God is faithful to Send Us Out Psalm 96

In his book Let the Nations Be Glad, John Piper refers to J. Campbell White, the first secretary of the Layman’s Missionary Movement in the early 1900’s.  

Campbell said:

Most men are not satisfied with the permanent output of their lives. Nothing can wholly satisfy the life of Christ within his followers except the adoption of Christ’s purpose toward the world he came to redeem. Fame, pleasure and riches are but husks and ashes in contrast with the boundless and abiding joy of working with God for the fulfillment of his eternal plans. The men who are putting everything into Christ’s undertaking are getting out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards.

Life sweetest and most priceless rewards come to those whose passions and priorities line up with God’s.  God heart is for his glory to be known among the nations.  Only when our passions and priorities line up with God’s, and we have his heart for the nations, will we find satisfaction with “the permanent output of our lives”. 

To get out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards we must be willing to be traders: (YouTube video)

The promise of Gen 12:3 is the basis of God’s mission mandate: God will glorify himself by bringing salvation to all the nations.     Dr. Walter Kaiser says “This is the first Great Commission mandate of the Bible. This is the earliest statement of the fact that it will be God’s purpose and plan to see that the message of his grace and blessing comes to every person on the planet earth.”  

Dr. Kaiser describes Israel’s call – and ours – as “centrifugal”  Was Israel “to be active or merely passive witnesses?  Was Israel’s role as mission with regard to the world centripetal (inward-moving, and therefore the people of that time were said to play a passive role in witnessing and spreading the Good News), or centrifugal (outward-moving and therefore the OT believers were active in sharing their faith). Centrifugal witnessing is the role assigned to Israel in actively sharing the Man of Promise who was to come”.    Our call is the same – to be outward moving and active in our missionary efforts.

Psalm 96 gives us a vertical Godward focus that grounds us for a horizontal focus on the nations.  This Psalm shows us three things we are to do for God: 

For the LORD:

1.   Sing!  (Sing to the Lord a new song)  (v1, v2)  This is a major theme in Psalms - and essential to missions.  

“to the Lord”: 7:17, 9:2; 9:11; 13:6; 18:49; 30:4; 33:3; 47:6; 57:9, 59:17; 61:8, 66:2, 66:4, 68:4, 68:32, 71:72, 71:23, 75:9, 81:1, 84:2, 95:1, 96:1-2-12, 98:1, 98:4,-5(noise), 101:1, 104:33, 105, 2, 108:3, 135:3, 144:9, 146:2, 147:1-7, 149:1,

2.  Give!  “Ascribe”  v7, v8   

Give credit where credit is due.  The blessings of God come upon the people of God for the sake of his honor among the nations.  PSALM 67

3.   Worship v9  Bow down, prostrate

 We are talking about a God centered – gospel centered lives that are filled with the joy of the Lord because they are in step with what the Lord is doing and what He calls us to do with our lives. 

The new song we sing is the song of the redeemed:

Rev 5:9-10             And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

For the Nations

The psalmist says that God’s people should do at least three things for the nations.

Nations – people groups – “ethne” - "For evangelization purposes, a people group is the largest group within which the Gospel can spread as a church planting movement without encountering barriers of understanding or acceptance"        Joshuaproject.net

1. Declare God’s Glory

First, declare to them the truth about God’s glory, his works and the salvation he provides through Christ.   Tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!”   “declare”is a strong word.  It is used only here in the imperative intensive; but the same root used in Ps 2: 7 as God the Father declares to the Son his intention to give him the nations.  So what we are called to declare is what God has already decreed and done.

This message is for all the nations – one family at a time “families of the nations”  None are excluded.    The message can be summarized this way:  “Say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns!’” 

2. Invite them to join us

Verse 7: “Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!” Verse 1: “Sing to the Lord, all the earth!” (Psalms 96:1). Our call is not just to declare a message – but call the nations to a decision.  Invite them to join us in worshipping God and singing to him a new song.

3. Warn Them of Judgment

Don’t just declare his glory to them, don’t just invite them to join in ascribing glory to him, but warn them that the reason they must do this is that they are designing, depending on and worshipping false gods; and judgment is coming because of this sin.      Verse 5: “All the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens.” Verse 10: “Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.” Verse 13: “He comes, for he comes to judge the earth. 

In this verse is God acknowledging there are other gods??    NO  “All the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,” he really means all.

The God of the Psalms and our Lord Jesus Christ is owed the full allegiance and adoration of all nations.  

Applications:

1.  Praise and proclamation go hand in hand.  How we worship makes a difference in the way we do missions. 

Praise proceeds preaching – not in importance –but in the structure of our worship.  Praise and preaching are both essential to our witness in a lost world.  The songs we sing matter:

Ps 57:9 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.

Ps 108:3: I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations.

Ps 119:46 I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame,

2.  Centrifugal living is missional  – Godward and outward in orientation.  This is the lifestyle He has called us to.

3.  A word of caution:  Be careful personal pursuits don't crowd out / quench our concern for the nations.  Jesus spoke and acted against the ‘commerce’ and personal pursuits that stood in the way of the gentiles (nations) worshipping at the temple.  (Mark 11)

4.  Be thankful for the way this church has been given a heart for the nations.  We have  experienced God’s provision and blessing as we have pursued and prioritized his glory among the nations.  This is never a matter of “taking care of our own” first.  A heart that is broken for the ‘nations’ will also break and reach out locally.  They go hand in hand. 

In the last 20 years here at Westwood God has sent out over 2,700 people on local, state, national and international missions projects.   During this same time He has enabled us to give over $2,000,00 (2,080,300) in missions support. (These figures based on ACP reports 1993 – 2011)

God proves himself faithful to meet out needs as we set out to be faithful in pursuing His glory among the nations.

Only when we as individuals, as families and as a church are pursuing God’s purposes for reaching the nations will we be able to say we are “getting out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards.”

Additional video material used in this sermon can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiAh3lYo6k4

This sermon can be heard at http://www.westwoodfamily.org/index.php/sermons/message/god-is-faithful-to-send-us-out

I would encourage you to listen to it before you meet with your Lifegroup.