Ten Joyful Commandments
Ten Joyful Commandments
Dear New Covenant Family,
As we pray for a breakthrough in the joy of the Lord, remember the “ten joyful commandments” of Psalm 100—these come from a sermon I preached back in October.
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
#1: You shall worship God exuberantly.
We are called to make a joyful noise to the Lord, to shout triumphantly to him. You can’t shout in a formal, tepid, reserved sort of way. This is a glad, spontaneous shout, like loyal subjects would give to their king when he returned victorious from battle, or like fans do at an athletic event when their team scores the final point of the championship game.
#2: You shall worship God evangelistically.
All the earth is called to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Derek Kidner observes, “This verse claims the world for God: it should be thought-provoking to sing.” You cannot worship God aright without yearning for all the earth to worship him. That’s why we sing,
As we pray for a breakthrough in the joy of the Lord, remember the “ten joyful commandments” of Psalm 100—these come from a sermon I preached back in October.
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
#1: You shall worship God exuberantly.
We are called to make a joyful noise to the Lord, to shout triumphantly to him. You can’t shout in a formal, tepid, reserved sort of way. This is a glad, spontaneous shout, like loyal subjects would give to their king when he returned victorious from battle, or like fans do at an athletic event when their team scores the final point of the championship game.
#2: You shall worship God evangelistically.
All the earth is called to make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Derek Kidner observes, “This verse claims the world for God: it should be thought-provoking to sing.” You cannot worship God aright without yearning for all the earth to worship him. That’s why we sing,
All hail the power of Jesus’ name...
Let every kindred, every tribe, on this terrestrial ball,
To him all majesty ascribe and crown him Lord of all.
#3: You shall worship God energetically.
The psalm calls us to serve the Lord with gladness, reminding us that there is no gap between worship and work: “Praise and prayer without activity go stale; activity without praise and prayer goes sterile” (Derek Kidner).
Without gladness, our service is not worthy of such a great God. As one of the Puritans observed, we are to serve the Lord with gladness because (1) He is the best of beings; (2) His commandments are not grievous; (3) He is our Savior as well as our Creator, our Friend as well as our Lord; (4) The angels, so much greater than ourselves, know no reason why they should not serve him with gladness; (5) In serving him we serve ourselves; (6) We make religion attractive when we serve the Lord with gladness; (7) We get fit for heaven, where God is always gladly served.
#4: You shall worship God musically.
God rejoices over His people with singing (Zeph. 3:17). He summons us to rejoice over him with singing because singing stirs our affections for him as it stirs our hearts with truth. An African-American preacher said it best: “We sing when we’re happy; we sing when we’re not happy; and when we’re not happy, we sing until we get happy!”
#5: You shall worship God intelligently.
In order to worship him aright, we need to “know that the Lord, he is God.” As John Piper puts it, “In order for us to respond with our affections duly, we must know him truly. If we would savor him dearly, we must see him clearly.”
#6: You shall worship God exclusively.
We are his by right of creation: “It is he who made us, and we are his.” We are also his by right of redemption: “We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” We’ve been bought with a price—our Shepherd laid down his life for his sheep. He alone is worthy of our devotion and adoration.
#7: You shall worship God gratefully.
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name.” We read in Leviticus that the smoke from the thanksgiving offerings would ascend to heaven as a soothing, fragrant aroma to the Lord. Reflecting on this, Sam Storms writes, “God has a great sense of smell and nothing smells so sweet to him as the gratitude of his people. Gratitude glorifies the giver. God loves the aroma of thanksgiving.”
#8: You shall worship God sacrificially.
Why do sheep enter into the gate, but for sacrifice? When we come to God in worship, we are to offer our very selves to him as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God—this is our spiritual worship (Rom. 12:1).
#9: You shall worship God trustingly.
The foundation of these ten joyful commandments is the goodness of God’s character: “For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” We will be able to rejoice in the Lord always when we remember that his goodness toward us never fails.
#10: You shall worship God joyously.
For why? The Lord our God is good,
His mercy is forever sure;
His truth at all times firmly stood,
And shall from age to age endure.
Joyfully yours,
Pastor David Sunday
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