God's Heart impacts our Praise
By God’s grace, the church I pastor is a multi-ethnic church filled with close to four dozen different nations. It is one of the greatest joys and privileges of my ministry to worship with Christians of so many different cultures every week. Recently, I asked some of my friends to describe worship in their home nation. Here are some of the testimonies of the nations worshipping Christ:
“In the Christian Church in England worship is diverse and varies by region & denomination, reflecting the diverse ethnicities.”
“In the Christian Church in India, worship is filled with praising God for calling us out of darkness into his light; praising God for reaching the anonymous people and adopting them to be his own people.”
“In the Christian Church in Ghana, worship usually brings longer hours, excitement and anticipation. It is emotional, lively & family oriented. Worship also includes vigorous spiritual warfare, as most Christians believe that Satan is very active with his demons and the church should, therefore, respond with prayer and fasting to stand against Satan and his deeds.”
“In the Christian Church in the Philippines, worship is dynamic, and as varied as the people who lead them. Some sing from a hymnbook while others dance. There are scores of provinces and more than one hundred different languages, so, it is only the Lord Jesus Christ who is the common denominator. The Filipinos are just too diverse to worship the same way.”
The beauty of these testimonies is that the nations are indeed worshipping. They may not praise in the same way or in the same language, but they are exalting the name of Christ. In Psalm 117, the shortest chapter of the Bible, we see a call for all the nations to worship.
Psalm 117 declares, “Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!”
The call to worship is for all nations; all peoples: This invites the Mali of India, Ilocano of the Philippines, Madura of Indonesia, Fulani of Nigeria, Calabrian of Italy, Mossi of Burkina Faso, Saxon of Germany, Arab of Yemen, and Quechua of Peru to extol the Lord. Why? Why should all peoples praise God? The Psalmist answers, because, “Great is his steadfast love toward us and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.”
The nations are on God’s heart, so his praise must be on our lips.
Encourage your family to memorize Psalm 117 together during your next night of family worship. Respond to the invitation to join the nations in praising the Lord, and then delight in the love of God that is steadfast toward all peoples.
We are quick to talk about our love of the nations. But first, let us fall in love with the Savior of the nations so that our love for them will reflect his love toward them.
Jonathan Williams is the founder of Gospel Family Ministries and the Senior Pastor of Wilcrest Baptist Church, a multi-ethnic church of 44 nations located in Houston, TX.
