Brussels 3, Holland 2

So far, we’ve spent three nights in Brussels and the last two nights in Holland. We’re attending the Christian Associates staff conference, where we have been warmly welcomed into this family of church planters.

You would like it here. We are a mix of Americans and Europeans whose hearts are set on seeing God glorified in the cities of Europe. We are asking questions of more experienced church planters, such as “what did you do in your first year and what would you do differently if you had it to do over again?” We also spend a lot of time in worship.

I’ve been thinking about worship recently. In July, I shared with both Tabernacle Church of Norfolk and Peninsula Community Chapel that I believe worship is the best motivation for missions. Missions motivated by spiritual need puts the focus on the lost. Missions motivated by Christian responsibility puts the focus on ourselves. But missions motivated by worship puts the focus where it should be – on God.

John Piper writes in Let the Nations be Glad: “Missions is not the highest priority of the church, worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.”

The more I think about it, the more I feel like we do our best worshipping at sporting events. Not that we’re worshipping God, but I wonder what we can learn about worshipping God from what happens when we go all out and cheer for our favorite team.

One of my most exciting sports moments was a July 25, 1978 baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Texas Rangers. I’m an Orioles fan, and when I found out my parents were planning to take my sister and me on a cross-country trip to New Mexico that summer, I asked which cities we would be passing through and when. As I compared this information with the Orioles schedule, I found that Baltimore would be playing the Texas Rangers in Arlington on the very day we would be driving through town.

We got tickets and sat out in center field, surrounded by what I remember to be a stadium-full of large, drunk, bare-chested Texan men with big hats. The O’s were headed towards a disappointing fourth place that year, but they did have a lot of great players: Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray, Ken Singleton, Lee May – and the hero of the day, Doug DeCinses.

The Orioles took a 2-0 lead in the first inning thanks to a two-run homer by Ken Singleton. The Rangers answered with two of their own in the bottom of the second and one in the third to go ahead, 3-2. The O’s evened the score on a solo shot by our man Doug DeCinses, but the Rangers responded in the bottom of the fourth to set the stage for a moment I’ll never forget.

The score was 4-3 Rangers at the start of the fifth inning. With one out, Rich Dauer doubled to left field. Eddie Murray and Ken Singleton both walked to load the bases. Third baseman Doug DeCinses came to bat. I was on my feet. One out, top of the fifth, one run down and the bases loaded. I couldn’t care less what the bad-tempered foul-breathed Texans around me were thinking.

First pitch was a ball. Second pitch, swing and a miss. But the third pitch took off his bat like a shot! It was headed straight towards center field. The outfielder was stepping back, back – it was a home run! A grand slam!

I was clapping and cheering and jumping up and down – until I looked around and realized I was not among friends. Not many shared my enthusiasm. The Orioles held on to win the game, 7-6, and I was one of the few fans that left the ballpark with a smile on my face.

Cheering for the Orioles in Arlington reminds me of worship. My main motivation in cheering was not to convert Texans to the Orioles. Neither was it to discharge my responsibility as an Orioles fan. Instead, I wanted to celebrate my favorite team. I wanted to enjoy them and see them win. I didn’t think they needed me or that they weren’t more likely to win because I cheered for them, but I did it because I wanted to. I believed in them and I wanted to be a part of their victory.

Missions is like cheering for God on the road. We stand up in the stadium of the lost and cheer for Jesus because He’s worth it. We know that there are many around us who are not cheering and we desperately want them to, but our desire for them cannot be greater than our desire for Him. We’re not cheering because primarily because He told us to, but because there is no one and nothing of greater beauty and worth.

As we worship, we see Jesus more clearly. We see who He is, who we are, and what He wants us to do. The better the worship, the better the witness - which is especially important when you’re cheering for God on the road.