Worship is the Fuel of Missions

Good morning! Last night I was thinking of this new blog adventure. Ben and I are excited to have joined the blog world, for those who read and for the discipline of journaling. It will be exciting to read this blog to remember what we have thought and felt in these last weeks of preparation!

I wanted to share with you an article by John Piper that I read years ago. When we are worshipping God, our natural response will be missions. We know God, we give Him praise- we have to tell others!!! Piper said:

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists becuase worship 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.

Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of missions. It's the goal of missions because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the white hot enjoyment of God's glory. The goal of missions is the gladdness of the peoples in the greatness of God. But worship is also the fuel of missions. Passion for God in worship precedes the offer of God in preaching. You can't commend what you don't cherish. Missionaries will never call out, "Let the Nations be glad!" who cannot say from the heart, "I rejoice in the Lord...I will be glad and exult in Thee, I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High." (Ps. 104:34) Missions begins and ends in worship.

When the flame of worship burns with the of God's true worth, the light of missions will shine to the darkest people on earth. Where passion for God is weak, zeal for missions will be weak.

It is our desire to worship God. In worship, we cannot help but telling others about Him. Pray for us as we do missions, not for missions as the end, but to see God glorified as the end. We challenge you to worship God though missions however you can. From grocery store clerks to your family, they all need Jesus. This is a challenge for us as well, for sometimes it is easier to go across the world to do missions... and we forget to share right in our own neighborhood. He alone is worthy, let us proclaim it to the nations! First to our own people and then to those around the world!

Blessings,

Jaclyn