Psalm 100 • Come Before Him with Singing
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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)
And I want you to turn there to Psalm 100. You know this Psalm well. We use it often for giving thanks, but I would that you see it in a different light this evening. One of the figures that missiologists are fond of citing this day is that in this day there are more Christians alive than there are Christians who have died since the world began. That simply because of the demographics of populations expanding so rapidly that there are more Christians alive now than there are Christians who have died since the world began. If those figures are accurate and what you begin to perceive is that the choirs that will sing of God are swelling now in a way that is unprecedented in the world's history, then when we say the words of the Psalm, "Shout for joy to the Lord all the earth," we recognize we are part of a chorus such as this world has never known. Heaven's ranks are swelling rapidly. But if that is the case because the population statistics are expanding so rapidly, it is also true that there are greater numbers of those who do not know the Lord than ever before. And so it makes the Psalm not only a reason to give thanks, but to take courage for the task at hand. For it is ultimately a great psalm of God's purpose that all the earth would praise Him. The Psalmist writes, "Shout for joy to the Lord all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us and we are His. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations." He was a third-generation communist. His father for 45 years, a leader of the Communist Party in Peru. And he himself had become General Secretary of the Communist Youth Party of Peru, loving to taunt the Christian missionaries with the futility and silliness of their faith. But as he was one evening seeking to, by compulsory methods, force a 17-year-old young man into his Communist Youth Party, the 17-year-old resisted saying, "I cannot join the Communist Youth Party of Peru because I have committed my life to Jesus Christ." When the 17-year-old said those words, the Communist Youth Leader scoffed but turned away. He had to think of those words. And some months later, when a reactionary right-wing police force of the official government began to track him down to kill him, the Communist Youth Leader took refuge with some missionaries named Marshall, who hid him while the troops hunted for him. After they had hidden him, the marshals began to express to him more of the faith. He laughed again, but came to talk every now and again until they gave him a postcard. It was a postcard from the USA. It had a teddy bear on it. And he would tell you today, in the words of Jerry Gutierrez,
"That teddy bear broke my back." Because the postcard was sent to him by a young woman, a 12-year-old in the United States, who had received a prayer letter from the marshals asking that she pray, and other Christians around this country, for this third-generation Communist Youth Leader. And when Jerry saw the postcard from the 12-year-old with the teddy bear, he broke and he bent his knee and called Jesus Lord. You all recognize many of you the name Jerry Gutierrez, his ministry here. His ministry later in Washington DC, as international ambassadors, became part of his ministry. And as he would occasionally then return to the nation of Peru with a bulletproof vest and under armed guard to lead decades later, national prayer breakfast. And now he's gone back again, you know why, no longer for glory, but to lead an orphanage for those who have been made orphans by the work of extreme Communists over decades in Peru. What made it happen? I don't mean what made Jerry change. I mean what made the 12-year-old write the letter that broke his back spiritually? Wondrous truths that we might all understand and claim. They are so basic in this psalm that we have memorized from our youth, many of us.
To me the very core of the psalm is the third verse, not simply because it's center, but because it has the heart of the gospel in it. The simple explanation of the wonder of divine love. Look at the words, "Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture." Here's the message, "He created us, he made us, he created us, and then after he created us, he claimed us. We are his and having claimed us, he cares for us. For he shepherds us all along the way here and eternally,
making us the sheep of his pasture. He created us and knowing all about our failures in the light of his own handiwork and our behalf, he still claims us as his own and cares for us." Those words are so familiar to you. I wonder if you perceive the wonder of it and maybe you can't until you take the first portion of that verse and the last and jam them together to see how unlikely are these truths. "He is God." And then three times we are told, "And we are his, his people and his sheep." He is God. He is high, holy, lifted up, the sovereign creator God, infinite in magnitude, glory and majesty. He is God. And yet we are his. There is wonder in the expression that you perhaps only see when you recognize your own weakness, fragility and sin and still to be able to say, "Though he knows me, he calls me his own." He's God and he still calls me his. There is wonder in that divine love. I saw it, heard it in the voice of a young man in my office some years ago when he came not in joy but in deep contrition because what he was saying was that he had committed great sin. He and I had worked together for years on a difficulty in his life, a lifestyle that he recognized the scriptures condemn. And through wonderful work of the Lord in his life, he had made wonderful progress leaving so much of that behind him. But then pressures came into his life in business and at church and in his family and seeking some escape, some release despite all the progress, he stumbled again. He fell deeply and he fell hard into that sin. And he came now confessing it but through the tears of his sorrow there was glistening this amazement at the same time. The words he said were these. He said, "Brian, I have betrayed you and all that you tried to do to help me. I have failed God and yet since the time of my sin again, what God has done is this. He has moved me to another business, a place that has taken me away from the temptations that called to me so much. He's taken me to another church where I have people that I can really tell my heart to and they are strengthening me and helping me. Beyond that, because of the nature of my sin after God had brought me so far for the first time in my life, my sin repulses even me. For the first time the thing that attacks me doesn't attract me anymore.
From the moment of my sin where I betrayed you and failed God since that moment all God has been doing is blessing me and blessing me and blessing me." He said, "It's not supposed to work that way, is it?" And I had the joy of saying to him what I reminded you of this morning when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us. Not according to the righteous works that we have done but according to His mercy. It is His mercy all. He saves us because He is God and He calls us His own. Not on the basis of our righteousness, not on the basis of our goodness, not on the basis of our accomplishment or having reached some level. He loves us and that's the wonder, the absolute wonder of a God who knows all about us and still calls us His own. I caught a piece of that wonder this past fall when I went to preach at the church I grew up in in Memphis. And because I was preaching there my sister who still attends there was asked to sing the solo. And when she began just the first few measures of the song even when I heard the intro I looked up and caught her eye and she mine because I knew what she was doing. She was singing a song that we had heard played on the phonograph time and time again as we were growing up because my mother played it so often she she at times struggled to be happy and in her struggle she would play a song sung by George Beverly Shea, Billy Graham's song leader and soloist over and over. Oh the wonder of it all.
Just to think that God loves me. It is the wonder. It is the heart wrenching joy singing wonder of divine love that He is God and we are His. And to that wonder of divine love the Psalmist adds this joy as well. The joy of divine service. It's where the Psalmist opens telling us what is additional cause for our rejoicing. He says shout for joy to the Lord all the earth worship the Lord with gladness come before Him with joyful songs. Now you all recognize what is here. Here are three imperatives followed by the adjectives of what is to be done. Shout in this way with joy sing with gladness and worship God. Now there are really two ways of looking at those words. One is purely grammatical and to say what you have is you have this imperative followed by this adjectival understanding of how the action is to be done.
Do it and do it right. You are to shout with joy and worship with gladness and come before Him with joyful songs. The difficulty with that is that even though it makes grammatical sense it doesn't make human sense. After all you can command an action but how do you command an attitude to go with it.
If one of my children has been a bit piney all day and I have had it up to you know somewhere in here with the whining I may look to my child and I will say now enough of that. I want you to take that frown and turn it upside down and I don't want to hear any more of this.
Now my child may in fact smile but I don't kid myself that's what he or she is feeling. I can command an action but not an attitude. So when God says to us shout for joy worship with gladness is God really commanding us to do something that we do not feel. That wouldn't be good for us or for Him. There must be some other human explanation given what we are like and of course the explanation follows that it is the service itself that brings the joy.
That in divine service in the shouting the joy comes praising God for what He is and what He has done in worshiping Him the gladness follows the joyful songs are the necessary train of the worship of God for who He is and what He has done that He is God and we are His. Do you know that? That when we have filled our hands with the service that is His our own hearts begin to rejoice in ways that we can't even explain. You must know it for your joy cannot be full without the purposes of God before you. When I was pastoring a little church in a rural town
we tried one of those evangelism methods that are supposed to be surefire successes that would make us grow and prosper. I must tell you it did not work very well
and we got a lot of criticism for even trying. There was one particular couple in our church.
I'm trying to think how I can charitably describe them.
Well they were just sour pusses I mean. I mean I wonder if you know the kind of people I'm talking about it was like they were baptized in lemon juice. I mean it was just nothing would make them happy and the fact that we were seeking to reach out and to evangelize and knock on doors they said please don't do this. Other people in town will think we're hurting for members and it was even worse when after having surveyed gone through hundreds of homes in this little town no one came except one couple
who were living together without benefit of marriage in a VW van. They were the ones that came.
Oh no and now you know we heard it. We heard it as a session. I heard as a pastor. How could you get people like this to come to our church. I mean they don't dress well they're not married. All these problems that they're going to bring into our church and finally after taking all the heat for so long I know one of the elders went to them and said now listen we know that you're upset about this but you know you can help the situation a little bit. Why don't you hire the young man of this couple. You're older and you know you need some painting around the house and the gutters cleaned up and he needs a little bit of money. Why don't you just hire him and maybe they can get some better clothes and maybe in this way you can help them and they can help you and
well the couple thought about that for a little bit and they thought well maybe that would be okay.
The young man came to help the older couple.
Talk with them. Work for them. Receive their money. Bought better clothes.
Was hired the next week and the next week and the next week. Before we knew it there was this wonderful bond established between the older and the younger couple and when ultimately that younger couple came to claim Jesus as Lord got married and brought a child to the church for God's baptism. It was the older couple who stood up with them to praise God for them and I'm telling you if anybody in the church dared now to criticize that younger couple they were going to have the older couple to deal with because they had found joy in caring for someone else and having a purpose larger than themselves. It always works that way when a church when a couple when a household will look beyond themselves and say we are part of God's eternal plan. He is working his own praise across the world through us. It's what you recognize as a church. Didn't you feel it this morning when the flags came down the center aisle here and you felt your hearts cheer to the notion that the flags of the nations would bow to the Christian flag representing Christ himself and say to yourself we are part of something larger than this. God is filling our hands with his purpose and there is joy and wonder and praise in this simply by being a part of something greater than self your own heart begin to fill with the praise of God. It is why mission is not just for people out there somewhere. It's for us when our service is God's his joy is ours as well.
And still we get frustrated at times because we don't see the results of our service. Sometimes it seems futile. We look at all the difficulty the obstacles of Satan the service of missionaries in places where their obstacles are so overwhelming and so few believe and we wonder is there any reason to continue. And the Lord answers as well not only revealing to us in this psalm the joy of divine service but for all of us ultimately the comfort of divine promise of where we are to look for the praise that truly can be ours even if our eyes cannot see results in human perspective.
Think how the psalm concludes what its climax is. There is the great praise climax verse four enter his gates with thanksgiving his courts with praise give thanks to him praise his name. But why what is the reason for all of that praise. It's the last verse for the Lord is good and his love endures forever his faithfulness continues through all generations.
When I served that little rural church despite its historicity it was time to build a new building actually because of its historicity it was just fallen down around our ears. But it was a congregation that did not have a lot of money and we did a lot of the work ourselves on building that new building. And one of the ways in which we saved a little bit of money is that we actually ran our own sound system and got somebody of my stature the preacher of the time me to actually run the wires through the rafters above the ceiling for the sound system.
And I can remember the contractor telling me what to do. He says listen when you are above the ceiling in the rafters you're going to look down beneath you here and you're going to think it looks solid like you can step out on that ceiling like it were floor like it was floor. Do not don't you dare depend on what's beneath you. You hold on to the rafters above you don't depend on what's below. You hold on to what's above.
Did you hear what the psalmist said?
Praise the Lord give him thanks. Why? Because down here everything seems fine because it's just going great because we can see how everything is. No not because of our circumstances. He points us not to the things below. He points us to God above for the Lord is good. His love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations. It is meditation upon the character of God what he will accomplish ultimately that keeps our hearts in the task of the gospel so that the gospel will spread through the ends of the earth and all will praise him. It works because of what God says about himself that he is good that his love endures forever that his faithfulness continues through all generations. You know what these truths are just simply these things above
that God is good and that he is not bound by time and that what is true about him will never change. At covenant seminary I think we got just a peek behind the heavenly curtain some years ago to these truths. We had a young man come from Singapore. He came because a college that had sent missionaries throughout Asia now for four decades was planning for him to be its next president and he needed training. The reason he was going to be the next president is that the man who was currently president was reaching an age that he could no longer run the institution.
But it was telling us the history of that man that we learned something precious.
All of you remember the movie Chariots of Fire and the story of Eric Little who for principle would not race on the Sabbath. It was wondrous what he did and the glory and the acclaim that followed but do you remember what Eric Little's goal was what he prayed the Lord would use him to do not merely run a race but do you remember what the ultimate goal of the man's life was what was it to be a missionary where? To China. He prayed that the Lord would use him and his fame and his acclaim to reach the millions of China. After the newspaper headlines had faded Eric Little did go to China just before the Japanese occupation and when the Japanese came he was interned in a concentration camp where he died. It seems so futile. Lord what are you doing? Don't you know how this man's fame and reputation could be used for you throughout the whole world. Why did you let him die? Didn't you let him die? Didn't you hear his prayer?
When Eric Little was in the concentration camp there was another man there too
from Singapore also interned as a Christian and at one point that man became so despairing of the situation of the conditions that were so awful that he went out in the yard of the concentration camp to a corner with a knife that he had smuggled in to kill himself.
When that man went out to kill himself another man walked behind him a Scotsman
and as that man prepared to take his own life the Scotsman said to him
look at the birds above the barb line as long as our hearts are set on God we are as free as they.
The Asian did not take his life.
He went on to become the president of that college that sent missionaries throughout all of Asia that now in half a century have been responsible for the conversion of millions. You tell me who was the Scotsman who spoke to him? It was Eric Little. Did God hear his prayer? Yes and the eternal God answered in the way that he knows is right because he is good and he is not bound by this time and what is true about him never changes. He is true to his purposes and he will accomplish them through us as we are faithful to him. I am not saying we will all see it in our lifetimes in our sight it will be reported in our hearing but this we know God will accomplish his purposes so that the whole earth will give him praise. God will do this through us as we are faithful. The greatest missionary movement this world has known to this date happened when a group of college students had been in a field praying for God to use them in the area of missions and a thunderstorm came up they hastened under a haystack and began to pray that God would open in their minds and hearts a commitment to world missions and he did for when they left that haystack after the thunderstorm they had one phrase that became their motto. We can if we will we can win this world for Christ this little group of college students sang it against the wind spitting against Satan and all his assault we can if we will we can if we will it should be yet the cry of this church this generation this people the stewardship campaign of this moment can God use us the obstacles are too large the world too big it can't possibly happen no listen God is good and his truth is everlasting what is true about him will never change because what is good about him is not bound by this time he will stay true to his purposes and when we believe it we shall say to we can if we will we can if we will no let's say it right he can if we will he can he can if we will for this is the promise of the sovereign God of all creation
for the whole earth shall give him praise
let's pray together
Father give us the sight of glory that makes our joy full and our resolve strong may we so trust in you and the purposes of Christ being so overwhelmed by the gospel ourselves
that we now believe you when you say you can use us
you are faithful and true make us such we pray in Jesus strong name amen