A JOYFUL NOISE (Week 3)
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Be joyful in the Lord, all you lands; serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song. Know this: The Lord himself is God; he himself has made us, and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise; give thanks to him and call upon his Name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his faithfulness endures from age to age. -- Book of Common Prayer (BCP) Psalter
Who do we serve the Lord? Does it bring us gladness?
Unlike work, which can be obligatory or compulsory, service (in this context) involves taking action out of an inward desire to honor or love another.
True worship cannot be defined only by words or songs detached from a true desire to honor and love the Lord that overflow into actions.
When we worship, we are moved with desire to serve the Lord, drawn into interaction through inner disciplines, upward expressions, and outward action.
"It is your privilege and duty to be happy in your religious worship. The religion of the true God is intended to remove human misery, and to make mankind happy. He whom the religion of Christ has not made happy does not understand that religion, or does not make a proper use of it." Adam Clarke (1760-1832 AD), Theologian
We often don’t delight in serving God because we fail to realize how he delights in serving us. We feel we are bother, a nuisance, a constant drain upon him.
“God looks upon us, lovely in him [Christ] and delights in us, as we are members of him.” - Richard Sibbes (1577-1635), Theologian
Mark 10:45 NIV: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
“As for the true believer in Jesus, he serves his God because he loves to serve him; he assembles with the great congregation because it is his delight to worship the Most High.” Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
If you haven’t let the Most High come down low where you live, struggle, and sin, you will not realize why gladness is the natural description of serving Him.
“If you want to be used by God, you will be used by people.” Bobbye Wethington
Matthew 25:34-40 NLT: “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ 37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’
Micah 6:8 NKJV: He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
“O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom.” –A Collect for Peace, Book of Common Prayer
