I remember Mama standing in front of me, her hands poised on her hips, her eyes glaring with hot coals of fire and saying in stentorian tones, “Just what is the big idea, young man?” Instinctively I knew my mother was not asking me an abstract question about theory. Her question was not a question at all—it was a thinly veiled accusation. Her words were easily translated to mean, “Why are you doing what you are doing?” She was challenging me to justify my behavior with a valid idea. I had none.

Recently a friend asked me in all earnestness the same question. He asked, “What’s the big idea of the Christian life?” He was interested in the overarching, ultimate goal of the Christian life. To answer his question, I fell back on the theologian’s prerogative and gave him a Latin term. I said, “The big idea of the Christian life is coram Deo. Coram Deo captures the essence of the Christian life.” This phrase literally refers to something that takes place in the presence of, or before the face of, God. To live coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.

To live in the presence of God is to understand that whatever we are doing and wherever we are doing it, we are acting under the gaze of God. God is omnipresent. There is no place so remote that we can escape His penetrating gaze. To be aware of the presence of God is also to be acutely aware of His sovereignty. The uniform experience of the saints is to recognize that if God is God, then He is indeed sovereign. When Saul was confronted by the refulgent glory of the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, his immediate question was, “Who is it, Lord?” He wasn’t sure who was speaking to him, but he knew that whomever it was, was certainly sovereign over him.

Living under divine sovereignty involves more than a reluctant submission to sheer sovereignty that is motivated out of a fear of punishment. It involves recognizing that there is no higher goal than offering honor to God. Our lives are to be living sacrifices, oblations offered in a spirit of adoration and gratitude. To live all of life coram Deo is to live a life of integrity. It is a life of wholeness that finds its unity and coherency in the majesty of God. A fragmented life is a life of disintegration. It is marked by inconsistency, disharmony, confusion, conflict, contradiction, and chaos.

The Christian who compartmentalizes his or her life into two sections of the religious and the nonreligious has failed to grasp the big idea. The big idea is that all of life is religious or none of life is religious. To divide life between the religious and the nonreligious is itself a sacrilege.

This means that if a person fulfills his or her vocation as a steelmaker, attorney, or homemaker coram Deo, then that person is acting every bit as religiously as a soul-winning evangelist who fulfills his vocation. It means that David was as religious when he obeyed God’s call to be a shepherd as he was when he was anointed with the special grace of kingship. It means that Jesus was every bit as religious when He worked in His father’s carpenter shop as He was in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Integrity is found where men and women live their lives in a pattern of consistency. It is a pattern that functions the same basic way in church and out of church. It is a life that is open before God. It is a life in which all that is done is done as to the Lord. It is a life lived by principle, not expediency; by humility before God, not defiance. It is a life lived under the tutelage of conscience that is held captive by the Word of God.

Coram Deo … before the face of God. That’s the big idea. Next to this idea our other goals and ambitions become mere trifles.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

Christians must be careful never to enjoy the creation as though it is an end itself.  That would be worshiping creation rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).  But, you should enjoy the good things of this world as a means of worshiping God.  Trips to the beach, quiet walks in the park, dating your wife, enjoying your family, playing with your children, sitting on your back porch, watching good movies, reading good novels, listening to good music, spending time with friends, playing games and sports, sleeping, and enjoying delicious food and drink are all deeply worshipful activities when done in obedience to God’s good commandments and for His glory.  It is positively godly and devotional to enjoy God’s creation, common grace, and life in this world, while giving thanks to Him and rejoicing in His bountiful kindness toward us.

There is, of course, a real danger of created things stealing our sinful hearts away from God.  But, there is an equal danger of avoiding or rejecting the good things God has given us as means of worship.  The Apostle Paul warns in Colossians 2:20-23, “Why, as if you were still alive in the world do you submit to regulations – Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch . . . according to human precepts and teachings?  These indeed have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”  Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can stop the indulgence of your flesh.  And the gospel does not remove you from the world.  Instead, the gospel transforms the way you live in the world.  If you live in faithful loving obedience to Christ, the material world becomes spiritual.  The mundane becomes sacred.

Look at what the Bible says about how we are to enjoy this world.  The preacher of Ecclesiastes wrote, “Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil – this is the gift of God” (5:19).  God gives you dominion over this world, calls you to work hard for His glory, and then invites you to enjoy the fruit of your labors.  “Let your garments be always white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.  Enjoy life with the wife whom you love” (Ecclesiastes 9:8-9).  God gives you all good things because He is good, and He wants you to enjoy them as gifts from His hand.  It is holy, devotional, and Christian for you to enjoy what God has given you for His sake, while recognizing that nothing in creation can satisfy your heart.

So, the Christian life is not merely to be a life lived in the prayer closet with an open Bible communing with God withdrawn from the world.  That’s one important part of it.  But, you are also to commune with God in the world as you enjoy God’s good gifts in creation.  “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31)

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

In answering this question, we must consider two different aspects of time and link them to the biblical perspective of God’s sovereignty.  First, in the moment or in the short-term, we must acknowledge that all men (unsaved or saved) continuously fall short of the glory of God.  We sin, and therefore we continually fail to fulfill our purpose of bringing God the glory that He deserves and requires.  When we are saved and the grace of Christ is operative within us, we recover our purpose and our ability to glorify God as His image-bearers, but on this side of heaven, we will often still fall short.

Because sin is an ever-present reality in this world, we must concede that in the short-term or in the moment, God is often not being glorified as He should be.  However, that does not mean that God’s ultimate glory is ever ultimately in question or is ever ultimately diminished.  Our God is sovereign, and therefore He continually operates in the short-term to guide the course of human history toward the accomplishment of His long-term purpose which is His greatest glory.  How does He operate?  By causing all things, whether good or bad from our human perspective, to serve His glory.

Consider the words of Isaiah 46:9-10: “Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like me, Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’.”  Also Lamentations 3:37-39: “Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it; Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and ill go forth?”  Why should any living mortal, or any man, offer complaint in view of his sins?

What this means is that where we obediently manifest acts of righteousness for the glory of God, we should give thanks to God in Christ who is at work in us to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Phil 2:12-13)  We are responsible to labor for His glory (verse 12), and it is our delight to reap the blessings and rewards of obedience (1 Cor 3:14), but any good in us originates with Him.

In regards to sin, we are certainly responsible for our own disobedience and the consequences thereof, and we will definitely be held accountable by God for how we failed to glorify Him.  Yet God will still be glorified in how He orchestrates and redeems even our sin and its consequences to serve His sovereign purpose.  Remember, He works ALL THINGS together for good to those who love Him (Rom 8:28) because He is constantly working all things together for His own glory (Isa 48:11); His greatest glory IS our greatest good.

Even as the religious leaders were committing their most heinous sin – the crucifixion of Christ – God was accomplishing through them His most glorious victory.  In Acts 4:27-28, Peter said, “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Thy holy servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur.”  As Joseph acknowledged before his brothers, what men meant for evil, God used for good. (Gen 50:20).

In theological terms, this means we live in the best-of-all-possible worlds.  At any given time, the choices of 6+ billion people and the circumstances of an infinite number of variables could result in an infinite number of different outcomes and realities.  But our God, who is the Alpha and the Omega, governs the course of history so that He will ultimately receive the greatest glory.  He constantly orchestrates the function of His creation and the free expression of men’s wills to bring about the best-of-all-possible worlds where He receives ultimate glory.

This reality should by no means lead us to a fatalistic sense of irresponsibility in terms of our actions and choices.  On the contrary, it should lead us to rejoice in the glorious purpose of our Father.  We are privileged to know the blessings of His work in us and all around us.  When the harvest of righteousness bursts forth, praise Him.  When we falter and fail, run to Him for forgiveness and praise Him, for His glory is assured!  I love you all.

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church