Bible Study Why Do I Exist?

[Tenchi]

The purpose of our lives isn't found in serving ourselves. The Bible tells us that God made us to know Him; and in knowing Him, to love Him; and in loving Him, to enjoy Him; and in enjoying Him, to glorify Him. This is the basic reason (and purpose for which) any person exists.


Know:

2 Timothy 1:12
12 ...for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

Romans 10:14
14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?...

Philippians 3:8
8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,

Love:

Matthew 22:36-38
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.

1 John 4:16
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Enjoy:

Galatians 5:22
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

John 17:13
13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

Acts 13:52
52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Glorify:

1 Corinthians 10:31
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Romans 15:5-6
5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus,
6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 6:20
20 For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.


A person may become a doctor, or welder, or farmer, or teacher, or whatever, but the over-riding, guiding values of their life ought to be the things above that God says are His priorities for us. We are here on earth only for a short time, preparing to spend eternity with God who will be the "Hub" around which we all revolve all the time, His will and way our constant preoccupation, His power, glory and excellence provoking us to eternal praise of Him. What sense, then, in spending our time here learning to be focused on what we want, on what pleases us rather than God? We are all of us moving to a forever filled with God, not with ourselves. Prepare for this end now. See above.

 

[TonyChanYT]

Why did God create humans?​

Genesis 1:

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Ecclesiastes 3:

13 And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.

From humans' perspective, God created humans to enjoy the world.
From God's perspective, Colossians 1:

16 All things were created by him and for him.

Isaiah 43:

7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Psalm 100:

3 Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Ephesians 2:

10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works

To do good works is to have faith in God.
God created humans to be his faithful people to do good works for his glory and to enjoy him and one another, as well as his created world.

 

[Tenchi]

The entire Bible is filled with commands from God to His creatures. Each command is an expression of His will. Is there an order of priority, a rational hierarchy, to God's revelation of His will in the Bible? Or do all of God's commands stand shoulder-to-shoulder with one another, all equally vital to you and I today? For example, was God's will for the nation Israel in the OT, expressed in the many laws of separation He gave them through Moses - no tattoos, no mixing fabrics, no eating "cloven-hoofed" animals, etc. - just as much in force for the Christian now, living under the New Covenant in Christ Jesus? The Bible itself says, "No." Read Hebrews 9-10:22, or Paul's letter to the believers in Galatia, or Colossians 2, or Romans 3:20-28, and so on.

Are there more fundamental things, more necessary things, that have to precede our wider, more general, fulfillment of God's will? Yes. As I pointed out in the OP, I can't obey God's will unless and until I know what it is. And as I also pointed out in the OP, God's word itself acknowledges this. So, then, knowledge of God's will, or, rather, gaining knowledge of His will MUST come before doing it.

There are also necessary predicates of condition to doing God's will, certain states-of-affairs within which we MUST obey God. These, too, I pointed out in the OP. For instance, holiness is a "non-negotiable" in walking with God. "Without holiness no man shall see God" the writer of Hebrews declared (Hebrews 12:14b). Love, too, is essential to fulfilling God's will, the sole ground out of which God will accept our obedience to His will. See the OP. Faith and submission to God are also "non-negotiables" in fellowship with God. (Hebrews 4:2, 11:6; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Romans 6:13-18; 12:1; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:6)

So, I can "fill the earth and subdue it," I can be "fruitful and multiply," but doing so in a circumstance that keeps me far from God and that He will one day punish with eternal hell. I can "eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of labor" but be under God's holy wrath, by my sin cut off from Him and in constant danger of everlasting divine punishment. I can even be doing "good works," but from a life of hypocrisy, from a life filled with moral and spiritual compromise, and from a motive other than love (the only motive for my obedience God accepts). Many are the Christians who do "good works" out of fear, or guilt, or self-righteous pride. But God rejects such "obedience," as Paul pointed out in his letter to the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). So, then, there is a very clear order of priority, a hierarchy to His will that God establishes for us in His word. My OP was a distillation of the fundamental purposes for which God made us that precede and order our being fruitful and multiplying, our enjoying God's creation, and our obedience to Him.

 

[Who Me]

The Westminster confession of faith says that the chief end of man ( or purpose ) is to glorify God and enjoy him for ever.

 

[Tenchi]

The Westminster confession of faith says that the chief end of man ( or purpose ) is to glorify God and enjoy him for ever.

Yes. I think this confession has the "enjoy Him" and "glorify God" backwards, but I agree that these are fundamental features of human existence. Of course, they are predicated on the things I pointed out in my OP and post #3 in this thread. Love, holiness, faith, knowledge, and submission are all bound up in enjoying God and properly glorifying Him.

 

[Who Me]

Yes. I think this confession has the "enjoy Him" and "glorify God" backwards, but I agree that these are fundamental features of human existence. Of course, they are predicated on the things I pointed out in my OP and post #3 in this thread. Love, holiness, faith, knowledge, and submission are all bound up in enjoying God and properly glorifying Him.

We will enjoy God in heaven.

 

[Tenchi]

Yes. We can enjoy and glorify Him right now, though, too.

 

[for_his_glory]

We were created for God's good please to be holy and blameless before Him enjoying the pleasures of His creation.


Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8 Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

 

[WalterandDebbie]

The purpose of our lives isn't found in serving ourselves. The Bible tells us that God made us to know Him; and in knowing Him, to love Him; and in loving Him, to enjoy Him; and in enjoying Him, to glorify Him. This is the basic reason (and purpose for which) any person exists.


Know:

2 Timothy 1:12
12 ...for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.

Romans 10:14
14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?...

Philippians 3:8
8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,

Love:

Matthew 22:36-38
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.

1 John 4:16
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Enjoy:

Galatians 5:22
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

John 17:13
13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

Acts 13:52
52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Glorify:

1 Corinthians 10:31
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Romans 15:5-6
5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus,
6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 6:20
20 For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.


A person may become a doctor, or welder, or farmer, or teacher, or whatever, but the over-riding, guiding values of their life ought to be the things above that God says are His priorities for us. We are here on earth only for a short time, preparing to spend eternity with God who will be the "Hub" around which we all revolve all the time, His will and way our constant preoccupation, His power, glory and excellence provoking us to eternal praise of Him. What sense, then, in spending our time here learning to be focused on what we want, on what pleases us rather than God? We are all of us moving to a forever filled with God, not with ourselves. Prepare for this end now. See above.

Hello!, Amen,

 

[WalterandDebbie]

9-11-23

Comfort Because Of Israel's Restoration

We are created to bring glory to Him, to honor Him, to praise His glorious name, to thank Him for His abundance in our life and to praise Him for His abundant grace, the riches of His love, His splendor and majesty and a God who is righteous and just and having power in His name that we may come to Him in reverence and awe.

And, The reasons we were created are to serve, glorify, and worship god and his son our lord Jesus Christ/scriptures, about creation in Genesis and Paul talk about adoption into the family of God as Sons and Daughters.

Isaiah 43

1 But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.

3 For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.

4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.

5 Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west;

6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;

7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.

8 Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.

9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.

10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

11 I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me there is no saviour.

12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.

13 Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?

14 Thus saith the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.

15 I am the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.

16 Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;

17 Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.

18 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.

19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

20 The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.

21 This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.

22 But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.

23 Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.

24 Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.

25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

26 Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.

27 Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me.

28 Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.

Love, Walter And Debbie