What's My Purpose
February 2, 2020
Various
We’re going to start by getting pretty deep really quickly. "Why did God create you?" Or how about this, “Why in God’s name am I here?” Or very simply, “What’s my purpose in life?”
For the past few weeks, we’ve been looking at the fact that we’re in a spiritual war. Our enemy, doesn’t want us to be filled with joy, or even be happy. He wants us to be defeated. As he wants to steal and kill and destroy us. Yet, Jesus offers us abundant life in this world. How do we get there? Well, I believe I have a few answers for us.
We’ve looked at the spiritual weapons we can put on, so we can battle satan. We know what we can do, now it’s time to determine why we’re here, so that we can fulfill that purpose, and find fulfillment in God and live the abundant life in Christ.
For the upcoming weeks, we’re going to be looking at the answers to those questions. My hope is that when we come to the end of this series, we won’t shrug our shoulders and say “I don’t know!” We will know why God created us.
The choices we make every day; the things we value and desire; the way we invest our time and energy – all of these reflect some underlying belief about who we are.
The great poet, Robert Frost said:
In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life. It goes on. That’s it. It goes on. You can actually buy that saying on canvas for $50. Really? Inspiring, isn’t it?
Even King Solomon questioned whether life had any meaning. In the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes 1:2, 14, he wrote:
2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
14 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity, a striving after the wind. - Ecclesiastes 1:2, 14
When he was 61, H.G. Wells said: "I have no peace. All life is at the end of the tether." In the early 1800's, the poet, Lord Byron said, "My days are in yellow leaf, the flowers and fruits of life are gone, the worm and the canker, and the grief are mine alone." Ralph Barton, one of the top cartoonists in the early 1900's left this note before taking his life: "I have had few difficulties, many friends, great successes; I have gone from wife to wife, from house to house, visited great countries of the world, but I am fed up with inventing devices to fill up 24 hours of the day."
You see we were made for a far greater purpose than just finding ultimate success or comfort -- because, we were made for God’s purposes! That’s right, the reason you are here, the answer to why am I here is summed up in one little phrase… You were made for God.
While we don’t study the catechism, I’m struck by the very first question of the Westminster Short Catechism -
What is the chief end of man? In other words, “what’s the purpose of life?”
The answer - To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
I love that! My purpose is to glorify God AND enjoy Him forever. I can only glorify God when I’m serving Him and fulfilling my purpose, as I understand Him and know Him and have a relationship with Him. I can only enjoy someone when I know them and have a relationship with them. The same is true about God.
Until we realize that truth, that we were made for God’s purposes then our lives will never make a bit of sense! You will look inside yourself for an answer and all you will find is more questions, and you can work on inventing a purpose for your life and work until your old and gray and your life still will not make sense unless you come to the realization that you were made for God’s purpose’s! There is a reason you are alive and it is for God!
Some people claim the meaning of life is entirely individual. Life has whatever meaning you give it. You alone determine what it means for you. And people have chosen all kinds of things to pursue as their own personal highest good -- Pleasure. Possessions. Power. Fame. Comfort. Family. Art. Beauty. Religion. World peace. Saving the whales. Saving the earth. Attempts to find meaning and purpose are endless.
But all of those miss the mark. They may be good things, but fundamentally, they they miss the mark because they start in the wrong place. They all begin with people. The right place to begin is not with ourselves, but with God.
Even as believers in Jesus, we often struggle. How many times, do we get up in the morning and go through the motions again and again and again. We wonder ‘why am I doing this?’ Is it simply for a paycheck . . . or is there a purpose to what we’re doing? When you are considering a career, are you looking at it as if it’s an opportunity to serve God in your career. You see, your career, occupation, can be an avenue to serve God. Sometimes it comes in our times of being a volunteer. The possibilities are endless.
God’s purposes, and His purposes for us, are ultimately what matters. We must begin by looking upward. By listening to the voice of God, who tells us:
11 But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of His heart through all generations. – Psalm 33:11
4 The LORD has made everything for its purposes – Proverbs 16:4a
We did not bring the universe into being. We did not make ourselves. We did not design ourselves. God designed us; He made us. He is the creator. And He knows what He created us for. Only He knows what He had in mind when He brought you and I, and all of this, into existence.
16 For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. – Colossians 1:16
11 Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created. – Revelation 4:11
Since God made us, our goal should be to understand, and become, what He has made us to be. Our objective should be to discover, and to live out His purposes as His people. Those purposes are what we’re going to be studying over the next several weeks. Today I’m just laying the foundation.
It may surprise you to know that God had a plan and a purpose for you long before you ever arrived on this planet. In fact, even before the world was created, He knew what He wanted to accomplish in and through your life. Whether or not you’re aware of it; God had a plan for you from the very beginning.
In Ephesians 1:4, Paul wrote, 4 He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
Think about that – God made each one of us to be the object of His love. And if that isn’t enough to make you feel important think about what else that last verse says - - - before God made the earth He had you in mind.
Look around at all the power and majesty and amazing things God has created, and each one of them are for us and for our enjoyment! God had you in mind for one reason and that reason was to love you. And that incredible love is the reason He gave you purpose.
You weren’t an accident! You weren’t a mistake. Whatever the circumstances of your birth; whether or not your parents planned for you to be born; God was not taken by surprise. He’s been waiting for you, and looking forward to you, for a very long time. He has plans for you, and He intends to bring them to pass.
And not only were you in God’s mind and heart from eternity past, but He made you to last forever, into eternity. That means God’s good purposes for your life does not end at death. That’s why He sent Jesus for you.
He wants you to live the abundant life on this earth, then to have a greater abundant life after you die. You will pass from life to death to life. That’s great news.
God made us; He has a purpose for our lives, and our task is to discover and live out that purpose. But why? Why does it matter that we know all this? Why does it matter if we understand and follow God’s purposes? After all, most people give little thought to this. Most people don’t trouble themselves with questions about the meaning of life. And yet somehow, they manage to make a living, raise a family, and cope with life in general.
They’re not reading the Bible; they’re reading the Sunday paper. They’re not sitting in church and listening to sermons, singing songs or worshiping; they’re sitting at home sleeping in, watching TV and movies. So, why should we make the effort?
First, because there’s more to reality than what we see around us. This life is not all there is. We’ve learned that life is fleeting. We’ve learned there are no guarantees about life. We can do the best we can to be healthy, but there are no guarantees. Our life here is temporary. But after that comes eternity. The Psalmist expresses a similar thought, when he prays:
4 “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! – Psalm 39:4
But again, why does that matter? "Michael, Don’t be so morbid!" Why not just ignore the fact of our mortality; why not do what everybody else does, and try to forget that life is fleeting? And isn’t that what most people do? Fill their lives so full of activities and distractions and noise, that they don’t have time to think about what it all means?
Isaiah said, 4 I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; - Isaiah 49:4
Life is pretty hopeless when you lose sight of your purpose, when you lose sight of the reason you were born.
For many people this is the way they live life… going to school, working, and then dying. So many of us are living life trying to find meaning, yet, on the inside, we’re dead, and we try to fill that void, which is crying out for significance and meaning. We can live better than this and that’s why these next weeks have the opportunity to be so transforming in our lives.
Finding God’s purpose for your life gives you significance and meaning that will give you amazing hope and joy! Many of us have grown up in less than perfect homes, with less than perfect parents, showing us less than perfect love. We grow up with the scars and hurts that this brings, and for many it effects their sense of significance. But God loves you with a perfect love and wants your life to have significant meaning, purpose and value. You matter to God.
In Ephesians 1:11 says, 11 In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, - Ephesians 1:11
Right now we stand at a crossroads. We can make a commitment to being open to learn more about God’s purpose for our lives . . . or we can blow it off. One road requires work and effort, one road is easy and downhill. My challenge to you is to take the road that will change your life.
Again, Paul tells us --
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. - Ephesians 2:10
You may feel insignificant. What would God want to do with me? I’ve got no skills and abilities and talents. I’m just a leftover part. We can feel that way, but I want to end with this thought - -
In 1972, NASA launched the exploratory space probe Pioneer 10. The satellite’s primary mission was to reach Jupiter, photograph it and its moons, and send data it collected back to earth. This was a bold plan, because no satellite had gone beyond Mars, and they feared the asteroid belt would destroy the satellite before it would get to Jupiter.
But Pioneer 10 accomplished its mission and so much more. In November 1973, the Jupiter atmosphere hurled the satellite toward the edge of our solar system. At one billion miles from the sun, Pioneer 10 passed Saturn. At 2 billion miles, it hurtled past Uranus, then past Neptune, and finally past Pluto. By 1997, 25 years after its launch, Pioneer 10 was more than 6 billion miles from the sun, still sending data.
The signals finally stopped in December 2003. It was 11 billion miles from the sun at that time. Commenting on the Pioneer 10 in Time magazine Leon Jaroff wrote, “Perhaps most remarkable, is the fact that those signals emanate from an eight-watt transmitter, which radiates about as much power as a bedroom night-light, and take more than nine hours to reach Earth.”
The Pioneer 10 has been called "The Little Satellite That Could." It wasn’t qualified to do what it did. Engineers designed Pioneer 10 with a useful life of only three years. But it lasted for 31 years. Its tiny eight-watt transmitter radio accomplished more than anyone thought possible.
Can the same be true for us - - when we offer ourselves to serve the Lord. God can work through all of us. Even when we don’t give ourselves much credit, even those with eight-watt abilities.
That little 8 watt transmitter wasn’t a very powerful piece of equipment. We may believe its power was INSIGNIFICANT. It was part of a system which cost millions of dollars. One small insignificant part of 1,000's. Is that how you feel?
Yet, it fulfilled its purpose and made a difference. It accomplished phenomenal things – in spite of the fact that it was a small, inexpensive part. It succeeded because it fulfilled that purpose.
The goal of this series is to help us do the same, fulfill God’s purpose in our lives.
