How to bring meaning to Life

Intro -

This past Thursday a young lady in our community took her own life. She decided that it was better to end this life and risk what the next one was like, instead of living this one with all the hopelessness and pain. Someone who takes their life feels that they have run out of options. The pain is too great. In there mind there is no reason to live. Nothing to live for that is worth continuing the struggle they are in. Life has lost all meaning and purpose.

Picture here of someone smart asking that question:

So what is the meaning of life. What brings real meaning to this life?

Maybe you have considered taking your own life.

Or maybe you just feel that your going through the motions and you aren't really living. Maybe you have never understood what really brings meaning to this life and God wants to help you understand that today.

I want to show you today what brings real meaning to your life and how to experience true and lasting joy and purpose that you want to live for!

Pray:

Wikipedia

Wikipedia

The answer to the question "What is the meaning of life?" pertains to the significance of existence. Many other related questions include: "Why are we here?", "What is the purpose of my existence?" There have been a large number of proposed answers to these questions from many different philosophical and ideological backgrounds. The search for life's meaning has produced much speculation throughout history. Different people believe different things for the answer to this question.

C.S. Lewis said: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the Sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

Jesus is the the lens by which we see the creator of it all and He is the lens by which we see everything else with clarity!

How to Bring Meaning to L-I-F-E

John 14:6 ESV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Not only can we intellectually know God, but we can have an experience with him! ILL: A persons changed life.

C.S.Lewis said: Christianity, if false, is of now importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important!

John 10:10 ESV

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

The creator God loves you and came in the person of Jesus Christ to set you free to enjoy life to the fullest!

Galatians 2:20 ESV

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The opportunity we have to share in Christ’ life, death and resurrection provides the ultimate meaning of life.

Those who have been crucified with Christ can now live with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and for all eternity.

People have tried to provide there opinion, but there is only one answer to that question. And this is it! Jesus Christ!

So many others try to find a different meaning to life. But fail.

There is only one answer to that question. Its like

Any other response is like telling someone how to make coffee when they asked for directions to Starbucks.

I. L-ove Brings Meaning

1 John 4:12 ESV

No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

A. Love is necessary for life to have meaning. To love and be loved is a built-in psychological need.

B. The more love we give, the greater capacity we have to receive.

C. God’s love brings meaning—it reaches through us to others with compassion, understanding, and a helping hand

1 John 3:14 ESV

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

II. I-nvolvement Brings Meaning

“He that abideth in me, and I in him … bringeth forth much fruit)” ().

A. Involvement in one’s work, hobbies, exercise is helpful. Involvement in charity and hospital work is also good.

B. Life becomes more meaningful when we are involved in God’s work—church activities, intercessory prayer, and sharing Christ with others.

C. Involvement precedes the harvest

1 John 3:18 ESV

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

III. F-aith Brings Meaning

“This is the victory … even our faith” ().

A. The Christian life is a life of faith. We are to use the shield of faith to defeat Satan at every onslaught.

B. Everything is possible through faith.

C. Faith pleases God and brings meaning to life

Hebrews 11:6 ESV

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

IV. E-ternal Values Bring Meaning

“Lay not up … treasures upon earth … but lay up treasures in heaven”

Matthew 6:19–20 ESV

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

A. Those who live only for selfish and temporal pursuits are most unhappy.

B. Life can have meaning only when eternal values are kept in proper focus.

C. Eternal values include liberal giving of our time, talents, and treasures and the hope of eternal life

1 John 5:13 ESV

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.

How to bring meaning to life:

How to bring meaning to life:

I am going to read some excerpts from a biography written by Larry Tomczak about Robbin Williams

3 Lessons we must learn and teach our kids from Robin Williams life!

Robin Williams was one of the most well-known, admired celebrities in all the world. He was a super-superstar. His face was as well-known as the Coca-Cola logo and he had millions and millions of dollars. He was recognized wherever he went.

He appeared in 68 movies and was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning one. His legacy includes movies such as: Mrs. Doubtfire, Jumanji, Good Morning Vietnam, Hook, Aladdin, Patch Adams and Popeye.

And of course there was: “Mork and Mindy” from back in Bob and Pam’s days in the 70s!

It seemed that he was everywhere, and he made $15 million for each movie he was in. He won Grammys, Golden Globes, Emmy’s. When Johnny Carson ended his 30 year Tonight Show run, he had Robin Williams as one of his final guests. Steven Spielberg called him "one of the best actors in Hollywood!" Everyone agreed that Robin Williams was a one-of-a-kind, brilliant, Hall of Famer. He was as big a star as we’ve ever had. Yet somehow his star self-destructed. Many poor choices led to his ultimate demise and little did he know that they would cost him his life. He self-destructed because of wrong choices in three areas where he was deceived and ensnared.

Wide is the road that leads to destruction and many find it. But narrow is the road to eternal life and few there in find it!

1. There is "pleasure in sin for a season" but there comes a day of reckoning.

Q: Why does the Bible say that there is pleasure in sin?

Rev. Billy Graham

The Bible declares that there can be pleasure in sin. We know this from our own experience. But the Bible also says that sin’s pleasure is only for a season (). Then it’s over, leaving us bitter, and finally destroying us. A day of reckoning always comes. The Bible says, “Be sure your sin will find you out” ().

In we read of a loving father and his son who learned this lesson the hard way. The boy had been reared in a wonderful home where God was worshipped. The young man, though, gazed out in the world and wanted to experience life beyond the gates of home. He asked for his inheritance while his father still lived and went out and foolishly squandered all he had been given. (I find it interesting that the father went ahead and gave him his inheritance knowing where it might take his son. He trusted God. He knew what He had invested into the boy’s life and he knew what sin would do. But Because the boy foolishly demanded to learn the hard way, His dad said ok.). He lived a sinful lifestyle and then found himself in a pigpen eating with the pigs. It was quite a different environment from what he had known. He sank so low that he had no choice but to return home in humiliation, planning to ask if he could live there as a servant. (We don’t hear Jesus talk about the scars or baggage that the sinful lifestyle had caused, but I can assure you it is a high price to pay and not easily overcome!)

To his shock, his father welcomed him home as his beloved son. A repentant heart brought the father and son back together again and this is what the Lord Jesus will do for all who confess their sin and return home to the Heavenly Father.

True repentance is a turning from sin and living for God. We can be convicted of sin. We can pray and confess our sin. We can repent of our sin. But the real test is our willingness to obey the Lord. (My guidance for all of you today is to humble yourself and obey the Lord now.) Christ Himself gives the power to flee sin and seek His righteousness.

o The Bible directs us: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God" ().

o There's no indication that Williams ever trusted Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

o "You will know them by their fruit" ().

o And certainly, no indication that He followed to wise instructions of God’s Word. Authentic Christ-followers are recognized by their character and conformity to His Word.

Robin could be hilarious, charming and generous but he regularly snorted cocaine, drank excessively, fornicated and committed adultery (he was married three times). He sexually assaulted women, profaned God, spoke perversely and spewed profanities profusely in his performances.

Williams craved affirmation from adoring audiences and feared becoming irrelevant. He disregarded the laws of God and the laws of nature regarding health and sleep. He projected the outward image of a funny clown, but on the inside, he was fearful, stressed and slowly spiraling into the canyon of destruction.

"Be sure your sin will find you out" (). They are fun for a season, but they create a debt you must pay later and they will always track you down. You cannot escape!

2. Disregarding God's Word means you are not preparing for life's challenges.

In the greatest sermon ever given by the greatest Teacher who ever lived, Jesus concluded His Sermon on the Mount with a staggering claim: “obedience to His teaching is the only safe foundation for life as unexpected adversity comes to all.”

Jesus was a carpenter, and He knew how to build something to withstand the storms.

"And everyone who hears these sayings of Mine and does not do them will be likened to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. And it fell. And its fall was great" ().

Robin Williams went through turbulent times in his life He divorced 3 times, he lost a close loved one to disease, he faced an unexpected lawsuit, he had several failing projects in his later career, his fame was fading, He began to have financial difficulties and finally Parkinson’s disease started to attack his body. Ultimately, he couldn't handle it all on His own. He tried distracting himself with entertainment, he saw therapists and used drugs and alcohol, but none of it helped. He started taking anti-depressants—but nothing solved the problems and only numbed the pain.

He grew even more anxious and couldn't sleep. He soon became listless and a shell of his former self. Remember: Satan has no happy old people.

Robin, like many people before him, had been set up by his archenemy who was moving in for the kill.

3. If you ever find yourself in desperate need it is still a good time to “turn to God.”

He is always loving and always good. No matter how far you go, He will always love and restore you!

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that cheer is grief ().

"Humor is the mistress of sorrow," said Ralph Waldo Emerson. Nathan Lane, a costar with Robin Williams in their gay comedy film, The Birdcage, admitted "We are the two most insecure, neediest people I've ever seen in my life."

App: When someone has stiff-armed God for so long and masked the problem of sinful independence, it's time to stop camouflaging it with humor and humble yourself and yield completely to God. Unfortunately, many people refuse to do just that. Pride and anger and resentment and sin have led them so far from God and deep into the snare of the enemy to destroy them.

The Crossroads

In case you think Robin Williams is an isolated case, remember as it describes the final account of King Belshazzar feasting and drinking while basking in the adulation of a thousand adoring fans. In an atmosphere of merriment and mockery of God, led by a popular figure who followed the vanities of life, God suddenly "numbered" his days and declared, "You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting." The self-sufficient star of the show quickly found his "countenance was changed ... his thoughts troubled him ... he turned pale... and he cried aloud." Shortly thereafter, his life ended.

Were the years of self-indulgent living catching up to Robin worth it?

As Robin entered his 60’s his downward spiral continued. He reached out to his son because he was lonely. Coughing, dizziness and finally major heart surgery put him in a tailspin of fear and anxiety.

His weight loss was severe, and his motor impairment was growing harder to disguise. His once-photographic memory was fading, and he couldn't remember his lines. He suffered panic attacks and wondered if audiences still loved him. Becoming increasingly paranoid, he grew fearful that his collection of designer wrist watches would be stolen so he stuffed them in a sock and took them to a friend's house for safekeeping. And despite encouragement that Parkinson's patients can keep their symptoms in check, he grew more depressed.

Finally, at the age of 63, pacing back-and-forth late one evening in his home, he cut his wrist, placed a belt around his neck and hung himself in the bedroom.

Here's the Deal: Robin Williams, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and other superstars were, like every other person on planet: They are dead in sin and in need of the transformative power of the gospel.

We should never be fooled by people's projected images and assume they know Christ when they don’t know Christ. "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." —Henry David Thoreau

The Young lady who took her life here in Watertown Thursday simply needed to hear the message of God’s love and then reach out to him in faith and everything would have changed for her!

May we learn to reach out in love to those God places in our lives who might be spiraling out of control because they find no meaning in their lives!