Man's Chief End
1 Peter 4:10-11
Why are you and I here? Why did God create us? What is our purpose in life? With this thought in mind Augustine said, "You have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in You." God is a God of glory. Moses sang in Exodus 15:11 " Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?" The Lord is glorious. The Bible speaks of the glory of God as one of the major themes that appears about 275 times in our English Bibles, occurring 50 times alone in the book of Psalms. God exists to be glorified. 1 Peter 4:11 states that it is God's design that God in all things may be glorified. Which brings us to the chief end of man and the answers to our questions. God does not exist for us we exist for God. We were created by God to glorify Him. C.S. Lewis said, "In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.”
I. Our First Purpose is to Glorify God
A. 1 Corinthians 10:31 "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
B. Romans 11:36 "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen."
C. What does it mean to glorify God?
1. Glorifying God means to acknowledge His greatness and give Him honor by praising and worshiping Him, primarily because He, and He alone, deserves to be praised, honored and worshipped.
2. To glorify God is to admire, exalt, praise, and tell of His attributes—His holiness, faithfulness, mercy, grace, love, majesty, sovereignty, power, and omniscience.
3. "Glorifying” means feeling and thinking and acting in ways that reflect his greatness, that make much of God, that give evidence of the supreme greatness of all his attributes and the all-satisfying beauty of his manifold perfections." - John Piper
4. Psalm 46:10 " Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
D. How can we glorify God?
1. Isaiah 43:21 "This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise."
2. 1 Peter 2:9 "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light"
3. God made us to reflect or display or manifest his glory. We are supposed to be like well-polished mirrors of God's truth to the world. Or like prisms that take the beams of God's greatness and break them up into lots of varied colors for the world to see in our actions and words. - copied
4. It is impossible to glorify God if the heart isn’t right. A right heart can only be had by one who is born again, or born from above.
5. By hearing and obeying God's commandments
a. Listening to God and agreeing with Him is important. But just making a mental assent does not glorify Him. We must also submit to Him and obey the commands in order to glorify Him.
b. 1 Samuel 15:22 "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?"
c. Glorifying God involves loving Him and obeying His Law and His commandments.
d. Romans 6:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
e. Sin (disobedience) falls short of and fails to achieve reflecting the glory of God.
f. John Calvin believed that following the Old Testament law was not an end in itself, but rather a means to glorify God and "reflect gratitude" to Him.
6. By living faithful purposeful lives.
a. Matthew 5:16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."
b. 1 Corinthians 10:31 “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
c. You can glorify God by having a strong desire and purpose to serve God in every aspect and activity of your life. Do you seek honor God even in the smallest detail of your life?
7. By being bearing spiritual fruit
a. John 15:8 "Jesus said, “By this My Father (God) is glorified, that you bear much fruit.”
b. The practice of “bearing fruit” in the Christian faith, means to demonstrate certain spiritual virtues.
c. Galatians 5:22-23 “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”
d. When we give evidence of the reality of the new birth by showing that we are indeed new creations in Christ through the outward demonstration of the fruit of the Spirit we glorify God.
e. For those who say God knows my heart understand that inner fruit will affect outward action; your words and your activities will reflect the truth of what is within your heart.
II. Our Second Purpose is to Enjoy God
A. “How good is God,” wrote Jonathan Edwards, “that he has created man for this very end, to make him happy in the enjoyment of himself, the Almighty, who was happy from the days of eternity in himself … that he might make them blessed in the beholding of his excellency, and might this way glorify himself.” - Copied
B. We are to find delight in God
1. Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself also in the Lord; and he shall give you the desires of your heart."
2. Psalm 73:24-26. You shall guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside You. My flesh and my heart fails: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever."
C. We can enjoy God by setting our affections where they belong.
1. Colossians 3:1-2 " If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth"
2. 1 Peter 1:8 "Whom having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see Him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory"
3. We cannot enjoy all God desires for us if we live by our self-centered desires and wants.
4. Do you work in the secular world? If so, how do you determine what is fun and acceptable? Many of things Christian men and women are indulging in these days are things that only a decade or two ago would have been considered "off limits" for Believers. We see this in the explosion of premarital sex, cheating, swearing, lying, adultery, disrespect for authority and other things the Bible calls sin. Our world now glorifies rebellion, unwholesome speech, drunkenness, immorality and impure thoughts. Many "seasoned" Christians see little to nothing wrong with these things, and in fact, they endorse and approve of them! The spiritual lives of those involved in these things obviously suffer, and before long they are looking for joy and happiness because they discover that it is not to be found where they have been looking. True joy and peace come from a relationship with Christ, no Christian will dispute that. However it appears they are trying to have a relationship under false pretenses! They want it all, fellowship with the world and fellowship with Christ. - copied
5. James 4:4 " You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."
D. We can enjoy God by having the right attitude and approach in prayer.
1. John 16:23-24 " “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full."
2. Some people believe the purpose of prayer is simply to get us out of trouble when we find ourselves in a desperate situation. I am reminded of the humorous cartoon of a little boy in church. This little boy was in church and acting up very badly. The parents couldn't bring the boy under control, and so they needed to get him out of there. So the father took the boy under his arm and proceeded to leave for the foyer. But just before they reached the foyer the boy turned back to the people and yelled, 'Pray for me! Pray for Me!'. - copied
3. While God invites us to bring our requests to Him, Prayer should never be primarily a matter of coming to God to ask for things. The import of prayer is not to ask God to do something for us. Its significance is to fellowship with God, to spend time with God. When we pray our motivation should be spending time in communion with God.
4. Prayer takes us into the very presence of God. Someone has said that prayer, having God’s ear, is ultimately about having more of God.
E. We can enjoy God when we find delight in His Word.
1. Psalm 119:47-48 "For I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes."
2. Psalm 1:2 "But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night."
3. How many times have you read the Bible through from Genesis to Revelation?
4. The Christian who does not enjoy God's word searches for something else to enjoy. This world offers a multiplicity of things aimed at that very end. We are bombarded with promises that products, movies, automobiles, food, sports, vacations, even the right job, the right marriage, children, yes, even the right church, will bring us true and lasting satisfaction. - copied
5. John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
6. We can enjoy the living Word through the written Word of God.
F. We can enjoy God when we worship corporately.
1. Psalm 27:4 "One thing I have asked from Jehovah; That do I seek: To dwell in the house of Jehovah All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of Jehovah, And to inquire in His temple.”
2. Church attendance is as vital to a disciple as a transfusion of rich, healthy blood to a sick man. – Dwight L. Moody
3. Worship is a huge part of enjoying God. In celebrating our wonderful Father, His glorious son Jesus Christ, and His beautiful Holy Spirit through corporate song and fellowship - we enter into the happiness of heaven. We enjoy God as we praise Him, and He gets the glory!
4. Psalm 122:1 " I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.
