When I was a boy, I grew up in a war zone. I lived halfway between Chicago and St. Louis, in the heart of baseball country. I remember many playground brawls erupting between Cardinals' fans and Cubs' fans. I remember coming home from grade school a few times with bruised knees, skinned hands, and even a bloody nose or two because I defended my beloved Cardinals. To me, rooting for the Cubs was second only to blasphemy.

One of the highlights in my life was the first time when, as a boy, I got to go to St. Louis with my folks. We drove 160 miles because we had tickets to see the Cardinals play. It was an outstanding experience, and I've been hooked on baseball ever since.

But something happened that day that puzzled me. About ten minutes before the first pitch, two couples took the seats right in front of us. Even as a boy whose eyes were on the baseball field, I couldn't help but notice that they were dressed like they were going to the opera: A couple ladies with long dresses, a couple gentlemen who were wearing sportcoats. I thought that was a bit odd.

During the game as my brothers and I would jump up and yell, I noticed the two ladies in front of us would turn around and give us looks meant to kill. Things got even worse when my brother spilled popcorn in one of the lady's pouffy hairdos. This was the 1970s. Every time we jumped up, we would get that same look.

The experience was capped off during the stretch. This was bat night, and all kids 12 and under received a 30, Adirondack baseball bat with a Cardinals logo. One of my brothers decided to step into the aisle and take a practice swing, and hit gentleman number two on the head. The apology was not graciously received, and the two couples left during the stretch just as the game was beginning to heat up.

Who, aside from the incident, behaved properly in that context? Were we as young boys, baseball fans, out of line for what we were doing? Or were those two couples in front of us out of line? Who brought the right set of expectations to the baseball game?

What's the right attitude when we come to worship God?

When you come to meet together to worship God you face a similar kind of issue. That is, how do you behave when you gather as God's people to worship? What's the right attitude?

We gain insight from an ancient hymn. It was part of Israel's hymnbook, and we have it in our Bible. It's a psalm known affectionately as the "Old OHundredth." This psalm, even though it's short, is packed tighter than a German sausage with insights as to how you and I are supposed to conduct ourselves when we worship the Lord.

This is a praise psalm. Praise psalms tend to alternate between giving us instruction on how to call to by the cause or the reason. That's what happens in this psalm. Verses 1 and 2 give us the how. Verse 3 says, "here's why." Verse 4 gives another call to worship, and tells you how to do it. Then verse 5 goes back again and gives you the why.

Psalm 100 says, "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, 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."

How do you behave when you come together to worship? Verse 4 mentions entering his gates and his courts. The picture is of an Old Testament Israelite, a worshiper, coming through the temple gates and into the courts of the temple complex where the people were gathered to worship. This psalm is about people gathering together, and it's instruction on how those people ought to worship.

What are they supposed to do? Verse 1 says, "Shout for joy." This is an interesting command, because it was used as a battle cry. In Joshua chapter 6, we can read a great story about how Israel marched around the city of Jericho. Joshua 6:16 tells us the people were supposed to shout. That same word is used here. It's a battle cry. So when people get together, there ought to be some shouting.

Verse 2: "Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs." Literally, it's a cry of joy or a song of joy. You start to get the picture that when God's people get together to worship God there ought to be enthusiasm and excitement. Some of you may be thinking, But I was taught we were supposed to be quiet for worship; if we're going to be reverent before the Lord, we need to be silent.

I've heard a choir anthem that says, "The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him." That comes out of Habakkuk 2:20. I got the surprise of my life when I began reading Habakkuk 2 and realized God was not talking to worshipers. He was talking to an enemy nation, a group of people who were about to receive God's judgment. God said, "I want you to be quiet, because I am about to exact judgment upon you."

Certainly, in Psalms there must be some statements about silence that will help guide us in our worship. I once went through the psalms and looked at every reference that talked about silence. I got another surprise. Most of the time in the psalms when it talks about silence, it is in the context of judgment and death.

One reference is Psalm 115:17: "It is not the dead who praise the Lord, those who go down to silence; it is we who extol the Lord, both now and forevermore." Almost every place it talks about silence is not in the context of worship; it's in the context of judgment and death. It is something negative.

Does that mean that silence is inappropriate in our worship? No, there are times when we need to be silent to listen. There are times when we need to be silent to reflect on what we've read and what we've learned. The goal is that once we're done with that, we can cut loose in exuberance and in enthusiasm.

We often tell our kids to be quiet. It's the one thing they learn after coming to church. They finally get it, and they're silent. They come and say and do nothing.

I watch some of you on Friday and Saturday nights at athletic events. You're excited! You're exuberant. You're cheering and yelling and animated. Then you come to church on Sunday morning and collectively slip into a coma. Somehow we get the impression that's worship. Silence may be appropriate in some situations, but if you want to be biblical, these psalms call us to enthusiasm, excitement, and exuberance when we gather to worship.

What kind of a joyful noise are we to make?

Yes, we make a joyful noise, but what kind of a noise? What's the content of that? Verse 4 says, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving."

You go to a church picnic, and a lady named Susan makes this wonderful peach pie that melts in your mouth. You go to her afterwards and say, "Susan, thank you for that wonderful peach pie." You know what? You have not yet given thanks in the biblical sense of the word. The word thanksgiving it pops up twice in verse 4 to give public acknowledgment. Until in a group of people you say in the presence of Susan, "I want to tell you what a wonderful peach pie Susan made. Oh, it melts in your mouth, and it's great," you have not fulfilled this command. That's how it works with God.

Let's suppose you have sent out dozens of résumés and have had hours of job interviews, and finally you land that perfect job. As you look at the circumstances, you know it was God's hand that was part of it. So in your private prayer time you say, "God, I want to thank you for providing that job." That's great. But you still haven't fulfilled this command. You haven't fulfilled it until you're in the presence of God's people and you say, "I want to tell you what God has done for me. I finally got the job I needed. It's going to provide for the family. God is the one who did it." At that point you have accomplished biblical thanksgiving: public acknowledgement, a sharing with others what God has done.

Verse 4 says not only do we enter his gates with thanksgiving, but we enter his courts with praise. There's a word that means you're excited about this person or product, and you boast about it. Priscilla and I have a friend who bought a Bernina sewing machine, the MBenz of sewing machines. She was excited. To listen to her boast you would have thought this sewing machine was the greatest thing since running water.

The Bible says when we come to worship, we ought to be excitedly boasting. This God we serve is worthy of our praise, our excited boasting. The songs we sing often give us an opportunity to do that.

Then, in case we've missed it, the psalm says, "Give thanks to him and praise his name." It's repeated for us again.

Why be enthusiastic in our worship?

There are probably days when we come to church and we don't feel like giving that kind of enthusiasm. If you don't feel like worshiping, if you're not sure you've got that level of enthusiasm, then what's going to be the driving force that will bring it? Let's go back to the "why" section of this psalm.

Verse 3 says, "Know that the Lord is God." The word Lord is in all capital letters. Whenever that pops up in your Old Testament, that's the personal name of God, Yahweh. Know that Y personal name for G God. It is he who made us, and we are his.

We're his people. We're the sheep of his pasture. He cares for us. He's the one who created us. He knows everything about us. That's a reason to be excited about God.

If that's not enough, go on to verse 5: "For the Lord is good." That has become one of the most precious parts of this psalm for me. Maybe that's because as a pastor I often have to deal with fallout. I deal with people every week who have experienced a lot of bad at the hands of other people, people who should have been good to them. Sometimes it breaks my heart when people leave my office.

I've shed tears with people older than I am who have told me stories about how as children they have experienced evil at the hands of a parent or a loved one. I am so thankful the God I serve is not like that; he is a God who is good, whom I can trust, who's never going to hurt me. That's the kind of God we serve. I can get excited about that.

Then verse 5 says, "And his love endures forever." That word love could be the most important word in the Old Testament. Some of your Bibles translate it as lovingkindness. Some translate it as mercy. I like to translate that as loyal love because it is a word. On the one hand, it describes God has affection and passion for us as his people. The other side is a covenant word. Some people translate it as covenant love. It has a commitment aspect to it, staying power. Not only does God have a feeling for us, but he has a commitment he will not break.

To help you grasp this word, let me tell you something about the ancient Israelites. The Israelites were bird watchers. They didn't have binoculars and a blue, tattered copy of Birds of Southern Palestine. But they loved to watch birds, and as they watched birds they observed some they liked and some they found disgusting.

One of the birds they found disgusting was the ostrich. The ostrich would lay its eggs anywhere, even out in the middle of a pathway. The ostrich was fast, but that was part of the problem. As soon as trouble came, the ostrich would run. The Israelites were annoyed by that.

There was another bird that they admired: the stork. They admired the stork because when it laid its eggs it put them in a nest on top of a tree or in the crags of a cliff. Then the stork would stay with its eggs. Even if another predator came, the stork stayed. The stork stuck it out.

The Hebrews took this word loyal love and they changed a couple of letters and used it to form a name for that bird. This word loyal love is the Hebrew word hesed. They called the stork a hasidah, because they were so enthralled with the staying power of that bird. This word says that God has affection for you, but he also has a commitment that will never let you go.

I can get excited about worshiping a God like that.

Finally in verse 5, we learn his faithfulness continues through all generations. This concept appears in Ruth 4:16. In describing Naomi and the grandson born to her Ruth, it says Naomi became faithful to that baby. She was his nurse. She was faithful to him.

That concept is also used for the pillars in the temple. The picture is of security and support, that when everything is going on, those pillars are going to hold up that . This is the picture of God: when we get in tough situations and even when we are unfaithful, God is still there. He is there to support us.

I enjoy Louis L'Amour novels, especially the ones about the Sackets, a family of western gunslingers and cowboys. The thing about the Sackets that intrigues me is when one of the Sackets got in trouble, the rest came running. The rest were faithful. That is the characteristic of this God we serve.

When you come on Sunday morning and you don't feel like worshiping, what should you do? Don't try to get up for worship; that doesn't work. On the Sunday mornings I come and don't feel like there are days like I do not try to get up for worship. I don't try to whip up some emotion so I can look like I'm doing what I'm supposed to do.

The best thing I've found is to reflect on the character of God.

Do you see why worship should be so enthusiastic? Do you see why God tells us not to be silent but to come and shout for joy? Worship should be an enthusiastic response to God because the God we serve is awesome.

Steven D. Mathewson is senior pastor of Dry Creek Bible Church in Belgrade, Montana..

 

(c) Steven D. Mathewson

Preaching Today Tape #183

www.PreachingTodaySermons.com

A resource of Christianity Today International

 

For Additional Preaching Today Resources:

www.preachingtoday.com

Perfect web site for Pastors! Get sermon illustrations, relevant articles, preaching tips, and more!

 

 

 

Steve Mathewson is senior pastor of CrossLife Evangelical Free Church in Libertyville, lllinois. He is also director of the doctor of ministry program at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon.