MAN’S CHIEF END
Westminster
Shorter Catechism 1
Quest. What
is the chief end of man?
Ans. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
Introduction
Now, 1647
is a long time ago, isn’t it? Just think about it, the Westminster Shorter
Catechism has been taught by Presbyterians to generations of her children for
hundreds of years!
What is the Westminster Shorter Catechism all about? Well, the first three questions
and answers are introductory. They deal with:
1. The chief end of man, or man’s
reason for being, his purpose.
2. Where man finds direction for
attaining his chief end. Viz., the rule of guidance as laid out in the
Scriptures.
3. What man is to believe concerning
God and what He requires us to do. Viz., What the Scriptures teach.
According
to the layout provided by Roderick Lawson of Maybole, these things are dealt
with in the first three questions, which are introductory. Questions 4-38 tell
us What we are to believe. And questions 39 to the final question 107
tell us What we are to do.
So,
questions and answers 1-3 are introductory. Questions and answers
4-38 tell us what we are to believe. And questions 39-107 tell us
what we are to do.
Most
Presbyterians have WSC #1 memorized: What is the chief end of man? Man’s
chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever. Now, how many of us
could recite the remaining 106? How many of us are even familiar with the
remaining 106 questions and answers of our own Catechism?
Well, hopefully by the time you read the following we will all be more familiar with the wealth of solid Biblical teaching condensed in the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
Glorifying
God
The
Lord's Apostle Paul under inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote these words as
recorded in 1 Corinthians 10:31: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or what
ever you do, do all to the glory of God.” He also wrote in Romans 11:36: “For
of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.
Amen.”
Now, we
need to begin by saying a couple of words about “proof-texts.” These two verses
are given by the compilers of the Westminster Shorter Catechism as examples
of what ALL the Scriptures teach about Man glorifying God.
The men
who wrote the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Larger and
Shorter Catechisms did so without the so-called “proof-texts”. They were
asked by the Parliament of the day if they wouldn’t mind supplying specific examples
of where to find in the Bible each doctrine taught in the Confession and
Catechism. The Westminster Divines, (as they’re called), with no little
reservation complied with the request. However, the reason these men were loath
to supply verses as “proof” of doctrine, was that they didn’t want to be
accused reducing the Bible to a series of “proof-texts”.
The
Westminster ‘Divines’ believed in the principle of Scripture interpreting
Scripture (Sola Scriptura). Therefore, every text of Scripture must be
viewed in light of every other text of Scripture. Every doctrine in the
Scriptures must be viewed in light of every other doctrine in Scripture. They
believed that every doctrine taught in the Bible is a component of the
whole of what the Bible teaches.
To be
sure, Church movements and whole Denominations have been formed by people who
have grabbed hold of certain components or “proof-texts” of Scripture. For
instance, Movements and Denominations have been formed around the mode of
baptism, interpretation of prophecy, the doctrine of holiness, charismatic
gifts, etc. But the Westminster Divines, in line with the Apostle Paul in Acts
20:27, believed in declaring “the whole counsel of God.”
So, yes,
you may call the Scripture texts at the foot of the Westminster documents
“proof texts”. But you need to know that they were primarily given as
examples of what the whole Bible teaches on the particular subject
addressed. Even the very first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism
should alert us to this fact. The chief end of man is not to baptise or
evangelise or prophesy or speak in tongues. No, the chief end of man is to
glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Which is to say that every sphere, be it
baptizing, evangelising, prophesying, speaking in tongues in the true and
proper sense is to be done to the glory of God!
“Whether
you eat or drink, or what ever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1
Corinthians 10:31. Therefore all things, everything we do is to be done to and
for His glory. Therefore everything you do in the sphere of the family is to be
done for His glory. Everything you do at school, at college or university is to
be done to His glory. Everything you do at work and at play is to be done to
His glory. Everything you do as part of the Church is to be done to His glory.
Everything you do in science, in politics, in peace, in war is to be done to
His glory – everything! Why? Because “…of Him and through Him and to Him are all
things, to whom be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36).
Now, doing
everything to God’s glory is simply just another way of putting God first in
everything you do. And, speaking of “proof texts”, what else does glorifying God
mean if not delighting in keeping the 1st Commandment? “You shall
have no other goods before Me” (Exod. 20:3). Now, it goes without saying that
some balk at the idea of there being any joy in keeping God’s Commandments. “Rules
are made to be broken!” “Rules restrict!” They may even quote the Bible, “The
letter kills!” But, to misunderstand God’s Law is to misunderstand the Gospel. The
Gospel saves us from the Law’s condemnation. However, once saved, the Law is our
means of glorifying and enjoying God. It’s a heart thing. Having a heart for God
means that “I delight in the law of God according to the inward man” (Rom. 7:22)
while outwardly doing everything to your heart’s delight!
Abraham
Kuyper was Prime Minister of the Netherlands as the 1900s began. He declared at
the opening of the Christian Free University of Amsterdam: “…that there is not
even so much as a thumb-breadth of the universe in respect of which the Lord
Jesus Christ cannot say: ‘Give it to Me! That’s Mine!’” If everything in the
universe belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, then every sphere in that universe
belongs to Him too.
Abraham
Kuyper spelled out and developed the Biblical system of “sphere-sovereignty”
(developed further by Herman Dooyeweerd). In sphere-sovereignty the Christian
is encouraged to reclaim every sphere of life, be it Religion, Family,
Education, Politics, the Sciences, Art, Architecture or even the Future for God
and His glory.
Abraham
Kuyper definitely believed in WSC #1. He believed that the chief end of man is
to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Abraham Kuyper actually did something
about it. He didn't just talk about it. He developed it and put it into action!
Now,
we’re not trying to glorify Abraham Kuyper. It’s God we seek to glorify.
However, we use Kuyper as a fairly recent example to help us understand how we
are to glorify God. It’s all very well for the Presbyterian and Reformed people
to mouth the 1st Catechism. But we need to put our beliefs into
action, don't we?
An even
more recent example of this thinking is Cornelius Van Til who died in 1987. Van
Til, like Kuyper was a Dutchman, but unlike Kuyper, Van Til moved to America.
Cornelius Van Til developed the Kuyperian “life-system” even more. Van Til
developed this life-system into a sort of first-line-of-defence for
Christianity.
But not
only is it a life-system for the defence of the faith, but it’s also for the
conquering of every sphere of life and the universe for Christ to the glory of
God! And whence did Kuyper and Van Til get their ideas? Whence did the
“Westminster Divines” who compiled the Westminster Confession of Faith, Larger
and Shorter Catechisms get their ideas? Well, we’re going to have to answer
that by saying that they got their ideas from God speaking in Scripture.
But there
was a man of God, a great theologian whom God used mightily to His glory. God
raised this man up at the time of the Reformation to systematize what the Bible
teaches. The man is of course John Calvin who was a Frenchman; indeed France is
close to the Netherlands.
John
Calvin completed his “Institutes of the Christian Religion” in 1536. This work
had a very profound effect on the course of the Reformation. Calvin
subsequently enlarged on his “Institutes”. The book was intended only as a
brief manual stating the doctrines of the persecuted Protestants. The work was
based on the principle that the Scriptures are the sole source of Christian
truth. The Institutes contain a complete outline of Calvin’s system of
theology.
The Westminster Divines applied Calvin’s system of theology. So did Kuyper and Van Til. Therefore what we’re looking at here is the heart of Calvinism. The heart of Calvinism is simply the teaching found throughout all the Scriptures, that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
Enjoying
God
The
Psalmist is Psalm 73:25-28 says, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is
none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God
is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” We see that this Psalmist,
(his name is Asaph), delights in God. There’s none upon earth that he desires
apart from God. Thus it’s not hard to imagine this man glorifying God in every
sphere of his life.
With
Asaph as our example, we see then, that there’s a strong connection between glorifying
God and enjoying Him. If a person is genuinely enjoying God he will
inevitably be glorifying Him. But does this work the other way? Are all those
who are consciously and actively striving to glorify God actually enjoying Him?
Well, we’d have to say that there are some who try to glorify God from a wrong
motive.
What
about those people you find from time to time whom you think are Christians
right up until they are converted? It’s only after they’re converted that you
discover that they were only striving to glorify God because they thought
that’s how a person gets saved!
If you
had looked a Martin Luther’s life before his conversion, perhaps you’d have
thought that he was illustrating the chief end of man. But all he was trying to
do when he was striving to be obedient to God and His Law was save his own hide
from hell! In other words, before his conversion Martin Luther was certainly
not enjoying God, even though it might have looked like he might have
been glorifying Him.
So, it
should be clear then, that only the truly converted can truly glorify God and
enjoy Him forever. Therefore, we may fool some people when we’re striving to
glorify God outwardly. But, if we are to truly enjoy God then we will be
glorifying Him inwardly. If you do not have an inward delight in God then you
are not truly glorifying Him. In a word, you are far from enjoying Him forever.
Proverbs
4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues
of life.” As water bubbles forth from a fountain, so will good things flow out
of us if we store those good things in our heart. As Jesus says in Matthew
7:34, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” You are to love
the Lord your God with all your heart! As the Psalmist Asaph has said, “…there
is none upon earth that I desire besides You.” He is saying that he has
no other gods before him because God, God alone is his delight, his joy.
So, this
doesn’t mean that we’ve not to have joy in our family. We delight in our
family; but we delight first and foremost in God and His Christ as the head of
our family. Nor does it mean that we don’t delight in our religion. For we
delight in Christianity; but we delight first and foremost in God and His
Christ as the head of our religion. The same goes with our politics. We delight
in our politics. But we delight first and foremost in God and His Christ as the
head of our politics.
It’s the
same with every sphere of life, even in the arts and sciences. We delight in
these things, for they are part of our lives; but we delight first and foremost
in God and His Christ as the head of every sphere of our lives. It’s not God
first, family second, religion third, politics fourth and so on. No, it’s God
first in the family, in religion, in politics and so forth.
We are to
glorify and ENJOY God in every sphere of life. But, to enjoy God in
every sphere of life you need to have Him in your heart. You must have His
glory at heart. For if you don’t really have God in your heart then you don’t
really have His glory at heart.
Read
through the Scriptures and you’ll see how the saints enjoyed God. They were
ever delighting in God and the things of God. Read through the Book of Psalms,
for example. The Psalmists are always praising God for who He is and for His
handiwork. They are ever praising Him for His Works and for His Law. To be sure
many of the Psalms have to do with the tough times of trial we face in life.
But the heart of all the Psalmists might be summed up in these words of king
David, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with Your
generous Spirit” (Ps. 51:12).
Christians
yearn for the joy of which David speaks. David, as you know, lost this sense of
joy by sinning against God. He grieved the Holy Spirit when he committed
adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah killed. He said to God in verse
11 of the same Psalm, Psalm 51, “Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do
not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”
Now, we
know that a soul renewed by the grace of God cannot be cast away from God.
However, if the Christian grieves the Holy Spirit through presumptuous sinning,
what was once the joy of the Lord may become the terror of the Lord to his
soul! So he longs for the joy of the Lord that he once knew. And this joy
comes, of course, from knowing God’s forgiveness. The pain and anguish of a
sinning soul knows no joy until the Holy Spirit, as it were, returns. As the
hymnist William Cowper expresses it, Return, O Holy Dove! Return, Sweet
messenger of rest! I hate the sins that made Thee mourn, And drove Thee from my
breast. No, a Christian can never lose his salvation if he has truly been
converted. But he can most certainly lose his joy in the Lord.
So, if
the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, then the
Christian must ever be about this end. So, not only should the Christian be
seeking to glorify God in every sphere of life. He must at the same time be
seeking the joy of the Lord in every sphere. For what is more miserable than a
miserable Christian?
Dear
reader, do you know that the joy of the Lord comes through repentance? Turning
your back on your sins is an ongoing thing. Repentance is not something you
wear once then put it away for the winter. Repentance is not something you hang
on the hatstand and then go out without it. Repentance is the wrapping of
yourself in the forgiveness of God every day. Repentance is God picking up your
crown of salvation (which you dropped in the dirt) and placing it back on your
head where it belongs. We need to learn to glorify God even in repentance! Then
we will truly know the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is made-to-measure.
We are made for joy and joy is made for us. We are the Lord’s and the joy is
the Lord’s! Give God the glory for joy – all joy.
Do you
know this joy? Do you know it in the inward man? Man, in the beginning,
in Adam, rebelled against God (Rom. 5:12f.) Man sinned against God and
became separated from God. He broke God’s Law and thus broke fellowship with
God and lost the joy.
Notice
that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him FOREVER. Enjoying God
forever speaks of heaven, doesn’t it? It speaks of dwelling with God in
everlasting joy – eternity. Well, what is Hell? Hell is everlasting non-joy –
everlasting misery, isn’t it?
When Man
sinned against God, he declared war on God. He sided with the Devil against
God. He covenanted with Satan. In other words, along with the Devil man (as it
were) stole creation from God. Just listen to the modern atheists if you don't
believe us. In his book “River Out Of Eden” the Neo-Darwinist Richard
Dawkins sees the universe in terms of DNA. Says Dawkins, “In a universe of
blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get
hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or
reason in it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the
properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no
evil and no other good. Nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. DNA neither
knows nor cares. DNA just is. And we dance to its music.”
Christian,
this may be the universe as Richard Dawkins sees it. He dances to a dirge – a
funeral march! But we pray that by the grace of God he will begin to see the
universe as we see it. Then he shall dance the dance of delight – the dance of joy
– with us!
We see
the universe not as the Darwinist Dawkins sees it. Rather we see it as Calvin
and Kuyper saw it, “There's not even so much as a thumb-breadth of the universe
in respect of which the Lord Jesus Christ cannot say: ‘Give it to Me! That’s
Mine!’”
The whole of creation has been designed by God. Even every creature in it has been designed by God. And man in particular has been designed to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. But man by breaking God’s Law brought the curse of God upon himself and, by way of extension, the universe. Therefore, man is fallen and the whole universe is fallen and man is in sin and misery. Hence man, even you and me, will not enjoy God forever unless and until God by His grace grants us repentance and restores us to our proper function or end.
Conclusion
Let us
who have received God’s forgiveness continue to glorify Him, even by (as the
Apostle Paul says) delighting “…in the law of God according to the inward man” (Rom.
7:22).
Therefore,
let us turn to God in repentance, and seek His forgiveness in Jesus Christ for
all our sins. That way, we, born-of-His-Spirit Christians, are sure to truly
glorify Him. And, we are to do so out of love and gratitude for our salvation,
both inwardly and outwardly. That way we are sure to enjoy Him both now and
forever.
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