What's My Purpose (Part A)

Sermon Notes – Sept 15, 2019 What’s My Purpose? (Part A) Sermon Series: Marching Orders - #1 Exodus 3:13-15 Rev. L. Kent Blanton Introduction • Everything in our world has a purpose • Pictures of various items shown on screen & questions to congregational members about each item’s purpose • Congregation watches “man-on-the-street” video about the purpose of human beings • There are diverse opinions about our purpose as human beings • Many people seem to have no clue regarding our purpose on earth • People are looking and longing for purpose, but few have answers. Example of Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the rock group, Queen - “Does anybody know what we’re living for?” • Quotes from 2011 film, Hugo: “Everything has a purpose, even machines. Clocks tell the time. Trains take you to places. They do what they’re meant to do. Maybe it’s the same with people. If you lose your purpose, it’s like you’re broken.” “Right after my father died, I would come up here at lot. I’d imagine the whole world was one big machine. Machines never come with any extra parts, you know. They always come with the exact amount they need. So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine . . . I couldn’t be an extra part. I had to be here for some reason. And that means you have to be here for some reason, too.” • You and I are here on earth for a reason. We do have a purpose as human beings. • That purpose is the focus of this message in our new fall sermon series entitled, Marching Orders. Thesis & Exposition • One individual in the man-on-the-street video indicated that our purpose as human beings is to glorify God. According to the teachings of the Bible, this individual was “spot on” in his response. • The Presbyterian Westminster Catechism responds to the question, “What is the chief end of Man?” with the answer, “to glorify God.” Where do we see that our purpose is to glorify God taught in the Bible? Many places, but here are two examples: • Isaiah 43:6-7 - “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth – everyone whom I created for my glory, everyone I formed and made.” God tells us that he formed and made us as humans for his glory. • 1 Cor. 10:31 - “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” • The Bible clearly tells us that God created us to glorify Him and we are commanded to glorify God in everything we do to fulfill our purpose. • The phrase “to glorify God” can be somewhat nebulous. What does it mean to glorify something? • To glorify something means feeling and thinking and acting in ways that reflect the greatness of the object or person being beheld or remembered. We glorify things that we enjoy or hold in high esteem (John Piper). Examples: • Quarterback - We are awed by the passing prowess of our favourite professional football quarterback and what do we do? We study him and memorize his stats, we get excited about his play-calling and passing abilities, we laud him and his skill to others, we talk about how great he is at playing football. In essence, we glorify the quarterback. • Art piece - We are moved by seeing an exquisite classical piece of art such as the Mona Lisa and what do we do? We are mesmerized by the painter’s gifts to so masterfully capture and portray the object or objects of the painting. We tell others about the painting’s greatness and hold the artist in high esteem extolling his impeccable work to others. We glorify the painter. • Love - We fall in love with another person and what do we do? We became enamored with their character, with their intellect, with their wit and humour, with their handsome or cute physique, and what is our response? We tell others about how wonderful this person is, how he or she is the best thing that has ever happened to us. In essence, we glorify our newfound sweetheart. • What does it mean to glorify God? To glorify God means to feel, think, and act in ways that reflect his greatness, that make much of God, that give evidence of the supreme greatness of his attributes and the all-satisfying beauty of his manifold perfections (John Piper). • Why is glorifying God so important? • Exodus 3:13-15 – what did God reveal about himself when he spoke to Moses out of a burning bush in the desert? (3 things) • v. 13 - God says, “I am who I am.” This is a statement about God’s being • v. 14 - “This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I Am’ has sent me to you.” This is a shorter response that forms the basis of God’s name. • v. 15, God says, “Say to the Israelites, “the Lord (in Hebrew the word is Yahweh), the God of your fathers – the god of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob – has sent me to you. This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” God reveals to Moses his name. It’s translated LORD in our English bibles. In Hebrew, it’s pronounced “Yahweh.” It’s built upon the word for “I Am.” Yahweh is not a title, it’s God’s proper name, built out of the word for “I AM.” It reminds us that God is the one who absolutely is. • What does it mean that God is? (John Piper) • That God is means he never had a beginning (Rev 1:8; 4:8d). • That God is means God will never end (Rev 1:8; Ps 102:25-27). • That God is means God is absolute reality (Ex 3:13-14; Ps 90:1-2). • That God is means that God is utterly independent (Ps 50:9-12; Acts 17:25). • That God is means that everything that is not God depends totally on God (Job 38:33-37; 1 Cor 8:6; Ps 145:6-7). • That God is means all the universe is by comparison to God as nothing (Is 40:17). • That God is means that God is constant (Mal 3:6; Heb 13:8). • That God is means that he is the absolute standard of truth and goodness and beauty (Num 23:19; Ps 18:30; 119:160). • That God is means God does whatever he pleases and it’s always right and always beautiful and always in accord with truth (Ps 92:15; 135:6-7; 145:16-17; Rom 11:34). • That God is means that he is the most important and most valuable reality and the most important and most valuable person in the universe (Col 1:17; Eph 3:8; John 17:3; 1 Peter 1:12; Phil 3:8). • Glorifying God is so important because God is so utterly glorious! Because God is the absolute pinnacle of perfection, holiness, greatness, transcendence, importance, goodness, wisdom, beauty, love, and anything else you could think of that is true and right. God is. And all of God’s “is-ness” deserves and demands being glorified, being magnified, being praised, being adored, being celebrated, being proclaimed, being extolled, being loved, being enjoyed. • Glorifying God is also so important because Jesus, God’s Son, glorified and continues to glorify God in everything. • Jesus’ consuming purpose and passion was to glorify God. John 12:27 - “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say, ‘Father, save me from the hour?’ No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” • John 17:1, 5 – “Father the time has come. Glorify your Son, that you Son may glorify you. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” • Jesus’ driving purpose on earth was to glorify his Father. Even though Jesus shared the Father’s glory before the world was created, he laid aside that glory and lived on this earth for the glory of God. Because of Jesus’ obedience and choice to glorify his Father in all things, the Father chose to glorify Jesus with the same glory he shared before coming to earth in the form of a human being. • As Christ followers, Jesus is our supreme example. We are to seek to model our lives after him, to live as his lived, to share his purpose and passions. • Jesus’ death he displayed the glory of God like it had never been witnessed before. The cross displays the full glory, the full brilliance and beauty, of God’s holiness and love. • The Cross is the only place in the universe where you can find two things at the same time – you are perfectly known . . . and perfectly loved. (Matt Woodley) • Fully known - The Cross is the place of judgment. It’s the place where sins get exposed, brought into the light, and judged. Jesus didn’t die for his own sins; he was without sin. He died for our sins. 1 Peter 2:24 - “He bore our sins in his body on the cross.” All of our sin – our worst and most secret rotten thoughts and attitudes, our selfishness, our lust, all the ways we use people, all the ways we ignore God the Father and spurn his grace, all the cruelty of human beings to each other, all of our cowardice and greed – all of it went into Jesus. He bore our judgment. We were fully known. • Fully loved – At the Cross, we were also fully loved. John 12:32 - “And I when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.” At the Cross, it looked like the opposite of glory, ugly and brutal. But the Cross became the means of drawing people to himself • v. 24 – the grain of wheat appears buried and crushed with nothing good to show. What looks like the grain’s demise is, in fact, its harvest. The crucifixion is the supreme argument for, and the ultimate display, of God’s justice and love. The Cross reveals God’s glory like nothing else. • If Jesus’ supreme purpose was I to glorify God, our supreme purpose is also to glorify God in everything that we do. • There are some remaining questions that we have not yet answered: • How do I glorify God? • Does God’s desire for glory mean he’s on a big ego trip? • Does God need our adulation to feel good about himself? • If so, how could I glorify that kind of self-centered supreme being? • Next week, we will tackle these questions and explore the second part of the response to the question “What is the chief end of Man?” in the Westminster Catechism - “to glorify God and . . . in part B of What’s My Purpose? Application • Are you intently pursuing and fulfilling the purpose for which you were made? Is your life glorifying God? Is it reflecting his glory - his greatness, his holiness, his beauty, his goodness, his love? • Or, in the words of the orphan, Hugo, are you “broken,” because you have lost or never discovered your purpose? • Your Heavenly Father, the Great I Am, the one who absolutely is, calls to you today and invites you to gaze at him. He invites you to behold his glory by coming to the Cross, and there, to witness the most amazing demonstration of his glory where judgment and love meet. It was on the Cross that you were fully known, and it was on the cross that you were fully loved. • Will you come to the Cross of Jesus Christ today? If you do, it will be the start of discovering or rediscovering your true purpose. Your life will be transformed, you will begin to experience life to the full, and you will never be the same.