A Call to Worship (Psalm 100)- Pastor Kenneth Collins Maple

Take your copy of God's Word, or if you need

one, there should be one there in front of you

in the pew back, and open up to Psalm 100. Psalm

100. And as you turn there, you're going to hear

that Psalm 100 is a very special Psalm in the

life of this church. And as we have several former

pastors of this church, no doubt, At least one,

maybe two, or maybe three have preached on Psalm

100. But even as it is so great to have preachers

who have preached on this, we must remember first

and foremost, friends, this is God's word. And

so let's read it now. Psalm 100, a psalm of giving

thanks, a joy toward all the earth, serve the

Lord with gladness, come into his presence with

singing. Know that the Lord, he is God. It is

he who made us and we are his. We are his people

and the sheep of his pasture. Thanksgiving and

his courts with praise to him. Bless his name.

For the Lord is good. His steadfast love endures

forever. and his faithfulness to all generations.

This is God's word. Let us pray. Heavenly Father,

we come before you this evening gathered as your

people with your word spread before us. And we

ask, Lord, for your help. We ask for your illumination

of this text that we might rightly understand

it. and apply it in worshiping you, Father, Son,

and Holy Spirit. For we pray it in the name of

Christ. Amen. The founders of Fairview Presbyterian

Church came to America in search of a place to

worship. And they came as Presbyterians from

Antrim County, Ireland. And where they settled

eventually, it's right here. And right here has

been called by some God's acre over the hill,

especially referring to the cemetery. But can

you think of a better place to be than God's

acre? I cannot. It's a pretty good place. And

their first actions upon arriving here showcase

for us that this place was always meant to be

a place of worship and prayer. Hear this from

our very own history book. Nightfall found foot

sore and weary beside a bold spring of ice cold

water issuing from a rung rocks and the roots

of an immense tulip or poplar tree. Here in this

green spot the tired guides kindled the first

campfire to have a cheery blaze when the others

came up to indulge in rest. The brothers retired

apart on the eastern hillside and joined hands

in solemn covenant with God and each other. After

prayer, they repeated a psalm and singing old

hundredth went down to camp. Did you hear that?

These brothers who came here, these founders

of the church, they came here weary from their

travel and yet they would not eat and they would

not sleep under the stars until they had prayed

and praised God with the very psalm that we look

at tonight. But why this one? Why Psalm 100 over

16 years ago? When I came to this church as the

very part -time youth director, I wondered the

same thing, because I would see Psalm 100 on

plaques on the wall, or I would see it in the

historical building. Even for a time, it graced

the front cover of our bulletin. Why Psalm 100?

There are, after all, 150 Psalms to choose from.

So why this one? Well, for one thing, you cannot

get all of Psalm 119 on the front of a bulletin.

But even more than that, this psalm expresses

the heartbeat of our church's ancestors. They

were thankful. Psalm 100, as you look at it here,

this is the only psalm in the Psalter with the

superscript that says, a psalm for giving thanks.

Now, indeed, many Psalms do express thanksgiving,

but this one clearly does. And it's also a Psalm

about worship. As many have noted, it contains

not just one call to worship, it contains seven

calls to worship, seven imperatives, commands

for us. And tonight, I want us to look at those

and to help us understand this a little better.

Just two points this evening, one, the call to

worship and to the basis for our worship. But

as we look at this, I want to make sure that

we keep Jesus front and center, because as Christopher

Ash rightly says, it is by Jesus and only Jesus

that men and women, boys and girls can accept

the invitation of Psalm 100. To help us wrap

our minds around this, let me ask you, if you've

had an experience like I have had, have you ever

been providentially hindered from being in worship

for a time? A time when you could not be with

the rest of the congregation. Maybe you were

battling an illness for a while. Or maybe you

had moved away from your home church and you're

trying to find a new church. Or maybe you were

like me one time moving to a foreign country

and having to worship in churches where you could

not understand a single word of what was going

on. Have you had that experience? I believe that

David did because David wrote Psalm 61 that begins

like this. Hear my cry, O God. Listen to my prayer.

From the end of the earth, I call to you when

my heart is faint. lead me to the rock that is

higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a

strong tower against the enemy." Within that

Psalm, David expresses just this yearning to

be in worship, and he is for some reason kept

at a distance from Jerusalem. He's kept at a

distance from his worshipping brothers and sisters,

and he feels like he is at the very end of the

earth. Friends, to be kept from worship is a

sad and painful thing, but I don't want you to

experience that before you have understand the

sheer joy of worship. Look at verse one. Make

a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth. Friends,

Psalm 100 is a gift for those of us who have

less than stellar voices. Because all you got

to do is make a joyful noise, right? Psalm 100

is the off -key singer's favorite tune. And so

for that reason, when we get to the end of the

sermon and we get to the point where we're actually

going to sing this Psalm, sing out in joy. But

there's also this. As it says, make a joyful

noise to the Lord, it says all the earth. We

know that the Psalms were written by Israelites.

Israelite men, but it was never to be kept within

the Jews It was to be sung the Psalms were to

be sung by all people It says make this joyful

noise all the earth meaning that this psalm was

written for you This psalm was written for you

to sing To worship by this is a psalm for all

of the earth. It is a bold invitation. It is

a call to worship. Augustine said this, This

command has indeed been heard by all the earth.

Already the entire earth is shouting its joy

to the Lord, or if any part is not shouting yet,

it soon will be. For the blessing is extending

to all peoples. The church began from Jerusalem,

but as it spreads, it overthrows impiety in every

place. and builds up godliness instead. Friends,

I want you to ask yourselves today, am I a worshiper

of the one true and triune God? Am I a worshiping

individual? Is His praise on your lips? Is what

we're doing tonight the joy and purpose of your

life? For you remember the shorter catechism

the first one man's chief end is to glorify God

and to enjoy him forever and Friends God has

been faithful to have a church here making a

joyful noise glorifying and enjoying him here

for 240 years and what a gift that is isn't it

and so let me extend this invitation to you if

You do not have a church home if you do not have

a people with which to make the joyful noise.

Let it be here as God has continued to add to

our number throughout all of these decades. And

so would you be here or in your home church,

but make sure that you do. Verse two, look there,

serve the Lord with gladness. Now, typically

hear the word serve, and we think of obediently

living out our faith and that is very true. We

may think of Romans 12 here presenting our bodies

as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to

God. But I think we should also consider this

service in terms of worship. It's called a worship

service for a reason. But this also shows how

we are to serve, how we are to worship with joy

and with gladness. Spurgeon said the worship

given is not a melancholy one, as though adoration

were a funeral solemnity, but a cheery, glad

-some exhortation, as though we were bidden to

a marriage feast. This is the kind of joy we

should have as redeemed peoples, such that we

can truly come into his presence with singing.

Friends, I want you to know that we are only

here tonight singing and worshiping because of

the Lord Jesus Christ. We can only come into

the presence of God because of Jesus. And as

it says, come into his presence, this is very

literally come before his face. You can only

come before his face because of the work of Jesus

Christ that he did for you Christian. And without

Christ, we would be lost forever. We would be

unable to come into God's presence. Because you

might remember Isaiah 59 that says, our iniquities

have made a separation between us and God. Friends,

God is perfectly holy in every single possible

way. But we are fallen creatures. Every single

one of us has fallen short of the glory of God.

What does Jesus do for us? He makes a way doesn't

he or in his own words the only way to God we

have For sake he made him to be sin who knew

no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness

of God without Christ no hope Zero hope, but

in Him we have everything. And so what is the

right response to who Christ is and what He has

done for us? The right response is worship, isn't

it? It is worship, and it is to invite others

to experience that too. Because again from verse

1, this call goes out to all the earth, and does

that not remind you of some of Jesus' last Words

before He ascended to the Father, go therefore

and make what? Disciples of all nations. This

Jesus is to go out to all the world and this

call to praise Him is too. Perhaps here we should

remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter five,

Matthew five, 14 through 16. He said, You are

the light of the world, a city set on a hill.

cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp

and put it under a basket, but on a stand. And

it gives light to all in the house in the same

way. Let your light shine before others so that

they may see your good works and give glory to

your father who is in heaven. We are to be friends

that city on a hill. If that's the acre, this

is what it is the hill. So let us be a lighthouse

in which the light goes out and beckons the people

of Fountain Inn and Simpsonville and Malden and

Greenville and Gray Court to come and to worship

the triune God Let us let us have the gospel

on our lips and ready to share with people that

they might verse 4 Enter his gates with Thanksgiving

that they might enter his gates with Thanksgiving

Friends, if you are like me, far too often I

fail to give thanks. I fail to give thanks even

though God has been so good to us. We can become

impatient with him or we fail to see what he

has done for us. Friends, when I hear the word

Thanksgiving, I think about football and I think

about a big meal. Do you think about that? What

should we really be thinking about? We should

be thinking about giving thanks. And just because

I started talking about Thanksgiving here, do

you ever do the thing when you are with your

family at Thanksgiving and you get in a big circle

and maybe you hold hands and everybody says what

they're thankful for? We used to do that when

I was a kid and had a rather large family. And

I can remember thinking, when are we gonna get

done with all of this giving thanks so we can

have Thanksgiving? Do not be like that. Do not

rush through your giving of thanks, be it in

prayer, be it in worship, or in your service

to Him. And as you can see from verse four, thanksgiving

goes right along with praising, blessing His

name, verse four. Most of the time we think of

blessing. And what do we think? We think of God

blessing us. We say a blessing or we receive

a benediction. May the Lord bless you. But here

we are the ones doing the blessing, blessing

God. And this is a sign of adoration and respect.

This is what we do in worship, right? I think

here of Hebrews, which tells us to offer God

worship with reverence and awe. And so you see,

friends, we are to do all of these things, all

of these imperatives, these commands within scripture.

But you cannot miss this second point. Do not

miss the basis for our worship. Look in verse

three, as it says, know that the Lord, he is

God. The psalmist is kind of like a math teacher.

Children in here, you're in school. Does your

math teacher ever tell you, You got to show your

work, right? And here the psalmist tells us who

we are worshiping and why we are doing our work

to rightly sing, to rightly serve, to rightly

enter praise and thank people need to know him.

I wonder if you remember the time that Paul,

the apostle Paul, confronted some people on what

they did not know. Acts chapter 17, Acts 17,

Acts 17 · chapter mention Acts 17:22

verses 22 and 23. So Paul standing in the midst

of the Areopagus said, Men of Athens, I perceive

that in every way you are very religious. For

as I passed along and observed the objects of

your worship, I found also an altar with this

inscription to the unknown God. What therefore

you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

We do not have an unknown God. We have a known

God. As we've been studying in our morning services

through the book of Hebrews, we have said that

God is the God who speaks. Well, God is also

the God who is known. And so we recognize to

whom we worship, to whom we give our worship,

we do not worship blindly. I'm reminded here

of, do you ever watch sporting events in which

a team is losing pretty badly and somebody holds

up a sign and says, we believe? Happens with

most of my favorite teams. We believe in what

the text tells us and it's not a what. It's a

who know that the Lord, he is God and he is the

one true God. And this text also tells us that

he is the one who made us. We are his people,

the sheep of his pasture. Friends, he is the

creator of us all. But there may be a second

way to understand this because we should recognize

that God has been making a people for himself.

As we have seen in Hebrews recently, Jesus is

the builder of the house. Jesus is building his

church, and he said the gates of hell would not

prevail against it. Jesus continues to build

his church just like he has built this church.

And I don't mean the construction of the buildings,

I mean the people. As 1 Peter chapter two says,

once you were not a people, but now you are.

once you had not received mercy, but now you

have received mercy. But as we look at this,

we also recognize something else about our Lord,

that he is our shepherd, and we are his sheep.

Psalm 23 communicates that. John chapter 10 says,

John 10 · chapter mention

Jesus is the good shepherd, and therefore, if

you are in Christ, the good shepherd looks after

you. And the Good Shepherd protects you and feeds

you, and He goes after you when you go astray.

And Jesus, the Good Shepherd, left the 99 to

go after you and bring you back into the fold.

And this Jesus has laid down His life for us

in order that we would have everlasting life.

And I started thinking, what a great encouragement

that must have been for the founders of this

church. For we know their history. We know about

John and Samuel and David Paden, and we know

about James Alexander and James Nesbitt and their

families. We know the sort of persecution and

oppression that was happening in the British

Isles and the great ejection that happened over

there when more than 2 ,000 ministers were punted

from their pulpits, many of them being Presbyterian.

And so what did those Presbyterian ministers

do? Many of them made their way to Antrim County,

Ireland, and they stayed there for 100 years.

But then some of the same oppression came to

them. And so what did they do? They made the

brave and courageous decision to cross the pond.

And what encouragement it must have been for

them to say, we are the sheep of his pasture.

knowing all that they went through to get here.

Friends, our challenges may look different, but

the protection is still the same because Jesus

Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

And when it was time for Jesus to lay down his

life, he set his compass towards Jerusalem and

he went straight there. order to be put up on

a cross for you. Jesus is like a firefighter

then running right into the flames. Just like

Isaiah 43 2 says when you pass through the waters

I will be with you and through the rivers they

shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through

fire you shall not be burned and the flame shall

not consume you for I am the Lord your God the

Holy One of Israel your Savior. Jesus is your

Savior. And as we consider that, look at verse

five. For this tells us just a few more things

as I begin to wrap up. Firstly, the Lord is good.

The Lord is good. He is good in everything. You

remember after the creation, after each day,

what did he say about the days? They're good.

The things He had created, they're good. And

so if those things are good, if what He has created

is good, what does that say about the Creator?

Psalm 34, taste and see that the Lord is good.

He is the source of all goodness. But secondly,

He's also the source of all love. His steadfast

love endures forever. And 1 John 4 says he is

love, and in love, God sent his son to redeem

us by his covenantal, loyal love, his promised

love, his accomplished love in Jesus Christ,

and that kind of promised love, guess what? It

never runs out. It endures forever and ever for

you. And just as we do not have an unknown God,

so we do not have an unknown object of His love.

He puts His love upon His people. He puts His

love upon you, Christian. But finally, the last

line, His faithfulness, or your translation may

say truth to all generations. Friends, if you

look carefully, Psalm 100 is not the only one

that you'll find around these grounds. You'll

also find pieces of Psalm 90. You have been our

dwelling place in all generations. Friends, as

we celebrate his faithfulness here for 240 years,

we're actually celebrating something greater

than that. We are celebrating his faithfulness,

period. We are celebrating him. 1 Corinthians

1 9, God is faithful. by whom you are called

into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ

our Lord. Friends, this is who he is. He is faithful

and loving and good and worthy of our worship

today and every day. And your being in Christ

is evidence of his faithfulness because it comes

through his son. We only know these things because

of Jesus who laid down his life That you might

come into God's presence with singing and sing

forever that that you would go into his gates

Into his courts and by faith in Jesus Christ

Come in and so friends What do we say about that?

What is our response to that? It's Thanksgiving.

Let's pray