You're Here Because
You’re Here Because…”
INTRO: How do you answer the question, “Why are you here?” Not in service this morning but here on earth. Many of you went through the book, “The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren,” and he states 5 purposes we are here for: Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry and Mission..
I believe there is one overriding purpose in life.
(ILLUS) John Stott, a well known Bible Scholar, Pastor, Evangelist, and Bible teacher is 86 years old. He has studied the Bible and served the Lord all of his life. In his final public address he said these words, “I want to share with you where my mind has come to rest as I approach the end of my pilgrimage on earth and it is- God wants His people to become like Christ. Christlikeness is the will of God for the people of God.”
You may say, “Well I’ve heard that before.” Yes, but have you taken total ownership on the idea that God’s purpose for His people is that they become like Jesus, have you ever thought that if someone was to ask me the question, “What am I doing here?” I would answer, “to become like Jesus.” Don’t underestimate the importance of understanding this. The old adage, “If you aim at nothing then you hit nothing,” is also true in our life on earth and you would be amazed at how many Christians would give the wrong answer if they were asked the question, “Why are you here?” Some would say, “To Worship God,” others would say, “To Evangelize,” and others would say, “To raise my kids in the right way.”
What I am proposing to do today is give you the bull’s-eye to aim for. The Christian life shouldn’t be a pin-the-tail- on the donkey game, it should be more like a skilled archer aiming for the dead center of the target and that’s what I want to do is give you the dead center of your purpose here on earth, but I want you to grab it and digest it and so I first want to lay down the Biblical Foundation for this truth- so you can see that this is God’s idea and not anyone else’s, then I want to give some NT examples, and then I want to draw some practical conclusions. And it all relates to becoming like Christ.
Hopefully I can string together some scriptures that would turn out to be like a beautiful pearl necklace that you can wear around your heart as you make your pilgrimage through this life with Christ.
I. So first, the Biblical Foundation for the call to Christlikeness.
This foundation doesn’t rest on one single text, there are three that we would do well to know.
A. Romans 8:29.
Romans 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Chris spoke last week and brought up the fact that Adam lost his relationship with God, fellowship was broken. But another thing that Adam lost was the image of God, we all know that Adam and Eve were made in the image of God and when sin entered in that image was shattered, not lost completely, but marred and messed up. And here we learn from Romans that it was always in the mind of God to restore that image in you.
That’s good news because He didn’t come up with the plan the moment you surrendered your life to Christ.
This should encourage you because it tells you that your life wasn’t a by-chance result of a series of meaningless events in your life.
Your life is teathered to a purpose God had for you before you were even born. This wasn’t something God thought of when you hit your 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, or whatever age you received Christ. It wasn’t like God had to do something with you now that you came to Him- no, it was something God had in mind before you were conceived in your mother’s womb, before you hit the baby ward at the community hospital, before you took your first steps- this was God’s primary purpose in your life.
It’s a marvelous truth to know that God saw me in a better light than I even saw myself.
B. 2 Corinthians 3:18.
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
This is a magnificent truth as well because it is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that changes us and transforms us into the image of Christ. Not only did God have a purpose for you, being transformed into the image of God, but He also provided the means or the power to get the job done.
In this 2nd stage of becoming like Christ you will notice that the perspective has changed from the past to the present- from God’s eternal predestination to His present transformation of us by the Holy Spirit. It has changed from God’s eternal changed from God’s eternal purpose to make us like Christ to His historical work of making us like Jesus.
Now notice, it says you are being transformed, you aren’t transformed completely yet, you are in the process, you’re either in the mixing bowl, the oven, or the cooling pan- but God isn’t finished yet.
This is encouraging because we can tend to beat ourselves up when we fall short of the glory of God.
(ILLUS) You ever have one of those days where you’re just flying high with Jesus? Nothing can go wrong, you’re hitting the mark spiritually on everything……..
C. 1 John 3:2.
This brings us to the third text…
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
1 Corinthians 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.
We don’t need to know in any detail what we shall be in that day, but we do know that we shall be like Christ. We can be content with the glorious truth that we will be with Christ and like Christ forever.
Now this tells us something wonderful as well, that this plan that God has for you becoming like Christ- this plan He had for you before you were born, this plan that He is working out in your life now will some day be complete! You may say, “You don’t know what a piece of junk I am right now” Well one day you won’t be.
Here are three perspectives- past, present, and future, all pointing to the same direction: There is God’s eternal purpose- we have been predestined; there is God’s historical purpose, we are being changed, transformed by the Holy Spirit; and there is God’s final or eschatological purpose, we will be like Him. All three, the eternal, the historical, and the final or eschatological, combine towards the same end of Christlikeness. This is the purpose of God for the people of God.
II. I want to move on to some NT Examples.
1 John 2:6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
In other words, if we claim to be a Christian we are to be Christlike. So, in what ways are we to be Christlike?
A. We are to be like Christ in His Incarnation.
Now, the Incarnation of Christ, Him becoming Man is a unique event that will never be duplicated again, God in the flesh, the Second person of the tri-une Godhead becoming man to redeem mankind.
But there is another sense in which we imitate this incarnation and it is seen in Philippians 2:5-8…
Paul, in speaking of Christ becoming man said these words in Philippians 2:5-8, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”
We are to be like Christ in the amazing self-humbling which lies behind the incarnation.
(ILLUS) Many People in the world like to use their power, position, and prestige to flaunt it, show it off, or self-gain, Even though Jesus is God He still became man- it would be like a Prince becoming a Pauper times a million. He didn’t flaunt who He was or use His power for self-gain, He died in our place, God Himself.
B. Secondly, we are to be like Christ in His service.
We now move from His incarnation to His life of service. This is so eloquently recorded in John 13 in the upper room, His last evening with His disciples and just prior to His death. If you knew that you were going to leave your family for a task and for some extended period of time, maybe never to see them again, what would you tell them, what would you do, what would be your final words before your departure?
Well Jesus had a last supper with His disciples and then did something that shocked them all. He took off His garments and girded Himself with a towel and then proceeded to wash their feet. Afterwards He sat down again and this is what He said,
John 13:14-15 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.
Talk about leadership by example and service!
Now some people have literal foot washings, but that wasn’t Jesus’ main point- it wasn’t to implement a ceremony and that becomes obvious when you understand the cultural setting. What Jesus did was what a slave did, it was the lowest task someone could perform. That becomes an example to us in that we must never regard a task too menial or degrading to undertake for each other.
C. Thirdly, we are to be like Christ in His Love.
A scripture comes to mind at this time, found in Ephesians.
Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
The apostle Paul is urging us all to walk in love, in other words to live a life of love. The love we are to live out is in light of Christ’s love for us. And if there is any question as to what that love looks like Paul draws us back to the Cross, he says that kind of love. Paul is urging us to be like Christ in His death, to love with self-giving Calvary love.
D. Fourthly, we are to be like Christ in His patient endurance.
We now turn to the teaching of the apostle Peter in this example. Every chapter of 1 Peter contains an allusion to our suffering like Christ, for the background to the letter is the beginning of persecution. In chapter 2, in particular, Peter urges Christian slaves, if punished unjustly, to bear it and not to repay evil for evil.
1 Peter 2:21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:
There’s that word again- so that we may follow in His steps.
This call to Christlikeness in suffering unjustly may become increasingly relevant as persecution increases in many cultures in the world today.
E. The fifth and last example from the NT is that we are to be like Christ in His mission.
To this example we turn to the teaching of Jesus Himself as recorded by John.
John 20:21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
John 17:18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
As Christ entered your world and my world we are to enter other people’s worlds.
Michael Ramsey some years ago explained it this way: “We state and commend our faith only in so far as we go out and put ourselves with loving sympathy inside the doubts of the doubters, the questions of the questioners, and the loneliness of those who have lost the way.”
In other words when it comes to our faith in Jesus Christ it must reach the point of penetration, not isolation. You have permission from Jesus to enter other people’s worlds.
(ILLUS) One of the sayings that I would hear someone say from time to time in declaring their life to be a mess is, “Man, my world is messed up!” Boy, how true that is, there are so many people that will echo that today, “My world is messed up.” But Jesus calls us to a mission of entering messed up worlds with the Gospel. This is referred to as incarnational evangelism, that means that just as Jesus came on a mission from the Father to seek and save that which is lost, so it is the mission of His followers today.
These are the 5 main ways in which we are to be Christlike: In His Incarnation, in His Service, in His love, in His endurance, and in His mission.
III. Now let me give you three practical consequences of Christlikeness.
A. First, Christlikeness and the mystery of suffering.
Suffering is a huge subject in iself and there are many ways in which Christians try to understand it. One way stands out: that suffering is part of God’s process of making us like Christ. When we suffer from disappointments, or some painful tragedy we must see it in light of Romans 8:28-29….
Romans 8:28-29 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
B. Secondly, Christlikeness and the challenge of Evangelism.
There comes the question at times of, “Why is it that in many situations our evangelistic efforts end in failure?” I’m sure that several reasons can be given, but one main reason is that we don’t look like the Christ we are proclaiming.
(ILLUS) There was a Hindu professor in India who once identified one of his students as a Christian and said to him: “If you Christians lived like Jesus Christ, India would be at your feet tomorrow.”
Reverend Iskander Jadeed is a former Arab Muslim and he said, “If all Christians were Christians- that is Christlike- there would be no more Islam today.”
Think about how effective the gospel would be if people really lived like Jesus.
(ILLUS) I mentioned at Judy Vandergriff’s funeral last Saturday that when she was in Hospice care in San Diego that one of her doctors from Mongolia came to the Lord. Her and Rocky led her to Jesus. But what was interesting was how it happened. Doctors are pretty smart, they have to be pretty intellectual to get through med school and this particular doctor didn’t come to Christ from a reasoning of facts about Jesus, it was through Judy’s life….
C. That leads to the third point, Christlikeness and the indwelling of the Spirit.
We have seen a lot about Christlikeness but is it attainable? In our own strength is clearly not attainable, but God has given us the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, to change us from within. God’s purpose is to make us like Jesus and His means is by filling us with His Spirit. Are you living a Spirit filled life today? The Apostle Paul says in Ephesians, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” We can grieve the Holy Spirit and we can hinder the Spirit’s work in our lives.
CLOSE: I’ve had the privilege of hearing those words out of your son’s heart that blesses every father, I’ll never forget when Cameron said those words to me, “Daddy, when I grow up I want to be just like you!” You know our heavenly Father’s heart must be blessed when it is our hearts desire to be just like Jesus.