GOD'S PURPOSE FOR YOUR LIFE
God Is The Answer to Your Deepest Needs Part 3 of 7
Matthew 6:10
A friend once asked Isidor I. Rabi, a Nobel Prize winner in science, how he became a scientist. Rabi replied that every day after school his mother would talk to him about his school day. She wasn't so much interested in what he had learned that day, but she always inquired, "Did you ask a good question today?"
"Asking good questions," Rabi said, "made me become a scientist."
Often I find that people are asking many questions like What is life all about? Why am I here? Where am I going? What is the purpose of life? Why Did God place me here?
Many of God's people spend their whole Christian life searching for the answers to these questions, but God's word tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 that God has a plan, a purpose for our lives.
Many of God's people are depressed because they don't know or don't understand God's purpose and will for their lives. The prayer that Jesus taught His Disciples was to pray to God our Father:
Matthew 6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
I'm convinced that many of the problems in our life come because we don't have a clear understanding of God's purpose and will for our life.
It's as though you're driving somewhere and you come to an intersection, but before you can choose which way to go you've got to know where you're going….
It’s no different in life, if you don't know where you're headed in life; any intersection is going to cause you a lot of confusion and insecurity. A lot of people are insecure because they don't have any purpose for life.
Understanding God's purpose can be summed up in one sentence. Matthew 6:10 "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."
There are two phrases here. The first phrase summarizes God's purpose for the world -- "Your kingdom come" -- that's God's purpose for the world. Ephesians 1:10 "God's purpose, which he will complete when the time is right, is to bring all creation together with Christ as head." History is moving toward a climax.
The second phrase summarizes God's purpose for your life -- "Your will be done" -- God has a will, a plan, a purpose for your life.
There is a purpose in life and God's going to bring it all together in the kingdom of God – that is to bring heaven and earth together.
You ask What about now Pastor? What about me? What about my life? Does God have a purpose for my life? Yes, He does. In fact, God has four purposes for your life.
1. God made me to know Him.
2. God made me to be like Him.
3. God made me that I might serve Him. He's is God and He has a job for you to do.
4. God made me to live with Him -- to eventually go be with Him in heaven.
1. GOD MADE ME TO KNOW HIM
Ephesians 1:4-5 "Before the world was made God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would bring us to himself as his children. This was his pleasure and purpose."
The fact is you did not choose to be born, that was beyond your control. You did not choose to be born, but God planned it and God had a purpose in it. The fact that you are alive today, that you're sitting here in this building, breathing and taking up space means God has a purpose for your life.
"This was his pleasure and purpose." God takes pleasure in you. God made you to love you. You were made as an object of God's love. You were made to be loved by God. The Bible says, "God is love", it doesn't say He has love, but He is love.
Not only were you made to be loved by God. You were also made to have a relationship with Him. The implication of that is this, if you're not spending time on a daily regular basis getting to know God, then you are missing out on one of the very purposes for which you were created.
If you're too busy to know Him you're missing out on one of the very reasons you were created. No wonder you're frustrated. The better you get to know God; the more you're going to love Him.
That's one of the purposes. God made me to know him.
2. GOD MADE ME TO BE LIKE HIM
ISV Romans 8:28 "We know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into his plans. For from the beginning God decided that those who come to Him should become like his Son."
From the very beginning God decided He wants you to be like Him and to develop His characteristics. (not when u were born) Man was made different from all creation. It says God made us in His image.
You're different. You have the ability to communicate with God. God wants you to be like His son Jesus Christ, to learn, to think like Christ, to act like Christ, to talk like Christ. This is spiritual maturity in a nutshell. God's number one purpose in our life is to make you like Jesus.
That phrase All that happens –
Does that include difficulties? Yes.
Does that include delays? Yes.
Does that include disappointments and things I don't understand? Yes.
It does not say all things that happen are good. It says that all things that happen work for good.
Every circumstance is a character builder. Every circumstance is an opportunity.
Once you understand that God's goal for your life is to make you like Christ and to build character in your life, everything will take on new meaning because you realize God has a purpose behind it.
Look at your situation right now through the eyes of Christ and ask yourself this question. What is God's purpose in this? How can I become more like Christ in this situation? (to be like Him)
3. GOD MADE ME TO SERVE HIM
Acts 13:36 "For David served God's purpose in his own generation, and then he died."
If you study the Bible God has always had jobs for men to do. Always!!! When God put Adam in the Garden of Eden He said, “Tend the garden, take care of it, manage the garden, and name the animals.” God has a job for you. He has a place for you.
Being comfortable is not the goal of life. God has a plan and a purpose for your life, and He has a job for you to do while you're here on the earth.
What a way to leave this world! What a great thing to have someone say about you! (David served God's purpose) He served God's purpose -- that's the eternal. But he did it in his generation – he did it in the contemporary, and when God’s purpose was fulfilled through David he went on to be with the Lord where there's no sin, no pain, no sickness. What a great testimony!
What are you going to do with the rest of your life? Whether you've got five years left or fifty years or a hundred years. What are you going to do with the rest of your life?
I want to submit to you this morning that you were made for a purpose. There's no greater purpose than to serve God where you are. Serve God at school, at work, or at home. You serve God where He put you and in the day-to-day routine of life.
Romans 12:1 "Offer yourself to God, dedicated to his service. Then you will be able to know the will of God, what is good, pleasing and perfect."
In other words, it's your choice. God has a will and you have a will. He gave you a free will. He gives you the freedom to choose. That's also why most people miss out on the purpose of life and they're not happy. God will not force you to do it. He says, "Offer yourself." It's a choice.
It's a daily decision. It's not a once for all decision.
Every day, I face crossroads at which I'm forced to decide, “Am I going to choose my will or God's will?”
Every day I face crossroads where I'm going to choose to go God's way and do what He wants or do what I want -- do my plans or do His plans, serve God or serve myself. So I offer myself. It's a choice.
Notice the results of doing this. What happens if I dedicate myself and say, "God, I'll do whatever you want me to do." It says, "Offer yourself... dedicated to his service. Then you will be able to know the will of God."
The result of commitment is we will know God's will. God only guides those who are already committed to Him in advance to do whatever He wants them to do.
It's not "God, show me Your will and then I'll decide whether I want to do it or not. It doesn't work that way. It's "God, in advance, I choose to do your will. I'll go anywhere, be anything, do whatever You want me to do and I choose it in advance." Then it says God shows what His plan is for your life.
God made me to know Him, to be like Him, to serve Him.
4. GOD MADE ME TO LIVE WITH HIM SOMEDAY.
2 Corinthians 5:1-5 (The New Living Translation) " For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down–when we die and leave these bodies–we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. 2 We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long for the day when we will put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. 3 For we will not be spirits without bodies, but we will put on new heavenly bodies. 4 Our dying bodies make us groan and sigh, but it's not that we want to die and have no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by everlasting life. 5 God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit. "
God wants you to live with Him someday. Today, we are so busy with the here and now we don't have time for the hereafter. Don't talk to me about heaven or hell; I just have to get through today!
The fact is earth is just a temporary training ground and you're going to spend far more time on the other side of eternity than you do on this side, so how you spend these years on this side of eternity is going to determine what you do in eternity.
It's foolish to go through life unprepared for something everybody knows is inevitable. How you invest your life on this side of eternity in the training ground called earth is going to make a big difference for millions and millions and millions of years.
John 6:40 "God's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life."
Eternity is a long time. This is for everyone who looks to the Son and believes on Him. Have you settled this issue? If you haven't don't leave here today without settling this issue.
Our hope lies not on the man we put on the moon, but our hope lies on the man we put on the cross.
"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done" The kingdom of God becomes real in your life when you come to the point when you say, "Jesus Christ, I want You to be the king in my life. I want You to be number one in my life and call the shots.
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. What a great promise! That's saying there is nothing that God won't do for the man or woman who is totally committed to His plan, His purpose, His will.
You can count on Him for all your needs. Our number one job in life is to build God's kingdom. There's no such thing as a non-serving Christian. It's a contradiction. We must not allow ourselves to become sidetracked.
My number one purpose in life is not to build my business, not to build my retirement fund, not to build America. Our number one job in life is to build God's kingdom.
Ask yourself, “How is my existence benefiting the kingdom of God? If it's not, I challenge you to examine it real quickly. You're missing out on the very purpose for which you were created.
I invite you to pray a four-sentence prayer:
God, You made me to know You so I want to know You.
God, You made me to become like You, so I want to become like You.
God, You made me to serve You so I'm going to serve You wherever I am.
God, You made me to live with You. So I trust Christ for my salvation.
