Q. 1. What is the chief and highest end of man?
A. Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him for ever.
Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 10:31; Ps. 73:24-28; John 17:21-23.
Rom. 11:36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Christians, Pastors, Churches go wrong from the outset when they fail to rightly understand the very first question to the Westminster catechisms. Our ultimate end and purpose is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
God is at the center, both of our glorifying (for He alone is worthy of all praise, worship, service, adoration, and all of it is to be done according to His will as revealed in the Bible) and enjoying (for God is the highest good and glory, and to be made in His image to be like Him by serving Him according to His Word is the greatest possible joy there could be). It is not man at the center.
But pastors, churches, and Christians today show that they are man-centered when God is putting you in the spotlight, and Christ died because you are the star of the show. Christ died to glorify the Father, and the Father sent the Son to honor His Son with the name above all names, and the Holy Spirit has been sent to magnify Christ and His ministry, all of which reveals the Father.
In the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, there is a "selfless self-love", which is to say, in the One God, existing in three persons, each person magnifies the other (selfless), all of which glorifies the one true, Triune God (self-love).
It is right that God be self-centered. He is, after all, God. It is not only right and glorious, and only a true and glorious God would demand He be praised, but it is also what is best for those made in His image. Mankind is commanded to be like God. God has purposed in His redeemed people to see to it that we will be like Him, to be holy as He is holy. Could there be a greater love and glory that God has bestowed upon His elect people, that we would be children of God, and truly resemble Him? That is, we are restored in His image, as His children, in true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness.
But what does the Church preach today? A lesser god, a false god that is man-centered. Either God will be the center of all things, Christ the God-Man in particular, or sinful, creaturely, men and women shall be, or some lesser part of His creation. Supreme glory cannot be shared, by definition. Is God supremely glorious, and the highest joy of all, because of who He is in Himself, and what He has done to reveal Himself, both in judging some of the wicked in their sins and redeeming some of the wicked out of their sins and into His Son, to bear the image of Christ the heavenly man, glorifying and enjoying Him?
But so few pastors and churches are even giving what the Apostle Paul states is the "upward call" when he says, "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
That high, heavenly, holy, upward calling is to glorify God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, and to enjoy this glorious God, particularly by enjoying being like Him.
But today, many are taught in so-called churches to delight in God because He doesn't make any demands of you, that He simply pacifies us in our sin, mutes the pain, and soothes the conscience gnawing away at you. I shouldn't have to tell you whose voice that really is -- the father of lies, Satan.
But let me ask you this. Where is the glory and enjoyment in that? Is it really glorious that the God who has made all, is so weak and impotent that He demands nothing, and empowers you to do nothing, but is like nothing more than another drug to try to soothe your pain, suffering, and sin? What joy is there in that, except a deceiving, fleeting one that momentarily makes you think that you aren't so bad after all, that this world isn't so cruel after all, and that really everything is perfectly fine.
You know that isn't true. The sinful world, the fallen flesh, and the scheming devil are still at work. But the good news is Christ, through the cross, has crushed Satan, the serpent's head, and for his people, who come to Him in true faith and repentance, He has promised eternal life, one of Resurrection and Redemption, that is, one that is new, lifted up out of your sin and its penalty which is death, through the atoning death of Christ, who shed His blood to pay for sin, and then fill His people with His Spirit, to know Him through His Word, and love and serve Him from new hearts.
This is only good news, true glory and joy, for those who are being humbled and broken over their sin, not lying and denying it, and for those who are turning from sin in shame and to God in Christ through faith, that even wretches like you and me can be made to inherit glory, seated with Christ the High King of heaven, to worship and even rule with Him forever.
The Gospel is the good news of Christ's kingdom come down, in His person, and in His power by His outpoured Spirit and completed revelation of Himself in the Bible. The Spirit works through the Word, and the Word is empowered by the Spirit.
Do you want to serve the one, true, glorious God, and His Son Jesus Christ, by the power of His Holy Spirit? Do you want victory over sin, sadness, and ultimately pain and suffering, in living union with Him? Do you want to truly love Him and love others as He has called. Do you want to be a citizen in God's kingdom, a soldier of the cross, a saint to inherit heaven and earth?
Then you must depart from unbelief, or false belief fed to you by false religions or false churches, that peddle a needy, beggarly, God, and a gentle, passive Jesus, who by His very passivity has no power to actually save you, forgive you, and empower you to be strong and mighty for Him.
In God's kindness, He always preserves faithful churches, though they are always imperfect and sinful until the one Church of God is presented as His spotless bride at His return. Find a faithful churches who is preaching and striving to live out that man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and to fully enjoy Him forever.
This is our confession at Heritage Reformed Presbyterian Church. Come and worship with us, and find true communion with the body of Christ to know, love, serve, glorify, and enjoy Him.
https://www.heritagereformedchurch.com/
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