The Purpose of Our Life and the Purpose of the Church.
I. What is our life purpose?
If you believe God is the creator of your life, you are not the one who defines your purpose or discovers or creates your purpose. God is the one who defines your purpose. His command reveals His purpose for you.
(*The following is from ‘Purpose Driven Life’ by Rick Warren)
God was thinking of you long before you ever thought about him. His purpose for your life predates your conception. He planned it before you existed, without your input!
If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.
But, if you don’t start with God, you would ask neverending self-centered questions about yourself ask self-centered questions: What do I want to be? What should I do with my life? What are my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my future? If you start with yourself, even the wisest philosophers are just guessing. “Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless.” Bertrand Russell, atheist
You didn't create yourself, so there is no way you can tell yourself what you were created for!
You exist only because God wills that you exist. You were made by God and for God and until you understand that, life will never make sense.
It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end.
You were made for God, not vice versa, and life is about letting God use you for his purposes, not your using him for your own purpose.
It is about becoming what God created you to be.
The purpose of your life fits into a much larger, cosmic purpose that God has designed for eternity.
Jesus is God and the Creator: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.“ (John 1:1-3 NIV)
“For in Jesus all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Jesus and for Jesus.” (Col 1:16)
II. Jesus as our Lord and Savior defines our life purpose with the great commandment and the great commission.
If you believe Jesus is the savior (redeemer), you are not the one who defines your purpose or discovers or creates your purpose since you were bought and you are not your own, but His. (1 Co 7:22-23)
If you call Jesus your Lord, He is your master and you exist to please the Lord. You discover your identity and purpose through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Great Commandment: "Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’” (Matthew 22:37-40 NIV)
Loving God and loving our neighbor is not only the most important commandment, but also the essence of the commandments and teachings of God.
Therefore, our life purpose - if we are believers - is to love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Therefore, our life purpose should be to become like Christ because He is the perfect example of how to love God and people
The Great Commission: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV)
Jesus wants us to become like Christ who is the perfect example of how to love God and people, but He also wants us to become like Him in making disciples as we help others to become like Christ.
Therefore, our life purpose should be to become growing disciples and to make others disciples of Jesus.
Making disciples involves baptizing and teaching them. There must be sharing of the gospel with them and helping them to be parts of the church and teaching them to obey Jesus’ commandment, which is to love God and one another and the people.
Disciple-making takes place in the context of the church. We can’t fulfill God’s purposes by ourselves. So if we are serious about the great commission of Jesus Christ, we need to be baptized and be a part of the church, God’s family.
“You may choose your career, your spouse, your hobbies, and many other parts of your life, but you don't get to choose your purpose.” - Rick Warren
A. Worship - To love the Lord our God with all your heart. (We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19 “letting God love you”; Every time you’re getting to know God you’re getting to love God, that’s called worship.)
B. Fellowship - To love our neighbors as ourselves. “Baptising them baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” which means becoming part of the church. (Matthew 28:19) In the New Testament, church members are neighbors to one another: "let each one speak the truth to his neighbor because we are all members of the same body." (Ephesians 4:25; Rom 12:5); to the Roman church, "He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law" (Romans 13:8); to the church in Galatia, "the whole law is summed up in a single commandment: «Love your neighbor as yourself»¨(Galatians 5:14)
C. Discipleship - To teach them to obey all that Jesus has commanded: to love God and to love the neighbor. Discipleship is for growing to spiritual maturity and becoming more like Jesus.
D. Ministry - To love our neighbors as ourselves. Serve God by serving others. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:10)
E. Evangelism or Mission - To make others become disciples of Jesus by sharing the gospel, the Good News of the love of God. “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” (Mark 16:16 NLT) “Through Christ, God made peace between us and himself, and God gave us the work of telling everyone about the peace we can have with him . . . So we have been sent to speak for Christ.” 2 Corinthians 5:18, 20 (NCV)
Rick Warren puts it this way:
Worship - Center your life around God. You're planned for God's pleasure.
Fellowship - Connect with other believers. You're formed for God's family.
Discipleship - Cultivate spiritual maturity. You're created to become like Christ.
Ministry - Contribute something back. You're shaped to serve God,
Evangelism - Communicate God’s message. You're made for a mission.
The purpose of the Church Is to help us fulfill God’s purposes for our Lives: “Since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.” Romans 12:5 (NLT96)
III. The 5 purposes of Our Lord for his Church are not only The Great Commission and the Great Commandment but also the Great Privilege for those who have received the Lord and the Holy Spirit, who has already begun his work: "he who began in you the good deed.”
A. Worship – Only those who have received the Spirit can worship God spiritually
B. Fellowship – Only those who have received the Spirit can be part of the Body of Christ (1 Cor 12:13)
C. Discipleship – Only those who received the Spirit can be his disciple.
D. Ministry (Service) - Only those who have received the Spirit can be served in the Spirit
E. Evangelism – Only those who received can share the Gospel.
When we received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit entered our lives. From the moment, let us become worshipers, servants, evangelists, church members, and his disciple.
IV. The final goal of the Lord who began the good work in us:
Petition of the Spirit – Rom 8:26-29
The example of Jesus Christ
The ministry of the Spirit of the Lord– II Cor 3:18 As the Spirit of the Lord works within us,?we become more and more like him. 2 CORINTHIANS 3:18 (TLB)
Jesus Christ gave the church leaders - Eph 4:13
God predestined us - Ro 8:29
Jesus is to appear - 1 Jn 3:2
God called us to be transformed into the image of His Son, according. Therefore, being a church that responds to the desires of Our Lord for his church by fulfilling the 5 purposes means taking on the role of Christ in the world.
