Made to Worship
Made to Worship
What is a human being designed to do? In other words, what is the purpose of man?
"And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” - Revelation 4:9-11
The majority of people go through life without considering the most important questions of life. A question few consider is, What is a human being designed to do? In other words, what is the purpose of man?
Question one of the Westminster Shorter Catechism provides a succinct answer;
Q. What is the chief end of man? A. Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.
Man was made to worship God thus glorifying Him. However, Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden causing humanity to fall into dysfunction, chaos, death - breaking fellowship with God (read Genesis 3).
You will be like God
Satan in the form of a serpent, told them lies... and they believed him.
""But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”"
- Genesis 3:4-5
"You will be like God..." Is a powerful temptation. And when we give into it, it's not a far stretch to begin to believe, "I am God!" Our behaviors follow that belief - we worship self.
If you look at the world around you, you will see people worshiping something or someone. The majority are worshipping self (even as they claim a religion).
Man was made to worship the true God alone - the God of the Bible. Anything else is idolatry and an abomination to God - a stench in his nostrils.
Archbishop William Temple said,
“Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of the conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose—all this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable.”
When we see the twenty-four elders humbly falling down to worship around the throne of God in Revelation 4, we get a glimpse of true worship in its purest form. This is the worship we are made for. So, let's ground our vision of worship in how the Bible describes it.
"Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power..."
We "fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever."