Come, Singing!

***** SERMON MANUSCRIPT*****

Melburn H. Hardin, D.Min.                Kerrville, Texas

TITLE:    Come, Singing!

SCRIPTURE:   Psalms 100

TOPIC: 

SERIES TITLE:   The Songs that Jesus Sang  

INDEX NUMBER:   SF 1319

DATE PREPARED:   2005/09/06

DATE PREACHED:   2005/09/11

PLACE PREACHED:   Kerrville Sunrise Baptist Church

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Introduction

1. One of the best known hymn tunes in all the world is the tune to which we sing the “Doxology.” The tune is named “Old One Hundredth.” It first appeared in the Geneva Psalter in 1537. For nearly 500 years Christians have been singing Psalm 100 to this tune.

1. But for thousands of years God’s people have been singing and chanting Psalm 100.

1. This Psalm is a call to serve God—within the service of public worship.

1. This simple song of 5 verses is actually very profound—in that it teaches us the proper nature of public worship that pleases God.

1. The key to this particular Psalm—and the key to every worship service that pleases our God is found in verse 2: “serve the Lord with gladness, come before Him with joyful singing.”

1. “Come before Him…” why did you come to worship this evening? Did you come because it is expected of you? I heard about one elderly gentleman who was totally deaf  faithfully went to church every Sunday morning. He couldn’t hear the music or the sermon, and he couldn’t carry on a conversation with any of the people. When he was asked why he continued to come, he said, “I come so that my neighbors will know what side I’m on!”

1. That’s a pretty good reason, but let me suggest an even better one. Ted Malone had a radio talk show. He told of the Idaho shepherd who wrote: “Ted, will you, on your broadcast, strike the note ‘A’ on the piano? I’m a sheepherder way out here on a ranch, far away from a piano. The only comfort I have is my old violin. It’s all out of tune. Would you strike ‘A’ so that I might get in tune?” Malone honored the request. Later he received a thank you note from the distant shepherd, saying, “Now, I’m in tune!” Can I suggest that the greatest reason for coming to public worship is to get our spirits in tune? We come here to worship God. We come here to allow God to strike a perfect pitch which allows us to see how far off we are and then adjust our lives so that we are in tune with Him.                                      

1. Public worship should be a joyful celebration of the beauty and goodness of God. But, unfortunately, if we don’t put our hearts into it, public worship can degenerate  into a dull, joyless, spiritless experience.

1. Once—right after WWII—a little boy sat with his mother during a terribly boring worship service. The curiosity of the lad prompted him to whisper to his mother various questions. “Mother, what is that flag with the stars?” What is that flag with a cross?” There was a Memorial Banner hanging there, commemorating the servicemen who had given their lives for their country. The lad asked his mother about that. She told him that it was to remember our brave soldiers who died in the service. “Did they die in the Morning Service or the Evening Service?”

1. True worship is never a dead thing! It is always alive with Adoration and Praise, Thanksgiving and the Testimony of Faith.

I.                   COME, SINGING! (100:1-2)

1. Public worship that pleases God is NOISY—it has great sound that is joyful.

1. Now there is a time and place for silent meditation: “Be still and know that I am God.” But public worship is a time for joyful celebration: “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.”

1. Our Lord obviously delights in hearing his people sing. Job tells us that at creation “the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:7).

1. God’s people have always been a singing people—while they worked, played and worshipped. “Sing us a song of Zion” was the first thing that their Babylonian captors demanded that they do, when the Israelites arrived in Babylon.

II.                COME, PRAISING! (100:3a, 4b)

1. To worship means to adore God; we express our adoration with words and songs of praise.

1. “I know that the Lord, He is God.”

III.             COME, CONFESSING! (100:3bc)

1. To worship means to confess our humanity and humility before God.

1. We are not self-made men and women. We need God.

1. “I Need Thee Every Hour”; “What a Friend We Have In Jesus”; “O God, Our Help in Ages Past, Our Hope in Years to Come”.

IV.              COME, WITH THANKSGIVING! (100:4)

1. We haven’t worshipped until we have expressed our gratitude to God from whom all blessings flow.

1. The greatest blessing is our salvation. God’s people have been singing a song of salvation every since we have known about God.

1. “Since Jesus Came Into My Heart”; “Love Lifted Me”; “Redeemed, How I Love to Proclaim It”

V.                 COME, TRUSTING! (100:5)

1. In worship, we not only thank God for what He has done, but we pledge our confidence in Him—by faith.

1. “God is So Good.”