Worshipping Before The Nations
Before We Gather by Zach Hicks
| Scripture
Read Psalm 108
| Devotion
We always need to avoid the temptation to see gathered worship as an escape from the world. To be sure, worship is a place where the membrane between earth and heaven grows very thin; God does give us unique gifts of his presence and future kingdom here. To be sure, worship is a place to find God’s stillness and peace amid lives that are chaotic and confusing. But the Bible reminds us that the whole world isn’t irrelevant to worship. Instead, worship brings it into focus.
Psalm 108 is one of those “missionary” worship songs that bring the world into focus. It begins with the songwriter’s enthusiasm for gathered worship. He’s so anxious to worship, he has to go wake up the instruments that they will use–“Awake, O harp and lyre!”-and he even has to go wake up the sunrise while it’s still dark-“I will awake the dawn!” (v. 2). The psalmist is so eager to worship, it’s almost like he can’t even wait for God’s timing to do it. “Let’s get started now! Wake up, everybody!” he shouts.
His enthusiasm is all the more surprising when we realize that he’s not writing this worship song out of a place of rest and peace. The end of the psalm might seem surprising to us, but verses 10 through 13 make it clear that he’s in the midst of battle with his enemies and living in the tension of God’s promises unrealized. He feels full-blown rejected by God because it doesn’t seem like God is with them in battle (vv. 11-12). There’s something remarkable and worth emulating about a person who is filled with anxiety and doubt expressing such eagerness to gather for worship. O God, make us that kind of worshiper! But as we said, the world is in focus in this psalm, and therefore we get a glimpse into the Bible’s connection between gathered worship and our mission to the world.
First, we recognize that worship is always to be done “among the nations” and “among the peoples” (v. 3). Throughout biblical history, God always had in mind gathering the nations. Way back in the beginning of God’s salvation plan, when he singled out Abraham, his purpose was clear. Abraham’s family was called out not only so that they could be a nation holy unto the Lord but also so that “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). Flip over to the other end of the Bible and you find the apostle Paul admonishing the young church in Corinth to keep in mind the “outsiders and unbelievers” as they worship together (1 Cor. 14:20-25). It’s passages like these that have instilled in Christians the practice of inviting their non-C n-Christian friends and family members to worship services. Worshiping “among the nations” is part of God’s design for us.
Second, worship fuels a passion for God’s mission to the world. If we really are encountering God’s glory in worship (and know that glory is a big worship word that spans all of Scripture), then the natural byproduct is that we’ll join the psalmist’s eager desire to “let your glory be over all the earth!” (v. 5). In effect, we’re saying, “God, I see how amazing you are, how gracious you are, how wonderful you are, and I want the whole world to see what I see and to know what I know!” A yearning for others to know the Lord is the fruit of having met with him yourself. So we should expect that worship should end with a propulsive effect. We should feel a holy wind at our backs, pushing us into the world to live out our vocations and continue worshiping and testifying “among the nations.”
Third, worship doesn’t sugarcoat the problems with the world. That the psalm ends with the songwriter’s angst about God’s unfulfilled promises, with his enemies remaining rebellious and unconquered, reminds us that part of our mission to the world is to desire the same submission to God “out there” as “in here.” Worship creates a longing for God’s vindication of wrongs and a quelling of rebellion. It stokes the fires of God’s justice that his kingdom would be realized not only in the worship service but everywhere. Where is there room for our churches and our hearts to go farther here? Where might the gospel yet do more work among us and in the world for the sake of God’s glory and Christ’s redemption? Along with the psalmist, we go to prayer asking these questions and pleading for God’s help.
| Prayer
Aim your prayers in this direction:
- Pray for all who do not yet know Jesus, who may show up in your worship service. Pray that the gospel would be proclaimed clearly and that the Spirit would give all who attend ears to hear.
- Pray that God would stir up a passion for mission in your church.
- Pray that your worship service would be a context where your church is formed into a missionary people.
- Pray that God would pull people out of their comfort zones today, especially so that outsiders might feel welcomed, loved, and seen. Ask God to give a special measure of grace to those on the front lines of welcoming people to give them eyes to see and a sense of who might be most in need of special attention today.