Today’s Scripture

Psalm 100       Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-26         Colossians 3:1-11       Luke 12:13-21

 

            Today’s readings are quite a contrast.  We have the hopelessness of the Ecclesiastes passage telling how meaningless everything in this world is.  God gives his stark warning that even with the abundances we strive for in this earth we are subject to death without tasting of these rewards.  In between these readings is Psalm 100, a Psalm of Thanksgiving and Praise.  “For What?”

 

            In the middle of knowing our mortality in this life, of knowing how empty earthly wealth and achievements are of themselves, this Psalm jars us back to the reality of what our lives are really about, the gifts God gives us both in this earth and for all eternity.

 

            Psalm 100 holds a special place in a couple of ways in the Book of Psalms.  It concludes a series of Psalms of praise, 93-100.  It is in Book 4 of Psalms, 90 – 106.  For a moment, listen to the opening verses of these Psalms and count how many familiar phrases you hear:

90    Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations

91    He who dwells in the shelter of the Lord

92    It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O most High.

93    The Lord reigns – he is robed in majesty.  The Lord is robed in majesty and is armed with strength.

94    O Lord, the God who avenges, O God, who avenges, shine forth….(22) but the Lord has become my fortress

95    Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, let us shout aloud to the Rock of our Salvation.

96    Sing to the Lord a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth

97    The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad

98    Sing to the Lord a new song for he has done marvelous things, his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him

99    The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble.

100  (read this Psalm in unison)

101I will sing of your love and justice

102Hear my prayer, O Lord; let my cry for help come to you

103Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being praise his holy name.

104Praise the Lord, O my soul.  O Lord my God, you are very great

105Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.

106Praise the Lord.  Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his love endures forever.

 

            From this set of Psalms are phrases in 47 verses of 44 different hymns in Lutheran Worship.  Psalm 100 is quoted in six different hymns including:

                        “All People that on Earth Do Dwell”

                        “Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty”

                        “Now Thank We All Our God.”

Parts of Psalm 100 are included in a canticle of praise in the service for “Morning Prayer.”

 

Some of the other hymns that quote these Psalms are:

 

Psalm 90          “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past”

Psalm 91          “All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night”

                        “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”

                        “Father, We Praise You, Now the Night is Over”

Psalm 92          “Praise and Thanks and Adoration”

                        “The Lord, My God be Praised”

                        “Awake, My Soul, and With the Sun”

                        “How Great Thou Art”
Psalm 95          “Christ is Our Cornerstone”

                        “We Praise You, O God”

Psalm 96          “Earth and All Stars”

                        “Oh, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing”

                        “Spread the Reign of God the Lord”

                        “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains”

Psalm 98          “Joy to the World”

                        “The Strife is O’er”

                        “All Creatures of Our God and King”

                        “Let the Earth Now Praise the Lord”

Psalm 100        “All People that on Earth Do Dwell”

                        “Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty”

                        “Now Thank We All Our God”

Psalm 103        “Oh, Bless the Lord, My Soul”

                        “Praise to the Lord, The Almighty”                   

Psalm 104        Oh, Worship the King”

                        “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise”

                        “Evening and Morning”

Psalm 105        “Praise and Thanksgiving”

Psalm 106        “Praise and Thanks and Adoration”

                        “Love Divine, All Love Excelling”

 

            Psalm 100 is a short Psalm that brings us together knowing what these songs of praise, thanksgiving, and worship are all about.  This Psalm brings us together what our lives in Christ Jesus, lives of praise, thanksgiving and worship are all about.  This Psalm brings us together in the midst of a cold and cruel world that feasts on its pleasures in self-consumption instead of what all of creation is about, praise, thanksgiving and worship to God. 

 

            Psalm 100 brings us together in times of sorrow, in times of struggle, in times of hardship, in times of distress, in times of plenty, in times of disagreement, in times of wondering what will happen tomorrow, in times of rejoicing, in times of mourning, in times of doubt and fear, in times of plenty and in times of want and need..  Psalm 100 brings us together in the gifts that God gives in this world and for all eternity.

 

            v. 1  The opening phrase, “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,” Our joyful shouts are to be to God.  The invitation to shout for joy is to all people of this earth.  God wants you to know at all times that you are part of his creation, part of his very own being having been made and personally formed in his image.           

            v. 2  “Worship the Lord with gladness.”  In both the Old Testament and New, the roots for the word “Worship” mean “service.”  In our worship here at Immanuel God serves us first with his love which we receive in his word and the sacraments.  It is his forgiving all of your sins, sealing you in that forgiveness in baptism and strengthening you regularly in the very body and blood that has already won that forgiveness and life eternal for you.  In return we serve God with our voices crying out for his mercies, our voices singing praise and thanksgiving to him, and in lives of service in our day-to-day living in witness of his great love and gifts to us.

 

            “Come before him…”  God invites you to actually be in his presence.  The Wizard of Oz tried to strike fear in Dorothy and her buddies.  God is different when he calls you into his presence.  Remember how Adam and Eve hid?  Remember how Jonah ran away?  Remember how Elijah threw up his hands in disgust and resigning that all he was doing was hopeless?  Remember how Peter denied Jesus?  Remember that Jesus’ own brothers (James and Jude) did not believe he was the Christ.  Remember also that God restored each one, that he called back each one with his forgiveness and made each one his servants in this world for the good of all people.  He invites you, too, to be in his presence.  He does not turn his face away from you.  We are comforted and strengthened at the end of services hearing the blessing he gave Aaron to speak to the people, “The Lord bless you and keep you…”

 

            v. 3  “Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his.”  How easy it is to forget that we have our very being only by God’s grace.  He did not need to make you.  He has everything already.  Again, God is very purposeful in making you as you are both physically and mentally.  Luther explains Scripture to us saying, “He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them…All this he does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me.  For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.”  [from Small Catechism] 

 

            “We are his people…the sheep of his pasture.”  Again, God did not make us to serve or belong to anyone or anything else.  Remember, he is a “jealous God,”  [Exodus 20:5].  Also, think about it, what good is a pasture if there are no livestock in it?  The pasture exists to feed, nurture and provide a safe place for the livestock.  The livestock are there to serve the needs of the owner.  We are not here to do meaningless and mundane things in a meaningless and mundane world.  The world is our pasture.  We are the sheep of this pasture, to grow, and to serve our Lord in this pasture as he shepherds us along the way.  Just as the produce from a pasture brings recognition to its owner, believers in lives of faith and service bring recognition, i.e. praise and glory to God, our maker.

 

            v. 4  “Enter his gates with thanksgiving.”  Again is the invitation to come before God.  Remember, his gates are open to you.  He has opened the way to him by changing you from the totally sinful being you were born to the person of the Spirit, the person in faith, the person he is making you through to that time when you will be like him again in the resurrection [John 3].  God invites.  He calls you by the Gospel, the good news in Jesus Christ.  We are sinners.  We do not deserve this in any way.  Thanksgiving is the way he wants us to enter his presence.  That is why greeting each other in the peace of forgiveness is so important in our services.  That is why that greeting is at the time we are to receive the Lord’s Supper, reinforcing the greatest joy we have.  That is why we conclude the Lord’s Supper with a canticle or hymn and prayer of thanksgiving. That is why, just before we cry to him for his mercies at the start of the service, we sing a hymn of praise then too.  We are thankful for what we are about to receive as well as after we have received it.

 

            v. 5.  Let us read this final verse together.  “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

 

            And this peace that transcends all of our understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.