An Overflowing Blessing (Psalm 67) - Rev. Oliver Pierce

Well, it's great to be here. It's certainly been

on my list to get out to Fairview. I just want

to express my gratitude for your church supporting

us generously during our time at Wofford. We

really, RUF could not exist without so many churches

sacrificially and generously giving and individuals

as well. So just thank you for that. And again,

as I mentioned, I got to share this morning in

more detail about this new call that the Lord

has laid on our family and has really captured

our hearts. It's amazing that RUF is at 180 campuses

all over this country. And that is a beautiful

thing. We've seen how that's helped contribute

to the growth of the PCA. But as I look at Europe

and see there's right now only one ministry,

one RUF global ministry there actually in Ukraine

and yet there are twice as many students. It's

just the fields are white for harvest and the

Lord has laid on our hearts to go out there.

So we appreciate your prayers. I would love to

share more. I will be hanging out, sticking around

after the service. I can go in more detail. For

those of you who weren't there this morning at

Sunday School, if you're curious about what God's

doing in our lives and calling us there and what

it might look like to help us along there. But

with that in mind, we're going to be looking

at a text this morning that Troy said earlier.

You guys are a missionary church. This is a great

text to go to, to return to, to answer the question,

why are we a missionary church? Why are we outward

focused? Why is that the way God has called us

to live? And why is that actually a good thing

for our own hearts and our own joy. So if you

want to look in your own Bibles this morning

and read along with me Psalm 67, I'll read that

for us and then pray for the Lord's blessing

on the preaching of His Word. So Psalm 67, a

psalm, a song. Give you guys a moment. You're

in some rustling. So 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 earth. Let the peoples

praise you, O God, let all the peoples praise

you. The earth has yielded its increased God,

Our God shall bless us. God shall bless us. Let

all the ends of the earth fear Him. Join me as

we pray the preaching of God's Word. Father in

heaven, we thank you for this day that you give

us every week to come and to rest, to come and

to be in your presence together with your people.

And we know many of us are coming to this service

this morning with all kinds of baggage, with

really hard things that we have had to go through,

with tiring weeks, maybe with joyful weeks on

the other hand. And yet we praise you, we thank

you that we know that you will meet us with what

we need in your word that you have promised to

be. especially active by your spirit there and

so we ask that that you might illuminate our

minds that you might open our hearts by your

spirit that you might refresh us that you might

help us to pay attention to your word and to

receive the truth of it with faith and love and

humility so that it would bear fruit in our daily

lives. We ask most of all that you would help

us to see the beauty and the glory of your son,

the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.

Amen. Well, if you are a human being here this

morning, I can guess that you've had some version

of this kind of experience. You've come across

something in your life. It could be a musician.

It could be a book. It could be some new hobby.

It could be a place you went to on vacation.

It could be a restaurant. It could be something

even as simple as some video, funny video you

saw online. Whatever it is, it's so interesting,

it's so compelling, it's so beautiful, it's so

funny that you just have to go talk to other

people about it. And maybe it's not a thing,

maybe it's even a person that you met. Many years

ago when I was on a hike in the Nashville area,

I went to undergraduate in Middle Tennessee State.

And I was out hiking and suddenly I turn a corner

and I never would have guessed what I was going

to see. I saw the front man from one of my favorite

bands at the time, the band Wilco, and his name

is Jeff Tweedy, the lead guitarist and songwriter

and singer. just walking along the path in the

forest. It was such a surreal experience. I didn't

want to bother him as a fellow introvert. I knew

he probably didn't want to be talking with one

of his fans on the hike, but this was a once

-in -a -lifetime thing, so I had to go talk to

him. He was very gracious with me. He even let

me do what so many of us do if we meet someone

famous. Got to take a selfie with them. Why?

Because we want to go show it to people we want

to prove that we had this experience that we

met this amazing Person and that's what I did.

I went home to the house I lived at with five

other guys and showed all my roommates regardless

of whether or not they cared about the band Wilco

or even knew What that band was I had to share

we can't help but share about the things or the

people that really excite us When our hearts

are truly thrilled with something We don't keep

that inside. It inevitably overflows. And that's

what we see in this psalm. The psalmist has experienced

a blessing, is longing for more of a blessing

that he is too thrilled with to keep to himself.

And so as we think through, consider this psalm

this morning, I hope that we can see that this

same overflowing blessing that the psalmist has

received We can experience it too, and it can

have the same effect in our lives and overflow

to those around us as well. And that's what our

three points are going to be. We're going to

look at what is this blessing? Why is it overflowing?

Secondly, and lastly, to what extent does it

overflow? So first, what is this blessing? What

is the psalmist so thrilled with that he has

to share? Look back. those opening words in verse

one, may God be gracious to us and bless us and

make his face to shine upon us. It's a short

verse and it's immediately followed by a say

law, which is a little unusual. This was likely

a deliberate musical pause or just silent pause

that was there for reflection. It was as if the

psalmist said, wait, stop there. There's so much

to reflect about. In this first verse, I have

to make everyone singing, praying this Psalm

stop and think about it. Why? Because he was

probably thinking about a very crucial, very

familiar passage to the Israelites and maybe

to many of you from number six, the Aaronic blessing,

where the Lord told Moses, to tell Aaron and

his sons, this is how you shall bless the people

of Israel. You'll say to them, the Lord bless

you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine

upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift

up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

The psalmist would have heard that again and

again, proclaimed over God's people. And it's

as if he, as he marinated in that promise, It

turned from these dusty formal words into this

living and active reality in his life and he's

overflowing in this song of praise here as he

meditates on it. But what is number six promising?

What is this blessing from the Lord look like?

Is the psalmist thinking, yes, I'm gonna have

this big beautiful brand new house. I'm going

to get that job that I love and also pays really

well. I'm going to have plenty of friends. I'm

going to have a beautiful neighborhood to live

in, healthy kids, a perfect marriage. Those are

blessings from God for sure, and we should thank

God if we have those in our lives. But I don't

think that's what the psalmist is really the

most thrilled with here. The blessing that number

six is really promising is the blessing of God

Himself, His personal presence in our life, the

reality of Emmanuel, God with us. The psalmist

doesn't just want God's gifts. He wants God Himself.

Because He knows that's the greatest thing you

can receive. Every speck of joy and blessing

in our lives comes straight from Him, is tied

to Him. And so the Psalm is asking us this morning

as we reflect, is this what we are seeking? Is

this what we're seeking in the middle of the

week? It's easy to say this is what we're seeking

right now, but what about in the middle of the

week? Maybe we're really, if we're honest, fixated

on other things. Some of those things I mentioned,

on the happiness and success of our children

or our grandchildren, on the next home we might

get, on the next renovation of that on the next

vacation on just having more time to Have what

I want and peace and quiet and comfort But do

those things really give us what we're seeking

Do they deliver I'll be so bold to answer for

all of us by merely looking at my own life that

I know so often I have had something on that

list just getting married, having kids, moving,

buying a house for the first time, getting the

job, buying a new guitar, and I'm always just

moving on to the next thing. It never gives me

deep soul satisfaction. And that's because the

reality is the only thing that's going to give

us that satisfaction, the most fundamental, most

lasting blessing we could receive. is God truly

being deeply present in our lives, in our hearts.

And that's what I hope you're here this morning

seeking. That's why we're here, to sit in God's

means of grace, to have communion with Him, with

His people, to experience more of His face shining

upon us so that we might go out into the week

with that more a reality of our lives. So this

is what the blessing that the psalmist is fixed

on, and in some ways we could just stop there.

That's such a profound reality in its own right.

You know, the psalmist could be like, okay, this

is what I really need. I'm gonna be a monk and

just go off and spend my days in the wilderness

or in the monastery just being with God and being

with His people. But the psalmist doesn't go

that way. He shows us that actually this blessing

has a very different effect in our lives. We're

only on verse 1 and as we go on after that mid

-sentence reflection, if you look back at verse

2, this is what we hear. That your way may be

known on earth, your saving power among all nations.

The peoples praise you, O God. Let all the peoples

praise you. Let the nations be glad. and sing

for joy. It's as if, as he meditated on that

promise, it suddenly hit him. This is too amazing

to stay to us. This must go out. It's so massive.

It cannot stay in the walls of Jerusalem. It

needs to go to the ends of the earth, to all

the nations. And maybe he was also reflecting

on another crucial passage for the people of

God from Genesis 12, if you remember, where the

Lord tells 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. that priestly

blessing that Israel was to hear again and again

and to soak in was not meant to stop with them.

It was meant to become this opening of this great

fountain that would overflow to the ends of the

earth. The people of God from the very beginning

were blessed to be a blessing. Back when I was,

before I was at Wofford, I was actually in Western

Pennsylvania starting an RUF at a school that

actually someone here went to, Indiana University

of Pennsylvania. It's named after the town it

is in, very confusing. But I was up there and

we're always thinking of new events to do with

students and we had heard about this. these falls

that were up in the mountains kind of you had

to go on a hike and there was this deep part

of it where you could actually jump off the waterfalls

into the water and so I went out to scout it

out with another student and when we got up there

there were some locals that were kind of hanging

out and they said hey okay here's here's the

way that you need to jump in the water and I

remember when I jumped into that water It was

so refreshing. I got out and it felt like I had

just taken a shower. I walked back up to the

top of the falls again and was talking to the

locals there and they were like, yeah, this is

fresh mountain water. It's constantly flowing.

It's perfectly fine to drink. Now there was another

body of water that those falls eventually flowed

into that was down the way called Yellow Creek

or crick as they call it in western, Pennsylvania

I need people would fish there there be boats

people kayaking But very few people were swimming

in it. No one would dare drink from it. It was

stagnant and gross and you'd see those large

bodies of algae everywhere floating around That

is the difference between having God's blessing

flowing through us and us just stockpiling it

up for ourselves. When we just keep it there

and stock it up, it gets stagnant, it begins

to rot, it grows the algae. That's not how God

designed his blessing to work. The blessing that

we experience in knowing Jesus through the gospel

is meant to transform us into the stream of water

that's constantly fresh. Because it's flowing

into the lives of other people around us There

was actually a study that was done a while ago

that looked at families that were really well

-to -do White -collar professionals and they

watched what happened to the kids over a 20 -year

period in these families and the surprising thing

they saw was just these escalating problems with

mental health and Even teen suicides had doubled

in that group And they concluded in that study,

complete financial security, excessive freedom

to learn and explore, provision of very wide

opportunities for entertainment, recreation,

and education. Good things. Things I think I'd

want for my kids that I'm often striving for

them. These things have been discovered to lead

to apathy, laziness, inability to commit to goals,

attitudes of entitlement, indecisiveness, moodiness,

irritability, low self -confidence, and insecurity.

What? What in the world? What is that showing

us? It's saying when we make all the blessings

that God gives us about us, about just our most

intimate circle, it doesn't work. it backfires.

The waters of blessings become a curse. And this

is the case not because God just wanted to make

the world this way, this is the case because

it is his very nature as this overflowing triune

God. I love what the Puritan Richard Sibbes says

about this reality and God, he says the father

the Son and the Holy Spirit, were happy in themselves,

by themselves, and enjoyed one another before

the world was created, but that God delights

to communicate and spread his goodness, there

would have never been a creation or a redemption.

The blessings that we have just been singing

and praising God for, His beauty in creation,

His beauty in redeeming us in Christ, they're

not there because God had to love us, He had

to create us. They're merely because He is an

overflowing God, that it's not in His nature

to keep His blessedness to Himself. He's not

this stagnant pond. He's this infinitely pure

flowing stream going outward. And so when we

think of our call as a missionary church, a missionary

people, we're really imitating the God who created

us and redeemed us. We're designed to do this.

That's what I was hitting at the beginning. When

we delight in something, We want to share it

with other people. That's really what evangelism,

what missionary work is all about. We're all

already evangelists and missionaries. It just

happens to be for whatever you're really worshiping

at the moment, what you're really thrilled with.

Maybe it is what's going on with your family,

some amazing thing your kid or grandkids did.

You've got to post it on Facebook. You got to

tell people about it. Maybe it is the vacation.

or even something as silly as just a football

game or a play that you saw. We have no problem

sharing about the things that we love. But why

then can it feel strange or not natural to share

about Jesus with others? Why do we often as Christians

feel faked and forced when we think about evangelism

and trying to do that. Maybe we do need to think

about how we do that, how we communicate, think

about things from a practical, technical perspective,

but I think, again and again, the most, the biggest

problem when the church becomes not a missionary

church, when we move away from an evangelistic

posture, it's because we've stopped delighting

in God and resting in his presence. How could

we sell a product, to say it crassly, that we're

not buying, that we don't want, that we're not

delighting in? And so I know when I have found

myself slipping into passivity, it is so often

rooted in this. And what I need to do is to go

back into prayer, into God's word, into relationship

with God's people, and ask God to renew my heart."

That's what Jesus does. In Matthew 9, when he

sees that there's such a need for workers to

go in the harvest, he doesn't just say, you guys

get out there, do that, work harder. What are

you doing? No, he says pray. Pray that God would

send workers out into the harvest. So the blessing

of God, when we truly experience it, it should

flow out. to those around us. But what does it

look like when it flows out and how far does

it flow out? And that's what the psalmist gives

us, the tail end of the psalm, a little glimpse

of what this blessing looks like. That it is

actually a very earthy blessing. God gets his

hands dirty in blessing us. You see that in verses

six through seven. The earth has yielded its

increase. God our God shall bless us. God shall

bless us. Let the ends of the earth fear him.

I have to backtrack and actually qualify my very

first earlier point that while the psalmist is

not just seeking God's gifts, but God himself,

God's blessing is connected to the real world,

to material blessing. Maybe that's why it's so

easy to mistake God's gifts for himself. The

imagery here is harvest imagery. That language

of the earth has yielded its increase. You could

translate it, the earth has produced its harvest.

And what the psalmist is showing us is that God

does not show up in this abstract way in our

life. When He shows up, He's not at the door

empty -handed. He's there with a giant bouquet

of flowers and a lavish meal that He's brought

for us to come and enjoy. The God, His presence

in our lives and the world makes the world fruitful.

It brings a harvest. And we see this in the just

earlier Psalm, Psalm 65. This vivid picture of

God's overflowing presence in the world, where

the psalmist sings, God, you visit the earth

and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river

of God is full of water. You provide their grain,

for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows

abundantly. settling its ridges, softening it

with showers, and blessing its growth. The pastures

of the wilderness overflow. The hills gird themselves

with joy. The meadows clothe themselves with

flocks. The valleys deck themselves with grain.

They shout and sing together for joy. And the

significance of this for us is that as we seek

to Be these channels, be God's overflowing presence

in this world out towards others. It's not only

about merely evangelism and what we say to people,

but it's about what we do. It's about how we

use the gifts and talents God has given us. It's

about how we cultivate this earth and serve others

with it. That this adorns this message of the

gospel, our good works. Again with the harvest,

God is not out there picking the grain. Ordinary

people like all of us in this room are doing

that. And so don't undermine the really simple

things, all the simple things that went in this

morning to make this service happen. All the

people that are serving and ways that go unnoticed,

God notices it. And that's you being a part of

this overflowing blessing to others through the

practical things that you do. One of my favorite

aspects of campus ministry so far is hospitality.

That is the heartbeat of our ministry that RUF

does not show up to campus empty -handed. We

show up at the beginning of the semester with

Wofford last year with a huge ice cream social

and a barbecue. With our student leaders, we

have them over every week and we make desserts.

I'm pretty into cooking and always trying to

come up with new desserts. In fact, when I had

to tell them about this news that we're moving

on and taking this new call in Belgium, I looked

up very carefully and tried to make an authentic

Belgian waffle recipe and had a Belgian waffle

bar for them. And one of my, the events that

I look forward to every single year is during

Wofford's interim term in January where a lot

of students are studying abroad and then some

are here in town taking kind of... I call them

kind of joke classes. There's like a class on

coffee or a class on like scuba diving or something,

all kinds of crazy things. They have a lot of

more free time. And so what we do that month

is we have students over every Monday night for

dinner and have 30, 40 students in our house.

And it's this beautiful moment, especially those

on the fringes, those that would never come to

church, would never come to large group. They'll

come over for a free meal. And as we think about

that, how we're going to do that, we could just

be like, OK, how do we do this as quickly and

cheaply as possible? But Kim and I don't do that.

We want this to be a really great meal. That's

a factor. But we want to put some effort and

energy and thought into it. And sure, maybe it

is nice to get some compliments on our cooking

some. But on a deeper level we do this because

that is how our God shows up. He's a lavish,

He's abundant. And that's what we see in the

ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ too. When God

wanted to communicate the blessing of His presence

in the most profound way to send Emmanuel God

with us. He sends his son not only to preach

and to repent, though as central as that was

to his ministry, but to heal the sick, to feed

thousands. What was Jesus' first miracle? It

was turning gallons and gallons of water into

not just okay boxed wine, but fine, expensive

wine. It was better than all the wine they had

had before to keep this wedding party going.

That was the opening miracle of Jesus's ministry.

Jesus is the answer to what this psalmist is

looking for, longing for. He brings God's presence

with this fruitful harvest. It's interesting

in Isaiah's prophecy about the Messiah in Chapter

61, where we hear the voice of Christ, we also

hear harvest imagery. We hear these familiar

words, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because

the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to

the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening

of the prison to those who are bound. As the

earth brings forth its sprouts, And as the garden

causes what is in sown in it to sprout up, so

the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise

to sprout up before all the nations. And that's

what we see happening in the gospel in Jesus.

That God the Father is pouring out the blessing

of his presence through his spirit on Jesus and

all its fullness. and through him that blessing

is overflowing from God's people to the ends

of the earth. He will cause the earth to yield

its increase but not as just this temporary harvest

but this eternal lasting one through his resurrection

from the dead. Righteousness and praise sprouting

out before all nations in Jesus. That's what

we see at the end of the biblical story in Revelation.

Yet in order for that to happen, the Father had

to turn His face away from His Son. On the cross,

what do we see happening? Jesus is not receiving

the covenantal blessing of God's presence. He's

receiving the answer to this prayer, to this

psalm that we deserve because of our sin. No,

I will not bless you. You are not worthy of my

presence. I will not make my face to shine upon

you. You've rebelled against me. Jesus received

that answer. He was rejected so that we could

actually pray the psalm confidently and just

know, say with the psalmist, God will bless us.

Overflowing curse was poured out on Christ on

the cross so that overflowing blessing might

be poured out. on us when we have faith in him.

And through him, through his death and resurrection,

this promise that Jesus himself gave in John

7 is true. If anyone thirsts, let him come to

me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the

scripture has said, out of his heart will flow

rivers of living water. Psalm 67, that is the

message of it. That is what it is trying to get

us to, that through Jesus we can become these

streams of living water and bless others as we

are blessed ourselves. Let me close as, join

me in prayer.