PSALM 67: LET THE NATIONS BE GLAD

Intro:

John Paton - missionary to Vanauatu. He arrived in 1858 an was met with hostility from canibal tribes.

The canibals one night decided to launch an attack on Him and His friends, they were forced to flee into the dense jungle and watch as these cannibal men searched for them

He was chased off the island from a hostile tribe

He returned to the island only for the tribe to burn his house down while he was sleeping in it

They were then given food from the natives only to discover it had been poisoned

John’s wife and newborn son were with Him but died from malaria just days apart from eachother

All of this to see some Natives believe in Jesus

William Carey - missionary to India

Indian thugs broke into his home, attacked william and hif family. They tried to rob and kill them but william fended them off with his pistol

William was once travelling through the jungle doing ministry when he encountered a wild tiger, somehow he scared it away

He too suffered from malaria almost to the point of death

Governments were against him and saw him as a threat

He endured all of that to see people believe in Jesus

Hudson Taylor - missionary to China

Attacked by thieves who tried to kill him

Poisoned by a servant who was angry that hudson was preaching the gospel

Shipwrecked on a desert island

He was attacked, beaten and dragged through the streets by a mob of locals who hated his preaching

Why would these men and so many others put themselves and their families through a life like that?

If people say we don’t want Jesus, why do they persist in telling them?

What could cause any sane person to give up a 6 digit salary, a safe suburban home, a great church, nearness to in-laws SO THAT THEY COULD live in a foreign land, be persecuted, be threatened, be uncomfortable and poor?

Steve Lawson “An Exalted view of God compels believers to do great things for God… The higher a believers view of God, the stronger should burn His passion that others will come to know this glorious God”

The driving force behind global missions or local evangelism is joy to be found in the glory of God.

Need:

Do you struggle to share your faith?

Fear of a reaction?

Unsure what to say?

Embarrassed?

Have you considered what you will do NOW to live a life that reaches the world w/ the gospel?

Bible translation

Church planting

Going to a church overseas, starting a business and just being a faithful church attender

Do you even have a desire to see God known by others? Do you have joy that needs to be shared? Have you been impacted by God’s saving message?

Ps 67 will shine a clarifying light into the confusion of your spirital life

READ

Prop: God blesses His people to accomplish His mission

Thesis: God’s 3 necessities for every Christian to be involved in missions.

1. The Fuel of Missions

Ps 67.1-2 “God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us— Selah. That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations.”

Do you see this ?

GOD BE GRACIOUS AND BLESS US = FUEL

SO THAT YOUR WAY MAY BE KNOWN = MISSION

What is this grace and blessing?

Often we think of God’s blessings as materials like a car, job, house, money or success and health. Those are blessings from God and partially what the author is asking for BUT more importantly, He is asking God for the blessing of a personal gracious relationship between Him and God… where do I get that?

“be gracious to us” - this word is closely related to kindness and mercy -

When you ask any Christian to describe to you the way God has blessed them, the first and most profound blessing they will start with IS THE MERCY THEY RECIEVED IN FORGIVENESS OF sins.

“cause His face to shine upon us” - a shining face is one of favor, when a king smiled upon one who asked of something they were likely to get it. This implies a friendly warm personal relationship that the author asks for.

So we ask for God to bless us BUT not just for our own sake but SO THAT God’s ways may be known on the earth, salvation among all nations

ILLUS: You ever do free advertisment for something bc you just like it that much?

I found this place called “ITSJUSTWINGS” they cook in the kitchen of chilis, take-out only, 22 bonless wings & fries & drink for 22 bucks. Flavors such as apple BBQ, honey siracha, honey chipotle, mango habenero, spicy pinapple teriyaki. I LOVE IT.

They don’t sponsor me yet I tell everyone about it. Brooke and I went to Nano and Kenzies house and they were discussing dinner options and I went on a full sales pitch to get them to order this.

Because when you taste and see that the chicken is bueno - you have to share that blessing w/ others.

When we receive the fuel of the GREATNESS of God, our joy MUST find vent in presenting God to any and all who can hear!

Spurgeon “As showers which first fall upon the hills, afterwards run down in streams into the valleys, so the blessing of the Most High comes upon the world through the church. We are blessed for the sake of others, as well as ourselves. God deals in a way of mercy with his saints, and then they make that way known far and wide, and the Lord's name is made famous in the earth.”

APP: The reason that God doesn’t immediately bring a Christian to heaven is so that they can spread the good news of God’s salvation.

When you think of the gospel do you think of joy, delight, blessing? Or as dull, boring and simply an escape from hell?

Have you tasted and seen that the Lord is good? and has that pushed you to tell others about Him?

The blessing we receive from God fuels OUR MISSION

2. The Goal of Missions v.3-5

Ps.67:3-5 “Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness And guide the nations on the earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.”

The goal of missions is that all peoples, from every nation would KNOW GOD and praise God.

God’s heart from the beginning has always been for the nations to know Him.

Gen 12:1-3 “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.””

Gen 22:18 ““In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.””

Isaiah 49:5–7 (NASB95) — 5 And now says the Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him (For I am honored in the sight of the Lord, And My God is My strength), 6 He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” 7 Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One, To the despised One, To the One abhorred by the nation, To the Servant of rulers, “Kings will see and arise, Princes will also bow down, Because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”

Matt 28:19 ““Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,”

The goal of missions is not that just Isreal would know God, not that just murrieta would know God, not just CA, or US but all nations

Nations = people of the same ethnicity and language

Not just USA but the Navajo people in New Mexico who speak the Navajo language.

ILLUS: Darkness of Alaska

My friend Niko grew up in Alaska, he told me that during the winter, where he lived there were days that the sun would rise at 10 am and set at 3 pm - giving them 5 hours of daylight, he said slightly more north the sun would rise at 12pm and set at 2:30pm - giving them just 2 and a half hours of day light, BUT WAY UP NORTH in ALASKA - the sun would set in November and not be seen again until January - giving them 65 days of complete darkness.

Depression

Disorientation

Loss of immune function

Reduced productivity

Social Isolation

Sleep Disorders

The overwhelming majority of the world are living in constant spiritual darkness.

The goal of missions is that we would be beacons of light, that we would shine forth the light of the gospel into the darkest most remote parts of the earth SO THAT the nations which were previously in spiritual disorientation would be brought to light.

It should cause us pain in our souls to think that there are entire people groups who live and die w/o every hearing the gospel, that there are currently 3,000 people groups who don’t have a bible in their language.

But what I love in this Psalm is that the original Hebrew makes this more of a prophecy than a prayer.

We can have confidence that God has chosen some people from every ethnic group to be saved.

That God will have his praises sung in every nation

What an amazing thought that

Ameruca will send their choirs

Africa their rattles

Scottland their bagpipes

South America their bongos

every single nation in perfect harmonious fashin will lift their voices in song for the Lord. Louder than thunder, but as sweet as ever.

Rev 7:9-11 “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,”

App:

Paul Washer said “You either GO DOWN THE WELL or hold the rope for those who will… either way you leave with scars.”

We need to be zealous about the goal of missions - that God would recieve a greater glory because a greater number of people have been saved from their sin

This means He shows off MORE GRACE, MORE PATIENCE, MORE LOVE,

He gets MORE praise from MORE voices and more people

We must not only be zealous for God’s goal in missions to be accomplished but we need to channel that zeal into action

APP:

Be a missionary - if you are thinking about the future, you love Christ and want to serve Him than why not risk it all for Him?

Be a bible translator (Makayla Harrell)

Be a business man overseas

Be a missionary mom

Be an evangelist - you know who else we want to see singing praises in heaven? Your school, your team, your co-workers.

Be a light to those in darkness next door

3. The Outcome of Missions v.6-7

Ps.67:6-7 “The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us. God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”

Notice that yielded is the first verb in the past tense.

The Psalmist moves to almost an anticipatory tone because of the confidence He has in God to accomplish His mission.

And he would expect God to give them physical blessings like a good harvest for their obedience

Deut 28:1-6 ““Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. “All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God: “Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. “Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.”

Of course they would expect that if they obey God, they would be blessed by God - so that all the surrounding nations would see that the false gods they worship are fake and that the God of Isreal is the ONE TRUE GOD worthy of their worship.

God has always been a MISSIONARY GOD

in the Old Testament - he chose Isreal to be a light to the nations - they were meant to live for, serve and honor God - so that the gentile nations would come and worship their God too

But Isreal failed - there are only 1 maybe 2 instances recorded in the entire OT where that strategy worked.

But God’s mission wasn’t thwarted, he sent His missionary - Jesus Christ - from Perfect Heaven to a foreign sinful and hostile land

He came to preach the gospel, to establish the church

He was the best missionary the world has ever known because He was perfect.

He lived a perfect sinless life, and then he died on a cross to be a substitution for all who would believe in Him

2 Cor 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

He rose from the dead to defeat sin.

He is the missionary that every other missionary points to.

He came to accomplish God’s mission. All thats left is for you to respond

Listen to what he says Luke 9:23 “And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”

It is that truth that fuels our mission, its his praise and glory thats the goal of our mission and its a fact that his mission will be accomplished and the outcome is that from overy tribe people and nation - there will be people worshipping God becausw of the salvation accomplished by His son.

Psalm 67 “For the choir director; with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song. God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us— Selah. That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness And guide the nations on the earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us. God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”

Notes:

v. 1 - God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us - Selah

Num 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’”

blessing can and does refer to material, health, happiness, success BUT it also and more importantly refers to a personal gracious relationship between God and His people.

V.2 - That your way be known on the earth, your salvation among all nations

Gen 12:1-3 “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.””

Gen 22:18 ““In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.””

Spurgeon “As showers which first fall upon the hills, afterwards run down in streams into the valleys, so the blessing of the Most High comes upon the world through the church. We are blessed for the sake of others, as well as ourselves. God deals in a way of mercy with his saints, and then they make that way known far and wide, and the Lord's name is made famous in the earth.”

God is sovereign over salvation and the means by which He brings is (evangelism) our prayers and passion in life must be that the light of salvation reaches the darkest corners of the world.

Spurgeon “What is here expressed as a prayer in our translation, may be read as a prophecy, if we follow the original Hebrew.”

v.3-5 - Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness And guide the nations on the earth. Selah. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You.

Ex 19:6 “and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.””

Gal 3:14 “in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

Lawson “This is the ultimate goal of evangelism - that a greater number of worshippers will praise God”

Can you imagine a nation singing?

v.6-7 - The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us. God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”

On the supposition that all peoples praise God, the earth yields its produce

Joel 3.13 “Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.”

Rev 14.14-16 “Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.”