College and Career: October- December 2021

By R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation

College and Career is a young adult quarterly study guide directed toward students and young adults as they venture into the world of higher education and work. This quarterly is designed for young adults and stresses the issues and concerns of young Christians. The lessons are both challenging and rewarding, and they address current day issues within society.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation
• Release date: Aug 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781681678801

Book preview

Focal Scripture: Psalm 100 • Background Scripture: Psalm 100

Let’s Get Started…

To begin to know and embrace the character of God, one must experience praising Him. The true worship experience at its roots is the display of gratitude in action toward God for His actions, past, present, and future. Praise is the response of excitement for who God is, not based on blind faith, but based on the understanding of what God has done throughout the history of the world for His people.

Today’s study will focus on how reflecting on what God has done should organically draw praise from within. While this psalm was written many hundreds of years before salvation was made available through Jesus, you can understand today’s psalm as a blueprint for praising the Father in a post-salvific state. Allow yourself to embrace your identity in Christ as a mode of giving gratitude to God through personal worship.

REMEMBER THIS…

Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. (Psalm 100:3, KJV)

Additional Resource

Boyd’s Commentary for the Sunday School

Get into the Lesson

1. PRAISE IN GOD’S PRESENCE

(PSALM 100:1–3)

To understand the language used in Psalm 100, Psalm 93–99 should be studied. Psalm 100 is understood as the final division of seven divisions that give specific praise to God for His royalty and kingship. Today’s division calls you to come into the King’s presence and serve Him through your own personal worship. A joyful noise isn’t specific, but it is commanded. To wrap up this culmination of books based in royal theology, the psalmist wants God’s people to bring our all in worship and to make it personal.

While the word King isn’t used in Psalm 100, there are plenty of indicators that the reason for praising God is because of His royal properties. In fact, it can be seen in the first verse. The phrase Make a joyful noise in Hebrew is the same phrase that is used in Joshua 6:3 when God gave the orders for the people to give a great shout. In the moment of the great shout, God gave victory to His people as a king defeating another king. This phrase should be understood as giving a rejoicing warcry to the Lord.

As a Christian, this should immediately bring to mind the victory you have received over sin. Comparing salvation with the fall of the walls of Jericho, God’s people did nothing to receive that victory. They were simply commanded to shout—to give a faith-based warcry—and they received their salvation. Jesus has given you a victory of even greater value. He hasn’t simply knocked down physical barriers, He has knocked down the barrier of sin that would otherwise keep you separated from God eternally. For that, the whole earth is allowed to let out the warcry of praise to its victorious King.

How can your praise reflect the joy you have for your salvation?

Verse 2 continues the motif of royal theology, or presenting the Lord in a place of the highest authority. As in verse one, God’s holy Hebrew name, Yahweh, is used. While this isn’t uncommon in the Old Testament, it does stand out in this verse to make a point about the type of attitude to have when worshiping the King. Gladness is typically a result of something that has happened. In this instance, it is different from a consciously developed state of happiness. It is a reaction. Thus worship is not a forced attitude. It is the reaction of what has been done to be put in that state. Our worship is a reaction. Gladness is simply the emotion that comes with it.

With worship being the reaction of the gladness felt, this means that you have a responsibility of personal reflection to induce that gladness. However, life is simply chaotic, especially with the added stress put on the world by 2020. Yet, it is imperative for spiritual growth to sit with the good that God has done for you and to reflect on the many blessings that God has given you. If you fail to do so, how will gladness be naturally generated within? The works of God in your life are evident. They are many. And they are waiting for reflection.

Again, contextual royalty is on display in the latter half of verse 2. The presence of a king in nearly all near-eastern kingdoms, including Israel, was a very special place. Usually, people could not enter into the presence of a king unless invited or given permission. Yahweh has been identified clearly as the One who is in power in verses 1 and 2. Yet, the reader is invited into the presence of God for worship. The Hebrew word used for the word presence is used throughout the Old Testament not as a metaphor, but as a very real presence.

This invitation is very real and deeply personal as it requests the individual to sing in the King’s presence. Verse 3 will give clarity as to why this invitation is so personal as it reveals our identity in the Kingdom of God.

How often do you take time for personal, joy-filled reflection?

For Christians, any barriers for knowing the Lord have been broken down. You have access to the King’s throne. This is a miraculous invitation because you have been made worthy to be in the King’s presence through faith in Jesus’ salvation.

Verse 3 gives clarity to who we are and why we should praise the Lord personally. Being a creation means that we are subject to whatever the Creator desires. However, God desires to call us His own. We are identified as His people who are blessed enough to have Him as our Shepherd.

Even more, we are blessed to know Him as God. The psalmist is giving even further reasoning to why we should praise God. Even though our gladness to worship is a reaction to what God has done, our joy to worship simply comes from who we are. We are God’s sheep currently in His pasture. He is watching over us and protecting us individually. We can find our identity in God’s pasture.

2. PRAISE IN GOD’S PALACE

(PSALM 100:4–5)

Verse 4 gives very important imagery to a very real place: the temple. Whether this psalm was written before or after Solomon’s temple was built, the language of courts and gates would have been recognized by the Israelites. The tabernacle was the place where the Ark of the Covenant that carried God’s physical presence was kept for many years before the temple was built. It would have had an entrance like a gate and an outer court that was close to the physical presence of God that was just on the inside.

Like the use of the word gladness, we are called to enter into this space with thanksgiving. Thankfulness is similar to gladness because it is an involuntary reaction to something that has been done to us. Again, this calls for us to recognize what we should be thankful for. The psalmist has already stirred up this natural state of thankfulness in verse 3 by giving us an identity. He is encouraging us to continue to reflect upon the things God has done as we enter into God’s physical presence.

#JoyfulNoise

When was the last time you made a joyful noise? Share your views and tag us @rhboydco!

Through Christ, Christians don’t just enter God’s outer chambers. We know that we have the opportunity to live in His presence. We have access to the King of kings whenever we desire because of what Jesus has done. So how does this invoke thankfulness in your life? Psalm 145:2 calls us to never cease in our praise to God. Thus, praise is a lifestyle