Some Requirements For Serving The Lord
(Psalm 100:1–5)
Introduction:Last Sunday evening, our Nominating Committee presented their recommendations and we voted upon those who have agreed to serve in different capacities in our church for the coming year. And this morning, I want to share a message that I believe is applicable to every child of God, but especially to those who will be serving the Lord in the various positions this year.
It’s on my heart to speak to you about “Some Requirements For Serving The Lord.” These are some of the important qualifications that every servant needs in the work of the Lord.
When a secular company brings a new employee in, they will tell that person what their expectations are and what is required for the person who fills that position. You may have done things a certain way in your old job, but the new employer has their own way of doing things. And they expect you to do what they ask of you, and they expect you to do it their way.
Similarly, God has certain expectations of us as His servants.
Sometimes, the Nominating Committee may try to match a position with a person that they believe has the skills and spiritual gifts that will be compatible with that position. But more often than not, you don’t find an absolutely perfect match for what is needed.
I saw a cartoon recently that showed a lady being interviewed for a position in a church. And the caption of the interviewer’s words said, “We’re looking for someone with a doctorate in Christian education and five years of experience, but we’ll settle for someone with a van.”
Now the requirements that I’m talking about this morning are not a specific set of skills for particular jobs. But rather, they are general factors that are necessary in the life of every servant.
I might add too, that the things that I want to highlight today are not factors that I have come up with personally or that someone else in this church has come up with. Our personal preferences about the different roles of service in the church are going to vary from person to person.
In fact, a writer named Charles U. Wagner in his book, The Pastor: His Life and Work, included a little piece entitled “The Perfect Preacher Has Been Found.” It said…
After hundreds of years, a model preacher has been found to suit everyone. He preaches exactly 20 minutes and then sits down. He condemns sin, but never hurts anyone’s feelings.
He works from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. in every type of work, from preaching to custodial service. He makes $60 a week, wears good clothes, buys good books regularly, has a nice family, drives a good car, and gives $30 a week to the church. He also stands ready to contribute to every good work that comes along.
He is 25 years old and has been in the ministry for 30 years. He is tall and short, thin and heavyset in addition to being handsome. He has one brown eye and one blue, hair is parted in the middle, left side dark and straight, right side brown and wavy.
He has a burning desire to work with teenagers, and spends all his time with older folks. He smiles all the time with a straight face, because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his work. He makes 15 calls a day on church members, spends all his time evangelizing the unchurched, and is never out of the office.
I hate to disappoint you, but I’m not going to please everybody. And Brother Bruce is not going to please everybody. And our deacons are not going to please everybody. And the people that have been asked to serve in the various positions this year are not going to please everybody. But here’s the bottom line … we should all aim to please God!
So what does God expect of us?
Twice in the scripture, the question is asked, “What doth the Lord require of thee?” And in both texts, an answer is given…
Moses said…
(Deuteronomy 10:12) And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
Micah said…
(Micah 6:8) He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
As we serve God, what are the necessary factors?
The Bible says that we should serve the Lord COMPLETELY…
(1 Samuel 12:20) And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;
The Bible says that we should serve the Lord REVERENTLY…
(Psalms 2:11) Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
And the Bible says that we should serve the Lord GLADLY…
(Psalms 100:2) Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
It is this phrase in Psalm 100:2 that has captivated my heart this past week: “Serve the LORD with gladness.” And it is not just this phrase, but in each of the five verses that make up this Psalm, there are factors that are vitally needed in the heart and life of everyone who serves the Lord.
The Pulpit Commentary says…
The hundredth psalm has for its title, “A Psalm of praise,” or “of thanksgiving,” and to this description it well answers. There is not a single mournful note in the composition. God is praised from the beginning to the end, and all the earth is called upon to join in blessing and thanking him. It has been suggested that it was probably written to be chanted by a festive procession as it approached and entered the temple (see verse 4).
Observe that…
I. The Psalmist Mentions A Reverence For The Monarch
(Psalm 100:1) Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
A. There Is A Meaningful Admonition Here
Make a joyful noise unto the LORD
Charles Spurgeon said of this verse…
This is a repetition of Psalms 98:4. The original word signifies a glad shout, such as loyal subjects give when their king appears among them.
Albert Barnes wrote…
[Make a joyful noise] The word used here means commonly to make a loud noise, to (raise a) shout. It is especially used…
(a) Of warlike shouts, Joshua 6:16; 1 Samuel 17:20;
(b) Of the shout of triumph, Judges 15:14;
(c) Of the sound or clangor of a trumpet, Numbers 10:9; Joel 2:1.
It may thus be used to denote any shout of joy or praise. In public worship it would denote praise of the most animated kind.
B. There Is A Measurable Application Here
all ye lands
Spurgeon said…
In every land Jehovah’s goodness is seen, therefore in every land should He be praised.
The Keil and Delitzsch Commentary says…
The call in verse 1 sounds like Psalms 98:4; 66:1. (This word “all lands” suggests) all men belonging to the earth’s population.
Adam Clarke wrote…
[All ye lands] Not only Jews, but Gentiles, for the Lord bestows his benefits on all with a liberal hand.
Warren Wiersbe said…
We can easily understand the people of Israel shouting joyfully in praise to their great God (vv. 3, 5), but the psalmist calls for all the nations of the earth to praise Him. This is a recurring theme in the “royal psalms” (97:1,6; 98:2-4,7; 99:1-2), for it was Israel’s responsibility to introduce the Gentiles to the true and living God.
II. The Psalmist Mentions A Responsibility To The Master
(Psalm 100:2) Serve the LORD with gladness: come before His presence with singing.
A. The Lord Expects Us To Serve Him With Pleasure
Serve the LORD with gladness
Wiersbe said, “Our shouting (in verse 1) ought to lead to serving Him (in verse 2).”
To “serve” has the idea of working or doing something or making something. It also has the idea of worship and obedience. So when the psalmist says, “Serve the LORD with gladness”; he is saying, ‘Do the work that you do for the Lord with gladness.’ Worship and obey the Lord with gladness.
gladness – Hebrew 8057. simchah, sim-khaw'; from H8056 blithesomeness or glee, (religious or festival):-- X exceeding (-ly), gladness, joy (-fulness), mirth, pleasure, rejoice (-ing).
The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament says of the word “gladness” (OT:8057 – simchah)…
The root denotes being glad or joyful with the whole disposition as indicated by its association with the heart (cf. Exodus 4:14; Psalms 19:9; Psalms 104:15; Psalms 105:3), the soul (Psalms 86:4); and with the lighting up of the eyes (Proverbs 15:30).
Matthew Henry wrote…
By holy joy we do really serve God; it is an honour to him to rejoice in him; and we ought to serve him with holy joy. Gospelworshippers should be joyful worshippers; if we serve God in uprightness, let us serve him with gladness. We must be willing and forward to it, glad when we are called to go up to the house of the Lord (Psalms 122:1), looking upon it as the comfort of our lives to have communion with God; and we must be pleasant and cheerful in it, (we) must say, ‘It is good to be here.’
B. The Lord Expects Us To Sing In His Presence
come before His presence with singing
The Pulpit Commentary says that the command to “Come before his presence with singing,” means “with a cry of joy.”
The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament says of the word “singing” (OT:7443 – ranan)…
The initial use of rananis in Leviticus 9:24 where the shout of jubilation is connected with a divinely appointed sacrifice. This usage of the term to describe the joy of Israel at God’s saving acts is carried on throughout the OT. … It is the connotation of holy joy which is being celebrated by Israel’s shouting. … The overwhelming respect of the verb is toward God. … The jubilation which is the main thrust of the root is … in a context of music, and singing may well be indicated. In many cases the jubilation could equally well be expressed in shouting or song; either would suit the context. The KJV translates by “sing” half the time. In any case, Israel’s song would have been somewhat different from ours and perhaps more similar to jubilant shouting.
III. The Psalmist Mentions A Relationship With The Maker
(Psalm 100:3) Know ye that the LORD He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
A. Notice The Acknowledging Of This Relationship
Know ye that the LORD He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves
Warren W. Wiersbe wrote…
The verb “know” means “to know by experience.” It also carries the meaning of “acknowledge.” What we have experienced in our hearts we openly confess to others and bear witness of our glorious God. The phrase “made us” means much more than “He created us,” for He also created the nations that do not know Him. It means “Jehovah constituted us as a nation, His chosen people.” The phrase “not we ourselves” can also be translated “and we are his.” This connects with the next statement, “We are his people.”
(From The Bible Exposition Commentary)
Matthew Henry wrote…
Know you what God is in himself and what he is to you. Knowledge is the mother of devotion and of all obedience: blind sacrifices will never please a seeing God. “Know it; consider and apply it, and then you will be more close and constant, more inward and serious, in the worship of him.”
Spurgeon commenting on the statement, “It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves,”said…
You never saw a child startled when it was told for the first time that God made it, for within that little mind there dwells an instinct which accepts the statement.
Spurgeon further said…
Some men live as if they made themselves; they call themselves “self-made men,” and they adore their supposed creators.
A couple of years ago, my niece had learned this verse, and when she quoted it, she would place an emphasis on the words “not we ourselves” that made it sound like she was shocked that anyone could believe that we made ourselves. As Albert Barnes said…
We are not self-created; we derive our being from him. All that we have and are, we owe to him.
And we should acknowledge that!
B. Notice The Aspects Of This Relationship
we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture
One writer said…
Although spoken of Israel, yet surely God’s spiritual Israel may lay the hand of faith and appropriation upon the promises of this chapter. (From The Biblical Illustrator)
We saw this word “people” last week in Isaiah 65:10. And I told you that The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament says of the phrase “His people” (OT:5971 – ‘am) that…
The term seems to be derived from the common Semitic root ‘amam, meaning “to comprehend or include.” The unique emphasis of ‘amlies in its reference to a group of “people as viewed by one of themselves.”
So the psalmist is saying that those to whom he refers are included, they are among God’s people! And He is associating Himself with them.
The root term has the idea of associating with or huddling together. The “people” refers to a tribe, a nation, a flock, or any congregated unit. I used to be an “am not,” but now I “am” part of His people!
Barnes said…
[And the sheep of his pasture] As the shepherd owns the flock, so God is our owner; as the shepherd guards his flock and provides for it, so God guards us and provides for us. … He has recognized (us) as his flock; (and) he sustains the relation of shepherd; who feeds and protects us as the shepherd does his flock.
IV. The Psalmist Mentions A Response To His Majesty
(Psalm 100:4) Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.
A. He Points Us To A Public Manifestation Of Worship
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise
The Pulpit Commentary said…
The mention of” gates” and” courts” points primarily to the temple worship, but the reference may be, as Professor Alexander suggests, “typical or metaphorical” rather than literal, and may extend to all the faithful and to all places of worship.
Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words said of the word “gates” (OT:8179 – sha’ar)…
Basically, this word represents a structure closing and enclosing a large opening through a wall, or a barrier through which people and things pass to an enclosed area. The “gate” of a city often was a fortified structure deeper than the wall. … Certain “gates” were only the thickness of a curtain: “And for the gate of the court [of the tabernacle] shall be a hanging of twenty cubits” (Exodus 27:16). Later, the temple had large openings between its various courts: “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord” (Jeremiah 7:2).
Albert Barnes said…
The “courts” were literally the open spaces which surrounded the tabernacle or temple. It was in these that worship was celebrated, and not in the tabernacle or temple.
We worship Him in the entryways and the enclosures.
B. He Points Us To Some Particular Manifestations Of Worship
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name
The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament says of this idea of “thanksgiving” and being “thankful”…
This verb was predominantly employed to express one’s public proclamation or declaration (confession) of God’s attributes and his works. This concept is at the heart of the meaning of praise. Praise is a confession or declaration of who God is and what he does. This term is most often translated “to thank” in English versions, but … the expression of thanks to God is included in praise, it is a way of praising.
This same resource says that the word “praise” has the idea of being sincerely and deeply thankful for andsatisfied in lauding (glorifying or exclaiming) the superior qualities and the greatness and the great actions of Almighty God.
Of the phrase “bless His name,” Adam Clarke said that it means to…
“Speak good of his name;” we cannot do otherwise; we have nothing but good to speak of our God.
Charles Spurgeon said…
He blessed you, bless him in return; bless his name, his character, his person. Whatever he does, be sure that you bless him for it; bless him when he takes away as well as when he gives; bless him as long as you live, under all circumstances; bless him in all his attributes, from whatever point of view you consider him.
V. The Psalmist Mentions A Recognition Of His Mercy
(Psalm 100:5) For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.