"The Sheep of His Pasture"
Psalm 100:1-5
Let’s think ahead for a moment to Thanksgiving Day 2025. You’ve got 144 days to make that holiday special—memorable in some way—so here are some ideas you could begin planning for. First, load your plate up high, make sure everyone sees it, then take it to the kitchen, toss it all in the blender, and then take your “shake” back to the table, where you announce that it’s the new Thanksgiving Weight Loss Shake. Second, when everyone says what they’re thankful for, say, “I’m thankful I didn’t get caught,” and refuse to say anything more. Or third, right in the middle of the meal, after a lot of food has been consumed and yet a lot more is left to be eaten, turn to your mother and say, “See, Mom, I told you they wouldn’t notice that the turkey was way past the expiration date. You were worried for nothing.”
Most of you know that it’s my firm conviction that Thanksgiving ought to be every day. I know a lot of people try to spend a minute or two during the day to give thanks, but so many don’t even know how or—more tragically—they don’t know to whom to give thanks. They’re thankful they have a nice house, a car, a job to go to; they’re thankful they don’t have any serious infirmities, that they have more than enough food to eat, that their ex-husband caught up on his alimony. But they don’t know who to be thankful to. They just give thanks and let that thanks float around in the air somewhere, never reaching a meaningful destination.
These give-thanks-but-I-don’t-know-to-whom people remind me of some inconsiderate teenagers whooping it up in a corner of a nice restaurant in Nashville. An old Stewart County farmer comes in for lunch while they’re there. When the waitress brings his meal, the farmer bows his head and quietly gives thanks to God for the food. At a nearby table, the rowdy teenagers have been watching the farmer, figuring he would do something for them to laugh at. So after the farmer prays, one of the teenagers taunts him in a loud voice for everyone to hear: “Hey, old redneck man, does everybody do that where you live?” The old farmer calmly looks up from his plate to the teenager and shouts back, “Naw, son, the pigs don’t.”
Like that farmer, the psalmist knew to give thanks and who to give thanks to! This songmeister of ancient days had a heart full of gratitude toward God, and he couldn’t contain it. And because he was a musician, his gratitude erupted into song! Perhaps on a harp or flute or some other instrument, he composed a lovely, lilting melody, a joyful noise full of breath and spirit. The psalmist didn’t know exactly how such beautiful sounds were produced by his instrument, just that they were. And frankly, science has ever since had trouble understanding all but the most elementary aspects of how they work. Researchers are only now starting to learn a few of the secrets. The key to these music-makers seems to be turbulence. Jets, eddies, and waves of air pressure come together at the heart of an instrument to form the complex vibrations that we hear as agreeable tones and appealing tunes.
Though we don’t completely understand the soul of sound, we do know a lot about what the soul in tune with God sounds like. It is the praise sound, the thanksgiving sound, the grateful sound! This psalmist discovered something: that when our beings vibrate with praise, we become souls in tune with God.
“On your feet now—applaud the Lord!” invites the psalm. “Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into His presence.” Visualize the vibration of or the air being pushed through an instrument this way: it whirls about like smoke in a breeze—or like incense in a bowl. Do that and you get a sense of what worship is: it’s our souls lifting or pushing toward God our praise—praise that ascends into the presence of God like the sweet-smelling incense of the ancient offerings.
Worship, then, is something we bring with us into the presence of God and offer through our praise and songs. The word “worship” is certainly an imperative in this psalm, an authoritative command to show reverence, adoration, and honor to God. But the tone of this order is not simply one that encourages attendance at weekly services and nominal participation in the prayers and praises of the church. No, real worship and real praise involves something more—something much more.
Worship means to orient one’s whole life and existence to a sovereign master, to be the servant of the king. The word “worship” points to God’s sovereignty and rule. We don’t come to God in worship as an equal approaches an equal, but as a servant approaches a monarch—all the while making “a joyful noise.” Sovereignty and service are inseparably linked because we worship our Lord as people who are striving—and sometimes struggling—to be His faithful and obedient servants.
To worship the Lord with gladness is to praise Him for His power, seen not only in church but throughout this world that is both wide and wild; to give thanks to God for His benefits and blessings and for every moment we draw breath; to express gratitude for God’s goodness, for His love that is steady as stone, for His faithfulness that is never-failing; to serve God through our actions and our attitudes, living out our love for the Lord and for our neighbor in everything we say and do; and again, to treat God like a king, a ruler, an almighty monarch—one who holds our fragile and limited lives within His hands.
The psalmist says, “God is God! He made us; we didn’t make Him. We’re His people, His well-tended sheep”—all of which reminds us that worship is the recognition that our very identity begins and ends with God. We belong not to ourselves, but to the Lord, and this relationship is to be embedded into every aspect of our lives. We are not our own! This is a difficult lesson to hear and get across in a culture that encourages us to be self-made men and women. Most of us seem to believe the popular saying, “It’s my life to live.” The Bible insists, however, that our lives are not simply our own to live. Genuine life is found in submission to God. In biblical terms, to live is to praise God, and to praise God is to live. Indeed, to praise anything or anyone other than God disturbs and ultimately destroys life itself.
Therefore, if you’re not already doing so, start this week the practice of thanksgiving to God. Don’t wait for a day in November! Let that practice become an everyday habit—even an hourly habit. In fact, I encourage you to make a list of favorite things that impact each of your senses—what you see and hear and feel and taste and smell. Do this, and it’ll sharpen your appreciation of those golden moments in time that God has granted you to experience. For God gave us five senses, then He filled His creation with pleasures for each one of them. Look, listen, touch, taste, and smell just how great is His name throughout the earth! You can always enter into His presence with a two-word password: “Thank You!”
Johnny Bergman and his wife were once enthusiastic participants in church. But then the weeds of worldly care began to choke their young faith. They had several children; they became suddenly wealthy; their lives filled up with boats and cars and house-building and social engagements. They were in church less and less frequently, and then not at all. After a two-year absence, Johnny showed up again one Sunday. Surprised to see him, the pastor asked, “Johnny, what brought you to church today?” With tears in his eyes, Johnny said, “I woke up this morning feeling so good, so blessed, so alive—so created! I just had to say ‘thank you,’ and this is the only place I could think of to say it adequately. I wanted to say it to Jesus.”
You too have come to the right place to say thank you. Give the Lord your thanks, not only with your words, but also with your strength, your mind, your heart, your soul—your life. Some of the most stirring words I’ve ever read outside of the Bible were these written by St. Augustine some 1,600 years ago: “To praise Thee is the desire of mankind, a little piece of Thy creation. Thou hast stirred man to take pleasure in praising Thee, for Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”
Yes, it is true. We really are His people; we really are the sheep of His pasture. But do you know what else? We’re also the laborers in His tobacco field, the cooks in His kitchen, the students in His school, the clerks in His grocery store, the workers in His factory, the nurses in His clinic, the loan officers in His bank. We belong to the Lord, and this relationship is to be embraced with gratitude in every time, in every place, in every aspect of life. The ultimate note that one sounds in worship, then, is the note of thanksgiving and praise. The only truly proper response to the self-giving of our Lord is one of gratitude and joyful praise—because we are a community blessed by the presence of One who is both a cosmic king and a simple shepherd, a mighty monarch and a caring creator, a God who is all-powerful and all-loving in an amazing mix of complimentary characteristics. Is it any mystery then that a soul in tune with this God will make a joyful noise of praise, thanksgiving, and gratitude? No, not at all! Perhaps the most natural thing in the world is for us to make the sound of thanksgiving—a joyful noise with all our life.
Let us pray: Lord, You rule over the nations of this vast earth—but also reach down to the children of our county. You created a cosmos beyond the reach of the James Webb space telescope—but also care for every little creature in the woods behind this church. You’ve shown faithfulness to all generations from the beginning of time—but also extend Your love to us and to every present-day prodigal son or daughter wandering away. For all that You are and for all that You do, our great God, we thank You and praise You and worship You—all in Your holy name.
Psalm 100:1-5
Let’s think ahead for a moment to Thanksgiving Day 2025. You’ve got 144 days to make that holiday special—memorable in some way—so here are some ideas you could begin planning for. First, load your plate up high, make sure everyone sees it, then take it to the kitchen, toss it all in the blender, and then take your “shake” back to the table, where you announce that it’s the new Thanksgiving Weight Loss Shake. Second, when everyone says what they’re thankful for, say, “I’m thankful I didn’t get caught,” and refuse to say anything more. Or third, right in the middle of the meal, after a lot of food has been consumed and yet a lot more is left to be eaten, turn to your mother and say, “See, Mom, I told you they wouldn’t notice that the turkey was way past the expiration date. You were worried for nothing.”
Most of you know that it’s my firm conviction that Thanksgiving ought to be every day. I know a lot of people try to spend a minute or two during the day to give thanks, but so many don’t even know how or—more tragically—they don’t know to whom to give thanks. They’re thankful they have a nice house, a car, a job to go to; they’re thankful they don’t have any serious infirmities, that they have more than enough food to eat, that their ex-husband caught up on his alimony. But they don’t know who to be thankful to. They just give thanks and let that thanks float around in the air somewhere, never reaching a meaningful destination.
These give-thanks-but-I-don’t-know-to-whom people remind me of some inconsiderate teenagers whooping it up in a corner of a nice restaurant in Nashville. An old Stewart County farmer comes in for lunch while they’re there. When the waitress brings his meal, the farmer bows his head and quietly gives thanks to God for the food. At a nearby table, the rowdy teenagers have been watching the farmer, figuring he would do something for them to laugh at. So after the farmer prays, one of the teenagers taunts him in a loud voice for everyone to hear: “Hey, old redneck man, does everybody do that where you live?” The old farmer calmly looks up from his plate to the teenager and shouts back, “Naw, son, the pigs don’t.”
Like that farmer, the psalmist knew to give thanks and who to give thanks to! This songmeister of ancient days had a heart full of gratitude toward God, and he couldn’t contain it. And because he was a musician, his gratitude erupted into song! Perhaps on a harp or flute or some other instrument, he composed a lovely, lilting melody, a joyful noise full of breath and spirit. The psalmist didn’t know exactly how such beautiful sounds were produced by his instrument, just that they were. And frankly, science has ever since had trouble understanding all but the most elementary aspects of how they work. Researchers are only now starting to learn a few of the secrets. The key to these music-makers seems to be turbulence. Jets, eddies, and waves of air pressure come together at the heart of an instrument to form the complex vibrations that we hear as agreeable tones and appealing tunes.
Though we don’t completely understand the soul of sound, we do know a lot about what the soul in tune with God sounds like. It is the praise sound, the thanksgiving sound, the grateful sound! This psalmist discovered something: that when our beings vibrate with praise, we become souls in tune with God.
“On your feet now—applaud the Lord!” invites the psalm. “Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into His presence.” Visualize the vibration of or the air being pushed through an instrument this way: it whirls about like smoke in a breeze—or like incense in a bowl. Do that and you get a sense of what worship is: it’s our souls lifting or pushing toward God our praise—praise that ascends into the presence of God like the sweet-smelling incense of the ancient offerings.
Worship, then, is something we bring with us into the presence of God and offer through our praise and songs. The word “worship” is certainly an imperative in this psalm, an authoritative command to show reverence, adoration, and honor to God. But the tone of this order is not simply one that encourages attendance at weekly services and nominal participation in the prayers and praises of the church. No, real worship and real praise involves something more—something much more.
Worship means to orient one’s whole life and existence to a sovereign master, to be the servant of the king. The word “worship” points to God’s sovereignty and rule. We don’t come to God in worship as an equal approaches an equal, but as a servant approaches a monarch—all the while making “a joyful noise.” Sovereignty and service are inseparably linked because we worship our Lord as people who are striving—and sometimes struggling—to be His faithful and obedient servants.
To worship the Lord with gladness is to praise Him for His power, seen not only in church but throughout this world that is both wide and wild; to give thanks to God for His benefits and blessings and for every moment we draw breath; to express gratitude for God’s goodness, for His love that is steady as stone, for His faithfulness that is never-failing; to serve God through our actions and our attitudes, living out our love for the Lord and for our neighbor in everything we say and do; and again, to treat God like a king, a ruler, an almighty monarch—one who holds our fragile and limited lives within His hands.
The psalmist says, “God is God! He made us; we didn’t make Him. We’re His people, His well-tended sheep”—all of which reminds us that worship is the recognition that our very identity begins and ends with God. We belong not to ourselves, but to the Lord, and this relationship is to be embedded into every aspect of our lives. We are not our own! This is a difficult lesson to hear and get across in a culture that encourages us to be self-made men and women. Most of us seem to believe the popular saying, “It’s my life to live.” The Bible insists, however, that our lives are not simply our own to live. Genuine life is found in submission to God. In biblical terms, to live is to praise God, and to praise God is to live. Indeed, to praise anything or anyone other than God disturbs and ultimately destroys life itself.
Therefore, if you’re not already doing so, start this week the practice of thanksgiving to God. Don’t wait for a day in November! Let that practice become an everyday habit—even an hourly habit. In fact, I encourage you to make a list of favorite things that impact each of your senses—what you see and hear and feel and taste and smell. Do this, and it’ll sharpen your appreciation of those golden moments in time that God has granted you to experience. For God gave us five senses, then He filled His creation with pleasures for each one of them. Look, listen, touch, taste, and smell just how great is His name throughout the earth! You can always enter into His presence with a two-word password: “Thank You!”
Johnny Bergman and his wife were once enthusiastic participants in church. But then the weeds of worldly care began to choke their young faith. They had several children; they became suddenly wealthy; their lives filled up with boats and cars and house-building and social engagements. They were in church less and less frequently, and then not at all. After a two-year absence, Johnny showed up again one Sunday. Surprised to see him, the pastor asked, “Johnny, what brought you to church today?” With tears in his eyes, Johnny said, “I woke up this morning feeling so good, so blessed, so alive—so created! I just had to say ‘thank you,’ and this is the only place I could think of to say it adequately. I wanted to say it to Jesus.”
You too have come to the right place to say thank you. Give the Lord your thanks, not only with your words, but also with your strength, your mind, your heart, your soul—your life. Some of the most stirring words I’ve ever read outside of the Bible were these written by St. Augustine some 1,600 years ago: “To praise Thee is the desire of mankind, a little piece of Thy creation. Thou hast stirred man to take pleasure in praising Thee, for Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”
Yes, it is true. We really are His people; we really are the sheep of His pasture. But do you know what else? We’re also the laborers in His tobacco field, the cooks in His kitchen, the students in His school, the clerks in His grocery store, the workers in His factory, the nurses in His clinic, the loan officers in His bank. We belong to the Lord, and this relationship is to be embraced with gratitude in every time, in every place, in every aspect of life. The ultimate note that one sounds in worship, then, is the note of thanksgiving and praise. The only truly proper response to the self-giving of our Lord is one of gratitude and joyful praise—because we are a community blessed by the presence of One who is both a cosmic king and a simple shepherd, a mighty monarch and a caring creator, a God who is all-powerful and all-loving in an amazing mix of complimentary characteristics. Is it any mystery then that a soul in tune with this God will make a joyful noise of praise, thanksgiving, and gratitude? No, not at all! Perhaps the most natural thing in the world is for us to make the sound of thanksgiving—a joyful noise with all our life.
Let us pray: Lord, You rule over the nations of this vast earth—but also reach down to the children of our county. You created a cosmos beyond the reach of the James Webb space telescope—but also care for every little creature in the woods behind this church. You’ve shown faithfulness to all generations from the beginning of time—but also extend Your love to us and to every present-day prodigal son or daughter wandering away. For all that You are and for all that You do, our great God, we thank You and praise You and worship You—all in Your holy name.
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