(Note: The outline and some of the content of this sermon are from Rick Warren’s Forty Days of Purpose material.)
In the scripture we have read today, Paul is speaking to a group of Greek philosophers. Now these men were not atheists or agnostics. Neither were they anti-religious. In fact, Paul says that they are very religious. And there is a reason for this. These men spent their every waking moment thinking, discussion and debating the meaning of life and existence. The writer of the book of Acts tells us: “All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas” (Acts 17:21). The point is that if you think there is a meaning to existence, whenever you talk about the meaning of life you necessarily have to bring religion into it. At some point God must enter the picture.
There have been those who have tried to tackle the meaning of existence while denying the existence of God. One group was the Existentialists. I love existentialist philosophers because they always asked the right questions, even if they came up with the wrong answers. The problem is that existentialism always ended in despair. They concluded that there was no meaning to life, therefore you had to develop your own meaning. If you want to get a flavor of existentialism read The Stranger by Albert Camus, or Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett. The emptiness and despair is almost overwhelming in these writings. When this philosophy was originally taught in the universities of France, the professors would have to spend a great deal of time at the end of class talking the students out of suicide.
No wonder that one cartoon had a car parked in front of a University Philosophy Department with a bumper sticker which read “Honk, if you know the meaning of life.” Often the very people who are supposed to be grappling with the meaning of life are the ones least able to do it. The best they seem to do is deny there is any meaning.
Another group which has tackled the problem of existence is the Nihilists. Nihilism teaches that there is no meaning to life, and therefore you might as well do as you please and get the most out of your miserable existence while you can. If you ask me, this is the philosophy under which many of our movies and television programs are being written. It ends in a kind of despairing hedonism. Sometimes you watch these programs and you ask yourself: “Is there anything truly good in the world? Are there any truly good people in it?” You would certainly never discern that by watching much of what is on the screen today. And neither would you ever discover any meaning in the world.
But the question of meaning is an important one. An article in a major newspaper said that people in general are not afraid of death or hell as much as they are afraid of having no meaning to their lives. A recent Wall Street Journal Cartoon said: “The real meaning of life is not to fret and bug yourself about what the real meaning of life is.” But evidently we are bugged about the meaning of life, and it is at the core of our human existence. It is as though something at the core of existence is asking us: “Who are you? Where are you going? What’s the point of all this?”
So this morning we will ask three questions: 1. Why am I alive? 2. Does my life matter? 3. What is my purpose? The first question is: Why am I alive? Arthur Ashley Brilliant said, “My life has a superb cast, but I can’t figure out the plot.” Jack Hanley wrote, “I hope life isn’t a joke, because I don’t get it.” Dr. Hugh Moorhead, chairman of the Department of Philosophy at Northeastern University, once wrote to 250 well-known philosophers, scientists, writers and intellectuals of the world, asking them, “What is the purpose of life?” Some of them offered their best guesses, and others confessed they made up the purpose of life out of their own head. Still others admitted that they had no idea what the purpose of life was, and asked Dr. Moorhead if he would write back and let them know what he discovered. He published all the answers in a book that leaves one bewildered and despairing that anyone has any real answer. Isaac Asimov wrote, “As far as I can see, there is no purpose.” Joseph Taylor wrote an article entitled, “I Have No Answers to the Meaning of Life and I No Longer Want to Search for Any.” Now that’s despair.
These are tragic statements, because a life without purpose is not a life worth living. Oprah Winfrey had a show on the meaning of life awhile back. At every break in the show she would say, “Now, come back because we’re going to tell you your purpose.” But by the end of the program she was no closer to discovering life’s purpose than she was at the beginning. Finally, as the credits at the end of the show were rolling, she looked squarely into the camera and said, “Remember, you’ve got to figure it out by yourself.” What a let down. But the Bible helps us to know that we do not have to figure it out ourselves. God has revealed it to us in his Word. Proverbs 16:4 says, “The Lord has made everything for His own purpose.” In our Scripture reading this morning we read: “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being’” (Acts 17:26-28). In other words, this is not about you, it’s about God. You are not here to figure out your own purpose or make your life work. You are not here to strive for success and to make your life as good and pleasurable as possible. It is not about your personal happiness or fulfillment. You are here to fulfill the purposes of God. God has a purpose for the world and a purpose for your personal life. Your purpose comes from the purposes of God for the world.
The prophet Jeremiah learned this when he heard the Lord say to him: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). What was true for Jeremiah is true for you. God knew you before you were born, and he also set you apart for a particular purpose. He has appointed you to something. And there can be nothing more important in life than discovering that purpose and living it out in the time God has given you here on earth. And God never calls us to do something for which he has not, or will not, equip us. God has given you specific gifts and abilities to accomplish what he has for you to do.
When I was in high school the thing I hated most was getting up in front of people and talking. I would rather have hot needles in my eyes that have to get up in front of the class. But I can remember the first time I was asked to speak in my home church after God called me into the ministry. I could hardly wait to stand up and say what God had put on my heart that day. God took away the fear and gave me an ability I did not have before, and did not particularly want. But I knew that God had called me into the ministry, even though I did not know how I could do it. That calling has held me fast through all the difficulties and trials I have faced through the years. God has a plan for you as well, and if he has called you, he will equip you.
There is a reason that you exist, but as you ask the question, “Why am I alive?”, if you don’t get anything else out of these 40 days, please get this: You were created to be loved by God. Look at this verse and read it with me: “Long before He laid down the earth’s foundation, He had us in His mind and settled on us as the focus of His love to be made whole and holy by His love” (Ephesians 1:4, The Message). If you can say nothing else about God, you have to say he is love. God is love and he wanted to create something to love and so he created you. You are here, you exist, to be an object of God’s love and affection. He loved you into existence, and he will love you to the end.
The second key question of life is the question of significance: Does my life matter? This is the question with which all of us wrestle. It is wonderful to know that I am loved by God, but does my life actually matter in this world? Am I making a difference? Isaiah wondered this when he wrote: “My work all seems so useless. I’ve spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose at all” (Isaiah 49:4, New Living).
Rick Warren tells about a Nazi concentration camp in Hungary during World War II. The prisoners were processing human sewage in a factory, but the allies bombed the factory and destroyed it. The Nazi soldiers made the prisoners take all the rubble of the factory and move it to another field. Then, when they had completed moving it all, they made them move it back. When they completed that, they made them move it back to the field again. Day after day, month after month their lives were consumed in the same monotonous task. There was no meaning or purpose to it. Before they had been processing sewage, but at least there was a purpose to it. Now there was no purpose, and the people began to lose their minds. Many of them began to throw themselves in front of the guards hoping to get shot or beaten to death, so their misery would be ended. You and I were made for meaning.
Living is done at three levels. The lowest level is survival. That is where many people are living today. They are merely surviving and going from day to day. They are just getting by and doing what has to be done. They are existing, not living. The next level is the success level. It is the highest level that most people achieve, and some of you are living at this level. You have it made as far as the world is concerned. You have enough money, a nice home, a reasonably good marriage and family, and the respect of others. But down deep inside you know that something is missing. There are several books being written with titles that say something like: Okay, I’m Successful, So Why Am I Not Fulfilled? The reason is that it takes more than success to satisfy us. That’s where the next level of living comes in. You need to go beyond survival and success to significance. Significance comes when three things begin to happen: 1. You know the meaning of life. 2. You know that you matter to God. 3. You know God’s purposes for your life and you are living them out.
You know that the purpose of life is love to God, let him love you and live out the purpose that he has for you. You know that you matter to God, because he created you and, with the Psalmist, you say, “Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God How vast is the sum of them ” (Psalm 139:16-17). And as we go through these 40 days of purpose you will discover God’s specific plan for your life.
But here is the important part for you to understand: What you do here and now is only a warm up act for eternity. As Christians, we know that the answer to the question of whether our lives matter is: I was made to last forever. Whether you live with God or apart from God, you will live forever. Life is preparation for eternity. God’s purposes for us are eternal purposes. The Bible says that the God of all grace has called you to his eternal glory in Christ” (1 Peter 5:10). Paul wrote: “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 Corinthians 5:1). You were made to live forever. And God’s purpose for you is an eternal purpose.
Finally, we ask the question: What is my purpose? The answer to that question is: To know God. Bertrand Russell, the great English thinker said, “Unless you assume the existence of God, the question of life’s meaning and purpose is irrelevant.” Rick Warren says, “You see, if there is no God, if you’re just a freak chance of nature, you’re just complex pond scum — then guess what — your life doesn’t matter. But there is a God. And God made you for a reason. He made you for a purpose. The only way you’re going to know your purpose is first looking to Him.” The Bible says, “For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible. . . everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him” (Colossians 1:16).
I want to show you some things this morning which you may not know what they are or how to use them. (Stud-finder, concrete drill and screw set, biscuit cutter for wood). These are carpenter’s tools, but if you don’t know how to use them you will likely abuse them. My granddaughters love to go down in my shop and “make things.” It is amazing the various uses they can find for a perfectly good tool Larry Overholt, our missionary in Honduras, was telling me how some of the boys he works with use his good chisels for screwdrivers. If you don’t know the purpose for something you will abuse it. When people don’t understand or don’t care about their purpose they abuse their lives. When people avoid God they avoid life, because “everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.” If you are going to know your purpose in life you have to get to know God. It is the greatest journey on which you will ever go. It is an adventure that never ends.
If you will commit yourself to these next 40 days of purpose, it will mean that you will spend a total of 48 hours on everything. That’s it. It is not an overwhelming commitment, but it is a commitment that will change your life. You will discover God’s purpose for you and begin to spend your life on things of eternal value. You will see your life used by God in new ways, and you will enjoy your life as you see it unfold in the purposes of God. What could be better? I challenge you to make that commitment today. George Herbert once said, “It’s never too late to be who you might have been.” It’s not too late.
Rodney J. Buchanan
February 22, 2004
Mulberry St. UMC
Mt. Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
