Living According To God’s Purposes

Living Purposely

(Turn to Ecclesiastes 1:2-15)

Last week in our “Living as a Christian” series, we looked at “Living Opportunistically” as we seize the opportunities God places in our lives. To follow up on that teaching, today I’d like to look at “Living Purposely,” or better yet, living our lives according to God’s purpose.

I think that this message is also appropriate given tonight’s church meeting as we look at where we are as a church along with what God is calling for us this year and the years ahead. In other words, what God is calling us to be as His church, and as His people.

I’d like start out today’s message with a statement made about King David that has been one of my life verses, and it’s the one verse I’d like to have written on my tombstone. It’s a scripture that defines what it means to live for God, and to live for His purposes in this world.

“For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep.” (Acts 13:36a NKJV)

This description defines the type of life that we as Christians should strive towards, thus motivating and moving us forward down the path God has set us upon.

Can you imagine this being said about us; that we served God’s purpose for this generation and in this community; that we served God’s eternal purpose in a way that changed the lives of those around us?

But, to serve God’s purpose we first need to find out what is God’s purpose.

However, I’d like to begin with talking about what a life without purpose looks like, and what it does to the human soul.

During times of war, prison commandants were known to give prisoners the task of digging a great big hole. He would give them shovels and gunnysacks to dig and carry the dirt to the other side of the compound. Generally this was done during the heat of the day.

The prisoners would work for months digging this hole. When the job was finished, the prisoners would feel a little satisfaction. But then the commandant would give them new gunnysacks and told them to refill the hole with the dirt they just dug out.

Some of the prisoners couldn’t handle it. If they had been moving dirt for a reason that would be one thing. But moving dirt arbitrary, working for months without any purpose had, and still has, the capacity of driving people insane.

As humans we weren’t built like this. We need to know that there’s a purpose in whatever we do. So living without purpose is insanity.

Actually, there’s a book in the Bible devoted to the insanity of moving dirt piles, that is, the madness of living life without a purpose. It’s the Book of Ecclesiastes written by Solomon under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Solomon, the wisest human to have ever lived, tried living his life for various purposes.

ïHe tried living his life for possessions. So he went out and accumulated great wealth. He was actually considered the wealthiest person to have ever live. But what he found is that living life for the purpose of possessions is a wasted life.

ïNext Solomon tried living life for prestige and power. He actually became the most powerful man in the world. Kings and Queens came from around the world just to see his magnificence and hear what he had to say. But Solomon found living for power unfulfilling.

ïFinally he tried living life for pleasure. Nothing was withheld from him. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. He also built entire cities just to hold his sport cars, which in that day were horses and chariots. But again he found it all without value.

Solomon lived for everything the world values, but found that he had no real purpose. With this understanding, Solomon, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes he talks about what happens when we don’t know the real meaning of life, that is, what is God’s purpose.

Solomon gives us five tragic consequences of living without purpose.

1. Life Without Purpose Is Useless

“‘Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher; ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’ What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? One generation passes away, and another generation comes; but the earth abides forever.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2-4 NKJV)

This word “vanity,” is not what many people think, because it has nothing to do with having excessive pride in one’s self or one’s appearance. Rather, in the Hebrew language the word means, “useless,” or “meaningless.” What Solomon is saying is that living life without purpose is useless and without meaning.

The problem is that far too many people simply want to do enough to get by. Their philosophy is to let someone else do it. But this philosophy gives life no purpose, and Solomon says that living this kind of life is useless. We need to find God’s purpose and then make it our own, so our lives can count, not only for right now, but for all eternity.