Nature

St. Paul's Sermon 2004

Purpose Driven Life Sermon One- February 22,2004

Lessons: Colossians 1:11-20; John 3:1-16

Welcome to 40 Days of Purpose. We’re ready to start on this journey we’ve been planning for a long, long time. Today we’re going to look at life’s three greatest questions: 1) The question of existence – why am I alive?

2) The question of significance – does my life matter?

3) The question of intention – what is my purpose?1) Why Am I Alive?

Now this first question, the "Question of Existence: Why am I alive?" is not exactly a new question. It was asked thousands of years ago. In fact, Jeremiah asked it in Jeremiah 20:18, he asks "Why was I born? Was it only to have trouble and sorrow, to end my life in disgrace?" Now there’ve probably times in your life when you felt that way, too. Was I born just to have a bunch of problems? Was I put on this planet just to have heartache, grief and stress?

Dr. Hugh Moorhead, who is the Chairman at the Department of Philosophy at the Northeastern University, once wrote to 250 well-known philosophers, scientists, writers and intellectuals of the world and asked them, "What is the purpose of Life." He published all of their responses in a book which is quite discouraging and depressing. Some of these people offered their best guesses. Some admitted they made up a purpose in life. Some admitted they didn’t have any idea as to what the purpose of life was and if Dr. Moorhead knew, would be please let them know. Carl Jung, the famous psychiatrist said, "I don’t know the meaning, the purpose of life, but it looks as if something were meant by it." Isaac Asimov wrote, "As far as I can see, there is no purpose."

You know, those are tragic statements, because a life without purpose isn’t a life worth living. It is no coincidence that the suicide rate in our society has gone way up. It’s now the No. 2 killer of teenage students. You see, if you take God out of the equation, you don’t really have very many alternatives.

You can be a raving success in life and still never know, "What on earth am I here for?" What did God put me on this earth for? Until you understand that, life isn’t going to make sense.

[DRAMA 1]

Okay, why does God want us here? The first question is, Why are we alive? Why are we on this planet? Is there a reason? Well, the Bible says this in Proverbs 16.4, "The Lord has made everything for His own purpose." It’s for His purpose. If you’re alive, you have a purpose. If you want to know if God still has a purpose for your life, check your heart. If it’s still beating, God still has a purpose for you here on earth. The truth is God has five purposes for your life. In the next 40 days we’re going to look in detail at those five purposes, the five reasons God put you on this planet. Today, though, I just want us to see God’s motive. Look at this next verse, Ephesians 1:4, 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." Look at that phrase- "the focus of His love". If you don’t get anything else as we start this 40 days, I want you to understand this, God says He made you, to love you. God made you so he could love you. You were created to be loved by God. God is love and God wanted to create something to love and so He created you. He didn’t need you. He wasn’t lonely. He wanted you. And before we can talk about anything else, you have to understand this is what on earth you’re here for – to be loved by God.

2) Does Life Matter?

The second key question of life is the "Question of Significance: Does my life matter?" Isaiah asked this question in Isaiah 49:4a. He said, "My work all seems so useless. I’ve spent my strength for nothing and for no purpose at all." You were made for meaning, and if you don’t have a meaning and purpose in your life and you don’t know why God put you on this planet, life doesn’t make sense.

ô During World War II, there were prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp in Hungary, who were processing human sewage in a factory. The allies came along, bombed that factory and blew it apart. So the prisoners had nothing to do. One might think that was better than processing sewage. Not so.

The Nazi soldiers had the prisoners take all the rubble of that factory and move it to another field. The next day, they had them take that same rubble and move it back in reverse. The next day, they had to take that stuff and move it back and day after day they had no meaning, no purpose. It was just work doing the same thing over and over with no meaning and no purpose. Then something strange began to happen. The prisoners began to go crazy. They began to lose their will to live because there was no meaning, no purpose in their work. They were just moving bricks back and forth, back and forth. Many of them began to throw themselves in front of the guards trying to get shot. In essence, trying to commit suicide. Because you and I were made for meaning, to have a sense of significance.

If you want to know how much you matter to God, look at the next couple of verses from the Bible. God says, õ "I am your Creator. You were in My care, even before you were born." (Isaiah 44:2) God was caring for you even in His mind, as He thought you up. The next verse says, "You (talking about God) scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book." That’s how much you matter to God. He paid so much attention to your life that every detail was recorded in His book, before you even took a breath. That’s how much you matter to God. Do you matter? – Yes. He made you. He made you to love you and the Bible says you do matter. He sees everything in your life, the good, the bad and everything in-between. You do matter to Him.

[DRAMA 2]

Is God playing games with us? Is God intentionally trying to confuse us? Does He keep us in the dark so we don’t know really why we’re her, what we’re here for and what our meaning is? He wants you to know His purposes. If you just stay with us the next 40 days, we’re going to talk about that. God has extremely long-range plans for you. Look at the next verse, "His plans endure (what?) forever; His purposes last (what?) eternally."

Now listen, the purposes we’re going to talk about in the next 40 days are not just for the rest of your life on earth, they're for the rest of your life forever and ever, and ever and ever and ever. Because God’s purposes are eternal. God says, "I have plans and purposes for your life, but they don’t end at death." When you die, your heart is going to stop and that will be the end of your body, but that’s not the end of you. You were made to last forever. The Bible says this, Psalm 33:11 says, "His purposes last eternally.

God says, "I was made to last forever." I was made to be loved by God, and I was made to last forever. This life is not all there is. One of the biggest ways you can waste your life is thinking that all there is is here and now. You’re going to spend far more time on that side of death, than you do on this side. On this side, you may get to live 60,70,80 or 90 years or so. But that’s just a drop in the bucket compared to eternity. God’s purposes for you are eternal. This is the key to the meaning of life. Realizing that life is preparation for eternity. The Bible says this.

Notice 2 Corinthians 5:1, "When this tent we live in – our body here on earth – is torn down. God will have a house in Heaven for us to live in. A home He himself has made, which will last forever." You want to know how much you matter to God. Well, I’ll tell you – you matter so much to God; He wants to keep you with Him for the rest of eternity.

So we’ve looked at two questions: The Question of Existence- Why am I alive? The answer from God is: I was created to be loved by God. The second question is the Question of Significance: Does my life matter? God’s answer is "I was made to last forever."

3) What is my Purpose?

So then comes the third question, the "Question of Intention: What is my purpose?" What on earth am I here for? And that’s what we’re going to spend 40 days looking at. In Psalm 89:47 David asked the question, "Why did you create us? For nothing? Who is David talking to when he says that, himself? No, he’s talking to God.

Probably the greatest, atheistic philosopher of the last century, Bertrand Russell, said, quite honestly, "Unless you assume the existence of God, the question of life’s meaning and purpose is irrelevant." 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, because there’s no real reason, meaning or purpose. But, there is a God. God made you for a reason, and He made you for a purpose. The only way you’re going to know your purpose is first looking to Him.

If you ask me for a toothbrush, and I give you an electric hedge trimmer, it’s just not going to do the job right, is it? It will cause injury if you don’t use it for the purpose for which it was created..

Now, here’s the point - if you don’t know something’s purpose, it is likely to be abused. You want to know why there are so many abused people today? Because we don’t know our purpose. When you don’t know the purpose of something, it is likely to be misused, or abused. Like brushing your teeth with a hedge trimmer. That’s the first point.

Now here’s the second point: the only way you’re going to understand what something is for is either a) you talk to the creator, or the inventor of it, or b) you read the owner’s manual.

That’s the only way you can know what something was created for. And talking to the Creator and reading the Owner’s Manual are the only way you will ever know YOUR purpose in life.

DRAMA 3

Now, in that sketch, they did two things right – 1) they went to the Bible; 2) they actually started with the right verse – Genesis 1:1, the first verse in the Bible…"In beginning, God created." If those words hadn’t been there, we wouldn’t be discussing the meaning of life. We wouldn’t be discussing your purpose in life. It all starts with God, it continues with God, it ends with God. "In the beginning, God created." The Bible says this- Proverbs 9:10 – read it with me. "Knowing God results in every other kind of understanding." You want to understand the meaning of life; you want to understand your purpose of life?

You find your purpose by getting to know God. It all starts with God. Look at this next verse, Colossians 1:16, "For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible…everything got started in Him and finds (read it with me) its purpose in Him." Look at the next verse, "It is in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for…part of the overall purpose He (that’s God) is working out in everything and everyone." If you want to know your purpose in life, start getting to know God. The more you get to know God, the more you’re going to understand the ways and the wisdom of God and the more you’re going to understand the meaning and purpose of life. And the more you’re going to understand everything else because the Bible says, knowing God results in every other kind of understanding. The only way you’re going to learn the meaning of life and your purpose in life is to get to know God. It all starts with God, because it’s all about God. "In the beginning, God." It’s all about God as revealed in his Son Jesus.

So, our three points: 1) Why am I alive? To be loved by God.

2) Does my life matter? Yes, because you were created to live forever.

3) What is my purpose? If you’re going to get to know God’s purpose for your life, you have to get to know God. It’s just that simple. Understanding God’s purposes for your life does take time. It’s not just "give it to me quick," and it’s over. That’s why we’re going to take 40 days to look at God’s purposes for you. We have set aside these forty days of Lent to be a time to open each of our lives to God’s purpose in each of our individual lives.

In the Bible, over and over again, God used 40 days to change the course of history:

· Noah’s life was transformed by 40 days of rain

· Moses’ life was transformed by 40 days on Mount Sinai

· The spies were transformed by 40 days in the Promise Land

· David was transformed by Goliath’s 40-day challenge

· The city of Nineveh was transformed in 40 days

· Jesus was empowered for ministry by spending 40 days in the desert

· and the disciples were transformed by 40 days with Jesus after the resurrection.

Challenge- Three parts:

- Attend All Six Sundays

- Attend Weekly Small Groups

- Read the Daily Devotional

Feb. 22- Special Text- Purpose Driven Life

Colossians 1:11-20

11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; 16 for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities -- all things were created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

John 3:1-16

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. [2] He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

[3] In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

[4] "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

[5] Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. [6] Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. [7] You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' [8] The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

[9] "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.

[10] "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? [11] I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. [12] I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? [13] No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man. [14] Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, [15] that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

[16] "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.