Broadlands Bible Church
November 15, 2023
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Thesis: The will of God has been, and always will be, directed to one ultimate objective.
Introduction: In our considerations of "The will of God and the will of man", there is one major concept that must come to govern all of our thinking about the "will". That one major concept has to do with the "objective" of the exercise of the "will": What is the intended outcome of the choice being made?
- I. The Primacy Of One Ultimate Objective In The Divine Will.
- A. The "statements of men" regarding God's "ultimate objective" in His creation activities.
- 1. Are to only be considered if they arise out of written, divine, revelation.
- 2. Are to be tasked with one question: Is the statement "ultimate" or "methodological"?
- B. The "statements of men" regarding God's "ultimate objective" often fail to be legitimate "for cause".
- 1. There are several "statements of men" regarding God's "ultimate objective" and, logically, only one can be "correct".
- 2. Examples of human declarations.
- a. Pat Robertson has an article on "CBN" that asks "What is God's Purpose For Man?", and in it he gives multiple answers: "to be fruitful"; "to increase and grow"; "to have dominion over Satan"; "our main purpose for being on earth is to be stewards of God's creation, to grow in God, and to function as God's sons and daughters"; etc.
- b. In "gotquestions.org" we are told: "The Bible makes it abundantly clear that God created man and that He created him for His glory...Therefore, the ultimate purpose for man, according to the Bible, is simply to glorify God".
- c. The Westminster Shorter Catechism raises the question, "What is the chief end of man?", and it answers it with "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever".
- d. On the "openbible" website we are given 59 biblical statements to answer the question of "the purpose of man".
- e. A.W. Tozer is quoted as saying, "God's supreme purpose in making man was to have somebody capable to properly and sufficiently worship Him and satisfy His own heart".
- 3. The major "problem" here is that all but one disqualifies itself by giving more than one "purpose" -- an "ultimate purpose" is not "ultimate" if it has 59 answers; and the one that gives only one "purpose" does not recognize that it presents a "methodological" purpose and not a statement of the "ultimate" purpose.
- C. Toward a legitimate understanding of "God's ultimate purpose for man".
- 1. First, any "purpose for man" has to include all men; it cannot apply to only some men.
- 2. Second, any "purpose for man" has to arise out of a "T"heology that does not rest upon some deficiency in God that He is striving to overcome: such striving would be inherently self centered and, thus, be most fundamentally contrary to everything the Bible says about the primacy of the Love of God.
- a. To begin to answer this question of "ultimacy", then, we must ask "How would God be less than God if He had never created anything?"
- 1) If one of the inherent attributes of God is "creativity", then God would be diminished as God if He did not create.
- a) If God is inherently "creative" it is not "self" centered to create, just as it is not "self" centered for God to destroy any who reject "other-centeredness" as a basic attribute of "Good". God is "Truth" and it is not "self" centered of Him to always be truthful. God is "Love"; but "Love" cannot be defined in terms of "self" gain.
- b) But if God is inherently "creative", He has been creating as long as He has been God.
- c) That raises the question of whether the creation of "persons" is to be considered a kind of "ultimate creation" under which His creativity will operate once this "creation" has reached its apex.
- 2) Since the Bible declares that "God is Love", we have to view God's "creativity" as an expression of pure "Love", but since the Cross is declared to be the apex of man's perception of what "Love" is, it is difficult to conceive of "creativity" ever having an expression greater than the creation of "persons".
- b. Then, we must ask, "How would God make it possible for 'persons' to come to grips with their 'purpose' under God?"
