Christ for the World We Sing
(Samuel Wolcott, 1869)

Christ for the world we sing,
The world to Christ we bring, with loving zeal,
The poor and them that mourn, the faint and overborne,
Sin sick and sorrow worn, whom Christ doth heal.

Christ for the world we sing,
The world to Christ we bring, with fervent prayer;
The wayward and the lost, by restless passions tossed,
Redeemed at countless cost, from dark despair.

Christ for the world we sing,
The world to Christ we bring, with one accord;
With us the work to share, with us reproach to dare,
With us the cross to bear, for Christ our Lord.

Christ for the world we sing,
The world to Christ we bring, with joyful song;
The newborn souls, whose days, reclaimed from error’s ways,
Inspired with hope and praise, to Christ belong.

Psalm 57:7  My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise. 8  Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early. 9  I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations. 10  For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds. 11  Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth. (KJV)

Fix our hearts, O God, on You and on Your Kingdom, so we might sing and give praise unto You with joyful song among the nations. We confess our hearts are often fixed on so many other things apart from You and Your Kingdom and Your purposes. And we confess that we may be choosing the good things, but they may not be the best things. Help us to lay aside each and every weight and the sin that so easily entangles us. Forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Renew us and turn our affections once again to You so we might praise You as we ought and offer ourselves to You with a whole heart to walk in the works You have ordained for us.

Fill our hearts with a loving zeal for Your Gospel and the glory and honor of Your name. Having been called out of darkness into Your marvelous light and having been given the ministry of reconciliation, may we walk worthy of the calling You have given us: to be ambassadors for Christ and to shine as lights in this dark world. Fill us with a loving zeal for the world so we might be fervent in prayer for the world and be bold in our proclamation of Your Gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ to a world filled with lost souls, for in the Gospel alone is Your righteousness revealed: the just shall live by faith and that there is salvation found in no other name but the name of Jesus.

Fill our hearts with a loving zeal for You and for our brothers and sisters in Christ. May our love for You knit us together with Your children who are born again by Your Spirit and filled with Your Spirit, all who are seeking Your will be done here on earth and Your glory to be manifested here on the earth in the revival of Your Church and the ingathering of lost souls to Your Kingdom by the lifting up of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. May Christ's love constrain and propel Your Church to stand fast in one spirit and strive together for the faith of the Gospel.

Lord Jesus, You are our Good Shepherd. We are Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, and we confess we are all prone to wander. Forgive us and have mercy upon us, for we know we too easily sway and gad about and how quickly our hearts become unfixed. Send Your Holy Spirit to purify us with Your holy fire, to awaken us out of our slumber and lethargy and lukewarmness so we might be zealous and repent. Make us single-eyed for You and Your Kingdom, so we might be diligent and make the most of the time, to work while it is day because the days are evil, that we might praise You among the peoples and sing unto You among the nations. How will the world know of Your great mercies and truth in Jesus Christ apart from our singing the new song You have put into our hearts?

Mark 11:15  And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16  And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17  And he was teaching them and saying to them, “IS IT NOT WRITTEN, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

Most of us are familiar with this account of Jesus' grief over and rebuke of the state of temple worship. It's also repeated in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, but I really like the phrasing here:

Do you see where Israel had gone wrong?

They had not taken heed to what was written.

Is this not the Godhead's very same loving plea to His Church, His people, today:

This has been our God's merciful and gracious call to His people at all times, including those times when the Church has been in decline and is in sore need of reformation. Is it not His call to His people today as in so many places we have lost our way for we have discounted, marginalized and minimized the word of God, we have not guarded the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ, we have not been vigilant and we have allowed error and heresies and evil men and impostors to creep in and grow and deceive and overthrow the faith of some. We have neglected to take heed to what has been written – God's very own words breathed out to us through His Holy Spirit. His words have been preserved for us for our daily sustenance as we live the Christian life in a fallen world and as we are sent out on mission to take the Gospel of repentance and remission of sins to lost souls in all the nations to the end of the earth.

Church of God, may our God have mercy on us and open our ears to ear what the Spirit is saying to us:

As we have played God and usurped God's rightful place in our attempts to try to grow and restore and renew the Church by relying on our own abilities and resources, as we have gone in seek of help to any and all places but to God Himself and His word, may our God be kind to us and lead us to repentance and turn us away from ourselves and our ways and turn us once again to Him and His word.

We have relied on the schemes and wisdom and power and strength of men. We have often gone so far astray from the Biblical mandates, from the basic and effectual and vital means God has given us for restoration and revival in the Church, which we find very early on, as the apostles proclaimed:

So many have looked at the Church and have seen a great lack, but they've not gone to seek the face of God in the word of God and His means to revive and renew the Church.

Of course, this is nothing new, we've seen this happen in Biblical history and in Church history since that time.

Isn't this where we go all wrong in our desire for reformation and revival in the Church? Instead of looking to our God, instead of looking back to what God has already revealed to us in His infallible and unchanging and living word, we look around anywhere and everywhere else.

Prayer and ministry of the word place us wholly dependent on the sovereign God and His mercies. Our flesh balks at being wholly dependent, but that is and has always been God's intent for His people, so He alone would get all the praise, honor and glory. We cannot control how and when and where He might choose to pour His Spirit and revive us. But as we use the means He provides – prayer and ministry of the word – and as we work in the power He provides, we can trust God will bring the increase in His time.

If you have a burden for Biblical revival in the Church or have further questions, please comment below, message me and/or see my posts here:

Also these posts on my other blog, naphtali_deer:

Yours in Christ for the reviving of God's Church to His praise, honor and glory,
Karen

Church of God, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, and adopted by the Father, saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ – Has the LORD ever ceased being our God? Have we ever ceased from being His people?

Today, in the days of our decline, as we see so much of the Church a reproach to the name of our God, where we are nothing close to holiness to the Lord in either our doctrine or practice, when we are sorely tempted to lose hope and despair, yet here we are reminded to look back at LORD's continuing love, mercy and grace toward His people.

My brothers and sisters, in our wilderness state today, let us fix our eyes on Jesus and remember the LORD's love, faithfulness, promises and covenant mercies to us in Jesus Christ. God's promises and His covenant are everlasting because His love for us is everlasting. He is our God and we are His people. He will never leave us or forsake us. Even in our languishing state here in the wilderness, even though we have grieved Him, even though much of the Church has so fallen short of His glory, where we can rightly be called Ichabod, where we are in ruins, where we are in desperate need of revival and where we are seeking rest like Israel, even today we can rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Why? For we can be sure that just as the LORD did in the days of Moses, and as He did in the days of decline throughout Church history, because He is our God and we are His people, He will once again appear to us from far away and we too will find grace in the wilderness because He continues to love us with an everlasting love. In wrath, He will remember mercy and He will rend the heavens and cause His face to shine on us and we shall be revived!

O, children of God, even though He seems so far away today, even though the heavens are like brass, even though the rain is turned to powder and dust, we can be sure of our Bridegroom's everlasting love for His bride! And so, one day we can trust that just as the wind blows, from far away, His Spirit will sound like a rushing mighty wind and breathe on us again to revive us and baptize us with fire. And the lukewarm church will be set ablaze for the glory of God! And one day we will rejoice and sing, "Behold He comes!" He will appear to us from far away because He is our God and we are His people and He has loved us with an everlasting love and like Israel, and we will find grace in the wilderness.

Is there a time when the LORD's faithfulness has ceased toward His people? Does His love for us have an ending or beginning? Has He not loved us with an everlasting love? Will our Father's love and faithfulness not continue toward us for the sake of His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ?

O, thanks be to God, that the LORD is faithful when we are not. Great is His faithfulness! Morning by morning, new mercies we see. O, we know how our love for Him is so often is like the morning cloud, but His love for us is everlasting.

And so let us look to the everlasting love and everlasting covenant promises of our ever faithful and never failing God!

Even today as we are broken down, in ruins and a reproach . . .  may the Spirit give us ears to hear Him:

Rejoice with me, O Church, that He is our God and we are His people!
Rejoice with me, O Church, in His everlasting love and His continuing faithfulness to us!
O, LORD, may we find grace in Your eyes for we are Your people!
O, LORD, appear to us from far away!
O, LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel!

Even today as we are unadorned and in lament . . . may the Spirit give us ears to hear Him:

Rejoice with me, O Church, that He is our God and we are His people!
Rejoice with me, O Church, in His everlasting love and His continuing faithfulness to us!
O, LORD, may we find grace in Your eyes for we are Your people!
O, LORD, appear to us from far away!
O, LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel!

Even today as we are barren and hungry  . . .  may the Spirit give us ears to hear Him:

Rejoice with me, O Church, that He is our God and we are His people!
Rejoice with me, O Church, in His everlasting love and His continuing faithfulness to us!
O, LORD, may we find grace in Your eyes for we are Your people!
O, LORD, appear to us from far away!
O, LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel!

Even today as the watchmen are few and Zion is despised . . . may the Spirit give us ears to hear Him:

Rejoice with me, O Church, that He is our God and we are His people!
Rejoice with me, O Church, in His everlasting love and His continuing faithfulness to us!
O, LORD, may we find grace in Your eyes for we are Your people!
O, LORD, appear to us from far away!
O, LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel!

Even today as our faith has not yet become sight . . . may the Spirit give us ears to hear Him and voices to shout, proclaim, praise and petition Him:

Rejoice with me, O Church, that He is our God and we are His people!
Rejoice with me, O Church, in His everlasting love and His continuing faithfulness to us!
O, LORD, may we find grace in Your eyes for we are Your people!
O, LORD, appear to us from far away!
O, LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel!