3 Big Questions: Why am I alive?

Everything we believe concerning Christianity hinges on whether or not Jesus really did rise from the dead. But there is another reason, there is a bigger story than the one I am prone to write with my life and there is a bigger story than the one you are prone to write with your life. It is a bigger story in which we certainly participants but we are not the main characters. We are involved, even though the story does not revolve around us. Starting today and the next two messages after this I’m going to look at our place in this grand story by answering three questions. And the 3 questions I am going to answer are these, “Why am I alive?”, “Does my Life Matter?” and “What is My Purpose?”  So today we are going to talk about “Why Am I Alive.” Has anyone else ever spent time thinking about that? Why am I alive? I certainly have. And I think this is a question that comes to us in two different ways. It comes as I just asked it. Why am I alive? And that is a question of existence. But it can come to us another way. It can come to us in the form of this question, “why am I alive when someone else isn’t?”  And that is a question of survival. The short answer to both of those questions is this, we are alive because God wants us to be alive. Even though that is the short answer, I cannot just give that answer and then move on with the rest of our day we’ve go to unpack that a little bit. In fact, it may be one of those answers that may technically be true but does not satisfy at the moment when you think about it and you say, “why am I alive” and you think well I’m alive because God wants me to be alive. It seems like we’ve got to flush that out a little bit more.  I think there is more we can say about that and I think King David could help us answer that question.  I am going to ask you to open your Bibles this morning to Psalm 139. We are going to look at just three verses of scripture today from a well- known Psalm, Psalm 139. We are going to read those then I am going to go back through part by part and see what we can take from it. Then figure out what does this mean for you? How can we apply this to our lives? Psalm 139, we are going to look at verses 13 through 16. Here is what King David wrote, “for you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body, all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” We are going to take this little part of this poem or Psalm, actually, if you look at the beginning of Psalm 139 there is a little prescript right under the title and it tells us that David actually wrote this as a song, something that was to be sung. What David does here, is he speaks about all of us with these words. Let’s unpack these and see what we can find here. First thing he says is that you created my in most being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb. We are trying to answer the question today “why am I alive?” Short answer from this right here, we exist because God created. The writer of Genesis told us this in Genesis 1:27 God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them male and female, He created them. How many of you married folks have noticed that guys and girls are a little bit different? God is the one to blame. Every difference we find it was all His doing. But we are alive because God created. I believe whole heartedly that we are not the culmination of random mutations taking place in an evolution process. We are not accidents of nature. We are products of purposeful design and creation. That right there gives us worth and value. God didn’t just create us physically, according to what King David said, “you knit me together in my mother’s womb he says you created my inmost being.” God didn’t just create us physically but down to our personalities and our emotional make-up believe it or not, you are who God wanted you to be. Whether you are more introverted, any introverts here? I raise my hand up because that is me, believe it or not. Whether you are introverted or extroverted. Any extroverts here? Do any of you introverts lives with extroverts? Ok, now more people raised their hands. So, whether you are more introverted or extroverted, you are that way because that is what God wanted for you. Whether you are more people oriented or task oriented. You are that way because that is what God wanted for you. Whether you are more of a thinker or more of a feeler. You are that way because that is what God planned for you. There is not a single detail of your existence that escaped His attention. Not one. God put you together just the way he wants you to be. We are alive because He wanted us to be alive. David goes on says “I am fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” You and I sort of get lost, what does he mean when he says I am fearfully made, we might use the word reverently. How many of you have ever seen anything put together haphazardly? Typically, not a lot of beauty to it, is there? It may be functional but beyond that there may be questions of whether is it actually functional. Some people just want to say it is done. God did not just haphazardly slap us together. Believe it or not we were handled with care. In fact, Paul uses these beautiful words when he wrote to the Ephesians in chapter 2 verse 10. He calls man and woman, He calls mankind, we are God’s workmanship. How many of you have been awed at good workmanship? You’ve watch something and you just say “wow.”  I have to say this about my father, my father was an incredible woodworker. He could do anything with wood and we have these heirlooms to past down in our family now because he just had an idea when his first grandchild was born that he was going to make a rocking toy for every one of his grandchildren. Well, Krista and I happen to be the only part if the family that had more than one child. My brother has one, my sister has one, we have five…go figure. It was always a point of contention because we would watch all their children, but then they would never watch all of our children. How many of you agree with me that that is incredibly unfair? It really was! But we have these things wrapped up and stored carefully at our house for when our children have their children. Zachary has this wonderful rocking airplane and Jeremy has a rocking alligator that when it goes up and down the mouth opens and closes. And Geoffrey has a rocking motorcycle and Aimee has a rocking killer whale and Casey has a rocking Case Tractor, which I wish my dad had made a little later because I had to carry it in the house when he came for Christmas. But through our years when people would come to our house and see these things people would look at them and say where can I get one of these things, look how nice they are. I would say to them, my dad made them and they would say do you think he would make one for me? I would like at them and say “no.”  Because here is what my dad always said, “When I make it for my grandchildren, I enjoy it.” “but if I make it for anyone else it’s work, and I don’t want it to be work.” He got joy out of doing it. I think about that and I think about you as an individual I think about me and sometimes I need to understand this God gets joy because you are alive. Did you know that? God has joy because you exist. Because you are part of His workmanship. And God, I love this, when He created, we read it in Genesis, He stood back and He looked back at everything He created and He said, “it’s good.” But if you have ever caught the subtle difference after He created Adam & Eve He stood back and said, “it’s very good.” That one word is a subtle difference and that did not just apply to just Adam & Eve, that applies to every person who is ever born on this earth God looks and says, “very good.” We are a product of His workmanship. We are masterful works of God’s creativity. Now I don’t know about you, but I can get a wonderful sense of God’s creativity in nature standing on a mountain top. Anyone ever been there with me before? You look out…I don’t know if you’re like me I like to be up on some high summit and look out and I try to picture in my mind what must it had been like to be the first person to see this. Oh, how beautiful was that before anybody was here to build anything it had to be absolutely breath taking. And my breath can be taken away when I look at God’s creation. Sometimes my breath can be taken away when I look at others when their talents and skills are on display but I wonder how many times do we ever look at ourselves and understand that we take God’s breath away. You are alive because God wants you to be alive. You are a masterpiece of His creative work. David went on, he said, “my frame was not hidden when I was made in the secret place when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.” Not a detail of our lives escapes God’s watchful eye, instead in fact listen to this-did you know that we are more than the sum of our parts, we are more than just egg and sperm, we are more than just a mixture of genetic information. God superintended the entire process. I love what Rick Warren writes in The Purpose Driven Life, listen to this, regardless of the circumstances of your birth God had a plan in creating you. It doesn’t matter whether your parents were good bad or indifferent, God knew that those two individuals possessed exactly the right genetic makeup to create the custom you He had in mind. God knew what He was doing when He put you together. We are so much more than just physical beings because we are people with emotion and personality and motivation. God put all of that together. David went on to say, “your eyes saw my unformed body.” God could see and envision what would be and what is interesting is technological progress in sonography and other disciplines has confirmed what has always been true, we were persons when we were still embryos. Let me tell you when you became a just beautiful part of God’s creation the moment that egg and sperm came together, God knew your name. In fact, He knew before hand, that speaks worth and value to you. David said all the days of my life were written in your book before one of them came to be. How many of you say, “that sort of scares me.” Think about it if every day of our life was written in his book before one of them came to be how many of you wish you had the right to erase or rewrite about a page or two…or three…or four…or a hundred? OK we all come into that place right? God knew it all before it would happen. God exists outside of time in a way that you and I cannot fully understand. You and I are bound by time through the words past present & future.  But scripture talks about God being eternal and the only way I can wrap my mind around this word eternal have no beginning and no end is that God is eternally present. God doesn’t have a past and a future as far as He is concerned. So, He looks at all of human history as it is right now. He knows what is going to happen and because He knows, He already knows all the days of our lives and I don’t know about you because there are some pages and maybe even chapters I would like to do away with here is what I like to say, every day of my life was written in His book before one of them came to be and He loves me anyway. Evidently there are only three of us Kristin who appreciate that, that’s OK, I really do. So, what if I can take those three verses and I can say this stuff that I just said. Well, I believe those things are true and to Segway into the next part I am going to borrow the words from singer Steven Curtis Chapman and it is from a song he called “He Has Called More to This Life”, and the first two lines of the chorus are “there must be more to this life than living and dying, more than just trying to make it through another day.”  God didn’t go to such great lengths to lovingly and carefully design and craft us so that we can simply live each day on the hamster wheel of life, constantly in motion, but ultimately going & getting nowhere. He created us for a reason. In fact, here’s the big idea that I want you to get from this whole message: I am alive for a reason and I have a reason to live. This is an idea that can be applied to everything we experience in this life. Good, bad or ugly though we often only see that in retrospect. So, let me take the time to unpack the idea of I am alive for a reason and I have a reason to live. I want to start with the second half of that. “I have a reason to live” Perhaps some of us here in this place this morning, have gone through or maybe currently in a season of life where we have concluded in our minds “I don’t really have a reason to live.” “Every reason I had to live is gone.”  I understand that in my life, I understand that in two different ways, on a morning in April 2009, I had taken a day off work and I was on my way to visit my granddad, and my brother called me and said that my pop-pop was just diagnosed with cancer and said you should probably come visit, and I had left early in the morning and I was just passing through Hancock just getting on 70 off 68 when my phone rang and my uncle called and he said “son, I know you are going to come visit your granddad today…” and I said “I’m already on my way…” and he said ”don’t bother, your grandfather killed himself last night.” That was a huge blow in our family. I’ve experienced it from that side, but I have also experienced it from the other side. I have experience it from the other side, by coming to the conclusion in my mind that I don’t have any reason to live. I’ve been in a place where I have spent not minutes, not hours, but days and weeks contemplating the best way to end it all. And in my mind, putting myself and everyone else out of their misery. I have been there two different times in my life. I don’t want anyone to say, “it’s easy for you to say I have a reason to live, but you don’t know what I am going through.”  I know what it is like and I can tell you, you have a reason to live. But let me tell you this, you cannot find that reason inside yourself you probably know that already. You cannot find that reason in someone else. You cannot find that reason in accomplishments or accolades or acquisitions, they just don’t add up to be enough. I can tell you this though you can find that reason in the creator who lovingly designed you the way he wanted you to be. He created you for a reason. And you have a reason to live. There’s an interesting story about the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings chapters 18 & 19. In those chapters, we read that God used Elijah in a mighty way to strike down 450 false prophets. It was an incredible victory and most of us know that when you accomplish a job well done you or win something, for even for just a moment you feel like you are on top of the world. How many of you have ever been there even for just a moment, and you think, man this is a great thing God did, but immediately after we read about Elijah’s victory we read about a woman named Queen Jezebel her husband Ahab was the king. Ahab went back to the queen and told her what happened with Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal and paraphrasing here is what Jezebel said, “Let God kill me if I don’t kill Elijah first.” Elijah who just stood up to 450 false prophets, heard that Queen Jezebel wanted to kill him and he did the best thing he could do, he ran away, laid down next to a river and said “God kill me now. I can’t take it, my life has come to a point where it would be better if I died.” To me the great part of that story is not Elijah’s victory over the 450 false prophets of Baal, but it is the fact that God did not let him die. God met him where he was & delivered him from his pit of despair. As odd as this may sound in a message today, I want you to know that if you find yourself in such a pit I implore you to seek the help that you need. I know what it is like to be there, you think nobody will understand people will think I am crazy and there is no way in the world I can let anyone know, but let me tell you this, there is no shame in getting the help you need. You say, but people don’t understand, let me tell you, you are exactly right, because if you haven’t been there then you don’t have a point of reference to understand. But if you have been you get it. See a counselor, see a doctor, ask God for help in addition to those things, but even for you if you don’t think so you were created for a reason and you have a reason to live. Let me say that this idea of having a reason to live also applies to those who ask the question of survival. “why am I alive and someone else isn’t?” And there are going to be many of us today, in all of our services, who know what that feels like. We have some of our older veterans who spent time in Vietnam. We have a man in our church who was at Iwo Jima. We have people who have seen things and they have lived with the guilt, almost like why am I alive, when someone else close to me isn’t. Maybe it isn’t war or something with the military, maybe it was an accident or maybe it was some other tragedy. I know that too. I know that from when our house burned down and my step dad passed away. I spent many times and sometimes it still crosses my mind why am I here and Bill died, he was such a great guy. For those of us who have been left behind as it were left to ask, “why am I still here?” As unsatisfying as it seems I get it. We are still here because God wanted us to still be here. And it would behoove us to make the best of the time we have left. Let me tell you what, God doesn’t make mistakes. Now let me turn our attention back to the first part. I am alive for a reason. What is that reason? OK, I’m afraid that as soon as I reveal it to you, you are going to say, “is that all? I really expected more, you build this all up and my goodness.” So, I just want to tell you that ahead of time, OK this is where we are going…what is the reason we are alive. Before I tell you, let me tell you that as unsatisfied as you may feel with the answer today, we are going to unpack that answer more in the next couple weeks. What is the reason? I don’t know what has gone through your mind when I asked that question, but Isaiah 43:7 tells us this, “we were created for His glory.” If I say, “why am I alive?” I am alive for the glory of God. Now can I be honest with you? How many of you find that a bit unsatisfying at this moment? I’ll be honest with you, I have found it unsatisfying all week long. Because surely there has to be more to it than this, there has got to be something more profound, there has to be something more that makes me go…”FINALLY, WOW, Whohoo!” “I’m ready to go!” Instead Rob said, “you are alive for the glory of God.” That sentence is true but I can’t leave it there so I will have to explain it a little more and I am going to start with a definition from author and writer John Pfeifer and then I’ll have to give you some more because I’m not exactly sure this is going to help you. So, what we have to define is what is God’s glory? If I’m alive for the glory of God… .what does that even mean? Well, to figure out what it means I need to figure out what God’s glory is. Here’s what Pfeifer says, “the glory of God is the infinite beauty and greatness of his many revealed perfections. How many of you are going, “wait I am still lost.” I’m still lost so to say that again, the glory of God is the infinite beauty and greatness of his many revealed perfections. Let me try to apply this to us. What does it mean to say I am alive for the glory of God? Maybe this helps, the reason we are alive is to bring attention to God’s beauty and greatness. The reason we are alive is to bring attention to who God is. At our house, when someone looks at an airplane, a crocodile, a motorcycle, a killer whale or a tractor and they say wow, that’s awesome! I cannot tell them the story without talking about my dad because he created it. Those people don’t know my dad. My dad passed away in 2006, so they will never meet my dad, but they learn something about him when I tell the story of what he created. Are you with me? Does that make sense? You and I are alive because with our lives, with our actions, with our words, essence we tell God’s story with the way we live every day. We are alive to bring attention to who and what God is and I know what some of you are thinking that still is not the answer I expected or what I was looking for. Well, I tell you what…when we have big questions this is the place for us to go, we go to God’s Word. And when God’s Word says, “I created you for my glory.” that is why we exist. Why am I alive? Why am I alive in the first place? Why am I alive because of some circumstance in my life someone else isn’t alive? I am alive and I exist and I am still alive because with my life I can bring attention to who and what God is. When I look at those rocking toys my dad made…do you know where my dad’s creativity and skill came from? It came from God. That wasn’t just the right mix of chemicals and evolutionary process, because if it was, it should have been passed on to me! I have heard that these random mutations take a long, long time. And in one generation it should not be gone, but I’m telling you, it is not there. It’s just not there. Yet I am put together in other ways to bring glory to God. You are alive today because God wants you to be alive. That speaks to the worth and value that you bring to this world. You’re here because you were God’s idea and God doesn’t have bad ideas. He’s not like us. You are alive to bring attention to God’s beauty and greatness. How do I do that? How do you do that? Short answer. We live our lives in a way that appropriately represents who God is and what He has done through Christ. I like to look at it this way, we live our lives in a way that we reflect who God is. So that when people see us, they understand who God is. Now understand that every single one of us we are imperfect representations. Don’t look at other people and say, “well you screwed that up!” because you know they could say the same thing to you. But we are alive because God wants us to be. We are going to flesh this out more in the next couple weeks as we answer the other 2 questions, Is my life significant? What is my purpose? What they will do they will fill out the very bare outline of Why am I Alive? I want you to say with me one more time I am alive for a reason and I have a reason to live. Say it with me, I am alive for a reason and I have a reason to live. This week when you are struggling at work and you would like to beat the person in front of you, whether physically or verbally, refrain yourself and in your mind, say these words I am alive for a reason and I have a reason to live. I don’t know what it is right now but I am alive for a reason and I have a reason to live. When you and your spouse aren’t seeing eye to eye but you are seeing more like this…… say under your breathe, with gritted teeth, I am alive for a reason and I have a reason to live. Notice every time I am telling you to remind yourself, do not use that to shut down the argument with your spouse. I AM ALIVE FOR A REASON AND I HAVE A REASON TO LIVE THAT’S WHAT GOD SAID, NOW JUST DEAL WITH IT!!! And don’t you dare say that is what Pastor Rob told me to do!!  Because I didn’t. Whatever difficulty, even in a good place this week, I am alive for a reason and I have a reason to live. I am alive to bring attention to who and what God is. Let’s have a word of prayer.   Father God, whether or not on some level this answer this morning feels ultimately unsatisfying to us, I pray that You will allow the phrase, I am alive for a reason, I have a reason to live to just kind of settle into our heart and mind this week. To come back to our attention at the appropriate times to remind us God that this life is not just random and arbitrary but that You are the One who created us. Lord help us if we don’t already know to be on a journey of discovering that reason and living that reason every day. Father I take a moment to pray especially for any of my friends today who are wondering and thinking and believing I don’t really have a reason to live. Father if they are sitting here and they think I have been speaking directly to them Lord they are right and I pray that the fact that I spoke to them would just be a sign that you know where they are and You know what they are struggling with and that You love them and You don’t want them to be in that place. Help them to come from there I pray and help us to remember this week where ever we find ourselves that You created us for a reason and we have a reason to live. We ask it in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Bless you folks, love you and have a great day.