Read Psalm 100:1-5. 1Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3Know 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. 4Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 100 is praise perfection. The psalmist wants us to remember who the Lord, Adonai, is and our proper response to him. As Christians we have come to believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, that he is very God of very God. As our Adonai, Jesus deserves our joyful noises, our thanksgiving, our praise, our blessing. Why? Because he is truly good. His love and faithfulness toward us know no end.
But there’s another response commanded here in Psalm 100 – Serve the Lord with gladness. Worship in Temple meant not only singing, shouting, and rejoicing, it meant serving. It meant sacrificing. Devout Jews served God by bringing him the first fruits of the land and the unblemished firstborn from the flock. And hopefully they did so, not begrudgingly, but with gladness.
For those who are in Christ our very lives have become the living sacrifices to Christ (Rom. 12:1). Presenting our bodies to him is our “reasonable service.” A service that Christ first performed for us. He gave of his life for us on the cross, yes in great sorrow, but also in great gladness. For the joy set before him he endured the cross. And now we do the same with an ever growing gladness as we remember whose we are – his people, the sheep of his pasture.
To live is Christ means never separating your singing from your serving. Both are required and both require gladness. One without the other will fall short of satisfying the heart of Christ that you now share with him.
Prayer. Jesus, may my singing and my serving always go hand in hand. Keep me focused on who you are and who I am in you. Amen.
To Live is Christ 