GLORIFYING GOD: OUR PURPOSE IN LIFE
Psalm 115:1,9-18;Phil.3: 4-11
Good News Christian Fellowship
United Institute Daraga, Albay
September 2003
INTRODUCTION
A watch or clock is meant to tell time, a car is build to be driven, an airplane to fly, a shoes to be worn. Using these things apart from what it is intended defeat the very purpose why they are made or built.
Why? The purpose is not being realized.
Brethren, do you know that God has a purpose why he created us and redeemed us? Why does the Church-we Christian, exist? We can probably list some of it:
• To bring the Gospel to the lost
• To bring hope to the hurting
• To get married
• To prepare children for life
• To solve our pain and problems
• To have a comfortable life
Those are some of the benefits of life, the side dishes, but not its purpose. They are good, but not the very purpose of our life.
THE WRONG MOTIVATION
In today’s world, we have shifted from the very purpose towards finding ourselves. We tried to make life’s benefits the very purpose of our existence. We place more value on solving our problems. As much possible we avoid pain. We look for plan to follow. We study Bible, read Christians books, attend seminar and listen to sermon to discover plan that will produce a results- “a verse each day keeps devil away.”
“ The normal Christian life is not without struggle, is not free from failure, nor it is a life of constant highs. On the contrary, this life is filled with adversity, but adversity with a purpose” (Problems, God’s presence, & Prayer-Michael Wells)p.18
However, some Christians devoted thoroughly to life now, with teaching on self-improvement, self-satisfaction, self-gratification and building happier lives.
LIFE PURPOSE
Read Isaiah 43:7. The benefits of life are not the highest value, it is not the reason for living, but drive us back to Him as the reason for living. The very purpose of our life is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
To glorify God means to live with such a passionate devotion to the Holy One, His person, His purpose, and His praise. Passion for the glory of God begins and is possible, when we choose to reject our own honor, refutation and self-gratification.
[Read Eph.1: 3-14] Our passion is to know Christ. That should be our deepest pleasures. Don’t focus on finding solution to our problem, but rather focus on the source of the solution and get to know His wills. We have to acknowledge that our hunger for Christ comes with Him and will not completely satisfy on the earth.
God is glorified when we acknowledge our dependence on Him for all good things. God is glorified when we express it in every area of our lives: workplace, church, home, and businesses. (1Cor. 10:31)
But some Christians find it hard to forgive. The result is catastrophic for the church: divisiveness and disturbance of peace and spirit of unity. If this happens to the church, God is not glorified. Paul urged us to walk in unity, in love, and in patience.
How can we do to stir up a drive for knowing Christ that is more powerful than our natural urge to look after ourselves?
[Read Psalm 115:1]
GETTING TO KNOW CHRIST
a.Turning from self- The passion for knowing God is our purpose in life. Our deepest desire will be “Father, glorify your name.” The passion for the glory of God begins, and is only possible, when we choose to reject our own honor, refutation.
Verse 1 reads, “not to us, O Lord, not to us, but your name be the glory.” That is! Not for the glory of our name but for God’s name, be glorified. Yet in our secular and individualistic society, life highest calling is the fulfillment of their individual needs, the exploration of human potential. And it’s sad many Christians drenched with this kind of teaching. The early church, as the ambassador with Christ, taught that the chief end of people is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever; the modern church too often teaches that the chief end of God is to gratify people.
We must return to our earlier understanding that personal fulfillment is not the highest value, that the well-being of any individual matters less than the glory of God, and that we will find ourselves only when we look for God first.
We have to choose to reject our self-image. We need to see ourselves as more sinful than wounded. As we become more aware of our self-centeredness, our demand to feel better weakens under our developing humility. Failure to realize this (v.1) and you will never genuinely honor the Holy one.
b.A life of trust- Psalm 115 points us to life of trust that brings glory to the name of the Holy One. This appeal to trust is based on the goodness of the Lord. God is glorified when we acknowledge our dependence on Him for all good things. Our joy and enjoyment are thus bound up with the priority of his glory.
This life of faith express in three ways: first, PRAYER; the psalmist ask God to give the blessing (Vv.14-15) that he has already promised (Vv.12-13) we will be found to be trusting ourselves, we didn’t trust God. Self-trust is invariably self-glorifying. Believing prayer, on the other hand, glorify the Holy One.
God promises us to do something good-bear fruit (John 15:5) He promise to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves. That’s why we have to pray to God. In it God is glorified, because prayer is the open admission that without Christ we can’t do nothing. Prayers humble us as needy, and exalt God as wealthy.
Second, DEDICATION; trust in our Holy God expressed the dedication of our lives (Vv. 16-18). The earth is given to us by our loving God to be used for His glory. So all of our times here on earth, and its resources are to be dedicated to God. He gives us responsibilities. Everything that we should be is for His glory, not ours. The earth belongs to Him. It doesn’t exist as meaningless matter, it is here to be committed to God’s purpose and used to his advantage.
Third, TRUST is to be with the whole people of God, not only for an individual. We should not think of prayer and dedication as an individual matter. It is among God’s people (Vv.9-10) Prayer is not to be exclusive concern of pastor or lay people alone. That’s why we have prayer meeting in the church. The believers are asked to make visible the holy nearness of the Lord by a life of trusting prayer and dedication.
But please realized, we pray and dedicate ourselves not because of duty, but because we want to talk to our God. Human effort should not be the motivation, but the desire to know Him.
According to Paul, getting to know Christ is to count everything he gain as lost for the sake of surpassing knowledge of Christ (Phil.3:7-8)
If our passion is to know more Christ, Bible study and going to church service becomes important because in it we will know Christ more and enjoy Him forever. We pray because we need to talk to him. Work must not be our goal in life. It doesn’t mean we don’t have to work. What I mean is that, we don’t have to count works as worth anything compared with knowing Christ.
The motivation in Christian life is to know Christ and glory him. Don’t count work as an end of themselves.
CONCLUSION
To glorify God is to desire to make clear and visible to all people the nearness and the overwhelming power, authority and goodness of the Holy One. To accomplish this is to renounced ourselves (our pride, knowledge, privilege, rights) and aspire to glorify God.
So we have devotion each to know God. We ought to pray because we want to know him. We ought to be under the teaching of His word because we want to know Him.
This is the motivation of everything. This is what we were created for, to know God. This is our purpose in life.
All of life is the arena in which the glory of Holy One is to be manifested. No part of life can be a matter of indifference or unconcern.
Read Ephesians 3:20-21.
