Life's Greatest Purpose

Life's Greatest Purpose
By John Woodward
April 3, 2000

"Life's Greatest Purpose"

by Dr. John Woodward

Many churches have worship teams or choirs that lead in musical praise to God. These singers usually meet weekly to practice the music for Sunday.

Since heaven is filled with the glorious praise of God, how about doing some practice right now? Let's pretend this e-mail is an inter-active program. Psalm 29:1 gives us the vocal warm up: "Give unto the LORD, O you mighty ones, Give unto the LORD glory and strength. Give unto the LORD the glory due to His name; Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness" (Psalm 29:1,2). And now for your part--it is mentioned in verse 9: . . ."And in His temple everyone says, 'Glory!'" Ready, now declare it out load, where you are . . . "GLORY!" Now I know you weren't expecting it, so here's another chance..."GLORY!" Ah, that's better.

To give God glory is to show the excellence of His attributes. We were created for His glory (Isaiah 43:7), were redeemed for His glory (Eph. 1:6), and are to do all things for His glory (1 Cor. 10:31). Why is this so important? In that wonderful conversation the Lord Jesus had with the Samaritan woman we are instructed that "The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:23,24). How profound--God SEEKS us to be His worshipers!

Now why would almighty God, who fills the universe, want you and me to worship Him? Considering the question from a human point of view, does God's invitation appear selfish? (No irreverence intended by this question.)

To answer these questions, we first consider Paul's observation in Acts 17:24,25 "God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things." This shows us that God DOES NOT NEED our worship; He is infinite and self-sufficient (Isaiah 45:18-25).

Theologian, Louis Berkhof observed, "The Bible teaches us clearly that God created the world for the manifestation of His glory. Naturally, the revelation of the glory of God is not intended as an empty show to be admired by the creature, but ALSO AIMS AT PROMOTING THEIR WELFARE AND ATTUNING THEIR HEARTS to the praise of the Creator." [1]

God's desire for our worship, then, must derive from His love and good purposes. In His sovereignty He has determined that the highest goal for which people can live (here and in the life to come) is for His own glory. Any lesser purpose would have less value and provide less potential for our own development.

This beneficial purpose for worship is further validated by a basic biblical principle: WE BECOME LIKE WHAT WE WORSHIP. The writer of Psalm 115 proclaimed this: "But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. [But the pagan's] idols are silver and gold, The work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they do not speak; Eyes they have, but they do not see; They have ears, but they do not hear; Noses they have, but they do not smell; They have hands, but they do not handle; Feet they have, but they do not walk; Nor do they mutter through their throat. THOSE WHO MAKE THEM ARE LIKE THEM; SO IS EVERYONE WHO TRUSTS IN THEM" (Psalm 115:3-8).

How about asking the Lord to reveal to you your present goals in life? (Psalm 139:23,24). Is anyone or anything before God? If we look to people or things to provide for us what only God can provide, we are "worshiping" an idol. This is why coveting is categorized as idolatry (Col. 3:5). Jeremiah decried this sin of wayward Judah: "'Be astonished, O heavens, at this, And be horribly afraid; Be very desolate,' says the LORD. 'For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns--broken cisterns that can hold no water'" (Jer. 2:12,13).

Living for anything less than the glory of God is like trying to fill the cup of your life with liquid that is rapidly leaking out. "Holes" of sin, wrong values, and personal conflicts puncture the inner life. Only with a heart open toward God can we have a "cup" that "runs over" (Psalm 23:5).

God has a much better plan for those who know Him: "... Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive. . ." (John 7:37-39). God intends for us to find our fulfilment in Him (Psalm 37:4); as believers we are complete in Christ (Col. 2:10).

The apostle Paul summed up the grand scheme of things in this doxology: "For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen" (Rom. 11:36).

A fundamental strategy for glorifying God in the Christian life is to abide in Christ (John 15:1-8). Watchman Nee discerned that the primary way for us to glorify God now is to let Him live His life through us: "God must be the originator of all spiritual work. His will must govern its beginnings; on this we are all agreed. Indeed we would go further and say that all is to end too with Him, so that, in Paul's words. 'God may be all in all.' But there is something more. He is not only the Originator and the Consummator of all things; He is the Worker too. And where His power is at work, all will issue in glory. Our trouble is that, while we know that the beginning must be 'of Him,' and the end 'unto Him,' we forget the other vital fact, that in the middle, all the great activity that lies between, must be 'through Him.' If He is to have the glory at the last, we must be in no position to claim any. God's will governs the beginning, His glory the end, but His power must permea!
te the whole operation between. In practice the question of glory is settled, not at the end, but in the middle." [2]

It has been said that many people strive their whole life to "climb the ladder" of success only to realize in the end that this ladder was leaning against the wrong building! How different is God's plan of success (Josh. 1:8,9).

The Lord Jesus demonstrated the ideal way of glorifying the Father. The night before His crucifixion Christ prayed, "Father, the hour has come. GLORIFY Your Son, that Your Son also may GLORIFY You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I HAVE GLORIFIED YOU ON EARTH. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do" (John 17:1-4).

Our Savior left heaven's glory to redeem His people. At His ascension He was highly exalted, not only as the Son of God, but also as our victorious Savior and Mediator (Phil. 2:9; 1 Tim. 2:5). Likewise, believers will be glorified with Christ at His return and are now summoned to glorify God by making the most of life's opportunities (Phil. 3:20,21; Col. 4:5).

We need not live for the illusive approval of others. There's no need to impress a human academy in hopes of a Personal Approval Award. How serene we can be if we follow Paul's example: "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one's praise will come from God" (1 Cor. 4:5).

As true believers in Christ, we are accepted in the Beloved (Eph. 1:6). Our ultimate goal is to live for the One "who loved us and gave Himself for us" (Gal. 2:20). This is life's greatest purpose! How wonderful that this goal is good for us, has eternal value, and is possible through Christ who indwells us! This plan will be carried to ultimate fulfillment by our Redeemer, "to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Eph. 3:10,11). And everyone said, "GLORY!"

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Notes:

[1] Louis Berkhof, Summary of Christian Doctrine, p. 52.

[2] Watchman Nee, A Table in the Wilderness, July 16.

Copyright (c) 2000 by John Woodward. Permission is granted to reprint this article for non commercial use. November 24, 2004 (2nd edition).

Scripture quotations (unless indicated otherwise) are from The Holy Bible, New King James Version © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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