The Path to Global Praise for our Glorious God

CALL TO WORSHIP

Isaiah 9:2-3

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. 3 You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

Vs. 6-7

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon[d] his shoulder, and his name shall be called[e] Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Our hope is in the rule and reign of Christ! Our hope is in the son who was given and crucified for us! The one who rose and conquered his enemies! The one who reigns and whose rule will not end!

Let’s stand and sing to him now!

INTRO:

Will we really bring Joy to the world?

in 1719 Isaac Watts penned the lyrics to the famous Christmas Carol that many of us love, Joy to the World

He writes the song based on Psalm 98 and centered on how Christ’s brith bring’s joy to the world!

He Writes:

Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let Earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare him room, And heaven and nature sing,

He captures the global reign of Christ, that he is king not just for the jews, not just for you and I, no. He is the king of all the earth, the king of creation! He reigns and all the earth should sing his praises!

Now that may sound like quite the claim, especially for those of you who are more unsure about Jesus or Christianity in general.

However, the bible is unapologetic in it’s teaching that Jesus is the bringer of joy and it’s through obedience and faith in him that we find joy and abundant life!

So Jesus’ birth is one of the most significant events that will bring joy to the world! The other most significant events being his death, his resurrection and finally his return!

What Watts doesn’t cover in the song is how will Joy get to the world?

How will joy in Jesus spread to the nations!

Our Psalmist picks up that cause and writes in vs. 4

“Let the nations be glad and sing for joy!”

He calls the people of the world to rejoice in God and his reign! He wants God’s praise to be heard in a global chorus!

but the question remains.... How is that joy going to spread? How will the nations sing for joy in the reign of God?

Paul in his letter to the Romans feels the burden of this task and urges the Romans in Chapter 10:14-15..... 17

He says:

Romans 10:14–15 ESV

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Romans 10:17 ESV

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Paul says that the way that Joy spreads to the world is through preachers of the gospel being sent and sharing the word of Christ!

Through men and women taking up the task and going out to other peoples, countries, nations, cultures, and languages and telling them of Jesus’ life death and resurrection!

This is the task of missions! And it’s not a task just for missionaries.

One author writes they are 3 types of Christians in the world:

Their are senders, Goers and disobedient!

We all have a role to play in the spread of the gospel to the world. Either we ourselves go, or we hold the rope of those who do. We faithfully send and support missionaries!

Far too many christian are content with a domestic faith, a faith that neglects the millions of people suffering from the fires of hell because they have no access to the gospel!

A faith that is content to live a “good” life here and now and enjoy what God has given them and how they are “blessed” by God.

Robert Gundry reflecting on Romans 10 writes:

“the repeated rhetorical questions, each beginning “How shall they . . .?” show this way of salvation to be the only way. Without the human witness here and now, an essential link is broken; the chain of salvation will not hold.”

He emphasizes that the way of joy going to the world through salvation in Christ is only possible by people speaking the gospel to other people! This is God’s method, local churches sending, planting, spreading, supporting and praying!

Consider with me the continent of Asia:

Don’t read:

Total: 4.8 Billion People - 7700 People Groups Unreached: 2.9 Billion People - 5600 People Groups

According to Joshua project their are 4.8 billion people living in Asia.

Those 4.8 billion people make up about 7700 different people groups.

A people group is a group of people united by a unique culture and language. So not a nation as we understand it but rather a nation is made up of many different people groups.

so of those 7700 in asia, more than 5600 of those people groups are considered unreached. That means they have little or no access to the gospel!

That totals to about 2.9 billion people!

2.9 billion people have almost no chance of hearing of Christ in their lifetime.

That means they will live, have families, teach them their beliefs and die without ever hearing about God and the only way of salvation Jesus Christ!

2.9 billion people are going to live their lives and die without Jesus, by no one going and sharing the gospel to them they will spend etnerity in Hell. Apart from God, apart for anything good and joyful, suffering for their sins!

2.9 billion people living like sheep without a shepherd not knowing why they were created, knowing the hope and life found in Christ, not knowing the joy of the world!

Friends, the need to send and support missionaries is great! Perhaps some of us should go, some of us should sacrifice our lives so that one or two or hundreds may hear of Christ and find life in Him!

Our Psalm this morning is concerned with winning Global Praise to God

The Psalmist begins in vs. 1 and 2 and answers the question:

How will the nations find joy in Jesus?

How will the nations find Joy in Jesus? God’s people display His saving character to the world! Vs. 1-2

The nations will find joy in Jesus as they see and know God through the witness of His people.

How will the nations find joy in Jesus? God’s people display His saving Character to the world!

This is a concept we’ve covered recently as Tim has brought us through the first few chapters of Genesis.

Man was created as the high point of creation. We were created in the image of God.

We are to reflect hs rule and reign to the world. The world should look at us and see what God is like.

Adam and Eve were called to rule over the world cultivating it, caring for it, and filling it that God’s reign would extend through their descendants and his righteousness would shine throughout the world!

In vs. 1 of our Psalm the Psalmist reminds us of the Aaronic Blessing. That is the blessing that God gave to Moses to speak over Aaron in Numbers Ch. 6

Numbers 6:23-26 “23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, 24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”

Here, the psalmist picks up the language and uses the blessing as a prayer. He prays that God would show them grace and blessing, that his face would shine upon them.

What would answering that prayer look like?

Leviticus 26 helps us understand what it looked like for Israel to be blessed. Some of the things mentioned there are:

that God would give them a good harvest, that he would give them children, his favour would rest upon them, they would have peace, and finally that his presence would be among them.

Certainly these were noble desires and many Israelites would have longed for this throughout their history. The Psalmist gives words to their longing.

Vs. 2 takes that prayer and gives it a purpose.

The psalmist wants this blessing not for personal comfort or benefit.

Rather vs. 2 highlights that the Psalmist wants blessing so that God’s way would be known in the earth, that his saving power would be know among all the nations.

We see this at different times in Israel’s history. God uses Israel, saves them powerfully, does a mighty work through them and the nations fear them, they fear Israel’s God.

Israel rightly reflects the power and righteousness of God in those times.

And yet far more are the times that Israel is fialing to reflect God and failing to obey him and so this blessing isn’t bestowed on them.

What we learn from these 2 verses is what Israel’s and by extension our purpose is.

They were created to bring blessing to the nations! We know that from God’s covenant with Abraham, where he promises in Gen. 12 that through Abraham’s descendants he would bring blessing to all nations!

We see with Isarel that their role wasn’t merely for them to be right with God but by extesion show the watching world what God is like.

Exodus 19:5-6 Says:

Exodus 19:5-6 “5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.””

Israel was to be God’s unique possession, a kingdom of preists. Mediating God’s presence and rule to the world. They were to be uniqule set apart and distinct from the nations as God’s Holy people.

The exodus was an example of this as Moses recounts in Ex. 7:5 “

Which says:

5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.””

Another example is when David fights goliath in 1 Samuel.

Chapter 17 verses 46 and 47 says:

1 Samuel 17:46-47 “46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.””

Or consider Isaiah 42:6-7 speaking of the role of Israel that is later fulfilled in Christ.

Which say:

“6 “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, 7 to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”

The role of Israel was to show the world what God was like, they were to be God’s light to the nations!

So the psalmist rightly prays for God’s blessing so that they might show God’s saving power, God’s Holy Character to the watching world! This was thier purpose!

It’s not all that different from our purpose, but it is different in some ways.

The easiest way I’ve heard to summarize this is that in the Old Covenant the way nations were to find God was to Come and See Israel.

hThey were to see Israel’s success, Israel’s great harvest’s, their blessings and wonder at how great Israel’s God must be!

They were to see Israel’s unlikely military vistories and behold the omnipotent power of God!

It was a come and see religion.

But now the New Covenant established in Christ by the Spirit turns that covenant on it’s head. Jesus has fulfilled the old covenant and tells his disciples, tells the early church and therefore tells us that we are called to a new mission.

We are called to the mission of go and tell!

We’re not to show God’s power, righteousness, Holiness, greatness by our afluence!

We don’t build glorious churches and beautiful homes so that people will come and see that God gives his people good earthly things.

There has beena fundamental shift in the kingdom of God!

We heard about this last week as Josh reminded us of the wrong expectations that the Pharisees and religious leaders had.

They expected a military king and a earthly kingdom but Jesus came fo establish an eternal kingdom through suffering, not through great worldly power!

2 Corinthians 4:6-7 remind us:

2 Cor. 4:6-7 “6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”

Or Consider

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 ESV

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

In the new covenant the nations aren’t supposed to come and see our wealth and properity, no they are to see Christ in our weakness!

We show God’s power in our failings and our weaknesses.

That’s why it’s ok to be weak, it’s ok to be needy, it’s ok to admit we don’t have it all together!

Actually, that’s not good enough. It better than ok!

We show Christ’s power and his power rests upon us when we boast in our weaknesses!

We don’t need to feel shame when we’ve messed up or our life isn’t pinterest perfect.

We had a rough morning one day this week and it lead to one of the adults in our family balling out front of the public school in town, and that’s ok!

It’s ok for pastor’s and their families to not have it all together too, we do not boast or trust in ourselves.

We show his power, his glory, his character in our weakness!

In this New covenant, wealth isn’t something we use to display God’s character, rather it’s a snare that keeps many from the kingdom of God.

So we should be eager to use our money and our physical blessing for kingdom purposes.

We should be cautious and careful that it’s evil doesn’t ensare us and keep us from eternal glory and blessing.

So how then do we pick up this psalm and pray?

We must consider what blessing is in the New Covenant

Consider Eph. 1:3 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,”

Paul goes on to talk about all the spiritual blessings of Christ, and yet they are blessing that are for the heavenly places!

Or Consider the Beattitude of Matthew 5

Jesus says:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the merciful, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted for Christ.

Notice it’s all characteristics of a suffering, humble, kind people

But how are they blessed? Or better yet when will they recieve their blessing?

He says:

Theirs is the kingdom of Heaven, they shall inherit the earth, they shall be satisfied, they shal receive mercy, they shall see God, they shall be called sons of God, theirs is the kingdom of Heaven!

Their blessing is future and eternal.

So how do we pray for blessing then? How do we pray that we would show God’s saving power to the world?

1 Peter 2:9-12 Are particularly helpful in bringing this all together:

1 Peter 2:9–12 ESV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

Peter picks up the language of Exodus and call the church now the royal preithood.

He says our purpose is to proclaim God’s excellencies.

He urges us to abstain from sin, passions of the flesh as they wage war on our soul.

And look at vs. 12 he says keep your conduct more pure so that they may see your good deeds and glorify god!

Friends, we live in a different covenant. Not the come and see but rather the go and tell.

One author I read this week phrased it something like this.

We call with our words and we compell with our life!

People must hear the gospel, they must hear about sin and death and the forgiveness that can only be found in Jesus, in order to be saved.

But we compell them with our life, by our holiness, by our kindness, by our sacrifice, by our love we compell them to see God through our lives!

So we pray, God be gracious to us and bless us, make your fave to shine upon us and by that we mean

God make us more like Jesus! Keep us from the world, help us to love you, to love righteousness, to love others and to show your Holiness, your glory, your love to the world that is desperately in need of it!

So how will the joy of Jesus spread to the world,

Through God’s people showing his saving power in their lives and telling other with their words!

Joy to the world happens through the faithful witness of ordniary people who have an awe-inspiring gospel.

In vs. 3-5 of the Psalm, the psalmist turns and asks:

Why should the Nations find joy in Jesus?

Why should the nations find Joy in Jesus? The Nations should praise God as He is the only hope of justice! Vs. 3-5

The only hope for rightouesness and peace is found in God’s rule and reign, not man’s!

Why should the nations find joy in Jesus? The nations should praise God as He is the only hope of justice!

Vs. 3 and 5 say the same thing and call the nations, the poeple to Praise God!

Vs. 4 begins with the same call:

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy!

But the psalmist gives us a reason, a grounds for why they should praise God and be glad!

He says: Because God judges the peoples with equity and guides the nations upon the earth.

The only hope of real and lasting justice is if God would reign over all people.

We don’t need to look far to see how when people are in power, justice is compromised and equity is dismantled.

We see it in many countries in the continents of Asia and Africa, we see it is history through wars and genocides, we see it even now in our own country and those south of us.

The kingdom or governing of men is not our hope, it never was and it never will be.

Government has a role to play in human life certainly we can agree on that but this psalm makes clear that we should sing and be glad because there is one who does rule with justice, their is one who does reign with equity and his name is YHWH.

We don’t always know why God allows sinful humans who are in positions of authority to lead countries the way that they do.

But here is what we do know:

He reigns over all the nations and their leaders. He is the one who keeps breath in their lungs, he is the only who’s sovereign over their victories and their losses, their bills and their procedures, he guides the nations!

We also know that he works for the good of his poeple and the glory of his name!

Perhaps God will raise up a time of serious persecution of Christians here in Canada in these next years or in 20 years or 50 years… Perhaps he will do that so that others can see the faith and sacrifice of those who love Christ and they can realize they see God and many are saved as a result of it.

Certainly we should advocate for our freedom but ultimately our hope is in God who reigns over all nations and peoples!

Perhaps you’re hear this morning and you’re not sure where you stand with God or what you beleive about him.

Let me say from this psalm, the only hope of righteousness, of peace, of equity, of justice is in God.

Secular movements, the winds of culture will not lead to peace and equity.

Left to our own devices we create strife and division. Selfish ambition and jealously take over and lead to fighting, slander. or hate.

Not jsut for our societies but for us individually, we will not find peace apart from God.

You were created to know Him, to be like him, to love him and to worship him. The longer you resist and fight the further you move away from real and lasting peace.

The aaronic blessing from vs. 1 ends in Numbers 6:26 saying the Lord give you peace. Real and lasting peace doesn’t come from whatever it is your chasing, whatever it is your living for.

Real and lasting peace is found in Christ!

In surrending to him, acknowleding your sin and your failure to obey him, repent of it, actively turning away from your sin

and trusting that his death paid the price for your ransom

Trusting that his resurrection assures your eternal salvation.

Friends you may find peace in Christ this morning, if you would but come to him, humble yourself and beleive.

And for those who do know Christ and yet we struggle with suffering, with trials, with difficulties. These words are a comfort and a reminder to us.

In 1 Peter 2, Peter teaches that we have been called to suffer, not simply when we sin but when we do good.

that means often faithfulness is accompanied by suffering.

He tells us that Christ was our example in suffering as he didn’t sin in response to being sinned against!

and he tells us what Christ did do:

vs. 23 emphasizes Jesus continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

Friends, our God does judge justly, he is a God of equity, of righteousness!

Your suffering is seen and known by God, He care and loves you and he’s at work in you and through you amidts this suffering.

Look to Christ, who endured great suffering and yet never sinned but rather trusted God’s sovereign will and goodness amidst great trials.

Our God reigns and he is the only hope of real and lasting peace.

So Why should the nations praise God?

Because God is the only hope of justice and peace!

We’ve seen how God’s character will be displayed to the world and why the world should sing His praise but as we look to vs. 6 and 7 let’s consider who is going to accomplish this mission.

So:

Who will bring joy to the world? God’s power and will secure His global praise! Vs. 6-7

How can we be confident that this mission will succeed? Because God assures us that he will do it!

Who will bring joy to the world? God’s power and will secure his global praise.

Vs. 6 states the observation that the earth has yeilded it’s increase.

The Israelites would have used this psalm around Harvest time to remind them of their purpose and give them hope and confidence in God.

so the sign of a good harvest is God’s blessing.

So vs. 6 continues and says God, our God shall bless us and he repeats God shall bless us!

And finally vs. 7 ends with let all the ends of the aerth fear him, bringing back the global focus and the call to honor him!

The repetition of God, our God emphasizes who it is that is doing the blessing. It’s not baal or one of the other so called god’s of the nations around Israel, it is God himself.

And the repetition declaring that he shall bless us draws us back to how our psalm started. Calling for God’s favour and blessing.

Here now the psalmist closes with confidence and hope not in their farming expertise, nor in their religious perfection, but in their God!

We know that God promised to bring blessing to the nations through Abraham’s descendant.

Just like he promised that a son of David would have an eternal kingdom and would rule on his forever throne.

Here how the prophets talk about what God was going to do in this New covenant:

Ezekiel 34:15–16 ESV

15 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.

And Consider Jeremiah 31

Jeremiah 31:31–34 ESV

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Did you hear how often God said “I Will”

Salvation in Christ, the spread of the gospel, global missions, is not simply man’s resonsibility.

This is a work that God himself is devoted to, that he is committed to, he has covenanted to save a people from every tongue, every tribe, every nation.

So friends, if you’re discouraged about the secularism of the west or the cultural condistions that surround us, look to God.

Or if you’re discouraged about thsoe who don’t know Christ in your life, those around you, look to God! Call out to him.

Our evangelism and missions will not succeed because of our techniques, because of our wisdom, or our zeal.

It’s not about having the best programs, about looking the part, or about being the most attractive church. No God calls us to be faithful to him and to point people to him and he will open their eyes to behold Christ!

We devote ourselves to the ordinary means of grace and trust that he will work to save those around us and sanctify all of us.

He will use us to spread the gospel and to save sinners not because of us but because that is His will! His desire and purpose that he will accomplish!

People will beleive the gospel and the church will advance in the world because God himself secures it!

That doesn’t mean every church will always grow and thrive, no God doesn’t promise only upward movement in the Christian life.

But he does tell us that the harvest is plentiful and the labourers are few so we know their are people out there who need the gospel and God has called us to participate in this great work!

Romans 10 reminded us of how beautiful the feet are of thsoe who preach good news!

Friends God delights in this mission, God loves honest, simple, real evangelism! Telling others about Christ, about the joy and peace and life that is found in him!

He’s put you in a unique place, whether your in a secular work environment or like me you’re surrounded by Christians at work, he’s put you their to reflect his character to the world.

He’s put you in a family and in friendships and in neighbourhoods to show the world what he’s like! To display the saving power of Jesus and the character of our God by your life.

Youth and kids, if you’ve beleived in Christ he has filled you with his spirit to be his ambassador, his represantative in a world that’s marching toward sin and immorality.

Are you reflecting his character to the world? Or are you reflecting the world’s character to God?

Don’t think you have to have it all together, that’s not how his power is shown, God is the one who will work. We simply strive to be faithful to him.

And as we fail, let’s turn back to him in repentance. None of us are always represanting God well. SLLLLOOOOWWWW

I’ve failed this week in showing my kids what God is like by sinning in how I’ve spoken to them and to Elisabeth. We’ve all shown a warped and twisted view of God, perhaps some of us were there this morning.

But we too can rejoice is God, in his saving power, in his righteous judgements because salvation does not rest on our obedience but in Christ this morning!

So let’s go from here with a renewed joy in Christ, a renewed zeal for his global praise and let’s show the watching world what God’s saving power is like!

We beagn our time thinking about Isaac Watts song: Joy to the world.

And we’ve seen that God uses us to bring joy to the world as we call the world with our words and compell the world with our lives!

He uses us to display his power in salvation so that all peoples might praise him.

And he stands behind his purposes and will bring them to fruition.

The need is great and yet our God is able.

Isaac Watts continues with these verses.

No more let sins and sorrows grow, Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found,

He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love,

Let’s Pray.