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.
2. Life Without Purpose Is Tiring
“The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it arose. The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north; the wind whirls about continually, and comes again on its circuit. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place from which the rivers come, there they return again.” (Ecclesiastes 1:5-7 NKJV)
Life without purpose is a life that goes around in circles. Solomon gives us three examples of this sort of circular living.
• First is the rotation of the sun. It just keeps coming up and going down.
• Next is the swirling nature of wind and how it blows in a circular pattern.
• Finally, there are the waters that flow into the sea, but the sea is never full because of evaporation, where it comes down as rain or snow only to flow back into the sea.
Another way to say this is that by the time the Christmas tree is put away, it’s time to pull it back out and set it up all over again. It’s like we’re on this great big treadmill using a whole lot of energy but going nowhere fast.
If we were to do a survey, and ask people how they are doing, the number one answer would be that they are tired. And the reason people are tired is because they have no purpose. They are floundering through this life, and floundering is tiring work.
3. Life Without Purpose Is Unfulfilling
“All things are full of labor; man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, ‘See, this is new’? It has already been in ancient times before us.” (Ecclesiastes 1:8-10 NKJV)
Solomon is saying that without purpose we’re never going to be satisfied or content, that is, nothing of this world can satisfy what the human soul longs for, and history just keeps repeating itself. In other words, there is nothing new under the sun.
When we see no point to life we become restless. Consider the TV remote control. It’s said that the average person will change channels 325,000 times in their life. For some, however, that’s a weekly average.
If we don’t see any purpose to life, then we’ll get restless and life will be unfulfilling.
4. Life Without Purpose Is Insignificant
“There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after.” (Ecclesiastes 1:11 NKJV)
Fame is fleeting. What use to be 15 minutes of fame has been downgraded to 5 minutes, that is, if they’re lucky! Break a record and it will be broken not long afterwards, that is, if anyone even remembers the record.
It’s called the surety of obscurity.
Regardless of what we’ve accomplished, most of it will be forgotten over time. Consider the names that grace various building and schools. Most of us have no idea who these people are, and we really could care less.
Life without purpose seems insignificant when compared to eternity.
5. Life Without Purpose is Uncontrollable
“I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind. What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered.” (Ecclesiastes 1:14-15 NKJV)
There is always the inevitable, that is, those things that happen that we have no control over. We can’t control when we were born, nor can we control when we are going to die. And truthfully, there are a whole lot of things in between that we have little if any control over.
We cannot control what another person does. We cannot control when sickness or illness strikes, nor can we control an economic upswing or downturn. This is just the stuff that happens in life, and there is nothing we can do to change it.
And here’s the point, that while life seems out of control, the reality is that God is in control, and we can either move dirt piles, or join Him to effect His kingdom in this community and generation for all eternity.
Wouldn’t it be great to know that when we go to sleep at night that our lives counted for something, that our lives counted for eternity; that we teamed with God and His purpose for this generation and for the world?
Most people, however, don’t even have the slightest idea that God has a purpose for them. They don’t understand that God has carved out a special niche just for them, a purpose that fits their personality, experience, giftedness, and mentality.
We’ve been created for doing more than moving the dirt piles of life, and it’s never too late to figure out God’s purpose. That’s what David did, and he served the purposes of God for his generation.
Here’s the sum total of it all.
Life Without Purpose Is Pointless
Listen to some depressing responses to those that we would consider had a purpose in life.
• Isaac Asimov (A prolific science fiction writer) – “As far as I can see there is no purpose to life.”
• Karl Jung (Psychiatrist) – “I don’t know what the meaning or purpose of life is, but it looks as if there were something meant by it.”
• Albert Ellis (Psychiatrist and inventor) – “As far as I can tell, life has no special or intrinsic meaning or purpose.”
• Thomas Nagle (Economist) – “I’m afraid the meaning of life still eludes me.”
Is it any wonder then that our culture has turned its back on God? When we remove God, the options for the meaning and purpose of life become extremely slim.
• Bertrand Russell (Philosopher and atheist) – “Unless you assume a god, the question about life’s purpose is meaningless.”
• Sigmund Freud (Psychotherapist and psychoanalysis) – “The idea of a purpose stands or falls with the religious system.”
If I were to paraphrase what we have just heard I would say, “If you don’t accept that God exists, then you live on a dead end street.”
The conclusion of what our society is saying, is that if God does not exist, then we are nothing more than an evolutionary accident. If God did not create us, then life has no meaning or purpose, and that life really doesn’t matter. Basically, the world’s approach to life and finding purpose is bankrupt, which is why we see such chaos in our schools, on our streets, and in this world.
Where then do we find purpose? The Bible, which has been found to be the most reliable book ever written, has quite a lot to say about purpose.
I’d like to look at just a couple of things the Apostle Paul says to the Ephesian Church about God’s purpose.
What is God’s Purpose for Us?
1. To Be A Part Of His Family
“Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” (Ephesians 1:4-5 NKJV)
Even before the world was formed, God was thinking about us and about His purpose for our lives, which is to have a relationship with Him, and to be a part of His family.
And this only makes sense, because He made us according to His image and likeness. And if we don’t get this part, then we’ve missed the whole point as to why we were even born.
We haven’t been placed upon this earth to get married, raise a family, have a job and make money, retire, and die. Instead, God has created us so that we could have a loving relationship with Him forever.
Further, contrary to popular opinion, not everybody is a child of God. Yes, God has created everybody, but not everybody is a child of God. The only way a person becomes a child of God is to ask God if they can join His family, and this is accomplished by inviting Jesus Christ into their hearts and lives to be their Savior and Lord
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6 NKJV)
2. To Spend Eternity With Him
“In the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him.” (Ephesians 1:10 NKJV)
Paul is saying that God’s purpose is for us to spend eternity with Him.
History is moving toward a climax; and there is a destiny, a grand and glorious scheme where God will take all who believe in Jesus Christ into eternity to be with Him.
Most of us have heard of “The Circle of Life.” It was made popular in Disney’s “The Lion King.” However, this isn’t biblical.
Life is not circular; rather it’s linear. Life is constantly moving toward a purpose, a climax, and Jesus Christ is returning to complete that purpose.
God made us to last forever, contrary to popular belief, and that this life is a preparation for eternity. However, seeing that re-incarnation, that is the circle of life theory, is invalid, what that leaves us with is a linear existence where eternity is lived in one of two places, heaven or hell.
Therefore, knowing that God has a plan for our lives, and has made this life a preparation for eternity, how do we prepare.
How Do We Prepare For Eternity?
The Bible says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” (John 1:12)
This is actually the first thing we need to do to prepare ourselves for an eternity in heaven. But outside of getting to know Jesus as our Savior and Lord, there are three things we need to use in light of all eternity.
1. Time
In light of eternity, we are to use our time wisely.
“Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.” (Colossians 4:5 NKJV)
In Ephesians 5:16, we are told to redeem the time we have for the Lord, because the days we live in are evil.
Time is our most precious commodity. It’s more precious than money or possessions, because we can always get more money and possessions, but we cannot get more time. We only have a certain amount of time, and we can’t beg, borrow, or steal any more. All we can do is to use the time that we have wisely.
Here’s a good question to ask, “How much of what I am doing is going to count for eternity?”
Therefore, let’s take advantage and seize the day for God.
2. Talents
In light of eternity, we are to use the talents God has given.
“For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.” (1 Corinthians 6:20 NKJV)
Paul is telling us to use our God given talents in a way that will give God the glory.
In the parable of the talents, Jesus reveals that the two servants who wisely invested the monies given to them were commended, but the servant who hid what he was given was condemned and cast out to a place Jesus described as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Luke 13:28).
Jesus is speaking of spiritually reaping what we have sown by investing wisely in what the Lord has given. And when we do, then we’ll reap heavenly rewards.
3. Treasures
In light of eternity, we are to wisely invest our treasures.
Here’s an interesting question, “Where is the safest place to invest?”
Let me give you the following scenario.
Suppose Congress voted to replace the dollar with the Euro as the official currency of the United States, and once the deadline for this conversion is over, all U.S. monies would be worthless. But there is a problem. We don’t know when that deadline is going to happen.
Knowing this, what we should do is take what is not needed for our immediate needs and convert it to the Euro.
In the same way, there’s going to be an exchange day coming for each of us, that is, we’re all going to die and none of us know when that’s going to happen. And everything we have saved for a rainy day is going to be without value in the next life. So, we need to invest it in heavenly currency.
Jesus says, “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matthew 6:20 NKJV)
To Timothy, Paul says, “Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” (1 Timothy 6:18-19 NKJV)
Conclusion
Since none of us know when we’re going to trade in this mortal life for immortality, we need to convert our time, talents, and treasures into the currency of eternity. We cannot take it with us, but we can send it ahead, and we do so by investing in God’s purposes now.
Let’s not trade our lives for temporary things. Outside the decision to receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, the most important decision we can make centers around this question: “Am I just going to live for the here and now, or am I going to live in light of eternity?”
Will we be like David who after he served his generation by the will of God goes into an eternity with God? Will we hear the Lord’s words saying, “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy or your Lord?” Or will we hear Him say, “Depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you?”
Today, let’s make sure that we know Jesus as our Savior and Lord, and let’s determine to start living for God’s purposes using what He has given to us so that in the end we’ll be in heaven in the presence of God.
When we start living our lives and fulfilling our mission of making a difference for Christ in our community and beyond, then we’ll be living our lives on purpose, or living purposefully.
