God at the Center

Think of the Bible as a work of literature. Who is the main character? Who is the protagonist? Abraham? Moses? David? Peter? Paul?

No. None of these.

The protagonist of the Bible is God.

The opening line of the Bible makes this clear: “In the beginning, God . . .”

Before all things – before there was a beginning – God is. He exists. And He chooses for the beginning to happen. He is not created; He creates.

Now, remember a bit of basic grammar. Look at this sentence: “The Panthers beat the Jets.” What is the subject of this sentence? Who acts? The Panthers. What is the verb in this sentence? What action is taking place? Beating. What is the object of the action? The Jets. Subject = Panthers, Verb = beat, Object = Jets.

So now consider the first several paragraphs of the Bible, Genesis 1. This chapter contains 42 active verbs (other than in sentences God speaks). Who is the subject of these active verbs? Who is acting? In 41 of these cases, God is the subject of the active verb (and in the 42nd, the earth fulfills God’s command).

God is the subject. God is the one who acts. God is the main character in this introduction to the Bible – and indeed, in the entire book. This book is centered on God.

Why does God act in Genesis 1? Why is He the subject of all these verbs? Why does He create anything?

The Bible tells us that God created the world to show His glory. Psalm 19:1 tells us this is true of the material universe: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” Isaiah 43:6 and 7 explain that mankind also is created for God’s glory: “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory.” Later in the same chapter God speaks of “the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise” (Isaiah 43:21).

What does “created for my glory” mean? That last verse helps. The Bible uses the word “glory” to mean: “What makes an object good, or important, or interesting.” Creation tells us about God – about what makes Him good, important, and interesting. Creation exists – we exist – to display to others what God is like. And since God is fully praiseworthy, in order to fulfill that purpose, we must declare His praise, we must praise Him with all of our being.

Thus, Genesis 1, this first chapter of the Bible, must be God-centered. He is the one who acts. All He does, all His acts are for the praise of His own glory.

Friends, this is theme of the entire Bible. If we are His people, we are called to be God-centered. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We are to focus our every desire on Him. We are to say with the psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you” (Psalm 73:25, emphasis added). We are to focus our attention on Him: “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:1-2).

It is easy to get sidetracked from this, isn’t it? It is easy to get wrapped up in the affairs of this world or even in Christian activity and end up violating the call to be God-centered.

This happens in other parts of our lives also. Consider school, at any level. What is the primary purpose of school? To learn! We could say that school is supposed to be Learning-centered. But do all students stay centered on learning?

  • The focus of one student is, “How can I impress that girl?”
  • The focus of another is, “How can I have fun today?”
  • The focus of a third is, “I hope our basketball team wins!”
  • The focus of a fourth is, “I want to do well on the SAT!”

None of these considerations is bad in and of itself. But all of them – even the focus on the test – can be a distraction from the central purpose of school: Learning. If the school is to fulfill its purpose, the focus must be first and foremost on learning.

We too are easily sidetracked from the purpose of our creation, both as individuals and as churches. We easily slip into becoming man-centered or activity-centered. For us to serve our main purpose, we must remember that God is the subject of all creation. He is the main character in the Bible – and thus in all of history. Our purpose is to magnify Him.

We as a church must remind ourselves of this time and again. That’s why our first core value is to be God-centered:

We value putting God at the center of all that we do. We put His glory and His honor first, asking in every decision, “Will this bring the greatest glory and praise to our God?”

May we fulfill this statement in all our acts as a church, and in each of our individual lives – so that we truly might live to the praise of His glorious grace (Ephesians 1:6).

[The sermon “In the Beginning – God!” on Genesis 1:1-2:3, preached 4/18/04, expands on these thoughts. Audio is here.]

The Greatness and Weakness of Old Testament Worship

We need food. We need shelter. We need love. We need respect.

But what is our greatest need?

Scripture is clear: Our greatest need is to see Jesus for Who He is, and to respond accordingly. Only in this way can we fulfill the purpose of our creation. Only in this way can we draw near the One in whose presence is fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11). If we are His people, and He is our God, we can lose everything else – and yet still gain (Mark 8:34-37, 10:29-30).

So the book of Hebrews exalts the Lord Jesus and commands to consider Him, to keep our eyes fixed on Him. In particular, the author shows that Jesus is superior to any Old Testament priest and that the New Covenant in Him is superior to the Old Covenant.

Seeing these contrasts, we today are tempted to denigrate Old Testament worship – either to ignore the long sections of Scripture that describe it, or to go further and think of such worship as false and misleading.

But the New Testament never treats Old Testament worship that way, neither in Hebrews nor anywhere else.

Remember: All Old Testament worship forms were commanded by God! They are all part of God’s torah, His instruction about Who He is, who we are, how we can be reconciled to Him, and how we can fulfill the purpose of our creation in a fallen world.

Thus, there is a greatness to Old Testament worship.

At the same time, as Hebrews make abundantly clear, there is a weakness in that worship.

So let’s ask: How was Old Testament worship great? And how was it weak?

Hebrews 8:5 tells us of its greatness: The Old Testament priests “serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.”

Think of the glory! These priests were serving a copy of heavenly things!

So their worship forms were not something that they thought up, that they decided would be appropriate ways to worship God.

Neither was their worship patterned after forms that peoples around them were using.

No! God showed Moses the true, heavenly reality! And then God helped Moses to see how to best reflect that heavenly reality on earth, through the tabernacle, through the sacrifices, through the annual feasts and other forms.

Thus, all these forms of worship pointed as effectively as possible to the heavenly reality on which they were patterned. And today, you and I have the privilege of being able to read God’s instructions to Moses, and thereby to learn about the heavenly realities – indeed, to learn about Jesus through them. As He Himself says, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me” (John 5:46; see also Luke 24:44).

So Old Testament worship is great because the Israelite priests serve a copy of heavenly things! It is precious! It was a wonderful gift of God to the people of Israel – and the description of it is a wonderful gift to us today.

But if that’s the case, how is it weak?

Old Testament worship is weak because those priests served a copy of heavenly things. Only a copy.

No one was ever redeemed by their sacrifices – that redemption had to take place in the true tent (Hebrews 8:2).

Furthermore, many Old Testament worshipers – even many of the priests – were simply going thru the motions. There was no inner delight in God, no broken and contrite heart before Him (Psalm 51:16-17).

So Jesus has obtained a much more excellent ministry (Hebrews 8:6). He ministers in the heavenly reality! Not in a shadowy copy. And He mediates a better covenant, with better promises – the New Covenant (Hebrews 8:8-12, Jeremiah 31:31-34). The very phrase “New Covenant” – written 600 years before Christ – implies that the first covenant one day will be obsolete (Hebrews 8:13). Now that Jesus has come, has died, and has risen to the right of hand of God, that time has come. Jeremiah’s prophecy is fulfilled. As great as Old Testament worship was, as wonderful as it was for the priests to picture heavenly realities, now that the perfect has come, the partial can pass away.

So the author of Hebrews emphasizes once again: Look to your great High Priest! Keep your eyes fixed on Him!

That is our greatest need today. It will remain our greatest need forever.

So exalt Jesus in your heart – and read about God-ordained, Old Testament worship forms so that you might exalt Jesus all the more.

Then praise God for the Old Covenant – and praise Him all the more for fulfilling that covenant in the New.

[This devotion is taken from part of the July 5, 2020 sermon. You can watch that service here; the sermon begins at 37:35; this section of the sermon begins at 1:03:35.]