Life Purpose: Tell Me Again Where We Are Headed Series

Life in the Fast Lane

Life Purpose: Tell Me Again Where We Are Headed

Revelation 4:11

Woodlawn Baptist Church

December 19, 2004

Introduction

When we began this series a couple of months ago, we began with a message titled, Making the Drag: Enjoying the Journey on the Highway of Life. I told you that God’s desire for each of you was to see you get off the drag of life, that tendency we have of spinning our wheels and going much of nowhere and instead take off on the journey of a life, to venture out into the unknown for the life God really intends for you to live. Today I want to return to that thought with this question in mind: where is it that you’re headed? Where are you going? Where is it that God is leading us: both as individuals and as a church?

Today as I speak about your life purpose, I wonder, have you really given it much thought? Whenever Kathy and I get in the van to go somewhere, the kids will almost immediately ask where are we going. It doesn’t matter if we are headed out for a long trip, or just a run across town – they have to know. It is the question we grow up asking about our lives, “Where am I going?” “What will I do?” “How will I spend my life?”

All of these questions and others are really just variations of that one overriding need to know what our life’s purpose is. If you have given much thought to the question lately, I wonder, has it influenced the way you have patterned your life? If there is one thing I am convinced of as a pastor and preacher of God’s Word, it is that we have become masters at knowing all the right things, but most people are failing miserably at doing the right things with what they know. Today will simply be a reminder for many of you, and for others it may seem new, but either way, what will you be willing to do with it? If the Holy Spirit of God so convicted you, would you be willing to stop right where you are in your life and turn around to run in a new direction?

If not, then I am compelled to ask you why you are here. You remember the people who came to Jesus wanting to follow Him. Three different men wanted to follow, but each had an excuse for why he could not. None of them really wanted to follow Him, they just wanted Him and perhaps some others to think that they did. But Jesus knew their hearts, and He knows yours too. I hope and pray that what He sees is a glad willingness to do whatever He says, no matter how off course you may be this morning, no matter what it may cost you, no matter what changes you might have to make. Make it your prayer as well.

We have looked many times now at what I believe is one of the most exciting verses in all of Scripture. Revelation 4:11 says,

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

And you have heard me say now many times that we were created to give God glory, but today I want to expand on that thought and give you some things to think about that I hope God will use to create great spiritual hunger and thirst in you for Him. In order to do that, we’re going to deal with three questions: First, why did God create man? Second, how did God create man? And third, how are you fulfilling God’s desires for your life?

In The Beginning

When God created man, why did He create Him? Some have tried to explain that man was created because God was lonely and needed fellowship, that God wanted companionship and someone to love Him, so He created man to do that. But there are some important problems with this sort of thinking, and they have to do with who God is. It has to do with the self-existence, or the absolute independence of God.

To say that God is absolutely independent, or that He is the self-existent One is to say that God does not need any part of creation in order to exist or for any other reason. What do the Scriptures say? Look first with me at Acts 17:24-25. In his message to the men of Athens, Paul said,

“God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things…”