What Worship Is
Psalm 100,
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
3 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.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
5 For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
Last Sunday, my family and I had the joy to worship with Kenny Ortiz and his family at Horizon City Church in Orlando. For those of you who don’t know Kenny, he was a pastor here at Cities before we sent him out to Florida a few years ago to plant Horizon City.
And it was so good to see him and spend a little time with him — and we had a funny moment together …
Each of my kids had new backpacks they were toting around, and Kenny had the same kind — I think it’s pronounced ‘Os-pree.’ It’s a backpack for hiking. Well, they have straps that buckle across the front, and my kids figured out right away that there’s a whistle attached to the buckle. It’s kind of discreet, but the kids figured it out, and so they, of course, were walking around blowing this whistle.
Pastor Kenny sees this, realizes he has the same kind of backpack, with that same buckle, and that same whistle, and he says: “Hey, I never knew what that was!”
And of course he starts blowing the whistle too. There was a lot of whistling going on! It was a funny moment!
And Kenny made this a great moment. Because he thought it was incredible that he had this thing for so long, that was literally right under his nose, and he didn’t know what it was.
We’ve probably all been there before about something, but look, one thing I hope we never say that about is worship. This thing we do together on Sundays, and what we’re called to do in all of life — we need to know what it is.
Because being a worshiper is most fundamentally who we are as humans.
Being a worshiper of Jesus is most fundamentally who we are as disciples of Jesus.
Our worship of Jesus is the most important action we ever do as humans — so we should understand what we’re doing when we worship.
Psalm 100 helps us here.
Today we’re gonna look closely at Psalm 100, and I want to show you three truths about what worship is.
The first is this:
1. Worship is a declaration of our allegiance.
We’re gonna see this right away in verse 2, but before we get there, let me remind you about the context:
Going back to Psalm 93, we’re in a section of psalms all about the reign of the Lord, or the final coming of the Lord in judgment and salvation.
And we established (back in Psalm 97) that what’s in view here is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. These psalms are talking about the end of the world when Jesus returns in final judgment for his enemies and salvation for his people.
And our response on that day as his people, as those saved by Jesus, will be worship — it’ll be praise, thanksgiving, gladness, joy, singing — all the happy words we see in these psalms. That’s what we’re gonna do together with all of creation.
Psalm 100 is right in line with this theme we’ve been seeing.
In Psalm 100, the reader is commanded to worship God now with seven different imperatives. I’m gonna read all of them, starting in verse 1, but follow with me and see if you can spot them:
Verse 1: Make a joyful noise
Verse 2: Serve the Lord
Come into his presence (v. 2b)
Verse 3: Know that the Lord, he is God!
Verse 4: Enter his gates
Give thanks to him (v. 4b)
Bless his name (v. 4c)
There’s no doubt this whole psalm is about worship, but I want to call special attention to verse 2, that first line: “Serve the Lord with gladness!”
What does that word “serve” mean?
What Does It Mean to Serve?
The word for “serve” is interesting because it can literally mean to work and serve as a servant, and it can mean to worship. And in a lot of cases, it has a double sense. To worship God is to serve God, to be submitted to him, to swear allegiance to him.
That’s what’s intended most times when this word is used in the Old Testament.
And it was Israel’s biggest problem. Their problem was who they served. For example, in the Book of Deuteronomy, first, God is very clear. He says, Chapter 6, verse 13:
“take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods …”
Then he says, Chapter 8, verse 19:
“And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.”
11:16,
“Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them…”
So one thing we know for sure here is that worship must mean more than an experience a few times a month on Sundays. Instead, worship is about an all-of-life allegiance, and it is a choice. It’s a choice between two options: You either serve other little-g gods (bad idea), or you serve Yahweh, the one true God. Those are your choices.
Those are the choices that Joshua set before the people of Israel in the Book of Joshua, Chapter 24.
This is an epic scene in the Old Testament. Joshua gathered all of Israel, and he addressed all the people. He reminded them of their history and all that God has done for them from the calling of Abraham to the rescue from Egypt to the possession of the Promised Land, and he said, to all the people:
“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord …” (v. 14)
He said:
“choose this day whom you will serve …
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (v. 15)
It was an amazing moment. Joshua is saying,
Me and my house are devoted to the one true God!
My allegiance is to him — it’s to Yahweh alone.
That’s what it means to serve the Lord, and that’s what Psalm 100, verse 2 is getting at. To worship God, to serve him, is to declare your allegiance to him.
It is about loyalty to our true King!
A Daily Choice
And we basically have that choice every morning when we wake up …
Imagine, when you wake up, that Joshua says to you, personally: Hey, choose this day whom you will serve. Who’s it gonna be? …
And don’t rush the moment . …
Of course we know the right answer, but really think about it: at the end of the day if you were to assess your time and your energy, and what you give your best attention to, and what motivates you, who are you serving?
Is it comfort? Reputation? Success? Power? Money? Who’s it gonna be?
To whom is your highest allegiance?
Look, when it comes to worship, the real contrast throughout the storyline of Scripture is not worship versus non-worship, but it’s who you worship: either you will serve the Lord or you will serve something else.
Church, serve the Lord.
And that is one reason Sundays are the best day of the week.
Worship is more than a Sunday experience, but man, Sundays are important. Because on Sunday, the first day of the week, is the day that launches us into the next six days. We come together to say to God, before one another, “As for me, I will serve the Lord.”
And of course we serve him with gladness. Let’s not act like it’s a hard choice. The way of Jesus is the only way. He alone has the words of life! We are gladly all in with Jesus.
Worship is a declaration of our allegiance.
2. Worship is congruent to our existence.
We see this in verse 3. This is actually the center of the psalm — the center of the seven imperatives. The psalmist says, verse 3:
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.
This is very straightforward. Get this: we worship God because he made us.
This logic is repeated in all the great Confessions. I love how the 1689 London Confession puts it. This is Chapter 2, paragraph 2. The Confession says:
God is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and in all His commands; to Him is due from angels and men, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience, as creatures they owe unto the Creator, and whatever He is further pleased to require of them.
What it means to be a creature is that our Creator has the authority to require our worship. Because: God is God; we are not God; God made us.
Resistance to Creatureliness
And look: the spirit of the age hates this fact.
The mindset of the world, people of the world, hate the fact that they are made. They can’t stand it. Because they worship the Self.
We’ve talked about this recently: that in our sin, humans want to be their own gods. They want control over reality — even if it means murdering their pre-born children or mutilating their own bodies. They want to be gods to themselves.
And the best explanation I’ve ever read of this is by the late theologian John Webster. He describes the essence of sin as the despising of our creatureliness. He writes:
“To be a creature is to have one’s being in relation to God, for ‘to be’ is ‘to be in relation’ to the creator, and only so to have life and to act. To be a sinner is to repudiate this relation, and so absolutely to imperil one’s life by seeking to transcend creatureliness and become one’s own origin and one’s own end.” (Webster, Holiness, 84)
The people of this world, dead in their sins, hate that they are creatures — and we know what this is like. It used to be all of us!
In sin, you try to do everything you can to pretend you are not creature, you try so hard to be you’re own god … but the problem is that there was a time when you did not exist.
You did not exist, and then, when you did come into existence, you had nothing to do with it. That’s what it means to be made.
Have you ever thought about that?
The Wonder of Being Made
I was thinking about this last week. We were having family dinner, and it was a beautiful moment together, it just hit me. I said:
Y’all there was a time when none of us existed. …
We had no existence at all. We were simply not.
But then, we did exist. We do exist. We’re here right now.
Because we were made!
And so what do we do as those who are made?
We worship our Maker! It just make sense!
The worship of God is congruent to the basic truth that he created us.
And here are two very practical things we do with this — First is for parents, for moms and Dads (and since it’s Father’s Day, I mean this especially for Dads.) Here it is:
1) Teach your children that they are made.
When Elizabeth was a toddler and just learning to talk, Melissa and I did a little catechism with her, and one of the first questions was, “Who made you?”
Except we didn’t ask that way. We would say it like this: “Elizabeth, who made you?”
And she would say, “God!”
And recently I asked all of my kids that question, and they all got the answer right. They all said God.
And look, I know I’m not a perfect dad, and I’d never claim to be, but I feel pretty good about this one.
Parents, we can all do it. Teach your children that God made them. And their eye color, and their hair color, and their skin color — it’s all wonderful because God did it.
And second, for all of us …
2) Be amazed that God made you.
It is so good to be made! It is so good that God is God; we are not; and God made us!
And yes, we owe him everything — like the 1689 says, to Him is due whatsoever worship, service, or obedience he requires. But remember, the worship we owe him is not drudgery for us, but it’s actually what satisfies the deepest longings of our soul. It’s why we were made! It’s why we exist!
Psalm 100, verse 3: “It is God who made us and we are his!”
Worship is congruent to our existence.
3. Worship is grounded in the character of God.
This is verse 5. And it’s the verse that grounds everything said in verses 1–4. It’s the ultimate reason why we … make a joyful noise, and serve the Lord, and come into his presence, and know that he is God, and enter his gates, and give him thanks, and bless his name.
The reason we worship God is “for” — verse 5 — or because:
the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
We worship God because he is worthy of worship, and his worthiness is evident in his character.
That is what this verse is saying, and the grammatical construction makes that clear: Worship God because of his character — and in particular, because of his goodness.
And we see this construction and this reason show up over and over again from Psalm 100 onward. Now we’re gonna see this, but let me go ahead and tell you:
Psalms 106 and 107 start the same way: “Oh give thanks to the Lord ... for he is good.”
Psalm 117:3, “Extol him, all peoples ... for great is his steadfast love toward us.”
Psalm 118:1, “Oh give thanks to the Lord ... for he is good.”
Psalm 135:3 “Praise the Lord ... for the Lord is good.
Psalm 136:1 “Give thanks to the Lord ... for he is good.”
And then in Psalm 136 the psalmist repeats 26 times that God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Church, look, the Lord is good; his steadfast love really does endure forever. That’s why we worship him. It’s because of who he is, and who he is is good.
Even in the Valley?
But you might say: “Pastor, it doesn’t seem that way for me right now.”
Maybe you’re going through a season of suffering. Maybe you’ve been battling discouragement and disappointment, and you feel stuck. You’re just in the pit and you don’t know what to do.
You certainly don’t ‘feel’ the goodness of God where you are, and yet you hear this call to worship God for his goodness — and we just need some help here.
I want you to know that even in the valley — in your valley, in your pit — God is still good, and you can worship him. In fact, your praise from the pit has a unique glory and sweetness to it that honors God more, shames the devil, and baffles the world.
And I was trying to think here of some historical examples — like who are the saints in church history who have modeled this for us? There are many.
But then it occurred to me: God has given us examples within our own church.
The Examples God Has Given Us
I think about Jen Jacobs, who died in 2022 at 38 years old. She had been diagnosed with cancer and fought hard, and I remember being at her house one day with a small group of people surrounding her, trying to bring encouragement. And Jen couldn’t even open her eyes, but she wanted to sing the song “Good, Good Father.” And we did: we all sat there and sang “You’re a good good Father, that’s who you are!”
And then I think about Kayla Rigney, our dear sister who died two years ago at 35 years old. She also battled cancer, and used to help lead worship on Sunday mornings. And one Sunday, the last Sunday she ever sang up here, she stood right there, half her hair was gone, and she led us in singing:
I love You, Lord
For Your mercy never failed me
And all my days, I’ve been held in Your hands
From the moment that I wake up
Until I lay my head
Oh, I will sing of the goodness of God
Church, do we realize the examples God has given us? … right under our nose.
And then of course I think of our dear sister Jean Swenson, who for decades was bound to a wheelchair after being paralyzed from the neck down. Jean modeled for years that we don’t measure the goodness of God by our circumstances, but that our circumstances must be interpreted through the goodness of God. We start there! We start with: God is good.
And because God is good, he therefore must have good purposes in hard things.
Jean was an example for us of what her friend, Joni Erickson Tada, has been saying for over fifty years:
“God permits what he hates to accomplish what he loves.”
And that is his goodness.
And church, we’re gonna worship him because he’s good. No matter where we are. And what God has done to prove his goodness is that he sent his only Son here.
While we were sinners, when we deserved nothing but his wrath, God showed us his love in that Jesus died for us. Jesus took our sins upon himself. He suffered in our place. He defeated sin and death, and he has given us himself.
We are united to him by faith. We are forgiven and free. Heaven is our home. Eternal joy is our future. Church, we can worship him now. And that’s how we’re gonna close.
I get that there are some moments in life when we might say, about certain things, “Hey, I never knew what that was!” But Cities Church is not gonna say that about worship:
Worship is a declaration of our allegiance.
Worship is congruent to our existence.
Worship is grounded in the character of God.
And at this Table, this morning, we worship him.
The Table
Each week this Table directs our hearts to the cross of Christ where God’s goodness displayed. If you’re not a Christian, this is a moment for you to believe. Right now, wherever you are, turn from your sin and trust in Christ. Ask Jesus to save you, and he will save you.
That is our story as Christians, and that is who this ritual meal is for. This is a soul-reviving cordial where we remember the goodness of God to us through the cross of Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, we who trust in Jesus, let us eat and drink together, and give him thanks.
