Living for God's Glory: The Purpose of Ethics

What I'm asked to do is reflect on the end of ethics in the same way that the word "end" is used in the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. You do know the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, don't you? "What is the chief end of man?" I think we need a director, someone who can set the pitch, but it's very encouraging. Yeah, what is the chief end of man? That we should glorify God and enjoy Him forever. [00:02:22]

When we think about ethics, when we think about holy living, when we think about being devoted to God, what is our goal? What is our vision? What is our direction? What is our motivation? And of course, the first question of the catechism really helps us. Did I say, "the catechism?" I apologize. I meant the other catechism. What is the chief end of man? It is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. [00:03:34]

And I think one of the texts in the Scripture that helps us with that is Psalm 86. Psalm 86 is near the center of the Psalter. Psalm 86 is part of book three. All of you who have committed my book on the Psalms to memory will realize that book three is the book of the intense suffering of God's people as they have experienced loss and exile. [00:04:56]

When we face difficulty, we should spend more time praying than worrying. And when we have problems, we should think more about God than about the problems. That's what David illustrates for us here in this wonderful psalm, Psalm 86, entirely a prayer, as he turns from his problems to God, as he takes his worry to God in prayer. [00:06:00]

David is a king of a little kingdom. David is a king of a little kingdom that is assailed by resistance and enemies who would seek his life. He is able to lift up his eyes to the promises of God and say, "Whatever happens in my day, there is a better day coming when all the nations will gather to worship and glorify Your name." [00:08:12]

You know, understanding who you are is absolutely foundational to how you live. And in this modern world where there are so many voices who say, "This life is all there is. When you die, you are dead. When you die, you are gone. When you die, it's over. There is nothing beyond this life. We are only animals passing through like every other animal." [00:09:36]

If you know yourself as created in the image of God, if you know yourself to be someone with an eternal destiny, a life that goes on beyond this life, if you know yourself as someone delivered by God, you are going to live very differently. Well, at least, you should. If you listen to preachers, you will. Who we are determines how we live. [00:10:35]

And the psalmist gives great expression to that in verse 11, "Teach me Your way, O Lord, that I may walk in Your truth. Unite my heart to fear Your name." "Teach me Your way, O Lord." Now, we might ask ourselves, "Didn't David know God's way?" And David is saying to us, in this life none of us know the way fully enough. [00:21:32]

None of us become so holy and so mature that we can stop studying. We need God's Word all the time. And so, this prayer, "Teach us Your way," is really a prayer, "Help us to study Your Word, O Lord." "Help us to turn ever new to Your Word with anticipation and eagerness and in understanding that we still have much yet to learn and that the Word is the place where we have to turn." [00:22:13]

And Zwingli, increasingly, as a preacher with the care of the souls of the people in the city of Zürich, began to fret, "How do these church rules relate to what I'm finding in the Bible?" And he came, maybe before Luther did, he came to realize only the Bible was the true and necessary and reliable teacher of God's will to God's people. [00:25:00]

Who will teach me the ways of God?" Is it the church with its rules and regulations that have no foundation in the Word of God, or is the Word of God alone what will teach me? This is the five-hundredth anniversary of a great event, an important event, which reminds us that little activities can have some of the greatest outcomes. [00:28:00]

And that question then comes to us, doesn't it, is God a weighty reality in our lives? Is God the one we think about when we think about living? Now, one of the ways I thought I might be able to help you was to translate some of the things that Nathan Bingham was saying to you. I wondered as I sat there if you actually knew what a "partner" was. [00:35:18]