Chapter 1: What does true blessing mean according to Psalm 67?
Why is there so much emphasis on where the blessings come from? Perhaps it's because of our natural tendency to look for blessings in all the wrong places. True blessing is not the things that you think you can tangibly grab. But true blessing, according to Psalm 67, is a personal relationship with God and knowing and experiencing his presence and his favor in our lives.
We are a blessed people. We know God, and we have been reconciled to Him. As a blessed people, what should be our response? Welcome to the Friday edition of Renewing Your Mind. And today, you'll hear from one of our newest teaching fellows at Ligonier Ministries, Joel Kim. Today's message was recorded at Ligonier's first ever conference in Southeast Asia.
Christians truly from around the world, the United States, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, and other countries gathered together for several days of teaching and fellowship. It was a warm and joy-filled conference, and it felt like a glimpse of heaven that so many nations represented.
If you'd like to join us for an upcoming conference, you can find all future events at Ligonier.org slash events. Well, today only, when you respond with a donation in support of Ligonier's global outreach, we'll unlock Joel Kim's new teaching series on Colossians, Everything in Christ, and its study guide. We'll send you a copy of R.C. Sproul's title, What is the Great Commission?
Simply give your gift at renewingyourmind.org before midnight tonight. Well, as a blessed people, what should be our response? Here's Reverend Kim.
This afternoon, I want to approach Matthew 28 through Psalm 67, so that all of us can recognize that the Great Commission is not a new command given to us, but an old one that displays the heartbeat of God in Christ Jesus from beginning of time, even to all of us who belong to Him in the present day. So turn with me to Psalm 67. a short one, and hear now the word of the Lord.
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power 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 judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples praise you.
The earth has yielded its increase. God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us. Let all the ends of the earth fear him. One of the theological disputes we had in our family when I was a teenager was the importance of benediction in worship.
Benediction is that prayer at the end, the good word declared to the congregation by the pastor, usually with his hands up, declared for the church members to hear the blessings of God, oftentimes as a young man, simply a time that indicates to us when the worship had come to an end. Here, his argument that is my father's was that benediction is an essential part of worship.
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Chapter 2: How should Christians respond to being blessed?
That's the first thing you hear and the last thing you hear. The benediction reinforces the truth that God is the main message and also the main messenger in worship. Not only do we hear him declare, what he declares is about himself. The benediction declares the reign of God as a present reality and a promise of future reality.
Not only is the blessings of God present with you in worship, but as you disperse from the church, the blessings of God go with you and the promises are there for you. Lastly, the benediction reminds the church of the church's blessings that the church has received from the Lord and her mission.
It declares without hesitation to whom we belong and to where we are sent, reminding the church of its mission of being a witness and light onto the world, a dying world that needs to hear and know Jesus Christ and to hear his name lifted on high.
As we hear the words of Psalm 67, and in these words of benediction in our text, we are reminded of our blessings and our responsibility to bless in grateful response. We are blessed to bless. Perhaps many of you are familiar with the words of the blessing recorded in Psalm 67.
Often pastors use this blessings of Aaron found in the book of Numbers as the final word in worship in benediction that brings worships to a close. Numbers chapter six, verse 24 through 26 declare, the Lord bless you and keep you. They're the words. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Psalm 67 echoes these words. Whenever the Psalm is sung, the hearers cannot help but remember the words of blessings from the book of Numbers. This is where we pause for a sec and ask the question, what do these words of Psalm 67, these words of blessing, teach us? Well, it begins by teaching us that all blessings come from the Lord.
God, the creator and redeemer, is the one from whom all blessings flow. Notice the emphasis here and the repetition. May God be gracious to us. May God bless us and may God make his face to be known on earth. Just in case you missed the point, the passage in Numbers that records this blessing ends with the Lord summing up the blessings by simply saying, I will bless my people.
Actually, the text is even more emphatic. If you look at the original, what it says is, I myself will bless them. And the question for us is, why is there so much emphasis on where the blessings come from? Perhaps it's because of our natural tendency to look for blessings in all the wrong places.
whether it's in relationships and the perfections of marriage or singleness, whether it's financial security and the zeros in our account, whether it's status, whether it be our workplaces or in our church, whether it be education and the letters behind our name, whether it's any form of success, however you form them, we desire to feel blessed from having and owning these things without recognizing that they're merely spiritual illusions.
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Chapter 3: What connection exists between the Great Commission and Psalm 67?
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon the earth. The endings sandwich what's in the middle that ought to be highlighted for us to see. And it simply says, let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon the earth. And there are two things from here.
Blessed people praise God. In the three short verses, we are reminded to praise and sing for joy five times. Let the peoples praise you. Let all the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. Let the peoples praise you. Let all the peoples praise you. When you see someone repeat something over and over again, you know what they're trying to do?
Get you to listen and to tell you this is incredibly important. Let the nations praise. Friends, even unbelievers thank God and give praise when things are going well. When our bodies are healthy, our bank accounts are full, our churches are full of people in our pews, as well as the future looks bright and clear. What makes Christians like you and me contrarians in the eyes of the world?
You are not normal. We are not normal. Instead of reacting to our circumstances the way we see them, we ought to see with hope what God is doing in the midst of those circumstances. We give praise not because everything is well and swell and everything seems clear and the future seems bright. We give praise because we hold on to the promise that cannot be held by hands.
but founded upon the word of God that in the midst of our tears and trials and persecutions, God is there with you and he goes before you. And we are able to give praise because his promise does not change and cannot change. Wherever you go, your location is not a place where God simply says everywhere but here, no such place exists.
For our God who desires to bless his people through his son Jesus Christ our Lord does not, cannot change and his promise is sure. And when this promise is sure, we cannot help but to sing praises to the Lord. Not because things are well, but because God is there. But there's a secondary element to how we react to the theological blessing that we are taught and reminded.
Blessed people praise, blessed people proclaim. You cannot hide it. I grew up in a family of five kids. Girl, boy, girl, boy, girl is how we are. First boy, second child is who I am. So we grew up loving children. I mean, they're just amazing as you watch them. So many wonderful babies and beautiful babies here too. I remember our kids were growing up.
Anna and Simeon, whenever one of them hears from us, hey, we bought ice cream for you. You know what they do? If the other one's not there, Without grabbing their ice cream, they start running to the other kid. And what they say is, Anna, Simeon, depending on who heard first, mom and dad have ice cream. Come and get it. Do you remember how that feels?
And when the kids do that, there's so much excitement. This can't be just something that they enjoy by themselves. It must be shared. And so they start rushing to the people who must hear. And they bring them to the fount because they must receive it too. The community of the saved not only gather to worship, but also to proclaim. They can't help it. The joy cannot be contained.
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Chapter 4: What is the significance of benedictions in worship?
You know, there aren't that many images of the end times in terms of what happens in heaven, apart from a banqueting table for which I'm very thankful and also worship that is 24 seven. I wonder for my younger friends who are here, if an hour and a half of worship on a Sunday morning seems long to you, I got news for you. When you get to heaven, 24-7 is what you're going to get in heaven.
My suggestion is that you enjoy worship. Worship is where you are heading into a worship, practicing what that wedding day will be like. One day we will join all the saints of all generation in worship and praising his name. And on any given Sunday throughout the whole world, we get to taste and foretaste a glimpse of that heavenly reality upon the earth for which we give praise.
For we are blessed people who are called to praise and worship. We gather to fellowship, blessing others by our thankfulness and our generosity. To whom much has been given, we are told even in these lectures, we have the opportunity and the joy of being able to serve and give with generosity. And we are moved to proclaim. Hereafter this conference, you will be scattered throughout the world.
I love saying that because in this case, it's actually real. you will be scattered by the Lord, launched throughout the world to declare the name of Jesus loudly and lift up the name of Christ Jesus on high. Simply, him we proclaim, we are told, and we want Jesus's name to be known on our lips as well as in our lives. And we want all
to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, to know and receive the blessings that only Christ can lead us to as we approach the throne of God's grace. Are we surprised then that the last command to his disciples Jesus left was simply this, "'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,' he says.
"'Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the close of the age.'"
And that's what happened in Korea since 1880s, where my parents and the parents before, three generations before, came to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And here I am. And I know here you are because someone went and declared and lifted the name of Jesus. And this is what he says. Go therefore, proclaim the name of Jesus, but not without a promise. The promise is simply this.
I am with you always to the close of the age. I am with you always until the close of the age. I am with you always, Jesus said, until world comes to an end. I heard that when Dr. Ferguson retired from his church, he preached from Hebrews 13, where the reminder is Jesus Christ. is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.
And so when he says, I am with you forever, that promise is not just to the disciples gathered then, the promise is to us. And this promise cannot change. I am with you until the end because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. You and I, in Jesus, are blessed. And as people who are blessed, we are proclaimed and declared and sent to bless others whom we see.
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