You Have A Purpose

Key Elements

In Ephesians 2:1-10, the Apostle Paul proclaimed to the believers in Ephesus that God had rescued them from their sin and created them for the purpose of displaying His grace and because of that He had called them and prepared them to advance the Gospel in the culture around them.

Main Idea: God, by His grace, brings us from death to life, reviving us for a divine purpose-to live for His glory and to advance the Gospel in the culture around us.

I want my audience to embrace the divine purpose for which God has created them.

Intro

Open your copy of God’s Word today to the book of Ephesians 2:1-10, as we conclude our sermon series that we’ve been walking through entitled The Great Invitation. And what we are talking about today is the destination we’ve been marching towards in this whole series. What we are going to look at in God’s Word today is the pinnacle of realization that God wants all of us to arrive at in our lives. It’s the truth that You Have A Purpose. God has created you for and called you to a purpose. And I believe it’s a place many people struggle to get to in their lives and many churches struggle to get to as well. As long as I’ve been in ministry, whether it was leading students, small group leaders and Sunday school teachers, or an entire church, something I’ve always believed is that there is a purpose that God has called all of us to as individuals and the church to as a whole. And whether you have been a member here at Stone Ridge for many years, even before we relocated to this campus 5 years ago, or if you are fairly new here, you as an individual have a God given purpose and you are a part of this faith family, this church, that has been given a purpose as well.

This question of purpose is something we’ve all asked: Do I have a purpose or am I just taking up space on this planet? And we’ve all felt it. It’s that nagging sense that you’re just going through the motions. Think about it, you wake up, go to work or school, go to practice, pick up the kids, as adults you pay the bills, scroll through your phone at night, go to bed, and wake up and do it all over again. And somewhere deep inside you’re thinking “is what I’m doing important?” “Is it even making a difference?” And some of us have tried to create our own purpose-climbing the ladder of success, building the perfect family, chasing experiences, accumulating possessions. But if we’re really honest, those things, all good pursuits, never fill the need and desire we have for purpose.

But here’s the good news for all of us today: You Have A Purpose! You are not an accident. You are not insignificant. God created you and saved you for a purpose. And He has brought you into this faith family to help accomplish His purpose as well. And it’s not because of anything we have done. It’s not because we have figured out how to make ourselves matter. It’s because God, in His great love and mercy, chose to make us a masterpiece with a mission.

Message

You see the mistake we make as Christians is thinking that “being saved,” “making a decision to become a Christian” is all about getting to heaven. And so, many of us have prayed a prayer at church or with our parents and “we became a Christian” but then went back to the life we were living before. Or we are aimlessly walking through life just killing time until we leave this earth and get to heaven. In our minds, Christianity is about the destination. And it is somewhat about the destination but it’s so much more. It’s about the journey. Because God has not saved you just so you’ll end up in heaven one day. God has saved your for a greater purpose and a greater mission. And everything we have talked about in this sermon series has led us to that. The truth that You and I Are Welcomed By God into His Family, that He Invites Us To Repent and to Celebrate When Others Do As Well, and that We Matter to God and We Matter To The Church, the Local Body of Believers God has brought us into all proves and speaks to this final truth that We Have A Purpose.

Which leads us into the main idea we are going to focus on today: God, by His grace, brings us from death to life, reviving us for a divine purpose-to live for His glory and to advance the Gospel in the culture around us.

If you have ever asked the question “do I have a purpose?” If you’ve ever wondered whether God has a plan for your life, whether there’s more to your story than just existing, the answer is yes. And today, as we look at Ephesians 2:1-10, the Apostle Paul is going to reveal to us three life changing truths that prove to us that we all have a purpose.

1. God’s Rescue Makes Our Purpose Possible. (vs. 1-5)

Have you ever been in a situation where you had to be rescued? I’ve had situations in my life where people have bailed me out of those situations but I don’t think that I’ve ever had to be physically rescued from something. But I do know people who have. And there’s one thing that they all have in common, it’s the feeling of being helpless and not able to do anything to get themselves out of the situation they were in. In fact, in some of those situations, I’ve had them actually say they were out of options and had nothing else to turn to on their own and then someone else stepped in and did for them what they could not do for themselves.

And when you think about it, that is the true definition of rescue. It’s being unable to do anything for yourself that is going to provide a solution for your situation and being dependent on someone else to step in and do something for you that you cannot do for yourself. It is the perfect description of what Jesus Christ has done for all of us on the cross. You see, this morning, if you’re not a follower of Jesus, you’ve never surrendered your heart and life to Jesus Christ, then you have never experienced the rescue that God offers you by the death, burial, and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. But you are surrounded by people who have been rescued. People who once were where you are in your life. People who had tried everything on their own to fix their situation but nothing was working and, recognizing that nothing they could do was going to work, they threw their hands up in surrender and God stepped into their lives offering them a relationship with Him by His mercy and His grace. You are surrounded by people that all have the same story, that all have one thing in common-they were helpless and not able to do anything, on their own, to get themselves out of the situation they were in. And that, again, is the story of all of us. And the good news today is if you have never experienced the rescue of Jesus in your life, today you can. Today, you can step into that relationship that God offers you by the death of His Son, Jesus, on the cross. And you can step into the purpose that God has called you to and created you for. Because it’s the rescue of God in all of our lives that makes our purpose possible.

You see, before we can talk about purpose in our lives, we have to understand where we all came from. And I love how the Apostle Paul walks us through that in our text today in Ephesians 2. He doesn’t sugar coat anything, he just lays it out there for us. You see, the foundation of purpose in our lives begins with truly understanding just how desperate our condition was and how radical God’s rescue is for all of us.

And to do that, we have to understand that...

a. We were dead, not just damaged. (vs. 1-3)

Look at vs. 1-3...

He just jumps right in. Notice the Apostle Paul doesn’t say we were sick. He doesn’t even say that we were struggling or we were having a bad day or going through some kind of rough patch in our lives. He says “you were DEAD.” Literally, spiritually, we were a corpse. We were completely indifferent towards the things of God.

And look how this shakes out in our lives when we are in this state: “we walked according to the ways of this world (living according to the world’s values), according to the ruler of the power of the air (under the influence of the devil, living in a false freedom), carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts (living how we wanted to live, driven by our desires, whatever we wanted that’s what we pursued)” and all of this put us under “the wrath of God (because God despises sin and is so holy that He can’t be in the presence of it).”

It’s the most hopeless picture that can be painted. Before God rescued us, everything about us lived in contradiction to the purpose that He created us for. We were on a path towards death and destruction destined to spend the rest of our lives separated from God by our sin. We were in total rebellion against God who created us for a relationship with Him. Not just damaged, because that’s not what sin does, completely dead in sin to God.

And that’s the complete opposite of what the culture tells us about ourselves. We grow up believing that we are basically good, that if we believe in ourselves and do the best we can, we can be whatever we want to be and do whatever we want to do. And while it is true that we can accomplish some amazing things in this life, apart from God we are spiritually dead and we will never reach the fullest potential and live for the purpose for which we were created.

You see, you cannot create purpose in your life apart from God, we all need God to bring us to life. And here’s the good news...

b. We were resurrected, not just rehabilitated. (vs. 4-5)

Look at vs. 4-5...

And if you’re a Christ follower you’ve experienced this resurrection and if you’re not a Christ follower, today you can.

“But God....” Those two words change everything for us.

We were dead in our sin. Our condition was hopeless. We were under the enemy’s power. Enslaved to the ways of the world. Under the wrath of Almighty God. “But God....” You see, to appreciate the rescue of God in our lives and the purpose we have as followers of Jesus, we have to appreciate where we’ve come from. And I think we forget that. I think we forget the awful state of our lives before Jesus rescued us. And before the Apostle Paul goes any further, before he reveals the greatness of God’s grace, he reminds us that God didn’t just fix us or rehabilitate us-no, we were dead in our sin and God resurrected us. We’ve been brought from death to life.

Not “we pulled ourselves together” or “we made better choices” or “ we went to church and got religious.” No, God “made us alive in Christ,...”

Here’s what we need to understand this morning, we have not been rehabilitated. Rehabilitation is what happens to something that is damaged. You rehabilitate an injury. You rehabilitate a reputation. You can even rehabilitate a car or a house by fixing what is broken. That’s not what has happened to us. We’ve been resurrected. We’ve been made alive in God through Jesus Christ. We are a new creation, the old nature/person is gone and the new person is now present and living for the glory of God.

And how does this happen? What prompted this rescue? It was the richness of God’s mercy towards us and the greatness of His love for us. Think about it for a moment, the God of the universe has shown an unending abundance of mercy and His mercy towards us is so great that it triumphs over the judgment that we deserve. His love for us is so abundant that there is a greatness of His benevolence that He shows to you and me. It’s God stepping in, not out of obligation, not because He had to, but out of His love and mercy that never ends for His lost and desperate creations changing the game and remedying the hopeless, dark situation with the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ.

We have been “made alive in Christ” Paul says. Don’t rush past that. God, in His grace, has saved us and made us alive with Him. The same resurrection power, the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the same Holy Spirit, if you are a follower of Jesus, that has given you new life in God. Here’s what that means: Jesus Christ died, we died to the power of sin. Jesus Christ was buried, our old life was buried with Him as well. Jesus Christ was resurrected, we have been raise to new life with Jesus.

And all of this has been done by God to give us purpose. You see, our purpose has nothing to do with anything we have done; our purpose comes out of and finds itself in our new identity as someone that God has resurrected. So, today if you are still hung up in thinking things like- “My life is a mess” or “I’m too broken” or “I’ve made too many mistakes.” As a follower of Jesus, that’s not who you are anymore. God has resurrected you from your old life and has rescued you so you can live with purpose and join Him in His mission. And today, if you’re not a Christ follower, everything can change. You can go from the life you’re living now, separated from God in your sin, to a life rescued by God’s grace on mission with a purpose.

God’s rescue makes our purpose possible.

And....

2. God’s Grace Makes Our Purpose Secure. (vs. 6-9)

One of the biggest reasons we are hesitant to pursue our God given purpose is fear. Which can be a crippling thing in all of our lives. When fear infiltrates our minds, it has the potential to get a firm grasp on us and it’s hard to break free. And when it comes to stepping into the purpose that God has called us to as followers of Jesus, sometimes we are hesitant because of the fear of failure, the fear of inadequacy, or the fear of disappointing God and others. But here in Ephesians 2, the Apostle Paul demolishes those fears by showing us that our salvation and our calling and our purpose is rooted entirely in God’s grace and not in how well we do or don’t do. Look at vs. 6-9...

Look again to vs. 6, Paul continues with more encouragement and he says, “He has raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavens in Christ Jesus.” We’ve been “made alive in Christ” and because of that we are now “raised with Him” and “seated with Him.” As followers of Jesus, because of and by God’s grace, we have been give the power and the authority to live with the purpose God has called us to.

So, why do we still struggle? Why do we still battle? I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we live in a sin filled world. And, even as followers of Jesus, we battle that everyday. But I also think it has to do with our struggle with self reliance and maybe our tendency to get a little arrogant. And we forget that it is only by God’s grace that all of this is possible.

You see, we have to remember that...

a. We display His grace, not our goodness. (vs. 6-7)

God “raised us up with Him” and “seated us with Him” for one purpose only, to display His grace. Those things have not happened to us because we were good enough to earn it, no, it has been granted to us because of God’s grace on us. We’ve been given access to God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son, we’ve been given authority seated at our heavenly Father’s table, and we’ve been promised security, God has done this for us and nothing can undo it.

And why has all of this been done by God for us? Vs. 7 tells us… God saves us to point others to His grace. Pastor Max Lucado puts it this way, “we are a billboard for God’s grace.” Let’s modernize it a little, we’re a social media ad for the grace of God.

And this changes everything when it comes to our purpose. We are not living with purpose and on mission to prove we are worthy or to show how good we are, we are living with purpose and on mission to point people to the grace of God. We can’t earn God’s approval, through Jesus, we have it. We aren’t trying to make a name for ourselves, we are living to make the name of Jesus famous. It’s not about our goodness, it’s all about His grace.

And...

b. We depend on His gift of grace, not our level of performance. (vs. 8-9)

Everything else in our lives is graded on our performance except salvation. Our salvation and our purpose is solely dependent on God’s gift of grace to us. Look at vs. 8-9...

And there it is. That is salvation wrapped up in two verses. The Apostle Paul comes back to God’s gift of grace. You see, grace carries with it the idea of benevolence being shown to someone who hasn’t done anything to earn it. And this is the foundation of our salvation as Christ followers. God was not obligated to offer us anything. He would be justified in condemning all of us. But because He is merciful and gracious, He offers us an escape. And that is His gift of grace. It has nothing to do with our level of performance. It strips us of everything we could do and puts it all on God.

Theologian Max Anders puts it this way, “He handed salvation to you. You did nothing but stick out a hand and accept the gift. Faith is exactly that. It is trustfully accepting from God what he has provided without totally understanding what you are receiving. Faith is giving up on being able to provide what you need for yourself and letting God give what he alone can provide.”

God offers us the gift of salvation through His grace; and in faith, we choose to accept this incredible gift. It’s trusting that Jesus’s work is sufficient to save us.

And then Paul emphasizes something important for us: in vs. 9, He says...

You see, if our salvation was based on our level of performance, we’d be in trouble. We’d spend our whole lives trying to measure up, we’d always be paranoid with no security. Or we would live in arrogance thinking we had done something to earn it. But God is purposeful in our salvation in the fact that it has nothing to do with us so we will never have a reason to think it does. So we won’t fall into arrogance thinking we have done anything in and of ourselves to earn it.

I love what the late Voddie Baucham says about this, “Christ and His work doesn’t find its value because of who I am… But I instead find my value int he fact that the One of ultimate worth died to redeem me, in spite of the fact that I was inherently not worthy of any of that.”

And if our salvation doesn’t depend on our performance then neither does our purpose. God does not save us because we are good enough, He save us by grace. God does not call us because we are talented enough, He call us by grace. God does not use us because we have the skills to perform perfectly, He uses us by grace.

Our purpose is secure because it’s rooted in the gift of God’s grace and not our level of performance.

Third...

3. God’s Design Makes Our Purpose Intentional. (vs. 10)

Everything about salvation points back to God. He initiated it, He makes it possible, it is all about Him. And in vs. 10, the Apostle Paul reveals God’s intentionality in all of this. He says...

If we could earn our salvation and our purpose was rooted in us, then it would not be a work of God but a work of ourselves, again leading to pride and arrogance. But that’s not what has happened. Paul started with God and he ends with God. “We are HIS workmanship, created in CHRIST JESUS for good works, which GOD prepared ahead of time for us to do.” Here’s what we have to realize....

a. God designed us for mission, not mediocrity. (vs. 10a)

The key word here is “workmanship.” It means “a work of art, a masterpiece, something specifically crafted with skill and intention.” This is something that is intentionally created by a craftsman to accomplish something. What is Paul saying? You and I are crafted by the hands of Almighty God to accomplish not just to live in mediocrity. That is speaking to our physical creation and our spiritual purpose as well.

You see, we were all originally created by God for a purpose. Sin has separated us from God and messed up that creation, but God, by His grace, saves us, gives us new life and sets us on course with a mission. He doesn’t just forgive us and call it good, He gives us a new identity and sets us on mission for Him. And He is calling us to embrace that mission and live beyond the mediocrity. And that’s what we have to realize and embrace. No matter how young or how old you may be, God has a purpose for you, He has saved you for the mission of the Gospel and He wants to use you to help bring eternal transformation in the lives of others. We are not called to live safe, comfortable, mediocre lives; we are called to live as the resurrected and redeemed. That means we don’t coast through life, wasting time on things that don’t matter; but we live making an eternal impact for the Kingdom of God moment by moment and day by day. God designed us for mission, not mediocrity.

And...

b. God designated us for a divine purpose, not a passive life. (vs. 10b)

Look at the last part of vs. 10...

Before you were born, God had a plan for your life. Before you were saved, God prepared you for a mission. Before the foundation of the world, God designated you for a divine purpose. The things God has called and created you to do, the divine purpose He has for your life, isn’t random or accidental or plan B; God prepared them, Himself, for you to accomplish.

So, we are back to where we started. God didn’t save you so you could just go to heaven one day. He didn’t rescue you so you could just get through life. He set you apart for a divine, God ordained purpose.

I came across this this week, and I think it sums all of this up well: “Your purpose isn’t about you figuring out what you want to do with your life. It is about discovering what God has already prepared you to do.”

Closing

So, let me close with some practical steps for all of us today to discover and walk in our God given purpose:

1. Start with what’s in front of you. Look for the everyday opportunities God is giving you.

2. Pay attention to how God has wired you. Your purpose is often found when your talents and gifts intersect with the needs around you.

3. Walk by faith. Don’t try to see the whole picture but walk in the light you have in your life right now.

4. Be willing to be obedient to whatever God asks you to do even if it’s uncomfortable.

Here’s the bottom line: we can live passively or purposefully. The choice is up to us. God has done His part: God’s rescue makes our purpose possible, God’s grace makes our purpose secure, and God’s design makes our purpose intentional. Now we must choose to follow Him and live for Him on purpose.