Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord himself is God; it is he who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, bless his name. For the Lord is good; his lovingkindness is everlasting and his faithfulness to all generations.

What "Education for Exultation" Means 

The term Education for Exultation describes a vision
behind a new building, and it describes the structure of Psalm 100.
We didn't come up with that name two years ago because it sounded
nice. We came up with it because it describes the way God means to
be glorified in this world. He means to be known with the head
(education); and he means to be sung from the heart (exultation).
And he means for the singing to be based on the knowing. Otherwise
the singing gives him no honor. Singing to God joyfully based on
knowing God truthfully honors God. But singing passionately without
knowing God truly simply exalts the singer and the passions.

Education for Exultation means we must know God truly,
and we must respond with our affections duly. We must see him
clearly, and we must savor him dearly. We must think biblical
thoughts about God, and must feel biblical emotions for God. And
the knowing must be the basis of the affections; and the seeing
must be the basis of the savoring; and the thinking must be the
basis of the feeling. That is why we say Education FOR
exultation. Knowing FOR affections. Seeing FOR savoring.
Thinking FOR feeling. This is not simply a nice sounding slogan to
raise 6.5 million dollars to build a building debt free. It is the
structure of reality in Christ. This is why we were created and
redeemed: to know and enjoy God, with the knowing as the foundation
of the enjoying.

If education does not lead to exultation in God, it fails. If
seeing glory doesn't lead to savoring God, it fails. If thinking
truth doesn't lead to feeling love, it fails. Education, knowledge,
sight, thought – they are all for exultation in God. And if
they don't produce it, they are not what they were created to
be.

And the reverse is true, too. Exultation that does not flow from
education, affections that do not flow from knowing, savoring that
does not flow from seeing, feeling that does not flow from thinking
– are hollow and rootless – noisy gongs and clanging
cymbals. And God is not glorified by artificial and empty passions.
True delight is rooted in true doctrine. God-centered Exultation is
rooted in God-centered Education.

The Structure of Psalm 100

Tonight at 6:00 we will celebrate the faithfulness of God for
129 years of ministry in the old sanctuary, before it comes down to
make room for another building dedicated to education for
exultation. And so this morning we are sounding the note
again: Education for Exultation is a vision of life and
worship that defines our church. And we sound the note today by
showing that this is the very structure of the Old One
Hundredth, Psalm 100.

And the structure of the Psalm not only explains Education
for Exultation; it also explains why the sermon is broken in
two and preceded by two seasons of singing. Singing, sermon,
singing, sermon – is not an accident. It is the structure of
the psalm. And it is a drama of Education for
Exultation.

Turn with me to Psalm 100. Let's get the overview first and then
take it in parts. There are four stanzas. First an exultation
stanza, then an education stanza, then another exultation stanza,
then a final education stanza.

Stanza one

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful singing.

That's exultation: Shout joyfully! Serve with
gladness! Come with joyful singing!

Stanza two

Know that the Lord Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

That's education: Know something! Let the link between
verse 2 and 3 sink in: "Come before Him with singing,
know!" Singing, know! Serving with gladness,
know! Shouting joyfully, know! In other words, if
you are going to shout joyfully, know something to base it
on. If you are going to serve with gladness, know
something to base it on. If you are going to come to God with
joyful singing, know something to base it on. In other
words, the first two stanzas are exultation based on
education. Singing based on knowing.

Stanza three

Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.

Here is exultation again. Enter with thanksgiving!
Enter with praise! Give thanks! Bless
his name! In stanza one the exultation took the form of joy and
gladness and singing. Here the exultation takes the form of
thanksgiving and praise and blessing.

Stanza four

For the Lord is good;
His lovingkindness is everlasting
And His faithfulness to all generations.

Finally, here is education again. We learn three things about
the Lord: 1) He is good. 2) His lovingkindness is everlasting. 3)
His faithfulness endures to all generations. And notice the little
word at the beginning of verse 5: "For . . ." A whole philosophy of
education hangs on this word. A whole vision for the new building
hangs on it.

"For . . . the Lord is good." "For" means: the goodness of God
is the reason, the basis, the foundation of the exultation in verse
4: Give thanks to him! Bless his name! FOR, BECAUSE, the Lord is
good.

When we called the vision for the new building "Education for
Exultation" we were not creating slogans out of air. We were
digging reality out of scripture.

• Stanza one: exultation. "Shout joyfully to the Lord,
  all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with
  joyful singing."
• Stanza two: education. "Know that the Lord Himself is
  God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His
  people and the sheep of His pasture."
• Stanza three: exultation again. "Enter His gates with
  thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless
  His name."
• Stanza four: education again. "For the Lord is good;
  His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all
  generations."

Feel and express joy and gratitude because you know something
about God. Knowing is for feeling. Seeing is for savoring –
and saying, and singing!

We will come back in a few moments with more on the knowing. But
for now, know this: The Lord is God! He made you! You are
his! He is your shepherd. He is good. His love lasts forever. His
promise-keeping faithfulness to all generations. Know this! And
sing with joy!

(Congregational singing)

What Exulting Looks Like

What must we know of God to be a glad and joyful and singing and
thanking and praising and blessing and overflowingly loving people?
But you may ask, before you answer, where did you get that last
phrase, "overflowingly loving"? You see "glad" and "joyful" and
"singing" and "thanking" and "praising" and "blessing", but where
is "overflowingly loving" in this psalm?

Look at verse 3, the last clause: "We are His people and the
sheep of His pasture." The "we" there is the people of God. God is
the good shepherd of his flock. These are the covenant people
praising their faithful covenant God, their Savior and Deliverer
and Keeper and Helper. These are the people who have trusted God
and surrendered to him as his "servants" and submissive "sheep." So
what then is the attitude of these people to the rest of the
world?

Now look at verse 1. To whom are these people speaking when they
cry out to rejoice? "Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth."
Here are the covenant people crying out to the whole earth: join us
in the joy of our Savior and our God and our King. This is what I
mean by "overflowingly loving."

When you know your covenant-keeping "Lord" is the absolute God;
and that he is the all-powerful creator of all things; and that he
is like a shepherd who provides pasture for his weak and straying
sheep; and that he is good; and that his lovingkindness (= free,
and undeserved covenant-making mercy) is forever; and that he will
keep his saving promises to all generations – when you
know these things, and feel the infinite worth of
them, you will not be a selfish person. You will overflow with
love.

What Must We Know to Exult?

So I ask again (not just for our own sake but for the world):
What must we know of God to be a glad and joyful and singing and
thanking and praising and blessing and overflowingly loving people?
As I answer this from the psalm I want us to sing the answer and
the exultation built on it. So turn with me
in The Worshiping
Church to page 317, where we find the Old One
Hundredth.

The answers are given in verse 3 and verse 5. First, verse 3. We
need to know three things: 1) The Lord is our God. 2) He made us.
3) We are his people, like sheep in the pastures of a shepherd.

1) The Lord is God. "Lord," in all caps in our English Bibles,
is a translation of the Hebrew name "Yahweh" or "Jehovah" and
refers to the specific covenant-keeping God who brought the people
of Israel out of Egypt and was faithful to them through the
centuries and promised the Messiah. In other words, verse 3 says,
Yahweh is the one true God. There are no true gods besides him. He
is absolute over all powers and authorities in the universe.

2) He made us. We did not make ourselves. We are dependent on
God for our very existence. The implication the psalmist draws out
is not that we are vulnerable, but that we are cared for.

3) We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. In other
words, since he made us, we belong to him. We are not our own. And
the way he relates to us is as a shepherd relates to his sheep. He
provides green pasture and still water and protection from wolves
and guidance through dangerous valleys.

And now on this side of the cross of Christ we know even more
surely and that we are not our own. Not only did God make us, but
he bought us. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "You are not your own? For you
have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body."
And the amazing and wonderful thing is that this is good news. To
be owned is good news. Because our owner has sworn by the blood of
his Son to free us from sin and Satan and sickness and sadness
forever and ever.

Therefore the psalmist says, "Shout joyfully to the Lord, all
the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with
joyful singing." It is a happy thing to be made and to be bought
and to be owned and to shepherded by God himself.

That's the point of the first two stanzas. So let's sing them
together:

What else must we know in order to enter his gates with
thanksgiving and his courts with praise, to give thanks to him and
to bless his name? Three more things mentioned in verse 5: 1) The
Lord is good; 2) His lovingkindness is everlasting. 3) His
faithfulness endures to all generations.

Verse 3 stresses the authority and the power of God: he is God,
he is the Creator, he owns us. Verse 5 underlines why all this
authority and power is good news. He's good. He's loving. He's
faithful. And all this lasts forever.

If they rejoiced and thanked and praised and blessed the Lord
for his goodness and love and faithfulness in those days, how much
more should we today after knowing the love of God in Jesus
Christ.

God is good. God is loving. God is faithful. He will be this
forever, because Christ paid the price for an eternal salvation.
This is the education we need and our children need and all the
earth needs. And this is education for exultation. We will exult
tonight over this faithfulness. And we close now with the last two
verses of the Old One Hundredth, and then "O God Our Help in Ages
Past" and Agnus Dei, Lamb of God.