Living Life On Purpose

Intro

Our primary text is Proverbs 29:18: “Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but

blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction (NIV)”i The KJV says, “Where there is no

vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Both versions are instructive.

The discipline of living in God’s boundaries follows revelation and the vision that comes out of

that. The Hebrew word translated revelation in the NIV and vision in the KJV is chazown.

It refers to divine communication. But divine communication produces vision. Vision that only proceeds from the heart of man does not qualify. God speaks, and because he speaks, we know what to do. We know what to pursue. Vision that comes from God is a very powerful thing.

It is a difficult thing, perhaps impossible, to live a godly disciplined life without a strong sense of

purpose from God. When God gives vision in the heart, it empowers the purpose to defer

immediate gratification in order to fulfill that mission or purpose. It is the dream, the anticipation

of a greater thing, that gives motivation to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus.

That is why the Devil works very hard to destroy your dreams, destroy you hope, rob you of a

sense of purpose. That is why God often begins in our lives with a revelation of calling and

purpose.

When God created Adam, what was the first thing he did? Many people think the first thing God

did was give them a rule: Don’t eat of that tree in the middle of the garden—the tree of the

knowledge of good and evil. If you do, you will die. That is the concept that many have of the

early Genesis experience. But Genesis 1:27-28 preceded the warning: “So God created man in

His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then

God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it;

have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that

moves on the earth.’” Genesis 2:15 says, “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the

garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” So, God gave them a grand vision for their lives and a

meaningful assignment. After that, in the next verse he gave the rule: “And the Lord God

commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree

of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall

surely die.” With Adam, God did not begin with a rule; he began with a reason, a purpose.

God has something more for you than just religious rules. He has a grand vision for your life, and

the more clearly you see that vision, the better off you are. He has made you and me to live life

“with purpose,” to be intentional as you go through your day.

“When God called Abraham to leave his city and go to what would later be called the

Promise Land, how did God inspire the journey? What motivated Abraham to take the

risky journey? God gave him a glimpse of the future that he had prepared for Abraham

and his posterity. Genesis 12:1-4:

“Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ 4 So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.”ii

There was good reason for the journey; it was going somewhere in God’s plan for Abraham. There were a lot of things Abraham and Sarah did not know about God’s plan for their lives. But they knew enough to know the trip would be worth it.iii

At the young age of seventeen, God gave Joseph a dream (Gen. 37:5-11). God did not begin with showing Joseph the mean things his brothers would do to him or the hardship he would experience in an Egyptian prison. He first put a sense of destiny in Joseph’s heart: something Joseph could recall and say to himself, “This is why I’m doing what I’m doing. This is why I am serving without complaint. This is why I am denying myself Potiphar’s wife. This is why I keep a positive attitude in the midst of discouraging circumstances. With that dream in his heart, Joseph did not give in to discouragement along the way.