A.W. Tozer - The Purpose of Man: Designed to Worship

THE PURPOSE OF MAN

2009 James L. Snyder

Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com

Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com

Bethany House Publishers edition published 2014

ISBN 978-1-4412-6748-1

Previously published by Regal Books

Ebook edition originally created 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version. Authorized King James Version.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

For more than 44 years, Aiden Wilson Tozer served as a minister in the Christian and Missionary Alliance. His most prominent ministry was 31 years at the Southside Alliance Church in Chicago, often referred to as that citadel of Fundamentalism. His ministry, however, went beyond the confines of a denomination. He served as a voice to the entire Body of Christ. His books and articles were eagerly read, and his conference ministry attended with great expectation. Rarely did he disappoint those who knew him. If you were looking for formulaic Christianity, you were disappointed with him. If you were interested in what he referred to as feel good Christianity, you were greatly disappointed.

During his life, Tozer earned a reputation for many things: an outspoken critic of the religious scene, an outstanding preacher, editor of a leading Christian periodical and author of several devotional classics. The real focus, however, of his daily life centered on the worship of God. Nothing else so occupied his mind and life. This worship of God was not something tacked on to a busy schedule. It became the one great passion of his life. Everything revolved around his personal worship of God.

Tozer paid the price for this lifestyle of worship. Many, even of his own family, did not understand him and his insistence on being alone. Some even regarded him as a bit odd; but what others thought of him did not trouble him in the least. His primary business was the worship of God. Nothing else mattered more than that.

To appreciate the ministry of Tozer, you must comprehend his passion for worship. If not, you will likely misunderstand not only his words, but his actions as well. He was completely committed to this one solemn activity and pursued it with all the passion he had. Tozers ideas regarding worship were hammered into conviction that governed his life and ministry. Worship, Tozer explained, is to feel in your heart and express in some appropriate manner a humbling but delightful sense of admiring awe and astonished wonder and overpowering love in the presence of that most ancient Mystery, that majesty which philosophers call the First Cause but which we call Our Father Which Art in Heaven.

Tozer walked to the beat of a different drummer, but it was not simply because he was a rebel. That may have been a small part of it, but the main factor was his complete sellout to Jesus Christ. Family, friends and even the ministry had to take a back seat to this yearning of his. Perhaps his essay The Saint Must Walk Alone explains to a certain degree his idea of true spirituality. His focus in life was on the person of Jesus Christ, and he would do everything within his power to sharpen that focus. All his spiritual energies and disciplines were directed in that singular path. Consequently, in a certain degree, he was difficult to live with, not because he was demanding or irascible, but because he was simply focused on God.

At times, he would come to the family dinner table, especially after the children had left home, and not speak a word. He wasnt mad at anyone; he was focused on God, and would not break the focus even for fellowship around the table with friends and family. Tozer did not spend too much time working on his social graces, probably one glaring weakness in his character. Yet, to do the work he believed God called him to demanded much time away from people and shut up alone with God.

Tozer daily cultivated the ability to focus on God. He would quiet his heart, and out of that quietness would come adoration and worship for the triune Godhead.

Often at conferences, Tozer seemed preoccupied. He was always musing on some aspect of God. He once claimed that he had dreams of God, so much were his thoughts directed toward the Godhead. Although quite knowledgeable on a variety of subjects, and with strong opinions on many of them, in later life, Tozers focus on God got sharper and he disengaged from most other subjects to the exclusion of worship.

The lessons Tozer learned in worship he generously shared with all who would listen. His preaching and writing were simply the clear declarations of what he had experienced in his private sessions with God. Emerging from his prayer closet, dripping with the fragrance of the Presence, he was eager to report all he had witnessed. After such a sermon during his Chicago ministry, one in the congregation observed, He out-Davided David.

Few writers get to the heart of a subject as quickly as Tozer. He bypassed the trivia and concentrated on those essential ingredients important to the believers walk with God. In this book, he bares his soul on worshipthe one great obsession of his life. Though many have written about worship, I believe that Tozer surpasses them all in simple passion and supreme purpose. A reader coming away from this book will not only understand worship but will also experience it in his or her own heart.

You may not always agree with him, but you will always know what he believes and why. He says, This will be the best teaching in my ministry, comparing myself with myself. The ensuing messages prove Tozer to be the prophet his reputation suggests. I want to deliver my soul as a prophet of God to the people, and to explain why we were created and why we are here, not to the satisfaction of the immediate appetite only but to something bigger, grander and more eternal, that we might worship God and enjoy Him forever.

Throughout this book, Dr. Tozer systematically presents his teaching on a subject close to his heart. Nowhere will anyone find a more fully developed thesis on worship with such sanctified passion. Tozer was one of the first in evangelical circles to call attention to this neglected Bible doctrine. He issued a clarion call for Christians to return to their first love. Now that the pendulum has swung to the other extreme in the evangelical church, these teachings are as needed today as when Tozer first preached them.