It’s no secret around here that I am a Detroit sports fan. I root for the Tigers, Lions, and Red Wings. This is an affliction that I have passed on to most of my children. For the most part, being a Detroit fan is a lot like being a Cleveland fan, where most seasons end with, “Well, there’s always next year.”
Anyway,
shortly after we moved here, Pete and Gail Guthrie gave me two tickets to see
the Lions play the Browns in a preseason game. I brought my son, Josh, who was
9 or 10 years old, to see the game.
There was a
point in the game that Josh started making very loud, very obnoxious noises. I
was kind of embarrassed, and I was thinking about all the people sitting around
us wondering about this kid making horrible sounds. I scolded Josh for not
being considerate to the people around us. Then tears welled up in Josh’s eyes.
He didn’t say a word, but he pointed up at the jumbotron, which said in huge
letters, “Make Noise.”
I felt about
“this big.” And I looked back at Josh and said, “Go for it, buddy! Do it!” And
the joy came into his eyes, and he went right back to making noise with all the
gusto you can imagine.
What is it
that causes us to pull back from the joy, enthusiasm, and excitement we felt
when we were young? Why is it that so often we mute the expressions of joyful
gladness we felt … or even still feel! … especially when it comes to our faith?
Psalm 100
says, Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve
the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!” There
is no half-heartedness in this Psalm. It is full-throated praise and joyful
life expressed in worship. Notice, “make a joyful noise” – cry out with a cry
of victory. This is like the moment when Jose Ramirez comes to the plate in the
9th inning to deliver the winning hit – the crowd stands as one and
shouts with excitement. This, however, is talking about a shout of joy because
of God’s salvation. We cry out, we serve, and we sing … in response to God’s
mighty deeds.
The Psalm
says, “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.” There are two main ways that we know God – He made us and He
saved us. In fact, you could say that is a summary of the whole message of the
Bible. God made us and He saved us.
In the
beginning God created all things good … including people. But then people
disobeyed God and made some terrible choices. Death entered the world. There
was suffering, grief, oppression, division, and cruelty … and there still is!
God grieved over what happened to his world, and He still grieves over the
actions of His creatures (like you and me!) and what we have done to His
creation. God grieved, and because He still loved people and His whole world,
He chose to save us, and by saving us to save the world.
So God did
the least imaginable thing possible. He became human. The second person of the
Trinity became one of us to dwell here on earth in a time of dusty roads, stone
cities, tiny towns, and simple synagogues. He related to people. He spent time
with people. He preached and proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven.
He revealed that God’s love remained despite our sin as He called people to
repent.
At first,
Jesus did this work by Himself. He was (and is) the Word made flesh. He was
(and is) the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world, and He
was (and is) the Good Shepherd who came to gather all of God’s scattered
people. The key to that work, His death on the cross and resurrection from the
tomb, was work only Jesus could do. He was what His name meant, “The Lord
Saves.”
Only Jesus
could do the saving work of the Kingdom of Heaven, but the proclamation of the
message was work that He shared by calling disciples – first Andrew and Peter,
then James and John, later Matthew, and eventually the Twelve from the crowd of
followers. At first, they just followed Jesus and learned the good news of the
kingdom of heaven as He preached, taught, did miracles, and went about from
town to town. But a day came when Jesus sent them out to proclaim the good news
of the Kingdom of Heaven. He sent them first to the lost sheep of Israel, but
eventually they would be sent to all people to proclaim that Jesus had saved us
by His death and resurrection, and that He had reconciled us with our Creator
by His blood. It was given to them to go out and share the invitation to
believe that God’s savior has come!
The psalmist
cried out, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!” That is the invitation the disciples
extended to their hearers – the savior has come! Come give thanks! God welcomes
you back into His presence! And friends, this is what we are called to do
today. We are here to carry a joyful message, a message of hope, a message of
gladness, because it was the 9th inning and it looked like all was lost, but
Jesus has given us the victory just when we did not expect it and when it
seemed impossible.
We join with
the Psalmist, the disciples, even our Lord Jesus, to make a joyful noise, to
serve the Lord with gladness, and to come into His presence with singing. “For
the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and
his faithfulness to all generations.”
That is the
good news we spread.
In a broken
world, it is easy to wonder if God is good. When we see broken families,
cruelty, and broken hearts, people can wonder if there is such a thing as
steadfast love that endures. When we see governments and people with power
acting in their own self-interest, thwarting justice, and taking advantage of
systems and people to the harm of the weak and vulnerable, people can wonder if
anyone is faithful.
When we feel
like that, we look to Jesus cross and know that the Lord is good, his steadfast
love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” We come here,
and we receive the gift Jesus has given from generation to generation,
delivering forgiveness, life, and salvation in the Lord’s Supper. We see the
font and remember the Spirit’s work creating faith in us and delivering God’s
gifts to us in Baptism.
But then we
go out from here. What then? We go out making a joyful noise, serving the Lord
with gladness, and singing His praise. Why? It reminds and encourages us in the
life of faith, but this is also a word that is meant to be heard by others. And
we get to share it to call the people in our lives to know the goodness, love,
and faithfulness of God in Christ.
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;[a]
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.
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