What Is My Purpose?

Introduction

Welcome - give brief introduction about who I am

I’m here to build them up and encourage them however I can!

In our world so many people are struggling to find their identity and chances are you have fought to figure this out for yourself too!

What are some of the places that we are tempted to place our identity in?

Family

Accomplishments

Athletics

Finances

Friends

Take someone like a Patrick Mahomes - Mahomes took the NFL by storm several years ago and has since become arguably the best QB in the league after winning both league MVP and the Super Bowl. It’s so easy for Mahomes to place his identity in what he has done. He is the QB for the Kansas City Chiefs. He is a Super Bowl Champion. He signed a 500 million dollar contract. There are lots of cool things to place his identity in and to find his purpose and satisfaction in those types of things.

What could be a problem with him finding his identity in his accomplishments? If you’re a KC Chiefs fan you’d love for Mahomes to be the QB for the next 10-15 years but there will come a time where they will have a new QB and Mahomes will retire. What happens whenever your identity changes? That can cause some serious problems in your life.

How many of you are seniors? You all are about to go through some serious changes in your life and if your identity is in your sport, activity, academics, or friend group please understand that in a few months that will look completely different - that’s not me trying to rain on your parade, I loved my high school days and I hope you enjoy each one of yours! But here’s my hope and prayer for each of you today: that you wouldn’t find your purpose and satisfaction in what you do or who you are but in what’s been done for you and Whose you are.

Everyone is trying to find themselves in our world and our community is no different. So many people, young and old, are trying to discover who they really are and so much of that centers on ourselves. Who we are. How we’re wired. What we think. And what we feel. What can be a problem with following your heart and trying to only do what makes you feel good?

Your heart doesn’t always lead you down the right path and how you feel today might change tomorrow!

There was a period in my life where I felt like I wanted to be a professional baseball player. I would tell people that and I genuinely meant it. In 2022 terms, my truth was that I was going to be the 1B for the St. Louis Cardinals one day. I believed that’s what would happen because I felt that strongly about it… Clearly it didn’t happen, though! Why? Because you and I can’t speak our truth into existence - we’re not that powerful

Even though I felt strongly about it and I trained really hard, it wasn’t going to happen. Why? Because I had a different purpose.

What was that purpose? What is your purpose? I

1 Corinthians 10:31 CSB

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

How does this one verse change the way that you examine your purpose in this life? So whether you win or lose, glorify God. Whether you pass or fail, glorify God. Whether

Are you willing to do whatever it takes to reach this goal and win this prize?

One of the themes in the Bible is the idea that life is a race. Any track and field people here? You might be familiar with this. Whenever you step foot on the starting block for the 100m dash, what is the one goal on your mind? To win. If you were to go up to Usain Bolt, the world record holder for the 100m dash, and you asked him straight up why he ran and competed in track and field, what do you think he’d tell you? He’d say that he runs in order to win gold medals. If you’re going to wake up at 4am and train your body for years and years, you’re doing that for a purpose and that purpose is to be the best that you can possibly be! Life is a race and only some reach the prize and it’s not simply by running really fast but by finding the true purpose behind why we’re running.

So often we look inward for our purpose but the more we look in, the more we miss out on why we truly are here in the first place. The more we look inward, the more and more it’s easy to think that we are the center of the universe! Do you know anyone with that belief? They think that they’re all that? The world doesn’t revolve around us, even though some person might think that it does. Science tells us that our planet revolves around the sun and we’ve known that for 500+ years. In the grand scheme of things, we’re pretty small. We’re on a small planet, land makes up a small percentage of our planet, the United States is a small percentage of the land mass of the earth… We’re small. Do you know how much bigger the sun is than the earth? You could fit 1.3 million earths inside the sun! If the earth were a golf ball, that’s enough golf balls to fill up an entire school bus! That’s a lot of golf balls! Our sun is an average size star and there are other stars that are even bigger… Whenever I was your age I learned of a star that completely blew my mind and I had trouble praying after I learned about it.

Have you heard of Canis Majoris before? It’s Latin for “the Big Dog” and it’s 9 billion times bigger than our sun. Our sun is 1.3 million times larger than our planet. This means that this star is 7 quadrillion times larger than our planet. If the earth were a golf ball, Canis Majoris would be the size of Mount Everest. If the earth were a golf ball, you could cover the state of Texas with golf balls 2 feet deep. Our planet is small and we’re so small - yet we have a God-given purpose. What is that purpose? Again, 1 Corinthians 10:31

1 Corinthians 10:31 CSB

31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.

Here’s the problem with getting our purpose wrong: Say you think that your purpose is to just be happy. How will you determine if you have succeeded or not? By feeling good? The thing that makes you feel good today might change tomorrow. What if the people that make you feel happy today change later on? Our feelings will change - our happiness will change.

What about if you think your purpose is to just try really hard to be a good person. That’s going to lead to a lot of stress and anxiety as you try to live a perfect life and I don’t have to be the person to tell you that no one is perfect! 5 years ago 1/3 college students in the United States said that they feel as though they must display perfection in order to be liked by other people. Have you ever struggled with trying to wear a mask and put on a perfect face for others to see but inside you’re hiding your scars and struggles? If you think that you have to be perfect, you’re going to be depressed and that’s simply what statistics and research tells us.

So how do we discover our true purpose? Not by looking inside but by looking outside. Not by looking backward but by looking forward. How many of you drive? If you’ve ever driven in a car you know that your car has a rear view mirror. Why is it there? To help you stay safe and to make sure that you’re not going to hit something. But whenever you’re driving on highway 32 or I-44, you wouldn’t dare drive only looking at your rearview mirror, would you? No! Why not? Because you’d crash! What do you primarily look at whenever you’re driving a car? Out the windshield - you look in front of you and to the sides in order to stay safe and focused on what’s ahead. In life we all have a rearview mirror that we can look at in order to think about our past and that’s not bad but our focus and purpose must be on what lies ahead.

See, even when your circumstances change around you, your purpose remains the same. If you’re at church, school, the basketball court, the choir concert, or your bedroom, your purpose remains the same: to glorify God.

We see a great example of this in the life of Paul in the book of Philippians. If you know the background to that book you know that Paul was in prison for preaching about Jesus Christ but he wasn’t upset, he was rejoicing that he had the opportunity to tell others about Jesus. He wasn’t upset that he was chained to a prison guard, he rejoiced that he was able to suffer for the name of Jesus. Philippians will change your life and give you joy if you read it! Here’s a short passage from chapter 3 of Philippians

Philippians 3:12–4:1 CSB

12 Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, 14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. 15 Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you. 16 In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained. 17 Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us. 18 For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things, 20 Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself. 1 So then, my dearly loved and longed for brothers and sisters, my joy and crown, in this manner stand firm in the Lord, dear friends.

Paul is sharing with his friends that he hasn’t yet reached his goal but he’s striving toward it. He wants to reach it and he believes one day he will because it is promised to him from Jesus. His goal isn’t earthly rewards. It’s not being happy. It’s not being healthy or wealthy or well liked by others. His goal is to be like Jesus. His goal is to know Jesus more. This should be our goal as well!

So where do we go from here?

My purpose is to glorify God

I can glorify God wherever God places me

I can glorify God in the good and bad moments of life

Even though my circumstances will change, God’s purpose for me doesn’t

How can I fulfill my purpose of Glorifying God?

By Loving God

By Trusting God

By Giving Thanks to God

By Obeying God