Continuing our reading of Thomas Watson's Body of Divinity. The first part, Introduction 1, Man's Chief End. Question 1. What is the chief end of man? Answer. Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Here are two ends of life specified. First, the glorifying of God. Second, the enjoying of God. First, the glorifying of God, 1 Peter 4.11, that God in all things may be glorified. The glory of God is a silver thread which must run through all our actions, 1 Corinthians 10.31, whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Everything works to some end in things natural and artificial. Now, man being a rational creature must propose some end to himself, and that should be that he may lift up God in the world. He had better lose his life than the end of his living. The great truth is asserted that the end of every man's living should be to glorify God. Glorifying God has respect to all the persons in the Trinity. It respects God the Father who gave us life, God the Son who lost his life for us, and God the Holy Ghost who produces a new life in us. We must bring glory to the whole Trinity. When we speak of God's glory, the question will be moved, what are we to understand by God's glory? There is a two-fold glory. First, the glory that God has in himself, his intrinsic glory. Glory is essential to the Godhead as light is to the sun. He is called the God of Glory, Acts 7, 2. Glory is the sparkling of the deity. It is so co-natural to the Godhead that God cannot be God without it. A creature's honor is not essential to his being. A king is a man without his regal ornaments when his crown and royal robes are taken away, but God's glory is such an essential part of his being that he cannot be God without it. God's very life lies in His glory. This glory can receive no addition, because it is infinite. It is that which God is most tender of, and which He will not part with. Isaiah 48, 11, My glory I will not give to another. God will give temporal blessings to His children, such as wisdom, riches, honor. He will give them spiritual blessings. He will give them grace. He will give them His love. He will give them heaven. But His essential glory He will not give to another. King Pharaoh parted with a ring off his finger to Joseph and a gold chain, but he would not part with his throne. Genesis 41.40 Only in the throne will I be greater than thou. So God will do much for his people. He will give them the inheritance. He will put some of Christ's glory as mediator upon them, but his essential glory he will not part with. In the throne he will be greater. Second, the glory which is ascribed to God or which his creatures labored to bring to him. 1st Chronicles 16.29 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name and 1st Corinthians 6.20 Glorify God in your body and in your spirit The glory we give God is nothing else but our lifting up his name in the world and magnifying him in the eyes of others Philippians 1.20 Christ shall be magnified in my body What is it to glorify God? Glorifying God consists in four things Appreciation Adoration Affection, Subjection. This is the yearly rent we pay to the crown of heaven. First thing, Appreciation. To glorify God is to set God highest in our thoughts and to have a venerable esteem of Him. Psalm 92 8, Thou, Lord, art most high forevermore. Psalm 97 9, Thou art exalted far above all gods. There is in God all that may draw forth wonder and delight. There is a constellation of all beauties. He is, as said, the original and springhead of being, who sheds a glory upon the creature. We glorify God when we are God-admirers, admire His attributes, which are the glistering beams by which the divine nature shines forth, His promises, which are the charter of free grace, and the spiritual cabinet where the pearl of price is hid. The noble effects of His power and wisdom in making the world which is called the work of His fingers, Psalm 8.3. To glorify God is to have God-admiring thoughts, to esteem Him most excellent, and search for diamonds in this rock only. Second thing glorifying God consists in adoration, or worship, Psalm 29.2. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. There's a two-fold worship. First, a civil reverence, which we give to persons of honor. Genesis 23, 7, Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the children of Heth. Piety is no enemy to courtesy. Second, the divine worship, which we give to God as His royal prerogative. Nehemiah 8, 6, they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces towards the ground. This divine worship God is very jealous of. It is the apple of His eye, the pearl of His crown, which He guards as He did the tree of life, with cherubims and a flaming sword, so that no man may come near it to violate it. Divine worship must be such as God Himself has appointed, else it is offering strange fire. Leviticus 10.1 The Lord would have Moses make the tabernacle according to the pattern in the mount. Exodus 25.40 He must not leave out anything in the pattern, nor add to it. If God was so exact and curious about the place of worship, how exact will He be about the matter of His worship? Surely here everything must be according to the pattern prescribed in His Word. Third thing, affection. This is part of the glory we give to God who counts Himself glorified when He is loved. Deuteronomy 6.5, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. There is a two-fold love. First, as it said, a love of concupiscence, which is self-love, as when we love another because he does us a good turn. A wicked man may be said to love God because God has given him a good harvest or filled his cup with wine. This is rather to love God's blessing than to love God. Second, it said, a love of delight, as a man takes delight in a friend. This is to love God indeed. The heart is set upon God as a man's heart is set upon his treasure. This love is exuberant, not a few drops, but a stream. It is superlative. We give God the best of our love, the cream of it. Song of Solomon 8 2 I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. If the spouse had a cup more juicy and spiced, Christ must drink of it. It is intense and ardent love. True saints are seraphims, burning in holy love to God. The spouse was, as it said in fainting fits, sick of love, Song of Solomon 2.5. Thus to love God is to glorify Him. He who is the chief of our happiness has the chief of our affections. Fourth thing, subjection. This is when we dedicate ourselves to God and stand ready-dressed for His service. Thus the angels in heaven glorify Him. They wait on His throne and are ready to take a commission from Him. Therefore they are represented by the cherubims with wings displayed to show how swift they are in their obedience. We glorify God when we are devoted to His service. Our head studies for Him, our tongue pleads for Him, and our hands relieve His members. The wise men that came to Christ did not only bow the knee to Him, but presented Him with gold and myrrh. Matthew 2.11 So we must not only bow the knee, give God worship, but bring presents of golden obedience. We glorify God when we stick at no service, when we fight under the banner of His gospel against an enemy, and say to Him as David to King Saul, Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. 1 Samuel 17.32 A good Christian is like the sun, which not only sends forth heat, but goes its circuit round the world. Thus he who glorifies God has not only his affections heated with love to God, but he goes his circuit too. He moves vigorously in the sphere of obedience. Why must we glorify God? First, because He gives us our being. Psalm 100, verse 3, it is He that has made us. We think it a great kindness in a man to spare our life, but what kindness is it in God to give us our life? We draw our breath from Him, and as life, so all the comforts of life are from Him. He gives us health, which is the sauce to sweeten our life, and food, which is the oil that nourishes the lamp of life. If all we receive is from His bounty, is it not reasonable we should glorify Him? Should we not live to Him, seeing we live by Him? Romans 11.36, for of Him and through Him are all things. All we have is of His fullness. All we have is through free grace, and therefore to Him should be all. It follows, therefore, to Him be glory forever. God is not our benefactor only. But our founder, as rivers that come from the sea, empty their silver streams into the sea again. Second, because God has made all things for his own glory. Proverbs 16, 4, The Lord hath made all things for himself, that is, for his glory. As a king has excised out of commodities, so God will have glory out of everything. He will have glory out of the wicked. If they will not give him glory, he will get glory upon them. Exodus 14, 17, I will get me honor upon Pharaoh. but especially has he made the godly for his glory. They are the lively organs of his praise, Isaiah 43, 21. This people have I formed for myself, and they shall show forth my praise. It is true they cannot add to his glory, but they may exalt it. They cannot raise him in heaven, but they may raise him in the esteem of others here. God has adopted the saints into his family and made them a royal priesthood, that they should show forth the praise of him who hath called them, 1 Peter 2.9. Third, because the glory of God has intrinsic value and excellence. It transcends the thoughts of men and the tongues of angels. His glory is his treasure. All his riches lie here. As Micah said, Judges 18, 24, What have I more? So what has God more? God's glory is worth more than heaven and worth more than the salvation of all men's souls. Better kingdoms be thrown down, better men and angels be annihilated than God should lose one crown's glory, one crown's jewel, one beam of his glory. forth creatures below us and above us bring glory to God. So we should glorify Him. Do we think to sit rent-free? Shall everything glorify God but man? It is a pity then that man was ever made. Firstly, creatures below us glorify God. The inanimate creatures in the heavens glorify God. The heavens declare the glory of God. Psalm 19.1 The curious workmanship of heaven sets forth the glory of its maker. The firmament is beautified and penciled out in blue and azure colors, where the power and wisdom of God may be clearly seen. The heavens declare His glory. When I see the glory of God blazing in the sun and twinkling in the stars, look into the air. The birds with their chirping music sing hymns of praise to God. Every beast in its kind glorifies God. Isaiah 43 20 The beast of the field shall honor me. Secondly, creatures above us glorify God. The angels are ministering spirits, Hebrews 1.14. They are still waiting on God's throne and bring some revenues of glory into the checking account of heaven. Surely man should be more studious of God's glory than the angels. For God has honored him more than the angels, in that Christ took man's nature upon him, and not the angels' nature. Though in regard of creation God made man a little lower than the angels, Hebrews 2.7, yet in regard of redemption God has set man higher than the angels. He has married mankind to himself. The angels are Christ's friends, not his spouse. He has recovered us with the purple robe of righteousness. which is a better righteousness than the angels have. 2nd Corinthians 5.21 If then the angels bring glory to God, much more should we being dignified with honor above angelic spirits. Fifth, we must bring glory to God because all our hopes hang upon Him. Psalm 39.7 My hope is in thee. And Psalm 62.5 My expectation is from Him. I expect a kingdom from Him. A child that is good-natured will honor his parent by expecting all he needs from him. Psalm 87 7, all my springs are in thee. The silver springs of grace and the golden springs of glory are in him. In how many ways may we glorify God? First, it is glorifying God when we aim purely at His glory. It is one thing to advance God's glory, another thing to aim at it. God must be, as it's said, the ultimate end of all actions. Thus Christ, in John 8, verse 50, I seek not mine own glory, but the glory of Him that sent me. A hypocrite has a squint eye, for he looks more to his own glory than God's. Our Savior deciphers such and gives a caveat against them in Matthew 6 too. When thou givest alms, do not sound a trumpet. A stranger would ask, What means the noise of this trumpet? It was answered, They are going to give to the poor. And so they didn't give alms, but sell them for honor and applause, that they might have glory of men. The breath of men was the wind that blew the sails of their charity. Verily they have their reward. The hypocrite may make his acquaintance and right received in full payment. Chrysostom calls vainglory one of the devil's great nets to catch men. Cyprian said whom Satan cannot prevail against by intemperance, those he prevails against by pride and vainglory. Oh, let us take heed of self-worshipping. Aim purely at God's glory. We do this, firstly, when we prefer God's glory above all other things, above credit, estate, relations. When the glory of God coming in competition with them, we prefer His glory before them. If relations lie in our way to heaven, we must either leap over them or tread upon them. A child must unchild himself and forget he is a child. He must know neither father nor mother in God's cause. Deuteronomy 33 9, Who said unto his father and mother, I have not seen him, neither did he acknowledge his brethren. This is to aim at God's glory. Secondly, we aim at God's glory when we are content that God's will should take place, though it may cross ours. Lord, I am content to be a loser, if thou be a gainer. to have less health, if I have more grace, and thou more glory. Let it be food, or bitter physic, if thou givest it me, Lord, I desire that which may be most for thy glory." Our blessed Savior said, not as I will, but as thou wilt, Matthew 26, 39. If God might have more glory by His sufferings, He was content to suffer. John 12, 28, Father, glorify thy name. Thirdly, we aim at God's glory when we are content to be outshined by others in gifts and esteem, so that His glory may be increased. A man that has God in his heart and God's glory in his eye desires that God should be exalted, and if this be effected, let who will be the instrument. He rejoices. Philippians 1.15 Some preach Christ of envy. Notwithstanding, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. They preached Christ of envy. They envied Paul, that concourse of people, and they preached that they might outshine him in gifts and get away some of his errors. Well, says Paul, Christ is preached and God is like to have the glory, therefore I rejoice. Let my candle go out, if the sun of righteousness may but shine. Second, we glorify God by an ingenuous confession of sin. The thief on the cross had dishonored God in his life, but at his death he brought glory to God by confession of sin. Luke 23, 41, we indeed suffer justly. He acknowledged he deserved not only crucifixion, but damnation. Joshua 7, 19, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to God, and make confession unto him. A humble confession exalts God. How is God's free grace magnified in crowning those who deserve to be condemned? The excusing and mincing of sin casts a reproach upon God. Adam denied not that he tasted the forbidden fruit, but instead of a full confession, he taxed God. Genesis 3.12, The woman whom thou gavest me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. If thou hadst not given me the woman to be a tempter, I had not sinned. Confession glorifies God because it clears him. It acknowledges that he is holy and righteous whatever he does. Nehemiah vindicates God's righteousness, 933, Thou art just in all that is brought upon us. A confession is ingenuous when it is free, not forced. Luke 15, 18, I have sinned against heaven and before thee. The prodigal charged himself with sin before his father charged him with it. Third, we glorify God by believing. Romans 4, 20, Abraham was strong in faith, giving glory to God. Unbelief affronts God. It gives Him a lie. He that believeth not maketh God a liar. 1 John 5.10 But faith brings glory to God. It sets to its seal that God is true. John 3.33 He that believes flies to God's mercy and truth as to an altar of refuge. He engarrisons himself in the promises and trusts all he has with God. Psalm 30 verse 5, unto thy hands. Into thy hands I commit my spirit. This is a great way of bringing glory to God and God honors faith because faith honors him. It is a great honor we do to a man when we must trust Him with all we have when we put our lives and the states into His hand. It is a sign we have a good opinion of Him. The three children glorified God by believing the God whom we serve is able to deliver us and will deliver us, Daniel 3.17. Faith knows there are no impossibilities with God and will trust Him where it cannot trace Him. Fourth, we glorify God by being tender of His glory. God's glory is dear to him as the apple of his eye. An ingenuous child weeps to see a disgrace done to his father. Psalm 69 9, the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me. When we hear God reproached, it is as if we were reproached. When God's glory suffers, it is as if we suffered. This is to be tender of God's glory. Fifth, we glorify God by fruitfulness, John 15 8. Hereby is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. As it is disheartening God to be barren, so fruitfulness honors Him, Philippians 1.11, filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are to the praise of His glory. We must not be like the fig tree in the gospel, which had nothing but leaves, but like the fruit that is continually either mellowing or blossoming, and is never without fruit. It is not profession, but fruit that glorifies God. God expects to have his glory from us in this way. 1 Corinthians 9.7 Who plant of the vineyard and eats not of the fruit of it? Trees in the forest may be barren, but trees in the garden are fruitful. We must bring forth the fruits of love and good works. Matthew 5.16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Faith sanctifies our works and works testify our faith. To be doing good to others, to be eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, much glorifies God. Thus Christ glorified His Father. He went about doing good. Acts 10.38 By being fruitful we are fair in God's eyes. Jeremiah 11.16 The Lord called thy name a green olive tree, fair and of goodly fruit. And we must bear much fruit. It is muchness of fruit that glorifies God. If ye bear much fruit, The spouse's breasts are compared to clusters of grapes to show how fertile she was. Song of Solomon 7.7 Though the lowest degree of grace may bring salvation to you, yet it will not bring much glory to God. It was not a spark of love Christ commended in Mary, but much love. She loved much. Luke 7.47 Sixth, we glorify God by being contented in that state in which providence has placed us. We give God the glory of His wisdom when we rest satisfied with what He carves out to us. Thus Paul glorified God. The Lord cast him into as great variety of conditions as any man, in prisons more frequent, in deaths, oft 2 Corinthians 11.23. Yet he had learned to be content. Paul could sail either in a storm or a calm. He could be anything that God would have him. He could either want or abound, Philippians 4.13. A good Christian argues thus, it is God that has put me in this condition. He could have raised me higher if he pleased, but that might have been a snare to me. He has done it in wisdom and love, therefore I will sit down satisfied with my condition. Surely this glorifies God much. God counts himself much honored by such a Christian. Here, says God, is one after mine own heart. Let me do what I will with him. I hear no murmuring. He is content. This shows abundance of grace. When grace is crowning, it is not so much to be content, but when grace is conflicting with inconveniences, then to be content is a glorious thing indeed. For one to be content when he is in heaven is no wonder, but to be content under the cross is like a Christian. This man must needs bring glory to God, for he shows to all the world that, though he has little meal in his barrel, yet he has enough in God to make him content. He says, as David, Psalm 16, verse 5, The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance. The lions are fallen to me in pleasant places. Seventh, we glorify God by working out our salvation. God has twisted together His glory and our good. We glorify Him by promoting our own salvation. It is a glory to God to have multitudes of converts. Now His design of free grace takes, and God has the glory of His mercy, so that while we are endeavoring our salvation, we are honoring God. What an encouragement is this to the service of God to think, while I am hearing and praying, I am glorifying God. While I am furthering my own glory in heaven, I am increasing God's glory. Would it not be an encouragement to a subject to hear his prince say to him, you will honor and please me very much if you will go to yonder mine of gold and dig as much gold for yourself as you can carry away. For God to say this Go to the ordinances, get as much grace as you can, dig out as much salvation as you can, and the more happiness you have, the more I shall count myself glorified." 8 We glorify God by living to God. 2 Corinthians 5.15 That they which live should not live to themselves, but unto him who died for them. Romans 14.8 Whether we live, we live unto the Lord. The lover of money lives to his money. The epicure lives to his belly. The design of a sinner's life is to gratify lust. But we glorify God when we live to God. We live to God when we live to his service and lay ourselves out holy for God. The Lord has sent us into the world as a merchant sends his factor beyond the seas to trade for him. We live to God when we trade for his interest and propagate his gospel. God has given every man a talent, and when a man does not hide it in a napkin, but improves it for God, he lives to God. When a master in a family, by counsel and good example, labors to bring his servants to Christ, when a minister spends himself and is spent, that he may win souls to Christ, and make the crown flourish upon Christ's head, when the magistrate does not wear the sword in vain, but labors to cut down sin, and to suppress vice, this is to live to God and this is glorifying to God Philippians 1.20 that Christ might be magnified whether by life or by death three wishes Paul had and they were all about Christ that he might be found in Christ be with Christ and magnify Christ ninth we glorify God by walking cheerfully It brings glory to God when the world sees a Christian that has within him that can make him cheerful in the worst times, that can enable him with the nightingale to sing with a thorn at his breast. The people of God have ground for cheerfulness. They are justified and adopted, and this creates inward peace. It makes music within whatever storms are without. 2 Corinthians 1.4, 1 Thessalonians 1.6, If we consider what Christ has wrought for us by His blood and wrought in us by His Spirit, it is a ground of great cheerfulness. And this cheerfulness glorifies God. It reflects upon a master when the servant is always drooping and sad. Sure, he is kept to hard commons. His master does not give him what is fitting. So when God's people hang their heads, it looks as if they did not serve a good master, or repented of their choice, which reflects dishonor on God. As the gross sins of the wicked bring a scandal on the gospel, so do the uncheerful lives of the godly. Psalm 100, verse 2. Serve the Lord with gladness. Your serving Him does not glorify Him unless it be with gladness. A Christian's cheerful looks glorify God. Religion does not take away our joy, but refines it. It does not break our vial, but tunes it and makes the music sweeter. and thus far the reading of Thomas Watson's A Body of Divinity. It is likely that the sermon or book that you just listened to is also available on cassette or video, or as a printed book or booklet. Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog containing thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reform books, tapes, and videos at great discounts, is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email at SWRB at SWRB.com by phone at 780 450 3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail at 4710-37A Avenue Edmonton that's E-D-M-O-N-T-O-N Alberta abbreviated capital A capital B Canada T-6-L-3-T-5. You may also request a free printed catalog and remember that John Kelvin in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since he condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devise. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God, by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind. As though he had said, that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.