The Three “D’s” of Purpose
Introduction:
Of course some people here might we wondering, “WHY did pastor have a MISSIONARY come and speak here this MORNING/EVENING?”
Illus: My Dad had a schoolmate from Bible College and he was known as the missionary who always preached the RIGHT length of time. It was truly an amazing thing in the history of missions! A missionary that never preached too long or too short.
I remember one time, when I was in High School, I invited some of my friends to come to church a hear my Dad’s friend preach. I promised them that they guy was interesting and never preached too long...or, too short, for that matter.
That night he preached for three hours! It was a disaster!
Later, my dad asked him, “What happened?” And the guy explained that every time he preaches just at the start he pops a lifesaver into his mouth. When the lifesaver is completely dissolved he knows it is time to stop.
“What happened tonight?” My dad inquired.
“Tonight” the missionary explained, “When I reached into my pocket and popped the lifesaver into my mouth...it turned out to be a collar button instead.”
PURPOSE OF THE SERMON: Many people...maybe even YOU...live meaningless lives...pursuing things that they think will give them fulfillment...but, those things never do. They lack PURPOSE...for their lives. Let me share with you three important things about PURPOSE that I found in a book by Miles Munroe as a way of bringing definition to the concept of purpose:
EVERYONE and EVERYTHING on this planet was made WITH and FOR a PURPOSE ... INCLUDING YOU. Your BIRTH is evidence that your life contains something which this generation needs.
Until you discover your PURPOSE your EXISTENCE will have no meaning ... because PURPOSE is the source of FULFILLMENT.
Success is NOT PURPOSE ... because SUCCESS without PURPOSE is LIFE without MEANING.
So, MY PURPOSE today is to lead you to DISCOVER and to be STIMULATED INTO ACTION towards a GREAT PURPOSE for your life that is contained in the Holy Bible.
This purpose is contained in THREE IMPORTANT “D” words.
Let’s look at Matthew 28:18-19 and try to discover the first “D” of PURPOSE contained there.
Matthew 28:18-19 (New Living Translation)
18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given complete authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Have you discovered the first “D”? (DISCIPLES)
NOW, some of you older ... more experienced Christians are going to settle back and say, “AHA! A DISCIPLESHIP sermon in disguise! Lucky me! I already know about DISCIPLESHIP.”
BUT STAY WITH ME HERE!
You see Jesus was talking here about PURPOSE ... the PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH. The church does not exist for:
Programs
Fellowship
Or, Promotion.
The Church exists--solely--to be in cooperation with the plans and purposes of GOD in the redemption of the World. That is a SPIRITUAL purpose...because GOD is a SPIRIT with SPIRITUAL PURPOSES!
This leads us naturally to the REASON for DISCIPLESHIP and that is contained in a word: SPIRITUALITY.
How does SPIRITUALITY get involved here?
Open you Holy Bible to 1 Thessalonians 5:23
23 Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until that day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
What we learn here is that we humans are made SPIRIT, SOUL, and BODY.
The concept of Body we are very clear on.
Soul we are rather clear on as well. Soul is our MIND our WILL and our EMOTIONS. Actually, we are rather clear on that as well.
When we talk of PSYCHOLOGY ... we are using a greek word: PSYCHE ... SOUL ... which is the word from which PSYCHOLOGY comes to us into the English language. So, in a way, we talk about our SOUL quite often in conversation.
BUT, SPIRIT is a different matter.
There is a SPIRITUALITY of our present world...and, an interest and HUNGER in the spiritual world as well. That is because we are MADE spirit-soul-body.
The NEW AGE movement...which draws its ideas from Eastern philosophies and religions, has become an intricate part of our current cultural landscape. We--as a society--are literally preoccupied with the supernatural in movies, books, and in life in general.
Of course African culture is also preoccupied with spirituality as well. And, I am always amazed at how we westerners can give our smug, all knowing smirk, when observing this. As though it is all too unsophisticated and primitive for us...when in fact the New Age movement is nothing more than ancient European shamanism with an added patina of modernity and technology!
This preoccupation with spirituality has developed over the past three generations in our American society.
Let me illustrate with these observations from my own family:
My mother’s generation was enthralled by the movie adaptation of the Wizard of Oz. As a small boy I was captivated by the book, and I headed for that book every time we visited my grandmother’s house. The Wizard seems to speak of supernaturality, but, in the end you discover that what appeared to be supernatural actually had a very naturalistic explanation.
My daughter got up early every Saturday morning in the 1970’s to watch Scooby Doo...the cartoon show on T.V. There were always very strange and mysterious supernatural appearing mysteries that Scooby and the gang had to solve. But, the resolution always included a very naturalistic explanation for what only appeared to be supernatural.
Now, my grandsons watch reruns of the “X” Files and enjoy the movie, The Matrix and others like it. These all quite frankly acknowledge the existence of trans-emperical forces and persons ... they recognize a truly supernatural existence! All of this has developed over a four generation span.
Today, the great RELIGIONS and SCHOOLS OF SPIRITUALITY of the world seem to be teaching a way of life that would enable us--as physical beings--to have and develop a spiritual existence. BUT, Christianity is very different from the other great WORLD RELIGIONS.
Christianity sees us as essentially SPIRITUAL BEINGS--People who WERE dead spiritually and HAVE BEEN rescued from the gloom...the fear...the dominion...the control of DARKNESS and made alive in Jesus Christ--SPIRITUAL BEINGS who are learning how to master the PHYSICAL EXPERIENCE.
In other words SPIRITUALITY is a NATURAL STATE OF BEING for us. DISCIPLESHIP is the METHOD by which we--as spiritual beings are learning how to integrate our very natural and normal SPIRITUAL LIFE with our PHYSICAL LIFE ... AND NOT a system for becoming fully developed SPIRITUAL beings!
I hope that those of you who are investigating WICCA, meditation, SPIRITUALISM and the occult as ways of developing your spirituality have heard a significant difference in message and objective here! FOR we are following NO ascended master ... No guiding spirit for the development of our spiritual consciouness...but, we have a RISEN and LIVING LORD who has fully transformed us ... made us alive by His Power as FULLY SPIRITUAL BEINGS and we are now concerned with integrating our PHYSICAL EXPERIENCE into our SPIRITUAL EXISTENCE!
That means that SPIRITUALITY is infused into EVERYTHING I do...whether it is driving my car in the Kampala traffic...surfing the internet...Preaching in an Outdoor Crusade...or, simply enjoying my wife...is spiritual because I am spiritual!
That is what prompted the apostle Paul to write in Ephesians 2:1-2 “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience ...”
The Second “D”
But here is the problem: We Christians have allowed spirituality to become listening to sermons...singing in church...doing good deeds...and, trying to convince people of the CORRECTNESS of our Gospel.
MY FRIEND,
The GOSPEL is NOT EXPLANATION.
The GOSPEL is NOT INFORMATION.
The GOSPEL is PROCLAMATION WITH DEMONSTRATION!
The question is not, “Can the CHURCH prove to the world of what she believes” ... but, “Can the CHURCH live out and demonstrate to a challenging society what she believes?”
That brings us to the second “D” ... Open your Holy Bible to Mark 16:15-18 “And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere. 16 Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. 17 These signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak new languages. 18 They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick and heal them.”
Can you discover a second “D” word there? It isn’t really standing out in the text...rather it is IMPLIED by the text. Can you see it? (DEMONSTRATE).
It is the word DEMONSTRATE.
The apostle Paul can help us to understand this a bit better ... Open your Holy Bible to 1 Corinthians 2:4 where we read these words, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power ...”
You see ... in Corinth Paul was not using the “intellectual reasoning method” of evangelism...he was using the “power evangelism” method. He had tried the “intellectual reasoning method” in Athens with very poor response! In fact, Athens wounded the apostle Paul in a way that beatings and stonings never could: They laughed at him. Defeated by the experience he made his way to Corinth.
I live and work and pastor a church located in an Islamic community. Our local authorities...our local council...is dominated by Muslims. It would not bode well for me to attack Islam...but...I want to tell you this: When someone in our community is sick, the community leaders do not call for the Imam to come. When they have a problem with demon possessed people they don’t call out on the name of Muhammad. They call for the pastors of Kampala Foursquare Church to come. Why? because there is no healing or deliverance in the name of Muhammad! But, people are healed and set free in the Name of the Holy One of God...Jesus Christ ... second person of the Holy Trinity ... the Only Begotten of the Father.
We have tried to convince the world of the correctness of our faith ... but ... the world remains unconvinced. We have attempted to offer EVIDENCE which we believe DEMANDS A VERDICT ... only to discover that in the context of today’s relativism no evidence is enough and no verdict is obtainable!
The Church, then, is called upon to live out--in the world--a demonstration of what we believe...a “lived out apologetic” if you will. We are a faith community demonstrating the effectiveness of our faith.
What do I mean by this? The TRUTH of the GOSPEL cannot be validated with scientific objectivity. But, it can be validated by a PHYSICAL and SPIRITUAL REALITY.
Illus: The woman in my Dad’s church that was frozen to death in a chest type freezer and returned to life.
Illus: The 8 year old boy at the open air preaching in Kisumu that had been blind for two years and received his sight as we prayed over him.
Illus: The woman in Kampala living near our church that had been paralyzed and in a catatonic state--completely out of touch with the real world around her for two years--that was healed as we prayed for her and returned WALKING into church praise God.
This is demonstration ... and, this the kind of EMBODIED explanation of the Gospel that is demanded by this generation.
The THIRD “D”
Finally, (what does it mean when a Pastor says, “Finally”? NOTHING AT ALL!)
FINALLY, how does this kind of spirituality and demonstration get into the world? How does it move from beyond these walls and into the world of life in general?
This brings us to Luke 24:47-49 “With my authority, take this message of repentance to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who turn to me.’ 48 You are witnesses of all these things.
49 ‘And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.’”
Can you find another “D” in these verses? Look carefully! It isn’t written out as a word ... but, it is certainly there.
DISPERSE
Disperse means to “take off in all directions”. This should not--by the way--be confused with another necessary “D” word that is a sound-alike: The word DISBURSE which means to “give money to the ones taking off in all directions ... through Foursquare Missions.”
We--the followers ... the Disciples--of the Lord Jesus Christ cannot remain as we are and hope that all of this will happen. NO! We are commissioned to take off in all directions and preach/announce/proclaim a message of great importance to our generation.
Notice THREE important things:
(1.) The direction given in Luke’s account of the Great Commission is very inclusive. Unlike Matthew’s account which COULD be interpreted as a commission to go to the lost Jews of the Diaspora ... Luke’s account specifically mentions NATIONS of the world. This is good news! EVERYONE is included in the offer of redemption!
(2.) The task is to WAIT upon an infilling presence of the Holy Spirit. This is NOT a task to be accomplished in the power of technology or money...but, in the power of the Holy Spirit of GOD.
(3.) It was a PERSONAL directive! We are to tell what WE have witnessed.
CONCLUSION
