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You may be seated. Our Gospel reading this morning comes from Matthew chapter 5, verses 1-11. This is what it says, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you, and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Good morning. It's good to be with you again. For those who don't know me, as Glenn already mentioned, my name is Ben. And I have the privilege this morning of sharing God's Word with you. If you have your Bible, you can turn to Psalm 67. That's where today's sermon scripture reading will be from. Or you can find it on the screen just over my shoulder. Psalm 67 has at its heart mission. Psalm 67, it's a psalm of mission. In this psalm we see that God pours out His blessing on us so that we might be a blessing to others. Maybe you've heard the phrase before, blessed to be a blessing. That's a great way to sum up what Psalm 67 is all about. We're going to read this psalm in just a minute, but before we do that, let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, we thank You that You continue to speak to us today through Your Word. Father, we admit that often we doubt Your Word, and we can ignore Your Word. We think we know better than it. Work in each of us. By Your Spirit, prepare us. Soften our hearts. Open our eyes and ears so that in hearing Your Word we might believe it. Obey it and come to love it, knowing that it contains eternal truths of joy that draws nearer to You. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Psalm 67, 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 the 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. This is the word of the Lord. Well, there was an interesting study not that long ago out of the Child Research Center at New York University. In this study, it linked an increase in teen psychological issues with the upper middle class lifestyle, particularly amongst those kids with complete financial security and a provision for a wide range of interesting opportunities for entertainment. It found that these kids in this upper middle class lifestyle were more likely to be apathetic, to be lazy, to be irritable, to be insecure, entitled and moody, and that they would have more difficulty setting and achieving goals, which combined together created a whole other host of issues. Now, this might not be what you and I expect. Many, many people set out to give their children this exact kind of life, what we would call the good life, the best life, a life of security, a life of comfort and safety, where everything you need is provided. But what this study shows is that this kind of life can actually be detrimental. It can, in fact, be dangerous. When we receive blessings apart from responsibility, apart from purpose, apart from being a part of a greater story, our blessings can turn sour. Our blessings can actually begin to rot. Now, Psalm 67 tells us that God is a God of abundant blessing. His blessings are far-reaching. But we also learn in Psalm 67 that God doesn't bless His people without then sending them out. In other words, God doesn't call us in without then sending us out. He doesn't bless us just to fill up our happiness tanks. He blesses you so that you might be a blessing. That's what Psalm 67 is all about, blessed to be a blessing, brought in so that you can be sent out, built up so that you can build one another up, and encouraged so that you can encourage, loved, so that you can love one another, blessed to be a blessing. This is what Psalm 67 is all about. So the big question is how do we do this? Well, as God blesses us, Psalm 67 gives us three particular ways God wants to use us to bless the world through us. In blessing us, God wants to use us so that the world may know Him, so that the world may worship Him, and so that the world may fear Him. In blessing us, God wants to use us so that the world may know Him, worship Him, and fear Him. And we're going to look at each of these individually. But before we do that, I think it's worthwhile for us to take a quick look at this idea of blessing, a background or a definition, so to speak, before we get into the particulars. In verse 1 of Psalm 67, again, we read the news that God is a God of blessing. This is great news. And the Psalmist here, he actually draws from two of the most famous blessing passages in all of Scripture, the Abrahamic blessing and the Aaronic blessing. We find the Abrahamic blessing in Genesis 12, and this is what it says. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you, and I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing, and you, all the families of the earth, shall be blessed. There we see for the first time in Scripture this idea of being blessed to be a blessing. God would make Abraham great. Why? So that in him all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Now the second blessing the Psalmist draws from is the Aaronic blessing. The Aaronic blessing was a blessing given to Aaron and his sons, through which they were to bless Israel in the wilderness and throughout their history, so that Israel would bear God's name to all the world. Again, we see this idea of blessed to be a blessing. God would bless Israel, so that they would make his name known throughout the world. This blessing has remained close to the heart of God's people throughout history. I know it's a blessing that is used often here at the end of your service, and one that we'll use again today. These words, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. These famous blessings would have been on the hearts and minds of Psalm 67's original audience, as well as other Old Testament blessing passages. Throughout the Old Testament we read that God often blessed Israel, and we see this sometimes through earthly or material blessings, like the inheritance of land. In Psalm 47 we read that God blesses the Israelites through deliverance from their enemies. Later in Genesis 17 we read that God blesses the people through fruitfulness in their families and in their fields. Since then, Christ has come and we've been given the New Testament. When we get there, the picture becomes maybe a little bit more complicated as to what blessing exactly means. Before the sermon I read from Matthew 5, where Jesus teaches, blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who are meek, who are hungry. And the list continues, including even blessed are those who are persecuted. What are we to make of this? How do we make sense of these kind of almost two pictures of blessing? Well, when we take this all together, what we begin to see is that blessing isn't explicitly tied to earthly riches, or on the other hand, poverty. Blessing is not primarily tied to material goods or to a lack of material goods. Rather, what we learn is that blessing is anything that God gives us to make us fully satisfied in Him. Blessing is anything that draws us closer to God Himself. Blessing is anything that helps us relinquish the temporal and hold on more tightly to the eternal. Blessing from God empowers us, it sustains us, it refreshes our faith and renews our hope, confirming God's promises to us so that we can meet life's challenges. In other words, true blessing is as Psalm 1 tells us. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. Here we see that true blessing is found in the Lord alone. And anything, anything that draws us near to God into deeper relationship with Him is a blessing. At times, this means material blessings. For many of us, our families, our spouse, our children, our homes, our jobs, even our cars, these are real, genuine blessings from God. But Scripture also teaches us, and life often shows us, that it's often the struggles and the trials, the aching disappointments and the unfulfilled longings that best enable us to grow in our relationship with God. This is what we see in the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5. And although these things are truly difficult often, they are genuinely hard, God in His mercy uses them to bless us. God blesses you and I in all sorts of different ways, by different means, so that we might grow closer to Him, and that He might equip us to be a blessing to others, for our good and for His glory. But these blessings, they're not dead ends, they're not ends in and of themselves. We are blessed to be a blessing. So let's take a closer look at Psalm 67. As God blesses us, how does He want to use us? Let me refresh your memory for a minute. God wants to use us so that the world may know Him, worship Him, and fear Him. First, God wants to use us so that the world may know Him. Verse 1, Psalm 67, it asks for God's blessing. And then verse 2, we're given the reason, so that His way may be known on the earth, His saving power among all nations. This is why God blesses. God makes Himself known through His people. As we find our joy and our satisfaction in Him, and live according to His word and to His ways, both in action and in speech, we actually show the world who God is. God's commands, they shape our lives, and our obedience reflects His character. But it's not just about how we live. We see here that it's also about what we say. Verse 2, it reminds us that we are called to speak God's saving power. We're called to share the truth of His word and the good news of the gospel. People all around us are searching for true happiness. They're searching for true blessing. But it can only be found in knowing God and receiving salvation through Christ. And so that's the mission for us here. We are blessed so that the world may know God, who He is, what He's like, and what He has done to save. In blessing us, God is calling us to live the truth, to speak the truth, so that the world may know Him. But He's calling us to obey Him and to share our faith. This outward posture of our faith is in one sense just the natural outworking in it. Of it, sorry. And what do I mean? Well, I was out golfing recently, and sometimes I go golfing by myself. And when I do that, I often have the thought, what if today was a day that I finally got a hole in one? Wouldn't that be amazing? But the problem is, the thought creeps into my mind that I think it actually would be slightly disappointing. No friends, no family to share that incredible moment with, just you all alone on the course. It would be somewhat incomplete. Now, I'm not that great of a golfer, so it's probably not going to be an issue for me. But the point is this. When we experience deep joy and satisfaction, whether that's an amazing meal, an incredible sight, a great sporting achievement like a hole in one, our joy is in some sense incomplete until that joy is shared with one another. C.S. Lewis, this is what he writes. He says, I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses, but completes our enjoyment. It is its appointed consummation. It's frustrating to have discovered a new author and not be able to tell anyone how good he is. To come suddenly at the turn of a road upon some mountain valley of unexpected grandeur, and then have to keep silent because no one else in the car cares for it. To hear a good joke and find no one to share it with. He continues, the catechism says that man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. But we shall know that these things are the same thing, for to fully enjoy is to glorify. And commanding us to glorify, God is inviting us to enjoy him. See, as we find satisfaction and joy in Christ, as he blesses us, and as we live according to his ways and dwell on the power of his salvation, we can't help but share these incredible realities with the people around us. We must share them, or in some sense they remain incomplete. See, the natural outworking of God's blessing in this sense is to bless others. As we ourselves find joy and satisfaction in Christ, we'll share this good news, we'll share this joy and satisfaction, so that others may know God. God wants to use us so that the world may know him. God has blessed you to that end. Live the truth, speak the truth, and share your joy. That is your mission. Second, Psalm 67 shows us that God wants to use you so that the world may worship him. Now, throughout the Psalms, we find all sorts of different reasons to praise and worship God. Flip to essentially any Psalm and you'll find a whole host of reasons. But in Psalm 67, we get maybe a more unique reason why we should praise and worship God. And we see this in verses 4 and 5. We read that the nations will be glad and that they're going to sing for joy. Why? Why are they going to worship? For God judges the peoples with equity. For God judges the peoples with equity. Now, I think we often think of judgment as something of a bit of a negative. Judgment comes across as punishing, and at least in our day and age, it feels harsh. Our world seems to like acceptance, warm and fuzzy feelings, good vibes. And God's judgment doesn't quite fit into that picture. In one sense, the world is right with this uncomfortability. God is returning and he will judge each one of us. And if left to ourselves, if left to our own record, that is bad news. Now, that isn't harsh because we're told here that God is a just judge and he judges fairly and with equity. But it is bad news if you and I are judged on our own record. So why would God's judgment in Psalm 67 be reason for the nations to be glad? Reasons for the nations to worship. Well, our New Testament reading from Romans, it actually gives us a hint. We read, for the creation waits with eager longing. The creation was subjected to futility. The creation will one day be set free from its bondage to corruption and has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. In other words, we see in this passage that the world is not right. Sin has so affected creation that no area of our world remains untouched. All of it groans. All of it longs to be made right. All of creation has been touched by the deadly effects of sin. And God's judgment is worthy of worship because he is the one who promises to set this world right. God is a judge who judges with fairness and with equity and the one who actually sees justice done. God brings redemption and defeats sin that brings death. Revelation 21, it says, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more for the former things have passed away. God is judge is the one who will set the world right so much so that the prophet Isaiah, he writes that the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into joy singing. All the trees of the fields will clap their hands. See, God in Christ bringing brings complete and total restoration, which will leave no corner of our world untouched. But this is what a just judge does. They set the world right. Sin will be no more. Its effects will be felt no more. Rather, our world will share a future where everything in it is put right. A future of life, of joy and of happiness. See, God's judgment, it gives us great reason to worship God even now. Because in his judgment, God will set the world right. His righteousness, his perfection and his power will transform the earth exactly as God originally intended it to be. Now, this isn't good news for all. God is a just judge and if left to yourself, your record will leave you outside of his redemption. But for those found in Christ, we have reason to rejoice because God will set the world right and all who are in Christ will be redeemed. The Lord will bless you. Our mission then, in response to this blessing, is for you and I to live just lives that foster the worship of God. We, you and I, must seek to set the world right already, even today. To fight against oppression and against injustice. In some sense, this is just another way of living out God's commands. To love God and to love our neighbor. We want to see churches and communities and cities that promote true human flourishing. Not just for some, but for all. See, God in Christ has come and he will return again to set the world right. And in the meantime, he invites you and I now to join him, to join him in this important work. The Bible tells us that this work includes caring for the poor, the orphan and the widow. This is work that seeks to bring God's shalom to all areas of the earth, to all areas and to all peoples around us. See, God has blessed us not as an end in and of itself. He blesses us to be a blessing. He calls us now to imitate his justice so that people might come and worship God. Third, Psalm 67 shows us that God wants to use us so that the world may fear him. Fear, in this sense, is not about being scared or afraid of God. Rather, this fear is talking about a reverent awe and wonder. This fear is a recognition and a trust in God and his power as a sovereign creator and sustainer of heaven and earth. We come across an interesting verse in verse 6 story and it says, The earth has yielded its increase. God or God shall bless us. And commentators, they don't know whether this is actually saying something about what God has done in the past or if it's something that's coming in the future. But why is it important and relate to how we should fear God? Because whether it's in the past or in the future, this verse is telling us of the faithfulness of God and that he alone has the power to bring about what he actually says. See, the harvest will be plentiful because of God's faithfulness, because of God's power. We're being reminded here that while a farmer can reap and sow, God alone is the one who can give growth. God alone can bring the harvest. In this verse, we're confronted with human inability and instead showing God's incredible power and might. He is the one that brings growth and in bringing it, he is the one to be feared. And of course, this is true both agriculturally, but it's true spiritually as well. God is the one who ultimately changes hearts and he graciously, in blessing us, invites us to join him in this work. See, our world, it tempts us to live completely for ourselves. If people, you know, if people are holding you back, the world says cut them out. If people are difficult to deal with, the world says ghost them. The world will tell you to forgive one another, but only so that you can feel good about yourself. In our world, we learn about self-care, about self-talk, about self-esteem, about self-actualization. We are bombarded. We're bombarded with messages to live for ourselves. See, our world tempts us to think that we can live for ourselves and that we can do anything, even save ourselves. But Christians wholeheartedly live for another. We live lives on mission. We live our lives for another, right? Lives in recognition of the great power and might of God, and in recognition of our own smallness, of our own ability if left to ourselves. See, it's in this sense that we live our lives in the fear of the Lord. Not scared, not frightened of him, but lives that recognize his power and his might. Lives that recognize his love and his faithfulness to us. Our mission, the reason that we are blessed, is that the world would fear God. In seeing Christians, you and I live not for ourselves, but for another. In seeing God's greatness and our own smallness, our hope is that they too would fear God and worship him. See, our life's mission is to make God increase as we decrease, to live not for our own glory or for our own name, but for the name of God, for his kingdom and for his glory. Would our lives testify to the majesty and might, to the power and beauty of God? Would we fear him so that others might fear him too? Now, this is no small task. We're being called here to live lives that obey God's commands, lives that reflect his truth and that share his truth. We're being called here to live lives that have the courage to seek justice in an unjust world, in a world where that might be unpopular. We're called to live a life trusting in and relying on God's faithfulness, a life of selfless mission. And often as we seek to do this, it feels that our work can be fruitless. So often we fail to live as we've been called to, but even when we do live as we've been called to, so often our words, our actions, they're not received as we would hope. People reject the good news of the gospel all the time. People aren't interested in hearing about your faith, about your story. They don't agree with your beliefs. Or worth yet, they think that you're crazy for even thinking them or believing them. What are we to do? What are we to do? Well, by God's Spirit and by God's grace, we must continually remind ourselves of the blessings that we have already received in Christ. There's probably no better place in scripture that lays this out for us than Ephesians 1. It says we've been blessed with every spiritual blessing. God has predestined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. He has made known to us the mystery of his will and united us to himself. In him, in Christ, we have obtained an inheritance. And in him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit to the praise of his glory. See, in Christ, we have been blessed in every way imaginable. He has taken our sin upon himself, and he has given us his perfect record to satisfy our just judge, God himself. All of Christ's blessings that he earned are now ours. And in blessing us, God in Christ gives us a pattern for living this kind of life. See, in blessing us, God in Christ gives us forgiveness and pardon, healing for our selfishness and for our tendency to hoard our blessings rather than to share them. And in blessing us, God in Christ gives us power through his spirit to live as he calls us to. To live lives of mission, lives of service, not to ourselves, but to our God and to his people. See, it is through Christ that we receive our greatest blessings, and it is only through Christ in which that blessing can then go forth and begin to transform not only our own hearts, but the lives of those around us, our churches, communities, our cities, the entirety of the world. See, God wants the world to know him. God wants the world to worship him. God wants the world to fear him. And in his mercy, he has invited you and I to join him in this mission. Blessed to be a blessing. Psalm 67 is no doubt a missionary Psalm. The question for you and I is will you respond to God's call on your life, empowered by his spirit to use the blessings you have first received to bless those around you. Whether you've been blessed by God's good gifts or through his comfort and satisfaction amidst life difficulties and trials. God wants to use you so that the world may know him, worship him and fear him. Let's pray.