A Worshiping Heart Is A Thankful Heart

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Psalm 100 reveals that worship is a surrender, not a sacrifice; worship is a realization not a ritual, and worship is a decision before it is a response

Notes

Transcript

Document: The Fourth Thursday of November

Topics: Thanksgiving; Worship

Tags: Preached

Delivered: November 18, 2007 (Peace Church)

ATTENTION

PIC - Thanksgiving

Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving. For one, thing, Jenny’s home and that just makes the holiday special right there. For another, our house will be filled with wonderful smells because my wife loves to cook and she looks forward to doing that on Thanksgiving. And for another, it may be the one time all year that I actually get to watch a football game all the way through, and you know, of course, I’m going to be watching the Cowboys and the Jets on Thursday. I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving!

But some people don’t! Or I should say some creatures don’t. Consider the plight of this one bird:

When I was a young turkey, new to the coop,

My big brother Mike took me out on the stoop,

Then he sat me down, and he spoke real slow,

And he told me there was something that I had to know;

His look and his tone I will always remember,

When he told me of the horrors of ..... Black November;

"Come about August, now listen to me,

Each day you’ll be thick, where once you were thin,

And you’ll grow a big rubbery thing under your chin.

"And then one morning, when you’re warm in your bed,

In’ll burst the farmer’s wife, and hack off your head;

"Then she’ll pluck out all your feathers so you’re bald’n pink,

And scoop out all your insides and leave ya lyin’ in the sink,

"And then comes the worst part" he said not bluffing,

"She’ll spread your cheeks and pack your rear with stuffing".

Well, the rest of his words were too grim to repeat,

I sat on the stoop like a winged piece of meat,

And decided on the spot that to avoid being cooked,

I’d have to lay low and remain overlooked;

I began a new diet of nuts and granola,

High-roughage salads, juice and diet cola,

And as they ate pastries, chocolates and crepes,

I stayed in my room doing Jane Fonda tapes,

I maintained my weight of two pounds and a half,

And tried not to notice when the bigger birds laughed;

But ’twas I who was laughing, under my breath,

As they chomped and they chewed, ever closer to death;

And sure enough when Black November rolled around,

I was the last turkey left in the entire compound;

So now I’m a pet in the farmer’s wife’s lap;

I haven’t a worry, so I eat and I nap,

She held me today, while sewing and humming,

And smiled at me and said "Christmas is coming........"

And it isn’t just that way for turkeys, some humans are not that fond of Thanksgiving either. See I know some of you ladies are already dreading all that work on Thursday. You may feel like this lady:

Tis the night before Thanksgiving and all through our house

No turkey is baking; I feel like a louse,

For I am all nestled, so snug in my bed;

I’m not gettin’ up and I’m not bakin’ bread.

No pies in my oven, no cranberry sauce

Cuz I give the orders, and I am the boss.

When out in the kitchen, there arose such a clatter

I almost got up to see what was the matter.

As I drew in my head and was tossing around

To the bed came my husband, he grimaced, he frowned.

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

He scared me to death and I thought, “Here he goes!”

He spoke not a word as he threw back my quilt

And the look that he gave was intended to wilt.

So up to the ceiling my pillows he threw

I knew I had had it, his face had turned blue.

“You prancer, you dodger, you’re lazy, you vixen

Out yonder in kitchen, Thanksgiving you’re fixin.”

But he heard me explain, with my face in a pout:

"I’m just plain too tired and we’re eating out!"

NEED

Ok, that’s enough Thanksgiving poetry! But whether you can say it in rhyme or not, I know that there are some of us today who may not be looking forward to the holiday, at least not for the celebration of the holiday. Even though the holiday is called “Thanksgiving,” we’re not . . . very thankful that is. See, I know that some of us are looking forward to a mad week. O, its not that we really want it to be that way, its just that the holiday makes us be around people we almost hate! It may be a spouse who left you and Thanksgiving is the time that you have to make contact with them and this holiday just brings a rush of emotions and none of them are good. It may be a blood relative that you had it out with years ago and there’s still this animosity there and when Thursday comes, so will they and you’d rather they didn’t. And you know, If things don’t radically change, you’re not looking forward to a Thankful Thursday, you’re looking forward to angry Thursday.

And then some of you don’t anticipate a mad week, but you have suffered through a sad year. See I know that, since last November several of you in this congregation today have said a final goodbye to someone you loved very much and you still grieve because they are gone, and you are finding it really hard to cultivate a thankful heart. I know that some others of you, while you may not have lost a loved one, you have had a significant set back in your health since last year and you are grieved over it and you really do not know what to do. You’re afraid that the sadness of your life will sabotage the gratefulness of your heart.

And then, for some of us it has been a very bad year. Financial problems have grown like cudzu in your life and every where you turn you find no good news. Your bank account is gone and you really feel like the next few weeks may take you under. You don’t even want to shell out the money for a Thanksgiving meal because things are way too tight. Everytime you ride by the gas station, gas has jumped another ten cents. As prices go up, your spirits go down. Honestly, you’re afraid. You may even be a Christian and you know that you should be thankful, but you’re really finding it hard.

TRANSITION

Well I have good news for you. Whether you’re facing a mad week or coming off a sad, bad year, you can have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Now before you shut down, and go into “unrealistic sermon” mode, you need to know that Thanksgiving is one of the most misunderstood Biblical truths. Now it’s not that people miss the meaning of thanksgiving; they miss its motive. That’s right we all understand what it means to be thankful for something, but very few understand the Biblical reason for being thankful. At its core, Thanksgiving is not about your blessings. Its is not primarily the response of looking around and seeing all the “stuff” you have that no one else does and saying “Thank you, Lord.” By the way, if that’s what it is, then there will be a whole lot of fourth Thursdays in November when you will not be very thankful. Thanksgiving is not about blessing, its about worship! Now you see that in .

Read

Psalm 100:1–5 NKJV

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.

Even though the notation of this Psalm indicates that it is a psalm of “thanksgiving,” the whole psalm really is more about worship. Yet, right in the middle of a worship psalm you find this interesting phrase in v. 4: Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving. Which just leads me to this conclusion: A worshiping heart is a thankful heart. That’s right! O, and by the way, if you don’t have a worshiping heart, you can have all the blessings in the world and you will still be unthankful. Need proof? Well just consider :

Romans 1:21 NKJV

because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

. . . because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened . . .

Do you see that? The refusal to worship God led naturally to an unthankful heart. If you don’t have a worshiping heart, you can have all the blessings in the world, and you will still be unthankful. But, the opposite is also true: If you have a worshiping heart, you can have all the trouble in the world, and you will still be thankful because real Thanksgiving flows from a worshiping heart.

So, then, if you want to have more than a “Turkey Day” on Thursday; if you want to have a real Thanksgiving, you must be a real worshiper. And, whether your year has been good or bad, you can have a great Thanksgiving, because you can develop a worshiping heart. How? Well, by understanding three truths about worship that come right from this psalm. What are they?

Well first of all, shows us that:

DIV 1:

WORSHIP IS A SURRENDER, NOT A SACRIFICE.

EXP

begins with infectious exuberance! Hey, dried up dead church members would not have felt comfortable in this worship service. The Psalmist says to “Make a joyful noise unto God.” But the literal rendering from Hebrews is “Praise God with a joyful shout!” Now the immediate question that may rush to your mind is this: “Why should I? What’s in it for me?” The person that asks that question is missing the point. You see, the reason the psalmist is able to shout out to God is because he has come to see that this world doesn’t revolve around him. He has come to grasp that our little blue pea of a planet is nothing but a speck of dust suspended in the sunbeam of one of the billions of stars in a galaxy that is one of the billions of galaxies in the known universe. He has come to see that he’s not the measure of anything, and that God is the measure of everything.

And it is that realization leads him automatically to what he says in v. 2: He says, “Serve the Lord . . .” That word serve literally means to “submit;” to become a serVANT. And then he adds what must be an amazing thought for our me-oriented narcississtic society: He says that we are to Serve the Lord with gladness. Wow! The audacity of this psalmist. You mean, not only must I serve someone else, not myself, but I must enjoy it. O yes! And he doesn’t just tell us to enjoy it he tells us to enjoy it so much that we sing while we do it. We are to come before His presence with singing!

How is that possible? Doesn’t giving up your plans and your dreams lead to misery? Doesn’t giving your life away leave you with no life?

ILLUSTRATION

Pic - Hug

Honestly hearing this reminds me of what used to happen to you and me as kids. You know your mom and dad made you do it too. You know when you got into a fight with your pesky little brother or sister and you guys were just going at it. Your parents would come into your room, pull you apart, get things sorted out and before they left they would say, “OK, give your sister a hug.” And you know how that looked don’t you (DEMONSTRATE FORCED HUG)

You ever feel that way about God. He asks for complete surrender and giving what He asks is a little like hugging your sister. You know you need to and you may even feel like you have to, but you sure don’t want to!

But here’s the thing, this worship is not a sacrifice! No it really isn’t. O yes, it is a surrender. It means I give all of myself, but the reward of the surrender is great joy! The reason the psalmist sings in v. 3 is because this surrender of worship brings joy to our hearts.

Pic - M. T. home

Born over sixty years ago in Yugoslavia, she responded to God’s call on her life while still a teenager. A missionary’s strong challenge to give her life to teaching in India resulted in her appointment to the city of Calcutta.

Some months later she saw a sight which completely revolutionized her life, and would ultimately bring her world-wide fame as Good Housekeeping magazine’s "Most-Admired-Woman" selection. What was the sight? A homeless, dying woman lying in the gutter, being eaten by rats. Compassion compelled her to beg an abandoned Hindu temple from the government, and convert it into a crude make-shift hospital for the dying. A comment of her’s became her life’s thrust: "If there is a God in heaven, and a Christ we love, nobody should die alone."

This woman who established colonies for over 10,000 lepers in 28 cities was interviewed by Malcolm Muggeridge from the BBC News. "Mother Teresa, the thing I noticed about you and the hundreds of sisters who now form your team is that you all look so happy. Is that a put-on?"

She replied, "Oh no, not at all. Nothing makes you happier than when you really reach out in mercy to someone who is badly hurt.”

ARGUMENTATION:

You might say to me, “That’s ridiculous, Rusty! You’re just trying to manipulate us in to being servants so that you can get money from us or get us to take on some job you want done. There’s no way that reaching out like that can actually make you happy.”

Pic - Mission trip

Well, I can understand your skepticism, but all I really know is what I see, so let me tell you what I observe at Peace Church. The happiest people in Peace Church are those who go on Mission Trips. If you don’t think that, just hang around when our people come back from El Tejar in a few months after they have gone and served others and I guarantee you that you will see joyfilled people. Now, they will have gone and given freely of themselves as an act of worship and they will epitomize what verse 2 says. They will have served the Lord with gladness.

APPLICATION:

So, are you sad this morning? Are you dreading Thursday? As justified as you might feel in your self-focus and as much as you might think you deserve a pity party, you need to know that real relief to that sadness you may be feeling isn’t to be found in trying to comfort your own wounds. It is to be found in focusing on a God Who has called you to be a servant. It is to be found in submitting yourself to that God and becoming His instrument in this world. Worship is a surrender, but it is not a sacrifice in the bad sense of that word. No, when we truly serve the Lord from our hearts, He gives us gladness and we walk around in His presence with singing!

A thankful heart is a worshiping heart and a worshiping heart understands that Worship is a surrender, not a sacrifice. But secondly,

DIV. 2

WORSHIP IS A REALIZATION, NOT A RITUAL.

EXP.

You recognize this when you read vv 3 and 5. Look at them:

Psalm 100:3–5 NKJV

Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.

3 Know that the Lord, He is God;

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

We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

5 For the Lord is good;

Worshipers realize Who God is.

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

We come to know Who God is: v. 3 says “Know that the Lord, He is God.” And since our Lord is the ultimate Being of the universe, we further see in verse three that “It is He who has made us.” Now here’s the deal. If you make something with your own hands, you are the one who owns it and controls it. That’s the way it is with God: when we realize that He made us, we must also realize that He is in absolute control of us.

Far from some empty ritual, the Psalmist encourages “God-Conscious” worship in these verses. He implies that worship depends on realization. We are told in v. 3 that we must realize God’s Identity. We come to know Who God is: v. 3 says “Know that the Lord, He is God.” And since our Lord is the ultimate Being of the universe, we further see in verse three that “It is He who has made us.” Now here’s the deal. If you make something with your own hands, you are the one who owns it and controls it. That’s the way it is with God: when we realize that He made us, we must also realize that He is in absolute control of us.

Worshipers realize who they aren’t.

But we not only realize Who God is, we also realize Who we aren’t. Notice it says “It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves.” How modern man wishes that wasn’t in there. How the typical American tries to live as if that wasn’t in there. God made us and we did not make ourselves. Translation: WE ARE NOT GOD! Now that seems obvious, but in practical terms we live as if we are God. We call the shots; we ignore God’s law; we make our own way, often without any concern of what He wants, but the real worshiper doesn’t allow himself to be deluded by this self-loving culture. He realizes who God is and he realizes who he’s not!

But that’s not a bad thing. You see, the worshiper also sees that this God Who is in control is also the God who takes care of him. That last phrase of verse three points that out when it says, “We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” And as our shepherd, v. 5 tells us that we can trust His control because it lets us know that this mighty, awesome God is Good; His mercy is everlasting and that his truth, or literally, His faithfulness, endures to all generations. His faithfulness will never end!

Listen! The absolute authority of a powerful awesome God is not something to be feared or avoided. It is something to be treasured! The thankful, worshiping heart lives in the intimate, personal, persistent awareness that this God he serves is sovereign; He is all-powerful; and He is forever loving. He doesn’t just have this truth as the part of some memorized creed; he lives it out in his life and he walks around conscious of the divine presence of God all around him. And for that person, Thanksgiving is not the fourth Thursday of November it is every day of every week of every month of every year of every decade of his life. A thankful heart is a worshiping heart and a worshiping heart understands that worship begins with a realization of Who God is.

ILLUSTRATION

Pic - Psych

A man went to a psychiatrist. He told the doctor, “Doctor I think I’m losing my mind.” The doctor replied,

“Hmm . . . why is that?” The man replied,

“Well, I am hearing radio broadcasts in my mind.” Well, the psychiatrist began to think the man might be right about losing his mind, but, trying to humor him, the psychiatrist asked,

“Tell me, what are you hearing right now.” The man replied,

“I’m hearing Rudy Vallee broadcasting from the Steel Pier in Atlantic City.”

Now that was so specific that the psychiatrist decided to check out the problem. After much questioning he discovered that the man worked in a glass bottle factory and had gotten some silica crystals in dental cavities. The combination of the silica, saliva, and some bridgework in his mouth had literally transformed him into a walking crystal radio receiver!

The psychiatrist referred the patient to a dentist who gave his teeth a thorough cleaning, filled the cavities, and fixed the bridgework. As a result, the patient “went off the air,” was able to concentrate, and lived happily ever after.

The Bible says that those who are filled with the Spirit are tuned into the heavenly frequency and carry a song around with them everywhere they go—speaking to themselves in songs, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music to the Lord in their hearts. As someone once put it, “The Christian life is simply God’s life vibrating through us.”

That’s worship! It is a realization of Who God is that is so powerful that God’s life vibrates through us.

ARGUMENTATION

Now I know that seems a bit overstated, doesn’t it? We hear this stuff about “walking with God” and “living in His presence” and it seems like so much unrealistic gobbledygook. The average Christian often lives most of His life unconscious that God even exists in any practical sense. So how do I turn the corner on this?

APPLICATION

How do I live a life that vibrates with the presence of God? Let me give you four, quick, simple suggestions:

How do you live a life that demonstrates God’s presence?

Slow down

First: SLOW DOWN. One of the biggest reasons we slip from God-conscious living to dead ritual is because we are just moving too fast. We’re behind every morning. We either think we’re too busy to have a quiet time or we rush through things so fast that we hardly even take the time to talk to God, much less to listen to Him. That’s right! You need to listen to God in your quiet time. Imagine trying to have a conversation with someone who did all of the talking! When the conversation was over, you’d know more about them, but they’d not know more about you. That’s the way it is with God. Really, you need to listen more than you talk because He already knows about you, but you certainly need to learn more about Him. Hey, if you want to live a life that vibrates with the presence of God, slow down.

Plow up

But also you can PLOW UP. The parable of the sower teaches us that a heart that is fruitful is a heart that is prepared. As we walk through this world the cares of life, the ridicule of our faith, and the hardening of our own sin tends to make our hearts very difficult for God to penetrate. If I am to have a heart that vibrates with the presence of God, I must take some time each day to prepare the soil of my heart. I must dig up the inrooted sin; I must remove the bolders of willfulness and business that keep me from seeking God; I must pull up the thorns of materialism that keep me more focused on what I can get from this world than on what I can get from Him.

Take in

I must slow down and I must plow up, but also, if I am to vibrate with the presence of God, I must TAKE IN: Very simply, I must take God’s Word into my heart. On purpose, and with an intense focus, I must dig down deep into the Word of God. In fact, tells us that the person who prospers is the one who meditates on God’s Law. That word “meditate” gives us the picture of a dog with a hambone. He is licking and chewing. He is so focused on that bone that if you try to take it away from him, you may draw back a nub. That’s the focus I must have. If Iam to vibrate with the presence of God I must slow down, plow up, and take in. But last of all:

Give out

I must GIVE OUT: That’s really what this psalm is all about! You see when I do the first three, the last one comes naturally: when I slow down and hear from God; when I plow up my fallow ground and clear the channel for Him to vibrate in my life; and when I take in His Word and practically allow it to change my life, I am so changed from the inside out that I begin to vibrate with the presence of God, and I don’t have to go to church and have an orchestra to sing out His praise. No! My life sings out His praise! And a worshiping heart is a Thankful heart. It has surrendered to an awesome God and it has come to vibrate with the awesome realization of Who He is!

TRANSITION:

You can have a great Thanksgiving this year if you will cultivate a worshiping heart. You can cultivate that kind of a heart if you realize that Worship is surrender not a sacrifice; that Worship is a realization, not a ritual; and lastly,

DIV 3:

WORSHIP IS A DECISION BEFORE IT IS A RESPONSE:

EXP

Reading through this Psalm you can’t help but notice that it is in the imperative. That simply means that the psalmist is ordering us around. Look at it: V. 1 says “Hey you, yeah you with your lip stuck out, standing there with depression written all over you, Make a joyful noise!;”

“But I don’t feel like it.”

“Didn’t ask you how you felt. Make a joyful noise!”

And in verse two it says, “He you, yeah you with a million things to do who thinks service is for singles or retired people with nothing better to do, yeah you, Serve the Lord with gladness;”

“Now wait just a minute! I don’t have the time and I don’t want to.”

“Didn’t ask you what you wanted to do, Serve the Lord!”

And in verse two, again it says, “Hey you, yeah you who thinks you’re too shy or important to open your mouth and actually sing when David’s up here directing, you know who I’m talking to, YOU, Come before His presence with singing!”

“But you haven’t heard my voice; If I sing out the church will clear out

“Let them leave! You come before His presence with singing!”

You are commanded to worship God, and the psalmist says, “It doesn’t matter what you feel; it doesn’t matter how busy you are; it doesn’t matter what you may even think you want to do . . . WORSHIP GOD!

ARG

Which may lead to some protests. Someone might ask, “How can my worship be genuine and from my heart, when I am simply responding to a command?” That’s a good question, but it has a biblical answer. The Bible makes it very clear that, left to ourselves, we would never worship. tells us:

Romans 1:21 NKJV

because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

On our own, we would never choose to worship. Yes, there is a sense in which worship never begins as a response, but as a decision. I hear the Bible tell me to worship and I do it, not because I have the warm fuzzies for God, but because I am simply obedient to Him.

ILL

Calvin Miller writes about worship:

I have never forgotten that Daystar (that’s another name for the devil) began his Great Insurrection by frowning and skipping his morning Alleluias. It must have seemed minor at the time, (listen) but hell grows out of paradise gone sour. Joy is a discipline, and fallen angels were always those who grew negligent with their praise.

I don’t know about you, but worshiping God is almost always a decision, not a response. I am in the habit of rising early in the morning. Now that doesn’t make me more spiritual, just more sleepy at lunch time I assure you. But even though I get up early; even though I am a pastor and I have had the privilege of being a believer for many years, if I did not, every day, decide to worship, I never would. Why? Because there are so many other things I can do. I have to discipline myself to stop roaming the internet or answering e-mail. There’s always something to tear my attention away from what I really need to do. O, but once I have decided, and once I have torn my mind away from this world and focused it on God. Once I have taken the time to really talk with Him and worship Him, things change! What started out as a decision becomes a response. What started out with a prayer time where I didn’t have a whole lot to say becomes a time of prayer in which I can’t cover everything. What started out as a mechanical reading through scripture comes to life as Jesus, the Living Word speaks through His love letter to me and Quiet time becomes a Holy time.

But before it became a Holy time and before it even became a quiet time it was decision time. I had to decide to worship. I love that little chorus we have sung here in the past:

I will sing praise, I will lift my voice

I will sing praise, I’ve made my choice

I will sing praise, in all I do

I will sing praise to you.

APP

You see, here’s what I know about you: Some of you struggle with your daily walk with Christ because you’ve never grasped this principle. You’re waiting to feel like having a daily quiet time of worship before you start. Hey, you will never feel it! Or if you feel it, you won’t continue to feel it. It has to be a decision before it is a response

And by the way, this is the key to your Thanksgiving as well. If a thankful heart is a worshiping heart and worship is a decision before it is a response, then you could say that a thankful heart is a decisive heart. Really Thursday is all about what you decide. Will you worship God or not?

VIS

Pic - Thanksgiving

So I wonder. If you’d been a Pilgrim at that first thanksgiving, would you have given thanks?

Consider what they had been through, the men and women who broke bread together on that first Thanksgiving in 1621.

They had uprooted themselves and sailed for America. That alone was an feat so dangerous that published guides advised travelers to the New World, "First, make thy will." The crossing was very rough and the Mayflower was blown off course. Instead of reaching Virginia, where Englishmen had settled 13 years earlier, the Pilgrims ended up in the wilds of Massachusetts. By the time they found a place to make their new home - Plymouth, they called it - winter had set in.

The storms were frightful. Shelter was inadequate. Food was scarce. Within weeks, nearly all the settlers were sick.

"That which was most sad and lamentable," Governor William Bradford later recalled, "was that in two or three months’ time, half of their company died, especially in January and February, being the depth of winter, and wanting houses and other comforts; being infected with the scurvy and other diseases.... There died sometimes two or three of a day."

When spring came, Indians showed them how to plant corn, but their first crops were dismal. Supplies ran out, but their sponsors in London refused to send more. The first time the Pilgrims sent a shipment of goods to England, it was stolen by pirates.

If you had been there in 1621 - if you had seen half your friends die, if you had suffered through famine, malnutrition, and sickness, if you had endured a year of heartbreak and tragedy - would you have felt grateful?

Well, the answer to that question depends on the answer to this one: What are you depending on to make you thankful? If its your circumstances, chances are, you’d have to say “no”: You wouldn’t have been thankful then, and you probably can’t be thankful now. If, however, you are looking beyond your circumstances; If you are deciding to worship God regardless of how you feel or what is happening in your life, you absolutely will be thankful, no matter what is going on in your life, Why? Because a decisive heart is a worshiping heart, and a worshiping heart is a thankful heart.

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