Wednesday, October 21, 2009

October 21, 2009

"When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations......" Matthew 28:17-19
Have you ever thought about the relationship between worshiping and missions?
I can think of three prominent portions of Scripture that make a direct link between being in God's presence and being motivated by His purpose.
Here is this Scripture, the disciples worshiped and then as soon as they finished worship Jesus came to them and gave them the mandate for missions.
In Acts 1 and 2, we see the same dynamic. They had spent considerable concentrated time in worship and prayer when the Holy Spirit flooded their fellowship. When the presence and the power of God came upon on them they immediately went out and evangelized thousands.
The sixth chapter of Isaiah shows the Prophet catching a view of God high and exalted. When he sees that he falls down and worships. After he worships and cries out to God, the voice of God comes and calls him to go spread the news.
If you take a moment to think about it, when you enjoy worship you would want others to know the joy of worship, too. But those who do not know God cannot worship Him. A reading of the Psalms makes it clear that one of main motives of missions and making disciples is for the purpose of exapanding the worship base for God. He deserves to be worshiped by all of creation. Every nation, tribe and tongue was created with a need to worship. God hard-wired our hearts, minds, and souls to live in worship and fellowship with Him. It is our destiny and our fulfillment.
Therefore, if we have become heir of that joy, why would we not desire others to know they same joy?
What if we suddenly came to realize that the driving force of evangelism should be glory not guilt! If you enjoy worship, you of all people, should desire to see others know God so they can worship Him, too!
If that doesn't move you toward the Great Commission, I don't know what will. When Jesus commanded the disciples to "go into the world and and make disciples" He could have just as well commanded them to "go make worshipers"!
The next time you enjoy worship, think about the billions who can't.