Anyway you see it, this is a great perspective about how we should see missions. And remember I didn’t write it, so don’t get mad at me, although, I guess, it is totally legit to be mad at me for agreeing with it. So agree, or disagree, it will not make it any less true.

If you are interested in getting this book, visit DesiringGod.org or click on the link below to be taken to the page for that book. You might also want to check out their resource library which does have a lot of books available to read through a PDF for free, can’t beat that.

Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because 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 gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God. “The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!” (

Psalm 97:1

97:1 The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;
let the many coastlands be glad! (ESV)

). “Let the peoples praise thee, O God; let all the peoples praise thee! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy!” (

Psalm 67:3-4

3 Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!

4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. Selah (ESV)

).

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” (

Psalm 104:34

34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.

Psalm 104:34

2 I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. (ESV)

). Missions begins and ends in worship.”

–John Piper
Let the Nations Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions, 2nd Ed.

Hmmm. That last paragraph seems to say what I have been saying all along, although much more eloquently, that people who enjoy Jesus will bring Jesus, the true need, to the nations, while people who do not enjoy Him as ultimate can not be effective in bringing Him to them because their pleasure is not in Him, but rather in other things they worship as ultimate. So, in order to effectively reach the lost we must treasure Christ as ultimate in our lives, or we risk bringing our prosperity to them as blessing instead of giving them what they really need: Jesus.