All of us have questions about why we exist. I think the two most asked questions about our lives are:
a) The question of reason - "Why am I here?"
b) The question of value - "Do I really matter?"
Now, if you go around asking different people these questions, you will get many different answers. In answer to these questions, Oprah Winfrey said, "You’ve got to figure it out by yourself." The Materialist says, "Life is all about the acquisition of things." Those who are into all of the self-help nonsense would say, "You’ve got to create your own purpose in life."
Carl Yung, the famous psychiatrist said, "I don’t know the meaning of life or the purpose of life, but it looks as if something were meant by it."
Joseph Taylor wrote a book entitled "I Have No Answers to the Meaning of Life - And I No Longer Want to Search for Any." That tells us two things about Mr. Taylor. One, he is honestly ignorant, and two, he doesn’t care who knows it.
We could go on and on, but these statements show that there are many people who truly see no purpose at all in their lives. And, without any purpose to your life, you have no direction. Having no direction to our lives renders us absolutely useless.
An old farmer and his wife always went to the county fair. And, every year they saw the same pilot offering to take people up for a spin in his airplane for $10.00 a ride.
Every year, the old farmer asked his wife to give him $10.00 so he could go up. Every year, the wife responded by getting very mad at him and saying that ten dollars was ten dollars and they couldn’t afford to be so frivolous with what little money they had.
He told her that he was now 80 years old and if he didn’t go up this year, he never would. In a very angry voice, she repeated that ten dollars was ten dollars. At this point they got into an argument about it.
The pilot overheard them and offered to make them a deal. He would take them both up for free providing he didn’t hear one word from either one of them during the entire trip. If either of them said anything at all, they would have to pay him the $10.00. They agreed.
The pilot put them in, took off and during the course of the next 15 minutes put that plane through every maneuver known to man, including flips, rolls, and nosedives. And he didn’t so much as hear a sound from them.
When they landed, he congratulated the farmer on not making any noise, and asked him how come they never said anything during all the maneuvers. The farmer said, “Well, I was going to say something when my wife fell out, but like she always told me, ‘Ten dollars is ten dollars!"
Well, at least they both knew the value of ten dollars, didn’t they?
Being a success in life and knowing your purpose in life is NOT the same thing. You can be a raving success in life and still never know your purpose. As an example of that, look at Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. Both men were brilliant men of science who also wrote science fiction novels. Both of them said they saw no purpose at all in why we are here, other than pure happenstance.
Today, I want to talk to you about why you are here. The first thing we must realize in order to understand why we are here is that God created us. Now, for those who do not believe in God, there will never be an answer as to why they are here. For those who do believe in God, the answer to that question will be forthcoming.
1. WHY DID GOD PUT ME HERE?
We are not the first people to ask what our purpose is. That question was also asked in JEREMIAH 20:18.
“Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame?”
God put you here for His purposes, not your purposes. When you understand that, you will start to see your life from a different perspective. And the way you see your life will divulge your purpose. And when you see your purpose, it will help you see God more clearly in your life.
In ISAIAH 49:5a, it says it so plainly:
“And now the Lord says – He who formed me in the womb to be His servant.”
As I said last week, we are not here to enjoy ourselves, but to enjoy the Lord. We are not here to wander aimlessly through life, working for our own desires, but to work for the Lord for the desires He has for us.
Listen to what PROVERBS 16:4a says,
“The Lord works out everything for His own ends –“
Too often, we tend to look ahead and see our own desires and conclusions. We set our lives on a course that will take us to where we think we should go. We forget that we have a Master and that Master has a master plan for us.
In EPHESIANS 1:4, we are told –
“For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight.”
There are three basic truths in our lives.
.... God loves us more than we can know
.... God wants us to love Him with all our hearts
.... God wants us to love others in His name
When we start to really grasp the fact that He loves us with a love that is so great that we cannot even comprehend, we will start to see a love for Him develop within our hearts, and that love will grow stronger and stronger. And the more we love Him, the more we will change to love those around us in ways we previously did not understand.
There is another way to look at the love we are supposed to have for Him and for others around us. It starts by realizing that God does not love; He is love. You can exchange the name God and put in Love if that makes it easier to understand.
Love created us. Love’s Son gave His life for us. Love saved us. Love offers us the perfect eternity, if we just love back. Love’s Spirit is with us now, and with Love we shall someday be. It is all about Love; His and ours.
There is another question we should ask ourselves.
2. DO I REALLY MATTER?
Let me answer that question by saying, “Yes!” You matter to God and you matter to those in your life who love you so much. You matter to this church, and you matter to me.
Sometimes, though, we get all bogged down in life and things start to blur and before you know it, we have all but lost our focus on life and purpose, haven’t we? It is during these times of great unfocus that the enemy can come in and wipe us out.
These thoughts are reflected in ISAIAH 49:4a,
“But I said, ‘I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing….”
How many times have we felt just this way? How many times have we felt that nothing mattered and that we needed some serious R & R from the responsibilities and worries in our lives? Have you ever wondered if it would ever get any better?
It is during those times that are so heavy upon our souls that we need to look at the last half of that verse. In ISAIAH 49:4b, it tells us,
“Yet what is due me is in the Lord’s hand, and my reward is with my God.”
We have been in God’s personal vicinity since before we were born. In the Contemporary English Version, ISAIAH 44:2 says,
“I am your Creator. You were in My care even before you were born.”
Do you matter? God has been trying to tell you over and over again that you matter very much to Him! In PSALM 139:16, He tells us –
“All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.”
God knew and loved us even before we were born. He says you were made for meaning; and that meaning was to serve Him on this earth so we could serve Him forever in the wonderful house of Heaven.
Paul gives us God’s word in 2 CORINTHIANS 5:1 -
“Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”
In PROVERBS 9:6, we are told to leave our impoverished and confused lives and begin to live! We are commanded to walk up the street to a life that matters and that has meaning.
So, you tell me; do you matter? If we are honest and look at God’s holy Word, we will see that we matter very much indeed. So, as my mom used to say when I was a small child, “Now turn your frown upside down!”
3. SO EXACTLY WHAT IS MY PURPOSE IN LIFE?
PSALM 89:47 states a question we all ask from time to time. The New Century Version reads -
"Why did you create us? For nothing?"
I touched upon our purpose a moment ago when I said that we were put here to serve the Lord. But now, I want to go deeper into what our purpose is.
First of all, when we start feeling down and wondering why we are here, turn to PROVERBS 9:10.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
When the Bible talks about fearing the Lord, it isn’t talking about being afraid of Him. It is much like a healthy respect we should feel. In other words, we are to know that the Lord does feel wrath and anger. He hates evilness. And, if we show that we hate the Lord by refusing Him a place in our lives, we will end up suffering the consequences of our decision.
So, a good way to explain the fear of the Lord is to simply say we need to understand what he offers us and what we end up with if we refuse His offer.
But when we strive to seek God in our lives, we will start to know and understand Him more and more. God is telling us that we discover our purpose by getting to know him better and better.
In COLOSSIANS 1:16, it says that everything was made by God and for God.
In EPHESIANS 1:11, we find that we see our purpose only in Christ Jesus.
In ACTS 10:35, we understand that it makes no difference where we may have been, the only important thing is that if we are ready to follow the Lord, the door is open for us.
We hear much talk today about a ’purpose driven life.’ When we break that down, we see there are actually five great benefits to having purpose in our lives.
a) Purpose gives true meaning to our lives
b) Purpose actually simplifies our lives
c) Purpose prepares us for eternity with God
d) Purpose keeps us focused
e) And purpose gives motivates us to do more
I want you to ask yourself these questions -
.... Knowing God created me, what areas of my personality, background or physical appearance am I struggling so hard to accept?
.... What would others see as the driving force in my life, and what do I see that force to be?
.... Am I honestly in love with God? Is that reflected in my lifestyle?
If I discover my purpose by getting to know God better, do I really want to know badly enough to actually do those things to know Him better?
4. ENOUGH ABOUT PURPOSE - WHAT ABOUT MY VALUE?
I started this message by telling you about the farmer and his wife who both knew the value of $10.00. We must always be aware of value. It is said that when a man of money meets a man of experience, the man with experience ends up with the money and the man of money ends up with the experience. One knows the value of money, and now, the other knows the value of experience.
In EPHESIANS 1:7-8, it says
“In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.”
When we look at God’s generosity, we also see the depth of how much He really loves us, as is demonstrated by His extreme generosity.
In JOHN 3:16, it says,
“For God so loved the world ……. “
If all you think about is the fact that you are unworthy or that you do not deserve God, it will lead you to feelings of self-condemnation and alienation from Christ. These feelings are from the enemy, and they are all meant for one thing; to steal your joy so you get unfocused from Jesus.
Let me give you some truth right now. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ. The point I want you to hear is that it does not matter what you were before Christ, but the great value that God places on you, after you came to Christ.
For some, I pray this will be very liberating. Something you have waited all your life to hear. I pray that God uses this message to finally free you from the doubts you have had about your worth; your value; and even your salvation.
Let’s quickly look at a couple of things that determine value and see how we stack up on a biblical standard.
·· MANUFACTURING COSTS
How much something costs to make is a very critical element in determining the item’s final value, isn’t it? Jesus even talked about this.
In LUKE 14:28-30, He talked about the cost of being a disciple,
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For, if he lays a foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’”
In GENESIS 1:26 we do not see any hesitancy in our creation, even though God knew what lie ahead for His Son.
He knew how much it was going to cost Him, and He went ahead with the project anyway. Why? Because in His eyes, we were worth it. The cost of creating and redeeming you and me was outweighed by the value He placed on us.
Another thing that determines our value is –
·· THE TOTAL PURCHASE PRICE
You would be surprised at how much some people are willing to pay for certain things. I heard on TV this week where some rock and roll band whom I have never heard of before, is selling tickets for their last performance in America. They said the money will go to help the victims of Katrina.
The owner of the club they will be playing in said that he has four special spectator boxes similar to the press boxes at a baseball game. He said all four of them have already been rented at $20,000. per box!
I love music, but I have never heard a performer who was worth that kind of money.
Some people pay thousands of dollars for beanie babies or Barbie dolls. I wouldn’t, because they aren’t worth anything to me. My point is that the more something means to you, the more you will be willing to pay for it.
Think of the most valuable thing in your earthly life. Go ahead make it a hum-dinger. Now, let me ask you this question: As valuable as it is to you, would you pay for it with the life of one of your children? Absolutely not! There is nothing on this earth worth that is there? Or, is there?
Evidently, God thought there was. He thought we were worth enough to pay for it with the life of His only Son; Jesus. Does that bring new light upon the subject of how much you are really worth? I hope so, because you are worth the life of Jesus. That is how much God loves you.
In 1 PETER 1:18-19, we read –
“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”
When we consider that Jesus Christ took the world’s sins upon Himself as He hung from that cross, we can start to see just how much He thought we were worth. And that has not changed!
Another thing that determines how much we are worth is –
·· THE MAINTENANCE COST
If we want to purchase something, but we first find out that whatever it is will end up demanding most of our time, we probably would not buy it, would we? We don’t have that much time to devote to keeping something up.
Let me ask you a question this morning. Are you a high-maintenance Christian? In other words, do you need a lot of attention in order to remain faithful? Do you require constant encouragement and constant support from others in order to keep strong in Christ?
Well, I have some very good news for you! Even if you are a high-maintenance Christian who needs lots of special attention, God still thinks you are worth everything He did for you! He saw your significance and He saw your value.
Just like the grade school teacher who noticed a little girl in her class straining to read the blackboard. Taking it upon herself, she made arrangements to have the girl’s eyes tested. A week or so after the little girl had her eye exam; the teacher gave her some new glasses.
The girl said she could not take them, as she was poor and could not pay for them. The teacher gave them to her anyway, and said, “You don’t have to pay for them, I already did.”
That is what God did for us. We are worth so much to Him that He paid the price so we do not have to. It is very hard for us to understand this, but to God, we are just as worthy as someone like Billy Graham or the Apostle Paul.
Will the Victory Singers please come back on stage?
In closing, let me remind you that when someone is very dear to you, you will always speak of that person in loving terms.
In DEUTERONOMY 32:10, we hear how God talks about us.
“In a desert land, He found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded Him and cared for Him; He guarded Him as the apple of His eye.”
Even though this verse applies to Israel in the Old Testament, it is just as applicable to the church in the New Testament, and to each one of us today.
It always seems much easier for Christians to tell someone else that God loves them, than to say it to themselves. But look at what all God has done to show you how much you mean to Him. For the truth of the matter is that you are more valuable to our Father than you will ever understand.
INVITATION
