Forward In Faith 7: Why Are You Here? A Communion Reflection

Why are you here? A Communion Service Reflection

Tonight I want to ask the question:

WHY ARE YOU HERE?

Have you ever asked yourself, “Why did God permit me to wake up this morning?

Why is my heart still beating, & my lungs still breathing?

Why am I here?

What is the purpose of my existence?”

If you haven’t asked yourself that, you need to, because there is a God given purpose for each of us and to if we want to move forward in your faith this year then each of us need to discover what that purpose really is.

Throughout our lives we can listen to many different opinions, many different voices,

all trying to convince us of why we are here.

People choose who they listen to, and who they model themselves on.

For some people, their goal in life is to be like the latest celebrity,

they choose someone as a role model -

then that person, that idol, does something wrong, crashes out of public life and those who worshiped them briefly mourn and then move on to the next fad or celebrity.

Many people are looking for meaning.

Many people are searching for purpose.

Many in the world believe that we need to look within to find the meaning of life -

that the key to understanding who we are is buried deep inside us.

I was in Southend this week and I had a look in Waterstones and WH Smith and there are shelves and shelves of books dedicated to self-help.

Books that try to get you to believe that the answer is for you to invent your own purpose…

by trying to follow someone elses opinion or idea.

People are realising that self-help tools to discover your purpose in life are flawed and chasing after someone elses life does not bring contentment or real lasting joy.

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Here’s the point.

Our purpose in life, your purpose in life, the reason you were made is bigger than you!

You were made for a far greater purpose than just finding temporary success or comfort or happiness

You were made for God’s purposes!

That’s right the reason you are here,

the answer to the big question of Why are you are here is five words, one little phrase…

You were made for God.

And when you grasp that truth,

that you were made for God’s purposes,

then life can make sense!

All of us in this room right now, all of us were made for a purpose.

The Bible says, “The Lord has made everything for his own purposes.” Proverbs 16:4 (NLT)

You were made for God’s purpose’s!

There is a reason you are here, there is a reason you are alive and it is for God’s purpose!

So many people in this world do not understand their purpose.

They wander around and seek direction from the wrong people and end up in the wrong places.

In the book Alice in Wonderland

There is a conversation between Alice and the Cheshire Cat, Alice asked, “Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the cat.

“I don’t much care where,” said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the cat.

BUT it does matter which way you go though,

it does matter what you do with your life

because you have God given purposes to live for!

Maybe your wondering...

DOES IT REALLY MATTER? Do I really matter?

Does this life, the 70, 80, 90 years that I might live, have any significance?

Does my life matter?

Isaiah had some similar concerns and he said:

“My work all seems so useless. I have spent my strength for nothing and for no purpose at all.” Isaiah 49:4 NLT

Life can feel pretty hopeless if you lose sight of your purpose, if you lose sight of the reason you were born.

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In the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes,

King Solomon talks about some of the negative results that arise when we have no purpose.

King Solomon... if anyone should have known the answers it was him.

Solomon had it all.

He had more money than he could ever spend.

He had more possessions than he could ever enjoy.

He had many wives, too many wives.

He even had far greater wisdom than any one else in his day.

He had it all.

Yet in the Ecclesiastes 1, he writes of the negative results that come from not knowing the purpose of life.

When we don’t know the purpose of life, then life will seem empty.

In Ecclesiastes 1:2 Solomon writes, “`Meaningless! Meaningless!’...

`Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’”

Do you ever feel like that?

Without a real guiding purpose, life doesn’t make a lot of sense does it.