Praise the Lord All You Nations

If you have your Bibles would you please turn to Psalm 117. Psalm 117. I’ll read our text and then commit our time to the Lord.

First one, Psalm 117. “Praise the Lord all nations, extol him all peoples, for great is his steadfast love towards us and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever, praise the Lord.” Let’s pray together.

Lord, this is our prayer here tonight even as this is an instruction, it is also an invitation for us to praise the Lord. This is not just a psalm for all of the nations, though it clearly says that here, it is also a psalm for us. May we praise the Lord to give us hearts and minds to be able to do so here this evening. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

When you get a little older in life you tend to get a little bit more clear on your preferences. Hopefully those preferences stay desires and not demands, but as I’ve gotten a little bit older I’ve gotten clear on a few of my own personal preferences, especially when it comes to ministry context and ministry meetings, I tend to like that those ministry meetings would have a clear sense of purpose, I would know why we are meeting and in those meetings we would try to get to the point, to have a little bit more direct, a little more to the point conversations. I just prefer more matter of fact conversations. That’s certainly not a value statement, just more of a personality preference. There are many times, especially in ministry, where we do need to linger in conversation, and then there are times where we can just go ahead, and we can spit it out. I remember when I was a younger man in ministry and I was just stepping into positions of greater leadership and responsibility and influence, and an older and Godly man asked if we could get together. The whole time I’m wondering, I wonder what we’re getting together to talk about. Is he meeting with me to encourage me, do we have ministry plans to discuss, it he going to rebuke me, I just wasn’t quite sure. And so we got together and we did have some overlapping ministry contexts and so it would be good for us to connect both personally and about our ministries, I certainly thought it would be about ministry partnership and so this now friend of mine sits down and we begin to meet and we talk and 10 minutes turns into 20 minutes, and 20 minutes turns into 40 minutes, and we’re approaching what most people think is the conclusion of a meeting time, about an hour, and my friend goes, “Well here’s what I really wanted to talk to you about.” Oh, my goodness gracious brother, you need to know this about me. No, I did not say that at all, I did not say that at all. My heart sank and I thought we may have another hour to go. I thought our time was wrapping up and indeed it was just beginning. Needless to say, that that meeting was not quite as direct as I might have preferred. That was a wonderful meeting and that man’s a good friend now. Maybe it’s just my own personality quirk is why I find myself drawn to psalm 117. No fluff, no beating around the bush, it’s direct, straight to the point. Praise the Lord is what Psalm 117 tells us.

So, as fitting as a straightforward psalm should be so is our outline here tonight, very simple, very straightforward. We will look at what this imperative instruction is telling us. We’ll consider who the imperative is directed towards and finally the rationale for it or you can think about our outline even more simply, even more directly the what, the who, and the why. First let’s look at the what. What is this psalm telling us? We can see it very clearly it’s telling us to praise the Lord, extol him, allow him, give him honor and praise and glory. Here we are in the midst of this series of the Hallel Psalm, Psalm 113 to 118. The word Hallel means to praise. Hebrew word has its origin in the idea of making something shine, to make a show of, to boast in, so that is what we are to do according to this psalm, to make the Lord shine, to make a show of His might and His majesty, to boast in Him above all others and if you dig into the text a little bit in the original language you’ll see that this a form of an imperative, meaning this isn’t an optional invitation, it’s a command, it’s an order, it’s an instruction. The psalmist orders us, he issues forth a command to praise the Lord. So how are we to do this, how do we make the Lord shine in our lives today. How do we display Him, how do we boast of Him. Well, we often think of praise in connection to our worship. That’s right to do so. We sing praise songs. Maybe you’ve been a part of a praise band before. Certainly, we want our songs of praise to God to be just that praise, but our praise should not just be limited to a certain genre of worship on a Sunday morning. I think we ought to think about this command to praise the Lord as encompassing so much more than just the songs we may sing. Theologians over history have referred to the fact that all of life should be considered worship, that we are to live our lives as before the face of God, Coram Deo. R.C. Sproul once said to live coram deo, that is to live one’s life before the face of God is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, and to the glory of God. And so, you could think that our entire life is to be one lived in praise to God. Our entire lives are to be made to make Him look great, to shine His name bright. So, the way that we spend our time and the way that we spend our money, the way that we interact with one another is all to make the Lord shine bright in the world. All of life is to be considered one of praise to our God. And so, it’s worth giving some consideration to the very simple question of, are there any areas of my life that aren’t in line with psalm 117? Does the way that I conduct myself in the workplace, is that an act of praise? Is the way that I parent my children an act of praise? Is the way that I relate to my friends and my neighbors, my family, does that make God shine bright in the world? Where are the areas of life that I’m not making Jesus shine bright to the world around me?

Psalm 117 gives us our marching orders, praise the Lord. But this psalm is not so much focused on what praise is or how to praise, thought those are good applications for us. The psalm is stressing who are the ones that should praise him, praise the Lord all the nations, extol him all peoples. This psalm is stressing all the nations, all the peoples, all the tribes of the earth. They are the ones given this imperative invitation to praise him. If you were with us two years ago at our missions conference, we welcomed Dr. Victor Nakah as he preached from this very passage to us. And in that sermon, he gave us this illustration. He said if you imagined the world as a grand amphitheater, and there is one stage from which you can speak or perform, and the psalmist stands on this platform and he summons not only Israel to worship the Lord, but the whole world, every living creature, everything that has breath rise up and praise the Lord. I love that illustration; I love that imagery. There’s a platform that the psalmist takes his stand on and gives this imperative invitation, all peoples of the earth come and praise the Lord. He takes his platform in a straightforward, direct but very powerful way, the psalmist gives a clear call for all peoples, all tribes, to praise the Lord. And I think it’s worth noting for us as Dr. Nakah did that night, that this is not just a call for Israel, but this is a call for all nations. It’s not just a call to God’s chosen certain ethnic group of people, it’s a call for God’s chosen people around the world that he will make into one new nation, one new people. Some may have the perception that the Old Testament is just about God’s plan of salvation and it’s strictly for Israel. But that’s not what we see here. God’s plan of salvation, his praise is due from all nations and all peoples. This is why Paul quotes from this psalm in the passage that Pastor Tom read in Romans 15. He’s making the case for the inclusion of the gentiles. In fact, if you look at that passage in Romans 15, he also quotes from 2 Samuel 22, psalm 18, Deuteronomy 32, and Isaiah 11. In addition to our psalm here tonight, all making the case that all the nations are to be included in God’s plan of salvation. All the nations, all the peoples, all the tribes of the earth are to bring Him praise. So, what we see so much is it doesn’t matter who you are, or where you are from, the Lord calls you as he calls all peoples from all over the world to praise Him. Post Christian Europe is called to praise Him. The Islamic middle east is called to praise Him. Communist China is called to praise Him. Atheist Japan is called to praise Him. Catholic Latin-America is called to praise Him. Syncretistic Africa is called to praise Him. Apathetic America is called to praise Him. Indeed, all nations, all peoples, all tribes are both invited and instructed to praise the Lord. But here’s what we all know, here’s what we experience, here’s what we see is that though this call has gone out, there are many places in which it has not been answered. So, the psalmist stands on the platform, he gives this call, but if you go along with this illustration, you might almost imagine there are confused looks looking back at him. Maybe looks of confusion, maybe looks of indignation, maybe looks of apathy.

We know that just as in the psalmist’s day there are many nations in our time, many peoples, many tribes who do not praise the Lord both in the psalmist’s time and ours today. There are many peoples across the world that do not honor Him, do not laud Him, do not prize Him. They are like the kings in Psalm 2 who rage and plot and who take council together and who scheme to set their face against Him, for there are many who have rejected this call, this instruction to praise Him. We can think of places in the world who one time in their history have actually received this call and accepted it and have turned from it. Post Christian places like Europe, many other major cities and universities. In the Dutch provinces during the mid-1500s emerging out of the Spanish rule of King Philip II, the teachings of John Calvin began to take root, as the institutes of the Christian religion began to circulate in the 1540s and 1550s. For the Dutch people it was Calvin’s robust and organized doctrinal clarity combined with his moral seriousness that began to take root in what is now the modern-day Netherlands. If you know this time and have studied this period of church history know that this influence began to permeate all of their lives. The people grew in their personal responsibility and diligence and moral accountability in all areas of life. There was a strong sense of conscious developed, there was a growing distaste for sin amongst the people, excess, indulgences and showiness were shunned. One could argue that this all culminated in the theological highpoint of Dutch Calvinism at the Synod of Dort, solidifying the five points of Calvinism. The reform church would become the official public church of the Dutch republic. It was once a land and a people that seriously sought to praise the Lord in all of life. Today it’s a very different story. The Netherlands, which was once a bastion of Calvinism, is now one of Europe’s leaders in euthanasia, progressive sexuality, and secular humanism. Tragically it seems that there are many who have rejected this call to praise the Lord, even those who have once received it and embraced it and accepted it. While many have rejected this imperative call, we do know that still many others have never even heard. It is as if those in the outer fringes of the platform that the psalmist calls out for, maybe they’re there, but they’re unable to hear the psalmist, unable to discern what he is saying, unable to make it out, maybe they’re speaking in a different language.

Today the Joshua Project estimates that there are over 17,000 total people groups in the world. That’s just one way in which they’ve sought to find the amount of people groups in the world today. There are other ways, other figures out there, but it gives us a good sense that there are many people groups out there and they estimate that over 40% of them would constitute an unreached people group, which the Joshua Project defines as a group, a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believers, with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group without outside assistance. Those over 7,000 people groups encompass 3.4 billion people or 42% of the world’s population today. In India alone there are over 2,000 of these people groups that encompass 1.3 billion people considered unreached, 99% of Bangladesh’s population is considered unreached. In the world together, there are 481 people groups each with over 1 million people in them considered unreached with the Gospel. And though we know that Romans 1 tells us that his invisible attributes are clearly perceived by all so that all are without excuse the fact remains that billions and billions of people have never heard the name of Jesus. The name that we will spend this next week praising here in this sanctuary. Billions have never heard of His name let alone His free offer of salvation and the good news of the Gospel. Yes, praise is a universal duty and yet should our hearts not break at the thought, not just at these statistics, but as these people who have not heard, who do not know. I believe this command is yes primarily vertical in its dimension for you and I, it is a call for us to praise the Lord but now can we also not think of the horizontal dimension to it as well. Yes, we should think vertically, am I praising Him in my life, am I making Jesus shine bright in the world through the way I live, and yet the fact that this is a call for all nations and all peoples and all tribes to praise Him reminds us that there is a horizontal dimension and duty as well. We can have a role to play because of Jesus’ commission to us in Matthew 28. Go therefore and make disciples.

Friends, you have a role to play as do I in Psalm 117. “For how then will they call on Him and 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 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.” The 195 million people in Indonesia who have never heard, they will never have the opportunity to praise the Lord without someone preaching to them. The 242 million unreached people of Pakistan need someone to tell them. So, friends psalm 117 begs us to ask the question then, what is our role to play in God’s great story of redemption across the world, what is your role, what is my role. That’s not to say that everyone in here is called to world missions and evangelism amongst an unreached people group. It’s very hard, it’s very difficult, but I do think it is incumbent upon every follower of Christ to consider the horizontal dimension that psalm 117 and the great commission press upon us. So I have eight considerations for us. Eight considerations pray that they would spark in you and me, ways and ideas in which we can further play a role in world missions. Think of Pastor Kevin’s sermon this morning, he was talking about our talents, our opportunities. Great word for us. Not everyone has the same talent, the same opportunity, but might these spark creative ideas, ways in which we might be further engaged in the horizontal dimension of Psalm 117.

Eight considerations for us. First one is our prayer life. It is most obvious and if we’re honest it may often be the most overlooked way in which we can participate. We can find time no matter who we are, no matter what our stage of life is, no matter how many talents the Lord has possessed, I promise you that He has given each of us the opportunity to pray. We should find time to pray for the nations to praise him personally. We should find time to pray for the nations to praise him as a family. Just in my preparation for this sermon I was on the Joshua Project, has a number of wonderful resources that can aid you in your own personal life. Our own supported worker prayer guides can do that as well. One of the things about the Joshua Project is that I like maps, they have lots of really helpful maps, they just allow me to visualize things and see things clearly and where the needs are. Those are things that you could download and maybe even order for yourself to aid you in your prayer life. Prayer is perhaps maybe the most obvious way, and yet it might often be overlooked. We can adopt a country that we can just begin to prayer for as a family and to pray for it over and over and over again. We can do that, and we can see what God does with those prayers.

Second. We can read the Bible with eyes to see God’s global plan, see how from the beginning God’s plan was for the nations. We see his call to Abraham in Genesis 12 and we see it one day culminating in the wedding feast of the lamb. It’s one of the things that I love about reading the Bible through in a year. You get to see the whole scope of God’s redemptive plan throughout history and yes, there are times where it can get tedious, but if you step back you can see God’s heart, God’s plan for all people, all nations to praise him. We can read the Bible with eyes to see God’s global plan.

Third. We can seek to encourage missionaries from our church, specifically the ones that we may know personally and have a relationship with already. Friends, we can give our supported workers, especially those working in the nations amongst unreached people groups, we can give them the gift of our interest and our attention and that is a tremendous gift to give them. Periodically our missionaries are back home, they’ve hosted gatherings after the evening service, those are wonderful opportunities that we can take advantage of to give them the gift of our interest and our attention. We can receive updates and prayer requests. I would encourage you the next time those are offered to make plans to attend those. Even if it’s just to say hello, to thank them for their ministries. Now we wanna be careful not to overwhelm them, we wanna be careful not to place unreasonable demands on our missionaries who’ve returned home, especially if they’re seeking rest during an intentional period of rest, but intentional engagement, intentional encourage and curiosity about their ministry is such a gift and can spur them back on in their work. We can do that; we can bring life and energy and joy to missionaries. We can encourage them in that way. We can be engaged in the work of global missions.

Fourth. If you’re not already supporting some of these missionaries, we can consider financially supporting them even as we see the Apostle Paul do so and request for financial gifts in the New Testament. Even small, consistent gifts can be incredibly meaningful. Gifts to missionaries specifically working amongst unreached people groups. Initiate to them to offer support. These dear brothers and sisters often work very hard to raise the financial support to conduct the work that God’s called on them. How much of a blessing would it be to initiate to them financial partnership. Sure, you could reach out to our outreach and missions team, they could give you wonderful idea of missionaries and supported workers who might be in need of additional funds to raise.

Fifth. We could engage locally with unreached and underreached peoples in our own community and seek to bring the love of Christ and the Gospel to them. I did not notice, but did you know in our own city that one in six people were born outside of the U.S. just in the city of Charlotte, I didn’t know that. The biggest country of origin for immigrants in Charlotte is naturally our neighbors to the south, Mexico. The second biggest is India. There are more people here in our city of Charlotte from India than any other country besides Mexico. Just at our local university up the road and UNC Charlotte where many of our CO staff serve, Pastor Tom prayed for them in his prayer. Some are seeking to very intentionally work with international students. There are over 2,000 students just in our university up the road. Of those 2,000 students they come from 100 different countries, 89% of which are from unreached people groups, in our own city, in our own university, some of which many of our own sons and daughters go to school at. The nations have come to our universities and most of these students have intentions of returning back to their home countries, and yet they’re here for a short period of time. It’s a wonderful and strategic opportunity to engage them relationally and with the Gospel.

Six. We can cultivate our own heart for missions. We can read good missionary biographies and stories. I remember in my early 20s I read a short book by Danny Akin, Five Who Changed the World. It was less than 100 pages, so easy to read it took me less than a day to be able to do so, maybe just an hour, and yet it was a great way to cultivate my own heart for what God was doing across the world. There are wonderful missionary biographies out there. When my kids get up early on Sunday morning, if they do that, and they have a little bit of time, I tell them, “You can watch the Torchlighters series on YouTube, a wonderful animated series on Christian heroes and missionaries throughout history but find ways to cultivate your own heart for what God is doing in the world. Discover how God’s worked and moved throughout history.

Seven. You can go visit what God is doing in the nations. You can go on a short-term missions trip with our church sometime. I know we offer these. We can encourage our children, especially our teenagers, to participate in some of the offerings that the youth department engages in. Now yes, we want to be careful that our short-term trip is actually benefitting the ministry and the missionaries that we are partnering with, but assuming that it is a welcome trip, and short-term missions can serve as a significant boost to long-term work. Just in our own ministry with Campus Outreach we have been able to regularly partner with the ministry in South Africa and over the course of that partnership we regularly hear testimonies that our students who are there in a short term trip, our students and our staff are instrumental in helping others see the Gospel, know the Gospel, and in some precious cases believe the Gospel. Some of the staff workers, the indigenous workers with Campus Outreach in South Africa were led to Christ because of a short-term team that went over there. Those can make incredibly significant impacts in the long-term work that is going on there. We’ve seen students come to Christ and then we’re able to plug them into the ministry into the local church right there, but these short-term trips are not just about what we can give, but also what we can see and what God can do in our own hearts, in our own lives. At the very least seeing the work on the fields should stir in our hearts to further pray, give, and support the work that we’ve just seen.

Eight. We should not overlook the need for long-term committed workers to be sent cross culturally, to bring the love of Christ to those who have never heard. And friends, that could be you, it could be me. I remember as a student on one of my first projects with the Campus Outreach, growing in my faith and being challenged in so many ways, and one of the ways in which I was challenged to pray was that I and the other students on the project would be willing to do anything, anytime, anywhere for the cause of Christ in the world. Anything, anytime, anywhere for Jesus so that the nations might praise Him, so the peoples might extol Him. That’s a great prayer even for us today. That is not just a prayer for college students, that is a prayer for all of God’s people. God thank us a people, make us a church willing to do anything, anytime, anywhere so that the nations might praise you, so that they might hear. Is that something we are willing still to pray today? Even if you’re honestly not able to say that yet, maybe you might be willing to pray that God would make you into that type of Christian. It does not matter your age, it does not matter your vocation, it does not matter your family dynamic. If you are in Christ and God’s spirit dwells within you, you have a role to play and the capability of serving in the great commission. I just wonder, what is that role for each of us here tonight. Might you pray more intentionally, might you give more sacrificially, might you go joyfully? And that leads us to the final point that our text shows us. It’s the why.

Why does this God, why does Yahweh deserve praise? The psalmist, even in this short psalm, gives us two very clear reasons. Why does Yahweh deserve praise among all peoples? It’s because of His steadfast love and His faithfulness. His steadfast love and His faithfulness. One might expect a very different line of reasoning after verse 1. Verse 1 it’s a call succinct, bold, invitation, imperative command to praise Him and to extol Him and so you and I might think that the reasoning that we should do so is because we are compelled to by his power and His might. But it’s not, it’s based on His love, it’s based on His good character.

My children and I have a very short commute from our home to our school and to my office. On a good day it takes us about 120 seconds, on a bad day it’s however long that light at Fullwood takes and how many just times it takes for us to get through that light to make that left hand turn, but as you can imagine with children even on very short commutes what one listens to in the car can often be of dispute and so we’ve just begun listening to novels together. It takes us a long time to get through novels at such a short rate, we get like just a little bit and then, alright time to go to school. There are times when I’m tempted to just keep going, but I’ve never done so. This year, because it does take us years, we’ve begun listening to The Magician’s Nephew, the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia. We recently just finished the chapter in which we are introduced to a Queen named Jadis who if you know, if you’ve read these series will become the White Witch as well as the two main characters in the book, Digory and Polly, two children. They meet the queen in the ancient world of Charn and in this chapter the two children mistakenly awaken this great and horrible Queen Jadis and as they begin to talk to her they are horrified to learn of her plans not just to rule her world, but also theirs. Lewis writes, “Digory shutters when learning of Jadis’ plans, oh, oh our world, I didn’t know you wanted to go there.” “Well what else were you sent here for if not to fetch me asked Jadis.” “I’m sure you wouldn’t like our world at all said Digory, it’s not really her sort of place is it Polly, it’s very dull, it’s not worth seeing.” “It will soon be worth seeing when I rule it answered the Queen.” “Oh, but you can’t said Digory, it’s not like that, they wouldn’t let you, ya know.” The Queen gave a contemptuous smile, “Many great kings she said, thought they could stand against the House of Charn, but they all fell, and all their names are forgotten, foolish boy, do you not know that I with my beauty and my magic will now have your whole world at my feet before a year has passed. Prepare your incantations and take me there at once.” Queen Jadis thinks of how many of us would probably think about power. If one invitation and instruction for all the peoples of the earth to praise him were to go with others besides our God. You will praise me for my power, for my beauty, and you will bow at my feet whether you like it or not. But as we contrast her with Lewis’ Christlike figure of Aslan, we see that both the witch and Aslan, we know that they do have great power, but they are completely different characters. Where Jadis only seeks to rule and to destroy, imposing endless winters, turning her subjects into stone, we see Aslan’s power is life giving and redemptive. He sings Narnia into existence, he heals, he resurrects. The White Witch rules by fear and contempt, she is full of pride. Aslan, however, is good and wise. He is sacrificial and he’s just. Praising him is not a duty for the subjugated, but a joy for the liberated. Our praise of God is because of His steadfast love and his faithfulness. It’s because of His great and good character. Oh, He could command us to obey Him at a moment’s notice and indeed at the end of all times, all peoples will praise Him whether they want to or not. He is so much more than just an all-powerful deity, he is a good God, full of steadfast love.

Exodus 34:6, “The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. That is the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is full of love and truth, grace and mercy, goodness and kindness. He is all powerful. He is transcendent. He is also imminent. He is worthy of our praise, He is worthy of our adoration, He is worthy of our worship because He is faithful. The same God who spoke to Abraham and called him to leave his home and to move to a new country, to a place that He will only show him is the same God who is still calling us to leave behind our old ways of life and come follow Him. His son is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.

So, we come to the close of our sermon tonight, revisiting our role in the calling of all peoples to praise Him. We often think of our role and we approach it form a sense of guilt or a sense of, “I’m just not doing enough for Jesus, there’s always more to do and I’m just never doing it, and I’m never measuring up and I just know what I’ve gotta do, I’ve just gotta go do more because I just feel this weight and guilt around me.” And there are times where we do need to listen to our conscience. We need to listen to what the spirit may be leading us in. There may be times where we have grown slack and we need a spirit led jolt to action, but more often than not, guilting Christians into all the ways in which they fall short of the cause of world missions is not an effective and not a lasting means of engaging God’s people and so it is important for us to pair verse 1 and verse 2 together when we consider our role in the horizontal dimension of psalm 117. Praise Him all nations because of his steadfast love and faithfulness, because of his goodness, let us be motivated for the cause of Christ in the world and the praise of His people, not out of drudgery, not out of guilt, but rather by looking at God’s great character. Let our hearts be full of joys we can say together, that is the God we serve, there is no one like Him, He’s good and He’s faithful and He’s full of steadfast love, and we want the nations to know the God that we do here, the God that you know, the God that I know, the God that we worship here at Christ Covenant Church, do we not desire all the world to worship Him as well. There is nothing so good as what the Heidelberg Catechism reminds us of, that we are not our own, but we belong to Jesus, and we want others to belong to Jesus as well. He has bought us at great cost to himself and brought us into His family to live with Him and to sing His praises for all eternity. Indeed, that is how the Book of Psalms closes. Psalm 150, “Praise the Lord, praise God in His sanctuary, praise Him in His mighty heavens, praise Him for His mighty deeds, praise Him according to his excellent greatness, praise Him with trumpet sound, praise Him with lute and harp, praise Him with tambourine and dance, praise him with strings and pipe, praise Him with sounding cymbals, praise Him with loud clashing cymbals, let everything that has breath praise the Lord, praise the Lord. Let’s pray together.

Oh God, that is our heart’s cry that everything that has breath, that everyone that has breath, whether they live in the furthest most remote parts of our world or they live next door that everyone and everything that has breath would praise the Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.