Purpose in an Empty World

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Church and Christian Faith are back. Back in conversation… back in the news.

This was a piece in the Times last week SLIDE “Full Fat Faith: The Young Christian Converts Filling our Churches”.

There seems to be a news story like that MOST weeks just now. Some of this news interest flows from a recent statistical report called SLIDE ‘The Quiet Revival’… which showed that many more people, particularly many more YOUNG people are going back to church - or, in many cases, into church for the first time…

They are in search of meaning, and purpose in life.

Across the pond it’s no different. Many will be aware of the shooting SLIDE of the well known Christian and political activist Charlie Kirk… whatever you make of his political conclusions - he clearly professed Christian faith.

Last Sunday in the States (the first Sunday after Charlie Kirk’s murder) many churches reported hundreds of new people (again, especially young people) turning up out of the blue - shaken by these events and looking for meaning, for purpose, for ANSWERS.

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WHY is all this happening? It seems to me that underneath it all SLIDE lies this search for PURPOSE.

A few decades ago we were told that things were only ever going to get better and that we would all gradually become more and more and rich and more and more satisfied and content… which turned out not to be true.

In the past we were told that religion (Christian faith in particular) was something to be consigned to the history books… that we would get more and more secular and more and more content, once we through off the shackles of all this old fashioned stuff… turns out many people today (especially young people) no longer agree!

Turns out that a world without God…. where all that’s left if materialism, consumption, and scrolling through Tik Tok is actually deeply UNSATISFYING. deeply UNFULFILLING… it doesn’t work.

But what in the world does WORK… and (more importantly) what in the world is TRUE (about God, life, purpose, meaning and all the rest?)

What makes sense of life?

These three Sunday mornings are designed to try and help answer that question.

We’re calling this “What in the World is Jesus all About?”

Three Sundays to see how Christian Faith Makes Sense of Life.

We’re going to think about… Peace in an Anxious World … Purity in a Messy World… and today (first of all) PURPOSE IN AN EMPTY WORLD.

If you’re joining us as a guest today thank you so much for giving this a look. I’m not making any assumption about your background or belief - maybe your an atheist, or a skeptic, maybe church is not your thing - again, thanks for listening in. I want to take you to two ancient texts from the Bible today make two claims they’re pretty simple…. I want to persuade you that they’re true.

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No God? - no purpose

With Jesus - deep purpose

We’re going to take those one at a time so here goes.... my first claim I want to persuade you of....

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1. No God? - No Purpose

If you wanted to a handbook on atheism I’m guessing you wouldn’t look in the Bible. But the Bible, (surprisingly) contains a handbook on Atheism.

I’m talking about the OT book of Ecclesiastes. I’m going to read you a few bits from it.

Now in that ancient book of wisdom.... the author conducts a kind of thought experiment. The author, by the way, is a man Solomon SLIDE he is (v1) a teacher and a king….

Here’s a guy who is wise, intelligent, wealthy and powerful…. And like a lot of wealthy folks…. He has the luxury of time to on his hands to think and conduct experiments.

To be clear, Solomon believes in God…. But here’s what he thinks - let’s conduct a thought experiment. Let’s imagine there IS NO GOD.

Let’s pretend for a moment that this - life on earth - life under the sun (as he calls it) is ALL THERE IS (no God, no eternity, no spirituality)...

He asks the question - “If there is no God, can life have any meaning or purpose?” And his answer is an emphatic NO!... did you here it (v2)… SLIDE

Ecclesiastes 1:2 NIV

2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

Let’s be clear about the point here.... He’s not just claiming that if there’s no God you have to invent your own meaning - no, no. If there is not God IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR ANY OF OUR LIVES TO HAVE ANY MEANING OR PURPOSE...

Here’s a few reasons why.

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A) No purpose: because we’re just accidents of nature

Ecclesiastes says it this way.....

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Ecclesiastes 1:4 NIV

4 Generations come and generations go...

In other words… Each generation propagates it’s DNA and passes it on to the next.

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But if we’re just random accidents of nature.... if we’re just random collections of DNA who, by some accident of evolution, happened to end up the way we are.... if the universe is here by chance (with no designer, no creator)... then there CAN BE no meaning or purpose to your existence.

Honest atheists understand this. Here, for example, is Richard Dawkins.

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“In a universe of... blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it... if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.”

PAUSE AND BREAK OFF

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Like many families we have some times had those magnetic letters you stick on the fridge.

If I went into my kitchen and threw those characters in a random arrangement on the fridge door what was formed wouldn’t have any meaning.

In the same way if you are just a random accident of nature all processes it’s just not possible for your life to have any objective meaning or purpose... and even if you feel as if your life has purpose thats just an illusion SLIDE - as the famous atheist says life is really just blind pitiless indifference.

Our Bible passage (from Ecclesiastes) it this way.... SLIDE

Ecclesiastes 1:7 NIV

7 All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.

In other words - without God life as we know it is just a repeated cyclical pattern of natural processes with no rhyme nor reason. No meaning or purpose.

Next, if atheism is right there can be....

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B) No purpose: because no objective values

To state the obvious for a moment... in order for us to say that there is such a thing as a GOOD PURPOSE or a RIGHT NOBLE MEANING to life... well, that assumes there is such a thing as GOOD.... y’know the whole thing relies on objective categories like good and bad / and right and wrong / and purposeful and purposeless/ and meaningful and meaningless.

But here’s the thing. If there is no God... there’s nobody to set the objective standard of what is good or bad or right or wrong.. and so all we’re left with is human opinion.

You might very well decide you think it’s GOOD to look after your children and BAD to beat them. But what if I decide the opposite? If fact, what if I decide it would be a morally good idea to bump off the little tyrants?

You might reply saying “yes but most people agree it’s GOOD to look after children”. To which I could reply “yes., but that only makes your idea POPULAR... not necessarily objectively RIGHT... how can you say anything is objectively right if there is no God - no objective one who sets these standards?

Now before you call the social services on me let me assure I DO believe it’s objectively GOOD to care for your children..... but hopefully you see my point.

If you’re going to be a CONSISTENT TRUTHFUL atheist you must admit that there cannot be such a thing as a GOOD purpose or a NOBLE meaning to life because if there is no God there is no such thing (objectively) as Good or bad. Again, honest atheists know this. Here’s one making just this point

Atheist scholar Kai Nielsen says

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“Pure practical reason will not take you to morality” - Kai Neilson

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Next, if Atheism is right...

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C) No purpose: because death is the end

If Atheism is right there is no eternity, no life after death and (crucially) no JUDGEMENT... so at one level it doesn’t make any difference how you live your life. What you do or don’t do.

You can build a great business or have great achievements but they’re all rendered null and void by death, they all come to nothing....

Later on in Ecclesiastes the author makes exactly that point…

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Ecclesiastes 2:22 NIV

22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?

Answer? - nothing it all ends in death when you and all your achievements go to dust.

Again in a consistent atheistic worldview, not only do your achievements come to nothing, your morality has no ultimate consequence either.

You can do great good in life or do great evil in life but but everyone ends up dead anyway

(as the book of Ecclesiastes again says)...

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Ecclesiastes 9:2 NIV

2 All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad...

The common destiny is DEATH. It hard to see much meaning to purpose in a world like that.

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FINALLY if atheism is right...

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D) No purpose: because we cannot create purpose ourselves

Many people say “yes, yes….. but what we have to do take this random jumble of meaningless life we have and somehow CRAFT a purpose ourselves.

And so we try to find meaning by seeking after fame or wealth or success or ambition to find some sense of purpose.

Now to cut a long book short (because I don’t have time to do the whole book of Ecclesiastes today...) that is EXACTLY what our authors does in his thought experiment.... “Ok” he says “lets test it and see if we can find satisfaction in life without God”... and so he goes after pleasure, and sex, and great projects, he pursues every avenue in life to which we typically appeal for meaning....and at the end of every road he draws the same conclusion..... it doesn’t satisfy.

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I love this quote from novelist Jack Higgins (I think it’s so telling) - He’s a hugely successful and wealthy writer who achieved great things with his books. But at the end of it all he said this -

“I wish someone had told me that when you get to the top there’s nothing there”. JACK HIGGINS

Or in the words of Ecclesiastes… “Meaningless… meaningless”.

You might be forgiven for thinking that all of this sounds bleak AND YOU’D BE RIGHT. Consistent and honest atheism is a bleak place to be and honest atheists will admit that... Atheist Philosopher Bertrand Russel:

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“we must build our lives on the firm foundation of despair” Bertrand Russel

But maybe like me you’re saying “no thanks Bert”. So what’;s the alternative? If Atheism is right there can be no meaning.

But... No. 2.... (and much more briefly)

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2. With Jesus - deep purpose

let’s turn our attention now to what he had to say.

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John 10:7–10 NIV

7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

In other words.... if Jesus is right - if Jesus is GOD (as he claimed to be) there IS such a thing as life to the full - there is meaningful, purposeful LIFE - life as it is meant to be lived.

More than that - rather than coming to ruin our life or spoil or fun - Jesus says the very reason he came to earth - was to bring us LIFE IN ALL IT’S FULLNESS. Many people are surprised by this - they see Christianity as essentially something dull or restrictive.

Jesus says NO - following him.... having him as saviour and Lord - THAT’S the good life - THAT’s the full, meaningful, purposeful life we’re all actually looking for.

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IN fact, SLIDE if we take our conclusions based on atheism.... if Jesus is right (if Jesus is God) then the flip side.... the reverse... the opposite of all of these depressing conclusions can be true for us...

IN atheism - life has no meaning because we’re just a random accident.

But if Jesus is God... then there is a God which means there IS a creator. There is a designer - WE’RE NOT JUST ACCIDENTS OF NATURE - and so purpose is possible. That is exactly what scripture says about Jesus: that he is divine and he’s the creator.

its a bit like the fridge magnets - remember them? SLIDE

If I randomly throw randomly throw my fridge magnets there is just a meaningless mess.... BUT IF I order them into words and sentences SLIDE - well then suddenly there is MEANING because there’s a MAKER.

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NEXT…. IN Atheism (remember) there is no meaning because there are no objective values - we cannot ultimately say anything is Good or bad... so the very idea of a “GOOD” purpose is irrelevant. But with Jesus we know there is a God who sets the objective standards. In our second reading Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd…. SLIDE

John 10:11 NIV

11 “I am the good shepherd...

One of the roles of the shepherd is to correct the sheep. And it’s God’s word (the Bible) that does that - that shows us his moral character // and gives us moral law.

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Next if atheism is right then death is the end and that means all our achievements or actions meaningless. But with Jesus we can know there is more to life than just the here and now. There is life beyond this life..... and there is a day of judgement.

When Jesus says he is the gate: the way into having purposeful life to the full... he doesn’t just mean in the here and now - he’s talking about eternal life in his Kingdom.

So you see… The decisions we make and the things we do NOW do have significance. IF we live a life to please God in relationship with him.... or we live a life of sin turned away from him - these things ARE significant because they set the course of our eternal destiny.

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So maybe I can anticipate your next question.... I guess you’ll be asking “well ok, what is this purpose then? - I can see that if Jesus is God (as he claimed to be) then purpose if POSSIBLE... but WHAT IS the purpose? What is the meaning? What ARE WE HERE FOR (according to Jesus)?

Look one last time at what Jesus says in John’s gospel.

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John 10:7 NIV

7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.

Jesus calls himself a gate - not a literally gate (obviously)... the point is that Jesus is the WAY IN to something. He’s the way into the purpose for which you were made...

AND THAT PURPOSE….. IS RELATIONSHIP.

PAUSE - BREAK OFF

It’s no surprise that when people speak about what is most meaningful in their lives they tend to speak of relationships - with friends or family, or whatever. That’s the way we were built - made in the image of God who is himself a relational being - and there’s the point. The relationship you were built for... above everything is... is relationship with God.

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SLOW AND DELIBERATE

Relationship with God is NOT something we naturally have.... In fact, that’s one of the reasons life feels to purposeless for so many people….

The Bible says our sinfulness - the wrong that we have done - has separated yousu- torn us apart from God. We are, by nature, apart from him… estranged from him… cut off from him… under his judgement and condemnation. And we are heading to an eternal destiny that is estranged from him - the Bible calls that awful reality - hell.

We need a way back in to this relationship. Amazingly - God has provided a way! That’s why Jesus says he’s the gate - he’s the way back in to relationship.

How does he make a way back in? look at v1w1 one last time… SLIDE

John 10:11 NIV

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

By laying down his life to the sheep. Jesus dies on the cross to pay for your sin and open up the gate for you - so that if you want it (and why wouldn’t you wan it?) you can be restored to relationship with God - which is the satisfying purpose for which you were made. (END....)

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Let me say thanks for listening. If you want to know more about following Jesus the best thing to do is to keep on coming here .

SLIDE - NEXT WEEK…

Come back next week

For now, let’s pray.