Psalm100 - A Liturgy for Life

Psalm 100 gives seven simple commands for Biblical worship.

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Psalm 100

A Psalm for Thanksgiving.

¹ Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.

² Serve the LORD with gladness;

Come before Him with joyful singing.

³ Know that the LORD Himself is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

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 lovingkindness is everlasting

And His faithfulness to all generations.

Heidelberg Catechism

Q&A 122

Q. What does the first request of the Lord's Prayer mean?

A. “Hallowed be your name” means,

Help us to really know you,

to bless, worship, and praise you

for all your works

and for all that shines forth from them:

your almighty power, wisdom, kindness,

justice, mercy, and truth.

And it means,

Help us to direct all our living—

what we think, say, and do—

so that your name will never be blasphemed because of us

but always honored and praised.

Summary

Psalm 100 wasn't just for ancient Israel. Nor is it set aside for God's covenant people in general - either the Hebrews of old or Christians today. Rather, as the opening line makes clear, this short psalm, and the seven commands it contains, are given to all the earth!

As Abraham Kuyper, the Dutch theologian / scholar / prime minister / journalist from a century ago (he was a remarkable man!) famously said, "There is not one square inch of creation over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” Psalm 100 helps remind us that even though in our time the Church may seem smaller and God's people only comprise a small fraction of the entire population, everything in this universe has been created to glorify God.

Although the psalm gives seven commands, one of them stands out as the most important. This is primarily evident in the fact that it's the command in the middle, the spot which so often unpacks the main point in ancient near eastern poetry. For those of us who've been reading the Bible together for some time, we're not at all surprised to see what this key imperative is: We must know.

The psalmist lists three critical concepts for us to know:

• That the LORD Himself is God - This echoes one of the Bible's most central claims: Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one (Deut. 6:4). This, of course, stands in stark contrasts to the world's claim that there is no god except for the those which we've constructed.
  

• It is He who made us, and not we ourselves - The primary motivation for our sinful rebellion against God is the idea that we are autonomous and can decide for ourselves what is right and wrong. This is painfully evident in so much of the current cultural zeitgeist, which understands humanity to have evolved from nothing, giving us the authority to define our own reality. But this central claim of Psalm 100 issues a much needed corrective. It reminds us not just that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by the LORD, but also of what we confess in the opening question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism, that I am not my own, but belong - body and soul, in life and in death - to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.
  

• We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture - The Bible always conveys our belonging to God in comforting terms. Psalm 100 points back to the most well known of the psalms, which opens with the promise that the LORD is our shepherd, so we lack nothing.

  Dig Deeper  

Do you ever wonder why we do what we do in our Sunday services at Reformed churches? Why it is that we follow the same specific liturgical elements week after week?

Although there's a wide range of worship practices even among Reformed churches in our day and age, most of us adhere to what has come to be known as the Regulative Principle of Worship. It's best summarized by the Heidelberg Catechism's stipulation that we worship God in no other way than He has commanded in His Word (Q&A 96).

In other words, Scripture alone sets our order of worship. And Psalm 100 provides an excellent order of worship for us to follow:

God calls us into His presence

Shout joyfully to the LORD... Serve the LORD with gladness... Come before Him with joyful singing.

Hear God's Word proclaimed

Know that the LORD Himself is God - He made us, and we are His.

Respond to God's Word with praise

Give thanks to Him and bless His name

Leave with God's blessing (benediction)

His lovingkindness is everlasting, and His faithfulness is to all generations

It's Friday! The work week is drawing to a close, and the Lord's Day is once again quickly coming. Psalm 100 reminds you of how critically important corporate worship is to remind you of your prime directive in life: to know that the LORD is God. Make gathering with the saints, joyfully singing, hearing Biblical preaching, and personally experiencing God's grace, mercy and peace a priority as you start a new week.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the LORD Himself, is God!

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Choose one of Psalm 100's seven imperatives to pray for in your life, that you would: shout joyfully / serve Him gladly / come before Him / know that the LORD is God / enter His gates / give thanks to Him / bless His name;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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