I Am the Church – Part 3

January 27, 2019 – What on earth am I here for?

 Today is a great day to be at Trinity!  Today we are starting a 42-day journey through Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life.  This is part of the “I am the Church” series. We are starting this journey by looking at 3 questions:

• Why am I alive?
• Does my life matter?
• What is my purpose?

Those are the most important questions in life.

These aren’t new questions.  This first question, the question of existence – Why am I alive? – was asked by a guy named Jeremiah thousands of years ago. In Jeremiah 20 he said, “Why was I born?  Was it only to have trouble and sorrow and to end my life in disgrace?”  Have you ever felt like that? 

Why am I alive?

Has that question ever passed through your mind? Have you ever spent time thinking about it? I have…and I think this question can come in two different ways.

1. It comes as I wonder, “why am I here?” This is a question of existence.
2. It comes as I wonder, “why am I alive when someone else isn’t?” This is a question of survival.

I believe the short answer to the question is that we are alive because God wants us to be alive…and I believe that’s really good news!

 In Psalm 139, David wrote, “You created in my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb…I am…wonderfully made…”

We exist because God created! We are not the culmination of random mutations taking place in an evolutionary process. We are not accidents of nature. We are products of purposeful design and creation.

God didn’t just create us physically; he also created our emotions and personalities. Individually…

• You are more introverted or more extroverted because that’s what God planned for you.
• You are more people-oriented or more task-oriented because that’s what God planned for you.
• You are more of a thinker or more of a feeler because that’s what God planned for you.
• There isn’t a single detail of your existence that escaped his attention.

You are alive because God wants you to be alive!

Remember, though, that there may be another aspect to the question, “Why am I alive?” It is a question of survival. It may be that some of you here this morning has had occasion to ponder that question.

• Why am I alive when my child is already gone?
• Why am I alive when my spouse is already gone?
• Why am I alive when my friend is already gone?

I know exactly how that feels.

 Most of you know this story, but not all of you, so I’ll tell it again.

41 years ago, last Sunday, I woke up in the wee hours of the morning and went to get a drink of water. When I started down the stairs, I found that the entire lower level of our house was on fire—the living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and laundry room. I ran back upstairs to my parents’ bedroom to wake them.

My stepfather sprang into action, grabbed my brother from his bed, made sure he was wrapped in his blanket and carried him downstairs through the fire and out the back door of our house. When he opened the back door, the inrush of fresh air whipped the flames into such a frenzy that my mom and I could not escape by the same route.

Mom broke out one of her bedroom windows with a bedside lamp and set me on the roof. She followed and we jumped from the roof to escape the flames—all the while unaware that my stepfather had come back into the house to get us.

I later learned that he ran back downstairs, through the flames for a third time, to get himself out of the house. I saw him down the street at a neighbor’s house. It was the last time I ever saw him. He died in the Baltimore burn center three weeks later while I was still in the hospital in Elkton, Maryland.

I sometimes wonder, why am I alive while he is not…and the best answer I can come up with is that God wants me to be alive.

You are here today, you are alive because God wants you to be alive. If you wonder why you’re alive as a matter of existence, or a matter of survival, or both, I’d like you to keep this thought in mind: I am alive for a reason and I have a reason to live.

 It’s important we understand that God is responsible for our existence. If we try to pin the reason on anything or anyone else, we can always find a reason to come up short. We can always find a reason to think we’re a mistake. To think life would be better off without us. If that were true, God wouldn’t have you here!

Say this with me, “I am a live for a reason, and I have a reason to live.”

 

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Question one was, “why am I alive?” Question two is, “Does my life matter?”

 Have you ever spent time wondering about that question?

         I believe its answer necessarily flows from the answer to the first question. If I am alive for a reason and I have a reason to live, then my life matters. Let me illustrate why this is true.

Humor me and close your eyes for a moment. Imagine you’re coming home after a long day. You open the front door and immediately encounter the most wonderful aroma coming from the kitchen. Inhale deeply through your nose, smell that aroma and say, “AAAHHH!” Now, on the count of three, tell me what you smelled.

That little exercise helps illustrate how and why life matters. It matters because whether we live it well or live it poorly, we will leave aroma in the lives of people we touch.

In 2 Corinthians 2, the Apostle Paul said that we either leave an aroma of life or an aroma of death. I like to say it this way, our impact on the people around us in either life-giving or life-draining. Which is true for you?

Now listen, since none of us is perfect, we do not get it right all the time. However, there is a general sense in which our lives either smell good or stink to the people around us. Which will it be?

The responsibility does not lie with others…as if they can choose the smell. It is mine alone; it is yours alone. Some folks are fond of saying things like, “Well, that’s just the way I am and if people can’t handle it or don’t like it, then that’s their problem, not mine.”

That may be true every now and then, but not all the time…not even most of the time. As individuals, we are responsible for the fragrance our lives leave behind. We are individually responsible for the ways we make our lives matter.

 We all live life at one of three levels.  The most basic level is survival.

• Most people live at this level.
• They’re just getting by.
• They’re not really living; they’re just existing.
• They’re controlled by your circumstances.
• Most of the world lives at the survival level.

 The next level is success.

• Many of you are at this level.
• You have a comfortable living and a comfortable home.
• You have some possessions, maybe some prestige, you have some pleasures.
• You get to enjoy some things that most of the world could never even dream of doing.
• Since you live in America, you’re richer than most of the world.
• You have achieved a certain level of success and maybe even status.
• Many of you are living at this level of success.

 Now, what’s interesting about the success level is that many folks who live there say things like, “If I’m so successful why do I still feel so unfulfilled?” “If I’m so successful, why do I feel like there is or should be something more?”

The answer is simple. It takes more than success to satisfy us because we have been created for more than success. So, if success isn’t all there is to life, what else is there? I’m so glad you asked.

You are alive for a reason and have a reason to live. And your life matters because you were created for more than success.

 You were created for the third level, significance. That is the third level of living.

• In the best possible way I can say this, “You are God’s gift to the world!”
• Look at someone next to you and say, “You are God’s gift to the world.”
• Obviously, I don’t mean that in some warped, self-serving way.
• You are alive for a reason.
• Your life matters.
• God has a plan for your life…and that is where we find true significance!

Question one was, “why am I alive?” Question two was, “Does my life matter?” Question three is, “What is my purpose?”

 I love the way the Rick Warren starts his book, The Purpose Driven Life:
 “It’s not about you. The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.”^[1]

So what is that purpose? Let me first say what it is not. The purpose of life is not ultimately found in accomplishment, accumulation, or accolades—though there is nothing inherently wrong in any of those things. The point is that they do not ultimately fulfill.

There are so many ways I could answer the question, “What is my purpose?” I want to give you 5 ideas you may have heard before. According to Scripture, our purpose is to…

• Worship God.
• Grow in our relationship with God.
• Belong to the family of God.
• Share our faith in God.
• Serve in and through the family of God.

 Did you notice a recurring word in those five statements? It is God. Remember Rick Warren’s words: It’s not about you…. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.

 As we embark on this 42-day journey, we’re going to do a deep dive into that idea and I believe we’re going to see God do some significant work in our lives, in our church family, and in our community!

I realize we’re all at different stages in our spiritual journey and that’s ok.  We’re still going on this spiritual journey together.

• Some of you are seekers. You say, “I don’t even know if I believe this stuff.”  That’s ok.  We’re glad you’re here that you’re intellectually honest enough to check it out. 
• Some of you are brand new believers. I’m really excited for you. You’re going to get off to a great start.
• Some of you are stumblers.
  • You call yourself a Christian, but you’re not really close to God.
  • The truth is you live for yourself more than you do for God.
  • You’re more concerned about your plans for your life than you are about God’s plan.
  • I hope that will change during this journey.
• Some you are spiritually mature.
  • You’re strong believers.
  • You’re going to go deeper with God in the next 42 days as He continues to reveal himself to you.

Regardless of where you are on your spiritual journey, I’m asking you to read this book for the next 42 days and see what happens. You’ll be tempted to read more than one chapter a day, please don’t. Remember, the journey is just as important (if not more important than the destination).

          Before I pray and wrap this up. I want to give you an opportunity to commit your life to Christ if you’ve never done so before. 

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[1] Warren, Rick. 2002. The Purpose Driven Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, p. 5.