the great why.

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In the beginning of earthly history, God's purpose was to bless his people so that all peoples would glorify him for his salvation. ... This is the final, ultimate, all-consuming, glorious, guaranteed, overwhelmingly global purpose of God in Scripture.

God blesses his people with extravagant grace so they might extend his extravagant glory to all peoples on the earth.

Our hearts resonate with the idea of enjoying God's grace. We bask in sermons, conferences, and books that exalt a grace centering on us. And while the wonder of grace is worthy of our attention, if that grace is disconnected from its purpose, the sad result is a self-centered Christianity that bypasses the heart of God.

If you were to ask the average Christian sitting in a worship service on Sunday morning to summarize the message of Christianity, you would most likely hear something along the lines of "The message of Christianity is that God loves me." Or someone might say, "The message of Christianity is that God loves me enough to send his Son, Jesus, to die for me."

As wonderful as this sentiment sounds, is it biblical? Isn't it incomplete, based on what we have seen in the Bible? "God loves me" is not the essence of biblical Christianity. Because if "God loves me" is the message of Christianity ... the object of Christianity ... [is] me.

The message of biblical Christianity is not "God loves me, period," as if we were the object of our own faith. The message of biblical Christianity is "God loves me so that I might make him--his ways, his salvation, his glory, and his greatness--known among all nations.

We are not the end of the gospel; God is.

David Platt, Radical. (2010) pp. 69-70, emphasis mine.