An Invitation to Purpose

MP3 File: 

20110306 1st service.mp3

Rom 8:28 (NASB) And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

The last couple of weeks we've been discussing the call of God—what it means to say that God "calls" us. We've seen that God's call is simply his invitation. He invites us to come to his banquet, to his kingdom, to have a relationship with him: God "has called you into fellowship with his Son" (1 Cor 1:9, NIV); "he is the one who invited you into this wonderful friendship with his Son" (NLT).

God invites or calls us to many things: grace, hope, purpose, excellence. Today I want to talk about God's purpose. God invites us to discover his plan for our lives.

One day when he was a professor at Princeton University, Albert Einstein was taken to the train station by another professor who put him on a train to go deliver a lecture somewhere. Soon the conductor came through the train car checking tickets. But the absent-minded professor couldn't find his ticket—he checked all his pockets, pants, jacket, overcoat. He even opened his suitcase—taking out socks, underwear, shirts, spreading them all over the corridor.
The conductor, seeing the commotion, recognized the famous scientist and came up to him. "It's OK, Dr. Einstein," he said. "I know who you are. You don't need to show me your ticket. Don't worry about it. I'm sure Princeton University will cover the cost of the ticket."
"You don't understand," Einstein replied. "I know you know who I am. I know who I am, and I know Princeton University will pay for the ticket. But I've still got find that ticket because I don't know where I'm going!"
Do you know where you are going? You are called "according to God's purpose." We need to know his purpose so we know where we are going.

Many people spend their whole lives trying to find purpose—a reason to explain why they exist, searching for meaning in life: Who am I? Why am I here? What am I supposed to be doing? Shouldn't my life count for something?

We ask little kids: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Kids will answer that question innocently enough, but many grown-ups never get beyond that question. They think their job or their vocation is the goal. I'm a doctor...a lawyer...a firefighter.

But the search for meaning and purpose in their career may never be satisfied by that answer. They know the what but not the why. They earn a living, pay the bills, raise the kids, but the real question isn't fully answered: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" is not just about a career.

Others face the question again—reworded a bit, perhaps—when they hit a mid-life crisis: "Is this really what I want to do with the rest of my life?" Even though they've been successful on one level, they worry that they have been wasting their lives away and may never make any significant difference on this world. They've climbed the ladder of success only to discover it was leaning against the wrong wall.

Years ago two Mongolian men traveled north into Russia looking for work. What they didn't know was that there was a war going on (WWII), and before they knew it, they were given a job—as draftees in the Russian army. With very little training they were issued rifles and sent to the front where they found themselves ducking bullets and dodging explosions. Very quickly they were captured by the Germans.
When their captors discovered they were not Russian, they were drafted into the German army. They were issued German uniforms and weapons and sent to fight the advancing American troops. Again the two hapless Mongolians found themselves in the middle of a huge battle. Everywhere they turned they faced bombs, grenades, and bullets flying through the air.
They were relieved to finally be captured by the Americans. Along with other German prisoners, the two Mongolians were transported across the ocean and sent to a POW camp in Texas...where they became a source of intense scrutiny. No one could figure out where these two came from or why they were fighting with the Germans.
Eventually someone figured out that they were Mongolians and a translator was brought in to find out what these two knew (which turned out to be very little). After the interrogation, the Americans asked the two men if they had any questions. "Yes. I have a question," said one of the men. "What was all the shooting about?"
Many in the church could ask the same question. They're in a battle—but they don't know why; they don't know who's fighting; and they don't know what's at stake. In short, they don't know what all the shooting is about.

In the book Repacking Your Bags, authors Richard Leider and David Shapiro state that their research shows that the number one deadly fear of people is "having lived a meaningless life." Finding one's mission, and then fulfilling it, is perhaps the most vital activity in which a person can engage. [Laurie Beth Jones in The Path, p x]

I love what Acts 13:36 says: "when David had served God's purpose in his own generation," he died. Mission accomplished. He served God's purpose...and then he died. No regrets.

Many achieve so-called "success" only to find that worldly success doesn't really matter. When an executive walks away from a six-figure salary to start a non-profit charity, it's because he has become disillusioned. Significance becomes more important to him than "success."

   Several years ago Brad Pitt was interviewed by Rolling Stones magazine: I know all these things are supposed to seem important to us [he said]—the car, the condo, our version of success—but if that's the case, why is the general feeling out there reflecting more impotence and isolation and desperation and loneliness? If you ask me, I say toss all this—we gotta find something else. Because all I know is that at this point in time, we are heading for a dead end, a numbing of the soul, a complete atrophy of the spiritual being. And I don't want that.
Interviewer: So if we're heading toward this kind of existential dead end in society, what do you think should happen?
Pitt: ...I don't have those answers yet. The emphasis now is on success and personal gain. I'm sitting in it, and I'm telling you, that's not it. I'm the guy who's got everything. I know. But I'm telling you, once you've got everything, then you're just left with yourself. I've said it before and I'll say it again: it doesn't help you sleep any better, and you don't wake up any better because of it. —Rolling Stone (10-28-99)

God invites you to live according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 offers significant insights on how we can respond to God's invitation to purpose.

1.     Look for God's work in your life. The verse says, "God causes." God's hand is at work in the events of our lives, even when we can't always see it. NIV: "in all things God works..."

God's power and plan leverage your life's circumstances. Here's the thing: Your life is not an accident! Even if your parents say your birth was an accident, you are not! You are here because of God's plan!

If we're here by God's design and purpose, then we know the outcome of our lives is not shaped by random chaotic events; our future is shaped by the power of God. We can take great comfort in this knowledge. We can trust the One who has the plan! We can face the future with confidence and boldness because of our trust that God—not circumstances—is in control!

2.     Look for good in all things. God causes all things—not some things or even most things, but all things—to work together for good. God can work through events that appear to be bad, situations that seem detrimental, painful things that hurt us or harm us or ruin our own plans. Even the work of the enemy can be transformed into something good with God's intervention.

Joseph went through all kinds of problems—he struggled with sibling rivalry, was sold into slavery, was framed for something he didn't do, was sentenced to prison, was forgotten and left to rot in prison.

Later, his brothers feared that Joseph would want to get even with them and begged for forgiveness. But Joseph recognized that God had been working through all the pain. He said, "...you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to...[save] many people alive." (Gen 50:20)

Good is not necessarily something we think is good! Some things fool us. On the surface they might look good, but deep down they're not. Or vice versa. What this world thinks is good may actually be detrimental!

Want to ruin someone's life? Let them win the lottery! Something that seems good may not be good.

Billy Ray Cyrus recently said Disney's show Hannah Montana had destroyed his family. He wished his daughter, Miley Cyrus, had never gotten the role or experienced so much success at such an early age. What seemed to be good has brought their family a lot of heartache. "I'd take it back in a second," he said. "For my family to be here and just be everybody okay, safe and sound and happy and normal, would have been fantastic... I'd erase it all in a second if I could." [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/billy-ray-cyrus-disneys-hannah-99640]

They say hind-sight is 20/20. In the short-term it's often hard to see whether something is good or bad.

An African king had a close friend who had the habit of remarking "this is good" about every occurrence in life no matter what it was.

One day the king and his friend were out hunting. The king's friend loaded a gun and handed it to the king, but alas he loaded it wrong and when the king fired it, his thumb was blown off.

"This is good!" exclaimed his friend.

The horrified and bleeding king was furious. "How can you say this is good? This is obviously horrible!" he shouted. And the king put his friend in jail.

About a year later the king went hunting by himself. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to it.

As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was less than whole. They untied the king and sent him on his way.

Full of remorse the king rushed to the prison to release his friend. "You were right, it was good" the king said. The king told his friend how the missing thumb saved his life and added, "I feel so sad that I locked you in jail. That was such a bad thing to do"

"No! This is good!" responded his delighted friend.

"Oh, how could that be good my friend? I did a terrible thing to you while I owe you my life."

"It is good" said his friend, "because if I wasn't in jail I would have been hunting with you and they would have killed me."

Long-term good often comes through short-term struggle. God defines good in terms of eternity, not in terms of a life-span on earth. A few decades of trouble on this planet mean nothing compared to an eternity of glory! (Rom 8:18-25).

3.     Accept God's invitation. This verse applies to people who have met two conditions: (a) they love God; (b) they have accepted his invitation—they are called according to his purpose.

(a) They love God. This means they have accepted his love. "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (1 John 4:10)

Love for God means accepting his gift of salvation—responding to his love. People who go their own way, who reject God's gift, who do their own thing, who refuse to trust him, do not love him.

(b) They are called according to his purpose. This means they have accepted his plan for their lives. It means responding to his invitation. They surrender their own plans in order to put him—his plans and his purpose in first place.

Purpose = próthesis = "a setting forth; in a figurative sense: a proposal." We use both parts of the word in English: thesis is "a statement or an essay" (among other things) and pro means "before." You could say that purpose—próthesis—is God's statement about your life even before it happens.

God's purpose is his predetermined destiny for you—his plan, his design, his statement made in advance about what is best. The next verse tells us exactly what God's plan is: "For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son" (Rom 8:29, NASB).

It's like a business proposal. Someone has a great idea for a new product or service and then looks for people who will get on board with the idea—people who will back the proposal.

God's purpose is like his proposal to us: Here is what I have in mind for you; here is my plan for your life. Would you like to join me in what I am doing? God offers his pro - thesis to us: his statement made in advance.

Ps 139:16 — [David] ...All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Imagine your life in the form of a book. You're writing a page each day—you make choices each day that gradually fill in the pages of the book. The book isn't finished yet. You can't flip to the end of the book to see what the outcome will be. But God can! He's not limited by time and space as we are. While we're still living on today's page, God can see the finish. He knows what we will write on the last page.
The amazing thing is that God puts the book in your hands and invites you to write a life of purpose! He wants to help you write your story, to help you fill in the pages according to his purpose, to move you toward his plan. He is the editor—the publisher, perhaps—who's given you an assignment. He tells you what kind of book he's looking for, but you write the story.

I believe the ultimate good God wants to work out in your life is to reach his purpose. Good is not necessarily when we achieve our dreams or reach our goals or become self-actualized. The ultimate good is when God's purpose is fulfilled in us—when we become conformed to the image of his Son. It's when we become like Jesus!

Predestination is like looking at a road map. God gives you a map so you can see where you are now, where he wants you to be, and what needs to happen for you to get there. God says: Follow this way and you'll reach the destination I have in mind for you. You are "predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son" (8:29).

The Bible says we are like children right now—God's children (1 John 3:2). But what do we want to be when we grow up? The verse goes on to say we can become like Jesus! "We know that when he appears, we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is."

In another place, the same idea (image of God's Son) in slightly different wording is a "holy" calling: 1 Tim 1:9 — [God] has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity...

John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis, wrote a book called Don't Waste Your Life. In the book he writes:

"I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waste your life. Consider this story from the Feb, 1998 Reader's Digest, which tells about a couple who [quoting from Reader's Digest] ‘took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast...when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30-foot trawler, play softball and collect shells.' [end quote] [John Piper continues:] ...This was the dream: Come to the end of your life—your one and only precious, God-given life—and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: ‘Look, Lord. See my shells.' That is a tragedy." (pp 45-46)

The thing is: God calls us to have purpose! He invites to a meaningful, significant life. Romans 8:28 speaks of those who are "called according to his purpose."