The Purpose of Life... Is a Life of Purpose

Well, thank you, Mr. Janisic, and once again, good afternoon to all of you. Hope everyone's well. You're all in fine voice. Thank you for singing so beautifully, for the congregational special music. Very much appreciate your participation. Very much participate in your voice. Well, brethren, as long as humanity has been on this planet, we have sought the answers to some of the most important questions of life. Who are we? Why are we here? Are we alone? Right? I mean, all sorts of questions that we wonder and we're asking constantly. And these answers to these questions, when you think about these questions in life, the answers to them, they're existential. They give our lives meaning. They're significant in a number of ways for, in a way, framing the way we look at the world and ultimately framing our place in it. Everyone wants to have a sense of purpose in their life. Everyone wants to have a reason why they do what they do, so to speak. And in the past decade or so, it seems, at least in the past decade or so, there's been more and more discussion that relates to this concept in the corporate world. So in business, there has been much more discussion that has been taking place around these sorts of things as employees begin to see a disparity between what the organizations that they work for claim to value, claim to want, claim to desire, and then what they actually produce as the values and the goals of that actual organization. Maybe the value that they add to society, so to speak. And this disparity has a name. Everything has a name these days. This disparity, this difference between these two things has a name. They call it the purpose gap. They call it the purpose gap. And it's not just corporations that experience this gap between essentially what they profess to desire and what actually transpires. In fact, Lifeway Research did a survey a number of years ago on Americans asking them about this concept of purpose, about this idea of, you know, what gets them out of bed in the morning, so to speak. And what they found was interesting. 85 percent of Americans that were surveyed feel they have a purpose, but only 65 percent can actually articulate it. So when you ask these individuals the question, you say, do you have a purpose? Of course I do! What is it?

I don't know. I'm not sure. I'm not really sure what it is. I feel like I have a purpose. I can sense that there's something about my life that has meaning and makes me want to live it in this way, but you know, is kind of the response. Eight out of ten Americans surveyed in this Lifeway Research Survey believe that they have an ultimate purpose to their life, but only half of those respondents actually describe that purpose as meaningful and satisfying. Half of the respondents reason and their purpose is not satisfying or meaningful to them.

The gap affects young people more than it does older people. In fact, 20 percent of young adults answered in the affirmative to having a developed sense of purpose. Only 20 percent of young adults answered to the positive of having a developed sense of purpose compared to, okay, 33 percent of older adults. So it's not that much of a difference from young to old, I suppose, in that sense. But out of all of the respondents, out of everybody that was surveyed, 60 percent of them said discovering some sort of purpose should be a priority in my life. They recognized the importance of it. They recognized why it mattered. And so I think that speaks to a very strong desire by the majority of people to really discover that reason to get out of bed in the morning. The reason to feel as though life matters, to add value to their families, to the society around them, or to their workplace. I did find it kind of interesting in that same study, in that same life-way study, 70 percent of those that responded. So keep in mind this is 70 percent of the people that could actually articulate their purpose. So only 70 percent, roughly three quarters of those that could articulate their purpose defined their purpose solely through their work, solely through their career. They did not define it based on relationships, based on their families, based on any of those things. They identified it their identity, who they were, and what they were about as their role at work. Nothing more. For many, many people today struggle to find meaning in their lives. They struggle to find meaning in their work. And as they undergo these things, and as they continue through this process, they can't help but conclude there must be something more. This go to bed, get up, go to work, go to bed, get up, go to work, there has to be more to life than this. They're right. There's a lot more to life than that.

But many are struggling to find it. And so as a result, over the last decade or so, a number of books have just exploded on this concept of discovering your purpose. Finding your reason, so to speak. There's a lot of them. Multiple titles, lots of different ones. They're out there. They're all over the place. One that has been one of the more popular ones in recent years has been Simon Sinek's book, Begin with Why. Many of you have probably heard this. He's the one that talks about the bull's eye. I think I've even given sermons on it, actually, where he talks about the bull's eye. It's like what you do, how you do it, and why you do it. And he advocates that most businesses look at it completely backwards. They start with what they do, how they do it, and then why they do it. And the why is the final conclusion, well, we satisfy shareholder satisfaction. Like the reason why we do this is to make our shareholders happy. And he says there has to be more than that.

You have to begin with the purpose, begin with the why. Start there, and then define how do you do that, and then what comes of it overall. So he advocates for working the way from the inside of the circle, so to speak, to the outside, versus what most people do, which is from the outside in. What I'd like to do today is I would like to address this concept of purpose, this concept of meaning, in a somewhat similar way, but I want to use a different diagram.

Some of you may be familiar with this diagram. Some of you may not. If I could have our folks pop it up on the screen real quick behind me, that would be great so that you guys are able to see it. It's called ikigai, and it comes from a Japanese concept. Okay, it comes from a Japanese concept that helps kind of define some of these different things. I came across this a couple years back, and it helps us to understand this purpose. It helps us to understand these things.

ikigai in Japanese is made up of two words. It's made up of ika, which means life, and gaai, which means value and worth. Okay, ikigai. Together, the concept describes what makes life worth living. It's not so much your purpose in that sense. It's what makes life worth living.

The concept comes from the southern part of the Japanese islands, very specifically around an island called Okinawa. Now, Okinawa, some of you might know this already, Okinawa has been defined and been identified as a blue zone. How many have heard of blue zones before? Okay, so not as many people as I expected, actually, on blue zones. Okay, so blue zones are parts of the world in which people live exceptionally long and healthy lives. Okay, we can go ahead and take the slide down for now. This is areas where people live exceptionally long and healthy lives, but in Okinawa, the individuals that live there experience the longest disability-free life expectancy in the world.

And that matters because long life plus disability is not fun, right? So this is the longest disability-free life expectancy in the world, which means they're kind of a blue zone of blue zones in this area of Okinawa. They live seven good years longer than the average American. They have five times as many centenarians, one-fifth the rates of colon and breast cancer, and they have one-sixth the rate of cardiovascular disease when compared to America. So they're obviously doing something right. Reality is they're probably doing a lot of somethings right. I mean, that's kind of the reality of this situation. But what is really interesting is that if you walked up to a random person on the streets of Okinawa and you said, what's your ika guy?

They could tell you what it is. It's built into their culture, the importance of having a reason to get out of bed in the morning. They could tell you, my grandkids, they're my ika guy. They're the reason that I get out of bed in the morning. They're my purpose. They're my focus. You walk up to the average American on the street, so you ask them what their ika guy is. Well, they would look at you like, what's an ika guy? But if you ask them what the purpose of their life was, many of them would not be able to answer that question. It is built into the culture in this part of the world. Now, as with most things, people have taken this concept and they've westernized it, which is the source of the diagram that you just saw. If you want to pop it back up there again real quick, guys. They've taken this diagram and ultimately they have westernized it. And you'll notice that one of these categories and facets is very western in origin. People in Okinawa could care less what they get paid for in that sense, but we in the west, that's an important thing for us. Okay, so that has been added. But basically what ika guy in this diagram describes is it describes the intersection of four facets of your life. It takes four places in your life and it intersects them. And where all of the Venn diagrams meet is your ika guy. That's your purpose. And it's what the world needs, what you love, what you're good at, and of course, in the westernized version, what you can be paid for. Okay, so if you're trying to find this, if you're trying to discover this, these four things all intersect in one spot. And if you can find that unicorn, congratulations! You've discovered your purpose. You've found your reason to exist.

Ika guy in this westernized version of this concept is your life's purpose.

Now additionally, you'll notice there's a couple of other places where that Venn diagram overlaps.

What you love and what you're good at describes your passion. What you love and what the world needs becomes your mission. What the world needs and what you can be paid for becomes your vocation.

And what you can be paid for and what you're good at is your profession. And so ika guy in this concept represents a blend of passion, mission, vocation, profession, all mixed together. And again, if you can find that unicorn in the middle, then according to this diagram, you have discovered your purpose. Go ahead and pull the slide back down again. It's interesting to look at these things and to consider these things when we consider our lives. What does the world need?

What are we good at? What do I love? And of course, how can I find a way to be paid for it?

Right? That matters. Brethren, we're one week now away from the Passover. We're one week away from the start of the spring holy day season. That all happens next week. We've been spending the past weeks and months examining our lives, looking at our lives, examining our hearts, exploring our hearts, and looking at the alignment of our beliefs and our actions. We're looking at that gap.

We're looking at the purpose gap. What do we profess to believe? What do we understand? What is important to us? And then what do we do with it? Those are the questions that we've been looking at and thinking about as we're examining ourselves. We profess this way of life. We may desire this way of life, but when the rubber meets the proverbial road, is it the life we really lead?

Do we live a life based on our purpose? Now, interestingly, most people, when they explore this diagram, they start from the outside and they work their way in because they're trying to find their purpose. They're trying to seek it.

They're trying to figure out what does the world need? What am I good at? What do I love? How can I find a way to get paid for it? Brethren, you, on the other hand, you have an advantage.

You have an advantage when it comes to this. Your purpose is established. It's already defined for you. You don't need to find it. It's already established. And what that means for each of us as we think about that is that what we need to be doing is focused not on the outside in. We need to be starting from that purpose and then asking, based on that purpose, what does the world need from us? What does the world need from us? What do we really love? What are we good at? And how can we leverage it? And of course, how can we get paid for it? Wait, oh wait, no, that's not one of them. Not one of them at all. The title of the sermon today is, The Purpose of Life is a Life of Purpose. The purpose of life is a life of purpose. Let's start by turning over to Romans 8. Romans 8, we're going to begin today. Romans 8, the apostle Paul in the book of Romans is giving us an explanation of the gospel message of Jesus Christ and explaining how it transforms our lives. And it is explaining how God makes sinful man righteous, makes sinful man capable of adoption into the God family. And in Romans 8, we'll pick it up in verse 14 to begin here. Romans 8 and verse 14, we see this purpose for our lives defined. We see the definition of these things. Romans 8 and verse 14 says, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. Again, that word Abba is a personal, intimate term. It's like papa. It's like daddy. It's an intimate term that we use to describe our heavenly Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And verse 17, if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together. So within Romans 8, God lays out the path of mankind.

He lays out our ultimate purpose, children of God, children of God. That's the purpose that we've been called to. Children who are led by his spirit, heirs of God, and heirs with Christ of an eternal kingdom. And he continues through Romans 8. He kind of contrasts the coming glory that's inherent in this kingdom that we're set to inherit as children of God. And he contrasts that with our present reality. He says, here's what's coming, here's what's now. You know, and as we're waiting and as we're expecting and as we're eager for this coming time, it yearns for that adoption our bodies do, and the redemption of this very painfully physical body to spirit, but we'll be glorified with Christ. But he says all of this, all of this, this whole plan, this whole purpose, everything is done according to the will of God. It's done according to the will of God. Let's go down to verse 28. We're going to skip through a section here we're going to come back to later, but let's go down to Romans 8 verse 28. It says, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose, for whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified. Brethren, the creator of this universe called you, called you personally, specifically, purposefully. It wasn't an accident. It wasn't, oh, I guess that one would be fine. He selected you purposefully. Out of 800, 800, 8 billion rather, other people on this planet, he selected you, and he selected you according to his purposes, according to his reasons for doing so, according to his plan, and according to his will. He saw something in you, something you may not see in yourself, selected you, called you, and justified you through the blood of Jesus Christ. And what Paul illustrates here, what Paul says right here in Romans 8, is that what God has selected, what God has called, what God has justified, he will glorify. That's what Paul says here. Brethren, that's our purpose. That's our future. That's what's coming. Your purpose is established. You are a child of God. You are an ambassador of his kingdom to this world here and now. And so what that means for us as we look at this diagram, this concept, what that means for us is that everything else on this diagram flows outward from that purpose. It all begins there.

It begins with that concept and that purpose in mind. And so then we have some other questions that we need to answer here as to what does that now look like in our lives because of this purpose that God has given us. So we're going to go ahead and start with the one that is not as important on this list and that is what can you be paid for. I hope that when we look at that we realize not as critical. When you look at the other things, what the world needs, what we love, what we're good at, all right, what you can be paid for kind of ranks down the list a little bit. I don't, you know, I don't make light of it. You know, being able to make a living is important. Being able to survive is important. Those things are important. But I'm going to start this with a little bit of a hot take. I don't think God cares what you do for work. I really don't.

I don't think God cares what you do for work. I don't think he really cares. I think he can bless you in whatever endeavor you find yourself in. Now, provided, there's a couple of caveats there, provided that what you're doing does not cause you to sin, provided what you're doing does not require you to forsake God in some other way, and provided that you exhibit godly character, godly work ethic in whatever your chosen profession is, if you are yielding yourself to God, you're taking care of your family in an appropriate way, the specifics of that job are not as critical. They're not. Now, you might find a greater sense of personal fulfillment in one role over another. You may find a greater sense of satisfaction. You may have much better mental well-being in one job versus another, and if that's the case, then that's the other—the one that you should be in is the one that provides you with the greater sense of well-being in that in that way. Let's go over to 1 Thessalonians to begin here. In this book, Apostle Paul is providing a series of principles and doctrinal understandings to the brethren in Thessalonica. 1 Thessalonians 4—we're going to pick it up in verse 9—and he brings a principle to bear here that we could all probably do a little bit better job keeping in mind today as we think of this very fast-paced and very crazy world in which we live.

1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 9, it says, But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another, and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all of Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more. So he says, look, you guys understand, you've been taught by God as to what this is going to look like. You know these things. And he says, you're doing a great job in it. You're doing this toward all the brethren that are in Macedonia. So he's kind of giving him a little bit of kudos and saying, just keep doing it. Keep going. But then he says, verse 11, that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands as we have commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

Paul says this impacts how we interact with those who are outside, the way in which we live our lives, the things that we do. And he says that we may lack nothing. Can you imagine if that was everyone's primary goal these days? Can you imagine that? Aspiring to live a quiet life, minding your own business, and working with your hands? We would end up in a spot where all of the gossip rags that are out there would go under. They would go out of business immediately. Nobody would care what this celebrity did or said because they're minding their own business. They're working on their own lives. They're taking care of their own things. Offenses!

Maybe not fully go away, but they'd certainly be reduced, as people aren't getting into the middle of everybody else's stuff. Right? Can you imagine what that would be like?

Now, Paul's not giving directives here. I don't think Paul is saying, if you find yourself in a white-collar job, that you should quit that white-collar job and go get a blue-collar job. I don't think that's what he's saying. What he's providing here are principles. Principles that we can consider when we look at our lives, and when we think about things like contentment, when we think about things like purpose. Paul was a tentmaker by trade. He was no stranger to hard work. He was no stranger to hard work. But the principle that he's outlining here is a lot more about our perspective on life than it is a directive on job choice.

Before I was in education, and before I became a pastor, like many people do, I worked a lot of odd jobs. I worked a bunch of random things as I was kind of figuring out what my direction and my path in life was going to go. Shortly after I moved to Oregon, I was living with my uncle up in Oregon City. I was sharing a room with one of my cousins and driving down here to go see Shannon every weekend, basically, at that point. We were still dating at the time. But I had a job at that time as a day laborer with a construction firm. What that meant was I learned a little bit of everything. It was kind of a jack-of-all-trades sort of role. I learned rough carpentry. I want to be very clear. You don't want to see my fine carpentry. You do not want to see my fine carpentry. My rough carpentry, to be quite frank, kind of needs help. There's a wall at the end, but the wall's leaning. Maybe it's a little out of... Yeah, you don't need to see any of that. What I ended up doing primarily on that job was cleaning up job sites and hauling material. That was the primary use of my time. That was the primary use of my job. But it didn't pay a lot at the time. I got made 10 bucks an hour. But it kept enough gas in the tank to come down here and visit. It kept enough, you know, money to be able to buy food, whatever else I needed. It kept things going. But I'm going to tell you something. That job was satisfying in a way that education and ministry has not been. Seriously. It was incredibly satisfying work because at the end of the day, I could look at that job site and there was a wall that wasn't there before. Again, that wall's crooked. That wall's not square. But there's a wall that someone who knows more than me is going to come along and fix at some point in time. The job site was cleaned up. It was pristine. Materials were staged and ready to go for the next day. And I could step back and I could go... All right. I can go home. There's a sense of satisfaction that comes in a hard day's work like that. That you just don't always get in other roles. Now, that's not to say that education isn't satisfying. It's not to say ministry isn't satisfying. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is they're satisfying in different ways. And there is a certain satisfaction that comes from, at the end of the day, being able to say the job is done and you can move on, you can go home. But that value and that satisfaction, that contentedness, if you will, of a hard day's work can't be overstated. And it was hard work. It was hard work. Education's hard work. Ministry's hard work. They're all hard work, but they're hard in different ways. What's interesting is in education and ministry, you don't always see the immediate results of your efforts. Sometimes the immediate results, you don't see them for five, six, seven, eight years down the road, sometimes.

When you interact with people or when you find those things. First Timothy 6 and verse 6, we'll just reference it. Paul writes, Godliness with contentedness is great gain. Godliness with contentedness is great gain. What that means is when we combine a deep and respectful relationship with God with a satisfied and a peaceful heart, kind of a sense of enough, so to speak, those things are more valuable than a pursuit of material wealth. And fundamentally, that comes from a very deep place of trust in God and trust in His will, His timing. Let's go over to Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. I'm actually going to read this passage in the ESV. Most of the translations, in fact, most translations outside of the New King James and the King James, translate this with a little more easily understandable language. The New King James, in this case, uses the term covetousness, which makes sense if you think about it in the context. But the context is hard to find in this passage. Other translations seem to kind of capture this a little more effectively. So Hebrews 13, we're going to pick it up in verse 5. Hebrews 13 and verse 5. Hebrews 13 and verse 5 says, let your conduct in the New King James be without covetousness. Okay, that's what it is in the New King James. The ESV says, keep your life free from love of money. Be content with what you have, for He has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what can man do to me.

This covetousness, this contentedness, these two diametric opposites, you have covetousness and you have contentedness. They come from an understanding of the perspective of God in our life.

We can have a life that is free from love of money because we realize God has promised I will never leave you, I will never forsake you. He loves us more than the sparrows, He loves us more than the grass of the fields. And so we know that we trust in Him. We know that we believe Him when He says that He will be with us. Right? It says, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what can man do to me. God is with us in these things. As I brought out earlier, we're coming to a close, a season of examination. We're going through and we're looking at our hearts. We're really looking at our hearts. And as I like to do when we come into Passover, I like to ask some hard questions.

Do you have a content heart? Do you have a heart that is content? Or is that heart continuing to chase things that you need more and more and more and more and more? Or are you content with the promise that God has given us that He is with us and He will be with us? God won't forsake us.

He promises that. He cares for. He provides for our needs. Are we content? As we think about what can we be paid for, right? As we look at this, working outward from the purpose piece. But in order for us to be able to understand and to be able to truly express our purpose in the world, we have to be content. There has to be a contentedness present in our hearts to be able to effectively do this as we look at our purpose. The next question that we need to ask ourselves is, what are we good at? What are we good at? What can we leverage as far as skills and talents to be able to fulfill our purpose in the world? Everybody is different. We have all got different skills. We've all got different talents. Everybody has different skill sets, different life experiences. And I've said it before, and I'll continue to say it because I think it's important for us to consider.

The reality is that apart from the calling that God has given us, not one of us in this room would know one another. Our paths and our circles in life just simply don't interact by and large. Apart from the calling that God has given us to become a part of His ecclesia. That is what has brought us together. That identification of His purpose for us and our acceptance of it is what has brought us together. And so when we think about that, why does God pull such a ragtag crew together? Why does He bring us together in this way? Why does it matter? Why can't God just work through one person? Why does He need everybody? Why does He need us all? Romans 8, 28 talked about God calling people according to His purposes. What that means is God has drafted a team.

God has purpose-built a team. He has brought people together with different talents, different skills that are being developed by God to be utilized with one another and ultimately in the world. Let's go over to 1 Corinthians 12. Paul uses an analogy here to describe the Church of God, describe the various gifts that the Spirit of God provides as God pours that spirit out upon people. We see in this case the gifts that the early Church was given in the capacity of the manifestation of the Spirit of God in that person. Some would get wisdom, some would have knowledge, strong faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, languages, interpretation of languages. In other places, he talks about administrations and differences of roles and service and edification, all for the building up of the body. These gifts were not about, oh, look at me, look what I can do. That's not what these gifts were about.

These gifts were about how do we serve one another. How does this gift enable me to serve someone better as a result? That was the whole goal here. 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 4 says, there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit. There are differences of ministries but the same Lord. Diversities of activities, he says, but it is the same God who works all in all. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the prophet of all. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another workings of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kind of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. The same Spirit of God provides these things, but notice distributing to those individually as God wills by His purposes, by His goals, the way that He is going to use each of us. He goes on in verse 12. He says, For as the body is one and has many members, all the members of that one body being many or one body, he says, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves are free and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact, the body is not one member, but many. If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? And if the whole were the hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? God sets the members in the body as He pleases, again, according to His purposes.

According to His will. Body can't function without all of its parts. It can't function without all of its parts. In fact, Paul kind of makes us a funny analogy here. He's like, imagine for a moment a body that is just an eye. Just an eye. It's Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Inc. Right? Just a single eye. That's it. Or a giant nose. And that's it. It doesn't have any legs. It can't walk. It doesn't have any hands. It can't do it. It's just a nose. Just sitting there. It can't do any of the other stuff that a body needs to do because it's just that one thing. Paul's point is the body is made up of a bunch of different parts with different skills, different talents, different capacities, different perspectives, ways of looking at things because of life experience, because of what God has provided. You know, I am so thankful that not everyone in this room is a public school teacher.

And the reason I'm thankful for that is because then we would all have the exact same general perspective. We would view the world in much the same way, but God has brought people from all different walks of life, all different life experiences, different geographic areas, has brought everyone together into a single body to allow for differing perspectives to help bring a depth and a color and a texture to the word of God. I have heard messages over the years from men who are Vietnam veterans. I've spent time in Vietnam. I've heard messages from men who were nuclear engineers, loggers. You all have heard some messages from a logger, too, right? Loggers, individuals who are counselors, general contractors, teachers, civil engineers, accountants, landscapers, sales personnel, and a whole bunch more. I've had in-depth biblical discussions with midwives, homemakers, office managers, city clerks, librarians, widows, endurance athletes, coaches, registered nurses, physicians, and much, much more. And I have learned facets of God from each and every one of those conversations. I have understood God and His word more effectively as a result of all of those conversations over those years. My understanding of the word of God is greater because of the variety that God has put into His body and the perspective that we have when we look at His word. Everyone participates, and when everyone participates, we as a body are stronger for it. We're stronger for it. So when we think about our purpose, we think about the calling that we've been given and the work that God has called us to to bring His way to the world, do we have a participating heart? Are we looking for ways to participate in what God has asked us to do?

What He has called us to become? Or do we find ourselves fading into the wallpaper, finding ways to disappear so we don't have to interact? We don't have to be a part of the participation and the fellowship and the discussion. When we encounter those who are in the world around us, do we participate in that sense in the work of God, sharing His calling, sharing His way of life through that unique lens that we have? Do you have an elevator speech? Do you know what an elevator speech is? Elevator speech is a quick little 10 to 15 to 20 second statement that you could make to somebody to answer a question that they might ask you in between elevator buttons. So you get on on the first floor and you're going to the third floor and somebody says, hey, a piece of tabernacle thing you do. Why do you do that? Have you got a 15 to 20 second response that A is not going to offend, B is going to be short enough and succinct enough that it's not going to completely drag them through a bunch of different, you know, chain reference scriptures that you've learned over the last 25, 30, 40 years? Are you going to hand them a booklet? They don't want to read your booklet.

They want to know why that has been important enough for you, personally, the person they know, to change your life. You weren't doing it at one point in time, now you are. They want to know why. They're curious. And you're going to hand them a booklet and you know what they're going to do? The second they get to a garbage can, it's going right in the trash. They're probably not going to read it. But if you give them a response, if you give them a short little succinct response that is authentic and real and personal, they might actually ask, if you have more information on that, and then you can provide it. But if we lead with the booklet, if we lead with something other than a personal response, we lose them. We lose them.

To express our purpose in the world, to express what God has called us to do, we have to be participants in that purpose. We have to be active, willing participants in that purpose.

All right, another question that we need to ask ourselves is, what do we love? What do we love?

Do we love God? Do we love His way? Do we love His law? Do we love His word? And I know for a fact that if I ask you that question, you're going to go, of course I do! Because of course we do.

That's why we're here. We do love God. We do love His word. We do love His law. We do love His way.

But do we truly consider what that means when it comes to expressing our purpose, achieving the calling we've been asked to come to, when it comes to achieving the reason, so to speak, for our existence? You know, love's an interesting concept when we think about it in our lives. You know, at its core, the expression of love is a verb, right? It's an action word in that sense. It's shown through the action. It's shown through not what we say, but instead, ultimately, what we do. I'm going to walk you through a couple of a little bit of a story here. I want you to start in John 13 today, because I want you to see when it comes to our calling, what this really looks like, and why this question matters to every single one of us, especially as we're coming into this spring holy day season. This is why this matters.

Our purpose and our calling is so unbelievably important. John 13, we're going to ultimately pick it up beginning in verse 36. Okay, verse 36 of John 13. So on the night of the final Passover, okay, on the night that Christ was to be arrested, you know, be betrayed, arrested, tried, and killed, Christ tells his disciples that what's coming, what was about to happen, was going to cause the disciples to scatter. That they were going to... oh, that was much louder than I expected. They were going to go through and scatter. It's supposed to sound like... but they were going to disappear.

And that that stumbling, that scattering, was going to be a fulfillment of prophecy. It was a fulfillment of prophecies in Isaiah 53 and a fulfillment of prophecy in Zechariah 13. Okay, the shepherd has struck the flock scatters, right? There's these concepts that are present. And Christ tells Peter on this evening, when you put the parallel accounts together, when you put them together in harmony, Christ tells Peter that Satan has specifically asked for him.

That Satan was after Peter specifically. Christ said he asked that he might sift him as wheat, and to which Peter responds in one of the parallel accounts to John 13. So not the one we're going to read, but a parallel account to John 13. Peter responds, Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. That's what he tells Christ in a parallel account, right? That's what somebody other than John records. John 13, verse 36 through 38 captures the retelling of the event. Okay, Simon Peter, verse 36, said to him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered, and where I'm going, you cannot follow me now, but you shall follow me afterward. Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for your sake. Again, that's where Peter ultimately says, I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death. He says, I will lay down my life for your sake. Jesus answered him, will you lay down your life for my sake? He says, most assuredly I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied me three times. So Peter tells Christ, I will follow you. I am ready to go with you to prison, to death. I will lay down my life for your sake. People don't often sacrifice for things that they don't love.

People don't sacrifice for things that they don't love.

Greater love hath no man than this than to lay down his life for his friends, right?

That willingness to sacrifice, to give up, to lay down one's life is an expression of great love.

But saying it and doing it are two very different things. Two very different things.

And I'm not just talking about, you know, laying down our life in a physical sense here.

I'm talking about giving up our wants, giving up our desires, giving up our selfishness, giving up our own inward focus in that sense. Let's go over to Luke's account real quick. Luke is going to now discuss what follows after this statement that is made in John that Peter says. Luke 22. Luke 22. We'll pick it up in verse 54. Luke 22 and verse 54.

Now, after Christ is betrayed, after he's been arrested, now we pick the story up in Luke 22, and we'll grab it beginning in verse 54. It says, Having arrested him, they led him, and they brought him into the high priest's house.

But Peter followed at a distance. Now, when they'd kindled a fire in the midst of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat among them. So he kind of followed at a distance as they were moving toward the area where Christ would be tried. They start this little fire. It's in the evening. It's cold. Peter comes over. It sits down next to the fire, kind of warms his hands. And it says, A certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat by the fire, looked intently at him and said, Hey, this man was also with him. But he denied him, Christ here, he denied Christ, saying, Woman, I do not know him. After a little while, another saw him and said, You also are of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not. Then after about an hour had passed, another confidently affirmed, saying, Surely this fellow also was with him, for he's Galilean. You could tell based on speech patterns. He could tell based on, you know, whatever he was looking at that here's this Galilean.

But Peter said, Man, I don't know what you're saying. Immediately upon those words, while Peter was still speaking the rooster-crote, okay, what Christ told Peter was going to happen had happened.

Now, why did we read Luke 22? Because of verse 61. Verse 61 is the only account in the entirety of the Gospels that records this taking place. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, Before the rooster crows, You will deny me three times. And so Peter went out and he wept bitterly.

Peter, in the process of going through exactly what Christ said was going to take place, finishes his words, the rooster crows, and at that moment, Jesus looks right through the crowd at Peter, bores into his skull, you might imagine, with that stare right through the crowd of people at Peter. And Peter catches his eyes. And he's convicted in that moment of exactly what he had just done. And he leaves weeping bitterly because he realizes not once had he denied his master, but he'd done it three times. Three separate occasions when he had the opportunity to do otherwise. Now, Christ said this was going to happen. This is all part of the story, right? It's all part of the process of Peter's life. Did Peter love Christ? Yes. I think he absolutely did.

But in that moment, Peter fell back into very human failings, confronted with the possibility of his own arrest, possibly even his own execution. Peter denies Christ. Denied not knowing him not one time, but three times, right in this scenario. Verse 61, Christ looks right through the crowd at Peter. Can you imagine for a moment what Peter is feeling in that moment? As he catches his master's eye, the shame, the guilt, all of those things of what has just taken place.

The rest of the story progresses. Christ is beaten. He's crucified. He dies. He's resurrected. And he comes to the disciples while they're fishing on the Sea of Galilee. John 21.

Turn over to John 21. Christ shows himself to Peter, to Thomas, Nathaniel, James and John, and then two other unnamed disciples. They're on the edge of the Sea of Galilee, essentially. Christ is coming to them. He asks, do you have any food? They didn't recognize him right away. They were out in the water a little bit, but they didn't understand exactly who it was.

As the account progresses, you know, he finds out that they haven't caught anything all night. That's not uncommon, fishing here in Oregon. I'm sorry, in Sea of Galilee. But, you know, it's not uncommon to be a fisherman. Somebody goes, you catching anything? No.

Well, you should try this. This is standard fishing. That's all I'm saying. But, he says, lower the nets on this side of the boat. The nets on that side went down. Sure enough, they come up completely full of fish, right? Peter realizes what has happened. He knows who this is, and I love this. He realizes it's Christ. Peter jumps overboard, fully clothed, right? Jumps straight in, fully clothed. He's got his clothes on. Jumps in, swims, swades to shore. And, of course, then the rest of the story continues. After breakfast, Christ and Peter have a very powerful conversation that speaks to our collective purpose and our collective calling in this thing that God has called us to. John 21 and verse 15. John 21 and verse 15. Sorry, let me get there.

John 21 and verse 15. It says, so when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonah, do you love me. He said to him, yes, Lord, you know that I love you, got him a second time. Simon son of Jonah, do you love me said to him yes, Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him sorry, first time he said to him, feed my lambs and then he asked them a second time. He said, Yes Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, tend my sheep. Verse seventeen. He said to him the third time, Simon son of Jonah, do you love me? And Peter was This account is interesting because Christ starts by asking if he loves him more than these. Christ asks, do you love me more than these disciples? And then it gets interesting because when Christ asks Peter the question, he's utilizing the Greek word adape. So he's asking the question, Peter, do you agape me? Do you agape me? Or at least the verb that's in that form of the word agape. And the usage of that word when we reference it in Scripture and we're talking about God is a certain sacrificial love that is willing to give up our desires, give up our wants, give up our selfishness, so to speak, and lay it down at the feet of Christ. But Peter's response is the Greek word phileo.

Christ asks Peter, Peter, do you agape me? And Peter says, yes, Lord, I phileo you. I love you like a brother. He asks him again, Peter, do you agape me? And Peter says, yes, Lord, you know all things. You know that I phileo you. I love you like a brother. And then the third time that Christ asked the question, he says, Peter, do you phileo me? And Peter says, yes, Lord, you know that I phileo you. You know that I love you like a brother. And then he realizes, oh, you're asking me three times because of the three times I denied you. And you're asking me a very different question than I'm answering. That's not what Christ was asking Peter, whether he loved him as a brother. What Christ was asking Peter is, will you rise to your purpose? Will you lay down your life for my sake? is what Christ is asking Peter. And Peter is saying, yes, Lord, I love you like a brother. Peter, will you lay down your life for my sake? Yes, Lord, I love you like a brother. Do you love me like a brother, Peter? Yes, Lord, I love you like a brother. Peter didn't get it. He didn't get it in that moment. But the question that Christ was asking him was going to matter. Verse 18. Verse 18. He says, most assuredly I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and you walked where you wished. But when you're old, you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish. This he spoke, signifying by what death he, Peter, would glorify God. And when he'd spoken this, he said to him, follow me. The reason the answer to that question of whether Peter would lay his life down for Christ's sake and why that mattered was because Christ just tells Peter, Peter, you're going to die for me. That's where your road ends, Peter. You're going to go through this life and then someone, because of this faith, is going to take your life. And Christ is trying to find out if Peter's got it in him to do it. Whether he'll rise to that purpose, whether he'll rise to that calling and that opportunity of laying down that life, laying down those wants, those pursuits, those dreams, and letting God's will work in his life. He says, I need you to accept that if you follow me, you're going to die. And I need you to feed my sheep and I need you to tend the lambs. I need you to do these things anyway, despite that.

There's a humorous end to this section. I always get a kick out of it. Because Peter turns around and sees John and goes, what about John? What's going to happen to John? Christ says, Peter, don't worry about John. This is you, buddy. We're talking about you. Focus. Peter, focus. Right here. He says, this is what we're doing. This is the way it's going to go.

Don't worry about Peter or John. That's not your problem, Peter. He says, you follow me. You follow me. When we think about our purpose, when we think about the opportunity that we've been given to be children of God and ambassadors to this world, do we love God? Do we love his way? Do we love his word?

Do we love his law? Do those things occupy our thoughts? Do they occupy our focus? Do we lay down his life, or lay down, rather, our life at his feet and follow through on those things, not just in word but also in action? So is there a love of God in our hearts as we come into, and again, this close of this Passover examination season, is that love there? Are we willing to lay down our life and what he's called us to, or for what he's called us to?

And then finally, the question that we need to ask is we reach a point where we consider our direct intersection as Christians with this world. So the direct intersection that we have. We've explored the purpose. We've looked at kind of the concepts, the contentedness. We've looked at the way that we need to love God by laying down our lives.

Now we need to ask ourselves, what does this world need from us? What does this world need as a result of this calling, a result of the contentedness of our hearts, a result of the love that we have? What does this world need? Brethren, what I submit to you today is that this world needs hope. It needs hope. Desperately needs hope. You know, we began this message today by looking at the statistics on people who are exploring and trying to find purpose in their lives.

They're groping in some ways, kind of blindly in the dark, looking for something, just anything. It gives them a reason to get out of bed in the morning. It gives them a reason to have meaning in their life. And the stats show that they're really struggling to find it. They're really having a hard time finding it. They look at the news. The news is dismal. They're experiencing broken relationships with their families. They're experiencing loss or grief. They're mourning over a life that could have been and isn't.

They recognize that something's wrong, but they just can't quite put their finger on it. They wonder what it all means. They wonder what it's all for. They don't know it. But in that search for purpose, what they're really looking for is hope. They're looking for a reason that this life matters, that there's something bigger than the garbage that's happening right now, the different things that are taking place. Let's go back to Romans 8. Romans 8. So we begin to conclude. Romans 8. We're going to pick it up in verse 18. We skipped over this the last time, coming through here the first time around, because I wanted to come back to it now.

Romans 8 and verse 18, kind of in this description again of our purpose and what God is calling us to or to become. Paul writes the following. He says, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope. But hope that is seen is not hope, for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

So Paul contrasts what is coming with that which is here. And he says the difficulties and the challenges that we are experiencing now are not even comparable with the glory that comes. But there's a picture that he's painting here. He says it's like birth pangs. It's like groaning and eagerly waiting for the delivery of the baby. Ladies that have been pregnant, when you're in the midst of your birth and delivery, are you thinking, this is so awesome! I'm so thankful for these contractions and this pain and all this stuff. But you know what? When it's over, you're witnessing the most beautiful thing that you have ever seen in your life. And all of it was worth it in the end. That's what Paul's painting a picture of here. There's a hope in what's coming. And yes, this stuff is terrible. Terrible! It's like contractions and horrible pain and misery and all those things. But what's coming is beautiful. And what's coming is going to be worth all of this. That's the point Paul's making. People in the world around us, they don't realize that. They think the contractions are all it is. There is no delivery on the other end. It's just the pain, just the misery, just the difficulties. Brethren, it's our job to help them see the hope. It's our job to help them see these things. We may not always have opportunities to help people understand the specifics and the knowledge of these things. God opens people's minds. But we can leave the people that we interact with with hope. We can leave them with hope. We can leave them with a better tomorrow through the example that we leave with them, the light that we shine. We have a warm, inviting opportunity to come and sit down for a little while, take a load off of the darkness of this world and recharge your batteries a little bit.

And you know what the beauty of that is, brethren? That's free. That doesn't cost a dime. It costs a little bit of our time and a word fitly spoken. And we can leave someone with one of the most precious gifts of a view of what's coming and the importance of those things. Do we have a heart of hope? Do we have a heart that looks forward to what's coming and that's the focus? Or, in our heart, are we constantly on about the miseries of right now? Constantly on about all the hard stuff and all the contractions and the terrible things? Or are we focused on what's coming? Are we focused on what God is providing? You know, the purpose of life is a life of purpose. The purpose of life is a life of purpose. When we understand who we are, we understand why we're here, when we understand that calling that we've been provided and that opportunity, that purpose informs everything that we do. It informs everything. It informs the choices we make, the actions that we take. You know, the purpose of life, when you're a child of God, is to live a life of purpose, to live a life that is intentional in that outward expression of what is in our hearts.

And those actions come from an intersection of a few places in our spiritual life. They come from an interaction of contentedness, of participation, of love and of hope. And where all of those combine, you're going to find a child of God right in the middle of those things. In a few short days, we are going to take the Passover. We're going to renew that covenant that we entered into in baptism.

In fact, that's an acknowledgment of that calling and that purpose. We are telling God, I recognize who you have called me to be, and I accept it. I accept it. I accept Christ's sacrifice on my behalf, to forgive my sins, to provide me with the ability to be broken from the bondage of sin, to be forgiven the death penalty that we've earned as a result. We're going to move into the days of Unleavened Bread. We're going to look at that redemption. We're going to focus on those things that God has called us out of, focus on moving away from those things, living that life that Christ has called us to lead. We're going to root out that leaven in our lives that tries to turn our heart back into stone, tries to make it hard, the pride and the other things—covidousness, selfishness—that try to bring us back into bondage. We're going to focus on a heart of love, a heart of hope, a heart of contentedness, and a heart of participation. Brethren, as we commemorate these days this year, as we come into the Passover, as we come into the days of Unleavened Bread, keep that purpose in mind. Remember who you are. Don't forget. Remember who you are. Remember why you've been called, and live a life of purpose.