Worship and the Glory of God

But what really made the light start to come on in my own heart and mind happened just a few years ago. A turning point in my understanding of worship came when the missions pastor of our church showed me the introductory sentences of a book on missions, entitled Let the Nations Be Glad, by Dr. John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. This was simply not your usual introduction to a book on missions, because it emphasized the secondary importance of missions, that it was the second most important activity of the church. Not how one would normally seek to convince one's readers of the importance of the subject at hand: talking about how it is of secondary importance!

This is what Piper wrote, three little sentences which revolutionized my thinking about worship:

"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't." [Let the Nations Be Glad, henceforth referred to as LNBG, © 1993 Baker Book House, p.11]

That is a profound statement! And one which, as I reflected on it, began to change forever the way I think about worship. Far from putting down missions, Piper is holding forth the supreme importance of worship-- now and for eternity. This is how he goes on to develop this idea:

"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." [LNBG, p.11]

Worship, Piper says, is the ultimate goal of the church; in fact he says that:

"All of history is moving toward one great goal, the white-hot worship of God and His Son among
all the peoples of the earth." (LNBG p.15)

Piper is not alone in this assessment of the importance of worship. Many others have come to
similar conclusions on the basis of their examination of Scripture. For example, Dr. John
MacArthur has written a book on worship, and in his foreword he relates how he was far into his
ministry before God taught him to appreciate the centrality of worship. His book is titled,
significantly, The Ultimate Priority.

II. THE CHIEF END OF GOD

Now the thing to do at this point would probably be to give you about an hour to meditate on these
thoughts-- they really deserve and need to be mulled over. But I hope you will choose to do that at
a later time. For now, we want to try to understand the enormous significance which these men,
and many others, attribute to worship. To do that, we need to step back even more and try to take
in what the Scriptures say about the primary goal, not of the church, but of God Himself.

Piper, drawing on the insights of Jonathan Edwards, develops and demonstrates from Scripture that
God's overriding purpose and priority is the display and furtherance of His own glory.

Now "the glory of God" is one of those theological catchphrases that which the mind of man can
consider. God's glory speaks of His utter and absolute holiness, His magnificent splendor, the
perfections of His character. "God is light; and in Him there is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5)
"His name alone is exalted; His glory is above earth and heaven." (Ps. 148:13) "Holy, Holy,
Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory." (Is. 6:3)

His glory is absolute and unique; therefore He declares in Isaiah 42:8: "I am the Lord, that is My
name; I will not give My glory to another."

God pursues His own glory tirelessly throughout biblical history:

(Isaiah 43:6-7) "Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth, Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have
formed, even whom I have made." (He created us for His glory.)

(Isaiah 49:3) "You are My Servant, Israel, In Whom I will show My glory." (He established Israel for His own glory.)

(John 1:14) And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as
of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

(2 Cor. 4:6) the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.(the glory of
God seen in Christ)

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