The Purpose Driven Life

I. Introduction: Answering the Ultimate Question

A. Two of Life’s Biggest Questions

(1)If I asked you what is the meaning of life? How would you answer?

(2)If I were to ask you what is your purpose in life — how would you answer?

Maybe it’s not typical for you to ask such deep questions:

Maybe you only ask these kind of questions after tragedy?

Or perhaps, you do ask these questions every day because you feel like a ship without sail or anchor just drifting wherever the waves take you.

If so, I’m glad you’ve come today because I plan to answer life’s difficult questions.

B. The purpose of your life: Contemplating God

The purpose of your life is contemplating the Triune God.

What gives meaning and purpose is to glorify, serve, and contemplate God.

The WCF Q:1 gets right to the heart of this:

KIDS: What is man’s chief end?

A: To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Within that question is my entire sermon — so if you leave now, you can at least take that with you.

You glorify God and you enjoy Him through contemplation.

C. The telos of life: The Beatific Vision

The telos of life is the beatific vision.

Telos — “the ultimate object or aim”

Your whole life’s aim is the beatific vision — to behold Christ face to face.

We live with that anticipation and it practically plays out through contemplation which in turn as we shall see today, results in godly living.

E. The Roadmap:

Today’s text is about an event shortly after Christ is born wherein a man experiences a foretaste of the Beatific Vision as he holds a newborn Jesus in arms.

As my goal is to answer questions of the meaning of life, the purpose of your life, and the telos of your life as we examine the Scriptures.

(1) Heaven is For Real (The Beatific Vision Anticipated)

(2) The Purpose Driven Life (The Beatific Vision explained)

(3) Your Best Life Now (The Beatific Vision Applied)

II. Exegesis: Heaven is For Real (The Beatific Vision Anticipated)

A. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph Go to the Temple

Luke 2:22–23 “And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”)”

Our text picks up roughly 40 days after Christ’s birth when the time for purification for them has come.

If you were to use your bible’s cross-references it would loop you to Leviticus 12.

In that chapter Moses writes down God’s Law concerning women who have just birthed a baby.

Per God’s Law she must go through a 40 day purification process

Following that she must bring a lamb as a sin offering and sacrifice

If she can’t afford a lamb, she can use a pair of pigeons or turtle doves.

Mary, who has now completed the first part of the purification process after giving birth has to go the temple to offer sacrifices and dedicate her son - the Lord to the Lord.

It’s interesting and ironic that Leviticus 12 tells us that if a person can’t afford a lamb they can use specific birds as a substitute — and in verse 24 of Luke 2 we see that Mary has to use the poor person’s option for sacrifices. Why is this ironic?

It’s ironic on two levels:

First: She’s offering turtle doves or pigeons for the ultimate sacrificial lamb—her Son.

30ish years from this moment in the text, John the Baptist will see Jesus by the Jordan River and say: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Second: She’s too poor to afford a lamb, yet she holds the riches and treasures of God in her arms.

Ephesians 3:8 “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

Colossians 2:1–3 Paul writes to the Colossians so “that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

In short: Mary who has little money has riches beyond imagination.

B. The Man Who Could Not Die

Luke 2:25–26 “Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”

In this passage we meet Simeon and we learn a lot about him in rapid fire succession:

(1) He lived in Jerusalem

(2) He was righteous and devout

(3) He was anticipating the consolation of Israel

(4) The Holy Spirit was upon him

(5) The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death until he saw the Lord’s Christ.

The defining mark of Simeon’s life is that he lives in anticipation of the blessed vision of seeing the Messiah face to face and it is what drives him.

Simeon’s answer to the meaning of life is contemplating God and his telos is seeing Christ.

First he lives in Jersualem because the Scriptures anticipates the King returning to Jerusalem.

Second, the anticipation of seeing Christ informs and shapes his day to day living — he’s described as righteous and devout.

Ultimately, He’s righteous because of His faith but the implication is that His faith, anticipation, and contemplation resulted in upstanding moral character.

The Beatific Vision has shaped Simeon into being a godly man.

1 John 3:1–3 “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

Fourthly, The Holy Spirit was upon Him.

All believers have to be granted faith and repentance by the Spirit but in connection with his godliness Luke points out the intimate relationship Simeon had with the Holy Spirit.

Now you may have noticed I skipped my 3rd point but that’s because it’s directly connected to the fifth.

Simeon is anticipating the consolation of Israel because the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die until He saw the Lord’s Christ.

This means the consolation of Israel is not a “what” but a “who” and that who is the Lord’s Christ.

Isaiah 61:1–2 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;”

The one who will comfort and console is coming, and Simeon isn’t allowed to die until sees Him.

C. Simeon Sees Salvation

Luke 2:27–32 “And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.””

Lead by the Spirit, Simeon goes to the temple anticipating to finally see the Lord’s Christ.

Finally, after each and every day living in the hope of seeing his Savior he finally gets to meet him.

Kids: is there any thing on your calendar this month that you’ve been living in anticipation of?

Kids: you’ve probably been acting real righteous and devout the past month leading up to the blessed vision of seeing all those presents under the tree.

Kids? What about the adults too?

For Simeon, this is the greatest Christmas Day imaginable — all that he’s longed for is finally going to happen.

He then takes up the child says: “Lord, you are now letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel”.

First he says, “Lord, you are now letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word”

Q: How many of you have anxiety over death?

Q: How many are scared of death?

The Beatific Vision cures the anxiety of death.

For Simeon, seeing Christ undoes the terror of death.

For us, the anticipation of seeing Christ is what compels us to go with peace to our graves.

Second he says: “for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,”

Simeon has looked salvation in the face.

Simeon is holding mystery in his hands.

Like the burning bush that had the presence of God yet not consumed, here is divinity wrapped in frail humanity and yet it is not consumed.

In his arms is the one who holds the world together.

The sound Simeon hears is the Word of God cooing.

Simeon’s looking at the seed of Abraham who promised Abraham the seed of Abraham (trippy).

Simeon’s holding the one who 32 days prior had been circumcised but had mandated circumcision 1,000’s of years prior.

Simeon’s gazing upon the majestic all powerful God that Isaiah saw.

Wriggling in his arms is the God who wrestled Jacob.

The one who is too young to crawl is the one who has come to stomp the skull of serpent.

The boys mother, who cannot afford a lamb is the sacrificial lamb himself.

Truly Simeon’s eyes have seen salvation.

Third he says: this salvation God has “prepared in the presence of all peoples”

“The Presence” can also be translated as “Face”

Meaning: that God has prepared this salvation for all people before their very faces.

and that phrase “all peoples” directly leads into what he says fourth and fifthly:

He says finally: “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel”

This salvation is a light, a true beacon of hope, not just to Israel but to the Gentiles!

Isaiah 52:10 “The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”

Naturally, Joseph and Mary respond in wonder.

Luke 2:33 “And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.”

Imagine this scene from their point of view.

Nine months after an angel appears to Mary to tell her that the Holy Spirit is going to conceive the Savior of the world in her womb, she gives to said Savior in a stable. Then Mary and Joseph have their cozy corner in Bethlehem crashed by shepherds who claimed that not only did an angel get up close and personal with them to share the glad tidings that the Savior had been born but also following that an inter-dimensional portal opened between heaven and earth in which an myriads of angels poured out of it filling the sky with their praises to God (you can read about this earlier in this chapter in Luke).

And now this…No wonder they are marveling!

Why? Because Heaven is for real and they are holding Him in their arms.

Often when we talk about heaven, we immediately think on the benefits of heaven.

No more pain.

No more tears.

But the greatest part of heaven is the Beatific Vision — it’s beholding the King in all His beauty unstained by sin.

Fully alive in the presence of Life Himself.

And the vision of Christ in heaven is far superior than what old Simeon saw and it was enough make him die happy.

Simeon saw the wonder and mystery of Christ incarnate.

But in heaven we believers will see Christ resurrected, exalted, and glorified beyond comprehension.

III. Theology: The Purpose Driven Life (The Beatific Vision explained)

A. The Beatific Vision Defined

So what exactly is the Beatific Vision? If I have not made it clear, I will attempt to do so now:

The Beatific Vision is beholding Christ face to face.

The believer’s chief desire is to look upon King Jesus, the Savior of their souls.

Eternity will be spent gazing upon Christ and worshipping Him unfettered and unpolluted by sin with new bodies and new eyes that see the King in all His beauty.

Isaiah 33:17 “Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty…”

B. The Beatific Vision Defended

If this is a new concept for you I’d like to offer you two more Scriptures to contemplate:

Psalm 27:4 “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.”

1 Corinthians 13:12 “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

The Scriptures are sufficient, but I’ve brought some backup from church history:

R.C. Sproul: “The beatific vision is a vision of supreme blessedness, the blessedness we will experience when see God face to face.”

Charles Spurgeon: “We have I believe, all of us who love his name, a most insatiable wish to behold his person. The thing for which I would pray above all others, would be for ever to behold his face,”

Jonathan Edwards: “For though the bodies of the saints shall appear with exceeding beauty and glory, yet the body of Christ will be the masterpiece of all God’s workmanship…The eye will never be cloyed..in beholding this glorious sight…this will be the most glorious sight that the saints will ever see with their bodily eyes.”

The blessed vision of Christ is as it should be the hope and longing of Christians across church history.

C. The Beatific Vision Applied

This morning we will see the Beatific Vision applied broadly and more narrowly.

First, more broadly applied: The Purpose Driven Life is one fueled by the Beatific Vision.

Recall earlier that Simeon’s godly life was lived in anticipation of behold the Lord’s Christ face to face.

We too as Christians are driven by the hope of seeing Christ face to face.

People will complain that theology isn’t practical enough when the biblical example is that through contemplation of God and anticipation of the blessed vision of Christ the Christian life is shaped and practiced.

Or more shortly: the longing to see Christ plays out in living a godly, devout life.

Spending more time with Christ through the means of grace and contemplating God will have a direct effect on your behavior.

Look at the disciples:

Acts 4:13 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”

If you want to be more holy — spend more time with Jesus.

Naturally the opposite is true — taking your eyes off of Jesus results in sinning more.

Read through the Bible and you will see that when all your favorite characters and heroes sinned greatly, it was because they took their eyes off of their good God.

Eve took her eyes off God and looked upon the fruit.

Noah took his eyes off God and looked to the wine glass.

David took his eyes off God and gazed upon Bathsheba’s naked body.

Solomon took his eyes off God and fixed his sights on the false gods of his wives.

Peter took his eyes off of Christ and sunk into the stormy waters, denied His friend 3 times, and later caused his brothers to stumble out of cowardice.

You struggle with sin and holiness because you’re looking inside yourself and not outside to Christ.

KEEP YOUR EYES ON JESUS!

AND DON’T FORGET WE HAVE HELP:

The Spirit was upon Simeon, and we have the indwelling Holy Spirit that mortifies our sins and conforms us into the image of Christ.

The Spirit regenerates us and makes God our delight, and the more we contemplate on God the more glorify Him and enjoy Him.

And as we contemplate we put our eyes upon Him through a mirror dimly, and anticipate the day that what we know partially now will be fully known.

You put this all together and in God’s providence and sanctification you become more devout.

IV. Application: Your Best Life Now

Now to apply more narrowly.

A. The Beatific Vision: & prayer

The Beatific Vision changes your prayer life, because although you do not see Him now, you know Him and believe Him.

For now, you’re talking on the phone but after you go peacefully to the grave you will speak to Him face to face.

Prayer is preparation for an eternity of bliss.

B. The Beatific Vision & Scripture

The Beatific Vision changes your Bible reading because it shifts the aim of your study.

Too often we read scripture looking for ourselves or trying to improve ourselves.

Christ is a peripheral concept when He’s not mentioned in the text and you become the central character.

The Beatific Vision changes this and can fuel a christ-centered reading

Examples: 1 Corinthians 13:4–8 “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”

Christ is patient and Christ is kind

Christ does not envy or sinfully boast

Christ is not arrogant or rude.

Christ did not insist on His own way, but rather drank the cup of the Father’s wrath to the dregs.

Christ is not irritable or resentful.

Christ does not rejoice at wrong doing but Christ is the truth.

Christ bears all things.

Christ is the center of our belief and our only hope.

Christ endured all things without sin.

And Christ, because He is God, never ends.

Examples: Philippians 4:8–9 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Brothers and sisters, I implore you to read this passage not to look internally at yourself and your own life but to look externally to Christ.

Christ is truth.

Christ is the most honorable.

Christ is just.

Christ is pure and lovely, and commendable.

Christ is the most excellent and worthy of praise.

This is what you ought to think about!

And you see that what you have seen in Paul (Christ formed in him) you ought to practice.

See how practical this theology of Christ truly is!

Read the Scriptures with your eyes on Christ and you’ll be transformed by the Spirits power.

Read the Scriptures with anticipation like Simeon and you shall see salvation and heaven.

C. The Beatific Vision and Your Best Life Now

The Beatific Vision gives you purpose and but it effects your whole life.

The Beatific Vision as your telos affects your journey to the end.

Living with the mind of Christ with eyes that will one day see Christ gives you the best life.

Ultimately, looking forward to seeing Christ fuels your faith.

2 Corinthians 5:7 “for we walk by faith, not by sight.”

Elsewhere, Scripture says that Faith is hope for what is unseen.

The blessed vision of Christ is what we all hope for and blesses us as we walk through our life glorifying and enjoying Him.

In short: The Beatific Vision guarantees your best life now and forever.

D. The Blessed Vision will be a cursed vision for unbelievers

Gospel presentation