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What is our purpose? As humans, what were we created for? What is our calling? These are questions we normally pose to ourselves. As image bearers of God, it is not only crucial that we ask these questions but that we seek to answer to it. Why did God make me and to what end? The Westminster divines, based on the truth stated in Holy Writ, answer this most crucial question, what is the chief end of man by saying, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” (WSC Q. 1). We were created to glorify the triune God and this is what we should seek to do. That is our mission statement as humans. It follows then that we ask ourselves, How? How do we glorify God?

We must seek to fulfill our purpose of being created each day of our lives and we must reflect on these truths even more so now that the times are dark. Our eternity depends on it. We are fifteen days into the New Year and it will be best for our souls, if we dwelt on how we can achieve our purpose. The question we must face is this, “How can we glorify God”. We can glorify God in so many ways. So how does one summarize it? How do you teach someone how they should glorify God? That is not something we teach! God does that! He does everything! He regenerates our heart so that we can! It would be easier to just give everyone a to-do list and tell them to just follow this, for with this you can glorify God. But is God really glorified by following a to-do list? We have people from different races and different backgrounds and all walks of life. How do you answer this for everyone? The question, “how can we glorify God” is broad. It could have been easier had it said, “how can we glorify God in our workplace, or our body, or even at school”. But we ask, that the most Gracious and Holy God, will show us grace as we seek to glorify Him.

What Does Glorifying God Mean?

Glorifying God means we recognize that He is far greater, valuable and beautiful than any other thing. It means that He is our treasure. So to glorify God, we are in essence treasure hunters seeking out our greatest treasure. We must first recognize who God is to glorify Him. Glorifying God means we must worship God as He is and must cherish Him above all things. With this, How then, can we glorify God?

Knowing God And Christ

The most important way we can glorify God is to know Him. I do not mean knowing about Him but knowing Him. We glorify God by having a Father-Son relationship with Him; that is by knowing Him. As image bearers of God, we were all made for a relationship with God; in fact we are all in a relationship with Him. We either relate with God as a Father, who sent His Son for sinners and who welcomes us to a loving relationship with Him, or we relate with God as the Judge and Creator of all things.

In the first type of relationship, we are Sons, in the second, we are enemies of God. In both categories, we know about God (creation speaks of God (Romans 1:19-20)). As a result of the Fall, we are all born dead in our sins and find ourselves in the latter category; our natural relationship with God is not as a Father-Son relationship, but as enemies of God. As enemies of God, we hate God and do not honor Him as God. Paul says in Romans 1:19, “ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” We actually spit in the face of Him who gives us breath. We look in the face of God and disobey Him. How dare we! We don’t glorify God; in fact we can’t. However, because of Christ’s death on the cross, we are reconciled to God. We enter into a Father-Son relationship with the triune God by placing our faith in Christ. We down our weapons, stop warring against God in sinful rebellion and we cry out to Him. No longer are we children of wrath, but we are sons. We can now live our purpose: Glorifying God! It is important to understand how we can know God. It is only through Christ.

Knowledge of the Father comes only through the Son. Apart from the Son, we cannot know God. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature (Hebrews 1:3) and He makes God known (John 1:17). He is the way, the truth and the life and no one goes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).

You can glorify God this year by knowing Him. In fact, that is what eternal life is! In his high priestly prayer, Jesus said this, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent “This is how we can glorify God: By knowing Him and His Son. God is so vastly greater than us that we cannot know Him fully, even into eternity. Knowing God is far much precious than gold or silver! Like Paul, we must count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. He is All! Knowing God doesn’t end with believing in Christ at just one point. It is a way of life. We will find ourselves exactly where we started when it comes to Knowing God. He inexhaustible! Incomprehensible!

Do you know God and do you know Christ? John Piper is famous for saying this, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him”. We will only be satisfied in God when we know Him. Isaiah says in Isaiah 40:17, “All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.” Do you know this God? Do you cherish Him above all?

Obeying God’s Word

In His high priestly prayer, Christ says, “I glorified you on earth,…” How did Christ glorify His Father on earth? He tells us, by saying, “having accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (John 17:4). As the perfect man, Christ is the embodiment of a life that glorifies God. He lived in perfect obedience to the Father. It comes as no surprise that the Father is well pleased in Him (Matt. 3:17). To glorify God, like Christ, we must obey His Word. Dr. Steven Lawson notes this when he says, “The primary purpose of the Word of God is to glorify the God of the Word”. Unlike our first parents who disobeyed God in the garden, Christ lived in perfect obedience to His Father. Now, because of the person of Christ, his death and resurrection, we have the person of the Holy Spirit, who helps us to live in accordance with God and His Word. It is incredible to think that we need God to help us glorify God! O What wretched men we are! We can glorify God by obeying His Word, and trusting in His promises. To obey God’s Word, we must believe that He is who He says He is and that we can trust His Word. Because God is good, we must obey Him. God is glorified and honored, when we like Christ, do what He tells us to do. What does God tell us? He tells us to believe in Christ. He tells us to be in the world but not of it. He tells us to be a light in a dark world. He tells us to be holy, as He is holy. God is glorified if we are obeying God’s word in these and other places. Are you obeying God’s Word? Are we holy as He is holy?

Praying to God

You might be asking yourself, “How is God glorified when I pray to Him?” I will show you. God is glorified when we believe in the gospel. By believing in the gospel, we honor Him as Lord and Savior, and humbly accept that He is infinitely greater than all. Prayer is essentially living out the gospel. In his book, A Praying Life, Paul E Miller, makes this point when he says,

Prayer mirrors the gospel. In the gospel, the Father takes us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of salvation. In prayer, the Father receives us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of help.

Like the gospel, when we pray, we realize that we are nothing apart from Christ. In the gospel, we realize that we are wretched and sinful, and that we need the righteousness of the perfect Lamb of God to be right with God. When we pray, we acknowledge also, that we are nothing apart from Christ, and that we need Him to perfect our words. Does it not strike us that Christ tells us to pray to the Father in His name? Apart from Christ, we can do nothing ! Prayer is a recognition of this: God is most glorified, when we acknowledge our helplessness and His all-sufficiency!

When we realize we can do nothing on our own, we are helpless and God is everything to us. He is glorified when we pray. We must be a people of prayer. We must cast ourselves at the foot of the throne via the cross of Calvary and cry out, “We are nothing! We need you”. In Prayer, we come as broken and helpless, and all we can do is cling unto the promises of God. In what other way can God be more glorified than when we His people trust Him? In Prayer, we are confronted with who God is and we can only bow to Him. Prayer glorifies God and so we must pray.

When we know God and His Son, obey His Word and also trust in His promises, and when we pray to God, He is glorified in us. This is the root. And this applies to all from different races or walks of life or work force. We must be a people who know their God, obey Him and cry out to Him. And in doing so, we glorify God. We must always remember, this is our chief end. Grace and Peace to all who seek to glorify their God, who died to save them from their sins.

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In a recent sermon by a pastor, he quoted Rev. 3:20 in line with a response to the gospel.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

On many gospel tracts today, it is one of the many verses used. Many quote Rev. 3:20 and point to the fact that, if one opens “his heart” and responds to the gospel call, Christ will come in. But does Rev. 3:20 really say that? Can the unregenerate sinner, dead in his sins, open their heart to believe the gospel?

Context: The Seven Churches

The book of Revelation is primarily eschatological, that is, it focuses on the second coming of Christ; end time teachings. In the Revelation of Christ to John, he gives him a series of messages to be passed unto seven churches in Asia minor. The churches were in Ephesus (Rev.2:1-7), Smyrna (Rev. 2:8-11), Pergamum(Rev.2:12-17), Thyatira(Rev.2:18-29), Sardis(Rev. 3:1-6), Philadelphia(Rev 3:7-13) and Laodicea(Rev 3:7-13). To these churches, he commends, condemns, counsels and challenges.

Christ commends the church of Ephesus for their good works, labor, patience, and their hatred of the Nicolaitians. However, he condemned them for leaving their first love and counseled them to remember from where they have fallen and repent. The challenge was to give to each of the tree of life all who overcome. The church in Smyrna, was also recommended for their works, enduring tribulation and poverty. There was not a single word of condemnation for them. However, he counseled them to fear not and continue to be faithful. They were promised not to be hurt by the second death if they overcome.

Those in Pergamum were also commended for their works, for holding fast to his name and not denying the faith. However, they were condemned for having false teachers of Balaam and the Nicolaitans. They were simply told to repent, and to all who overcome, they would be given hidden manner and a white stone

The church in Thyatira also received commendation for their good works, service, faith and patience. However, their condemnation was for allowing Jezebel to teach idolatry and compromising. They were counseled to hold on fast unto what they have until Christ comes, and all who will overcome, were promised millennial leadership and a morning star. After them, the church in Sardis also received commendation for their works. However, they received a more severe condemnation because they were dead and their works were not complete. They were told to watch and strengthen the things that remain, they were also told to remember, hold fast and repent. To all those who overcome, they were promised to be clothed in white raiment. Their name would not be blotted out of the book of life.

The church in Philadelphia received commendation for their works, their missions, their little strength for keeping his word and for not denying his name. Like the church of Smyrna, there was not a single condemnation. They were told to hold fast to what they have, and were promised to be made a pillar and all who overcome, will have written upon them the name of God and a new name.

The Church of Laodicia

I have separated Laodicia from all the others because it is in their letter we see Rev 3:20. This church, had become lukewarm, wretched, miserable, poor blind and naked. This was a reference to their spiritual state. Though they were rich physically, their spiritual state was nothing to write home about.

For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see (vv.17-18).

Their rebuke, was strong but in verse 19, Christ notes that, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” It is out of love, Christ speaks such strong words like, “spew you out” so that they may repent. This like all the other churches, was their counsel. They were told to be zealous and repent. Like the challenge he threw to all the other churches, he says in verse 20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”  Christ here calls a backsliding church to repentance. Revelation 3:20 is an urgent call to repentance of a lukewarm church. It is important to note that this is a letter to a church not an unbeliever. The church in Laodicea was neither cold nor hot; they had become lukewarm. Christ here then says to a church, that had backslidden, to come back before he returns.

In the broader context of Revelation, which primarily speaks on the return of Christ, Christ the master of the house stands outside the door. This is a reference to the nearness of his coming. It is like what is said in Matthew 24:33: “Then you will be like servants waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once.” James even notes something similar in James 5:9 when he says, “Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look, the Judge is standing at the door!”. There is a sense of urgency about the text. He starts by saying, “Behold”, that is look, a way of capturing the attention of his audience. We must therefore treat Revelation 3:20 as a wake-up call to the church–Christians and not necessarily a call for repentance of the sinner who cannot by themselves open their hearts. Christs’ coming will be sudden and it is so near that it is referenced as “standing at the door”.

Christ is coming, and when he comes he will dine with his bride. Unrepentant sinners will have no place at the table with him. Like those painted in the parable of the ten virgins as sleeping, the church of Laodicea had fallen asleep. They needed to wake up. The church of Laodicea then, was told to repent before he comes, a coming which is near. Those who hear his voice, are his sheep, and they truly repent.

The Problem With Opening Our Hearts

The Bible tells us that fallen humankind are by nature dead in their sins and they cannot open their hearts. To come to saving faith therefore, God will have to regenerate their hearts; replace their heart of stone with a heart of flesh to be able to believe the Gospel. It’s all the work of God. What sinners need is not opening of an old heart but the creation of a new heart to believe the Gospel. And only God can do this through his Holy Spirit. Christ doesn’t need permission to come into the heart of the unregenerate sinner; He is the master of the house. Like Lydia in Acts 16:14, we need God to open our hearts so that we believe in the gospel.

Revelation 3:20 has nothing to do with the gospel being proclaimed to unbelievers. This is a letter written to a church. To apply this text to an unregenerate unbeliever is to simply twist the word of God. Many, in zeal for people to respond quote Revelation 3:20 but it simply does not fit in our evangelistic settings. It is a call to a Church. Shall we put it back in its place?

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If there is any text in the Bible that startles so many professing Christians in evangelicalism today, it is Matthew 7:21-23. Before we proceed, it is important to note the context of the text. First, Matthew 7 is the conclusion of the glorious sermon on the mount. Matthew 7 begins with Christ talking about judging righteously. He then speaks about the narrow gate and the wide gate. He also addressed false prophets and how they shall be known by their fruit. Then Jesus dropped these startling words; “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

Simply, Christ says here that not all who profess His name will be saved. In this text, the use of the literary device of repetition —“Lord, Lord”— places more emphasis on the severity of this text. The Reformation Study Bible note on Matt 7:21-23 notes that “The doubling of a name is an address of intimacy (Gen. 22:11; 1 Sam. 3:10; 2 Sam. 18:33; Luke 22:31). It is not claims or feelings of intimacy with Jesus that matter, nor is it performing miraculous works in Jesus’ name, as even Judas Iscariot did (Matt. 10:1-4).”  

Some, who supposedly knew him intimately will be cast from His presence forever because He never knew them. Now, let us turn to Matthew 7:21-23 to glean some five lessons from the text.

Which Christ?

This is the most important question we should ask ourselves based on this text. Which Christ are we trusting in? There are many Christs out there, but there is only one saving Christ. Christ warned us of this when He said many false Christs will come in the last days. False Christs do not and cannot save. There is only one Christ who saves, and He is the Christ of Scripture. He is our Sovereign Ruler and King. The Lord of Lords and Author of Life, who gave Himself as a ransom for His people. He bore the full wrath of God on a cross, died, and rose on the third day, having conquered death. He is the true and only savior. Salvation comes through Him and Him alone. Do you believe in the biblical Christ?

Known By God

To be known by God is more important than any other thing in this world. It is the very foundation of everything. We must be known by God before we can know God. This does not just mean knowing about God. Rather, it is knowing Him in an intimate way. Knowing God is one thing, but being known by God is another. Using a worldly analogy, we all know Queen Elizabeth. However, to be known by Queen Elizabeth is unique. In the same sense, we know God, but to be known by the God of the universe is mind-blowing.

In Matthew 7, Christ tells them to depart, for He never knew them. Of course, God sovereignly knows everyone, but He only shares an intimate relationship with His own: those who believe in Him. So never knowing them does not mean that He knew them and stopped knowing them at some point. Rather, they never had a saving relationship with Him to begin with. Those who are truly known by God are kept by God until the end. So, the key question is, “Are you known by God?” One may ask, how do I know if I am known by God? Well, do you believe in the gospel of Christ? Do you love God, even just a little?

Profession Is Not Possession

The fact that one professes faith in Christ does not mean he possesses it. We see this in Matthew 7. They professed and did many mighty works. However, we see them condemned in the end. It is not professors of faith that are saved, but possessors. Only those who possess a saving faith in Christ are children of God, and such are not brought into judgment but are passed from death to life. All those who possess saving faith profess it, but not all those who profess faith possess it. Hence, we are to make sure of our election and calling. Do you possess true saving faith?

Assurance

The people described in Matthew 7 had a false assurance. By prophesying in His name, casting out demons, and completing many mighty works in His name, they believed they belonged to Him. Christ tells us in Scripture that false Christ will rise up and do many great miracles and mighty works. Our assurance therefore should not come from what we do, but from Christ who saves. Our assurance shouldn’t come from God answering our prayers (providence is remarkable), or the things we do, but from the Word of God. We are to make sure of our election and calling and to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. Do we believe in the true Christ? Our fruits are a great litmus test for us, but the Spirit of God and the Word of God are our assurance.

The Spirit of God illuminating the truth of God’s word in our heart assures us that we are indeed Children of God. Is your assurance then from the fact that you said a prayer or walked an aisle, or because you grew up in a Christian home, or because a pastor said you are saved or is your assurance wrought by the Spirit of God on your heart through his Word?

Narrow Path Is Life

Early in Matthew 7, Christ tells us to “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” In Matthew 7:21-23, He tells us that “MANY will say unto me.” This group in Matthew 7 is not small in number. They are many. The fact that many profess faith does not mean they possess saving faith. We must ensure we are on the narrow path. We must not compare ourselves with the masses. The fact that “many” are doing something does not make it right. Rather, we must compare ourselves to the truth of God’s word. What does God’s word say? It is our final authority. The gate is narrow indeed.

The truth is, you could be part of the people in Matthew 7:21-23. Christ is the only way by which we can be saved, and by faith in Him alone, we are saved. Do you believe in Christ? Are you known by God? Are you just a professor of faith, or are you a possessor? Do you have a false assurance, or is your assurance from God the Holy Spirit and His Word? Are you on the narrow path that leads to life or the wide path that leads to destruction? This is something we must address individually. No one believes unto salvation for us; WE must believe in Christ alone on our own.

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