Psalm 100 - An attitude of thankfulness

Introduction

Spurgeon said this “Think that is a better thing than thanksgiving: thanks-living. How is this to be done? By a general cheerfulness of manner, by an obedience to the command of Him by whose mercy we live, by a perpetual, constant delighting of ourselves in the Lord, and by a submission of our desires to His will.”

Moody said this “Several years ago, I wrote the following prayer to help remind me that, as D.L. Moody said, “I am so thankful that I have a joy that the world can not rob me of…a treasure that the world cannot take from me…” No matter what we face, we have God with us.”

The further our country gets away from God the more unthankful it seems we are. One of the signs of the last days is unthankfulness. As a Christian we should be the most thankful people out there.

This morning I want to look at 5ways in Psalm 100 to show our thankfulness to the Lord.

Sing unto the Lord vs. 1 and vs. 2b

One of the best ways for us to show that we are thankful is by our singing! The bible tells us to make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

Psalm 95:1 “O come, let us sing unto the Lord: Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.”

Notice the Bible doesn’t tell us to make a joyful noise to our neighbor, but unto the Lord

When we sing together you’re not singing for anyone but to the Lord.

None of us are exempt from singing

The Bible says all ye lands, which means the whole earth should be making a joyful noise to the Lord!

When the Bible tells us to make a joyful noise it means to shout joyfully

Notice the Bible doesn’t say make a good noise, it just says joyful.

When we come to the singing part of our service we should sing with all our might to show our thankfulness for who God is and what he has done for us!

We ought to come before the throne of God singing praises to him, We are literally reading their song book that they would use in temple worship.

Serve the Lord with gladness vs. 2a

Serving the Lord is a great privilege and we should look at it that way!

We don’t have to sing, we get to sing

We don’t have to teach Sunday school, we get to teach Sunday school

We don’t have to come to church, we get to come to church

When we change our heart and our mind from having to serve the lord to getting to serve the Lord we will have a much more thankful heart.

The way we look at serving the Lord matters

2 Corinthians 9:7 “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

When we give to the lord we have the opportunity to give of our time, talents and treasure and we serve him by using those for his glory!

Know who God is vs. 3, 5

The Lord is God

Know that He is the one who made us

Psalm 95:6 “O come, let us worship and bow down: Let us kneel before the Lord our maker.”

Psalm 119:73 “ Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: Give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.”

Psalm 138:8 “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: Forsake not the works of thine own hands.”

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Know that we don’t belong to ourselves

We live in a world who believes “my body, my choice” but that is opposite to what the Bible teaches.

The Bible shows us that we show our thankfulness to God by understanding that he made us and we don’t belong to ourselves

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

“The sense of this command is: Learn without question that Jehovah is the Creator God”

We are his people

The moment we get saved we are one of God’s people, but before we get saved we are the enemy of God.

I’m thankful that we are engrafted in to the family of God.

We are the sheep of his pasture

Psalm 23:1–2 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.”

We are sheep in need of a shepherd and the Lord is the Good shepherd

John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”

Isaiah 40:11 “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with his arm, And carry them in his bosom, And shall gently lead those that are with young.”

The Lord is Good

Psalm 34:8 “O taste and see that the Lord is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”

The Lord is merciful

Psalm 36:5 “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; And thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.”

Lamentations 3:22–23 “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

The Lord is truth

Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the father but by me

Thank him vs. 4a vs. 4c

This one seems like the simplest way to show God that we are thankful, but I believe it is often the most disregarded

Most of the time when we pray we spend vey little time thanking God for what he has done in our lives.

We find ourselves bringing a laundry list of requests, but forget to thank God for the things he has already done.

When we come into the throne of God, we should come with a thankful heart for all the things God has done for us.

Be thankful and bless his name

Psalm 95:2 “Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, And make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.”

Psalm 95:7 “For he is our God; And we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,”

We should bless the name of the Lord for all he has done for us

Praise Him vs. 4b

Praise- To extol in words or song; to magnify; to glorify on account of perfections or excellent works.

When is the last time we praised the lord for his goodness and mercy?

God is worth of all glory, honor and praise!

Conclusion

As we think about the month of November and thanksgiving coming up, let do our best to show our gratitude to the Lord this year

“We need to discover all over again that worship is natural to the Christian, as it was to the godly Israelites who wrote the psalms, and that the habit of celebrating the greatness and graciousness of God yields an endless flow of thankfulness, joy, and zeal.” –J.I. Packer