A Celebration of Thanksgiving -- Psalm 100

Introduction
Call on youth to read portions of Washington’s Thanksgiving proclamation.

Describing the Biblical Text
This is one of the more famous texts from the Bible.
I can even remember in the first grade, our teacher recited it in class every day.
This is a celebration Psalm which ascribes reverence to God through shouting, serving him and singing his praises.
In this Psalm, we have both the description of God relating to His people and our response to Him.

Narrate the Contextual application
I want you to think about something this morning.
Should we be celebrating our relationship to God?
Should our hearts and then our mouths be ringing forth the praises of God before Him and His throne of grace and among his people?
The obvious answer to that question is a resounding YES!!

We have absolutely ruined that first verse haven’t we?
You know what we think it means?
We think it means that it’s okay to sing in the choir when you can’t carry a tune in a bucket.
I bet you heard more than one person say, “I can’t sing very well but the Bible just says to make a joyful noise.”
That is a good sentiment and there is nothing wrong with praising the Lord and serving him and stretching our gifts even to point where they are not but, if we honestly look at this passage, we will see something else here.

Life Application (thesis)
We see a joyful noise, a shout to the Lord just to praise God for who He is.
Life should a celebration for the follower of Jesus Christ.
And our corporate or gathered worship should be no less a celebration when we come together to feast on the riches of the word of God or to life our voices praisefully to Him or to worship in our giving and our tithing to the work of the Lord.
Worship is not the object of a preposition; Worship is not something to which we go; worship is something we do.
Worship in our lives is indeed personal and private but it is also corporate of group.
We gather in this meeting place, this house of worship and when we do, we are the church visible or gathered and then we can worship together.
Every Sunday should be what this coming Thursday is all about.
It should be about worshiping with thanks.
That is because giving thanks is a celebration in which all followers of Christ should participate.

SO WHAT!! (Outline)
This text show us two reasons for this but if we read the Bible even casually, we would see that there many many more.
Let’s look at the first reason in the text.
God made us.
Verse 3 makes that very clear doesn’t it?
We are made in His image.
That is a very strong statement because it reveals that we have innately dwelling within us things that God wants us to be able to do simply because He made us.
We possess the powers of reason and the ability to solve problems like no animal on the earth.
We possess things like language, thoughtful survival (as opposed to instinctive behavior), the capacity to make complex decisions, and, we have the capacity to domesticate most of the rest of the creation.
We are also created with a spirit that enables us to know right from wrong and to understand and realize that there is a God who is indeed on His throne in heave and who brought all thing that are into being.

There is no question that we are special in the sight of God as we were the crown of His creation at the very beginning.
Something else that makes us special is that we, followers of Christ, are also made with his purpose in mind.
Sometimes we feel so very random in the universe.
We are so small and it is so big and there are so many bazillions of people out there that how could God notice me or think that I am special.
But I want us to see the second part of the 3rd verse.
We are His people and sheep of His pasture.

When you think about ancient shepherds, they had a very important job as they were overseeing much of the food and clothing supply.
Shepherds were not simply there to watch sheep, they took that task very personally and knew each sheep in the pasture and every sheep in the flock knew the shepherd as well.
The shepherd had a personal stake in the lives of each of the sheep and if something happened to the sheep either it was stolen by wolves or died from disease. The shepherd would miss the sheep.
He tended to its needs and cared for its well being.

That is very much what God does for us.
In Psalm 23, we see the word, “The LORD is my shepherd.”
In John 10, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd.”
So, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, we are compared to sheep and the shepherd lovingly cares for us.
Of course, Sheep have a purpose for the shepherd.
The wool provides warmth and the meat provides food and blood provides for the sacrifice given in worship to God.
The sheep would eventually give his all for the shepherd just like we give our all to the savior who loves us and died to save us.
Part of that all that we give is a shout or a joyful noise.
Hallelujah
Praise God
We come before Him with joyful singing.
That means when we sing amazing grace, we smile like it amazes us not pucker like it annoys us.

Something else that we need to see in the overall idea that God made us is that we were made to do His will.
Sheep only go to the pasture where they are led.
When we go to a pasture where the Lord is not leading us, that is disobedience or sin.
That would characterize our lives before we became a part of the flock of Jesus.

All have sinned and come short of God’s glory
But because Of the rich love of the shepherd, He died for us to remove that sin and its burden which is an eternity separated from God.
After He died, Jesus rose from the dead proving that he is indeed the Son of God having the power to conquer death.
Just look at John 10.
It is in the same context that Jesus proclaims himself the good shepherd that he indicates that He can lay down his life and take it up again.
The good shepherd can come into your life and lead you into green pastures beside quiet waters.
He can heal and forgive.
Will you trust Him to do that today?

We have a second reason to thank God regularly,
God is faithful.
Verse 7 describes this as we see that He is good and His lovingkindness endures forever and we see His faithfulness to all generations.
He is the one who knows the end from the beginning and who has brought all things into being according to His purpose.
When God purposed redemption before the foundation for the world, He was faithful to accomplish it on the cross by His son
In His accomplishing redemption on the cross, He was faithful to apply it by His Spirit.
We see God as being faithful and true because His word tells us that He is.
He cannot lie so all of His promises come to pass.
He will not leave or forsake us so he is faithfully present in our lives.
Does anyone know the significance of March 19th?
Besides being St. Joseph’s day and Alyson Waller’s birthday, it is the day that the swallows return to the San Juan Capistrano mission every year. They also migrate away every year on the same day, October 23rd.
Their coming and going is something that can be counted on and has been counted on for many years.
You can count on God in His faithfulness as well.
Like clockwork, He will meet our needs and keep our lives in His hand.

So as we give thanks today, give the Lord a big Hallelujah or a shout to His glory.
As we give thanks on Thursday, let’s be mindful that thanksgiving is not a holiday; it is a way of life for the faithful follower of Jesus Christ.