‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations …’ (Matthew 28:19).

In his book Let the Nations Be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions, John Piper suggests that “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. Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of missions.”

At first the idea that missions (and evangelism) is not the ultimate goal of the church may shock some; yet, I propose that we cannot understand the necessity of missions and evangelism until we understand the priority of worship. Once we understand that worship is the ultimate priority of every believer and every believing community, then we will see that worship is the goal and fuel of evangelism and missions, and we will gain a genuine passion for both. Let me explain.

We were created in the image and likeness of God to image or reflect God’s glory (Genesis 1:26-28). Essentially, we were created to worship. But Adam’s sin marred God’s image in us, for each of us participated in Adam’s sin (Romans 5:12). As a result, we have inherited Adam’s sin, guilt, corruption and condemnation (Romans 5:12-21). So we come into the world no longer able to reflect God’s glory truly and faithfully, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). A quick look at headlines proves the doctrine of inherited sin. And because we are born sinful, instead of worshipping the one, true and living God, we worship those things he created, including ourselves (Romans 1:18-32).

The good news is that through the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Father is seeking genuine worshippers, those who will worship him in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24). To worship in spirit means to worship God out of the overflow of the Holy Spirit in your life. To worship in truth is to worship God on the basis of the truth of who Jesus is for us. Spirit and truth worship, then, engages both heart and mind. We were made for this true worship.

Here’s the point: There are people in this world who presently do not worship God through Christ. Their hearts and minds are geared toward self-worship or some other distorted worship. Since the Father is seeking genuine worshippers to worship him, Jesus now calls us to go into all nations and gather them. But because the people who presently do not truly worship God can only become genuine worshippers by a transformation of heart and mind that comes by the grace of God, through faith in Christ, then our mission is to declare the truth about Christ—the gospel—to all who would listen, beginning in our homes and unto the uttermost parts of the world (Acts 1:8). So, missions and evangelism is really the gathering of true worshippers who have turned away from their sin and turned to Christ in faith.

Because there are over 18 million people in Texas who presently do not worship God, the theme of our annual meeting in Odessa, Oct. 28-29, is “Who’s Your One?” Imagine if each of us in our more than 2,700 churches prayed for one person. Imagine if each of us shared the gospel with one person. Imagine if each of us saw one person come to faith in Christ. Those 18 million lost people constitute a big number, but each of us can begin with just one of them. We must begin to reach the lost—one at a time.

Will you join us in Odessa as we encourage one another to faithfulness in evangelism and missions so that those who presently do not worship God may become true worshippers? It is my prayer that we will all grow in evangelism fueled by the worship of the living God, and that the Lord would allow us to see much fruit from our evangelism. See you in Odessa Oct. 28-29! 

A report released in late August from a study of nearly 500,000 men is being touted as both the confirmation and denial of a genetic explanation for male same-sex behavior. Rather than establishing one genetic marker that proves determinative in predicting later sexual attraction, the study identified several genes that may have some influence. Estimates of the influence range as high as 30 percent and as low as 8 percent. The men described as “gay” in the study all claimed to have had at least one same-sex experience. Consider that this study is in some way the affirmation of traditional beliefs about morality and personal responsibility.

If this study had proved, rather than just hinted, that there is an aspect of nature to a person’s tendencies, it would not have changed the convictions of those who believe revealed biblical morality. There are any number of things I might do that a culture will not excuse just because it has always been my tendency, as well as the tendency of my father and his father before him. A genetic marker adds no acceptable explanation if society has decided behavior is uncivilized. The discovery of a genetic tendency to racism or rage would not make those behaviors palatable, for example.

But the researchers also walked a fine line. Some articles were quick to point out that no discernable indicator would predict a gay person. In other words, you could not do some kind of genetic intervention on a child in the womb, or abort that child, because you know that he will be attracted to other men. The fine line is, “Yay! Now we know that this is just part of the spectrum of human identity,” and, “But it’s complicated and the genetic influence is not certain to result in same-sex attraction.”

Let’s call the influence 30 percent to be generous, about a third. Environmental factors also play in to tendencies, attractions and behaviors (where you live, details of family life, significant others, etc.). If I can go back to racism, a person who grew up knowing people of only one ethnic group and hearing terrible things about other groups, might have his natural tendencies magnified by ignorance and teaching. A natural tendency and a deprived upbringing make a strong pull on a young person to be a racist. But that doesn’t mean he’s a powerless puppet of these factors, and we don’t usually judge him by those foundational influences; we evaluate him by what he does.

The controversial third leg to this stool—one almost never mentioned in academic studies on homosexual behavior—is the will, the ability of a person to decide if he will do something. Personal responsibility for decisions is out of vogue but even today, in many other behaviors, the decision-making responsibility of an individual is assumed. Consider the way a court parses the motives of an offender before charging or sentencing him. A person who recklessly but accidentally harms another is punished less harshly because his decision was to behave recklessly, not to harm another. A person who intentionally harms another faces a different level of punishment—the law assumes he could have said “no” to this action but instead said “yes.”

Instead of proving that being gay is “a natural part of human life,” as one activist put it, this research supports the longstanding belief that all God’s children have proclivities, are raised by and among sinners and will answer for their own works. These factors, plus my own rebellious will, predictably pull me toward things that offend God and injure me. The transformed life will begin, by the power of Christ, to overcome the wayward will. That newfound hunger for righteousness will move, by an act of will, to change our environmental factors (where we go and with whom) so as to weaken that pull to offend God. Natural proclivities and genetic traits that war against our new desires may remain as thorns in our flesh—we bear them to humble us and show that God’s strength is enough.

“Natural” tendencies are usually bad news. I rarely hear someone say of a virtue (kindness, gentleness, self-control), “That’s just the way I am.” Our fallen nature and corrupting flesh will not point us toward eternal life. I grieve when I hear someone boast in sin.

Don’t get bogged down in the talking points of a culture that will say anything to justify what it has already determined to do. The fact is, all of us are doomed apart from the rescue of a loving Savior. We aren’t eternally separated from God because of any sin except unbelief in God’s only Son. The conversation about the reasons for a person’s sin is not different than our own story. We should listen to what they are saying, parse it by what God has said from the beginning and go back to the good news that can change anyone who believes.

SPRING  North Oaks Baptist Church of Spring in suburban north Houston believes its duty is to serve God in the community, with an aim to take the gospel into every interaction and event.  

So on Aug. 10, for the fourth straight year, the church hosted a back-to-school outreach as 22 church members distributed 800 door hangers in two low-income trailer communities a few miles from the church campus and shared the gospel with residents. The hangers announced the upcoming Operation BackPack the following Saturday, Aug. 17, featuring free backpacks, school supplies, haircuts, food and entertainment at the church. 

“It is important for our church to go out and serve the community,” said NOBC Pastor Caleb Fleming. “Operation BackPack is a project that offers witnessing opportunities, reaps professions of faith and results in new members.” He said since the project was initiated by the church, attendance has grown steadily.

Leading up to the event, coordinator Beverly Jones organized volunteer collection efforts for supplies and backpacks for 350 students—100 more than the previous year. She said most of the items were donated by church members and a participating store. Volunteers worked the night before and that morning to set up the school supply stations, a food truck, two bounce houses, tables, chairs, and stations for free haircuts, food, cotton candy and snow cones.

About 9:30 a.m., parents and excited children started to arrive at the sign-in station and from there were directed to backpacks and school supplies. After filling those needs, families exited to another room where they were offered New Testaments and gospel tracts, free haircuts from Salvation Stylists, free family pictures,  lunch and outdoor attractions, including a fire truck manned by Klein Fire Department volunteers. 

Erin Taylor, who brought her daughter, a niece and some neighborhood children to the event, said she recently moved to one of the trailer communities, received a door hanger, and is happy she attended the event. “We would be struggling to provide school supplies for our children without the support of the church,” she said. “My daughter is having a great time, and now we are ready to start the school year.” Prior to leaving, Taylor spoke to Fleming about her faith in Christ, and she promised to visit the church again.

Deacon Venkat Koripalli said the communities served this year for Operation BackPack are mostly Hispanic, move often and are economically challenged, so kids without the assistance of NOBC or other community resources enter the classroom without a backpack, and school supplies, creating the hardship of a negative stigma for the rest of the school year.  He said the annual event has become a “labor of love for the church, done in obedience to Christ.”

Gary Schill, another deacon, noted that the church provided about 100 volunteers for the event. “I think the church demonstrated what it means to be Christian,” he said. “More than 200 kids received supplies, had haircuts, ate and played games. It went very well.”

NOBC’s sphere of influence was extended into the community as families departed with needs being met. 

“My heart is full this afternoon,” Fleming reflected. “It is such a joy to serve the people of North Oaks Baptist, and the people of our community. Today, people’s physical needs were met and the gospel planted to satisfy eternal needs. God is good.”