May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! Let the nations be glad….(Psalm 67: 1-4, ESV)
It will not surprise anyone that golf is a “global sport.” Paul Sullivan writes, “Over a year on the [DP] Tour, the players have visited 31 countries in different weather. They have played in cold, windy conditions in Scotland and Ireland, under the searing sun in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and let the ball fly into the thin mountain air on courses in Switzerland and South Africa.” Yep, golf is a global sport!
It boggles the mind to consider the game’s explosive growth expanding across the globe, especially with the entirely unexpected announcement on Tuesday of the merger between the PGA Tour, DP Tour, and PIF.
For all the hubbub surrounding this news—and plenty of that is swirling around—we should step back from it all and consider the global claims of Jesus Christ; we stand in awe at the infinite and immense scope of Christ’s territorial claims.
Consider that Christ has been given all authority in heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18-20). That is to say, Jesus Christ has the “title deed” to all the world; it legally belongs to him by right of Creation and Redemption (Romans 4:13; Hebrews 1:1-2).
However, it is also an obvious historical fact that the world’s nations refuse to bow their knees to this reality (Psalm 2). How do we make sense of this?
For one, it is wrong-headed to conclude that the world belongs to the enemy. According to Scripture, “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein….” (Psalm 24: 1, ESV).
Paradoxically, it is also true that “Satan is the god of this world….” (2 Corinthians 4:4). How do we resolve this seeming contradiction?
First, the LORD created and redeemed the world. Therefore, without dispute, it is his. Second, the enemy is an intruder who has blinded the minds of the unbelieving. In other words, Satan is a squatter.
He is trespassing on the land (the earth) that belongs to Yahweh! Therefore, Satan is merely a little-g-god over the world system of unbelieving men and women. He is certainly not governing a Christian’s life. To be sure, Satan is not Sovereign over the affairs of the nations; God is!
This massive gap between what legally belongs to Christ and the stubborn refusal by the nations to submit to Jesus’ rule is where the Church’s missional efforts play an essential and pivotal role.
The church’s mandate is not to go forth in military might to reclaim what belongs to King Jesus; rather, we are to advance his kingdom through communicating the gospel in the power of the Spirit. Jesus bound the strong man (Mark 3:27), and the church has been plundering Satan’s house ever since.
When the Psalmist prayed, “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us…,” it was so that the saving power of God would be known among the nations.
Regarding our motivation for the church’s global mission, John Piper writes, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is! Missions exist because worship doesn’t.”
At a minimum, Piper makes two critically important points: 1) We join God “on mission” to bring unbelievers into the “white-hot” worship of God through Jesus Christ; worship is ultimate, not missions, and 2) When we are not “on mission” with God, it is usually because we are not in “white-hot” worship of God. It is virtually impossible to commend what one does not cherish! Thus, worship is both the fuel and the goal of missions!
If the Lord is nudging you to go on a mission trip with Brett, contact him at: brett@servantee.org or www.servantee.org.
Prayer: Father, cause us to see your beauty and worship! Cause us to invest our lives in the mission of God so that others may delight in the joy of worship!