What's your purpose?

Best way to determine the purpose of something is to ask the designer or the maker or the artist or creator.

What is the purpose of a chair? To sit in : Can be used as a ladder or a frisbee or a tent but it is best used to sit in.

What is the purpose of a tape measure? To measure: Can be used as a hammer, to play catch, or to hunt with but is best used to measure things.

What is the purpose of of a piano? to play music : Can be used to lift weights, to ride on it, even as a bed but it is best used to play music.

What is your purpose?

I think we spend too much time thinking about this question.

A quick internet search will return thousands of ways to discover your life purpose, live your life purpose and even a few that think purpose is all made up.

“Purpose Driven Life” 50 million copies in 85 languages to include a movie cameo

IMHO, it is a western, Christian mindset to think there is this one thing God created you to do and it is your mission in life to figure out the secret code in the Bible that will shed light on the answers to your most deep, intellectual questions about your purpose.

That is a me focused Christianity and yes, Jesus did die for you but Jn 3:16 says God so love the world. The two main characters in this story are not you and Jesus!

John 3:16 NASB95

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

So back to finding our purpose b/c God wants us to be happy right?....wrong! different sermon series

Now a word about purpose, I am not saying we shouldn’t find the things we like to do and spend time developing those things

or that you can’t use a chair as a ladder.

I think God delights in us when we produce beautiful art or discover new ways of using duct tape; I just don’t think this is the main thing.

I believe and will show you in scripture that your purpose is to serve, period.

Turn to Gen 2:5-9

Genesis 2:5–9 NASB95

5 Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. 8 The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:15 NASB95

15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.

So from this passage we see Adam was placed in the Garden to hang out with God, lying in a hammock, drinking juice boxes, watching Netflix and playing video games....NO!

He was placed in the Garden to cultivate and keep it.

Hebrew word meaning to work (among other uses) and then when used for to work means either to cultivate, to minister or to serve (as a servant).

So in a perfect world, Adam had a purpose, to serve the land for the benefit of all the earth.

His first task was to design and build garden tools. Sounds like the first episode of survivor or something.

If that was his purpose then contrary to folk lore, tool maker and landscaping are the oldest professions.

Something to note: After the fall, this requirement was not taken away:

Genesis 3:17–19 NASB95

17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. 18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; 19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”

It was simply made more frustrating.

According to Genesis, you and I were:

Created to serve.

Now lets look at the example Jesus set for us:

John 13:12–17 NASB95

12 So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14 “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 16 “Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. 17 “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

So the leader of the free world, yes I am talking about Jesus b/c He is the only way we can be free, served those He loved and lead.

Notice v.12, He asks for feedback so they will understand this most important lesson He is teaching by modeling.

Then He told us to not just hear His words but do them and be compared to the wise man and his condo on the rocks.

Mark 10:42–45 NASB95

42 Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. 43 “But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. 45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

First off, I want you to see the 2nd Adam did what the 1st Adam could not,

Serve the creation for the benefit of all the world.

Here Jesus is telling His disciples that they, as Christ followers or people of the ‘The Way’ are not like others. ‘The Way’ has a different ‘way’ of doing things.

The world has always had a different way of doing things and it is always about self-fulfillment, self-actualization,

always self-centered...well until your self-centeredness is no longer congruent with that of the world.

A self-centered view will always divide big groups into smaller groups

and smaller groups into lone individuals

but we have a different way.

Do you think Jesus’ words were just rhetoric?

Was Jesus just stirring the pot to get them to reflect a little?

Or is there another way we should be living our lives?

Also, in serving God and one another do we do this to give something to God or to change something within ourselves?

Does God need our service or do we?

According to Jesus, you and I were:

Saved to serve.

Now let’s look at:

1 Pet 4:7-11

1 Peter 4:7–11 NASB95

7 The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. 8 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaint. 10 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Here Peter instructs us to use our gifts to serve one another, which is what people who fervently love one another will do.

This is a fulfillment of the second greatest commandment, “love your neighbor as yourself”

Everyone is given a gift (there is no exhaustive list of gifts in the Bible).

God has given each of us something we are good at and love to do. We should use that in serving others.

You and I are created, saved and

Equipped to serve.

Your purpose, my purpose is to serve.

It is that simple.

What that looks like however, will be up to the individual person and the gift given that individual.

Prism Slide

So no matter the situation we find ourselves, there are two questions we can ask:

Who can I serve? What can I do to help?

Example of me cleaning restrooms.

Remember, you were Created to serve, Saved to serve, and Equipped to serve.

Please pray with me...

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