“Getting A Clue: Why Am I Here?”
Eph. 2:1-10 & Is. 43:1-7
Talk about bizarre! Sarah was the wife of William Winchester, the only son of Oliver Winchester, the founder and owner of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Sarah and William had a daughter who died shortly after birth in 1866. This was followed by the death of her father-in-law (1880) and then her husband just a few months later (1881), leaving her with a fifty percent ownership in the company and a daily income of $1,000 (between $20-25,000 today). Sarah believed that her family was under some kind of a curse and consulted a medium to determine what she should do. The medium told her that her family was indeed cursed by the spirits of all the people that the Winchester rifle had killed. She should move out west and build a house for herself and all the tormented spirits who suffered because of her family. The medium also told her that if construction on this house were to ever cease, she would immediately die. In 1884 Sarah moved to California and began spending her $20 million inheritance and regular income to buy and begin renovating an eight-room farmhouse in what is now San Jose, California. From that day forward construction continued nonstop, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week until Sarah’s death at age eighty-three—a total of thirty-eight years. She kept no less than twenty-two carpenters busy continuously. The sounds of hammers and saws could be heard throughout the day and night for almost four decades.
At its zenith, this seven story house contained 160 rooms, forty bedrooms, forty-seven fireplaces, seventeen chimneys, and 10,000 windowpanes. What made Sarah’s lifetime building project so bizarre was that it had no discernable architectural purpose or plan behind it. Closet doors opened to solid walls. Windows were in the floor. Stairways led to nowhere. Railings were installed upside down. Drawers were only one inch deep. Trapdoors were everywhere. Blind chimneys stopped short of the ceiling. There were double-back hallways. Doors opened to steep drops to the lawn below. Many of the bathrooms had glass doors. The list of oddities runs into the dozens.(1) Could there be a more classic example of the ultimate outcome of “building without a purpose?”
We may think the life we are building is not bizarre like Sarah Winchester’s construction project. But why are you here? What is your purpose for life? What are you busy building? Would God view it as bizarre?
We get our clue from the Apostle Paul who wrote that WE ARE DESIGNED. No builder begins construction without a blueprint; no chef begins cooking without a recipe; no artist begins painting without an image in mind. So God did not create us without a design. GOD HAD A PLAN for each of us. As David so eloquently stated in Ps. 139 (TLB); “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body, and knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous and how well I know it. You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion. You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book.”
And GOD FASHIONS US according to that plan. The prophet Isaiah put it (43:7) “…everyone who is called by my name…I created…I formed and made.” Later he paints the familiar picture of the potter (64:8): “Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” Fellow prophet Jeremiah said the same thing (18:6 GNT): “You are in my hands just like clay in the potter's hands.”
Perhaps this potter image was in Paul’s mind when he wrote the Ephesians. He said (2:10) “For we are God’s handiwork…” The word means, literally, that WE ARE GOD’S WORKMANSHIP. It is said that all great artists express themselves through their creations; their works of art are reflections of themselves. So Paul says you and I are expressions of God, His unique poems, His masterpieces, His display cases, His crowning works of art.
It’s so easy, however, to look in the mirror and say, “Well, if this is the best God can do, it doesn’t say much for Him!” Or, “It’ looks like He lost the blueprint on this one!” But don’t despair - the focus is inward, not outward. God’s workmanship has less to do with physical looks or capabilities and much more to do with what’s inside. Remember Isaiah’s description of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ (Is. 53:2)? “He had no beauty or comeliness that we should desire Him.” Yet, when Jesus was lifted up, He drew all people to Himself. We are, says Paul, well fitted and designed to reflect God. To discover your purpose the best, the only place to begin is to recognize you are God’s workmanship. Say with me, “I am a work of art! I am a masterpiece!” That’s who you are.
Not only are we designed, but WE ARE ALSO DESIGNATED. We have a purpose. Consider three pictures in your mind. Picture number one: A brand new Hummer vehicle, made popular by its use in the desert during Desert Storm, sits on the track at the brickyard in Indianapolis, ready to race. What’s wrong with this picture? A Hummer is not designed to race. Picture number two: A 350 pound Sumo wrestler, feet positioned on the starting blocks, is crouched over, ready to run. What’s wrong with this picture? A Sumo wrestler is not fit, not made, for running track. Picture number three: A beautiful 7 point buck is poised with bow loaded and cocked, ready to shoot a hunter. What’s wrong with this picture? A buck is not created to shoot. When created the hummer, the wrestler, and the buck were each designated for a specific purpose.
Likewise God has created and designated us for a specific purpose. Listen to Isaiah 43:7 - … “everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory…” OUR PURPOSE IS TO LIVE FOR GOD’S GLORY. People might say of a great architect, as they point to one of her buildings, “That’s her crowning glory.” It means that the building reflects the genius and personality of the architect. God has designed and created us to demonstrate and point to His glory. We are works of art to bring glory to God. We are, in fact, His crowning glory! Listen to Paul’s words to the Ephesian church (1:11-12) “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”
Too often we get caught up trying to figure out God’s grand plan for our lives – what specifically he wants us to do vocationally and relationally. While that’s important to a degree, we need to recognize that we do know God’s will for every circumstance and event of our lives; to live for His glory! It is so easy to play the “If only” game: If only I had married better – if only I had a better job – if only I had more money – if only I was better looking – if only I could catch a break – if only my kids were better – if only I were healthier – if only they’d give me a chance. To that Paul says, in essence, “If only you’d praise God where you are!” As a preacher of a bygone era once said, we might as well be of use where we are because we cannot be of use where we are not! Say with me, “I am designated to live for God’s glory.”
Yet living for God’s glory is more than just an attitude – it also involves action. WE BRING GOD GLORY THROUGH GOOD WORKS. We are designed and designated to do good woks, to carry out tasks, to live with qualities, to go to places, to make decisions which honor God. Paul is very clear - salvation is not the result of good works; good works are the result of salvation. We do not do works, carry out tasks, live with qualities, go to places, or make decisions which honor God so we can be saved; we do them because we are saved, because we have been designed, through Christ, to do them.
And what are good works? According to the Heidelberg Catechism, a good work is anything which meets three criteria: IT MUST BE DONE OUT OF TRUE FAITH - we must be doing it because our faith leads us to do it; second, IT MUST BE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAW OF GOD - it must be something which God can approve; and thirdly, IT MUST BE DONE TO HONOR GOD, not to bring glory to ourselves; our motives must be pure.
And Paul says God has already PREPARED THESE WORKS IN ADVANCE! “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” God matches the works to us and us to the works. God created birds to fly – they don’t run or drive cars; they fly! God has created them and the atmosphere to be compatible. So through Jesus He has created you to do good works that He has already prepared for you to do. Understand that YOU ARE COMPATIBLE WITH YOUR SURROUNDINGS AND CIRCUMSTANCES.
These words literally say, “God prepared them beforehand that we should walk in them.” It’s significant that the Catechism lists these “works” as the 10 commandments. In other words, we are to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves. There are opportunities for good works all around you! The visit to a friend in the nursing home or down the street, the meal you prepared for the family in need, the listening ear you gave to a troubled youth, and the encouraging word you spoke to the co-worker. Whatever your circumstance, God has fitted you to make the contribution that’s most needed there. John Henry Newman has penned it poignantly this way: “GOD HAS CREATED ME TO DO HIM SOME DEFINITE SERVICE; HE HAS COMMITTED SOME WORK TO ME WHICH HE HAS NOT COMMITTED TO ANOTHER. I HAVE MY MISSION…I AM A LINK IN A CHAIN, A BOND OF CONNECTION BETWEEN PERSONS. HE HAS NOT CREATED ME FOR NAUGHT. I SHALL DO GOOD. I SHALL DO HIS WORK. I SHALL BE AN ANGEL OF PEACE, A PREACHER OF TRUTH IN MY OWN PLACE WHILE NOT INTENDING IT – IF I DO BUT KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. THEREFORE I WILL TRUST HIM. WHATEVER, WHEREVER I AM, I CAN NEVER BE THROWN AWAY. IF I AM IN SICKNESS, MY SICKNESS MAY SERVE HIM; IN PERPLEXITY, MY PERPLEXITY MAY SERVE HIM; IF I AM IN SORROW, MY SORROW MAY SERVE HIM. HE DOES NOTHING IN VAIN. HE KNOWS WHAT HE IS ABOUT.”
By the way, instead of asking children and youth “What do you want to be when you grow up?” we should be asking them “What are the God-prepared good works around you, just waiting to be done? How can you bring glory to God?”
Perhaps you’re thinking, “But pastor, you don’t know my life – how difficult it is – how many burdens I carry. You don’t understand how impossible it is for me to live for the praise of God’s glory, to be busy doing good works.” You might be right – I haven’t walked in your shoes. But I have read the Word of God. God says we all can because WE ARE DEVELOPED.
Even now you are being developed THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT. Paul wrote. (Phil 1:6) “…he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Everything that happens to us and around us, every experience of our lives is shaping us to be like Jesus. And GOD WILL COMPLETE WHAT HE HAS STARTED IN US. The Message translates Phil. 1:6, “There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.” Nothing outside or inside you can prevent this from happening. God has never, and will never, quit on a project nor fail to deliver on His promise. Say with me, “God’s not finished with me yet.”
The Heidelberg Catechism once again states it definitively when it says we do good works because “Christ by his Spirit is also RENEWING US to be like himself, so that in all our living we may show that we are thankful to God for all he has done for us, and so that he may be praised through us.”
“But,” you’re thinking, “I’m not feeling renewed. I’m just not sure it applies to me.” I tell you it’s guaranteed – because we are developed ultimately through THE LOVE AND WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. Remember what we read in Isaiah 43 (TLB)? “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior…” Do you believe God is your Savior? How can you be sure? You may feel like your life will never amount to much. Know that there’s a price tag on your life. Isaiah continued, “Others died that you might live. I traded their lives for yours because you are precious to me.” The price tag on your life is death – but Jesus traded His life for yours because you are precious to Him. “You are honored, and I love you. Do not be afraid, for I am with you… All who claim me as their God will come, for I have made them for my glory.” Now that’s really bizarre! You can trust God because of Jesus. Jesus died, not only so you can spend eternity with Him, but also so you can live with and for Him even now. You are His masterpiece, His work of art, so you can live and walk in the works He has prepared.
No matter what you’re feeling, no matter what you’re thinking, no matter what others say or think about you – you are precious, honored, and loved – and Jesus is waiting for you to walk and work with Him. It’s why you’re here.
(1) Are You Living Your Life on Purpose or By Accident
© 2010 Stewardship Ministries
