Shouting Joy

Introduction

The leaves have peaked, fallen off and the temperatures have plummeted. We have turned the corner and gone from the beginning of Fall to a downhill race to the holiday season. We are in November and a season of Thanksgiving has begun. It is a great opportunity to look at a Psalm of Giving Thanks. The best Psalm I know about giving thanks is Psalm 100. We are going to begin a journey into this Psalm. I hope it will show you a fresh way to look at these familiar verses and give you concrete ways of giving thanks. We will look at only the first two verses of this beloved passage today.

Psalm 100:1–2 NIV84

1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

Giving Thanks with a Shout

What do you shout at or shout about? We shout at a lot of things. We shout at ballgames. We shout at concerts. We shout at our neighbors. We shout in arguments. We shout in times of danger. We shout sometimes when we are angry. Many of you have shouted in a time of battle. We may shout with others and we may shout alone. Do we ever shout in worship?

We have several Bible passages that command us to shout in worship. Most of them are in the Psalms. I have given you a list in the outline down in the application section you can look up on your own. I do want to highlight a couple here this morning in addition to what we see in our text.

Psalm 66:1 NIV84

1 Shout with joy to God, all the earth!

Psalm 98:4 NIV84

4 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;

Psalm 98:6 NIV84

6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn— shout for joy before the Lord, the King.

Interestingly, this last verse include a trumpet and the blast from a ram’s horn.

Remember where else that occured? In the Battle of Jericho, when the people were commanded to march around the city, Joshua gave instructions about shouting.

Joshua 6:10 NIV84

10 But Joshua had commanded the people, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!”

Then, later on in that same chapter, we see what happened:

Joshua 6:20 NIV84

20 When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city.

Shout for What?

What is it that all of these passages telling us to shout? They all are telling us to shout for joy. The phrase in Hebrew is just one word, ruwa. It sounds like a cheer from a Saturday afternoon football game. It means to shout is triumph or shout in applause. Joy is closely related to gladness and happiness. In fact, we will talk more about the word gladness as it appears in our passage later on. Joy is more than an emotion, it is a state of being. It is the result of a choice. It is one of the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22 (NIV84)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Having joy is a part of the experience of being a Christian.

Shout to Who?

I shout for joy, but who do I shout to? The Psalmist says, “Shout for joy to the Lord!” How many times do you think the Bible has the words, “The Lord” in it? It is mentioned 7817 times in 6694 verses. The very first instance of it is found in Genesis 2:4

Genesis 2:4 (NIV84)

4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens—

“The Lord” is repeated throughout scripture as it describes the Lord’s desire to restore His people with salvation through His great love!

I fully understand that! When I think about the goodness of God and all He has done for me, my soul cries out Hallelujah! I once was lost, but now I am found! Can you shout hallelujah? I shout for joy to the Lord! Where does this shout for joy come from?

Shout from Where?

It is the responsibility of all the earth. The Bible tells us that the earth belongs to the Lord.

1 Corinthians 10:26 NIV84

26 for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”

It is only natural for the earth and everything in to shout out to its Maker. God desires this of all mankind, to worship Him together!

Theologian James Smith wrote, “In the worship of the Lord all mankind regains lost unity.”

We give thanks by shouting out together the goodness of the Lord. We then give thanks with worship.

Giving Thanks with Worship

Verse 2 gives us a strong invitation to worship. Worship is an act or practice expressing devotion, reverence, and adoration towards God.

A Clear Call

It is a clear call, to worship the Lord with gladness. A great example is also found in Psalm 66:1-4

Psalm 66:1–4 NIV84

1 Shout with joy to God, all the earth! 2 Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious! 3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you. 4 All the earth bows down to you; they sing praise to you, they sing praise to your name.” Selah

The calling is clear but also is the concept.

A Clear Concept

Gladness is the feeling of great joy or pleasure.

Psalm 5:11 NIV84

11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

That also indicates to me that it is a clear choice.

A Clear Choice

God’s actions should compel us to worship Him, but we must choose to do so. Notice how Psalm 100 is surrounded by passages that remind us of this even more.

Psalm 99:1 NIV84

1 The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble; he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake.

Therefore, I should choose to worship Him.

Psalm 101:1 NIV84

1 I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will sing praise.

Indeed it is clear that we can choose, but why would a Christian be glad in giving thanks in his or her worship? The true Christian would do so because he would know that he is saved. She would know the she had been delivered once and for all from sin, forever. He or she would know that because of this deliverance, nothing can separate them from the love of God.

Therefore I will give thanks with a shout of hallelujah! I will give thanks with worship. And I will give thanks coming before Him.

Giving Thanks Coming Before Him

Come before Him with joyful songs. I need you to see three things about coming before Him.

The Everlasting Invitation

First, notice that is an everlasting invitation. The invitation always beckons us to come just as we are. There is no prepping or getting ready, just a beautiful invitation to come. Not only to come as I am, but to be ready to come all the time.

The Evolving Interest

Secondly, there is an evolving interest. I will come before Him because it is a place of great comfort. The more I am there, no matter how dirty I am, the more peace I experience. The more I come, the greater my joy!

Psalm 43:4 NIV84

4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.

My coming before Him also leads me to bring songs and music characterized by joy.

The Eternal Instinct

Thirdly, as I come before Him, there is an eternal instinct. I want to be in His presence forever!

Charles Spurgeon wrote, “The child of God works not for life, but from life: he does not work to be saved, he works because he is saved.”

Think about it this way: every nature has its instinct. If God makes a bird, it is not a problem for that bird to fly. It is in its instinct to flap its wings and fly through the air. A fish has in its instinct to swim and to do so naturally. Both the bird and the fish thrive and survive by doing what they have instinctually been called to do. God creates in His people an instinctual desire toward a spiritual nature. This spiritual nature moves the forward the things of God or keeps them away from the things that are not of God.

Remember Jesus as a boy in the temple, teaching the rabbis? His parents were frantically searching for Him and found Him in the temple. They questioned Him.

Luke 2:49 NIV84

49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”

When we come before Him, we are drawn to Him to stay. That is why we were created!

All that we are, all the we become, all that encompasses our being lead us to shout for joy to the Lord, worship Him with gladness, and come before Him with joyful songs.

As a tangible way of expressing this, I want to invite you to take part of the Lord’s Supper by giving thanks in communion.

Giving Thanks in Communion

God’s desire for us to have fellowship with Him was so great that He sent His Son, His only begotten Son Jesus, to be our atonement for all of our sins. Jesus did so willingly so we could experience the awesome holiness of God. His body was given and His blood was shed. We come to this table today to give thanks.

Shouting For What God has Done

We need to shout for what God has done.

Worshiping For Who God Is

We need to worship God for Who He is.

Coming Before Him For All God Desires

We need to come before Him for all He desires for us!

As we prepare for this time of communion, listen closely to these instructions from Paul from:

1 Corinthians 11:23–28 NIV84

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

(Pass out the elements, give thanks and partake.)

Close with I Love You Lord.