from the pastors at nvcf

I’m going to be writing occasionally on worship in the weeks and months ahead – what is worship, how to worship, when to worship, etc.  But first I’d like to lay a foundation for this entire subject by discussing God’s overall purpose. 

 

Many of you have heard of, or have read, Rick Warren’s book entitled The Purpose Driven Life.   In this book he explains the five purposes that should drive our lives.   But have you ever wondered what God’s main purpose is?   Well here it is: God’s ultimate purpose is to bring glory to Himself. 

 

How did that strike you?  At first it almost sounds conceited doesn’t it?  That’s because if you or I would say something like that it indeed would be self-serving.  Many philosophers (most notably Kant) and theologians, seeing through the prism of their own sinful nature, have rebelled against this idea, as though God made the world out of vanity or pride.  This would be divine egotism and unworthy of the Deity.  They then suggest that the world was made for the happiness of man, or that God’s main purpose is to seek man’s salvation.  

 

For fallen and natural man the welfare, happiness, and salvation of the creation becomes more important that the glory and praise of God.   How interesting that we humans, rebelling against what we see as God’s self-centeredness, revert to exactly that in putting ourselves forth as the main purpose of God and of his creation.

 

Behind this thinking is the implicit concept that God is not infinite and absolutely perfect. Only in a finite and imperfect deity can the idea of selfishness in the Creator occur.   For if He is infinite and perfect, then, however hard it is for us to conceive, no other ultimate purpose is possible for God.  An infinite and perfect being cannot have anything finite and imperfect as his ultimate goal.

 

Additionally if God’s overall purpose was something other than His own glory, then his overall purpose would exist outside of Himself, which is a contradiction against His self-sufficiency.  If God’s ultimate purpose was salvation then wouldn’t it be astonishing that His highest purpose is centered on man rather than being God-centered?   We see that his ultimate purpose should be centered upon Himself, for He is the one who has created us and loved us and saved us, even while we were still sinners?   

 

Look at what it says in Ephesians 1:5-6, 12, and 14 where our salvation is only part of a higher purpose: the glory of God.

·        ⁵He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, ⁶to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us … ¹²to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory… ¹⁴who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

 

In other verses we see that God is not only the beginning but the end of creation:

·        “From Him and through Him and unto Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever, amen” (Romans 11:36).

·        “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev.22:13)

·        All things were created “for thy pleasure” (Rev.4:11).

 

Also the creation is to show forth God’s glory by divine intention:

·        “The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the sky shows forth the work of His hands. Day unto day pours forth speech and night unto night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes forth through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world” (Psalm 18:2-5).

·        For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it … I will not give my glory unto another. (Isa. 48:11)

 

To close this important foundational truth: God’s purpose in all that He does is to bring glory to Himself.   As Rick Warren says:

“It’s all for God.  Not only were you created by God; you were created for him, too. The ultimate goal of the universe is to show the glory of God. It is the reason for everything that exists, including you. God made it all for his glory. Without God’s glory, there would be nothing.”

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Blessings, Kerry.

 

 

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