Week One: For what purpose are we created?

 AN UNCHANGING WORD FOR CHANGING TIMES

For what purpose are we created?
To enjoy and glorify God forever!

A group of over 150 godly and learned men met at Westminster Abbey in London between 1643 and 1649.  They had been summoned by the English Parliament and given the assignment of writing a confession of faith and a plan of government for the Church of England that would restructure the church along Puritan lines. They met 1,163 times during this period.

The result was a work called The Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Shorter and Larger Catechisms, documents that have shaped the Presbyterian Church and which serve today as the doctrinal standards for the Presbyterian Church in America.

Was this a group of stern, dismal, foreboding men (with long hair!) whose convictions and actions would cause people to run anywhere but to church?

While one might be given that impression from their portraits (see below!), such was hardly the case.

Samuel Rutherford
Scottish Presbyterian Theologian and Scottish Commissioner
to the Assembly

The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is one that reflects the depth of the joy of the Christian lives of these men when they addressed the most fundamental question of all – “What is man’s chief end?” and answered it by saying “Man’s chief end is to glorify and enjoy God forever.”

Isn’t it great when we finally begin to do the very thing for which our Creator has made us?

Psalm 16:11 describes the joy and the pleasure that people have when they learn to consciously live the totality of their lives in the presence of the Lord and to the glory of the Lord.  When we live to enjoy God, we are doing what God has made us to do and what glorifies Him.

Life is not about us!  It’s about glorifying God as we enjoy Him now and forever!

Jesus gloried in the fact that He glorified the Father.  In his prayer recorded in John 17, Jesus said, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.  And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” It is through Jesus alone that we are enabled to do the same.

We at New Covenant Presbyterian Church are discovering the joy of glorifying God while on earth as we live in anticipation of the day when we will be in His presence in eternal glory.   We love to share His good news with others!

Many believe this Assembly to have been the climax of the Reformation. Its membership included many of the most learned and truly Christian leaders of the day among English-speaking peoples.  As an Assembly of Christian scholars it has never been surpassed; it is doubtful that it has ever been equaled.  It gave to the work of Calvin, especially, but the other reformers as well, a rich, marvelous expression, permanence, and influence which are truly amazing.  It was frankly Presbyterian in nature and in character. Presbyterianism thus became the completion of the reformation of the doctrine and government of the Church according to the teachings of the Bible, for English speaking peoples.

 (C. Gregg Singer in The Presbyterian Church: A Manual for New Members)