on this Sunday, today.
However, this is essentially incorrect. We must be careful to explain and apply the Bible to our time correctly and not make easy connections because they may sound plausible. I mean this: of course it is true that the people of Israel worshipped in the temple and that we worship in the church, they are both centres of worship. But there is also a crucial difference between temple and church. Yet, the church is not the fulfilment of the temple, Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of the temple! Everything in the temple spoke of Jesus Christ. Most importantly the sacrifices foreshadowed the one sacrifice of the Lamb which was slaughtered to give us life. But not only what happened in the temple, the temple building itself was also a symbol. It was the symbol of the presence of God in the midst of his people. In the temple was the ark, in the most holy room. Therefore the temple was the place where people would go to meet God. That was in fact the only place where people were allowed to bring sacrifices to God.
But now there is no temple anymore. Does that mean that God is not in our midst anymore? Of course he is! He is in our midst in Jesus Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God makes all the difference. Remember one of the names of the Messiah: Immanuel, God with us. God dwells in our hearts, is with us, through the Holy Spirit who is poured out over the church after Jesus Christ ascended into heaven. That is why we should say: we do not go to the temple anymore, but we go to Jesus Christ!
And why is that such a crucial difference? Well, because of it, we do not have to go to Jerusalem to worship God. We can worship our Lord and God anywhere in the world. Of course, part of worshipping our Lord Jesus is meeting with his people in church and worshipping with them. But the point is that going to church is only part of our daily worship and thanksgiving. We do not thank God by only bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving in the temple or by coming to church, but by offering our whole lives to him as a thanksgiving offering. And not just on the Sunday, but also on the Monday and on the Tuesday and on every day of the week, all the days are the Lord’s Days. In other words, our lives in the time after Pentecost are so much richer than in the OT. We live lives of thankfulness for our Lord and God. We will love him and our neighbour more than ourselves. We will obey him and follow him always.
In Rom 12,1 the apostle Paul says: ‘I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.’ We present our bodies to God, that is our spiritual worship. We do not only bring something extra to church to put in the collection bag. We serve God with all our might, always. That is the relevance of realising that the temple building and the temple service is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We may live spiritual lives because he now lives in us and we in him. And that is why we offer our whole lives to him in worship.
This call is based on God’s goodness
Because our whole lives belong to God, we can also safely say that we worship and serve God with all our material wealth and health. That brings us to the final section of three statements in vs 5. This one gives the reason for the thankfulness owed to God. It is God’s goodness as demonstrated in his continuous love and faithfulness. God follows his covenant people with his goodness. The words ‘steadfast love’ and ‘faithfulness to all generations’ are covenantal words again. They are used very often in the context of God’s covenant with his people. This means that God has not only chosen a people for himself, but he has also promised to care for it.
And that he has done through Jesus Christ his Son. He has proven his faithfulness in that he has done according to his promise. He has sent the Messiah so that everyone who believes in him will live forever and will not perish. When we come to church to thank God for his goodness, we thank him for his Son Jesus Christ who lives in us through his Holy Spirit. Those who believe have no fear, but only peace. Those who believe do not despair, for they have hope. Those who believe will not suffer forever, for they may enter the perfect kingdom of God. For this we give God thanks. God is good is for us indeed.
Furthermore, God gives us material things to enjoy. He gives us much more in this country than we really need. And because we serve and worship our LORD with gladness, we will use his gifts as good stewards of the things which are entrusted to us. We will not be greedy. We will not live our lives and do our work just to get more things or bigger things or better things. As good stewards we know that we must seek our treasures in heaven where God is. We will give of our riches as God has given us what was most precious to him, his only Son. We will be generous, as the Lord Jesus has not held on to his glorious place in heaven, but has humbled himself and taken the form of a man to save us from eternal damnation.
Conclusion
If we truly want to do what Paul says we must, that is offer God our spiritual worship, then we must lead spiritual lives. Remember the overarching vs of this Psalm: Know that the LORD, he is God! If we live by this profession of faith, we will make time for God, and not only for work and family. We will make time to consciously live with God. Remember, that this is our spiritual worship, this is our true thanksgiving offering. We offer God our hearts, because God’s heart goes out to us in his Son Jesus Christ. Amen.