Singing Sends Lovers of Christ to the Nations
00:00:00.000 | Well, when it comes to global missions, we Christian hedonists camp on a couple of incredible
00:00:10.260 | texts in the Psalms.
00:00:12.680 | There we find a couple of texts that have deeply shaped Pastor John and how he thinks
00:00:16.400 | of the church's mission to the nations.
00:00:19.120 | The first one is, of course, an Old Testament prayer for the nations.
00:00:22.880 | Let the peoples praise you, O God.
00:00:24.620 | Let all the peoples praise you.
00:00:26.840 | Let the nations be glad and sing for joy.
00:00:31.600 | That's Psalm 67 verses 3 to 4.
00:00:34.360 | Let the nations be glad.
00:00:35.360 | I mean, that's our prayer.
00:00:37.040 | But we don't just pray to this end because the psalmist also delivers a command to the
00:00:41.720 | people of God in relationship to the nations.
00:00:44.400 | It's this, quote, "Sing to the Lord, bless his name, tell of his salvation from day to
00:00:50.400 | day, declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples."
00:00:58.600 | That's Psalm 96 verses 2 and 3.
00:01:02.200 | So let the nations be glad as they see our gladness in God.
00:01:08.560 | That's a powerful tandem of texts.
00:01:11.000 | The first text became the title of Pastor John's classic book on missions, Let the
00:01:15.000 | Nations Be Glad, of course.
00:01:17.080 | And the second text, the command, was Pastor John's choice text that he preached recently
00:01:21.380 | at the 2021 Getty Sing Conference in Nashville.
00:01:25.280 | Here's Pastor John explaining the connection between our joy, our singing, and our reach
00:01:30.600 | to the nations.
00:01:32.200 | And he begins here with an illustration from his marriage.
00:01:36.040 | Have a listen.
00:01:38.320 | When we traveled together, which we did yesterday coming down here on the plane, and which we've
00:01:44.020 | done for 52 years together, I have said to her countless times in airports, on elevators,
00:01:58.640 | "I'm so glad that you can go with me.
00:02:03.480 | It makes me happy that we can do this together."
00:02:09.000 | And do you know that never in five decades, never once has she said, "You are so selfish.
00:02:27.840 | It makes you glad that I'm along.
00:02:34.680 | Makes you happy that we can do this together.
00:02:39.060 | You are so selfish.
00:02:42.380 | Makes you glad.
00:02:43.520 | Makes you happy."
00:02:47.560 | Never once has she said that.
00:02:51.120 | The reason that this conference exists is found in the answer to the question, "Why
00:03:00.360 | would she never think to say that?
00:03:05.800 | Why would it never enter her mind to say that?"
00:03:14.500 | The worth and the glory that we see in others is measured by the gladness that we have in
00:03:27.720 | their presence.
00:03:32.400 | My pleasure in her presence is a tribute.
00:03:39.440 | It's not selfishness.
00:03:41.360 | It's celebration.
00:03:46.640 | My pleasure is a measure of her treasure to me.
00:03:59.080 | And so it is with God.
00:04:06.880 | In worship, God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him and His presence
00:04:21.200 | as our dearest friend.
00:04:27.840 | God has given singing to His people as one of the most precious and powerful expressions
00:04:36.520 | of our gladness in His glory.
00:04:42.000 | It's the gladness of Godward singing, especially through suffering, as Johnny said last night,
00:04:49.840 | say it again.
00:04:51.480 | It's the gladness of Godward singing, especially through obedient suffering, that makes God's
00:05:02.360 | glory shine most brightly.
00:05:07.240 | So for those two reasons, I'm thankful to be here, and this conference exists.
00:05:16.880 | Now my task as part of it in these last few minutes is to draw out some of the connections
00:05:24.720 | between the gladness of Godward singing and the finishing of the great task of the great
00:05:35.000 | commission to gather God's elect from all the peoples of the world, or as Isaiah 35
00:05:43.040 | says, to see all the ransomed of the Lord come to Zion with singing and everlasting
00:05:51.020 | joy upon their heads.
00:05:55.320 | So I have five connections to draw your attention to.
00:05:59.840 | I'll just point to them, and you can trace them out later, and I'll give you a scripture
00:06:05.720 | for each one.
00:06:07.760 | Number one, the gladness of Godward singing sends the lovers of Christ to the nation.
00:06:14.400 | Psalm 96, sing to the Lord, bless his name, tell of his salvation from day to day, declare
00:06:22.640 | his glory among the nations.
00:06:26.000 | While you're singing, do that.
00:06:28.920 | His marvelous works among all the peoples, for great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.
00:06:38.800 | How many thousands of missionaries have heard their call in Psalm 96?
00:06:48.440 | Declare his glory among the nations.
00:06:50.280 | Do you hear that?
00:06:51.720 | Declare his glory among the nations.
00:06:55.760 | Sing to the Lord a new song there to them.
00:07:02.640 | Every year Bethlehem, when I was a pastor there for 33 years, we would have a pastors,
00:07:06.760 | I mean a missions conference, and the close of the missions conference we gave an invitation
00:07:13.520 | to all those who in the conference for the last two Sundays had heard or felt what they
00:07:21.160 | sensed to be a compelling leading of the Lord to cross a culture, to take the gospel, spending
00:07:31.180 | the rest of their lives to do it.
00:07:33.480 | That's a pretty high standard for an invitation.
00:07:38.440 | We would sing, we would stop, there would be no music and no head bowed and no eye closed,
00:07:46.600 | and I would wait.
00:07:49.120 | And Chuck, who helped me with that for so many years, sitting over there as a precious
00:07:54.660 | partner in it, our worship leader, and they'd come.
00:08:01.560 | They'd just get up out of their seats and come.
00:08:04.680 | Twenty, fifty, one time two hundred.
00:08:10.600 | Then we'd get them connected with the nurture program, and then we'd close with a song.
00:08:19.600 | We rest on thee, our shield and our defender.
00:08:30.320 | Thine is the battle, thine shall be the praise.
00:08:35.360 | When passing through the gates of pearly splendor, victors we rest with thee through endless
00:08:46.600 | days.
00:08:47.600 | Because, that's the hymn that the five Ecuador martyrs were singing when they were speared
00:08:55.320 | to death in 1956.
00:08:58.240 | And I believe with all my heart that as they walked to the front, uncertain and struggling,
00:09:04.560 | but sensing God's leading to give their lives to world missions, that call was sealed with
00:09:10.840 | that song.
00:09:13.720 | Singing sends lovers of Christ to the nations.
00:09:17.920 | Yeah, I'm going to end it abruptly.
00:09:19.800 | That's from John Piper's message titled "We Win the World with Singing," a message preached
00:09:23.800 | at the Getty Sing Conference Global 2021 Conference in Nashville, Tennessee last November.
00:09:29.280 | You can find the whole sermon and audio and video at DesiringGod.org.
00:09:33.800 | Again, the message title, "We Win the World with Singing."
00:09:39.400 | Thanks for listening to today's sermon clip.
00:09:40.800 | Our clips are crowdsourced.
00:09:42.040 | You tell us what bits of Piper's sermons changed your life, and we share that clip with the
00:09:45.580 | APJ audience.
00:09:46.580 | If you've got one, email me.
00:09:47.920 | Give me your name, hometown, the sermon title, the timestamp of where the clip happens in
00:09:51.560 | the audio, and tell me how it impacted you.
00:09:53.160 | Send the word "clip" in the subject line of an email and send it to me at AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org.
00:10:00.280 | Well the church is fractured.
00:10:03.240 | Over the past couple of years, we've experienced a lot of division among Christians at the
00:10:07.040 | levels of networks and denominations and even inside local churches and friendships.
00:10:14.560 | So is this division a good thing?
00:10:16.820 | Is it only a bad thing?
00:10:18.480 | Will division work for the church's greater purity and final good, or will division work
00:10:23.040 | to the church's final detriment and to the lessening of her testimony in the world today?
00:10:29.880 | It's a relevant question, a great question.
00:10:31.600 | It's up next time.
00:10:32.600 | I'm your host Tony Reinke.
00:10:33.720 | We are joined in studio again with Pastor John when we return on Friday for that question.
00:10:38.680 | We'll see you then.
00:10:39.160 | [END]
00:10:39.660 | [ Silence ]