Imago Dei III: Purpose of Man

· INTRO: Good morning! Would you turn in your Bibles with me to 1 Corinthians 10:31-33? We are going to be moving around a little bit this morning as we wrap up our Imago Dei series, but that is where we will begin. As your turning there, let me just highlight a few announcements. (Announcements… app coming soon- it is complete and off to Apple and Google for Review!)

o Would you stand with me for the reading of God’s word? (Read, pray, you may be seated, drink)

· From 1646-1647 in England, specifically in London, more specifically in a suburb known as Westminster, an important gathering was taking place, amidst lots of chaos of the English Civil war, which was brutal fighting for about a decade that resolved nothing. The 1646-1647 gathering in Westminster was part of a larger period of 10 years known as the “WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY.”

o So what was the Westminster assembly? Well, the assembly was gathered by Parliament and was made up of the leading theologians and pastors of the day. The goal of it was to help unify the Church of England and the Church of Scotland.

§ Honestly, the unity of these two churches doesn’t matter to our message this morning. There was something else going on there that was so important!

o That’s why the years 1646-1647 matter so much. In those two years, these ministers gathered together and began to form something called the Westminster Catechism.

§ The Westminster Catechism was essentially a statement of faith that could be taught and learned as a series of questions and answers. Catechisms were common in the early church and although their popularity has risen and fallen, during this time they were popular.

· Honestly, almost all of the famous catechisms sound the same. Perhaps the most famous of the catechisms are the Genevan, the Heidelberg and the Westminster.

o However, one of the flaws of these catechisms was that the answers were long and drawn out, which was admittedly common for this era’s writing style! For instance, listen to this quote from the Genevan Catechism, written primarily by John Calvin.

o “Master, what is the chief end of human life?”

§ “To know God by whom men were created.”

o “Master, what reason have you for saying so?”

§ “Because he created us and placed us in this world to be glorified in us. And it is indeed right that our life, of which himself is the beginning, should be devoted to his glory.”

o “Master, what is the highest good of man?”

§ “The very same thing.”

· So, at the Westminster assembly, as a catechism was put together, there was an emphasis put on something called, “The shorter catechism,” or a catechism for kids!

o Maybe the most famous topic addressed in the catechism is the purpose of man; which is what we are addressing today!

o The Westminster shorter catechism says, “What is the chief end of man? A: Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.”- 1 Corinthians 10:31

§ So what is the purpose of man? What is our chief goal in life? TO GLORIFY GOD! And today, that is exactly what we are going to talk about; worship!

o Our main point for today is: Main Point: Our lives as individuals and as a church should be built off of an all-consuming desire to worship God!

BODY: As we consider this paradigm, this reality that Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever,” it feels fitting to start in 1 Corinthians where this actually comes from.

o Today, if you look at the separate notes handout, you’ll see that there are 5 passages listed. 4 of these should help us shape our theology of worship in a positive direction, while the fifth and final passage should serve as a warning towards us.

· As we begin, we are going to look at 1 Corinthians 10:31-33. This is where the authors of the Westminster Shorter Catechism came up with their statement about the purpose of man and it is truly a fitting place to begin our examination. It is a convicting passage!

o Paul writes to the Corinthians, a church he spent 18 months with and in chapter 10:31-33 says,

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.”- 1 Corinthians 10:31-33, ESV

o When we consider this 31st verse that we often quote, we need to remember the context. In verses 32 and 33 we see that context.

§ Not only does Paul want us to do everything to the glory of God, we are to avoid anything that provides ammunition for attacks to the enemies of the church!

· Paul uses a fascinating phrase in verse 33, saying that he does not seek his own advantage. That’s a huge part of a worshipping mindset!

· If man’s chief end in life is to glorify God, then there isn’t room in our lives to be chasing after our own glory! Further, I’d argue that when we REMOVE ourselves from the council of God, which is what we are doing when we seek OUR GLORY, we WILL give reasons for people to be upset!

o It doesn’t matter if it is seeking glory as in a better position, or seeking glory by receiving praise, when we seek that instead of GOD’S GLORY, we will stumble and we WILL give offense to people!

§ So, in 1 Corinthians 10:31, we see that IN WHATEVER WE DO, whatever we eat, we should give glory to God! But understand another aspect of the discussion in Corinth. There was a huge division in the church and community about the selling of meat that had been burned as a sacrifice to God.

· Paul’s argument about what should be done with this is that the meat itself doesn’t matter. What matters is whether or not it causes someone else to sin by thinking of worshipping this idol, or by disgracing God to the jewish people, causing them to discount the gospel.

o I fear that we don’t consider that enough. We are not only to avoid sinning, we should avoid tempting others to sin AND we should even avoid actions that would cause others to discount God!

o This is why our worship of God is so important! Genuine worship is not limited only to a service, it is an all-consuming thing that shapes every aspect of our life!

§ Our worship should be our biggest priority and as we WORSHIP GOD genuinely, we will bring GLORY TO GOD!

§ If we live out verse 31, then verse 32 will never happen and verse 33 won’t either! Instead of people walking away from Jesus, if our worship is genuine and consistent, then I firmly believe that our witness will reflect that!

· As we reflect that gospel witness to the world, we are WORSHIPPING GOD MORE AND ARE LIVING OUT THE MISSION THAT JESUS GAVE TO US!

· The Great Commission is intrinsically connected to our worship!

Consider George Liele. Born a slave, promised freedom if the British defeated the American colonists, fled America, worked as a servant again, all the while proclaiming Jesus! In all that he did, in his preaching, in his Job as a wagon driver and in his persecution for “agitaitng slaves” he praised the Lord and many came to faith through his ministry! His daily praise was powerful! He didn’t do these things for his glory, or his power, he did it for God! It’s a legacy of praise!

· Now, in 1 Corinthians 10:31-33, we saw that WORSHIPPING GOD is a powerful witness to the gospel! Psalm 89:1-4 talks specifically about A WAY to worship God. Psalm 89:1-4 says,

“I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.” You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’ Selah.”- Psalm 89:1-4, ESV

o This psalm is written by Ethan the Ezrahite. Ethan is talked about in 1 Kings 4:31 and again in 1 Chronicles 2:6. Ethan is said to be very wise, although not as wise as Solomon.

o His praise in Psalm 89:1-4 shows some of that wisdom I believe! Ethan writes powerful words that remind us of the hope that he held onto, a HOPE THAT WE KNOW ALL ABOUT!

§ As we read in verse 1, ETHAN SINGS OF THE STEADFAST LOVE OF THE LORD, FOREVER!

§ That’s a statement that is true for Ethan and should be true for us! Part of our worship is OUR SINGING AND OUR JOYOUSNESS! We should be overjoyed because of WHO GOD IS!

§ In particular, one thing that we can rejoice in is the STEADFAST LOVE OF THE LORD!

· It never changes, so we can sing of it FOREVER!

o Ethan speaks to God in verse 2 praising God for both his steadfast love and for God’s faithfulness!

§ One thing that we can learn from this is that as we praise God; as we WORSHIP OUR CREATOR, one great thing to do is to focus on SPECIFIC things to praise God for!

· I believe in fact that this is an instruction for us even! I believe that we SHOULD focus in on God and praise specific things that God has done or specific characteristics of God!

o For instance, when we sang, How Great Thou Art, we consider first the wondrous creation of the world, then we consider God’s wonderful plan to save us!

§ As we focus in on one or two things, we find ourselves SEEING GOD IN OUR LIVES! If we look for God’s steadfast love and faithfulness, I promise you, WE WILL FIND THOSE THINGS!

o Ethan continues on, hearing from God and giving us a reminder of a promise; the promise that there will be a Messiah, one who will rule forever! That’s why Ethan immediately tells us to stop and consider!

§ This is the most important promise in scripture because of what it means for us! THIS PROMISE IS THE REASON THAT WE CAN REJOICE AND PRAISE GOD!

· If it was not for this promise, then we would not be able to PRAISE GOD, because we would be separated from God!

o The Davidic covenant changed the course of human history- it included a promise that a descendant of David would rule forever. This descendant is JESUS!

§ GOSPEL!

§ We praise God BECAUSE OF WHO GOD IS AND BECAUSE OF WHAT HE’S DONE FOR US! And as we understand WHO GOD IS AND WHAT GOD DID, WE WILL HAVE A BURNING DESIRE TO PRAISE HIM! WE’LL BE CONSUMED!

§ Just consider the events of Revelation 4:10-11! The 24 elders take their crowns and they lay them down at the feet of Jesus because of WHO JESUS IS!

· Their position, their honor is NOTHING! In the same way, as we meditate and consider WHO GOD IS AND WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR US, WE’LL be ready to throw everything down to follow HIM!

IS THAT HOW YOU APPROACH GOD? DO YOU APPROACH GOD BELIEVING THAT HE IS WORTH EVERYTHING! DO YOU APPROACH GOD NOT FROM A POSITION OF YOUR COMFORT, BUT OF SERVICE?

· Ecclesiastes 12:13 really continues on with this thought. Ecclesiastes is believed to have been written by Solomon and the message of the book honestly is shown in Ecclesiastes 12:13. Solomon wrote,

“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”- Ecclesiastes 12:13 ESV

o Solomon explores many different sources of pleasure and fulfillment in Ecclesiastes and that is his final decision!

§ His final decision is that the MOST IMPORTANT THING; THE WHOLE DUTY OF MAN, is to fear God and keep God’s commands.

§ Now, how does that relate to worship?

§ Well, as we grow in fear of God, which happens when we truly know WHO GOD IS, we will want to praise God!

· Further, as we grow in understanding of God’s commandments and as we keep them, WE WILL WANT TO PRAISE GOD BECAUSE WE WILL BE MORE IN LOVE WITH GOD!

· In other words, as we KNOW WHO GOD IS AND UNDERSTAND WHY GOD SAYS WHAT GOD SAYS, WE WILL LEARN JUST HOW BADLY WE NEED GOD AND WE WILL PRAISE GOD FOR THAT ALL THE MORE!

o And remember, WHAT DOES PRAISE FOR GOD SAY TO THE WORLD? It shows the world how THEY NEED GOD! This isn’t some magical thing! As we follow God and are growing in our faith, going through sanctification, the world will see that we are different!

· As we continue on in our study of scripture, seeing what scripture says about the purpose of man, I want to call our attention to Psalm 145:21. At the very end of the psalm, we read,

“My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.”- Psalm 145:21, ESV

o This feels like the perfect final example to turn to when we talk about the importance of praising God, although there are hundreds of additional passages we could look at!

o But, this command feels like a great reminder to us. We are to PRAISE THE LORD AND ALL HUMANS SHOULD GLORIFY HIS HOLY NAME FOREVER AND EVER!

§ We should do this because of WHO GOD IS!

§ I want to challenge you this week with something. Take some time as you read the Bible and write down 1 thing each day that you learned about God! Write down just 1 thing each day that you SEE CLEARLY ABOUT GOD AS YOU STUDY SCRIPTURE! I promise, you’ll be blown away!

· This last week for instance, a few nights as I was winding down in the evening getting ready for bed, I had my phone read minor prophets to me.

o In Micah I saw God’s faithfulness when it came to promising THE MESSIAH! In Nahum I saw God’s justice and righteousness as God promised destruction for Nineveh! In Habakkuk I saw God’s mercy and faithfulness as God promised provision for Israel!

§ In Zepheniah, I saw the power of God as God declared punishment upon the people of Israel because of their disobedience. In Haggai I saw the attention to detail as the Lord spoke and told Haggai to rebuild the temple!

§ And in Malachi I saw the Lord’s design for worship and His Holiness as God rebuked the Israelites for their flippant worship that was focused on their comfort instead of being focused on God!

Malachi was honestly perfect to listen to this week because the warning that it gives is a warning THAT WE MUST HEED TOO! OUR WORSHIP MATTERS!

In fact, you can use our handout to jot down some notes for each of the next 7 days on what you learn about God!

What did I learn about God today?

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

Day 5:

Day 6:

Day 7:

· I promise, as you read scripture, you WILL see attributes of God and you will find yourself crying out in PRAISE BECAUSE OF WHO GOD IS! As I listened to these, I’d have to pause chapters and just cry out in PRAYER AND IN PRAISE!

· Now, before we move into a time of application on this, I want to go to the gospel of John and look at a passage that should be a warning to us. In John 12, Jesus enters Jerusalem and speaks to a crowd. In John 12:41-43 John provides us with some commentary on what goes on.

o Verses 42-43 say,

“Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.”- John 12:42-43, ESV

§ Here’s the warning: either you seek God’s glory or you seek your own glory! People in this crowd EVEN BELIEVED JESUS, but they lived in fear of losing their position and their own glory!

· Hear me out, God will provide a good and perfect reward, here referred to as “The glory that comes from God.” That glory is FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE GLORY OF MAN!

· But yet, these men wanted to please people. They liked the attention and they liked the position they had.

o Unfortunately, this is widespread in our culture. We don’t gather together to get glory, we don’t serve the Lord for our own glory, we do it FOR GOD’S GLORY!

§ I can’t stress enough how important this is! It’s super easy to bash the Pharisees, but here’s the issue, we can be just like them!

§ When we stop living out our purpose; glorifying GOD, we become like that and we will find ourselves transfixed on our OWN GLORY instead! It’s just what naturally happens!

· So as we move into our time of application, hear me clearly, this is a place where we must check our hearts. Do we live and labor for God’s glory or for our own?

· CONCLUSION: As we close out today, I see 7 points of application that I want us to talk about, four that apply to us as individuals and three that apply to our corporate worship. These are:

Application:

For Individuals

o Don’t let “Imperfect stop your praise”

o At all times, REJOICE!

o In all that we do, PRAISE GOD!

o Corporate Worship is a must!

For The Church

o Our worship must be intentional and built on the word of God!

o Our Worship matters to God

o Our corporate worship should be shaped around focusing our eyes onto God!

(Our corporate worship point 3-It isn’t about personal preference, it’s about what SCRIPTURE SAYS AND WHAT IS GLORIFYING TO GOD!)

· Let’s jump in.

o First, one objection that I often hear when we, or any church, brings up the importance of singing our praise to God is, “But trust me, you don’t want to hear me sing!”

§ However, let me challenge you, DO NOT LET IMPERFECT STOP YOUR PRAISE!

§ Recently, I finished reading Adorning the Dark by Andrew Peterson. Peterson is a song writer and in it, he talks about the challenges that he often feels in writing songs! He talks about the excuses that he uses to try and make himself feel better for not writing a song and all the things that he uses to distract himself.

· In his 5th chapter, he writes, “If you wait until the conditions are perfect, you’ll never write a thing.”

o I read that sentence, I reread that sentence and kept rereading it and found it sticking on my mind throughout this week!

§ “If you wait until the conditions are perfect, you’ll never write a thing.”

· I think the same could be said of our worship. “If you wait until you have the perfect voice, you’ll never sing.” Or, “If you wait until everything in life is perfect, you’ll never praise God!”

o Consider Philippians 4:5! REJOICE ALWAYS! Regardless of the situation, rejoice! Regardless of the situation, regardless of your talents, or your giftings, GIVE PRAISE TO GOD!

o So let me challenge you, whether you are in the best place right now or not, whether you love singing or are terrified someone will judge you, let’s praise God through our actions AND OUR VOICES!

§ After all, what is our purpose? WHAT IS THE CHIEF PURPOSE OF MAN? TO GLORIFY AND PRAISE GOD!

o Secondly, we must understand that at all times we should rejoice!

§ We’ve covered this today already, but let me just give a practical take on this. Each day, make note of one thing to give thanks to God for. Every day, just one thing! Trust me, it makes a huge difference!

§ Let’s cultivate an attitude of rejoicing at all times!

o Thirdly, let’s practically apply 1 Corinthians 10:31 to our lives! In other words, let’s PRAISE GOD IN ALL THAT WE DO!

§ This has a lot to do with attitudes! When someone asks for help, do you do it serving the Lord, or do you do it out of frustration and disappointment thinking about how it is an inconvenience?

· This stuff matters!

· It may not seem like much, but how are we glorifying God when we have a bad attitude? We aren’t! Instead, we are taking what God has given to us and saying, “Actually, God, I don’t like this. It isn’t good enough for me; I deserve better!”

o Shame on us for that! So, let’s be faithful and keep this in mind- the way that we act every day speaks about how we praise God! Do you praise God with your actions every single day?

§ It won’t be perfect, but part of sanctification is GROWING IN THIS! We should see GROWTH IN THIS AREA!

o Our fourth and final application point for us as individuals is that Corporate Worship is a Must!

§ In the book Corporate Worship: How the Church gathers as God’s people by Matt Merker, Merker says, “God gathers us to glorify him!”

· Consider that! We gather not for our glory or our convenience, but to GLORIFY GOD! So, when we neglect to gather, when we put other things in our life in place of gathering together as a body of believers, we are in essence saying that those things matter more than us glorifying and praising God!

o I know that is strong, but it’s true. The word of God is clear; our corporate worship matters! Ephesians 5:19 gives us a direct command to GATHER! This command isn’t just an Old Testament command, this is a NT command too!

o So, we must gather! We need to build our weeks with corporate worship at the center! IT IS GENUINELY THAT IMPORTANT!

§ Let me challenge you, do not let a week go by where you are not gathered with other believers corporately worshipping GOD! This isn’t about church attendance, this is about the rich fellowship and worship that comes from this!

· Now, let’s move into three applications for our church.

o First, Our worship must be intentional and built on the word of God!

§ Bryan Chappell, the theologian once said, “Whether one intends it or not, our worship patterns always communicate something.”

· Our worship communicates a message! What message does it send? We genuinely need to consider this! Paul is clear in his writing that we should ground our worship upon the word of God!

· The word of God must be the focus of our church! If you minimize the word of God and the preaching of God’s word, then people will stall in their faith!

o This isn’t just my opinion, this is the truth! There’s a reason that we open scripture together every sunday! It’s an act of corporate discipleship that praises God as we point our minds towards God, examining HIS WORD AND HIS DIRECTIONS!

o Every detail of our service matters. Matt Merker shows this well in his book. For instance, when writing about singing, he provides 7(!) examples of things that we should consider about HOW WE SING! This doesn’t even contain the concepts of WHAT SHOULD BE SUNG, which is another few pages long!

§ My point is, we need to be intentional and purposeful in our worship time together, pointing one another towards the LORD!

o Our Worship matters to God

§ As I read earlier, “God gathers us to glorify Him!”

· Our corporate time really matters to us and it matters to God!

· LIG DUNCAN wrote a tremendous short book, “Does God care how we worship?”

The simple answer is YES! Ligon Duncan spends the length of this book not debating song selection, but instead pointing our eyes towards the theological implications of what we do! I won’t dive deeply into his argument, but throughout the BIBLE GOD TELLS US WHAT TO DO!

I love how Duncan says this. He says, “God teaches us how to think about him and how to approach him. The further we get away, then, from his directions the less we actually worship.”

Our worship is not centered on us, instead, it is centered on God! Just to quote Ligon one more time, he says, “True worship has in view spiritual communion with the living God.”

That’s why it matters how we worship! We want to be deliberate about HOW WE WORSHIP because we want to experience this communion with the living God!

o Finally, I just want to bluntly and honestly say, our corporate worship should be shaped around focusing our eyes onto God! It isn’t about personal preference, it’s about what SCRIPTURE SAYS AND WHAT IS GLORIFYING TO GOD!

§ Let’s be honest, we all have opinions about songs that we like or don’t like. We all have preferences on a million little things. But, let me call us to unity. To be clear, I’m not calling us to not caring, I’m calling us to God-centered unity, built not on a lack of caring, but instead built on the foundation of wanting to do what God says in scripture! There’s a difference!

· I’m calling us to look at our opinions and submit them to God. Let’s give God the glory and make sure that our services, our decisions and our worship as a church and as individuals is focused not on us, but on God.

Let me give us one last challenge. As you come to church, prepare your heart! Go to the Lord in prayer, seek God and submit yourself to Him! Confess sins, confess struggles and cling to God! But genuinely, take time to prepare yourself before we worship together each week.

To be clear, I’m not promoting legalism, I’m promoting CONFESSION AND COMMUNION WITH GOD! I don’t want you to follow more rules, I want you to WALK WITH THE LIVING GOD WHO MADE YOU AND I!

o Let’s pray.

Benediction: Psalm 84:1-4