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.
Doesn’t this jingle your “Unclean” bell a little? Piper is preferring the vertical divinity dimension and minimizing the horizontal. “I require mercy and not sacrifice.” Seems like this puts PIper at odds with Jesus in Matthew 9.
I guess I’m with Keaton on this one. I’m not sure which part of Matthew 9 you are referencing? Can you elaborate?
On a side note, quoting Piper at all is what jingles my “unclean” bell a bit.
Maybe Richard Beck’s book “Unclean” is not as fresh in your mind as it is mine (I just finished teaching an 12 week course on it at my church). I’m referencing the bit in Matthew 9 when the Pharisees confront Jesus when eating with sinner and tax collectors and Jesus’ reply is “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” which references the OT tension between the priestly and prophetic streams found in OT Judaism. Piper, my minimizing mission for the sake of worship is favoring the priestly tradition. Jesus, on the other hand, as we read in his encounter with the Pharisees, favors the prophetic call for “mercy, not sacrifice.” Piper, as we all know very well, is very concerned with the vertical dimension of God’s purity, separateness, holiness, sovereignty. This leads to the erecting of boundaries, quarantines, division for the sake of purity, cleanliness in religious life. That’s all fine and stuff but not really in keeping with what it means when Jesus calls us to “mercy, not sacrifice.” Ring a bell?
Yeah I remember that part from the book. I wasn’t clear on how you were connecting it to the Piper quote.
That class sounds awesome. How did it go?
The connection comes from the worship vs. mission distinction Piper makes. Worship is concerned with the vertical divinity dimension which is typically characterized by separateness, holiness, purity. Mission is concerned with the horizontal dimension…..which Jesus connects to how we treat the “unclean.”
The class was great. It was a blast.
^ I’m curious to know more about how this creates any contention with Matthew 9? And how is he minimizing the horizontal?
Zach, you make some interesting points! I think it’s definitely easy to get lost in the exclusive nature of an idea…..but, I don’t think Piper is polarizing as much as you infer.
You’re correct in that Worship deals with the Vertical—but the very nature of worship is not what’s best for God, but rather what’s best for us. Point being, God is the ultimate pleasure—and He wants us to indulge in Him.
Missions is not simply about HOW we treat others. Mission is about treating others in a way that displays Christ’s love—-so that they’ll ultimately worship Him, because that is what they really need. I think that is Piper’s point. He’s not saying Missions is null and void—he’s saying its a means to a greater end, the Worship of Christ.
I think it’s dangerous to polarize, so I just wanted to clear up my perception of Piper’s statement.
Also—NOW I understand why the desert froze over yesterday! I thought it was because Jeremy might have quoted Mark Driscoll, but alas, it was just Piper. Perhaps that’s why we got sleet instead of actual snow….
That’s hilarious!