The Heart of a Worshiper

Arguably, one of the most important three sentences written over the past 100 years came in the opening line of a book published in 1993 by John Piper called, Let the Nations Be Glad.

“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is.Missions exists because worship doesn’t.”

Piper will go on to make the case that all humans are worshipers but our worship is misdirected. The church’s mission is motivated first by a desire for all people to know the glory of their Creator because He alone is worthy of our awe and affections. All of the benefits of true joy and gladness flow from our worship being redirected toward the one and only God. “Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal in missions”, Piper says. King David puts it this way in Psalm 67:3-4a:

“May the peoples praise you, God;may all the peoples praise you.May the nations be glad and sing for joy…”

God can have his cake and eat it too. He is 100% interested in His glory and fame while at the same time 100% interested in our fullness and joy. This is precisely the case that the Apostle Paul makes in Romans 15. The nations were not glad because we were separated from our only source of gladness. Yet, Jesus “came so that the Gentiles might give glory to God for his mercies to them.” How will the Gentiles know hope, joy, and peace? Paul says the source of these things is God. Romans 15:12-13a:

And in another place Isaiah said,“The heir to David’s throne will come,and he will rule over the Gentiles.They will place their hope on him."

I pray that God, the source of hope,will fill you completely with joy and peacebecause you trust in him.

Directing our hearts toward our Creator is the only true and lasting source of gladness.

We saw this same order in 2 Samuel. David didn’t really dance until he kneeled. His worship at first was a lot like mine. It looked like worship on the outside but David did not have the order right. He was worshipping without awe. God’s glory is heavy. It wasn’t until David kneeled under the reality of God’s unique glory that he found true bounce in his step.

I don’t know about you, but I mostly want the joy without the awe, the peace without the glory, but that is not the order we see again and again in Scripture. The ark of the covenant represented the glory and provision of God and is a sign of the salvation to come through Jesus. In 2 Samuel 6:19 the people are blessed with a banquet from the Lord of hosts through the sacrifice of burnt offering. In John 6, Jesus, the Lamb of God, said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

This is an important reminder for me this week. What am I putting my affection in that will never satisfy? Money? Approval? Satisfaction itself? Food? Theology?

Paul concludes in Romans 15:13b:

_ “Then you will overflow with confident hope_ through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Those who overflow with confident hope are those who place their awe in God. I want this, for the sake of God’s glory, and for the joy of the nations.