Why Serve God 01

A. Someone once asked, and then commented, “Suppose you could prove to me that there is a God. So
what! Would that necessarily mean that I would be obligated to serve him?” “Your God must be on a
super ‘ego trip’ if He expects everyone in the Universe to worship Him.” How do you answer that?
First, the issue of whether humans should yield their lives to the Creator has nothing to do with the
divine ego.
1. God, by definition, is infinite in all of His attributes. He cannot be more powerful than He is. He cannot be wiser than He is. The Lord cannot be any more glorious than He is. Consequently, His “ego” could never be enhanced by human servitude.
a. This is implied logically in the language of Christ’s prayer shortly before His crucifixion. Jesus
prayed to be “...glorified with the glory that He shared with the Father before the world was.” Jno.
17:5. If God’s glory had been inflated by virtue of human devotion across the centuries, then
Christ’s prayer would have reflected a desire for the current glory of the of the Father, rather
than the former glory He possessed before the world was created. Therefore, we understand
that God’s requirement that we serve Him, is not for His benefit; rather, it is for ours.
(A) 1 Jno. 4:8. says, “God is love.” Therefore, we know He wants the best for us. That means
our true contentment can only be found in living for Him and worshiping Him. But, there are
other reasons why we should be obedient to our Creator.
(1) What about the nature of God? We worship God because of His essence and nature.
God is worthy of human worship simply because of Who He is! Now, what does that
suggest? There are two sources of information about His Supreme Being. FIRST,
there is the abstract revelation of nature. It argues for the wisdom and power of God.
Ps. 19:1; Rom. 1:20. God’s power is seen in the vastness of the Universe; His wisdom
is reflected in its intricate design. The evidence is so clear that those who reject him
are “without excuse,” Rom. 1:20; Heb. 11:6.
(a) In addition to the abstract revelation of divinity in the universe, there is the concrete revelation of Holy Scripture, which affirms the moral attributes of the Lord. The testimony of these two realities cannot be denied. The Bible teaches that God is the eternal Spirit Who is the Architect and Creator of the Universe.
(b) When did Jehovah Himself originate? He didn’t. God has existed always; He is the eternal One, “I Am” Ex. 6:3; Gen. 21:33. Logic demands the venerable argument—that remains unanswered to this day: “If something is, then something always was. But something is; therefore, something always was.” That eternal “something” must be either matter or mind. But it is not matter, for science demonstrates that matter is not eternal. Thus, the eternal “something” is mind. The Scriptures identify this Mind as God.
(2) God is eternal Spirit. That is His essence. God is spirit and not flesh Jno. 4:24; Lk. 24:39; Matt. 16:17. He is the Almighty, Gen. 17:1; Rev. 1:8. Why is He almighty? His purposes cannot be restrained, Job 42:2. God is infinitely wise, Rom. 11:33?36, His loving, benevolent disposition is breathtaking, 1 John 4:8; Eph. 2:4; Jas .1:17.

(A) But it goes beyond that. The gift of His Son, Jesus, to pay the price for our sins and make complete forgiveness of our sins is the motivation for giving our lives to Him. Job 1:6-12, Satan attacks the worthiness of God being worshiped. Job worshiped God in Spirit and in Truth and was completely accepted by God. Satan said, “Job only worshiped God because God greatly blessed him with material wealth.” Job’s righteous demeanor was the result of bribery!
(1) You, God, are not worthy of human devotion on the basis of your character. The only reason men worship you is that it is to their advantage to do so. Take away your blessings and they will abandon you. Allowed Satan to take away everything but Job’s life. Job 13:15, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.” Job thus demonstrated the fact that: God is worthy of human service on the basis of His own nature—apart from the generous blessings He bestows. As the psalmist expressed it in Ps. 18:3, “I will call upon Jehovah, who is worthy to be praised.”
(2) You and I ought to praise God simply for Who He is! Holy, holy, holy you are God and I will adore you and worship you with all that I am and with all that I have. Anything less than that is a slap in the face of God, beloved our creator.
(3) Acts 20:32.

Spur - 07/13/03 pm