Man’s Chief End – Enjoying God Forever
Man’s Chief End – Enjoying God Forever
Pastor Barry Kerner
In 1965, 20th Century Fox produced the movie The Sound of Music. Based on the memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp, the film is about a young Austrian woman in Salzburg, Austria. The novice had applied for admission to religious monastery and in 1938 she finds herself sent to the villa of a retired naval officer and widower to be governess to his seven children. After bringing love and music into the lives of the family, she marries the officer and together with the children find a way to survive the loss of their homeland to the Nazis.
Julie Andrews played the starring role of the young novice and sang many memorable songs throughout the musical. One of my favorite has always been, My Favorite Things. Maria sings of some of her favorite things, such as “crisp apple strudels, warm woolen mittens, and wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings “. These are the things she selects to fill her mind with, bringing her gladness, when times are bad. Those are some things which Maria enjoys and which bring a smile to her face and a warm fuzzy feeling to her heart.
Everyone has their own “Favorite Things” which they enjoy and which can lift their spirits. Watching my children play sports is one of my favorite things. I especially enjoy it when the play goes to them or they have the ball. Another of my favorite things is hunting in the fall. I enjoy the crisp cool air, the smell of the woods and especially enjoy it when I catch a glimpse of an animal. I only hunt deer but whether it’s a pheasant or turkey, deer or fox or even a small squirrel or chipmunk just seeing them causes my heart to race and brings enjoyment to my day. I am blessed that there are many other times in my life when I can also honestly say, “I really enjoyed that!”
Last week I talked about the Westminster Shorter Catechism. The WSC is a series of 107 questions and answers to help children learn about God and His relationship with man. The first question and answer is:
- 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
As I discussed last week, we can’t bring glory to God or increase His glory in any way. We can however, reflect and magnify His glory by our lives. I like the second part of the answer which says that our chief end, one of our reasons for being, is to enjoy God forever. The second question and answer of the WSC gives us the guide to achieve our end of enjoying God forever:
- 2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?
- The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.
God so wants us to enjoy Him that it is not an option, He commands it. Philippians 4:4 tells us to, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice”. But can we really be ordered to enjoy something?
Scripture shows that well-instructed, faithful believers develop a habit of rejoicing. Rejoicing in the Lord has become second nature to them. Habakkuk 3:17-18 exemplifies this determination to rejoice:
“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will be joyful in God my Savior, this in difficult days”
Habakkuk exercised “acting faith”—an energetic determination to experience whatever the Lord commands, including joy, and to use the God-given means to do so. Just as Maria von Trapp thought of her favorite things when times were bad, we too can focus on our favorite things: God’s goodness and blessings when dire situations arise.
To the unbeliever, joy is entirely dependent on circumstances which are superficial and ever changing. On the other hand the Christian’s joy comes from a source which cannot be touched by the world. This joy stems from a perspective centered in the eternal and not the temporal. While it would be foolish for the Christian to forget his earthly responsibilities, it is at the same time impossible for him who has been born again and has become a new creation filled with the Holy Spirit to lose sight of his eternal destiny.
There are four areas in which the Spirit of the Lord is the causal agent of the Joy of the Lord becoming as second nature in the life of every believer.
Joy in Salvation
Just as God takes joy in our salvation (Luke 15:6–7, 9–10, 32), enjoying God means savoring the salvation He gives us in Jesus Christ. “I will take joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:18) “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation.” (Isaiah 61:10-11)
While we are commanded to have joy, the resources to do so are outside of ourselves. They are known only to the believer through union with Jesus Christ. With salvation comes the indwelling Spirit of God and the fruit produced. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22) “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:7) Joy therefore is the result of the Holy Spirit working within the life of a believer.
Joy in Revelation
Joy results from ingesting God’s written revelation and allowing it to transform us and to become a very part of us. In Psalm 119, the psalmist declares, “I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.” (Psalm 119:14) That joy is to be found in God’s word is also evident in Psalms 119:35, 47, 70, 77, 103, 162, 174. Jesus told His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). The journey to experiencing joy in the Lord, then, is to give ourselves every opportunity to be exposed to His Word and to let it dwell in us richly (Colossians 3:16). Jesus told His followers, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) God’s Word, which is sweeter than honey, (Psalm 19:10) is joy-food for the joy-hungry soul.
Joy in Communion
The joy of the Lord is to be found in the worship we enjoy in church communion. The psalmist declares that God’s holy city, His church which is the New Jerusalem, is, “Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King.” (Psalm 48:2). When the Holy Spirit draws us together and leads us in a communion of worship, praise and prayer, abundant joy is to be found. When we gather together in His name, “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17) When the Lord sings over us with joy, our hearts sing for joy all the more in return.
Joy in Tribulation
Many struggle with the divine paradox of how a loving God could allow pain and suffering. This seeming contradiction can be resolved when we realize that there is joy to be found in the midst of and through affliction. Careful reading of the scriptures leads us to understand that tribulation is the Father’s chastising hand using life’s pain and darkness to mold us into the image of the One who endured for the sake of the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:1–2, 5–11, Romans 8:29).
Peter and James echo the same principle of the trials we endure producing good fruit in our lives(1 Peter 1:3–8; James 1:2–4). The knowledge of the sure hand of God in providence not only brings stability; it is also a joy-producer.
In Paul’s letter to the Romans, “we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:2-5) We exult and rejoice in our sufferings, Paul says, because “suffering produces . . . hope” in us (Romans 5:3–4) and we find we can glory and find joy in our sufferings because of God’s love for us.
- What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
And we know that God is glorified when the joy of the Lord is ours: “Those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” (Isaiah 51:11)