September 25, 2005

WHAT ON EARTH AM I HERE FOR?

A Sermon by Gordon E. Simmons, Pastor
Reformation Lutheran Church

     We sometimes look for answers to the questions in the wrong places.  The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment.  What did Vicar Ari say last week?  “It’s not about you!”   It’s far greater than your own happiness. It’s even greater than your own peace of mind.  You were made by God and you were made for God and you were put here for God’s purposes.     And until you understand that, life isn’t going to make much sense.

     God has never made anything without a purpose. Every rock has a purpose, every plant has a purpose, every animal has a purpose and if you’re alive, you have a purpose.   Everybody just take your fingers and put them up to your temple, and see if you can feel your pulse.  Does everybody here have a pulse?  If you’ve got a pulse, you’ve got a purpose.  God has a purpose for you here on earth.  Over the next 40 days here at Reformation, we’re going to be doing the “40 days of Purpose” Campaign developed by Rick Warren, the pastor of  Saddleback Church in California.  Hundreds of other churches are going to be doing it with us.  We’re going to be doing this so that you can understand your purpose.  Warren says that actually God has five purposes for your life.  Over the next 40 days, we’re going to look in detail at those five purposes. There are five reasons God has put you on this planet.

     The Bible is very clear about the idea that God was thinking about you, and about what you were going to be doing with your life, long before you were.  Look at Ephesians 1:3-5:   Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.  He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will.  You were not just an accident.   I don’t care what your parents told you, you were not just an accident.  You were put here for a reason, and God has been thinking about you for a long time.

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     People go through life living at one of three levels.  The first and lowest level is the Survival Level.   A lot of people live on the Survival Level.  We’ve seen the extreme of that this month in Louisiana and Mississippi.  People are just trying to survive.  But right here in Philadelphia, with people who do have food to eat and a place to live, there are plenty of people still living on the Survival Level.  They are just barely getting by. They’re just existing.  They’re not really living.  They are controlled by their circumstances.  They put in their time and live for the weekend. They’re just in the survival mode.

     A step up from that, a better way to live, rather than the Survival Level, is the Success Level.  That’s probably where a lot of us are.  By the world’s standards, we’ve pretty much got it made.  You’ve got most of what you need, and, compared to the rest of the world, you’re extremely wealthy.  You’ve got food to eat, probably more food than you need to eat.   You have a lot of stuff, you’ve got your own cell phone, maybe it even takes pictures, and you’ve even felt some success in the things you’ve accomplished.  That’s the success level.  But today there are a lot of books coming out that say things like “If I’m so successful, how come I don’t feel fulfilled?”  The reason is, it takes more than success and it takes more than status to satisfy.  You can be successful, by the world’s standards, and still not know what you are doing with your life.

     You need to go to the third level of living, which is called the Significance Level.   Not a Survival, not a Success, but a step up to the Level of Significance.  How do you live at the Significance Level?  Well, it happens when you know the meaning of life.  It happens when you know how much you matter to God – you were created by God, you know!  It happens when you know God’s purposes for your life and you’re trying to live them out.  That’s what gives you significance.

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     During the next 40 days, you’re going to come to some new understandings of what your purpose in life is.  This is going to happen because you’re going to do two things.  First, you’re going to listen to your Creator.  That’s called prayer – not just the kind of prayer where you do all the talking, but the kind of prayer where you do a lot of listening.  During these 40 days, you’re going to have some new opportunities to listen to what God is telling you, and that’s important, because your purpose in life is not something you have made up, it something God is giving you.  And the other thing you’re going to do during these 40 days is --  to understand your purpose --  that you’re going to be reading the owner’s manual.  This is it!  The Bible!  You are a creation of God, and this is your owner’s manual. If you read it, you’ll understand WHAT your work is and why you’re here.

     Let me say that another way.  If you want to know your purpose in life, start getting to know God.  The more you get to know God, the more you’re going to understand the ways and the wisdom of God and the more you’re going to understand the meaning and purpose of life.   You’re not going to learn it on some talk show, or in some séance. You’re not going to learn it reading tea leaves or going to some seminar.  The only way you’re going to learn the meaning of life and your purpose in life is to get to know God.  It all starts with God, because it’s all about God.  God is the one who put you here for a purpose.

     Our campaign this fall is going to last for 40 days.   In the Bible, 40 days is always a period of great significance.  The 40 days are always a period of preparation, a time of waiting, and during the preparation, during the waiting, people change.  There is transformation.  Noah’s life was transformed during the 40 days of rain.  Moses’ life was transformed during the 40 days he spent on Mt. Sinai when he was receiving the 10 Commandments.  Jonah went up to Ninevah, it took him a while to get up there, there was that little time in the belly of the fish, but Jonah went up to Ninevah, and he gave the people 40 days to repent, and during that 40 days they were transformed, and they did repent, and God forgave them.    Jesus  was  empowered  for his ministry during the 40 days he spent in the wilderness preparing for the temptation by the Devil.  The disciples were transformed during the 40 days that Jesus walked on this earth after he was resurrected.  If you set aside 40 days to do something, you can expect great things to happen.

     I want you to set aside the next 40 days, and I want you to expect some great things to happen in your life.  This is what I am asking you to do:

 1.      Participate in a 40 days of Purpose group.  Sixteen of them are going to be happening here at Reformation, beginning this week.

2.      Every day during the 40 days, read a chapter in the book, “The Purpose Driven Life.”   40 chapters.  40 days.

3.      Make a special effort to hear the 7 Sunday messages that will be given during these 40 days.

     All of this is designed to help you better understand your purpose in life.  Why did God put you here?  What in the world is God expecting you to do?  What is your purpose in life?  That’s what we’re going to be talking about.

      I want you to expect some great things to happen in your life over the next 40 days.  I want you to be a part of this campaign, every one of you, and I want you to see the world a little differently 40 days from now than you do today.  Well, that’s what happens in 40 days.  People get transformed.  Things change.  I want you to be more and more convinced that you are not an accident.  You’re not just surviving, and you are not just looking for worldly success.   There is some significance about your life, because you have a purpose.  This is Good News!  Thanks be to God!
 

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