Serve the LORD with gladness; come into His presence with joyful songs. Sermons
"A merry heart goes all the day, I. IT IS ALL TOO RARE. That it is so is evident; for: 1. Look at the countenances of those who profess to serve God. How grave, gloomy, austere, they seem! how seldom they ripple out into sunny smiles! This characteristic of the Puritans has had not a little to do with the disfavour in which they have long been and are still held by our countrymen generally. A common epithet for earnestly religious persons was that they were "serious people." Certainly they were not thought to "serve the Lord with gladness." 2. Read their writings. Their hymns, even, are either sad or stern, and as to their books and sermons, they are fall of grave, earnest, and often terrible teaching; but "gladness" is conspicuous chiefly by its absence. And their prayers are the same. As if God were a tyrannical Taskmaster, and not our loving Father. 3. Listen to their teachings. How much too dull and sombre these are! 4. Observe their worship. How bare and uninspiring! how destitute of beauty and brightness! how much too often it depresses rather than uplifts! 5. Ask our own consciences. Must they not own the general absence of gladness in our service of the Lord? 6. If it be asked - Why is this gladness so rare? the answer is that with some the sense of sin, the remembrance of their much transgression, is ever before them; with others, the mystery of life, the presence of earthly sorrow; with others, the tyranny of inward sin; with others, misunderstanding and misreading of the Gospel; and with yet others, and most, the want of real trust in God. We are so slow to take God at his word, and when he says he has forgiven us, to believe that he has really done so. II. BUT GLADNESS IN THE LORD, THOUGH SO RARE, IS YET MOST REASONABLE. Whether we think: 1. Of the Lord whom we serve. How good and gracious he is! 2. Or of the service itself. How healthful, right, blessed beth for ourselves and for others! 3. Or of the wages. "The recompense of the reward." We are all little better than eleventh-hour workers, and yet for us there is the whole day's wage. III. AND ALONE EFFECTUAL. 1. It is so in our secular work. Slave work, task work, is never like that of free men. All the heart is taken out of it if it be not glad service such as only free men can render. 2. Yet more in the service of the Lord. See the elder son in the parable of the prodigal. He had no joy in his service, and hence how harsh and unloving he became! This is why St. Paul is forever rejoicing that we are not under law, but under grace. So only will real service be rendered. IV. AND IT OUGHT TO BE. See in that same parable the father's reply, "Son, thou art ever," etc. He was surprised at such a spirit in his son; it ought to have been so different. But if it was wrong for that elder brother, who never transgressed, how much more wrong for us who have transgressed, and yet have been freely forgiven! Pray, therefore, not only that you may serve the Lord, but that you may serve him "with gladness." - S.C. 1. There must be reconciliation with God through faith in Christ. 2. There must be love to God as the motive (Galatians 5:6). 3. We must take God's will as our rule in the service. 4. We must serve Him in hope of success and reward. II. THE REASONS THERE ARE WHY WE SHOULD SERVE THE LORD WITH GLADNESS. 1. Because of our indebtedness to Him (Psalm 103:1-5; Ephesians 1:3). 2. Because the service itself is holy, ennobling, and in its very nature joy-inspiring. To be in harmony with God, to be engaged in His service, seeking to raise men out of the ignorance, guilt, and misery of sin — how blessed is such service. 3. Because such service only can be acceptable to God. God loveth "a cheerful giver." We cannot endure to serve grudgingly. How welcome is love-inspired glad service! (G. W. Humphreys, B.A.) II. THE REASONS. 1. Because He is our Maker, Supporter, God. 2. Because He is the Author of reconciliation and redemption, and His rule is the rule of righteousness and love. 3. Because of the largeness, freeness, universality and unchangeableness of His love. 4. Because the very spirit and principles of His service are "a wellspring of life" and gladness. 5. Because His will, His commandments, are right and good, His service a "reasonable service." 6. Because we thus most truly represent and heartily commend His Gospel and service unto men. (W. Smith.) I. The gladsome service of God has ITS SECRET SPRINGS. 1. One main cause why the believer serves God with gladness is, that he is free from the bondage of the law. When the believer serves the Lord, it is with no idea whatever of obtaining eternal life thereby. The child of God works not for life, but from life: he does not work to be saved, he works because he is saved. 2. Another reason why the Christian serves God with gladness, is because he has a lively sense of the contrast between his present service and his former slavery. What a hard, cruel, Egyptian bondage, was that out of which Jesus brought us! Jesus is the Master and Lord, whom to obey is perfect peace; but Satan, the foul tyrant, is one from whom we rejoice to have been delivered. 3. Moreover, the believer's joy in the Lord's service springs from the fact that he serves God from the instincts of his new nature. The genuine Christian, full of the love of God, cannot be an idler. 4. Another reason why the Christian is conscious of great gladness in serving God is, that he has a sense of honour with it. Did you ever reflect how wondrous a condescension it is in God to allow a creature to serve Him? He sits on His own throne, and establisheth it by His own power. He has no dependence upon His creatures. The greatest of spirits He has ever made are as nothing before Him, and yet, see! He condescends to be served by us! 5. Furthermore, the believer, when he serves God, knows that his service is not the highest place which he occupies. "I am a servant," saith he, "I am not ashamed of it — to serve God is royal dignity, but then I am not altogether and alone a servant." Here is the Christian's joy — he hears his Master say (John 15:15). 6. Again, there comes over the Christian's mind a gentle thought which in his darkest moments yields him joy; namely, that grace has promised a reward. We are not to be rewarded for the merit of our works, but still the free grace of God has promised that we shall not toil for nought. "Well done, good and faithful servant," etc. II. Trace some of the MANIFEST STREAMS OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE IN THEIR GLADNESS. In the first place, we should always serve the Lord with gladness in the public assemblies of His people. The more hypocritical a people are, the more solemnly miserable their outward aspect when at worship. O ye chosen seed, be glad; and of all the days in the week, look at the first as the prime glory of all the feast-days of the soul. Do not pull the blinds down, let the sun shine into the room more cheerily than on week days. Be cheerful and happy at family worship. In your private devotions you should also "Serve the Lord with gladness." "Serve the Lord with gladness." But then the Christian's service for God lasts all the day long! The genuine Christian knows that he can serve God as much in the shop as he can in the meeting-house; that the service of God can be carried on in the farmyard and market, while he is buying and selling, quite as well as in singing and praying. Should not we do our business much better if we looked upon it in that light? Would not it be a happy thing, if, regarding all our work as serving God, we went about it with gladness? III. It is not always easy to serve God with gladness; if it were, we should not need to be told to do it, but on account of THE DIFFICULTY OF IT, we are therefore the oftener bidden to be happy. "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again," says the apostle, "I say, Rejoice." If he had felt it would be easy, it was sufficient to tell us once, but the repetition shows the difficulty. Our inbred sin — is not that enough, when we serve God, to make us do it with the bitter cry, "O wretched man that I am l who shall deliver me?" Yes, but we shall be delivered, I thank God, through Christ our Lord, we shall be delivered from the bondage of our corruption. Let us serve God in infirmities with the glad thought that we shall not always be imperfect, but by and by shall be in the glory of our Master, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Outward trials, again — how hard it is to serve God with gladness when one is losing an estate, or when the cupboard is bare, and there is scarcely money to provide the children with clothes! Yet the Christian does not live upon what he sees alone; he knows there is a secret strength, a secret helper, and he knows how to go to God in times of outward trouble, and cast his care upon Him who careth for him. IV. THERE IS MUCH EXCELLENCE IN CHEERFUL SERVICE. Is it possible that when we serve God with gladness, we thereby escape many fatherly chastisements which otherwise might come upon us? (Deuteronomy 28:47). Do you not think, too, that when Christians serve God with gladness, they derive many benefits themselves? Does not the Lord water those who water others? Besides, does not our God deserve to be served with gladness? Oh, when we get to heaven, if we could have regrets, would not this be one, that we had not served Him better? Our Master deserves to have the best love, the warmest confidence, the sternest perseverance, the utmost self-denial — let us seek to give Him these, and to give them with a cheerful heart. Besides, if we would do good to our fellow-men, we must serve God with gladness. I believe thousands of young people are kept from considering the Gospel by the gloom of some professors. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Are you happy? I look upon the faces of the men and women I see as I pass along the crowded street as I meet them on the railway, or in the tram, in their business, or at their leisure, and how few faces comparatively look really happy! The most people one looks on seem to exist rather than to live. Why are people not happy? Is it right to be happy? Is it consistent for a Christian to be happy? Is religion designed to make us happy or unhappy, to depress life or to stimulate and fulfil it? I may take it that there is no being who exists who does not wish to be happy. Yet many a man and woman who in the abstract wishes to be happy rather takes a delight in being or feeling unhappy, in assuming that it is rather a proper thing not to realize happiness; and many men, while sincerely wishing to be happy, never take the smallest steps scientifically to discover the way of happiness, and to realize it in their own person. Then, again, ideas rule the world, and I have no doubt that the deficiency of happiness in our age is due to a religious idea. While science has advanced, religious conceptions have advanced very little beyond those of the savage. Our own age, so far from having escaped from its meshes, has deliberately reverted to mediaeval theology. The conviction prevails that religious people in particular ought to suffer and be more or less unhappy. Pain itself is thought to be pleasing to God. Because suffering is in the world we have no right to say that it is God's will it should remain there. We have grown out of many things, and we are to grow out of this. God is happy, and therefore we are destined to be happy. We shall grow happier as we grow nearer Christ. But how to be happy? I will tell you the secret. "The Kingdom of God is within you." Once realize that happiness is not going to be given you by anybody, that you have the power in yourselves, and you have learnt the mighty secret, you are on the first step of the path. You may be happy, you ought to be happy. Were you to range through the universe, and live through eternity, happiness can come no nearer to you while you ask it of any as a favour, or expect it as a gift. Begin the work within. You are your own self-creator, by the power which the Eternal has entrusted to you. Are you unhappy, what you lack is life. Illness, disease, moral, physical, mental, is want of life. We ought to be happy in all our activity. "Blessed is the man who has found his work, and can do it," says Carlyle. Our work is the manifestation and expression of our life. No work is well done which is not done joyfully, therefore joyousness is a very element of religious service.(C. E. Beeby, B.D.) Wellington once took passage to Portugal in one of His Majesty's frigates, the captain of which asked him if he did not admire the order, and discipline the ship was in. "Certainly," answered Wellington; "I could not have supposed it possible, everything goes on like clockwork; but, sir, I would not command an army on the same terms you do your ship for thee crown of England. I have not seen a smile on the face of any individual since I have been on board her."The story is told of an ancient king that he caused a temple to be built to the accompaniment of music. From the laying of the corner-stone until the last tower was finished, the workmen performed their task under the influence of the sweetest, most melodious sounds. When the temple was finished it was found that the work had been done not only more expeditiously, but more soundly and beautifully than any of its kind in the kingdom.People David, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Exultation, Gladness, Joy, Joyful, Presence, Serve, Singing, Song, Songs, WorshipOutline 1. An exhortation to praise God, cheerfully3. For his greatness 4. And for his power Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 100:2 1235 God, the LORD 5196 voice Library Within the VeilGerhard Ter Steegen Ps. c. 4 God is present with us--let us fall and worship, Holy is the place; God is in the midst, our souls are silent, Bowed before His Face. Lord, we kneel before Thee, Awed by love Divine, We of Thee unworthy Own that we are Thine. Gladly cast before Thee all delights and pleasures, All our hoarded store-- Lord, behold our hearts, our souls, and bodies, Thine, and ours no more. We, O God, Thine only, Nevermore our own-- Thine the praise and honour, Thine, and Thine alone. … Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others all People that on Earth do Dwell Before Jehovah's Awful Throne Letter ix. Meditation. The Outbreak of the Arian Controversy. The Attitude of Eusebius. The Christian Man Every Thing Proceeding from the Corrupt Nature of Man Damnable. How Shall the Soul Make Use of Christ, as the Life, which is under the Prevailing Power of Unbelief and Infidelity. The Great Shepherd The Being of God An Address to the Regenerate, Founded on the Preceding Discourses. Trinity Sunday the Article of Faith on the Trinity. Man's Chief End Psalms Links Psalm 100:2 NIVPsalm 100:2 NLT Psalm 100:2 ESV Psalm 100:2 NASB Psalm 100:2 KJV Psalm 100:2 Bible Apps Psalm 100:2 Parallel Psalm 100:2 Biblia Paralela Psalm 100:2 Chinese Bible Psalm 100:2 French Bible Psalm 100:2 German Bible Psalm 100:2 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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