Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper

John Piper wrote an article called "Let the Nations Be Glad" and we read it in missions class on Friday the 29th. I really loved this article because it really put the calling of God into perspective for me. In missions class we have been harping on missions and the missionary calling of God to all people, but this article reminded me that the church's, and consequently our, main purpose and goal in life is to worship and praise Him all the time. Missions should be a response to our constant worship and praise to Him. it should be the product of our excitement and on fire attitudes toward God. Piper boldly states that "Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is." Piper goes on to say that we only have missions because we have praise and worship to God. the Bible, especially psalms, commands and encourages us to worship God. We should worship Him when we are happy with Him and when we are angry with Him, because He works all things out for the good of those who love Him. Piper even goes to the extreme when he calls for a diminishing of missions and a "magnifying of God." I thought this was interesting because it seemed like he was saying there is too much missions and not enough God worshiping. this could be true, I personally don't know. It seems to Piper, and to me, that people do things because they see it in the bible, like going to church and praying occasionally. The dame thing happens with missions. People see/hear that God want people to spread the good new of His Son, and so they do it without their heart really being in it. They do it without praying about it and without being led by the Holy Spirit. This kind of missions needs to stop. We need to go back to the heart of worship, as the famous song says, and refocus our thoughts on Him so that when we tell others about God we know it is Him telling us to do that and not us doing it on our own accord. This way our hearts are truly in t and we are not just doing it because we want to be good cookie cutter Christians.