INTRO.- Eph. 5:17 “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” We all need to understand the Lord’s will or the Lord’s purpose for our lives. If we claim to believe in God the creator and Christ the Savior we must seek to understand their will/purpose for our lives.
ILL.- You have perhaps heard the story about the man from the back mountains of Tennessee who found himself one day in a large city, for the first time standing outside an elevator in a fancy hotel. He watched as an old, haggard woman hobbled into the elevator and the doors closed. A few minutes later the doors opened and a young, beautiful woman walked out. The father hollered to his youngest son, "Hey Billy, go get your mama.”
Often our purpose in life centers around the things this world values most: youthfulness, beauty, extreme makeovers, having fun, money, material things, etc.
ILL.- I saw part of an interview last Sunday morning by Dan Rather with country singer Dolly Parton. He said, “God made you pretty.” Dolly replied, “Yeah, but I helped Him.”
Dolly admits to having some work done to her features. She said, "I’ve had lots of work done. I’ll have some more done when I need it. I always said, ’If I see something sagging, bagging and dragging, I’m going to nip it, tuck it, and suck it.’ Whatever needs to be done. I mean, it’s like I look at myself like a show horse, or a show dog. I mean, I’m in the business. And, I like to look a certain way.”
I read more about Dolly’s life and here is what the article stated. She has never been into drugs or alcohol. And, she’s been married for about 38 years. Dolly met her husband, Carl Dean, a construction worker, outside the Wishy-Washy Laundromat the day she hit Nashville in 1964. They never had children, but they’re all the company each other needs.
"He’s proud of me," she says. "He doesn’t care what I do, and he knows I’m always coming home. He knows I love him, and he loves me. But he’s a loner. He don’t want to be with anyone but me, so that works out just fine."
Besides her husband, the other solid rock in Dolly Parton’s life is her personal relationship with God. At least, this is what she says. If this is true, then praise the Lord. She says that she believe that God is with her.
She said, “"Remember that old scripture, ’Pray without ceasing’?" she asks. "I just think that means to keep that inner glow, keep that feeling, that God light, inside you and hold onto that. It’s, like, when people say, ’Oh, how can you talk about being religious, you look like a whore.’ You know, maybe I do, but I don’t feel like one. And I don’t believe God thinks I’m one."
To most of us, Dolly’s spiritual life seems somewhat lacking. To pray without ceasing is more than just thinking that God is inside you. It is actually talking to Him every day and even every hour of the day. And, of course, she said nothing about any church affiliation, church attendance or devotional life. She also said nothing about the Lord Jesus.
Some day, if Dolly’s relationship with the Lord doesn’t grow she will find herself on the short end of the stick, because as we know, there is only so much that money can buy! Money cannot buy back youthfulness nor can it buy eternal happiness. Without the Lord there will always be a void in people’s lives. This is the way God created us.
ILL.- I read that Oprah Winfrey had a show on the meaning of life awhile back. At every break in the show she would say, “Now, come back because we’re going to tell you your purpose.” But by the end of the program she was no closer to discovering life’s purpose than she was at the beginning. Finally, as the credits at the end of the show were rolling, she looked squarely into the camera and said, “Remember, you’ve got to figure it out by yourself.” What a let down.
Overall, the purpose of life for most people is world-centered, here and now centered, material and money centered, play and pleasure centered, etc. And without the Lord in our lives there will always be a void, a dullness, a lack, a lifelessness.
ILL.- Bertrand Russell was born into a Christian home and taught to believe in God, but he rejected his training and became an outspoken atheist. His daughter, Katherine Tait, said of him, "Somewhere at the bottom of his heart, in the depths of his soul, there was an empty space that once had been filled by God, and he never found anything else to put in it."
Brothers and sisters, nothing can fill the space in our lives that God longs to fill! He alone saves and satisfies the innermost longings of people. His purpose must be a priority in our lives in order to have any fulfillment at all in life.
John 10:10 “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
What’s your purpose in life? Why are you here on earth? We have been studying the book, THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE by Rick Warren, Pastor of the large Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, CA.
What is God’s purpose? Why even seek God’s purpose for our lives? Why? Because He is God. He is our Creator. Life begins with Him and ends with Him so it seems perfectly rightly to put Him “in between” the beginning and the end. Some people only “sandwich” God into their lives when there is a convenient time or when there is an emergency, but God wants, desires, and deserves more attention than this.
One major purpose in life is to know Him through His son Jesus. And to know Him is to love Him and to serve Him. This is our purpose in life.
PROP.- In the remainder of this message I want to deal with several items and God’s purpose in these matters. I want to cover these areas of life because our lives are cornered or captured by them.
I. GOD’S PURPOSE FOR THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST MOVIE.
There is pro and con about this movie, but for the most part the Christian world is for this movie and hopeful that some good can come from it. This movie has made lots of money, but it’s not about making money. Hollywood is about making money, but not we who believe in the cross of Christ! I am far more interested in the impact this movie will make for Christ.
Some people may be upset because Mel Gibson is Catholic and probably doesn’t know what he is talking about. But I think he has done his homework. He may well know more about the crucifixion of Christ than many of us and it has most certainly deepened his faith.
I Cor. 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
I believe that movie-making and movie-going could be included. We can glorify God in all things. We need to pray that God will be glorified somehow through this movie.
It should be our hope and prayer that it will strengthen the faith of Christian believers everywhere and on the same hand, cause some unbelievers to come to faith in Christ.
ILL.- My 23-year-son Shane told me that after he saw the movie he couldn’t talk he was so humbled. However, some lady stopped him on the street and wanted some help. He said he felt motivated to witness to her. He talked to her about Christ and then gave her $20 to help her with her need. He said that the next morning before he went to work he gave the Lord his whole morning in prayer and study! That’s commendable!
ILL.- One of my former classmates of Webb City, MO, wrote: “I must admit, I shall never take communion in the same way again. Although we repeat the words and the actions, I wonder if we really, actually understood fully those puddles and drops of blood shed for us.”
And I’m confident that many other Christians have recommitted their lives to Christ as a result of this movie.
ILL.- Tina Kaser told me the other day about her brother-in-law in Little Rock (her sister’s husband) who is not a Christian but went to the see the movie. His reaction was that of amazement. He was amazed that Christ would do that much for people. In other words, be willing to suffer and be crucified for mankind.
Who knows? The movie may work on him to the point that he may eventually surrender to Christ.
Rom. 10:17 “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”
The gospel can be spread by preaching, teaching, witnessing, kindness, love, music, and BY MOVIES! Let’s pray it does.
II. GOD’S PURPOSE FOR OUR CHILDREN.
ILL.- Mother to small son: “I don’t care if our basement wall is cracking. Stop telling everyone that you come from a broken home.”
ILL.- “Are you troubled much when your children tell lies?” asked one mother of another. Her friend replied, “Not as much as when they tell the truth at inappropriate times.”
ILL.- Socrates said, “Could I climb to the highest place in Athens, I would lift my voice and proclaim, why do you turn and scrape every stone to gather wealth, and take so little care of your children, to whom one day you must relinquish it all?”
What is God’s purpose in regard to our children? Do He want us to raise our children to be decent, hard working, honest, kind? Yes, but even more! He wants us to raise them to know Christ!
Eph. 6:4 “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”
The whole purpose of training and instructing our children in the Lord is so that they will come to know Christ and live for Him! This is the greatest thing that our children could experience in life!
I always figured that if my children came to Christ and lived for Him then everything else would fall into place. Basically, this is true. When a person gets right with Christ they will strive to live right in every other way.
ILL.- It is well known that crabs walk in the “sideways” fashion. Once upon a time, the other fishes decided to teach these crabs of the deep the proper mode of locomotion, namely, to go forward.
Accordingly they started a Sunday School and collected all the little crabs of the neighborhood to instruct them on the proper walk.
At the close of the first day, progress was made, and they dismissed their students after obtaining the promise that they would come again the next Sunday. Sunday came around again and the crabs were once more in their places, but they were walking “sideways” as badly as ever. A teachers’ meeting was immediately called to consider what needed to be done. An elderly and wise fish said:
“You see, my brothers and sisters, we have these little crabs under our control for one day only. When they return home and watch their fathers and mothers the other six days, the influence of their example in the six days in the wrong direction more than destroys any good we may be able to do in the right direction in only one day.”
Six against one. It’s hard to beat those odds. This is why we parents have to model Christian living in the home. If our children are to have a chance to come to Christ and live for Christ we parents have to set the right example as best we can.
ILL.- I mean nothing negative by speaking of my parents, Leo and Juanita Shepherd. I miss them strongly. God rest their souls. I do not ever remember my parents reading the Bible in my presence or having prayer. We may have had prayer at the meal table on special occasions like Thanksgiving, but it was not a regular practice in our home, nor at any other time. Mother was the spiritual leader in our home. When it came to church, mother went and took us kids. Dad went only on special occasions. And honestly, I don’t remember as a child how I felt about Dad not going. I know how I feel about it now, but I’m sure it had an effect on me then.
I am absolutely convinced that if Christianity had been an important part of our lives I would have come to Christ much sooner in life and would have been better off.
Parents, I can’t encourage you enough to live the Christian life. If you want your children to go to Sunday School, then you need to go to Sunday School. If you want them to read the Bible and pray, then you need to set that example for them. If you want them to be saved, then you must live the saved life. That is God’s purpose for you in regard to your children.
III. GOD’S PURPOSE FORTHE CHURCH.
Matt. 28: 19 “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
God’s purpose for the church is growth. God’s want His church to grow! His purpose is to reach out to people who do not believe in Jesus Christ and lead them to a saving knowledge and get them in the church. Are we doing this? If not, how?
ILL.- In a door-to-door survey conducted by Willow Creek Community Church, South Barrington, IL, the question was asked: if you don’t go to church, why? The five biggest reasons: 1) Boring, 2) Irrelevant, 3) Asking for money all the time, 4) I’m too busy already, 5) I feel awkward at church.
There may be even bigger reasons as to why people don’t attend church and don’t ever want to go.
Last week I heard Dick Alexander, the preacher at the Clovernook Christian Church, Cincinnati, OH, speak about getting a hearing for the gospel. He said that people outside the church don’t care about the church. They care nothing about the church! And this may seem somewhat shocking to us. He said that not only are people disinterested in the Lord’s church, they may even think that going to church is a bad idea!
ILL.- Dick Alexander told about a minister with the Willow Creek Community Church where Bill Hybels is the Sr. Pastor. He asked Bill if he could become a part-time minister so he could work at Starbucks in order to do real evangelistic work. For two years, while working for Starbucks, he invited people to come to church, both customers and fellow workers and not one person came to church. Not one person!
What does this tell us about inviting people to come to church? What does this tell us about our witness?
ILL.- Dick Alexander also told about a Cincinnati Bible College student who did a casual survey in a barbershop in an Ohio town of 11,000 near Cincinnati. He went in to visit with the people and gradually turned the conversation to the church. Without exception, everyone he interviewed thought that church was a bad idea. The people said that all church people were self-centered, judgmental, cliquish, didn’t care about anybody but themselves, etc.
There is an old saying that says: “People don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care.” If the love of Christ is not demonstrated in our lives to the people around us in the working world and everywhere else, then inviting them to come to church won’t mean a thing!
Dick Alexander said that according to Arn Research that between 1990 and 2000 there was not a single county in the United States where churches grew by actual conversion to Christ!
I get the distinct impression that all we are doing in most churches is shifting the Christian population around, from one church to another.
Somehow we need to change our thinking, our approach, our look, our ways of doing things, etc. in order to fulfill God’s purpose/will in the church.
What can we do to turn the tide? First, we must demonstrate Christ to the world. We must demonstrate the love of Christ to all people around us: our families, our working world, our socializing world, with friends, neighbors, everywhere and to everyone. We will never get a hearing or lead people to Christ if we don’t demonstrate the sweet fragrance of Christ in this world!
Next after demonstrating loving care, we must witness. We must not be afraid to speak for Christ. The early Christians went everywhere preaching the Word. Acts 8:4. If we want to see God’s purpose fulfilled in the church then we must allow God’s Spirit to work in us to love, care, witness, and live for others.
II Cor. 2:14 “Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and THROUGH US SPREADS EVERYWHERE THE FRAGRANCE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM.”
CONCLUSION----------------------------------
ILL.- A man once bought a new radio, brought it home, placed it on the refrigerator, plugged it in, turned it to WSM in Nashville (home of the Grand Ole Opry), and then pulled all the knobs off! He had already tuned in all he ever wanted to hear or expected to hear.
Brothers and sisters, we must never “tune out” when it comes to God’s purpose for our lives. If we want the best life then we must be open to God’s purpose/will for our lives.
Eph. 5:17 “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
