The Lord’s Message:  Summer of Psalms:  Serve the Lord with Gladness

The Lord’s Message:  Summer of Psalms:  Serve the Lord with Gladness
Date:  June 29, 2025
Where:  Tilghman Methodist Church
Scripture Reference:  Psalm 100

            “This the day the Lord has made.”

            “Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

            We are continuing our sermon series by exploring the book of Psalms.  Today, we are going to explore Psalm 100.

            Let us pray.

            Last Sunday, we observed that all creation, sun, moon, stars, plants and animals, all show that they were created by God.  All creation silently tells of the love and mercy of God through their existence.  There is no mistake in that knowledge.  The Psalmist begins this psalm with a command for all of creation to praise God for creating them, verse 1. 

            In verse 2, the psalmist commands all of creation to “worship” the Lord with gladness.  What is worship to you?  Are you worshipping the Lord by simply showing up on Sunday morning or watching a Facebook page of the service?  Lord, do you see me, I am here, or I am watching.  Is that true worship?  Does the Lord want more from us, then just showing up or watching?  In John 4, Jesus is engaged in a conversation with a Samaritan woman that is not happy about where the conversation is going because Jesus is exposing her sin of adultery, verses 16-18.  Most people when they are confronted by the truth will try to divert the conversation to another topic.  In verses 19-20, this is what the woman is doing to Jesus.  Jesus responds to this new topic in verses 21-24.  It does not matter where you worship God.  It is how you worship God?  “In spirit and in truth.”  Let us explore this a little bit deeper.

            You might have noticed that in verse 2 Michael read the verse as “Worship the Lord with gladness…”  He read it correctly.  You will see that I titled this message as “Serve the Lord with gladness.”  So, did I mislabel the Lord’s Message?  No, I did not mislabel the Lord’s Message.  In Hebrew the word “abad”, which the NIV translated as “worship”, can also be translated as “serve.”  The King James Bible translated the word in this verse of scripture as “serve.”  In other verses of scripture in the King James Bible it is translated as “work” and “worship.”   The technical meaning of the word is the idea of laboring as a slave does for his or her master.  Paul described himself in Romans 1:1, “as a servant of Christ Jesus.”  The Greek word, “doulos” that Paul uses should be translated as “slave.”  Romans 1:1, should read: “Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God.”  A slave does his master’s bidding.  We do not like the word “slave”, it implies that we are constricted in living our life. 

            The Lord Jesus Christ took this to a deeper meaning, the cross.  In Luke 9:23-26, Jesus says that if you want to be my disciple: you must carry your cross daily, you must give up your life for Him, and you must not be ashamed of Jesus and the Gospel.  This means that we need to embrace a life of hardship and self-denial.   

            Our worship is service and our service is worship.

            When we worship God, then we must completely surrender our lives to God.  In verse 3, we are told that God made us, we are his people.  We must put Him first in our life. 

            Let us go back to verse 2.  It says that we should worship God in “gladness.”  This is not done by force or compulsion, but in joy.  Even in our mundane tasks; whether is it taking out the trash, cleaning the house, washing the clothes, mowing the lawn. We should we do them as worship to God.  Let us explore what this means.

First, to serve the Lord with gladness emphasizes a cheerful and willing spirit in serving God.  It is not just the outward appearance, but it is the inner attitude of the heart.  When Samuel came to select a new king for Israel and all of Jesse’s sons parade past him.  Samuel would have selected them all, but God said “No.” What did God say to Samuel for the reasons of not choosing them?  Samuel 16:7, “the Lord looks at the heart.” Whatever we do, we should do it with a cheerful heart, not to receive the praise from others.  Our heart needs to be in our serving.

Second, serving the Lord with gladness comes from a place of gratitude.  God sent His son, Jesus, to die on a cross for us.  Jesus paid the penalty of sin that we would have had to pay.  He became our atonement for sin.  His blood washed us clean of sin.  How much do we all owe to Jesus?  Our life.  We should serve the Lord with gladness from an expression of our love for Him. 

Third, serving the Lord with gladness brings about a transformation in our lives and in others.  I look at the people that come into the food pantry on Wednesday and you should witness the transformation that takes place.  Their first time coming, they are shy and very cautious.  After a few times, they love coming in.  You can see the smile on their faces and the joy in their hearts because they feel loved.  The same goes with the delivering of meals.  This transformation changes the people serving and the people being served.  It draws everyone closer to God. 

Fourth, there are benefits to serving the Lord with gladness.  You receive joy, fulfillment, spiritual strength, and a closer relationship with God. 

Our service is worship, and our worship is service. 

The Psalmist looks forward to one day seeing God face to face.  In verse 4, he writes about entering God’s court with thanksgiving and praise. I know that one day, I will see Jesus face to face.  I do not know what I will do, but I do know that every day God gives me breath, I can thank and praise Him.  Do you get up in the morning and say “what, another day”?  Or do you get up and say, “This is the day the Lord has made.  I will rejoice and be glad in it.”  That puts a whole different attitude on how we approach the day and other people. 

The reason for our thankfulness and praise is found in verse 5.   God’s love will be with us always.  In closing, I would like for us to listen to a song by Casting Crowns called, “Lifesong.” 

“This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  Let us continue to read our Bibles, put in practice what we learn from the Bible, and be the Bible for others.  Amen.