Let the Nations Be Glad! by John Piper

Ch 1 The Supremacy of God in Missions through Worship: Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. … The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God. … Missions begins and ends in worship. … For those who are stunned by the indescribable magnitude of what God has made, not to mention the infinite greatness of the One who made it, the steady diet on Sunday morning of practical how-to’s and psychological soothing and relational therapy and tactical planning seem dramatically out of touch with Reality-the God of overwhelming greatness. It is possible to be distracted from God in trying to serve God.
Probably no text in the Bible reveals the passion of God for His own glory more clearly and bluntly than Isaiah 48:9-100, where God says:
For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
What this text hammers home to us is the centrality of God in his own affections. The most passionate heart for the glorification of God is God’s heart. God’s ultimate goal is to uphold and display the glory of his name.
This was Andrew Murray’s judgment a hundred years ago:
“As we seek to find out why, with such millions of Christians, the real army of God that is fighting the hosts of darkness is so small, the only answer is-lack of heart. The enthusiasm of the kingdom is missing. And that is because there is so little enthusiasm for the King.”
God is calling us above all else to be the kind of people whose theme and passion is the supremacy of God in all of life. Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. … The Great Commission is first to “delight yourself in the Lord” (Ps 37:4) and then to declare, “Let the nations be glad and sing for you” (Ps 67:4)

Piper, John. Let the Nations Be Glad!. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003.