A LIFE OF PURPOSE

Introduction

-Throughout recorded history great thinkers and philosophers tackled question abt purpose & meaning of life—why we here? Why exist? What is life abt? What is purpose? What is end/aim/goal?

-With each era & culture & society & religion different answers have been given—what I mean by that is answer to question worldview dependent

-So, e.g., Hinduism believes 1 impersonal being/ultimate reality (Brahman) & we are emanations—purpose is to shed attachment to physical so reabsorbed into this reality

~So, for them, life is illusion—purpose=trying to stop the illusion & return from where came…

-Or, e.g., naturalistic humanism=either matter always existed or (at minimum) matter/physical is all ever existed—nothing beyond physical, & we all cosmic accidents here either by chance or luck

~That means nothing beyond here & now…

~Since came from impersonal no meaning given to us, no purpose, there is no goal aiming for—so, existentialist philosophers 19th/20th centuries said have to make own meaning/purpose/goal

~But when try that found didn’t work, so lead to nihilism=skeptical look at life, everything meaningless & purposeless

-& so this why Christian worldview unique=eternal God created mankind in His image (which gives us meaning), & He did what necessary to save (which gives value) & invites us in His work (which gives us purpose)

-But what has happened to so much of Christianity is we love basking in being made in God’s image & love saved us (so don’t go to hell), but then Christians often forget that were created & saved for purpose

~We let emotions or laziness or whatever get in way of seeking & fulfilling purpose

-In today’s passage, Jesus knew He had purpose from God to fulfill to which He willingly submitted for inauguration & advancement of Kingdom of God

~Jesus died & rose again to make a kingdom of ppl for Himself & the Father

-& is reminder to us that as born-again believers under the authority of God we have been endowed with purpose that advances God’s kingdom agenda to which we joyfully submit—this is why exist…

-I want you leaving here today either seeking God’s purpose for your life, or confirming God’s purpose & then submit yourself to fulfill…

John 12:27–43 ESV

27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 34 So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 35 So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them. 37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, 38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” 39 Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said, 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.” 41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. 42 Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

-Before I get into some lessons, I want to contextualize passage—Holy Week, soon after triumphal entry, & Jesus knows heading to cross

-& so, Jesus being fully human, is bothered/ troubled/distressed abt what going to happen—not the physical aspect but the spiritual=in few short days going to bear full brunt of God’s wrath toward humanity’s sins—in few hours going to deal w/ eternal consequences; so, for a time Jesus’ fellowship w/ Father is different

-Jesus is speaking to apostles, Jews who curious, & Gentiles who sought Him, & bears His soul—everyone else doesn’t understand what going to happen, but Jesus knows full well, & it troubles Him

-But notice, regardless of feelings & emotions, Jesus knows He has a purpose & He is bound to see it through

~If He wld give into emotions & feelings like our generations have tendency to do, Jesus wld cry out for God to save Him from this hour & seek ways to escape it b/c we don’t think God wants us to suffer…

~But then Jesus declares in a sense: How can I ask God to save me from this hour when that hour (of suffering & death) is God the Father’s purpose

~Jesus wasn’t going to allow anything take away from Him fulfilling His purpose

-Now, for Jesus, the purpose was for Him (God the Son) to leave glories of heaven, empty Himself of divine privilege (w/o losing divinity), take on humanity, fully obey law of God, die a painful death as sacrifice so that humanity cld be delivered from consequences & power of sin, & to be raised to life so as to conquer sin & death

~That is Jesus’ great purpose, & no one will ever have purpose like that…

-But, when we are a child of God by faith in Jesus Christ, we are also given a Kingdom purpose, joining God in the work of His plan of redemption

~But maybe we are confused abt our purpose or maybe we’ve been too self-absorbed to seek…

1) There is one overarching theme for your purpose—the glory of God

-In v. 27 Jesus declares He has a purpose that His life is leading up to, & then in v. 28 He gives the prayer in connection w/ His purpose that God’s name be glorified. God responds that His name has already been glorified (in Jesus’ life & ministry) & it will be glorified (in His death & resurrection)

-But before Jesus gets into specifics abt His purpose, He recognizes that the general theme of what He has done & will do is so God will be glorified

-That term “glorify God” or “give God glory” is Christianese—often used in church & prayer etc. w/ little consideration of what really means…

=to acknowledge as much as is humanly possible the greatness, honor, & dignity that God possesses & then responding to these attributes through praise & obedient actions

-So, to say theme of my God-given purpose is to glorify God means that when I submit to & fulfill purpose, I am recognizing God’s majesty and responding to it, and then in what I do others will recognize & acknowledge God’s greatness & majesty, & in turn they will believe in Him & praise Him

-For example, as Christ commanded us in Ser on Mt.:

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matt. 5:16 ESV)

~When ppl see you fulfilling purpose, give glory to God—they recognize His greatness & respond w/ praise & honor

-& that is what we want when we fulfill the purpose God has for us—when I fulfill my calling & gifting I don’t want ppl to recognize my attributes & sing my praises, I want ppl to recognize God’s greatness & give Him praise

-For some reason it makes me think of a wedding. Everything that is done has a purpose of shining the light on the married couple & commitment make b4 God. The ceremony, music, reception, everything puts the focus on the couple, & nobody is to take that away from them. None of the friends, family, musicians, or anyone else is to take the spotlight.

-It is same for us & our purpose of giving glory to God. So, when I preach, or when ppl sing, or when you serve or when you teach we want ppl to attribute to God greatness & respond to Him—our purpose is for Him, not us

-In theory wld agree b/c right answer—but pragmatically not how we think—usually think how something advantage to self…

2) God gives every believer a specific purpose in His plan

-Jesus flushes out what His specific purpose is in vv. 31-33. Through Jesus being lifted up on cross ppl from all nations will either be drawn to Him by grace through faith, or else they will refuse Him & be judged w/ the rest of the world

-But the ministry of Jesus continues through us in drawing ppl to Him thru gospel work, & every born-again believing Christian has part in it

~You, as a child of God, have a purpose in God’s plan of redemption—a kingdom work that will make Christ known & will draw ppl to Him

~And while everyone’s purpose has the general theme of glorifying God, we each given a specific purpose in the overall plan, & God equips us to fulfill that purpose

-So, e.g., I have been called by God to be a pastor preacher—Ephesians 4:11-13 explains this purpose:

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, (Eph. 4:11-13 ESV)

-My purpose is to equip you so you can do your ministry (fulfill your purpose) to build up the church, to grow in knowledge, to mature, so everyone finds their fulness in Christ

~My purpose is to equip you to fulfill your purpose

~That’s why I’m trying to do specific things—why Sunday evenings will now look a little different

GO & GROW

1st & 3rd Sundays=deep Bible studies to cultivate your soul, grow in know of Son of God and mature & equip you

2nd & 4th Sunday=Reach the Harvest so as to go out into community & minister as equipped

(ministry doesn’t just happen in 4 walls of church—your purpose isn’t just in here)

{Sure, are ministry opportunities, but doesn’t just stop here}

-Just doing “normal” Sunday evenings just for sake of “normal” Sunday evenings isn’t fulfilling purpose—in fact, if what we do doesn’t fulfill or equip for purpose then no reason to do it

-But I guarantee this, warming pews is not a purpose of God—you need to connect w/ church body & get involved through church in fulfilling your specific purpose

-I want you to think about this:

Let’s say you order a toaster off of Amazon—it’s the right color to go with your décor, it looks all high-tech, and it got a 5-star review. You receive the package, open it up, plug it in, and put some bread in it and turn it on. And a few minutes later you notice it hasn’t done anything. It looks like a toaster, has instructions abt being a toaster, and seems to have all the parts of the toaster. Only problem is=it doesn’t toast.

~It’s a toaster that is not fulfilling its specific purpose

-How many Christians are like toasters that don’t toast? They aren’t fulfilling their purpose. Don’t let that be you.

3) Only a close walk with Jesus enlightens the path for your purpose

-in vv. 35-36 Jesus reminds the people that He is the light of the world and they are to walk (that is they are to live life) in that light, b/c w/o that light you will walk in darkness

-If you walk in darkness, you can’t see where you are going much less get to your destination—without the light to guide you there is no way for you to find your way to your purpose. You first need a relationship w/ the light that is Jesus Christ, and then you need to keep close to the light to guide you on your way

-SO many ppl say I don’t know my purpose / part of plan—I don’t know where I’m going

~The more walk w/ Jesus the more will be revealed—when you walk in light, can see where going; if walk in darkness, all you will do is stumble

-The closer you are to Jesus, you will see more of the path toward your purpose—the farther away from Jesus you are, the more you have no clue what you’re doing or where you’re going

-A young boy and his father were walking down a very dark country road one evening with just a little flashlight to help them along. The blackness of the night frightened the boy and he said, “Dad, the flashlight gives only a little light and I’m afraid because I can’t see where we’re going.” The dad replied, “That’s true, but if you keep walking along the road where the light shines it will eventually get you to your destination.”

-God’s purpose for you is beyond what little you see, but if you are to continue on in fulfilling it, you need a close walk with Jesus to enlighten your path.

Conclusion

(a) Ignorance

-In v. 29 the people heard the voice of God, but they acted like they didn’t quite get it. It’s not that God’s voice wasn’t clear, it was that their heart didn’t want to hear what God had to say.

~You could say that it was a willful ignorance where they just didn’t want to hear from God.

-And that may be some of you. You do the spiritual equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ear and say I CAN’T HEAR YOU. You don’t want to hear God’s purposes for your life b/c it might disrupt your life.

(b) Argument

-In v. 34, after Jesus revealed Himself and His purpose, the ppl began to argue with Him, the essence of saying: WHAT YOU DESCRIBE AS BEING THE MESSIAH DOESN’T FIT WHAT WE BELIEVE. SINCE THIS DOESN’T FIT OUR MOLD, WE REJECT IT.

-And you might think that God’s purposes for you are all wrong and you argue with God that you can’t do it or don’t want to do it or won’t do it. But God doesn’t make a mistake. He gave you your purpose for a reason.

(c) Unbelief

-In v. 37 after all Jesus had said and done most ppl flat out didn’t believe Him. They wouldn’t entrust their souls to Him for eternal life and they sure wouldn’t entrust their life purpose to Him, so they just flat out refuse to serve God.

(d) Fear

-In vv. 42-43 there were ppl who believed in Jesus but wouldn’t fulfill their kingdom purpose b/c they feared man more than God.

~They were afraid of what ppl wld say. They were afraid that God wldn’t hold up His part of it. They lived in fear rather than faith. And fear might be holding you back.

(e) Surrender

-Like Isaiah you can say: HERE I AM LORD, SEND ME. Surrender to God’s purposes for you, as Jesus willingly surrendered His rights and privileges and power to fulfill the purpose of saving mankind from sin.

~But it takes trust and courage and boldness and endurance and patience—all of which is supplied amply by the Holy Spirit.

-What’s your response? Will you allow God’s purpose for you to be fulfilled, or will you spend your time sitting in a pew or watching TV or playing sports and being distracted a million different ways? Will you live for Christ or for self?

-Christian, come to the altar pray that God’s purpose be revealed and pray for strength to seek out fulfilling His purpose.

-But if you have never trusted in Christ, believe in the Lord Jesus…