Psalm 100 – A Song of Thanksgiving

 

 There are 575 references to praise, singing and music in the Bible.  The book of Psalms in the middle of the Bible and has 150 poems or songs of praise.  Music is often the form where we express our gladness, joy and praise.  From the beginning, music has been an important part of the worship of God.  Today we are looking at Psalm 100.

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.  Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” – Ps. 100:1-2.  To make a shout for joy is making a loud noise like cheering at a ball game or concert.  We are to be happy and excited.  God wants us to be excited when we worship Him.  We can be so excited that we lift up our hands in praise and worship.  We are to recognize who He is and sing His praises.  He invites us to serve Him and He wants us to be happy about it.  It’s a privilege and duty to worship God.

Are you happy going to church?

Is it just a chore for you?

Do you feel you have freedom to lift up your hands to Him or does it embarrass you?

Do you consider it a privilege to be able to worship in freedom?

We worship in gladness because He is God.  “Know that the Lord is God.  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.´ – Ps. 100:3.  We didn’t make ourselves although some call themselves self-made men.  Christians recognize the origin of their being.  It makes sense to be thankful and worship the One responsible for making us and our world.  Nothing and no one else is worthy of worship.  When you think about it, we owe it to God.  Where would we be without Him?  We are His sheep.  Sheep gather around their shepherd who looks after them.  It’s the same for us as we gather around the great Shepherd of mankind who provides and protects us.

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” – Ps. 100:4.  We are to come together in His house to praise and worship Him.  Of course we can worship Him in private, but we are to publicly worship God, too.  When we do, we are to be thankful.  There is something very special when fellow believers come together in worship.  It unites us and we become stronger in our faith.  Our praise and thanksgiving should be in our hearts as well as on our tongues.  Be thankful in all circumstances, in the good times and in the bad times.  “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” – 1 Thess. 5:16-18.

Do you only praise God when things are going well?

Do others see your praise and thanksgiving as fake?

This Psalm tells us to do 7 things:

Shout to the Lord

Worship the Lord

Come to where the Lord is

Know who the Lord is

Go into the Lord’s house

Thank the Lord for everything

Say good things about the Lord

Why must we do these things?  “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” – Ps. 100:5.  The Lord is good.  If you are going through difficult times right now, it may not be easy for you to believe He is good.  Satan wants you to doubt God’s goodness so you won’t trust Him.  If you don’t trust Him, you won’t obey Him.

Verse 5 sums up God and His character.  God is always faithful and good.  He is good, gracious, kind, and loving.  He does what He promises.  He is good in His plans, in His grace, in His forgiveness and in everything other thing in life.  He is faithful to us and we should be faithful to Him.  His mercy is everlasting.  He loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus to die for our sins.  Do you know anyone else like that?  Do you know anyone else who would take your punishment and die for you when you didn’t deserve it?

Principle:  Our hearts are to be full of praise and thanksgiving for our Creator.

God is willing to meet us anywhere, anyplace and at anytime.  However, we need to come into His presence with a heart and mind that acknowledges we are in the presence of the King.  What a privilege we have to have an audience with the King.  So don’t take Him for granted.

Do you praise God even when you don’t feel like it?  If you are experiencing doubts and don’t feel like praising God, remember every believer has doubts at times.  It’s a part of being human.  Having faith has nothing to do with how you feel.  Don’t let feelings dictate you life.  They go up and down with your blood sugar.  Faith is resting on Jesus.  So when in doubt, embrace more Jesus and focus on Him rather than your doubt.  Then those feelings of doubt will soon fade.

Join me here next week for the next time.  -- I encourage you to trust in Jesus.

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Sound Teaching Leads to Godliness

 

The book of Titus was written by Paul to his friend and helper, Titus.  Titus was working as a leader of the churches on island of Crete.  Paul wrote this letter because Titus needed to appoint men to lead the churches there.  Paul wanted to remind Titus about the kind of character these leaders should have.  They needed to know how Christians should behave.  Paul also advised Titus how he should teach all types of people.  He needed to emphasize the true message of Jesus.

Titus 1 – Instructions for Elders

Paul starts the letter by calling himself a bondservant of God.  A bondservant is slave who is loyal to his master.  This title shows Paul was humble and was honored to serve God.  He also calls himself and apostle of Jesus Christ.  An apostle is someone whom God sends and has the authority of God.

Paul and Titus had visited Crete on one of their missionary journeys.  Titus stayed behind to get the churches organized and do it by appointing godly leaders (elders) in every town.  This was a big job because Crete was the largest of the Greek islands.  An elder is another name for Christian leader.  He is a spiritually mature man knowledgeable in the Scriptures.  Paul told Titus the qualities and standards these leaders should have which still apply to Christian leaders today.  These were to be chosen by the kind of character Paul described.

Qualities of an elder:

“An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.  He must not be overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.  Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright holy and disciplines.  He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” – Titus 1:6-9.

It was very important for Titus to appoint qualified leaders.  “There were many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group.” – Titus 10.  There were many false teachers in Crete and many of them were Jews.  These types of false teachers were not useful.  They told false stories, led people away from God’s truth, had bad effects on family life, taught lies, were greedy for money, and didn’t care about others.  Paul told Titus that these people must be stopped.  He said these difficult people believed that nothing was pure and their minds and consciences were corrupted.  They claimed to know God, but their actions show they deny Him.  They were detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good. (Titus 1:10-16).  A person who truly knows God will behave in good ways.  Actions show who a person really is.

“They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him.  They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.” – Titus 1:16.  As Christians we need to examine ourselves to be sure our lives line up with our profession of faith in Christ.

What do your actions reveal about you?

Do your actions show that you know God?

Does your life line up with your profession of faith in Christ?

Do you sometime stretch the truth?

Are you teaching your children what you ought to teach?

Elders should work together to shepherd God’s flock in their given church.  There are many ways to shepherd the church flock.  Elders must feed God’s Word to the church and know the Scriptures enough to teach.  They should help the young grow in health and maturity, bind up wounds, and nurse the sick back to health.  They should disciple the younger men to train some to be future leaders.  They may be involved in determining church polices and decisions about church and community needs.  With godly men overseeing the church, the church will be strong and resist pressure to conform to the evil of the world.

Principle:  Christ runs His church through godly men who shepherd His flock.

Titus 2 – Instructions for Sound Doctrine and Sound Behavior

Paul charges us we must teach sound doctrine.  He gives instructions for different groups of people and how they should behave.  Older women are to be reverent in the way they live.  They should train the younger women, be self-controlled and pure, be kind and subject to their husbands.  The purpose is so no one will malign the Word of God by their actions.  Young men should be encouraged to be self-controlled.  A good example should be set for them to follow.  They should be taught integrity and sound speech.   Slaves should be subject to their masters.  They should be loyal and trustworthy.

The reason why every Christian should live a good life and set a good example is because of God’s grace.  Grace means that God is kind to us.  His grace trains us to give up anything bad and guides us to do good things.  When a person becomes a Christian, he starts a new life.  The old character is put off and the character of Christ is put on.  Christians are not satisfied with wicked desires anymore.  God’s grace teaches to control of desires and how to behave.

God’s grace trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires.  We are all still in training.  Our transformation is still a work in progress.  We are still working on our relationships with one another.  We are not perfect yet, but one day we will be.  Until then we need to keep our eyes on Jesus and let Him work on perfecting us.

We should think about the future.  One day Jesus who is both God and Savior will return in glory and power.  Christians wait in hope for this blessed event.

Principle:  Teach sound doctrine and practice sound behavior so our actions will be attractive to others.

Are you actions attractive to others?

Are you waiting expectantly for Jesus’ return?

Are you ready to meet Him?

Titus 3 – Instructions for Godly Living

Paul wanted Titus to remind the people how to live godly lives.  The lessons are for us today.  We are to be subject to rulers and authorities.  We are to not slander.  We are to live peaceable and be considerate.  We used to live foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of desires and pleasures.  We lived with envy and hate.  Because God has extended His grace and mercy to us through Jesus Christ who saved us by His death on the cross, we are to devote ourselves to doing what is good and live productive lives.

Where are you living with envy or hate?

Do you gossip or talk bad about someone?

What trivial controversies and arguments do you participate in?

Do you have desires that you know are not what God wants for you?

Do you live peaceable and considerate showing humility to others?

Principle:  God’s grace is the motivation for living a godly life.

The book of Titus is an important book for the church.  We are to be strong in what we teach and watch how we act so the Christian life will be attractive to others.

Join me here next time -- I encourage you to trust in Jesus.

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Jesus is our Sabbath Rest

The Sabbath

God created the universe and everything in it and on the seventh day He rested because He had finished His work.  He called it the Sabbath.   He blessed it and sanctified this day.  This command is the fourth of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20:1-17.  God said to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.  It is one of the most important commandments relating to our relationship with and our worship of God. 

We are to remember this day, meaning we should not forget to take a day off.  We are to keep it holy, meaning to set it aside from all other days as a special day.  It is to be a day for the Lord.  It should be God-centered rest.  We can keep it holy by focusing on our holy God.  It should be one day out of seven.  You work six, rest one.  The Sabbath actually means ‘rest’ not seventh.  The Bible doesn’t say it has to be the last day or the first day of the week.  There is no mention of weeks here.

The seventh day comes from Genesis 2:2-3.  It’s the day God rested after creating the universe.  When God finished His work, He blessed it and made it holy.  Your attention should be on Him and not others things as in the other six days that are spent on secular affairs and professional advancement.

The Sabbath is not a day of dos and don’ts.  So don’t be legalistic about it.  Don’t look at what you can’t do.  Its original intention was to be good news.  The Sabbath command is a command to experience joy.  God’s purpose for us is that we have a joyful experience.  It’s a gracious gift given to us by God.

Matthew 12 tells us what Jesus thought about the Sabbath.  He used it as a day for showing mercy and for doing good.  It’s a day to focus on the Lord.  Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath.

What about Saturday evening church services?  Some use Saturday as their Sabbath and others use Sunday.  We could view it as the Jews do.  Their week begins at 6:00 pm on Saturday.  We could view it as lengthening of the Sunday Sabbath.   We could also think of it as an extra service in the week.  We need to remember the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath.  “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike.  Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” – Romans 14:4. 

Principle:  Accept the gift of one day’s rest each week devoting this day and focus on God keeping it holy.

How are you keeping the Sabbath?

Do you fall into legalism when keeping the Sabbath?

God’s Ultimate Rest

One day we will experience God’s ultimate rest in heaven.  It won’t be just one day of rest.  It will be continual rest.  God calls us into His rest (Heb 4).  We don’t have to wait until we get to heaven to experience this rest today.  Jesus offers us rest and peace now in an unburdened life.

You’ve probably heard the saying “No rest for wicked”.  It comes from Isaiah 57:21 – “There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.”  Well that is true.  Wickedness is a synonym for evil or sinfulness.  Evil is to be in opposition to God.  It is the absence of good.  God didn’t create evil, but he does allow it.  He gave us free will and from that we make the choice to do good or to do evil.

Rest in the Bible means to relax in peace.  God’s rest is a place where God rules.  It is free from chaos and disorder brought about by sin and rebellion.  God’s rest was disturbed by the fall of man.  The Sabbath is God restoring rest for a time. 

 There are levels to God’s rest.  One level is the Sabbath taking time to stop doing our usual work.  Another level is to be in fellowship with God leaving chaos of the world behind and looking forward to heaven.  Another is God’s final rest we will receive in heaven forever.  We can have God’s rest right now.  We call this salvation.  Those who believe in and accept Jesus can have peace and rest knowing one day they will be in heaven and live in God’s ultimate rest.  “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28.

We enter God’s rest daily by understanding our inability to enter on our own.  We enter by our total faith and belief in the sacrifice of Christ and complete obedience to God and His will.  So live by grace and enjoy His rest.  When you find yourself frustrated or feeling overwhelmed, remember to get your focus back on Him and enter into His rest once again.  Then you can rest in the storms of life.

Principle:  Enter God’s Rest through faith and belief in Jesus Christ.

Signs you are missing God’s Rest:

You’re making unwise choices

You lack self-control

You are easily angered

You can’t control your emotions

You’re sick a lot

You’re tired all the time

You don’t get enough sleep

You often have negative thoughts

You’ve lost your hunger for God’s Word

You have no desire to serve

You’re anxious most of the time

You’re depressed

Hindrances to Entering God’s Rest:

Lack of faith

Lack of knowledge to His Word

Sinning

Immorality

Pride

Depending on your own wisdom

Thinking you know more than God

Excess worrying

Not accepting His grace

Rejection

Unbelief

Stubbornness

Unrepentant heart

How can we enter into God’s Rest?

The concept of entering into God’s rest is found in Hebrews 3-4.  Hebrews 3 warns against falling away.  Hebrews 4 talks about God’s rest for His people.  “It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience…if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” – Hebrews 4:7.  Faith is the key to entering God’s rest.  We are not to be disobedient and distrusting like the Israelites.  We are to rest on God’s promises.  The promise of salvation through God’s provision, Jesus Christ provides eternal rest.  He alone provides rest through His blood that He shed on the cross. 

Jesus is our Sabbath Rest.  Matthew 12:8 – “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”  He is our Sabbath rest in the flesh.  Only in Him can we find rest and peace.  We don’t have to work to achieve our salvation.  He is our rest from works.

When we possess rest in Jesus, our daily pain doesn’t seem so bad.  We are refreshed and our minds and bodies are relaxed.  We are able to operate our lives in peace and achieve our goals.  Our minds are calm and restful.  We are not as rattled by things that happen in our lives, because we have His rest and peace.  We know and trust that Jesus is by our side in all circumstances.  We are confident and assured of eternal life with God..

Join me here next time. -- I encourage you to trust in and have faith in Jesus.

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