In the last two messages, we considered "God’s chief end and ours" and "man’s chief end." Today we will continue this theme by narrowing down to the fulfillment of our chief end. But before we take up some "how tos" of fulfillment a couple of prefatory remarks should be made.

1) Because God’s glory is a chief and ultimate end that God seeks more than anything else then this goal will be realized through His governance of every fact of created existence. Thus even disobedience is worked to His glory. The judgment of unbelievers serves to display His patience toward them and the riches of His glory toward vessels of mercy ordained for glory (Rom. 9:22-24). While reading this passage consider how the questions make assertions: He did display His wrath, power and patience; He did make the riches of His glory known; He did show mercy to Gentiles.

We might call this the negative working of glory or glorifying God indirectly. To glorify God indirectly is not a worthy or pleasant way to honor God because it means that we fail to be what we are designed to be, we fail to have meaning, value, dignity that accords with our creation in God’s image. It is thus an unfulfilling way to live and it leads ultimately to eternal death.

For the saint, to walk on this negative road, and to glorify God despite oneself, is the way of the vexed conscience, the valley of despair, chastening from the Father, and various consequences fitted to our disobedience. Thus it is important that we carefully and thoughtfully consider the "how tos" of glorifying God in the direct, positive, and best sense.

2) Glorifying God in a direct and positive way begins with faith. The call to glorify God is a gospel overture that stands at the starting point of faith, which is defined in contrast to our tendency toward self-centeredness. The gospel is a summons to turn away from yourself but toward God, "to fear God and give Him glory" (cf. the proclamation of an eternal gospel, Rev. 14:6-7). Without faith our lives will never glorify God in the direct and positive sense. Thus the "how tos" of glorifying God are extremely important and they apply only to believers.

1A. First, we fulfill our chief end by prayer

If you are going to make glorifying God your most important and final end, then you must begin with prayer in at least three ways.

1B. First, pray against self-glorification

This is the point of Psalm 115:1, "not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory because of your love and faithfulness." For emphasis the negative is repeated. The glory, glory in the ultimate sense, does not belong to us and should not be given to us. Interestingly, this is made a matter of prayer: "O Lord may this be avoided among us." This expresses a conscious recognition that we tend toward self-glorification.

To do this is to pray against pride. It is to acknowledge that we have a tendency to think of ourselves more highly than we ought. In praying "not unto us" we pray for humility before God and before others. I think this is a cleansing of the inner person for us to acknowledge our comparative smallness with respect to other people before God knowing that the superiority of others to us in this or that is due to God’s providential will.

2B. Second, pray for the glorification of God’s name

To fulfill our chief end, we need to pray for the glorification of God’s name even when we seek His blessing. His glory is a higher and greater end than our good. Ezekiel 36:36 the Sovereign Lord says that He is going to give new hearts in order to save sinners but it is "not for your sake" but "for the sake of my holy name." So we seek our good for His glory (cf. Ps. 23:3).

To pray this way means that seeking our glory can never be independent or separate from the greatest goal of God’s glory. It means that when we seek our own glory we do so for the glory of God.

When we pray this way (not for me but for thee) we are saying that our good, our pleasure, our blessing, and our honor are not, and can never be, our chief or ultimate end. The glory we seek to possess in the face of Christ by the gospel we seek for the end beyond all ends, the glory of God (not merely for our honor).

Thus the Lord’s prayer begins with petition for the glory of God: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name." So we do not pray that Westminster Reformed Church be honored, that I be honored as pastor, or you be honored as husbands, wives, and so forth except that God so bless us for His name’s sake.

3B. Pray for one another to the end that God be glorified

Prayer for the saints is made with certain goals in mind: abounding love, knowledge, discernment, spiritual fruits (Phil. 1:9-11). But the chain of goals leads to a chief and ultimate goal, the praise and glory of God. This is a final reference point guiding all intercession.

2A. Second, we fulfill our chief end by the law

A few weeks ago we spent some time on a text that confirms this point in an extremely clear way. We called it a key "continuity" passage. As you know, matters of the law of God have to be dealt with in both the OT and NT. The passage I have in mind places stress on how we are to think about the law. The passage is Matthew 5:17. Here we are told not to think discontinuity but continuity regarding the relation of Christ to the law.

And what the law means is clarified by our Lord. a) It refers to all the details of God’s commandments contained in the entire OT Law and Prophets (v. 17-18). We are to cultivate an attitude in which even the least of the commandments are to be practiced and taught (v. 19). The principle of continuity strikes home at this very point. Given that there are great changes in the shift from the OT to the NT, we are still to look to all of God’s commandments, even the ceremonial laws, for continuity. We are to think, practice, and teach the fulfillment forms of the laws of Moses. So don’t think these details have been abolished. Seek how to live them in their new wineskin forms. b) The law is also clarified to refer precisely and especially to the Ten Commandments in their true spirit and intent. Two examples are the 6^th and 7^th commandments regarding murder and adultery (5:21-26; 5:27-32) along with other examples in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7).

What bearing does this have on glorifying God? It has every bearing because all of these commandments in their true spirit and intent define good works and Jesus tells us that good works glorify God (5:16). Of course, good works mean nothing without faith just as God is not glorified (in a direct and positive way) by deeds done without repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ the risen Savior. Works done from repentance and faith glorify God.

Therefore, it is fundamental to the fulfillment of our design by creation in the image of God that we pursue the law of God. It is where we find the pathway of conduct that glorifies God. Because the law is essential to glorifying God then it is essential in giving us our true humanness, dignity, value, meaning and purpose.

By submission to the law we honor the Lord Jesus as our king, God as our Father, and the Holy Spirit as our teacher. It is not legalism if it is to God’s commandments that we submit ourselves. Legalism is being bound (or trying to bind) by the commandments of men. It can be parasitic. That is, legalism can feed off of God’s law as was done by the Pharisees. Of course, we must avoid all forms of legalism. These abuses may cause us to stumble at the law.

Instead of stumbling at the law, we should make it our delight in life. It is presented classically in Psalm 119:41-48 in association with the following things: love, promise, God’s word, truth, hope, obedience, freedom, delight, and meditation. God is as near as His law (Ps. 119:151). The law is loved, it is like honey and the light of a lamp (Ps. 119:97-105). God’s face shines in His teaching of His decrees. So by listening to His word and trusting in the ministry of His Spirit we come into God’s presence indicated by the radiance of His shining face (Ps. 119:135).

Therefore, the importance and centrality of glorifying God entails the importance and centrality of the law. We need to attend to all of God’s precepts, especially to the Ten Words in active pursuit of the great end of all that exists.

3A. Third, we fulfill our chief end by love

We have already seen how love is a goal in prayer for one another that has the further goal of glorifying God (Phil. 1:9-11). Love is others oriented and love fulfills the law so it is another way of pursuing the law to the glory of God. The accent on love is a narrowing down to a specific regulation of our conduct. As Edwards put it, we are to regulate our lives in such a way that we prefer the welfare of God’s people as our chief joy (Edwards, End, 116).

Think of it as a specific in following our Father’s example. The good of sinners is an objective that supremely leads to the manifestation of His glory. It is a subordinate end that God diligently seeks in order to glorify His name. In working the good of undeserving sinners, He displays His perfections in unparalleled fashion.

Therefore, we should likewise seek the good of sinners, especially the spiritual good of God’s elect (we are to love all people especially those of the household of faith). Seeking the good of sinners may be called "whole fabric evangelism" where we endure "all things for the elect’s sake, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory" (2 Tim. 2:10; cf. 2 Cor. 4:15, "For all things are for your sakes."). Whole fabric evangelism is like the piece of thread that will unwind the whole fabric because it is all tied together as a unit. Likewise, evangelism includes gospel preaching to those who are outside the household of faith, gospel preaching to those who have made profession of faith in baptism, and gospel preaching to those who gather regularly for public worship. Evangelism is simply gospel proclamation for the gathering in and the edification of God’s people.

So pastors are to work for the good of the church, even suffer many things to this end (as Paul states in 2 Tim. 2:10). Likewise, Christians are to endure many things with this as a fundamental goal that is geared to glorifying God. As Edwards put it, "every Christian should, in all he does, be employed for the good of the church, as each particular member is employed for the good of the body" (Ibid. 116). Obviously the feet cannot say to the eye, "We don’t need you" because walking about in the dark will lead to stubbed toes. But the eye cannot say to the feet, "I don’t need you." How will the eye move around to see all that there is to see, with no feet (to picture eyes with feet shows the need of the whole body and each member in particular). Some verses in this regard are: Romans 12:4-5, Ephesians 4:15-16, 1 Corinthians 12:12, 25 (it is an angelic employment as well, Heb. 1:14; by a fortiori if an angelic work how much more it should be ours).

This means that we must try to spread the gospel far and wide as best we can given our gifts, circumstances, and resources. It also means that we will give a priority to the people of God beginning here in our fellowship and including all who name the name of Christ (husbands, wives, children, friends, brothers and sisters in the Lord). It must begin here where we are eyeball to eyeball as we think of ministering to others far and wide.

4A. Fourth, we glorify God by our confession.

By our "confession" I mean the praise we give to the Lord and about Him with others. Both senses are contained in Philippians 2:9-11 where we are told that "every knee shall bow" and "every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." That has to be a universal and public confession that is directed to the Lord (with others and to the Lord). This acknowledgment of Christ is "to the glory of God the Father" (v. 11). Perhaps we can distinguish between a confession of praise and a confession of faith. On one hand we speak to the Lord with adoring wonder about His majesty and greatness. On the other hand we speak to one another with adoring wonder about His majesty and greatness. Both give confession and both give praise. The only difference is the direction to the Lord versus about Him.

In this light, it is important to understand a major function of the church. That is, it is important to understand ourselves as the church as members of Christ and thereby joined to one another. I suppose many answers can be given to the question, "What is the church for?" I think a central purpose is that we glorify God by our confession. This is of course in song, prayer, preaching, teaching, conversation, and our very confession of faith.

Consider 1 Peter 2:9 in this regard. The church is a holy nation, a people who belong to God, and a royal priesthood. Why? The language here is "to declare the praises." Again, both elements are here: confessional declaration and praise. Praises are to be not only offered but declared by preaching, teaching, confession of faith, and personal testimony.

The function is straightforward: declare the praises. These are praises "of or to Him" and "about Him." Peter is saying that we are to take the praises that we normally offer to God and reiterate them in the form of a declaration. That means to state, show, reveal, and affirm the praises of God emphatically as in the Fanny Crosby song Praise Him, Praise Him (note where "glory to God" appears in the song and declaration, vs. 3 and the chorus).

Praise him! Praise him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer

Heavenly portals loud with hosannas ring!

Jesus, Saviour, reigneth forever and ever;

Crown him crown him! Prophet, and Priest, and King!

Christ is coming! Over the world victorious,

Pow’r and glory unto the Lord belong

Praise him! Praise him! Tell of his excellent greatness

Praise him! Praise him! Ever in joyful song!

I like the Fanny Crosby song "Praise Him, Praise Him." It has many good lines but there is something specific in our declaration of praise that is missing in this hymn. Peter tells us that we have been "chosen" to belong to God to declare the praises of Him "who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Pet. 2:9). In other words, we honor and glorify God in prayer, singing, preaching, teaching, testifying, and conversing about God’s call that brought us out of utter darkness into marvelous light. This is God’s effectual call that brings us "out of" something and "into" something else. God’s call effects this result. It is His work alone. We do not help Him in it. We are unable to help Him. We were in a dark blindness and could not do a surgery on our own eyes to heal them. It is not the case that we help God in the sense that we allow God to do the surgery. Some claim that we must allow Him to do this or it will not be done. But this misses the point that our dark blindness means that we did not have the ability to cooperate with God in anyway. Being in darkness means we were dead in trespasses and sins and therefore could not respond in any positive way. We could do no spiritual good. Being in darkness means that we were unable to yield to God, cooperate with God, submit to God, or trust in God (Eph. 2:1; Jn. 6:44-45).

But God who chose us before the foundation of the world to be His people also called us at a point in time. His call saves. His call breaks the power of sin. It dispels the darkness. The Crosby hymn needs some of these words from Wesley: "Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature’s night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose went forth and followed thee."

It is our purpose as a church to make declarations like this one in the Wesley hymn. The darkness was binding (as well as blinding). We were imprisoned in the dark blindness of sin and death. But God quickened us, that is, He made us alive so we awoke and could then see the light of the gospel in the face of Jesus Christ. Therefore, being freed, we followed Him.

This is what it means to be "reformed" as in the Westminster Reformed Church. We are here to make declaration of pure and sovereign grace to the glory of God the Father. Thus we are here to declare the praises.

Thus, to fulfill this end of our existence as a church and as the children of God, to fulfill the great end of glorifying God we must do so by prayer, by the law, by love, and by confession. To Him be the glory forever, amen.