“God blesses us,
That all the ends of the earth may fear Him”
Psalm 67:7
What a marvelous reminder, in Psalm 67, of the stewardship with which we, as God’s people, have been entrusted! One reason the church is so blessed; one reason God so “cause[s] His face to shine upon us” (v.1) … is so that we might leverage His blessings for the purpose of spreading His fame to “all the ends of the earth”! Read the entire psalm, and notice how it both begins and ends with this theme – we are blessed, so that the nations might bless God!
One specific blessing spoken of in Psalm 67 is the blessing of temporal prosperity – a good harvest season. But perhaps other sorts of blessings are in view. Or, at least, the psalm can surely be applied to other sorts of blessings. And, in these few paragraphs, I want to think, particularly, about how the church in America is blessed, and how we ought to steward those blessings for the glory of God in world missions.
That’s not to say, for one second, that only the church in America is blessed; or that the church in America is more blessed than the church in other lands! Not so! Psalm 67 applies to all Christians everywhere! And we would do well to remember that the church in other lands is blessed in unique ways, too. Christians in many other lands are often blessed with fortitude in suffering; or with deep, child-like humility; or with habits of prayer which we Americans could stand to learn from. And, of course, the church in every place is blessed with the same word of God, the same Holy Spirit, the same gospel, and so on!
So the purpose of this article is not to puff up the American church. But since Psalm 67 does apply to our blessings, too; and since I am writing primarily for an audience that resides on American soil, I write for that audience. And I point out three particular blessings which the Lord has poured out on this particular portion of His vineyard, and remind us that God blesses us in these ways for the sake of spreading the gospel; that “God blesses us, that all the ends of the earth may fear Him”! It’s not an exhaustive list of God’s blessings, but I hope a helpful one.
So then, for the sake of His fame among the nations, God has blessed the American church with:
1. Financial blessing. We have so much in this country! And the churches in this country have so much, too! We are blessed, financially. Think of how amazing it is that Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church, a fairly small congregation, has well over $100,000 at our disposal, every year, to use for the glory of God. And PRBC is not abnormal. The American church is financially blessed! And let us never forget that the reason is not only for our own up-building in grace, but also so “that [God’s] way may be known on the earth, [His] salvation among all nations” (v.2, emphasis added).
2. Linguistic blessing. English is spoken and/or understood so widely in today’s world, is it not? Which means that we English speakers have ready linguistic access to people from all sorts of places. That doesn’t mean that long-term missionaries shouldn’t take the time to learn the native tongues of the people to whom they minister. They should! But the fact that English is today’s lingua franca means that we who aren’t long-term missionaries have amazing access (at home, and abroad, and online) to people from many nations, tribes, and tongues. And we have such access; God has allowed our language to become so widespread, not for our own ease, but “that all the ends of the earth may fear” the Lord!
3. Theological blessing. Make no mistake, America is probably the world’s chief exporter of false teaching. And I’m not overlooking that. But America, by God’s grace (alone!), is also blessed with sound theological seminaries, Bible colleges, and book publishers that Christians in many other countries drool over. We are extremely blessed with access to solid theological training and teaching. And we are blessed in that way, not to keep all that learning simply to ourselves, but to bring good news to the nations as well!
So, my friends, let us steward these blessings well! Let us give of our financial blessing to the cause of world missions! Let us take advantage of our linguistic blessing by sharing Christ with people from many nations! And let some of us take all of the theological blessing available to us, and go – moving abroad, learning another language, and making the knowledge of God available at “the ends of the earth”!
