Jesus’ earthly ministry maintained a single purpose and a dominant strategy. His purpose was to glorify the Father by establishing and expanding His kingdom. His method was to make disciples by investing in men who would join this kingdom and live radically committed to continuing its expansion. Following this example, Christian ministry operates along complementary, intertwined themes: worship and discipleship.

Worship is a popular word in modern Christendom. During what might be called a worship revolution it seems an artist’s odds of selling a million copies of a Christian album increase greatly with the inclusion of this word in the title. At the risk of seeming trendy, worship accurately summarizes Jesus’ purpose. His ministry was devoted to directing men and women to value God above all things making Him the sole Object of their affections. Jesus’ earthly ministry, first and foremost, revealed God so that He might be exalted among men.

The heart of the Prologue in John’s Gospel presents a deeply theological statement about Christ and his ministry. First, Jesus is God. Second, Jesus became a man. Third, Jesus revealed God’s glory. Or more directly, Jesus “has explained” God to us (John 1:18 NASB). His life, and by extension His ministry, was a revelation of God to man so that we might exalt or worship or value God supremely for who He is and what He has done.

Furthermore, Jesus’ prayer on the eve of his crucifixion makes this truth abundantly clear.

¹When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³ And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

John 17:1-5 (ESV)

The path through Jesus’ opening of this prayer informs our understanding well. First, Jesus’ desire for God’s glory is evident (see verses 1 and 4 respectively, “glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you” and “I glorified you on earth”). Second, Jesus made God known in the world by giving eternal life. He gave “eternal life” to people and this life was a relationship with the Father through the Son (see verse 3). Third, this two-part task of revealing God and reconciling people to Him was the “work” of Jesus. Verse 4 is the summation of his thought as therein Jesus combines his purpose (to glorify God) with his work (to give eternal life to men).

Jesus’ ministry, therefore, revealed God and called people to know and value Him (and his ways, his love, his kingdom) above everything else in life. All genuine Christian ministry will follow this pattern by leading people to know and value God above everything. Ministry that elevates people is not Christian ministry. Ministry that caters to earthly desires is not Christian ministry. Ministry that is distracted by temporal concerns is not Christian ministry. Christian ministry, first and foremost, exalts God.

Moreover, Christian ministry must be judged by the degree to which it exalts God. Does it make known the truth about Him? Does it encourage people to amazement at His greatness? Does it explain His character? Does it foster worship of God? Does it call people to value God above their lives, their families, their jobs, their possessions, and their hobbies?

In case you have never heard them before, today I share some interesting thoughts about missions and its place in the order of life and ministry.

“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.”

From John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad, 2003, p. 17.

When worship is rightly understood, Piper argues, it becomes the fuel and goal of missions. Therefore, missions is secondary and worship is primary. So we might ask…

• What is the ultimate goal of our missions endeavors? Man’s salvation or God’s glory?
• What provides the fuel for our missions endeavors? Man’s salvation or God’s glory?

On July 9, I presented part one of this series in which I wrote…

“The Bible and church history bear witness to the fact that particular people in particular places have experienced extraordinary movements of God.”

and

“Because I long to see this type of abnormal movement, I want to draw attention to one such season from the Old Testament and invite you to join me in pleading with God to bless us in this way.”

I return to this subject today to highlight a final characteristic present during the season of extraordinary revival recorded in Nehemiah 8-10.

God’s movement included an invitation to worship God by recounting His faithfulness in the past.

Again, you might recall that the Israelites gathered to hear God’s Word read and they responded by confessing their sin. A group of men stood and led the people to worship God.

They called the people to worship Him by recounting His faithfulness to the Israelite nation throughout previous generations. In fact, Nehemiah 9:5-37 records their act of remembering God’s work from creation to their present day.

One reason so many individuals and churches fail to see God’s power manifested in His extraordinary movement stems from our terrible memory. Many people are too ignorant biblically to know what God did in the past. Others are so preoccupied with what God can do for them today to care about what He did in the past. Still others are too busy to remember God’s faithfulness in even their own lives last week.

Our short memories hinder our worship God. And our dispassionate worship hinders our ability to experience the extraordinary work of God. We will value God supremely (or worship Him) when we consider more fully the breadth and depth of His work in our lives and throughout history.

Until we understand and embrace God’s extraordinary work in the past to the degree that it elicits worship, we are not likely to see His extraordinary work in the present.

God, we ask you to lead us to worship you by reminding us of your faithfulness in the past. We pray that you would draw us to read your Word and to glean a greater understanding of your faithfulness. We ask you to give us the discipline to record even the smallest incidents of your faithfulness in our lives so that we can praise you for each of them in the future.

Many Christians seem overwhelmingly distracted by a great longing to “moralize” our neighbors. It will simply never be done, at least not while it is our aim. Morality makes a lousy target.

Yet we pursue a revival of morality in America. Stop abortion. Defend the definition of marriage. Provide balanced science curriculum in schools. Eradicate pornography. Stop injustice. End war. Care for the environment. Don’t misunderstand, this morality has a place in the believer’s life. It is a terrific result. It just makes a terrible goal.

Society at large will never live-up to the biblical standard of morality because we have a bigger problem.

“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

Romans 1:21-23 (ESV)

Society’s biggest ill is not the loss of a moral center; our biggest problem is idolatry. We exchange the truth about God for a lie. We ignore what we know to be true about Him. We exalt the mortal things (namely ourselves and our desires) above God. We worship the earthly, perishable, mortal things instead of the immortal God.

The problem is idolatry and the result of our problem is immorality.

“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity…”

Romans 1:24a (ESV)

Therefore – as a result – our morality fades because our idolatry grows. Immorality is the result, the symptom. Morality is no more a cure for society’s ills than cough medicine is a cure for pneumonia. It may hide a symptom, but the illness is much deeper, much more serious.

We must not ignore morality. I’m not advocating for a withdrawal from society or apathy toward any of the aforementioned issues. But let’s remember, Jesus never instructed His disciples to fix society. He called them to worship God because He knew the real problem was idolatry, not immorality.

Let’s address the real problem in our hearts and in the world: idolatry. Let’s worship God and lead others to see, know, and worship Him as well. Then, and only then, can we rejoice as the symptoms of immorality subside.

From one of the great God-exalting books written in our lifetime, the following quote summarizes an often forgotten truth in our narcissistic culture.

“But God’s saving designs are penultimate, not ultimate. Redemption, salvation, and restoration are not God’s ultimate goal. These He performs for the sake of something greater: namely, the enjoyment He has in glorifying Himself.”

From John Piper’s Desiring God, 2003, page 31

The temptation to exalt humans to the highest place in God’s plan permeates contemporary Christian culture. God’s priority has, always will be, and must be Himself. For to care about anything more than His glory would shake the foundation of His deity.

If this truth troubles or strikes you, meditate on it. We’ll return to it many times in the future.

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John Piper is one of the most popular and powerful preachers alive today. His ministry has produced more than 2,500 resources and most of them are available at no cost on-line at www.desiringgod.org.