Psalm 100:1-5 | Turn Your Attention
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TEXT: Psalm 100:1-5 | Turn Your Attention
TEXT: Psalm 100:1-5 | Turn Your Attention
1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
2 Serve the Lord with gladness: Come before his presence with singing.
3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, And into his courts with praise: Be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; And his truth endureth to all generations.
ME - I love this time of the year
ME - I love this time of the year
This last week we were blessed to spend time around family and friends.
We played games, laughed, and ate a lot of food!
Now Christmas is coming!
Christmas music
Decorations
Parties
Excitement everywhere
Then we turn the corner into a new year
There is so much happening!
WE
WE
And in the midst of everything that is going on and all the glitter and lights captivating our attention, it can be easy to forget about God.
To minimize His magnitude in our lives.
You will no doubt here it said in these coming weeks, “Jesus is the reason for the season.”
And while that is certainly true, don’t forget Jesus is the reason for life all the time!
It is no wonder that the number of people who take their own life, sky rockets during the holidays.
Because we have made life all about the “things and plans” and we’ve removed the only reason for life at all: God!
So as we launch into this final month of the year, I hope you enjoy the eggnog… I hope you spend time looking at lights… I hope you cut down a tree, give away presents, and maybe collect a few for yourself…
But before any of that, I want us to turn our attention to the real meaning of this season and every season of the year.
For a few moments this morning, let’s bring our hearts together and turn them to the Lord.
And there are few passages that better help with doing that, than Psalm 100
GOD
GOD
EXPLANATION: This Psalm comes with a title to begin it, “A Psalm of praise,” and that is an adequate description.
EXPLANATION: This Psalm comes with a title to begin it, “A Psalm of praise,” and that is an adequate description.
In 5 small verses all attention is directed toward God!
16 times God is referenced.
V.1-2, 4 give our response to what we know about Him, while v.3,5 give insight into why we should respond that way.
Before we look at our response, let’s give Him first priority and just take a look for a moment at Who He is!
HE IS CREATOR
HE IS CREATOR
3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
In the first phrase of this verse we are reminded in the Hebrew that Jehovah is Elohim.
The Lord He is God!
And to further drive home this truth, the Psalmist goes to the very first attribute of God we find in the Scriptures.
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
With only the spoken word of God, after he created the earth and all that is contained in it, God spoke the word and man was formed.
And then God breathed into mans nostrils and made him a living soul.
ILLUSTRATION: My kids love to play with play dough.
ILLUSTRATION: My kids love to play with play dough.
They make all kinds of things with their creative minds.
If they really got intricate and formed a person, we would all be stunned.
But no matter how much creativity they could have, they could never make it alive.
Only God can do that!
EXPLANATION: Creator God is the only One Who gives life!
EXPLANATION: Creator God is the only One Who gives life!
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
What better way to start at drawing attention to the power and glory of God than to begin with what only He can do… Give life as Creator!
HE IS SHEPHERD
HE IS SHEPHERD
3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
ILLUSTRATION: I have had a little time with sheep.
ILLUSTRATION: I have had a little time with sheep.
Working on a sheep lamp showed just how dumb and frustrating they are.
They were constantly going where they weren’t supposed to.
They were always getting into trouble.
They would stand right in front of the tractor and nearly get run over until they were bumped by the hay bail.
Taking care of sheep was a frustrating job.
EXPLANATION: Can you imagine being God and dealing with us as His sheep.
EXPLANATION: Can you imagine being God and dealing with us as His sheep.
Constantly doing what we aren’t supposed to.
Finding ourselves in trouble and then begging for His help.
Being totally ignorant to the dangers that could destroy our life so many times.
And still, He remains our loving Shepherd.
14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
It could be today that you aren’t one of His sheep.
ILLUSTRATION: I remember a time I was working at the sheep ranch and a sheep had gotten caught in the fence.
ILLUSTRATION: I remember a time I was working at the sheep ranch and a sheep had gotten caught in the fence.
It fought and fought against me trying to get it untangled.
It tried to pull its way out of the noose it had created and just kept making it tighter and tighter.
APPLICATION: Maybe you are here today and He isn’t your Shepherd.
APPLICATION: Maybe you are here today and He isn’t your Shepherd.
You are trying to escape your sin your own way and the noose is just getting tighter.
The only way to escape is to trust in the Shepherd.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
You can trust in Him today and make Him the Shepherd of your life!
EXPLANATION: He truly is a faithful Shepherd to His sheep.
EXPLANATION: He truly is a faithful Shepherd to His sheep.
11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
HE IS CREATOR, HE IS SHEPHERD
HE IS FAITHFUL
HE IS FAITHFUL
5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; And his truth endureth to all generations.
You can almost hear the Psalmist sigh in totally fulfillment as he writes those words, “the Lord is good.”
When life is going well… the Lord is good.
When life is falling apart… the Lord is good.
When all the family is getting along… the Lord is good.
When the family can’t stand each other… the Lord is good.
When there is money in the bank for gifts… the Lord is good.
When you don’t know how to just pay the bills… the Lord is good.
In every situation, every circumstance, The Lord is Good!
And then he continues the thought… “And his mercy is everlasting.”
We have spoken often of the reality that I need the mercy of God every day and all the time
Because I do deserve judgment and pain… but God is merciful.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
In Psalm 136, 26 time, the Psalmist reminds that “His mercy endureth forever.”
No matter who you are or what you’ve done, God’s mercy is more than enough.
We often sing that song and it’s one of my favorites, “My sins they are many, His mercy is more!”
God is searching for opportunities to give mercy because that is Who He is!
He is faithful!
And because God is faithful, His Truth endures to every generation.
The Hebrew word for “truth” in v.5, is the word “emunat”
It is found 48 times in the Bible and 36 of those times it is translated into our English language as “faithful, faithfulness, or faithfully”
Emunat = Faithful / Faithfulness / Faithfully
We know according to the Scriptures that the Truth of God’s Word will never fail.
89 LAMED. For ever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.
But that isn’t what is being portrayed in this verse.
No, the Psalmist is saying that the Lord Himself is Faithful… and because that is Who He is, He will never fail!
That’s why you can do like we said last week, Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he shall direct thy paths.
Because He isn’t just defined as faithful… it is literally Who He is!
He is Faithful!
We are just scratching the surface about Who God is.
We could, and maybe should just spend the whole service pointing to the One Who is the Author and Finisher of our Faith.
But I don’t want us to miss the response we should have to Who He is.
As we turn our full attention to Him it should provoke a natural reaction
AN AUDIBLE RESPONSE
AN AUDIBLE RESPONSE
1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
2 Serve the Lord with gladness: Come before his presence with singing.
This should be a natural response, not to what God does… but to Who He is.
He is Creator, He is Shepherd, He is Faithful… and the very reality of Who He is should bring us to audibly respond!
Make a joyful noise - It literally means to shout!
It’s something that they would do as a battle cry!
ILLUSTRATION: Yesterday I watched Michigan play Ohio State in football, and I saw a few times, when someone got a tackle or someone made a good play, they would stand up afterward and celebrate.
ILLUSTRATION: Yesterday I watched Michigan play Ohio State in football, and I saw a few times, when someone got a tackle or someone made a good play, they would stand up afterward and celebrate.
EXPLANATION: Did you know the natural response to hearing about God and from His Word shouldn’t be silence?
EXPLANATION: Did you know the natural response to hearing about God and from His Word shouldn’t be silence?
We aren’t talking about being irreverent, and there are certainly cultural influences, but there should be something that stirs in your heart when we talk about God!
Sometimes you just have to let it out!
In Nehemiah, when Ezra preached the people did that by shouting, “Amen”
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: And shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: Yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, Which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
23 Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it: Shout, ye lower parts of the earth: Break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, And glorified himself in Israel.
In v.2, he says that we are to “serve the Lord with gladness”
We talked about this in James a while back, but the word “serve” brings with it the idea of “worship”
Literally your service is a worship to the Lord!
And your supposed to worshipfully serve Him with “gladness”
It literally means with joy!
So we are supposed to make a joyful noise (shout), then we are supposed to joyfully serve
31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
And then it says we are supposed to come before His presence with singing.
I’ll give you one guess what kind of singing it’s supposed to be… Joyful!
One of my favorite songs we sing around Christmas and we could sing all year long because it’s actually about Christ’s second coming is “Joy to the World!”
Christians should be the most joyful people around!
But the truth is, at most of your family gatherings this last week, your lost relatives just didn’t want to catch whatever it was you have!
Why would they want to become a Christian when you’re always sad and depressed, and worried and anxious…
I hope you understand that you are a walking Gospel if you know Christ and many times the message you are giving is anything but the Gospel!
The Gospel is the good news… but too often your mouth is filled with everything but good news!
The natural response to Who God should be a joyful, audible response!
A THANKFUL RESPONSE
A THANKFUL RESPONSE
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, And into his courts with praise: Be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
Do you know what being thankful means?
Let me break it down… it means being “full of thanks”
Gratitude ought to be the default attitude of the Christian’s life!
7 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, And tell of all thy wondrous works.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song, And will magnify him with thanksgiving.
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, And will call upon the name of the Lord.
18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;
When we truly come to the place of realizing Who God is… it will bring us to a place of thankfulness and praise to Him.
There are only two places in the scriptures when someone asked God specifically to “bless me”
One was when Jacob wrestled the angel and the second was in Jabez’s prayer.
But over and over again we find people throughout the Scriptures blessing the Lord!
20 And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the Lord your God. And all the congregation blessed the Lord God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the Lord, and the king.
7 I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel: My reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
12 My foot standeth in an even place: In the congregations will I bless the Lord.
1 I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul: And all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all his benefits:
2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, And bless the Lord.
We could go on and on… but I think the lesson we can quickly learn is we should spend a whole lot less time saying “bless me” and a lot more time saying “bless the Lord.”
Blessing God is a natural byproduct of a Thankful spirit.
YOU
YOU
Where is your attention this morning?
When is the last time you just stopped and turned your attention to the One Who is your Creator, Shepherd, and is always Faithful?
It will show in your response.
It would be good for your kids to see you audibly bless the Lord in your home.
It would be good for your family at the party to hear you audibly blessing the Lord.
It would be good in the church house for you to audibly bless the Lord!
He is so good, merciful, and faithful.
The way your respond to Who God is, could determine how someone else responds to the Gospel you are supposed to be!
ILLUSTRATION: “Poem”
ILLUSTRATION: “Poem”
Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work today
He has no feet but our feet to lead men in the way
He has no tongue but our tongue to tell men how He died
He has no help but our help to bring them to His side.
We are the only Bible the careless world will read,
We are the sinner’s gospel; we are the scoffer’s creed;
We are the Lord’s last message, given in word and deed;
What if the type is crooked? What if the print is blurred?
What if our hands are busy with other work than His?
What if our feet are walking where sin’s allurement is?
What if our tongue is speaking of things His lips would spurn?
How can we hope to help Him or welcome His return?
WE
WE
If we will turn our attention to the Lord, and who He is
If we would respond with the audible, thankful response we find in Psalm 100, we can only imagine what God could do through our lives!
So as we enter this busy season of the year… let’s start by turning our full attention to the One Who so deserves it!