Appointed for a Purpose

Have you ever tried to hammer in a nail with a screwdriver? You can do it, but not as easily as if you used a hammer. Every tool has a purpose and is best used for that purpose. Would you ask a plumber to install an electrical panel? Every person has a set of skills or abilities that are best used for certain tasks. We will find the most satisfaction in our lives when we are carrying out the purpose God has for us.

God’s call of Jeremiah is an example:

Jeremiah 1:4–5 NIV84

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

God’s call of Jeremiah

Jeremiah didn’t choose to be a prophet on his own,

Jeremiah didn’t accept this call right away. He didn’t think he was qualified. God equipped him.

I don’t know how to speak, I’m only a child

God doesn’t do anything without a reason.

I knew

I set you apart

I appointed you

Jeremiah’s mission was not an easy one – he was not allowed to marry or have children, his message was unpopular, people spoke out against him, he was beaten and placed in stocks, later he was beaten and put in prison, and then lowered into a well

God has a purpose for us

God knows us better than we know ourselves because He made us.

In calling us to be Christians God sets us apart as His people

We are then appointed to carry out His work

It’s not that God looks at us and says I have a job for you but that God has a job and looks at us and says I’m giving you to that job.

We can try to ignore God’s call – Paul

We can try to argue with God’s call – Moses

We can try to run from God’s call – Jonah

We can accept God’s call - Mary

God’s purposes for all believers

To do the good works God has prepared for us to do

Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

John 15:16 NIV84

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

To become like Jesus

Romans 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

To be ambassadors for God – His representatives

To glorify God

1 Peter 2:9 NIV84

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

We are all called to be ministers, servants of God, but the way we carry that out may be different for each of us.

Finding God’s purpose

Scripture

Prayer

Seeking God’s will

Circumstances

Includes your gifts and personality

Stuart Briscoe, pastor of Elmbrook Church of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, described his call to preach like this: I never intended to be a preacher. I was going to be a businessman. As a teenager in England, I’d just moved to a new town to start working, when a layman in the church I attended asked me how old I was.

“Seventeen,” I said.

“It’s time you were preaching,” he said, which was a total surprise to me. But two weeks later, I found myself preaching my first sermon in that small church. He had given me my topic: the church at Ephesus. So I studied everything I could find on the Ephesians.

In that first sermon, I went ten minutes over my allotted time—and only got through my first point. So he told me to come back the following week and finish. Which I did. Then he said, “There are lots of little churches around here that need preachers,” and so he started sending me to different little congregations, preaching about Ephesians.

So I started preaching, and I discovered (1) I could do it, (2) I enjoyed doing it, and (3) people seemed to be blessed as I was doing it. Eventually the church affirmed my preaching, and I discovered a gifting. And I learned that where there’s a gifting, often there’s a calling. Over the years, that sense of calling has crystallized.

So after twelve years, I left the business world and went full time into the ministry.

Holy Spirit

Obedience

The first is to do everything you already know God wants you to do. You cannot expect to be ready for God’s call, or even to recognize God’s call, unless you are obeying what God has already revealed to you.

Remembering that God has a purpose for us, has appointed us to carry out a task, can help us persevere when we are tempted to quit. We might find that we fulfill our purpose in a way we didn’t expect.

Three Trees

Once upon a mountain top, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up.

The first little tree looked up at the stars and said: “I want to hold treasure. I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones. I’ll be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!”

The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on its way to the ocean. “I want to be traveling mighty waters and carrying powerful kings. I’ll be the strongest ship in the world!”

The third little tree looked down into the valley below where busy men and women worked in a busy town. “I don’t want to leave the mountain top at all. I want to grow so tall that when people stop to look at me, they’ll raise their eyes to heaven and think of God. I will be the tallest tree in the world.”

Years passed. The rain came, the sun shone, and the little trees grew tall. One day three woodcutters climbed the mountain.

The first woodcutter looked at the first tree and said, “This tree is beautiful. It is perfect for me.” With a swoop of his shining axe, the first tree fell.

“Now I shall be made into a beautiful chest. I shall hold wonderful treasure!” the first tree said.

The second woodcutter looked at the second tree and said, “This tree is strong. It is perfect for me.” With a swoop of his shining axe, the second tree fell.

“Now I shall sail mighty waters!” thought the second tree. “I shall be a strong ship for mighty kings!”

The third tree felt her heart sink when the last woodcutter looked her way. She stood straight and tall and pointed bravely to heaven.

But the woodcutter never even looked up. “Any kind of tree will do for me,” he muttered. With a swoop of his shining axe, the third tree fell.

The first tree rejoiced when the woodcutter brought her to a carpenter’s shop. But the carpenter fashioned the tree into a feedbox for animals.

The once beautiful tree was not covered with gold, nor with treasure. She was coated with sawdust and filled with hay for hungry farm animals.

The second tree smiled when the woodcutter took her to a shipyard, but no mighty sailing ship was made that day. Instead, the once strong tree was hammered and sawed into a simple fishing boat. She was too small and too weak to sail on an ocean, or even a river; instead, she was taken to a little lake.

The third tree was confused when the woodcutter cut her into strong beams and left her in a lumberyard.

“What happened?” the once tall tree wondered. “All I ever wanted was to stay on the mountain top and point to God...”

Many, many days and night passed. The three trees nearly forgot their dreams.

But one night, golden starlight poured over the first tree as a young woman placed her newborn baby in the feedbox.

“I wish I could make a cradle for him,” her husband whispered.

The mother squeezed his hand and smiled as the starlight shone on the smooth and the sturdy wood. “This manger is beautiful,” she said.

And suddenly the first tree knew he was holding the greatest treasure in the world.

One evening a tired traveler and his friends crowded into the old fishing boat. The traveler fell asleep as the second tree quietly sailed out into the lake.

Soon a thundering and thrashing storm arose. The little tree shuddered. She knew she did not have the strength to carry so many passengers safely through with the wind and the rain.

The tired man awakened. He stood up, stretched out his hand, and said, “Peace.” The storm stopped as quickly as it had begun.

And suddenly the second tree knew he was carrying the king of heaven and earth.

One Friday morning, the third tree was startled when her beams were yanked from the forgotten woodpile. She flinched as she was carried through an angry jeering crowd. She shuddered when soldiers nailed a man’s hands to her.

She felt ugly and harsh and cruel.

But on Sunday morning, when the sun rose and the earth tremble with joy beneath her, the third tree knew that God’s love had changed everything.

It had made the third tree strong.

And every time people thought of the third tree, they would think of God.

That was better than being the tallest tree in the world.

The next time you feel down because you didn’t get what you want, sit tight and be happy because God is thinking of something better to give you.

Psalm 138:8 NIV84

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever— do not abandon the works of your hands.