Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!
– Psalm 34:3
This is one of, well, the most central verses in the entire Bible for my life and specifically my marriage. This is the theme verse that Heather and I chose 25-plus years ago for our marriage. And it was read at our wedding and it has been the constant prayer year after year after year in our marriage. “Magnify the Lord with me and let’s exalt his name together.” And it’s the way we picture our marriage, that God brought us together for this purpose, to magnify the Lord, and exalt his name together.
And the beauty of this verse is that it’s not just a marriage verse. This is a verse that describes the heart of all Christian communities, any Christian relationship, any friendship in the body of Christ, in the family of God, with a brother or sister in Christ, this is the purpose of our relationship with one another.
“Magnify the Lord with me. Let’s exalt his name together.” If I could just look each follower of Jesus who’s listening to this right now in the eye, this is something I would want to say. If I were to meet you, I would want to know more about the grace of God in your life and would want to say to you, “Magnify the Lord with me. Let’s exalt his name together as a family in Christ, as brother or sister.”
Psalm 34:3 pictures the beauty of a gospel-centered community.
So I just want to encourage you today to think about your relationship with any follower of Jesus you know in this way. Look at every follower of Jesus you know today and approach them with this posture. Let’s exalt his name together, with the way we care for each other, the way we pray for each other, the way we love each other, the way we serve each other, and the way we work together to exalt the name of God in the world. This is what we’re here for. Let’s magnify the Lord together.
And to see our churches this way, we are joined together in the body of Christ in local churches for this purpose. Magnify the Lord with me. Let’s exalt his name together in the city where we live. And to see ourselves united in this way with other churches. We don’t compete with other churches, we love other churches. And we exalt the name of Jesus together with so many other churches. We rejoice in the success and flourishing and thriving and growing of other churches and other followers of Jesus. We want to magnify the Lord together with every person who calls on the name of Jesus so that others will see the glory of the name of Jesus. So let’s pray this over our relationships.
Psalm 34:3 challenges us to reflect Christ in how we treat each other.
God, we pray for the closest relationships we have with friends, family, with spouses. God, we pray that our marriages, our families, our closest friendships with followers of Jesus would be marked by Psalm 34:3, and that we would magnify you together, and exalt your name with each other. And God, we pray this over our relationships with any follower of yours in the local church we’re a part of, in the broader body of Christ.
God, we pray that we would magnify you with the way we love each other, care for each other, the way we pray for each other, the way we speak about each other, the way we edify each other, the way we bear with each other, the way we forgive each other. Oh God, I think about all the 59 one-another commands in the New Testament. Help us to do them all so that your name might be exalted in us together. And God so that, just as you prayed for us, Lord Jesus in John 17 so that the world might know that the Father sent you to be the Savior of the world.
Prayer for the Kharral Jat People
God, we pray… Help us to exalt your name together in our cities and our countries… Among all the nations, among all the peoples. Lord, we pray today for the Kharral Jat people of Pakistan, for 1.2 million of them. God, we pray that the gospel… The good news of your grace and your glory… Would reach them through your people working together to magnify your name, to exalt your name among the nations.
God, help us work together well to spread your glory among all the nations… Including the Kharral Jat people. Please, oh God, bring them into the family. Bring brothers and sisters in Christ among the Kharral Jat people into the fellowship of those who know you and exalt your name together forever. We pray all of this according to your Word in Psalm 34:3. In Jesus’ name, in the name of the one we live to exalt together. Amen.