Introduction:
A. Good morning and welcome to Friend Day.
1. I sincerely hope you are uplifted and challenged by what takes place among us today!
2. If you are visiting with us today, we hope that you will come again – you are always welcome.
B. Let’s start with some cartoons about the discovering life’s meaning.
C. So what is the meaning of life? It’s a great question, isn’t it.
1. Maybe you have an answer to that question that you are comfortable with.
2. Or maybe you might say, “I have no idea what the meaning of life is.”
D. Today I want to share with you what the Bible says about the meaning of life.
E. How many of you saw the movie called The Truman Show?
1. Jim Carrey plays the part of Truman Burbank.
2. Truman Burbank is a normal man, living in a normal town.
3. He grew up to be a desk clerk for a insurance company, living an ordinary life, having an ordinary wife, an ordinary neighbour and an ordinary best friend, who pops in from time to time with a sixpack.
4. Truman, however, is not happy with his life. He wants to see the world. He wants to get away from his happy, ever tidy, nice’n’shiny little island town at the seaside.
5. However, what he doesn’t know is that his life is actually the focus of a reality TV show aired since his birth.
6. He doesn’t know that he’s the star, his hometown is a giant television set, and everyone around him is an actor going by a script
7. He has no idea that he is exploited and that his whole life is a lie.
8. That is until one day he discovers the truth and he breaks free from the deception.
F. What I would like to suggest today is that many people go through life just like Truman.
1. They live a life based on a lie and don’t even know it.
2. They are lulled into a happy stupor that blinds them from the real meaning of life.
3. Their goals in life are ultimately pointless and meaning less.
G. Take for instance a man named Dan Freeman, he is a retired computer consultant from Brooklyn.
1. Do you know what the main goal of his life in was in 2005?
2. He decided that his goal for the year would be to have a drink at 1,000 different bars in a year.
3. Why 1,000 bars, you might ask? Freeman explained, “There wasn’t any grand scheme, I just wanted to see how many bars you could hit in a year, and 1,000 seemed reasonable.”
4. He aimed to make 4 or 5 bars a day.
5. Dan Freeman said, “If you don’t have a dream, how can you make a dream come true?”
6. Some kind of dream, huh?
7. Freeman said, “I knew that my goal wasn’t on par with climbing Mount Everest, but it wasn’t going to be easy either. Drinking a thousand drinks in one bar over the course of a year is a piece of cake; lots of people do that. Having a drink in a thousand different bars is something different altogether. It would require planning and discipline.
I made some early mistakes. For a while I tried entering blog posts after I got home from the bars, but that was a disaster. Instead I settled into a daily routine of posting my blog entry about the bars I had visited the day before, then planning my next foray and heading out.”
8. Incidentally, he did accomplish his goal.
9. And when asked about his New Year’s resolution for 2006, he said “That’s easy. I can say without a doubt that a New Year’s resolution I’ll keep will be going to fewer bars next year.”
H. I believe that many people are looking for the meaning of life in all the wrong places.
1. Things like pleasure, possessions and power, just don’t satisfy.
2. Things like fame, fortune and fun end up just being empty.
3. Tennis star Boris Becker was at the very top of the tennis world—yet he was on the brink of suicide. He said, “I had won Wimbledon twice before, once as the youngest player. I was rich. I had all the material possessions I needed...It’s the old song of movie stars and pop stars who commit suicide. They have everything, and yet they are so unhappy. I had no inner peace. I was a puppet on a string.”
4. Becker is not the only one to feel that sense of emptiness. The echoes of a hollow life pervade our culture.
5. A person doesn’t have to read many contemporary biographies to find the same frustration and disappointment.
6. Jack Higgens, author of such successful novels as The Eagle Has Landed, was asked what he would like to have known as a boy. His answer: “That when you get to the top, there’s nothing there.”
7. After the Dallas Cowboys had won one of their Super Bowls with head coach Tom Landry, Landry made this observation: “The overwhelming emotion that the players of the Dallas Cowboys football team will feel in a few days is how empty that goal was. There must be something more.”
8. A USA Today article quoted Rocker Rod Stewart saying, “I remember being in the south of France years ago, in a suite at the Carlton, with girls coming and going and all my friends were there. And I was empty, just empty.”
I. As Jesus moved toward a conclusion in his famous presentation called the Sermon on the Mount, He said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Mt. 7:13-14).
1. So many people are on that broad road that leads to destruction.
2. It’s a road full of distractions.
3. It’s a road that feels good and seems right.
4. Just like the proverb from the Bible book called Proverbs says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” (Pr. 14:12)
J. Let’s look at a few people in the Bible who learned about the true meaning of life.
1. Some learned the lesson the hard way.
2. Others learned the lesson too late.
K. Jesus told a story about a certain man in Luke chapter 12.
1. The man was a happy, successful farmer.
2. He has had such a good harvest that he doesn’t know what to do with the abundance.
3. The Bible says that the man said to himself: “’This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’ ”
4. The Bible continues: “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.” (Lk. 12:18-21)
5. The man in this story is like a lot of people we know.
6. He is living the good life…He’s working hard…and making good investments.
7. He has big plans for the future, he is going to take life easy and enjoy the fruits of his labor.
8. But no where in his thinking and planning did he make room for God.
9. He did not understand that the real purpose of this life is to prepare for the next.
10. He had not taken seriously the inevitability of death and he made no preparations for his soul.
11. The real meaning and security in life are not found in money, possessions, and the good life.
12. Rather, real meaning and security in life are found in knowing and loving and serving God.
13. Certainly God wants us to enjoy life, but not without a proper relationship with Him.
L. Another interesting story that Jesus told is found in Luke 16.
1. The Bible says: There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. (Lk. 16:19-21)
a. I believe that God was trying to get the attention of that rich man.
b. Everyday Lazarus was laid at the gate of this rich man hoping that the rich man would have compassion on him.
c. Unfortunately for the rich man and for Lazarus, the rich man ignored God and Lazarus.
d. Everyday as he looked out his window or walked out his gate, he ignored Lazarus and in so doing ignored God.
2. The story continues: The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, “Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.” (Lk. 16:22-24)
a. Just like the last story, we see again that people often prepare for life on earth, but they seldom prepare for life after death.
b. The contrast between the rich man and poor man couldn’t be any greater, both in life and death.
c. The story after death begins with Lazarus having a smooth ride and a soft landing – to Abraham’s side – a heavenly image and experience.
d. But the rich man ends up in hell with all its suffering.
e. So how did Abraham answer the rich man’s request?
3. The story continues: But Abraham replied, “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.” (Lk. 16:25-26)
a. Why did Lazarus go to heaven? We can find the answer in the definition of his name – which means “God is my helper.”
b. Even though Lazarus was lacking the essentials of life, and poor in health, and even lacked the ability to walk, he still trusted in the Lord.
c. Even though he was suffering, he did not blame or resent God.
d. He believed in a better tomorrow, a glorious future, and the everlasting life that awaited believers like him.
e. So it was not because of his earthly poverty that he went to heaven, but because of his rich faith in God.
f. And the rich man, why did he go to hell?
g. It wasn’t because he was rich, but because he was poor in faith in God.
h. The rich man’s riches were his god. He had lived his life pursing the wrong meaning and purpose.
i. He had had everything he needed in life, but in death he can’t even get a drop of water to cool his tongue.
j. The rich man’s thoughts then turned to his family who were still living.
4. The story ends: He answered, “Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.” Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.” “’No, father Abraham,” he said, “but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.” He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” (Lk. 16:27-31)
a. Don’t you know the rich man had regrets.
b. He must have wished a thousands times over that he had paid attention to the Lord and to Lazarus.
c. Now his concern was for his family. He didn’t want them to suffer the same fate.
d. If only someone could warn them.
e. Abraham said that if they won’t listen to the Bible, then they won’t listen to anything.
f. And how about us? Will we listen before it is too late?
K. Let me tell you about one final biblical person – His name is Saul of Tarsus.
1. Saul was a well educated and powerful person among the Jews of his time.
a. He had gone to the best school and was educated under the best teacher.
2. He had risen in the ranks of the Jewish leadership and was a powerful Pharisee.
3. Saul of Tarsus did not believe that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah of God.
a. He thought Jesus was a fraud and a false teacher.
4. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the church was established and began to grow.
5. Saul of Tarsus made it his personal mission to destroy the church.
6. On a trip to Damascus to find Christians and imprison them, Saul had a life changing experience.
7. The Bible says: As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” (Acts 9:3-6)
a. Saul had been blinded by the light and had to be led into the city, where he fasted and prayed for three days.
b. God then commissioned a Christian named Ananias to go to Saul and tell him what he must do.
c. But Ananias objected saying, “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.” (Acts 9:13-14)
d. But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” (Acts 9:15-16)
e. The Bible says: Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized. (Acts 9:17-18).
8. Saul of Tarsus, the man who had been so zealous for God and for the Jewish religion that he persecuted the church of Jesus Christ, now became a member of the church.
9. His named was changed from Saul of Tarsus to the apostle Paul, and he spent the rest of his life on missionary journeys, planting churches and writing letters that are now a part of the Bible.
10. He was a man who had thought he was on the right road.
a. He had thought he had found the meaning of life and was living it the right way.
b. But when God showed him he was wrong and was on the wrong road, he changed.
c. He obeyed God and followed wherever God led him.
11. Paul, in fact, did take the message of Jesus to the Gentiles and their kings.
L. On one occasion we are told that Paul was allowed to make a presentation to King Agrippa, the King of the Jews.
1. The Bible says: So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense: “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews, and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.” (Acts 26:2-3)
2. Paul preceded to tell the story of his life – his upbringing in the Jewish faith, his leadership in opposition to the church, and then his miraculous encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus.
3. Paul said, “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. That is why the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. But I have had God’s help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles.” (Acts 26:19-23)
4. The Bible says: At this point Festus (the Roman governor) interrupted Paul’s defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.” (26:24)
5. “I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable. The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.” (26:25-27)
6. Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?” (26:28)
a. The King James Version reads: Then Agrippa said unto Paul, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”
7. Paul replied, “Short time or long—I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.” (26:29)
8. Sadly, that was all King Agrippa wanted to hear, and he arose and left the room.
9. He was so close to believing and receiving salvation, but he walked away from it.
10. Paul had discovered the truth, the meaning of life, and he embraced it, but not King Agrippa.
M. How about you and how about me?
1. Will we discover the true meaning of life, and embrace it and live it?
2. Will we find the narrow road and stay on it?
N. The statement that Jesus made that is the most well-known is called John 3:16.
1. We read it as our Scripture Reading. Let’s look at it again.
2. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” (Jn. 3:16-18)
3. That is what life is all about – believing in Jesus – and that is the only way to be saved.
4. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn. 14:6)
5. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (Jn. 10:10)
6. Jesus is the foundation on which we must build our lives.
7. The apostle Paul declared: “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 3:11)
O. In June of 2005, the people of Laguna Beach, California experienced terrible landslides.
1. Seventeen multimillion-dollar homes were lost in those landslides.
2. Another 1,000 people were evacuated from their homes as a precaution.
3. Here’s the really shocking thing about that story – these people had no insurance on these homes.
4. Why didn’t they have insurance? Because these homes built on these foundations were not insurable.
5. Why in the world would anyone build an expensive house in a place where it is likely to be destroyed and then not be able to buy insurance for it? How foolish!
6. But that is not any more foolish than the person who builds their life on any foundation other than Jesus Christ and His words.
P. Jesus ended that famous Sermon on the Mount with these words: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Mt. 7:24-27)
1. I want to be a wise builder. How about you?
2. I don’t want to end up like the Rich Fool who built his bigger barns and lived for himself and lost it all.
3. I don’t want to end up like the Rich Man who ignored God and ignored Lazarus and ended up in hell.
4. I don’t want to be like King Agrippa who heard the truth from the apostle Paul and was almost persuaded but walked away from it and was lost.
Q. Like Paul, I have found the truth and I believe in Jesus Christ.
1. In so doing I have found the meaning of life and have found abundant life.
2. I am building my house on the foundation of Jesus and His words, and therefore my house will stand the storms of this life, and will lead to a bright and wonderful future in the after life.
3. All of us can live with confidence and assurance, peace and hope.
4. If we will put our faith in Jesus and walk in His ways, then everything will turn out just fine.
Resources:
“Building Bigger Barns?” Sermon by Christian Cheong, SermonCentral.com
“Almost” Sermon by James May, SermonCentral.com
“Once Life is Over” Sermon by Mike Turner, SermonCentral.com
“The Meaning of Life” Sermon by Steve Shepherd, SermonCentral.com
