Ingredients for Worship: Gladness & Thanksgiving
Psalm 100
by Jim Westmoreland
I hope that everyone had a good Thanksgiving. A little boy came home from kindergarten eager to tell what he'd learned about the Pilgrims. He explained, "They sailed across the ocean to find freedom in America. And their boat was called the 'Cauliflower'!" It sounds like he was also getting to know some of his vegetables!
This is one of the years when we have a Sunday between Thanksgiving and the first Sunday of Advent. Last week, we began thinking about the ingredients of worship and looked at the relationship of trusting fully in God and the instruction to tell others how God has made a difference in our lives. Worship is essentially understood as something we do. Its meaning comes from its verb form. Worship is not a feeling, an attitude or state of mind. It is the conscious, willful, decision to make God the center of our lives. So, when we really trust God, we often go against the flow of prevailing culture to do what is right. And, when we really believe that God is the source of Life and worthy of our worship, we naturally want others to know about Him, His love and His concern for the needs of all, especially the poor and underprivileged.
This week the Psalmist tells us two more things about worship, which I summarize as “do it with gladness” and “do it with thanksgiving.” Hear the word of the Lord from the 100th Psalm:
“1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come into his presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he that made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him, bless his name.
5 For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures for ever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.”
Think about gladness as you look back at the first three verses. Gladness is associated with making a joyful noise, with singing, with knowing that the Lord is God. Have you ever had a pet that was part of the family. I know that some of you do because you have brought them to our Pet Blessing service the first Sunday of October. We can learn some things from our pets about what it means to trust in God and to be glad in His presence.
A sick man turned to his doctor, as he was preparing to leave the examination room and said, "Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side." Very quietly, the doctor said, "I don't know." You don't know? You, a Christian man, do not know what is on the other side?" The doctor was holding the handle of the door; on the other side of which came a sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness. Turning to the patient, the doctor said, "Did you notice my dog? He's never been in this room before. He didn't know what was inside. He knew nothing except that his master was here, and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear. I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing...I know my Master is there and that is enough."
When there is joy and gladness in your heart, there is energy, there is singing, there is vision. When we long for the presence of God, we discover that worship is not a place, and it is not a time, but worship is where God is. We eagerly go through the door to be with Him. A lot of the worship that God calls us to is to follow Him into the world. There, we are to show His love, to care for the needs of others, and to be His people in the world.
When we look at both the Old and New Testaments we see varieties of worship rituals, ways to express outwardly what is going on inside of us. But, Micah reminds us that true worship is to do justice, love mercy and to walk humbly with God. Jesus lets us know that we are worshiping Him and doing things for Him when we care for the sick, the poor and needy and visit people who are in prison. Being glad in our worship means gladly going where Jesus goes and doing what Jesus does. Worship changes our priorities, and it is not about convenience and comfort levels. All of that changes when our focus is on a loving Lord who is worthy of our praise and fills our hearts with gladness to be with Him and to do His will. Whether we have gone through a door before and know what is on the other side or not, it is enough to know that God is there, and He calls us to follow Him.
The second ingredient of worship is thanksgiving. This is not about making a list of all the things you are glad you have and saying “thanks.” When the psalmist says to “enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name,” he is leading us up to telling us why to do all of these things. And he tells us in vs. 5, “For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”
For me the key understanding of God’s relationship with us is
contained in the words translated “steadfast love.” Edwin Good,
reviewing Nelson Glueck’s scholarly work Hesed in the Bible,
says that the Hebrew word hesed has to do with conduct and is
extremely important in defining covenants. Its meaning
includes covenantal faithfulness and abiding loyalty and love.
Why does my worship include thanksgiving? Because God has made an everlasting covenant with me and, in spite of all my missteps, in spite of my getting off the mark, He is faithful. He does not give up on me. “His steadfast love endures forever.”
Think of all the promises that we make to each other. Parents to children, children to parents, brothers, sisters, friends, employee-employer, husband and wife. Many of these we actually call covenants. Now, remember that a covenant is not the words we say, but the conduct that we demonstrate. The covenant is what we do and how we act. When we confess our faith in Christ we covenant to be His disciple. What is important is not what we say but what we do.
When God made His covenant with Abraham, He covenanted to be their God and the children of Israel covenanted to be God’s people. As God’s people, they would be a light and a blessing to the nations. This has always been part of God’s plan and purpose for His people, including the church. When we come into the church we covenant together to give ourselves to the ministry of the work of the church.
Thanksgiving describes my worship because I am deeply thankful and grateful that God is faithful. He doesn’t forget or make excuse. His faithfulness is to all generations.
God has fully shown his covenant love for each of us by sending His Son, Jesus, to demonstrate His love for us by dying because of our sins. Jesus’ death on the cross reminds us again and again of God’s faithfulness.
The Archbishop of Paris once stood in the pulpit of Notre Dame Cathedral. He was there to preach a sermon, and his sermon was built around a single story. Thirty years earlier, he told, there were three young tourists who had come into this very cathedral. All of the young men were rough, rude, and cynical persons, who thought that all religion was a racket. Two of these men dared a third to go into the confessional box and make a made-up confession to the priest. The two bet that the third young man did not have the nerve to do as they dared.
The third young man went into the confessional box and tried to fool the priest. But the priest knew that what the young man was saying was a lie. There was a tone of arrogance in the young man's voice - which could not go without notice. After hearing the confession, the priest told the young man his penance. The priest said, "Very well, my son. Every confession requires a penance, and this is yours. I ask you to go into the chapel, stand before the crucifix, look into the face of the crucified Christ and say, 'All this you did for me, and I don't give a (darn)!' "
The young man staggered out of the confessional to his friends, bragging that he had done as they dared. The other two young men insisted that he finish the performance by doing the penance. This young man made his way into the chapel, stood before the crucifix, looked up into the face of Christ and began, "All this you did for me and I ... I ... I don't ... I don't give a ...." At this point in the story, the archbishop leaned over the pulpit and said, "I was that young man!"
That's the miracle of the cross. When we begin to understand the
love on the cross, which is God’s hesed, steadfast love for us,
we want to change our relationship with God. We cannot
remain the same, anymore. We want God at the center of our
lives, again.
When we genuinely want God at the center of our lives, we are ready to worship. Remember, worship is not a feeling or an attitude, it is something that we do. We worship the Lord with gladness because He is our master and our God, and we want to be where He is and do what He leads us to do. We worship with thanksgiving, not because of the things we have, but because God has chosen to love us with a steadfast and everlasting love that doesn’t quit, and His faithfulness to all generations.
Trust, witness, gladness and thanksgiving. When we put all of those ingredients into our worship, into the things that we do, it will change our lives! Amen.
Century Christian Church, November 25, 2007 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
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