Two motives for worship (The Spirituality of God - 4)
Ownership is a basic biblical principle for living in God’s world. We see it clearly in the eighth commandment: “You shall not steal” (Ex 20:15). When someone owns something, it’s an infringement to use or steal that thing without their permission. In fact, the tenth commandment takes the principle further and shows us that it is wrong even to desire what belongs to others. These boundaries are set out in God’s law for us, but they also reveal a higher principle in our relationship with God.
In Mark 12:17 the Lord Jesus said: “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Now, as we know, God is the source of life, and He alone has life in and of Himself. That’s something we’ve been learning in recent weeks as we’ve been looking at God’s spiritual nature. When we consider this in light of the principle of ownership, we see clearly that God has a claim upon everything that He has created. He is entitled to do with it as He wishes, and any action by us that runs counter to His will is a violation of that entitlement. You could say that it is an act of theft against the Almighty. Psalm 24:1-2 lay out this logic very clearly: “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.” Romans 9:20-21 also illustrates the principle of God’s cosmic ownership: “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is moulded say to its moulder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make of the same lump one vessel for honourable use and another for dishonourable use?”
The life we have, we have received of Him. Our time, our gifts and abilities, our faculties, even the opportunities that we have are sovereignly ordained. After all, we had no say over even the timing and location of our birth, and as life unfolds there remains much that is entirely outside of our control. All is of Him, and for Him. Colossians 1:15-16 teach this very clearly: “by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through Him and for Him.”
Since He is the giver of life, we are therefore under obligation to give Him our whole-hearted devotion. This is why the Lord Jesus framed that greatest of commandments as He did: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment” (Mt 22:37-38). The reasoning is clear: God created us, and is both worthy and deserving of our whole-hearted commitment. The chief expression of this devotion is worship. In John 4:23, the Lord thus reveals that God seeks worshippers, and in the psalms the refrain is often repeated “Worship the LORD” (e.g.
Ps 96:9). He is entitled to and requires our praise and thanksgiving. That is the call that is upon our lives.
Now let me ask you: have you been committing cosmic theft against the Almighty? Have I? Have we violated His divine entitlement to our total devotion? Our lives are entirely a gift from Him, a trust that He has imparted to us. Every single misuse of our lives is thus an infringement of His divine ownership. We fail every day don’t we? We compulsively commit theft every single day of our lives. How great is our need of His mercy! And yet, how willingly He dispenses even this! Just as He has given us the trust of our lives, He has also given us all the grace that is needful for our misuse of that life. Let us live then with the reminder always before us: that we have no right to anything in our lives. There is no such thing, in the purest sense, as human rights, for we are not our own. The “right” belongs to God, for He is the giver of life.
But beyond duty, our motivation to praise and thank God is tuned to the higher harmony of God’s goodness. It would be one thing if God made the world an entirely miserable place. If He did that, He would still be entitled to the total devotion of all His creatures, and we would have no grounds on which to complain (Rom 9:20-21). But as we experience the life He gives, we also find a revelation of His goodness to us.
As the preacher of Ecclesiastes discovered, life though ruined by the fall remains even now a many-splendoured thing. There is good food and drink, and enjoyment in labour and productivity, which is “from the hand of God” (Ecc 2:24-25). Life is good isn’t it? Nobody wants to die, they want to live, and even those who do desire to end their life generally do so out of a deep despair driven by the absence of something good in their lives. We are simply wired to crave and seek after the good. And yet the doctrine of the self-existence, aseity, or life of God, is the very essence of this goodness that we so desire. In that sense, the doctrine of God’s aseity is a kind of master-key to living life in the thankfulness and experience of God’s gift of that life to us.
Let me put it this way: imagine what life would be like if it was lived in a constant awareness of the aseity of God? In Acts 17:28 the Apostle says “In Him we live and move and have our being.” Every second of your existence, every thought that you think, every sudoko that you play, every coffee you drink, every laugh that you share, every turn of the steering wheel while you drive, all of it – every single second – is dependent upon the life that God gives you. Every moment of your life exists in the reality of the aseity of God, and His giving of that life to us. Now here’s where the rubber hits the road: do we live accordingly? Do we live every single moment in the recognition that it is a gift from God? Do we take every breath of our existence as a mercy and blessing from Him? Or do we blindly live for ourselves, oblivious to the greatness of God’s generosity? The truth is, our default tends to be a God-ignorant attitude of self-entitlement. And yet if we shed this entitlement for the humility and wonder of the life we have, I’m sure life would be a very different experience.
We would taste His goodness in every fresh strawberry, we would be compelled to pray without ceasing, the fragrance of thanksgiving would be a continual offering from the very depth of our souls. If an unbeliever could but truly see even a glimpse of the aseity of God, then they would surely be converted in a moment. If we as believers could get a greater view of God’s aseity, the effect would be no less dramatic. For us as believers, if we could truly see God as the self-existent one, and the giver of life, our pride would be slain in an instant. What space is there for pride when we know with certainty that we have no sufficiency even to exist? Thankfulness and praise would be our constant occupation, for with every breath would come the knowledge that we live only by the good pleasure and grace of God.
As we experience life, the truth is that life and all its blessings are an unmerited gift from the hand of God. In our muddled self-centred way, our view of God is sadly and sinfully obscured. We seek the pleasures that God gives, but naturally tend to think nothing of the One who gives them. This is part of the tragedy of our fall! And yet, as we experience God’s goodness imparted through His creation, it should motivate us to whole-hearted devotion, shouldn’t it? When you’re caught at a busy intersection, and you’ve been waiting for some time for a break in the traffic, and then some good Samaritan creates a pause to let you through, a gush of thankfulness pours out in your heart. Such thankfulness ought to be constantly welling up in the hearts of God’s people in response to the gift of life as it unfolds. Of course, in our selfishness, it often doesn’t. Let us repent of our thankless ways, and seek to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess 5:18). Here’s a catechetical summary of what we’ve learned:
Q. How does God’s self-existence motivate us to praise and thank Him for the life He has and gives?
A. In two ways: first, by showing us that He is our Creator, and is thus entitled to our whole-hearted devotion; and second, by showing us His goodness in giving life to us.
Soli Deo Gloria!