My Mission in Missions (Psalm 67)

1
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us,
2
that your way
may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
3
Let the peoples praise you, O
God; let all the peoples praise you!
4
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the
peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.
5
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all
the peoples praise you!
6
The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.
7
God
shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!
i


Introduction
Five weeks from today, I will be flying (for the first time in my life) out of the United
States, to travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, located in southern Africa
As I have told people that I am going Africa, many questions and objections have been
thrown at me:
o Ranging from: Why waste all of that money to go to a foreign country, when
there are so many needs here, dont you know that we got to take care of our
own?
To: How stupid can you be? Dont you know that you know that there are
all kinds of things that could kill you there: disease, and beasts, and war?
To: Are you really that arrogant, that you need people from around the
world to praise you? Who do you think you are to tell people how to
believe, and to force your American/Western ideologies upon them?
Therefore, given the many objections which people have in regard to missions, I want to
briefly examine the reason why I am going, in the hopes that these might be answered,
and we might come to see, savor and showcase the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6)
While I know that my motives are not wholly pure, this is my mission for going (which I
pray that God would make more of a reality in my life):
o That all peoples may rejoice with inexpressible joy, in the unsearchable riches of
Christ, to the praise of Gods glorious grace
o We will break this statement down into four parts

That all peoples
First, I am going so That all peoples
o (Matthew 28:19) -
19
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations
ii

Jesus has commissioned us to make disciples of all nations of every
ethno-linguistic people group in the world
However, not only has He commissioned us to this task, He has even revealed what it
will look like when it is finished:
o (Revelation 7:9-10) -
9
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no
one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm
branches in their hands,
10
and crying out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to
our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!
iii

o In the New Heavens and the New Earth, worship will involve people from every
nation, and every tribe, and every people, and every language
For when Jesus died upon the cross, He ransomed by His blood people from all of these
groups (Revelation 5:9-10)
o Jesus has sheep from every tribe and language and people and nation, whom He
bought by His blood, and He sends out those who are now in His flock to preach
His word to them, so that they would hear His voice and come (John 10:16, 27-
28; Romans 10:14-15)
Therefore, we as Christians cannot be concerned only with the people group in which we
live, but we must have a passion for the estimated 9,736 people groups in the world
o For Jesus has sheep in every single one of these people groups, and He will not
come until the Gospel has been preached to all of the peoples of the world (Mark
13:10), and He has gathered His flock to Himself
So first, I am going That all peoples

may rejoice with inexpressible joy
Second, I am going so That all peoples may rejoice with inexpressible joy
o (1 Peter 1:8-9) -
8
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do
not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and
filled with glory,
9
obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your
souls.
iv

o The outcome of our faith, which is the salvation of our souls, depends upon our
rejoicing with an expressible joy
And so, I hope to be able to say these words, along with the Apostle Paul, to every person
I meet:
o (2 Corinthians 1:24) -
24
Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you
for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.
v

o Or, as he put it in Philippians, I will remain and continue with you all, for your
progress and joy in the faith
vi

In other words, the reason why I work, the reason why I labor, the reason why I preach, is
to fill people with joy!
o I am seeking to make people infinitely happy, to cause them to rejoice with
inexpressible joy, to fill them with such a gladness that they would always rejoice,
no matter what the circumstances in their life may be (1 Thessalonians 5:16)
I am a worker of joy for I seek to cause people to rejoice with inexpressible joy!
o Now, if you know me, or if you have heard me preach, you might think that I am
not doing a very good joy at fulfilling this mission
o How, you might ask, am I going to cause people to rejoice with inexpressible joy,
when I tell people that they are like the scum of the earth, the wretch of the sea?
o The answer to this question lies in source of this inexpressible joy.

in the unsearchable riches of Christ
Third, I am going so That all peoples may rejoice with inexpressible joy, in the
unsearchable riches of Christ
o (1 Peter 1:8-9) -
8
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do
not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and
filled with glory,
9
obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your
souls.
vii

o Jesus is the source of our inexpressible joy!
Why does Jesus produce such a joy?
o His worth is unsurpassable
(Philippians 3:8a) -
8
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the
surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord
viii

o His beauty is unmatchable
(Psalm 27:4) -
4
One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze
upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.
ix

o His presence is incomparable
(Psalm 16:11)
11
You make known to me the path of life; in your
presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures
forevermore.
x

o His glory is uncontainable
(1 Kings 8:27) -
27
But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold,
heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this
house that I have built!
xi

o His riches are unsearchable
(Ephesians 3:8) -
8
To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this
grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of
Christ
xii

Therefore, as a worker of joy, I seek to produce an inexpressible joy, in all peoples, by
preaching unsearchable riches of Christ
o Understand then what my message is not:
It is not me going around the world, and telling people to praise me
(though this is what my flesh wants)
Rather, it is saying along with John the Baptist: After me comes
he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not
worthy to stoop down and untie.
xiii
(Mark 1:7)
Nor is my message solely telling people what they are to believe
For while there is definitely and necessarily truth involved in my
preaching, true knowledge is not the end goal
Rather, it is as I preach about the unsearchable riches of Christ,
that people would truly know who He is, and then they would
rejoice with inexpressible joy in that knowing
This then is my message to all peoples:
o Jesus is more valuable than the greatest treasure, and more satisfying than the
highest pleasure
o He is better than all that life can give or death can take!
o Therefore, turn away from the broken cisterns upon which you have been sucking,
but which cannot satisfy (Jeremiah 2:12-13) and abandon the false idols to which
you have been clinging, but which cannot save (Isaiah 45:20)
o Then run to Christ run to Him for whom your soul longs (Psalm 63:1), run to
Him in whom your soul find rest (Matthew 11:28), run to Him by whom your soul
can be saved (Acts 16:31)
o To Him whose worth is unsurpassable, whose beauty is unmatchable, whose
presence is incomparable, whose glory is uncontainable, and whose riches are
unsearchable
Final question which is left for us to ponder:
o How, as a worker of joy, do I produce this inexpressible joy?

to the praise of Gods glorious grace.
Fourth, I am going so That all peoples may rejoice with inexpressible joy, in the
unsearchable riches of Christ, to the praise of Gods glorious grace.
o It might seem very simple to answer the question: How, as a worker of joy, do I
produce this inexpressible joy?
o For, you might say, we already read the answer from Paul; namely,
8
To me,
though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ
xiv
(Ephesians 3:8)
o And while it is true to say (as I already did) that as a worker of joy, I seek to
produce an inexpressible joy, in all peoples, by preaching unsearchable riches of
Christ, this does not sufficiently answer the question
The reason why it is insufficient, is because Ephesians 2 is a reality:
o (Ephesians 2:1-3) - And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
2
in which you
once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience
3
among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the
desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the
rest of mankind.
xv

Paul tells us that by nature (meaning that from the moment we begin to
exist, from the time we are conceived in our mothers womb) we are
sinners, who are worthy to receive the wrath of God
Because of the sin of Adam in the Garden of Eden, we deserve to be
thrown into the eternal fires of Hell, even before we have the ability to
choose (Genesis 3; Romans 5:12-14)
However, not only did the sin of Adam make all humans guilty before God, as soon as
they are conceived, but his sin also resulted in us being conceived with a sin nature
meaning that we love all things sin, and hate all things God
This second consequence is why Romans 1 is a reality:
o (Romans 1:18-23) -
18
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress
the truth.
19
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has
shown it to them.
20
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and
divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in
the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
21
For although they
knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became
futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22
Claiming to be
wise, they became fools,
23
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for
images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
xvi

Every single human being in the world, from every tribe, and language,
and people, and nation, knows that God is glorious, worthy and satisfying
Yet, because of our sinfulness, we willingly choose to reject Him, and to
seek satisfaction in things which cannot satisfy, exchanging the Creator
for the creature (Romans 1:25)
As humans, we think we are so brilliant for our rejection of God, and our
embracement of sin for, we think to ourselves, there is so much more
pleasure to be found in sin, than there is in God
However, Paul says, this trade which every single human being makes, is
the most stupid trade they could ever make
For we have traded the Destination for a path, the Fountain for a cup, the
Creator for a creature
o It is in response to such a scene that the LORD, through the prophet Jeremiah,
cried out:
(Jeremiah 2:12-13) -
12
Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be
utterly desolate, declares the LORD,
13
for my people have committed two
evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out
cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
xvii

o And so, since we are dead, since we are blind, since we are in love with sin,
utterly depraved from the moment of our conception, though someone preaches to
us about the existence of a fountain flowing with living waters, we will continue
sucking upon the broken and sandy cisterns within our grasps!
This reality is why it is inadequate to say that inexpressible joy can be produced in all
peoples by preaching about the unsearchable riches of Christ:
o Because though Jesus is infinitely better than anything which could possibly exist,
in our depravity we cannot see Him, nor do we want Him!
How then is this joy ultimately produced?
o (Ephesians 2:4-5) -
4
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with
which he loved us,
5
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive
together with Christby grace you have been saved
xviii

Inexpressible joy is produce in someone when God makes us alive
together with Christ
o When, as Peter puts it, He causes us to be born again to a living hope (1
Peter 1:3)
o It is when God uses the message which someone preaches to us about the
unsearchable riches of Christ, to shine into our hearts to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6).
o It is when He opens our eyes to see that He liberated you from the bondage of
self-regard, at great cost to Himself, so that you enjoy making much of Him
forever
xix

In other words, this joy is produced by God choosing us, from the foundation of the
world, to be His own loving us so much, that He sent His Son to die for us allowing
us, in His grace, to believe in His work, and so be saved and then allowing us, for His
glory, to dwell with Him forever, gazing upon His face, and being satisfied in Him, above
all things and in all things
And in response to this, we say along with the Apostle Paul:
o (Ephesians 1:3-6) -
3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
4
even
as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and blameless before him. In love
5
he predestined us for adoption as sons through
Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
6
to the praise of his glorious
grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
xx

I am going, therefore, for this reason:
o That all peoples may rejoice with inexpressible joy, in the unsearchable riches of
Christ, to the praise of Gods glorious grace
Let the cry of my heart therefore be:
o (Psalm 67:3-4a) -
3
Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise
you!
4
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy
xxi










i
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Ps 67:title7.
ii
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Mt 28:19.
iii
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Re 7:910.
iv
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). 1 Pe 1:79.
v
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). 2 Co 1:24.
vi
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Php 1:25.
vii
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). 1 Pe 1:79.
viii
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Php 3:8.
ix
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Ps 27:4.
x
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Ps 16:11.
xi
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). 1 Ki 8:27.
xii
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Eph 3:8.
xiii
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Mk 1:7.
xiv
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Eph 3:8.
xv
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Eph 2:13.
xvi
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Ro 1:1823.
xvii
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Je 2:1213.
xviii
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Eph 2:35.
xix
John Piper, Dont Waste Your Life, Pg. 36
xx
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Eph 1:36.
xxi
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001). Ps 67:34.