Children’s Catechism – What is the Chief End of Man?

We’re going to begin our children’s sermon which several adults have told me that it’s been very helpful to them. And what we’re talking about, children, in the little handout that I’ve made and was given out – I probably need to give it out next week again – is we’re talking about the glory of God. Everything that we do, we are to do for the glory of God. Now, we began with a question. What is the chief end of man? That means, why were you made? The 1689 London Confession and the Westminster Confession say this: You were made for the glory of God, to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Now what we’re studying right now is how do you glorify God? And one of the things that we mentioned that’s so very important is this: You must recognize the worth of God. You must recognize His worth. That is why as we go on, we’re going to teach you, children, about the attributes of God. Do you know most adults that go to church and have gone to church all their life could not sit down and write out a list of what are the attributes or the characteristics of God? But we don’t want you to be that way. Because the beginning of all knowledge, the greatest of all knowledge is knowledge of God. And if you understand how worthy He is, how valuable He is, then we won’t have to psych you up. We won’t have to send you off to some conference to get all psyched up for about a week or two, and then come back and die. If you know how wonderful He is, then you’ll want to serve Him if He has worked in your heart. Now, last week, we studied a few things that I want to look at. First of all, we discovered how valuable God is. That if you took everything that’s in the world and you put it on one side of the scale, and you put God on the other side of the scale, God would outweigh them all. He is worth more than all the universe combined. But not only did we learn that, we also mentioned that God was beautiful. That He was more beautiful than all the things He has made combined. Now I want you to listen to a verse. It’s in Psalm 27:4 and it says this, “One thing I have asked of the Lord, that I shall seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life…” Why? “…To behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.” And then in Psalm 96:6 it says this, “Splendor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.” Have you ever seen something so beautiful that you just went (gasp)? It took your breath away. It was so beautiful. A sunset. A beautiful scenery in the wilderness. Maybe the trees turning their different colors or a magnificent sunset. You just literally thought it was going to take your breath away. Well, let me share with you something. Now children, listen to this. God is so beautiful that if He right now showed you just a glimpse of His beauty, that beauty would be so great that your mind would not be able to comprehend it. It would, in a sense, drive you crazy. It would be so magnificent, so big, so beautiful that it would almost explode your mind and definitely explode your heart. That is why in order to be in Heaven and to catch a glimpse of God there, you must be supernaturally strengthened. You see, we’re not serving God because we want to be religious or we like a bunch of rules. That’s not why we serve God. We serve God because He’s absolutely beautiful! Now adults, it might be a little bit difficult to explain this to your children, but here’s something that you might want to think about. God is so beautiful that it is an act of condescension; it is an act of humility on the part of God to turn His eyes off of Himself to look at any other thing. He has to humble Himself. And it’s one of the reasons, we can also get into this, that throughout all eternity, God has beheld His own beauty in great joy by looking into the face of His Son Who is the perfect reflection of the beauty of God. You see, it’s marvelous! It’s exciting! It’s wonderful to know Him! I don’t get up in the morning and read five chapters just because I want to say I was able to read five chapters or ten chapters. I get up every morning in the same way that a miner gets up and goes down into the mine looking for gold; looking for precious jewels. So God is beautiful. Now, I want to say one more thing about God before we go on. Remember, we said that God was worth more than all the universe. We also said that God was more beautiful than all the universe. But now, I want you to also understand something. And children, this is very important. Parents, this is why before your child leaves the home, they should go through Proverbs with you at least 20 or 30 times. God is the smartest. He is the most intelligent. We’ve got students here today from Virginia Tech, and I asked each one of them, what do you do? And they’re all just brainiacs. They’re all engineers and things like that you know. All the things I shied away from in college. But as smart as they are, they’re not smart, compared to God. Because the greatest wisdom in this world is dumb compared to God. Now, let me just say this. I’ve written something here in your little study. Imagine all the most intelligent men that ever lived were sitting in a room and talking about their great ideas. It would be amazing to hear all the great things they knew, but compared to God, they know nothing. Now, let me share with you something. A lot of young people think they know all the answers. Let me tell you something, you don’t even know what the questions are. Okay? I desperately need God’s wisdom. And I’m a lot older than you are. I study the book of Proverbs every day with my children, not simply for them, but for me. If I do what I think is right in my own eyes, I’m dead. And literally, I’m not kidding. I’m dead. It leads to death. To do what is right in your own eyes. You must do what is right according to God’s Word. Let me just read something to you. In Romans 11:33-34, it says this, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has become His counselor?” Now, you say, okay, Brother Paul, I want to listen to God. Well, let me ask you a question. Do you listen to your parents? Are you someone who listens quietly to obey your parents? Or are you someone that’s always every time your dad speaks, you go, “yes, but…”? Like you’ve got a better idea? You ought to listen to your parents. And parents, if you speak out of your own authority, you’re wrong. If you’re going to claim parental authority, then you better know the Scriptures so that when you do command and give guidance to your children, it is not your human wisdom or something just handed down to you, but it’s the wisdom of Scripture. The wisdom of Scripture. And so what do we know about God? He is beautiful. What else do we know? He’s very smart. Let me share with you just one thing about how smart He is. When we say that God knows everything, we mean that He knows everything. We use the word “infinite.” His knowledge has no end. His knowledge is infinite. It’s exhaustive. And it’s without effort. Now what do I mean? God doesn’t have to think and try to figure out what’s going on. He doesn’t have to research a topic. He just knows it. It’s instantaneous and without effort. That’s amazing. He knows all things infinitely and without effort. When it talks about the books on the day of judgment and them being opened up, it’s speaking metaphorically. He needs no book. He doesn’t even need to remember or think. He knows. He knows. His knowledge was not gained. It simply was, is, and always will be. Now that’s a great God. And that’s the God that we follow, the God we love, and the God we fear.