PURPOSE
PART 1
"To Glorify God and to Enjoy Him"
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JOHN 10:10
A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.
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OUR PURPOSE
What is the chief end of man?
Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q.1
PURPOSE
PART 1
"To Glorify God and to Enjoy Him"
A
To Glorify God
To honour, praise, and worship Him with everything we do.
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1 CORINTHIANS 10:31
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for God’s glory.
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COLOSSIANS 3:17
And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
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1 CORINTHIANS 6:19–20
Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.
KEY THOUGHT
“Glory” translates the Greek word doxa — rendered glory, glorious, honour, praise, dignity, and worship.
KEY THOUGHT
“Glorify” translates the Greek word doxazo — to praise, to honour, to make glorious, and to make known.
KEY THOUGHT
Glorifying God is a privilege.
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EPHESIANS 1:4–6
For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before Him. He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He lavished on us in the Beloved One.
KEY THOUGHT
Glorifying God is an honour given to those who’ve received the gift of eternal life.
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2 CORINTHIANS 5:20
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making His appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, ‘Be reconciled to God.’
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2 TIMOTHY 2:21
So, if anyone purifies himself from anything dishonorable, he will be a special instrument, set apart, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.
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1 CORINTHIANS 10:23–24
“Everything is permissible,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything builds up. No one is to seek his own good, but the good of the other person.
KEY THOUGHT
Glorifying God takes us out of the centre of the equation.
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MARK 10:45
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.
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EPHESIANS 2:6–7
He also raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
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PHILIPPIANS 2:13
For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to His good purpose.
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ROMANS 12:1
Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship.
REFLECT
Do you want to glorify God in your home, or is it just religion?
REFLECT
Do you want to glorify God in your workplace with excellence, or is it just a job?
REFLECT
Do we care for one another here, or are we just being polite?
B
To Enjoy Him
To delight in His love, and in His faithfulness.
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MATTHEW 22:37–39
He said to him, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
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PSALM 1:1–3
How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
REFLECT
Do you enjoy God? Do we have joy in Him?
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PHILIPPIANS 3:8
More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
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PHILIPPIANS 3:10–11
My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.
KEY THOUGHT
Part of how we enjoy Him is together.
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COLOSSIANS 3:12–15
Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful.
KEY THOUGHT
We can enjoy God because His Word never fails; it never runs out.
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PSALM 119:57–64
The Lord is my portion; I have promised to keep Your words. I have sought Your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to Your promise. I thought about my ways and turned my steps back to Your decrees. I hurried, not hesitating, to keep Your commands. Though the ropes of the wicked were wrapped around me, I did not forget Your instruction. I rise at midnight to thank You for Your righteous judgments. I am a friend to all who fear You, to those who keep Your precepts. Lord, the earth is filled with Your faithful love; teach me Your statutes.
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PHILIPPIANS 2:10–11
At the name of Jesus every knee will bow — in heaven and on earth and under the earth — and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
A PRAYER
Help me to enjoy You. Help me to love You with everything that I am, to hold fast to Your precepts and all that’s found in Your Word.
APPLICATION
1. Do you want to glorify God?
2. Do you delight in God?
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION
1
Where in your life is it easiest to seek your own glory instead of God’s? What would it look like this week to hand that area over to Him?
2
Which comes more naturally to you — glorifying God through obedience, or enjoying Him through relationship? What’s one step you can take this season to grow in the other?