Living With Purpose Series

"Living with Purpose

Series: REBOOT: Fresh Start for a New Year

Brad Bailey – January 15, 2023

Intro

Welcome. Great to have you here.

I have to begin by asking… WHY are you here?

I don’t mean why are you here in this gathering…. I mean ...why are you here at all? Why do you exist?

It’s a big question… and fitting to stop and ask as we launch into our series to begin the new year. A series in which we realize that we are but it is also a foundational question.

Everything functions in relationship it’s purpose.

If I asked you how a pen you were writing with was functioning…you would think… the purpose of a pen is to leave a mark as you move it….and so you would say it’s functioning well if it was doing that. The char you are sitting on… you know it’s purpose …to support you sitting down.

And yet…if asked what the purpose of ourselves is…we can be at a loss.

We can

Today…we are launching into our series to start the new year…

In a "Peanuts"" comic strip, Lucy and Charlie Brown are engaged in earnest conversation about the meaning of life. Lucy feels that it's a matter of one's perspective. She says that "Life is like a deck chair. Some people place it so they can see where they are going. Some people place it so they can see where they have been. And some people place it so they can see where they are now."" Charlie ponders Lucy's little discourse, then replies, "I can't even get mine unfolded."

Let me begin with an exercise …

VISUALIZATION: Enter a church… realize it’s a funeral…make your way to the only seat… which is the front row…. And then you realize… it’s your own funeral. Various people are going to share… they may be friends, family, co-workers. Now in heart… what would you like to hear said… about what you did with your life… and how you did it.

• Some of you may have found it hard to hear what others might say… and I trust the coming weeks will help inspire you in your sense of purpose.

• Others may have heard things come from deep within you, things which you may realize aren’t consciously connected to your daily life.

Common to think about how our lives may not be fulfilling what we would hope to do and be. But that is why it is valuable to stop and reflect… to consider our earthly lives with the end in mind.

The challenge of modern life…is that we’ve exchanged purpose for pace …we are increasing our speed in most dimensions of life-yet we have a decreasing sense of where we are going….and most importantly WHY.

We try to manage life by focusing just on what we do. We can talk all about what we can do with our lives… or what we will do today…but not why. And if we think abut it…. The WHY of life should be what informs the WHAT of life.

Our modern times have been called the age of entertainment… of amusement. And it’s interesting to realize that the word “Amusement”… literally means…‘not (a) think (muse)’

? I really enjoy amusement & amusement parks, but I don’t want to be…as one described… “amused to death.”. [1]

“Purposeful” on the other hand, means we stop to think.

Purposeful – “resolutely aiming at a specific end; not meaningless.”

Our lives were created with purpose and meaning…

The Bible says this in

“The Lord has made everything for His own purpose.” Proverbs 16.4

It’s for His purpose. Now God has never made anything without a purpose. Every rock has a purpose, every plant has a purpose, every animal has a purpose and if you’re alive, you have a purpose.

You were created with purpose.

Now there is a breadth of aspects to our purpose in life… some purposes we all share…as well as ways in which God may direct our lives personally… but the ultimate purpose… is that of glorifying and enjoying God forever. [2]

As Jesus expressed in prayer to the Father as the end of his life,

“I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began.” - John 17:4-5 (NLT)

Jesus lived for the clear purpose of bringing glory to God the Father… with whom He shared such glory and would return to such glory.

As the Westminster Confession surmises,

“The purpose of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

Now there are many expressions of this. Many of the core callings associated with the calling of Christ reflect this. We are called to worship. Not just singing songs….but being people who give worth… which is something we all do every day…but our worth is to be directed toward the God….the true source of true good. We are called to community… to reunite community in our common life with God. We are called to serve others with the gifts we have been given. And we could go on…There is far more that we could explore …but our ultimate purpose is to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” This can guide our lives, even while we continue to seek God’s