A podcast listener named Greg writes in to talk about missions and the value of our

vocations. He asks this, Pastor John, is obviously of a passion for missions.

It is also obvious that you believe work and vocations are important aspects of the Christian life.

What is puzzling to me is when you state in your book, let the nations be glad,

that missions is the second greatest human activity. Does this not posit a kind of hierarchy of

human action which puts ordinary work lower on the wrong of human activity? For example, being an

artist or a janitor is not as great as being a missionary, and therefore not as great in God's

eyes. Moreover, it doesn't this statement about missions render most of humans and human activity

as not engaging in the second greatest human activity. After all, most Christians are not

missionaries and do not, cannot, spend most of their waking hours engaging in missions.

What I'm concerned about is your statement concerning missions leading to a kind of spiritual

hierarchy in which missionaries are engaged in the second greatest human activity while the rest of

us are not. Would you say to Greg? It might be helpful first to give the context for the quote in

let the nations be glad and explain what I was getting out there. That might remove some of the

stumbling block, but then I do want to raise the question of whether Greg means that no distinction

should ever be made in the way various vocations or tasks are honored. So here's the quote from

let the nation be glad. William Kerry and thousands like him have been moved and carried by the

vision of a great and triumphant God. That vision must come first, savoring it in worship precedes

spreading it in missions. All of history is moving toward one great goal, the white hot

worship of God and His Son among all the peoples of the world.

Missions is not that goal. It is the means. For that reason, it is the second greatest human activity

in the world. So the point was to distinguish the ultimate goal of life from the secondary

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