Who Are We?

A People of Praise and Worship
Psalm 100
 
There’s something powerful about the follow-up question.
Last week, we asked Who are we?

And we answered it plainly:
The church isn’t a place you visit—it’s a people you belong to.
We are the church.

So the next question naturally becomes:
If we are the church, what should happen when we come together?
Scripture is clear—God’s people don’t just gather.

We respond.
And one of the clearest, most consistent responses God calls for is praise and worship.
Not as a warm-up.
Not as background music.
But as a declaration of who God is—and who we are in Him.

Psalm 100 shows us what that response looks like.

You Have a Praise

The psalm opens with a command, not a suggestion:
“Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!”
The Hebrew word here is rua—a loud, public, triumphant shout.
It’s the sound of celebration.

The sound of victory.
The sound that says, God has done something for me.
This isn’t quiet reflection.
There is a time for silence.
There is a time for questions.
There is a time for tears.
But this moment is different.

This is a moment to make joyful noise toward God.
And if we’re honest, shouting isn’t foreign to us at all.

We shout when there’s victory.
We shout when obstacles are overcome.
We shout when joy spills over and silence just won’t do.
So when we shout before the Lord, we’re not being strange—we’re being honest.
We shout because:

God brought us through.

Prayers were answered.

Healing came.

Peace returned to our homes.

The storm passed, and God proved He never changed.

Scholars believe Psalm 100 was used in one of two seasons:

During the reign of David or Solomon, when worship was centralized and God was the clear focus

Or after the exile, when the people returned from Babylon, reminded that God was still faithful

Either way, the shout meant something.
It said:

“God, You are the center of my joy.”
—or—
“God, I’ve been away, but You never changed.”

That’s why worship teams don’t exist to entertain us.

They give us a collective voice, so together we can respond to God for who He is and what He’s done.
And if we’re hesitant sometimes, it’s often not spiritual—it’s social.

We become more aware of who’s sitting next to us than the God we’re responding to.
But hear this clearly:

You are not being asked to perform.
You are being invited to respond.
If God brought you through it, silence isn’t humility—it sounds like amnesia.

You Have a Reason

The psalm doesn’t stop at shouting.
It moves from sound to posture.

“Worship the Lord with gladness… Acknowledge that the Lord is God!”
The word for worship here is abad, which means to serve, to labor, to give effort.
Worship isn’t passive—it’s participatory.

To worship is to say:
“God, You are Sovereign—and I am not.”
“You are King—and I willingly follow.”

That’s why verse 3 matters:
“He made us, and we are His… the sheep of His pasture.”
Worship flows out of relationship, not obligation.
So what does worship look like in Psalm 100?
It looks like:

Service

Obedience

Faithfulness

A life aligned with God’s will

Worship isn’t confined to a Sunday service—it shows up after the benediction.
So here’s the honest question:

Does your family know you love Jesus because of what you sing on Sunday—or how you live on Friday?

When worship becomes seamless:

Your workplace becomes an altar

Your integrity becomes an offering

Your kindness reflects your Shepherd

Worship isn’t just what you do.
It’s who you’re becoming.

As Howard Thurman beautifully reminds us:
“When the soul knows it is welcomed by God, gratitude becomes its natural language.”

You Have a Way

Psalm 100 then shows us how we approach God.
“Enter His gates with thanksgiving; go into His courts with praise.”

There’s movement here.
There’s intention.
At the gates, we thank God for what He’s done.
Protection.
Provision.
Deliverance.
In the courts, we praise God for who He is.
Faithful.
Unchanging.
Good.
Thanksgiving for His acts.
Praise for His character.

And here’s the New Testament shout:
Because of Jesus, we are now the temple.
Worship isn’t confined to a building.
It’s carried within a believer.

The gate we pass through now isn’t stone—it’s a Savior.
Jesus is the way.
The access.
The reason we can come boldly before God.

And why do we live this way?
“For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever.”
There’s no expiration on His mercy.
No limit to His grace.
And His faithfulness will outlast us all.

So… Who Are We?

We are the church.
We are a people who praise and worship.
Because we have a praise.
We have a reason.
And we know the way.
And when God’s people gather—
Praise isn’t optional. It’s our response.