“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church.Worship is. Missions exist because worships doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.” (Piper, pg. 17)
I have started reading “Let the Nations Be Glad” by John Piper. I’m only halfway through the first chapter and already I am convicted and “empowered” by what he has written. Piper explains that without a zealous, captivated love for God, missions would not exist. We were made to love and worship God. Missions is a display of that love and is driven by a desire for others to fall in love with God in a similar fashion. “You can’t commend what you don’t cherish.”(Piper, pg. 17) “Where passion for God is weak, Seal for missions will be weak.”(Piper, pg. 18) Why can’t I remember that I have a relationship and not a religion! It is natural for me to “change the image of incorruptible God” into a slight imitation of it found in corruptible nature. (Romans 1:18, King James Version) (Piper, pg. 28)
What I found the most startling, so far, was the revelation that God is most concerned with giving Himself glory. Does that not sound incredibly selfish and egotistical? And yet, I am human and have not come into full contact with the glory of God so I cannot understand the unavoidable necessity to give glory to God. “The deepest reason why our passion for God should fuel missions is that God’s passion for God fuels missions.”(Piper, pg. 21) So, God is the only One that really matters… why am I surprised?
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