World evangelization is for God. It is common to work out of a concern for the many needs of people, either to see them saved from hell, or to see them brought to communal wholeness, or both. Such compassion is biblical and necessary. However, our love for people takes on balance and power when our overriding passion is for God to be honored and thanked personally by the people transformed by the power of the gospel.
Jesus was moved with great compassion, as He saw the multitudes as abandoned sheep, but He did not respond to the naked need. He deliberately recast His vision of the same lost crowds with a different metaphor. He saw the people as being “His Harvest.” Who can comprehend God’s delight in the fullness of the fruit He receives from people’s lives? Jesus began to do just that. From that vision He implored the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers to bring God His Harvest (Matthew 9:35)
Mission efforts which draw their motivation from compassionate response to human needs will only go so far. Believers need to be nurtured into a far-reaching jealousy for God’s glory. With confident certainty that God will fulfill His promise, we can be deeply moved by needs, while acting boldly for God’s purpose.
The ultimate value of salvation is not to be seen in what they are saved, but rather what they are saved for. People are saved to serve and glorify God. However accustomed we may be to seeing people as being of paramount importance, the Bible is clear: The rationale for mission is the absolute worthiness of God.
taken from “The Story of His Glory” by Steven C. Hawthorne
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