INTRODUCTION

Have you ever met someone who was well-known? Perhaps someone who did something spectacular that few people ever do? I’ve had several of these individuals in my life. One thing I’ve noticed—if you know anyone like this, someone who’s done things that are amazing, it’s hard not to tell others about it. You like to tell about these people that you know who are unique. I remember one guy in particular who was a very talented athlete. When I was in high school I was part of an archery club. I learned to shoot a recurve bow and I got to the point where I would compete in archery competitions and even won some trophies. But one guy from our archery club was an incredible archer. I remember watching him hit the center of the target time after time. He eventually made it to the Olympics and competed in the archery tournaments there. But I remember when we were at these archery meets I wanted everyone to know that I knew this guy. I told everyone how he was from our archery club and told tales of things I had seen him shoot and scores that he had achieved. There was almost a sense of pride in sharing the greatness of this archer, and I was happy that we were part of the same archery club. Perhaps you have someone you know of who has done incredible things, and you just enjoy telling others about this person that you know. You enjoy praising this person.

Explanation: today we’re going to focus on praise. Just like I would praise the amazing feats of this archer with whom I competed, believers can praise the greatness of their God.

Explanation: From Psalm 100 we learn that we can praise God. The Big Idea I want you to leave with this morning is this:

Big Idea: God deserves our highest praise.

We’re going to focus on Psalm 100 and see how great our God truly is, and then we’re going to respond with praise. We’re going to be exposed to the majesty and splendor of our God. Let’s read this passage and see what it tells us about praising God. Let’s read this psalm–I’ll be using my own translation:

A psalm of thanksgiving. Shout to Yahweh all the earth. Serve Yahweh with joy; Come into His presence with joyful singing. Know that: Yahweh He is God, He has made us, and not (ourselves). We are his people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter his gates in thanksgiving, and into His court with praise. Give thanks to Him, and bless his name. Because Yahweh is good, His lovingkindness is to eternity, and his steadfastness is from generation to generation.

Big Idea: God deserves our highest praise.

Our God is a majestic God. He is a high God who is above all. This text implores believers to praise Him. This passage gives us:

Transition: two compelling reasons why God deserves our highest praise.

1. God deserves our highest praise because he is great (vs. 1-3)

Explanation: first reason . . . The writer begins here by talking about the imperative to praise God. Before we even get to the reasons we are to praise God, he begins with the admonition to praise God. Notice how he opens here—Shout to Yahweh all the earth! It’s not evident in the English, but in the Hebrew, this is a verb stem of causation—the writer is effectively saying allow yourself to be moved to shouting! I’m going to tell you something great! Kind of reminds me of a herald in the Renaissance times—they would blow a trumpet to get everyone’s attention and then announce some news. That’s what the writer is doing here! And he continues with several imperative verbs here—shout, serve, come, know. That’s another sermon in itself. But the author tells us we are to praise God—we are to shout to him, serve him, and come before him. Praise is an imperative here—we must praise God! There’s this jubilation. There’s this joyfulness! This is shouting like a fanfare for a king. This can mean “to split the ears.” There’s to be an ear-splitting shout of joy to the Lord!

Illustration: are you excited about God? Do you get excited about God? You learn who He is, or you see Him work—perhaps it’s an answer to prayer in your life, or something else that you’ve seen God do. Do you get excited? This verse tells us we’re to be excited about God. Are you excited about God? Are you joyous over who He is? Do you know what a lot of the problem is in conservative Christianity today? People are not excited about God! I ought to get an amen out of that! I said to someone just this week how that I could live with a little more vocal response from the congregation—maybe an amen or hallelujah once in a while. But there’s not enough shouting from believers today! Now I don’t mean you go down Main Street on your way home this morning with your window down shouting “hallelujah!” That’s not what we’re talking about here. But there is to be this genuine internal joy that explodes in praise!

Application: I wonder—does this characterize your life? When was the last time you just praised God? It’s so easy to get wrapped up in life, and we forget to shout joyously to God. So many times, if you’re anything like me, you come to God and you have this never-ending list of requests: “pray for him that he’ll have strength and for safety there, and Lord help her health this week; get me through this or that trial.” But we forget to just take time and praise God! This is what the psalmist tells us to do here. Shout to the Lord in praise!

Explanation: Notice the scope of this praise in verse 1—all the earth. The psalmist is claiming the world for the Lord. He’s saying “God, it’s not enough for your people to praise you, I want everyone to praise you!” What would our lives look like if we shared this desire? Perhaps we would be a little better at telling others about our great God. The psalmist continues. He says we are to serve the Lord with gladness. Did you know we’re to be happy when we serve God? It’s not a chore. We’re not to grumble or complain, we’re to serve with gladness. He says we’re to come before His presence with singing.

Explanation: This is why we sing here at our church. You may think it strange that a group of people gathers to sing—it’s getting more and more uncommon. But this is why we do it—because people who are truly joyful over God should sing!  The Psalmist says to come before Him with singing—bring praises before Him!

Explanation: And this is where the psalm writer begins to talk about God’s greatness. He tells us why we are to praise God—because of God’s greatness. Boys and girls, you can draw a picture of a Bible story that shows God’s greatness. He says we’re not only to praise God, we’re not only to shout, serve, and sing, there’s something we need to know.  This knowledge becomes the content of our shouting to the Lord, serving with gladness, and singing before Him. The writer tells us three truths about the greatness of God, and in knowing this, we should erupt with praise.

a. He is a supreme God (vs. 3)

Explanation: Look at what the Psalmist says in verse 3—know that the Lord Himself is God. The psalmist emphasizes the fact that God is supreme.

Now we live in a world of relativism and inclusivism. It’s not popular to say that our God is God alone. We live in a world of “you do you and I’ll do me”—what you believe is fine for you but let me believe however I want. Not a popular message to say that the Lord Himself is God. Even among Christians, though we accept this truth, we don’t really live that way. Because God isn’t God alone in our lives. We worship other things—our pleasure, our empty pursuits of money, or fame, or relationships—if we were honest this morning we would have to admit that although we say we believe that God is supreme—He himself is God, many times we don’t live that way!

Application: But this morning we get to remind ourselves of that and refocus our hearts and minds—our God is supreme! He is God alone! Those other gods that you may be serving in your life will not bring ultimate satisfaction and fulfillment. Don’t worship them; our God is supreme! And because our God is supreme, He deserves our highest praise! We have set aside this morning to focus on that with our Faith Promise emphasis. Never forget that God is a supreme God!

b. He is a creator God (vs. 3)

Explanation: the psalmist continues in his description of God’s greatness, and he tells us that our God is a creator God. Notice what he says in verse 3—it is he that has made us and not we ourselves. Further adding to the greatness and majesty of our God, he tells us that God is a creator, and we are not.

Application: what a crucial point the writer makes here! This doctrine, that God created the world in 6 literal days and then rested on the seventh is a doctrine that is under attack today! And it is an important doctrine!

I think it’s also under attack in the lives of many believers—how often do we act like we are the creator? And rather than listen to God, we want to “play God” in our own lives? We want to do what we want and follow our own wills and desires instead of his. The psalmist reminds us that we are not God. We are not the creator, He is. Rather than trying to do things ourselves, we need to trust the hand of our creator God.

Application: this means we need to learn patience. Sometimes we cannot see what God is doing, and we might want to do things on our own. I don’t know what’s going on in your life right now, but maybe you’re tempted to do things on your own—to not wait for God. But our God made heaven and earth. And if we serve such a God, then we can trust Him to take care of the issues we face in our lives.

The truth of the matter is there really are two ways we can life.  Jeremiah 17:5-8 is one way, emphasizing what happens when we trust ourselves.  Psalm 1 shows us what happens when we trust God.  You can see the difference.  Oftentimes our struggles are a failure to recognize God as great.  Here in this second slide you can see the drastically different outcomes from these two!  Which are you choosing?  Trusting yourself or trusting God? 

*taken from The Biblical Counseling Alliance

Our God is the creator. He is great! Because our God is the great creator:

Big Idea: God deserves our highest praise.

c. He is shepherd God (vs. 3)

Explanation: the psalmist continues in describing the greatness of God, and he tells us that our God is a shepherd God—that’s in verse 3 as well. The Psalmist says we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. What a wonderful word picture of how God cares for His children!

Illustration: Sometimes we get this picture of a shepherd and sheep a bit out of whack. We focus too much on us being sheep, rather than God as our shepherd. We talk about sheep, how they are dumb and stupid and need told what to do. But that’s not the point of this word picture. This imagery of being God’s sheep is designed to teach us about the Shepherd. The point is that God is a Shepherd God. He is a God who cares for us like we were His flock of sheep. He is a God of gentle care.

Explanation: you’re familiar with Psalm 23—The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. God is a God who cares for His children like a shepherd cares for His sheep. He is gentle; He is kind; He is tender and compassionate. He’s not a harsh dictator who forces us to do what He wants. God doesn’t sit in heaven throwing down lightning bolts when we sin, nor is He a distant God who sits up in heaven and let’s things play out on their own. Rather, He is a God who is involved in our lives and cares about us.

Application: such a God should invoke our praise. Such a God who shepherds His people and tenderly cares for them is a God in whom we can delight in! I don’t know what you may be going through this morning—perhaps is a job struggle, or a financial crisis. Maybe it’s relationship issues with a family member, or health concerns. Perhaps you’re discouraged—you feel all alone and don’t have any friends, or you don’t see any fruit in your children, or progress in your ministry. Whatever you’re going through this morning, you can turn to God, and you can rejoice in His greatness, and you can take comfort in His care! He is a shepherd! He wants your best! You can trust in the plan and the leading of your shepherd. And you can praise Him. You can rejoice—you can shout for joy at the protection of your shepherd, the ability of your creator, and the supremacy of your God. We should praise God because of His great nature.

Big Idea: God deserves our highest praise.

2. God deserves our highest praise because he is Gracious (vs. 4-5)

Explanation: God deserves our highest praise because he is great, but God also deserves our highest praise because He is gracious. He is gracious. Grace has been described as God giving us a free gift we don’t deserve. And the next few verses in our text are all about God’s grace! Verse 4 begins a new section in the text, and the psalmist again opens this section with an emphasis on praise. And as I already mentioned back with verse 1 with the word shout, the word enter is also a causative phrase—allow yourself to enter his gates with thanksgiving. First, he began in verse 1 with shouting joyously, now he continues by coming before God with praise and thanksgiving. This is the giving of adoration. The kneeling before Him is a blessing and praise. The psalmist makes it very clear that God deserves our highest praise, and we can do this because of His gracious character. Boys and girls, you can draw a picture of a Bible story that shows God’s grace. As the writer of this psalm continues, he tells us three truths about God’s graciousness for which we can praise Him.

a. He is a good God (vs. 6)

Explanation: the psalmist tells us that God is a good God. Verse 6—He says give thanks to Him, for He is good. What a blessing to know that God is good!

Illustration: This is very different from the god of some other religions. In Minnesota, even in Faribault the town I came from, we have a large Muslim community. The god of the Muslims—Allah, he is not really a good god. He isn’t loving and good, rather he is fierce and self-seeking. Many people today think this is what God is like. Even among professing believers, you’ll find that people look at all the evil in the world today and think “how can God be good?” Some have the idea that God sits in heaven delighting in tormenting us with difficulties. This is not our God. Our God is good! He is kind and loving.

Application: this idea of God being good is most difficult to comprehend when we go through difficult times. When we face trials, or evil in the world, we want to question God’s goodness. But Scripture teaches that God is good, and all He does is good. We must remember the goodness of our God. We must not forget His benevolent character.

Application: Psalm 100 teaches us of God’s goodness.It teaches us that we should praise God for His goodness.  It teaches us that God deserves our highest praise. Let us praise Him together today because He is good!

b. He is a loving God (vs. 6)

Explanation: the psalmist continues his description of God’s benevolent character. He says in verse 6 that God is a loving and merciful God—look at what he says: God’s lovingkindness is everlasting. I love the way the Hebrew language puts this—literally it’s “to eternity is His lovingkindness.”

Explanation: This idea of lovingkindness has been translated in several ways. KJV-mercy, others say steadfast love or loyal love. Some have even suggested grace. It carries the idea of God’s unconditional covenantal loyalty to His people. This passage reminds us that God is a God with dedicated love.

Application: Isn’t this so different from the love of today? People say “I love you” in such a light manner. We see all around us the effects of such shallow love in broken homes and divorce and people who have been hurt by those who said they loved them. Yet God’s love is not like this. God’s love is to eternity; His love will last longer than a lifetime. His mercy, or enduring love will never end!

Explanation: the ultimate example of God’s enduring love is seen in his sending of His Son Jesus to die on the cross. The ultimate example of God’s love is seen in the giving of His Son Jesus. The Bible tells us in John 3:16 that God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes on Him will not die, but have everlasting life. The ultimate example of God’s loyal love is seen in the sacrificial death of Jesus for our sins. The Bible tells us that we are all sinners and that the punishment for sin is death. But Jesus took our punishment through His death on the cross, and if we believe in Him we will be saved and have eternal life.

Application: This is God’s mercy. This is God’s lovingkindness talked about in this Psalm! His loyal love is available to you this morning! If you have never believed in Jesus and experienced His love you can do that this morning! If you’ve already received God’s lovingkindness—that is you’ve believed on Jesus to save you from your sins, they you can praise Him for this! You’ve personally experienced God’s lovingkindness, and you can praise Him for it!

c. He is a faithful God (vs. 6)

Explanation: So the psalmist wants us to praise God for his graciousness. He tells us that God is a good God, God is a loving God, but last, we learn that God is a faithful God—again this is in verse 6: his faithfulness to all generations. This idea of faithful refers to God’s firmness, or stability. God is a God in whom we can trust and depend on. Psalm 61:3 tells us that God is a refuge; He is a strong tower. He is someone in whom we can trust; in whom we can find security; He is someone who is faithful.

Illustration: I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a tornado or hurricane. I remember the tornado that came through the town we lived in back in 2018. But it came through, and we didn’t have a basement in our house, so we needed some protection. So we came up to the church and hid in the back stairwell. It was the twins birthday and we were in the middle of eating birthday cake, so we brought it with us and we ate birthday cake in the stairwell in the dark because the electricity was out.

Application: When the storms of life come, God is our shelter. He is someone we can rely on. Our God is faithful. In a world of unfaithful people, we can find our God as a rock of stability and protection. We can look to our God as someone who will always be there. Scripture says that God will never leave us or forsake us. He is a faithful God! We can trust our faithful God. We should praise Him for His graciousness. God deserves our highest praise!

CONCLUSION

This morning we were exposed to the majesty of our God. We saw our God’s greatness—that He is supreme, he is a creator, and he is our shepherd. We saw our God’s graciousness in that He is good, loving, and faithful. Because of all of this, we should praise Him for His majesty! But what does this look like? What would this look like in our lives? Let me give you a few next steps:

1) Praise God in your personal life

If my God is so great in His nature and benevolent in His character, then I should take time to praise Him in my personal life. This should be reflected in your own personal time of worship.

· Do you have one? What does it look like? Take time this week to look for God in your Bible reading—study His character. Toss aside that little Daily Bread booklet and actually read God’s Word—study it for yourself and find God in His revelation.

· In prayer, don’t be so focused on your wants and needs that you forget to praise God. Take time to do that.

· Take some time sing in your prayer time—I like to refer to it as our personal time of worship. Did you know you can sing in your private time with God? Maybe this week you need to choose a song that you can sing every day that helps you praise God!

2) Praise God with your family

If my God is so great and benevolent, then we ought to praise Him with our family. Whomever you have in your life—wife, kids, parents, make it your goal to praise God together this week. If you don’t have a time, make that time. For us, we read the Bible and pray at breakfast in the mornings. Perhaps you should go around and tell each other one thing you can praise God for today. Or sing a hymn together. But take time to praise God with your family!

3) Praise God with your church

Make it your mission to be here. And when you come, don’t just do it out of routine. Don’t just do it because it’s what you always do, view this as a time to praise. Do you praise God with your church friends? Do you talk about God’s greatness and God’s graciousness? Or do you just talk about the sports game or what you did on Saturday? We need to get back to talking about God and focusing on Him!

4) Praise God publicly

Since we have such a great God, we need to share the majesty of our God with those who have never heard. We need to not keep silent to those around about the majesty and glory of my God. Make it your goal to find one person this week to whom you can testify of the greatness and graciousness of our God.

This is how this text can work out practically in your life, and this is how we can live out this text this morning. Today we get the opportunity to practice this text. Let’s put this into practice! God deserves our highest praise! Today, let’s join together in giving praising God because He is worthy to be praised!