Our scripture reading for this evening is from Psalm 67. Psalm 67. We'll be reading all of the verses. Hear now the word of our God. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us that Your ways may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise You, O God. May all the peoples praise You. May the nations be glad and sing for joy for You rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. May the peoples praise You, O God. May all the peoples praise You. Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. God will bless us. And all the ends of the earth will fear Him. Psalm 67. It's a timely psalm. As we close the Christmas season and look forward to the new year, Psalm 67 causes us to stop and to ponder. In fact, it would even be good to memorize Psalm 67. Because it's short, but more than being short, much more than its length, we find the significance of this psalm in its message. It's message, it's bold, and it's beautiful. We see its boldness as it opens and closes and calling upon God to bless us. Only one other psalm in the whole Psalter petitions God in the same way. It's a bold petition, repeated three times in this psalm. And it is beautiful because of the clear purpose for which the blessing of God is asked for and desired. Verse 4 reads, So that Your way, bless us, O God, so that Your way may be known upon the earth, Your salvation among all the nations. Notice how the structure of the psalm lends to highlight this boldness and this beauty. It opens in verse 1 saying, May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us. The purpose for this blessing flows from verse 2. God bless us so that. You see a clear purpose statement. God bless us so that your way may be known on the earth. So that your salvation may be known among all the nations. Verse 3 then expands and underscores upon this purpose, saying, may the peoples praise you, O God. May all the peoples praise you. Not just some of the peoples, but may all the peoples praise You. Verse 4 continues in the petition and expresses the ground. It expresses that which supports the petition. Saying, may the nations be glad and sing for joy for or because you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. As verses 1 through 3 move in to express the main point of verse 4, verses 5 through 7 step back out and they end in a similar place where the psalm begins. Verse 5 reads, May the peoples praise you, O God. May all the peoples praise you. An exact restatement of verse 3. Verse 6 should read, The land has yielded its fruit. God, our God, will bless us. And we see here, because the land has yielded its fruit, the psalmist has great confidence that indeed God will bless us. Indeed, God will bless us according to His promises. And verse 7 concludes the poem quite close to where it began. Only in conclusion, rather than asking for the blessing of God, it expresses great confidence that indeed God will bless us. Saying, God will bless us and all the ends of the earth will fear Him. The psalmist moves through this psalm and concludes that indeed God will bless His people and the purpose for that blessing will indeed be accomplished. In this way, we see the boldness and the beauty of this psalm in both its structure and in its content. May God bless us, says the psalmist, in order that the nations may be glad and sing for joy. During a season such as this, we are often inclined to remember and to enjoy the great, the many blessings that God has bestowed upon us. And as we are inclined also to ask for more blessings in the year that lay ahead. As we consider what is past, we look forward to what is ahead and we ask God again to grant us, to bless us, peace, continued prosperity. In light of these things, in light of the content of Psalm 67, it's a good psalm to stop and ponder over this evening as we look forward to yet another year. Since the psalm carries a rather simple message, we have this evening a rather simple sermon. There are three points asking three basic questions. Who, how, and why. Who, according to this psalm, is to be blessed? How are they to be blessed? And why are they to be blessed? Notice in the text where the psalmist begins. Notice where he begins. He doesn't say, Lord, bless me. This is not an individualistic prayer. I or me isn't found in the whole psalm. The next time you're in Barnes and Nobles, go to their self-improvement section and you'll see countless do-it-yourself manuals. Or go to their mind, body and soul section, their religion department. And you'll be startled to find how easy spirituality really can be if we just put our mind to it, if we just discipline our body, if we thus just season our soul. The messages of our media is me, myself and I. It begins with me, it continues through and about me, centering on me and ends upon me, myself, and I. From these starting points, we are led to believe that we can change the world, that we can accomplish all things. One book a friend recently gave me is entitled Discover Your Spiritual Type. The subtitle says, A Guide to Individual and Congregational Growth. Notice that we start with the individual. And it's through the development of an individual that we can start to have a meaningful congregation. Yet how contrary is this to Christianity and the church of Jesus Christ? For us, there is only one I. Isn't there? And He said, I am the way. I am the truth. And I am the life. No one comes to the Father, said Jesus, but by me. By faith we have been united to this Jesus. We are, the Scriptures say, His body. And being part of His body is the whole reason for living. It's our whole reason for existing. It gives us purpose. It defines us. It tells us our hope and our purpose. It is in being part of the body of Christ that we are molded. We are defined that we have purpose. And it is in this body, this covenant community that the psalm has in mind when he says, may God bless us. This is not the prayer of a particular person. It is the prayer of a community. The blessing that is spoken here, may God bless us and keep us, sounds familiar, I hope, For it's taken from number 6. It is the Aaronic High Priestly Blessing. Kind of a long title. It's the blessing that God gave to Aaron in order to bless the whole community. The nation of Israel, his special people that he called out of the world, just as he's called us out of the world. This blessing is taken from number 6. It's Aaron's blessing and it's turned here into a prayer. It's adapted for the purpose of the psalmist. As the Psalter is our songbook, so its songs express our heart. So its songs express our thoughts. It is there that we can find our hope and our fears, our comfort. It is through the songs of the Psalter that we can find hope and definition for our life. It is through the Psalter that we can see our purpose. Why it is that God has called us out. Why it is that God has established us as His people. Or at least we should find our purpose there. In verse 2, the psalmist goes on to pray that the church, that God would bless the church, and in so doing that His salvation may be known to the nations. The second group, then, that is in view with this psalm is the church. That's the first group. The second group is the nations. The people of the earth. Those who do not yet know the Lord. In answer to the question, who will be blessed? We have seen it's not about I or you, but about us, the church. and those of the world who are not yet part of the church. This is the same theme that Isaiah picks up in Isaiah 49, verse 6, where he says, I will give you, Israel, to be a light unto the nations that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth. Again, we see Israel, the people of God, the church, being blessed for what? The particular purpose of bringing salvation to the ends of the earth. And so, as we see Isaiah paralleling this psalm and who God intends to bless, so it also parallels how they are to be blessed. How they are to be blessed. The nations are to be blessed through God's blessing of His people. God blesses the nations through His people. We are a means through which God works in order to bring blessing, in order to bring the hope that we share to those who do not. While this theme is presented throughout Scripture, repeatedly we find it. Even so, it is so easy to pass over. We need to be reminded of it frequently. We need to frequently be reminded that God uses us. He's called us for a particular purpose. He's called us in order to be a light of His good news, to bear forth the witness of the Gospel. Sometimes we think that God will save the nations in some way, but we don't always consider exactly what part we play. We think that God indeed will save those of Indonesia and of China and of Somalia. But yet, we pass over to consider how we might be a significant means to the completion of that end. We indeed play a crucial part in the building of God's kingdom. We need to be consistently reminded of this, that God will continue to save the lost and to build His church. For this is exactly what God promised to do in Genesis chapter 12 where He promised Abraham, I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and you will be a blessing and all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you. It was through Abraham that God blessed Isaac. It was through Isaac that God blessed Jacob and Israel. And it was through Israel, particularly Judah, That God blessed us. You see, we forget that it was through the work of the church that we were brought to faith. And it will be through our work, the work of the church today, that God's church will be preserved and promoted and grow to spread in order to reach the ends of the earth, in order to accomplish its intended purpose. While we see that God brings the blessing of salvation through His church, we also see that there would be no salvation to bring without Jesus. How does God bring blessing to the nations? He does it through His church. But more fundamentally, He does it through Jesus. We see this in our text in verse 4. It is the center point of the psalm. It's that point which verses 1 through 3 lead to and point to. And it's the point of the psalm that verses 5 through 7 build back from. It's the center of the psalm. And it says, May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule, for you judge the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. Notice that the joy of the nations is established upon God's judgment, upon His judgment. How can it be, though, that that would be a foundation for joy? How would it be that God's justice and judgment would bring the nations joy? It's an odd conclusion, and yet the Psalms and the prophets refer to it again and again and again, that the nations will rejoice in the justice of God? We can't rest without an answer to that question. And Isaiah 11 helps us see the answer. Isaiah 11, verse 1. verses 1 through 10. A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse. From its roots a branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. And he will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes will decide by what he hears with his ears, but with righteousness he will judge the needy. With justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth. With the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb and the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together. And a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear. Their young will lie down together and the lion will strike each straw like an ox. An infant will play near the hole of a cobra and the young child will put its hands into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In that day, the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples. The nations will rally to him and his place of rest will be glorious. The answer for how it is that the nations can sing for joy in light of the justice and judgment of God is that the root of Jesse, The root of Jesse, Jesus Christ, would come to bear that full wrath and judgment of God for them. It is God's justice, as revealed in Jesus, that establishes the joy. That establishes the joy of our salvation and the salvation of all of the nations. It is as we see God's justice in Jesus Christ that we can rejoice in His holiness. That we can rejoice in His law. That we can love His purpose for us as His people. That we can with confidence hold forth the salvation that He has given to us, to the nations. And say, see, look, look at the justice of our God. for the justice of our God. Not Jesus on the cross where not only justice was magnified, but mercy. His mercy. Romans 3.25 says it well. God presented Jesus as the sacrifice of atonement. He did this to demonstrate His justice so as to be the just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus Christ. This is the sweet message of the Gospel. This is the foundation upon which God's blessing rests. While certainly we as the church are the means through which God blesses, that blessing rests upon the rock-solid foundation of Jesus Christ. and the justice of God displayed there in Him. And that is the message we want to bring to a dying and needy world. We have seen who was blessed. We have seen how they will be blessed. And yet the great message of this psalm is, why will they be blessed? Why will they be blessed? What is God's great purpose in the blessing of His church, and the blessing and extending of His church, and the blessing of the world. Verse 2 says, so that they, we and they, would know God. That they would know His salvation. Verse 3 says, so that they would praise Him. Verse 4 says, so that they may sing for joy and be glad. Verse 7 says, so that they would fear God. The great goal of God's blessing is His glory. The goal of God and the establishment and the preservation and the multiplication of His church throughout the world is His own glory. He is the Creator. He is the Sustainer. He is the Redeemer. It is from Him and to Him and through Him that all things come. Therefore, to Him alone, says Paul, to Him alone be the glory. And we respond, not to us, O Lord. No, not to us, but to You and to Your name alone be glory, praise, and honor. Because it is God alone, through Jesus Christ, that we have our life and breath and have our being. Therefore, it is to God alone that glory is given. And thus we see that all of the goodness of God for us, all of the goodness of God that's expressed to the nations is not intended to make much of us or to make much of man, but to make much of God. It is so that we would know God, so that we would praise God, so that we would rejoice in His goodness to us, so that we would tell of His mercies, So that we would glorify him as our great creator, sustainer, and redeemer. God, beloved, is at work in us and through us by blessing us in order to reveal his beauty and gain more glory for himself. It's not about I. It's not about you. It's not about making much of man. It's not about making some glorious earthly kingdom. It's about God and the kingdom of Jesus Christ. This is our purpose. This is why we live. This is not only our hope. This is our purpose. This is what defines us. This is why we've been called out of the world and this is why we call others to come and join us because we know a great salvation, because we have a great Savior. As we come to conclude this new year, it is good for us, in light of these things, it is good for us to remember and to rejoice in these great blessings of God for us in Jesus. And as we have seen, it is good to ask God for more. Let us not be content with what we've been given in the past, but let us ask God to continue to be richly blessing us on into the future. It is good for us to pray, to recite, and to sing this psalm. It is good for us to have it be a theme of our life. Let us be sure, however, to long for the whole message of this psalm. How often we are prone to stop with, God bless us. Just bless us. Help us. Help me. We're the ones who need you. And we come to see that His blessing seems to be just for us and for no others. As we pray and as we sing and as we talk of the contents of this blessing, let us remember 2 Corinthians 9 verse 8 that indeed our God is abounding in grace and is able to provide us with all the grace that we need. Why? In order that we too can abound in every good work. The grace of God which abounds in Him comes and flows into us in order that we too would abound in sufficiency in order to do and abound in every good work. let us therefore be fervent to call upon the Lord to bless us as His local church to bless us as an association for which we belong and to bless the whole universal work of His Catholic church let us have a big vision as big as what this psalm's vision is for the work of God let us long that He bless us let us long that He bless our association Let us indeed long that He bless the whole worldwide church of Jesus Christ. This is the vision of this psalm. This is the expression, or should be, the expression of our hope and longings and desires. Let us pray then for the faithfulness of our families, for our parents and for our children. Let us pray for the wisdom and zeal of our church leaders as they seek to make wise decisions and to seek to make strategic, effective, God-glorifying plans for us. Let us pray that God will continue to raise up new churches, more pastors, more missionaries. And towards this end, let us pray that God would bless our seminaries as they prepare pastors and missionaries and teachers for the next generation. Towards this end, let us also pray for the ongoing peace and prosperity of our country, that the church may continue to go and grow unhindered. And let us pray that the other countries of this world might enjoy the same peace and same unhindered success, that they too might be able to enjoy a prosperous land and a free worship of our God. Let us pray for the ongoing success of our businesses and the ongoing success of our investments. Let us pray that God would bless all that we put our hands to. The list goes on, doesn't it? It goes on and on. Let us be bold to ask God for these things as the psalmist models for us. And let us be sure to do so, Not so that much is made of us, but so that His beauty and His glory might be seen, might be enjoyed, and might be rejoiced in. It is in this way that we should ask, that we should ask boldly, and that we should be ready to give generously and gladly as He answers. As the psalmist says in conclusion, indeed, God will bless us. We are, indeed, the body of Christ. He will bless us. Let us be ready to be generous as He answers. Let us be ready to be glad with a big vision, with a big heart, with a great hope to respond to His answers. For as we have seen, it is through His many blessings to us, His church, Through our prayers, our time, our talents, our money, our patience, our perseverance. That the peoples will come to know and fear Him. It is through this blessing and our zeal and generosity that the nations will be glad. That God will sovereignly complete the great work that He's completed. In the building of His church. Through the salvation of our great Lord and our coming King. Jesus Christ. Amen. Our Lord, You have placed before us this evening a rather simple song with a rather simple message. And yet the meaning is profound beyond our understanding. Even as the psalmist cries out that You would bless us, Even as we join him in crying out that you would bless us, we recognize that indeed you will bless us far beyond what we can even ask or imagine. So great is your purpose, so great is your plan. For who could ever know the mind of the Lord? Who has ever been your counselor? Your salvation is beyond our comprehension, and yet we recognize that You have given us a part to play. And we pray that Your sovereign grace would come upon us as Your church and that we as Your church would be faithful to fulfill the great calling which You have given to us. Grant that this duty would indeed be a great delight as we share the greatest news that the world has ever known, as we share the peace and good tidings that You have come to give to men. We ask these things in the name of Jesus and for Your glory. Amen.