Giving God what He Deserves!

by Justin Brown
(Berkeley, CA )

Text: Psalms 100 KJV.

Title: Giving God what He deserves!

Date: 10/14/2012

INTRODUCTION:

Psalms 100 was written by King David and can be summarized as the believer expressing genuine praise and worship to God. It is the believer exhibiting joy simply because of who God is and what He’s done.

The overall theme is a psalm of praise, a praise that begins with a command and ends with a truth that every believer should know in order to give total reverence to God. The first command we see in our text is that we must continue to REJOICE!

BODY:

I. REJOICE – verse 1 says, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.” The command is for the earth in its entirety to make a joyful noise! Rejoicing means to express outwardly, the inner emotion of joy and happiness, to take delight in. And if we’re expressing true joy, we ought to consider at least 3 aspects –

The FIRST is PRAISE! The greek word for praise is “Yadah”(Yat-tah) which means to give thanks and “Halal” (Hal-ya) which is a verb and it is expressing praise – meaning to celebrate, to shine, boast upon – not on ourselves but for God, because of WHO He is.

David says (Psalms 34:1) – “I will bless the Lord at all time, his praise shall continually be in my mouth.”
Praise! Praise is the 1st aspect that we ought to consider, the second piece is WORSHIP. The two are very similar but different. Worship defined (also a verb) it literally means to depict (or illustrate) the act of bowing down.

Bowing down indicates two things, the first is complete submission/surrender acknowledging that who you’re bowing down to is greater than you are and that the act of surrendering means your life is in their hands. The second is that you’re showing honor and respect and humility.

For example, we see this when Jesus went to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane in Mark 14:35-36: “And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee, take away this up from me” NEVERTHELESS not what I will, but what thou wilt.”

Jesus falls down on his face in total surrender and giving complete adoration to God, and has an attitude of complete unselfishness. NEVERTHELESS not what I will, but what thou wilt.” He is reminding us that it is not about us, it never has been, it’s always about God!

And the third piece that we ought to consider is our
ATTITUDE – “Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.” Our praise and our worship would be meaningless and counterfeit if our attitudes aren’t right. We worship by the way we live and by the way we give. If God is willing to bless us, then we shouldn’t be hesitant or ashamed to do the same!

The bible says, 2 Corinthians 9:7: “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” Don’t let satan hold you hostage from giving God what he deserves! And in order to properly continue doing this, not only are we to consider rejoicing, with praise, worship and out attitudes, but we ought to continue to REALIZE who God is!

II. REALIZE – V3. “Know ye that Lord He is God, it is He that hat made us and not we ourselves….”
In order to know who God is, we must acknowledge him in every way possible, both in public AND in private. God is an unchanging God, so the same way we ought to acknowledge him in church should also resonate and be related to outside of church.

God is the creator, Supreme Being; He is GOD by HIMSELF- Rev 22:13: “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” He ALWAYS IS! He is ETERNAL, ENDURING, ABIDING, EVERLASTING!

Because God is Holy, all powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent, all righteous, in order to properly acknowledge Him and be aware of who He is, we must realize who we are. The second part of verse 3 states, “We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.” If we are his people and his sheep, that means God is our Shepherd! A shepherd is the owner of the sheep and a shepherd.....

1A) PROTECTS his sheep – sheep are helpless animals and need to be guarded against thieves, wolves and other wild animals – Jesus says in John 10: “He that enter not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill and to destroy, I am come that that might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.”

1B) A shepherd also PROVIDES for the sheep, making sure they have proper nourishment and water. Ezekiel 34:12: “As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.”

He will PROTECT his sheep, PROVIDE for His sheep and a shepherd is PERSONAL with his sheep. John 10:14-15: “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.” God knows exactly how many belong to Him, who they belong to and each sheep individually by name.

Brothers and sisters, if God knows who were are personally, then in that same setting, in order to acknowledge God properly, not only must we realize who HE is – which is Creator, Master, but we must also realize WHO we REPRESENT.

III. REPRESENT – Verse 3 says, “We are the sheep of His pasture.”

If we belong to God and we are his people and are his sheep, then that means we are not our own. So, how do we represent Christ? There are two ways we ought to do this-
The first is by our obedience – John 10:5: “And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from: for they know not the voice of strangers.”

If the sheep do not submit to their shepherd, they will stray into danger. And Jesus says they that obey him, keep his commandments and that they’re not grievous. Do what he says not grudgingly, but out of love – because he loves us in spite of and for that, we should love him back. If you love him, it should be easy to do what he says. John 13:34-35:

“A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” We can continue to represent God by our obedience to him, and also by our fruit.

Do we have love? “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” Do we have joy? (Psalms 47:1) “Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy. “It is His joy that remains in us that makes our joy full.”

Do we have peace? (phil 4:7) And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Are we longsuffering? (Eph 4:2) “with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love.” Are we patient? Have gentleness? Faith? (Heb 11:1) “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" Meekness- power under control. Temperance- self-control or self-restraint.

Do we show evidence of these characteristics? If we belong to God and we realize who we represent, then by our obedience to Christ, our fruit shall blossom.
And God will continue to Reign Eternally! Verse 5 says, “For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth to all generations.”

And the reasons why we need to rejoice, the reason why we need to realize, the reason why need to represent, is because it was that one Friday Jesus went to Calvary to save a wretch like you and me! That’s love! That’s love! They hung him high, they stretched him wide, and he hung his head and then He died! That’s love! That’s love!

But that’s not how the story ends, because in three more days he rose again! That’s love! That’s love! And he got up with all power!!!! And after his caught on to glory he resides as the right hand of the Father and He is coming back! And until Jesus comes back, I will continue to give God what he deserves! Amen.