We have reached the month of November—the month of no shaving, no spending, and NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). We are also reaching the start of the holidays, and this year will be the hardest yet. To make this holiday somewhat bearable, I wanted to search through Dr. DARFs sermons, which focus on gratitude, just in time for the Thanksgiving season. 

Chris Tomlin – Psalm 100 (Lyrics & Chords)

So, we turn to Psalm 100 (NKJV): A Song of Praise for the LORD’s Faithfulness to His People:

A Psalm of Thanksgiving.
1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, 
all you lands!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness; 
Come before his presence
with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God; 
It is He who has made us, and not we
ourselves, We are His people
and the sheep of His pasture. 
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving.
And into His courts with praise. 
Be thankful to Him, and 
bless His name. 
5 For the Lord is good; 
His mercy is everlasting, And His truth
endures to all generations. 

Within the context of this Psalm is a principle, “or a key to a successful spiritual life…” and that “entering into God’s presence by means of dynamic praise, which includes singing, gladness, thanksgiving, and worship,” (Hayford 1997). Entering into God’s presence is important and needs to be emphasized. 

How often do you walk through the doors of the church and think, I mean, intentionally think, about entering into God’s presence? And, when you get up to leave and go through those same church doors, what will be your testimony? Will it be: I entered into God’s presence today! Or, do you find yourself sometimes saying…” Well, I went to church this morning.” 

Many don’t seem to think it’s all that important to attend church. If they did, our church pews would be fuller. A common excuse is “we just don’t get a whole lot out of it.” But what we are expecting is not what we should be expecting. 

What are we expecting? 

Here’s a general idea of what most expect – church is: 

• A meeting hall for do-gooders
• An institution that hosts multiple programs to meet the needs of everyone, while at the same time operating on little to no money
• A home for a type of blood-sucking creature that rises up out of the dark abyss
• A peaceful, decorative place for performing weddings and funerals
• A life insurance company, after all, if you’re a member of a church, your life will be guaranteed to live in the hereafter

To many, the church is a social organization. We gather here to socialize. We show up early to join our friends for coffee. But we rarely socialize with God.

Returning to Psalm 100, James Smith (1996) points out that this is the only Psalm designated as a “psalm of thanksgiving.” This is not to be confused with the American tradition, Thanksgiving, but as an ancient practice of gratitude. We can assume this was once sung to an ancient community in Israel, and it is likely that people were very excited in their worship, much like charismatic people are today, not like liturgical mainline church attenders. 

The Psalmist was called out to the people to come into the presence of the Lord. “Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness.” 

He may have asked them, “are you happy about being here today?”

Then, he says “come before him with joyful songs. Known that the LORD is God! There certainly is no other God, it is he-the One God, who made us and we are his; we are the people, the sheep of his pasture.”

We “enter his gates with thanksgiving,” which refers to the literal gates that ancient worshippers passed through when entering the temple courts. So, using a modern application – how did you enter the sanctuary this morning? Did you have praise on your lips? Were you thankful in your heart? 

Maybe we have taken the church for granted for too long, assuming the church is always going to be here. Of course, the church will endure, but it may not always be readily available. In the same way, The Hebrews, or Jews have assumed their Temple would always be; guess again. They would now like to rebuild their temple, but there rests a pagan temple on top of their site.

The point…we need to be thankful and we need to be thankful we have a God. This brings the traditional theme of this month: Thanksgiving. We associate this month with Thanksgiving, and every year, we celebrate it religiously with great food, lots of desserts, family and friends, football, and possibly some random politics thrown in. And, then grandma comes up with a great idea: let’s go around the room and everyone express something for which you have to be thankful.” And, you knew it was coming because it came up last year, so you’ve rehearsed your line, and even though you’ve rehearsed your forehead still beads up with sweat, and you stutter out…”I’m thankful for this BIG turkey!”

While this may be a meaningful ritual to some, it doesn’t always capture the application that we are trying to arrive at in our spiritual worship. It doesn’t begin to address the idea that we live in a world with a multitude of problems – horror, pain, suffering, tragedy, poverty, evil, despair, depression, death, grieving, crying, aching, trauma….the list goes on and on. But, in the midst of all of this, There. Is. God! 

He is with us and will always be with us. He is a wonderful God, and we should be thankful we have Him. He is worthy to be worshiped. He is worthy to be praised. We should be inspired to “enter into His gates with thanksgiving” so we can “give thanks to him and praise his name!”

Amen.

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Sermon adapted from “Be Thankful You Have a God!” by Dennis Alan Fulbright, M.Div., November 24, 1996 (LaJunta, Colorado)

References

Hayford, Jack W., ed. 1997. Spirit Filled Life Study Bible. electronic ed. ed. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. Logos.

The New King James Version. 1982. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. Logos.

Smith, James E. 1996. The Wisdom Literature and Psalms. Joplin, MO: College Press.