Worshiping the King

Intro: Neil Marten, a member of the British Parliament, was once giving a group of his constituents a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament. During the course of the visit, the group happened to meet Lord Hailsham, then lord chancellor, wearing all the regalia of his office. Hailsham recognized Neil Marten among the group and cried, “Neil!” Not daring to question or disobey the “command,” the entire band of visitors promptly fell to their knees!

Immediate obedience inspired by a sense of awe, this should be our response to God and this short Psalm that is often called “Old Hundredth.” Psalm 100 concludes what is known to be the enthronement Psalms (95-99), which portrays God as the King above all Kings (95), The King of the Earth (96), The Majestic King (97), The King worthy of praise (98), and The Holy King (99). In Psalm 100 we see that the King is in His court and all the earth is called to worship Him! Some key words ascribed to the worshipers are Joyful, Gladness, and Thanksgiving…. The One True King the Lord our God is calling each of us to worship Him with devotion and joy in our hearts!

CPS:You and I are being called to Worship the only One worthy of worship, the King unlike any other, He is The Lord our God Who created and sustains us, He is good and faithful to all generations of people thus worthy of our worship and today I pray that we do just that…. Worship our God today and forevermore!

I. Let’s worship the Lord today and forevermore because He alone is God, the one who created and sustains us. (1-3)

A. The Call to Worship (1-2)

The word worship is defined as the expression of reverence and adoration to God. I have often heard worship explained as focusing on God and responding to Him in obedience. In this Psalm we learn that God’s desire is for all the earth to worship Him. Not a select few but all 7.9 billion people on earth! We often speak about the importance of corporate worship, the Psalmist drives home this importance as He writes “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands!” The Hebrew verb that is translated Make a joyful noise means to make a single loud shout that signals a feeling of Joyful loyalty to the Lord of the earth! One unified voice shouting “Long Live the King.”

In Israel’s history there were many kings, 1 Sam. 10:24 describes the choosing of the first king; Samuel said to the people “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? Surely there is no one like him among the people.” So all the people shouted and said “Long Live the King!” Saul was a head and shoulders taller than all the people, there was none like him in all the Land…. But there is no one like God in all the earth, He is Israel true king and He is ours too! Let’s shout with joy in our hearts “LONG LIVE THE KING” YHWH our Lord!

We are further called to serve Him, service to God means to serve as a form of worship, to minister with total devotion to God. The N.T. teaches us that in all we do we are to do it unto the Lord (Col. 3:23), some of us here today have much reason as to why we don’t serve God, but don’t worry, you are in good company! Moses stuttered, David’s armor didn’t fit, Timothy had ulcers, Hosea’s wife was a prostitute, Jacob was a liar, David had an affair, Solomon was too rich, Jesus was too poor, Abraham was too old, David was too young, Peter was afraid of death, Lazarus was dead, John was self-righteous, Naomi was a widow, Paul was a murderer, Jonah ran from God, Miriam was a gossip, Gideon doubted. Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal, Elijah was burned out, Martha was a worry-wart, Mary was lazy, Samson had long hair, and Noah got drunk! There are many reasons we don’t serve God, but none of them are good!

ILL. I read a story of an elderly lady who had the desire to serve the Lord but her health hindered her from doing most things yet she purposed in her heart that she would find something she could do, one Sunday at their church fellowship breakfast she saw that the toast needed to be buttered, so from then on out she buttered that toast to the glory of God. Each of us could butter some toast and a lot more!

Now, notice the way in which we are called to serve… with gladness! Gladness in Hebrew means to have joy, delight, it is a feeling or an attitude of happiness and cheerfulness! We are not called to serve out of a feeling of responsibility, nor are we to serve begrudged, but with Joy in our hearts and pep in our steps regardless of the circumstance we find ourselves in!

Our call is one of formal worship; we are to regularly come before Him. We have been called into the presence of God to hail Him as King, to serve Him gladly, and to sing His praises! The KJV reads “Come before his presence with singing” but your modern translations read “come before Him with joyful song!” We have the opportunity to sing praises to our Lord! It doesn’t matter how well you sing what matters is the motivation behind your singing! Love and devotion! This is again a call to corporate worship in which God is the audience looking down upon His people as they come in worship of the great and mighty King!

God is calling you to pure and undefiled worship; let us not neglect the coming together for worship of the King of kings and Lord of lords!

B. The Cause to Worship (3)

Through the Psalmist God issues a Call to worship, but He also gives us the Cause for worship, it is because He alone is God and He wants us to acknowledge Him! There are a lot of gods on this earth but there is only one true living God, all the others are dead worthless idols! The Lord reveals Himself as Elohim, the God of Power! This is the name God uses in Gen. 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. He is the God whom by the power of His will created everything out of nothingness! The world was formless and void yet God spoke to it, telling it to become heaven and earth and it did it! The world is His and of all God’s creation you are the most important to Him, you bear His image! He created you in His likeness and when the world fell into sin it was in human form that He sent His Son to die.

As creator He has ownership of us, I made a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich the other day and dared someone to touch it, it was mine. God is jealous and watches over what is His! He is like a shepherd who guards over His flock, He protects us, feeds us, nourishes us, gives us rest! Yes God is worthy and deserves our worship! Let’s acknowledge Him and purpose in our hearts today and forevermore to worship Him alone!

II. Let’s worship the Lord today and forevermore because He is good and His steadfast love and faithfulness endures! (4-5)

A. The Call to Worship (4)

This Psalm is believed to have been sung as the Israelites enfettered into the Temple complex, this context tells us they came to pray and worship their true King with a blood sacrifice. The entire Bible teaches us the only way to approach God is through the blood of the Lamb. Though called it is only the redeemed who can worship Him. During the Old Testament times the worshiper brought their sacrifice and slaughtered and butchered it himself, as the sacrifice was being made they were to be reminded of their sin. Hebrews 10:3“But in the sacrifice there is a reminder of sins year after year.” As they separated the organs the priest caught the blood and their conscience would bear guilt that it should have been them that died and not the offering. This would bear a flood of emotions especially gratitude! Thus, they entered into His gates with Thanksgiving! In Hebrew thanksgiving means a confession of thanks! This is the idea of speaking personal praises to God for what He has done. He has allowed substitutionary atonement on top of the fact that every blessing of life comes from Him!

Furthermore, the call to worship includes coming into His court, the inner place of Hisrealm with praise! In the O.T. only the High priest could enter into this place and live, yet all the earth is called through His gates and into His court to give praise. Praise in Hebrew means to express adoration, our love and reverence to Him! Again the Psalmist issues a call to be thankful and now to bless His name! To bless means to speak of His excellent name. YHWH, the I am… presentence God who calls us out of darkness and into His presence! What once was allowed only by the High Priest is now granted to every man, woman, and child of God by Grace through faith in Jesus because we have a more superior High Priest and a greater sacrifice than that of Old Testament times… The Lamb of God, His Son whom came to take away the sin of the world! His is the only blood sacrifice that makes complete atonement forevermore!

B. The Cause to Worship (5)

We have been called to worship and the cause for our worship is the goodness of God. Can you see the cross in this text? Goodness is the very nature of God and in Hebrew goodness means desirable. When God created you He placed in you a desire to know Him, that is why every man has a god, something that he worships. But only the LORD is the true living God and He is so good that He calls evil man to turn their eyes, heart, and mind to Him. Psalm 34:8 tells us “O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is he that trusteth in Him.” The Psalmist then bears witness to the goodness of God!

“His mercy is everlasting!” in Hebrew mercy is the noun ḥě·sěḏ, it means Loyal love. This is the closet Hebrew word to describe the New Testament word agapaō. This is the Love that God had for the world that caused Him to send His only begotten Son, Jesus to die for the sins world so that through faith in Him the world could be saved. This is the merciful love of God demonstrated while yet we were sinner Christ died for us! Now notice how long this ḥě·sěḏ last, forevermore! God’s mercy is His unfailing kindness, His steadfast love for His people that sent Jesus into this world to die the death we deserve so that we can gain access to His presence! As If that wasn’t enough of a cause to worship, the Psalmist speaks of His faithfulness that endures to all generations. Even when we are unfaithful God is faithful, even when we are unlovable God loves us!

Con:For these reasons we worship Him with joyful shouts, glad songs, with thanksgiving and praise because only He would endure our unfaithfulness and downright evil, we have a King a great and mighty King who we must acknowledge as LORD over all, who has the power to create and destroy yet because of His goodness He doesn’t repay evil with evil but through faith evil with goodness, mercy, and a faithfulness that endures forever.

Invitation:You have been called to worship, will you fall to your knees today and focus on God our King and worship Him right now, this very moment and purpose in your heart to do so forevermore!