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Remember Who(se) You Are (Part Two) “What’s Your Purpose in Life?” Colossians 1:9-14 |
January 15, 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum |
[NOTE—a 7 minute video of man in the street interviews asking, “Do you have what could be called a purpose or calling in life?” was shown immediately before this sermon.]
So, what about you? Let me throw that same question to you: Do you have a sense of purpose or calling in life?
If so, is it kind of nebulous and ill-defined as was true of so many of the people we saw in that video or can you honestly say that you live each day of your life with a clearly defined sense of purpose or calling?
And, let me further refine the question by asking this: Where did your sense of purpose or calling come from? What’s its point of origin? Where did you find it?
--Is it a deep-seated passion that has just always been in you?
--Was it passed on or taught to you by your parents, your peers or a mentor of some kind?
--Is your sense of purpose a reflection of societal norms?
Where did your sense of purpose or calling come from?
Last week, I began a new series of sermons that is going to lead us, over the next several weeks, through the book of Colossians. I’m calling the series, “Remember Who…and Whose…You Are?” And the basic goal toward which we are moving is to be absolutely certain that we are defining ourselves both individually and as a church family according to what God’s Word says about us. We want to be absolutely certain that our identity as children of God individually and as the church of God collectively is being shaped by the Word of God rather than by our culture, our family, our own inclinations or anything else. In other words, we want to know what God’s Word tells us about our identity and we want to know that we are living our lives in a way that is consistent with our God-given identity.
And nowhere is this more important than in this area concerning our sense of purpose or calling. Folks, think about this:
--What an absolute disaster it would be, as a child of God, to go through life passionately and faithfully fulfilling our sense of purpose and calling only to stand before God at the end of our life and discover that we had completely missed the purpose for which God had created us.
--What an utter tragedy it would be to find out after it was too late to do anything about, that the calling and purpose to which we gave our lives was not at all what God had in mind for us.
--It’s hard to imagine anything more heartbreaking to a child of God than realizing that we spent our life fulfilling a purpose of our own design, rather than God’s design.
Thankfully, this is a tragedy that is easily avoided because our God-given purpose and calling is clearly revealed in God’s word. And it’s this God-given sense of purpose and calling that is at the heart of the scripture text that we’re going to consider this morning.
Now, before we move forward let’s take just a moment to remind ourselves of what we learned last week as we looked at the first 8 verses of the book of Colossians. After introducing himself to the Christians at Colosse, Paul praised them for their faith in Jesus and their love for one another, both of which grew out of the hope that was theirs’ in Christ. And then, he offered them further encouragement by reminding them that the gospel of salvation through Jesus, which had totally transformed their lives was continuing to spread and transform the lives of countless others all over the world.
And that brings us now to verse 9 which says,
“For this reason…” In other words, because of all of these great things that God has already begun to accomplish in you—your faith in Jesus, your love for one another and your strong and abiding sense of hope…
“For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
So, here’s what Paul is saying. He says, “Folks, you’ve gotten off to a good beginning in the Lord. I’m praying that you continue to grow in the Lord.” And he offers us a glimpse of what this process of growing in the Lord looks like.
To begin with, it involves the “knowledge of (God’s) will.” And that word “knowledge” speaks of personal knowledge rather than just intellectual knowledge. So Paul is reminding us here that the relationship that we have with God is just that—a relationship.
God doesn’t want us to study Him like He’s a subject. He wants us to get to know Him as friend and Father. God’s desire is not that we can pass a test about Him but that we relate to Him, recognize Him, walk with Him, talk with Him, confide in Him, trust in Him, depend on Him and love Him. In other words, God wants us to truly know Him personally.
So, how do we get to know God in this personal way? The answer is, by revelation. We get to know God only when God chooses to reveal Himself to us.
No one is smart enough to reason their way to God. He’s just too big for our finite minds to figure out. But God delights in revealing Himself to those who truly want to know Him. And that means that our part is to seek Him and God’s part is to give us, as Paul says here in verse 9, the “spiritual wisdom and understanding” that make it possible for us know Him.
And that’s why Paul prays here not that we will figure God out, but that God will fill us up spiritually so we can truly know Him.
Which leads to this question—To what end? What is the point of getting to know God in such a personal way? Paul answers that question in verse 10, which says:
“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way:”
Folks, if you were struggling to identify your calling or your purpose a few moments ago, I hope verse 10 will settle that issue for you once and for all. I cannot think of a better way to say it: My purpose as a child of God is to live a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing to Him in every way.
Folks, that’s it. That’s our calling. That’s our God-given purpose. To live a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing to Him in every way.
So, how do we know if we’re on track? How can we know today that God’s calling…God’s purpose…is being fulfilled in us? Well, that’s the point that Paul addresses next. This life that is worthy of and pleasing to God is marked by certain distinguishing characteristics. And Paul identifies three of them in the verses that follow.
Number 1—God is pleased when our lives are characterized by continual spiritual growth. It pleases God to see that we are becoming more and more spiritually mature with each passing day. Paul makes that point with two statements at the end of verse 10 He says, “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God…”
This idea of “bearing fruit in every good work” speaks to the service that we give to God. And there are three key lessons for us to see here—
--First, people who truly know God want to serve Him. One of the natural byproducts of a genuinely personal relationship with God is a genuine desire to serve Him.
--Second, people who truly know God will be effective when they serve Him. Our work, as Paul says here, will bear fruit. Our knowledge of God will lead us to serve Him in those areas to which He has called us and God blesses the work that He calls us to do.
--And, third, God is genuinely pleased when His children joyfully and faithfully serve Him.
Folks, let’s be real clear about this—any child of God that is not actively serving Him has gotten off track. If you know God personally and have no desire to serve Him something has gone dreadfully wrong. If you are in this place I want to urge you to spend some time alone with God asking Him to show you how it happened and asking Him to lead you back on track.
Now, when we add to this idea of faithful and effective service the final part of verse 10, which speaks of “growing in the knowledge of God…,” we learn another important lesson. And the lesson is this—as we serve God we will get to know Him better. There are things about God that we will only discover as we serve Him.
In other words, we may read about a particular aspect of God’s character or person in His Word and trust that it is true because of our confidence in God’s Word. But at that point, our knowledge of that particular aspect of God is purely intellectual.
And at some later point, we may hear other Christians talking about their experience with that same aspect of God’s character or person. At this point, what we read about in God’s Word has now been confirmed by the personal testimonies of other believers. Even so, our knowledge of that particular aspect of God is still purely intellectual.
And then something moves us to begin serving God. We actually get involved in some kind of ministry. And one day, in the midst of serving God, we experience for ourselves this aspect of God that we had read about in God’s Word and heard about from other Christians. And in that moment our knowledge of that aspect of God is more than intellectual. It’s personal. We now know that this is true of God because we have experienced it for ourselves.
Folks, this is the kind of knowledge that God desires for us. He wants us to know Him personally.
So, God is pleased when our lives are characterized by continual spiritual growth and faithfully serving God is vital to that growth.
A second attribute that distinguishes the life that is pleasing to God is this—God is also pleased when our lives are characterized by endurance and patience.
In verse 11 Paul writes of, “being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience…”
Now, while “endurance” and “patience” are clearly similar they are also distinct in a very significant way.
--The Greek word translated here as “endurance” generally refers to bearing up under difficult circumstances. “Endurance” speaks of the ability to stay on track and moving toward your goals even when you encounter genuinely difficult circumstances.
--The Greek word translated here as “patience,” however, generally speaks not so much to the way that we respond to difficult circumstances but rather the way that we respond to difficult people. “Patience” speaks of the ability to remain calm, on track and moving toward your goals even when you are being provoked by a genuinely difficult person.
So, when you put these two words together it tells us that God is genuinely pleased when we remain true and faithful to our God-given purpose and calling even when we encounter genuinely difficult people and circumstances. And, of course, our model is Jesus who faced his share of both.
And that brings us to the third distinctive characteristic that marks the life that is worthy of and pleasing to God, namely—enthusiastic gratitude. God is pleased when our lives are characterized by enthusiastic gratitude. That’s the point that Paul addresses in verses 12-14 when he says,
“…and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Here’s the point—the reality of all that God accomplished for us when He saved us should move us every day of our lives to joyful and enthusiastic gratitude. Folks, as children of God one of the grand struggles of life ought to be finding enough time and enough ways to say, “Thanks,” to our Savior and our God.
Folks, the truth is, the gift of our salvation cost God a lot. Jesus was crucified on a real cross and he experienced real pain and he died a real death—
--so that we could be saved;
--so that we could be rescued from darkness and brought into the light;
--so that our sins could be completely forgiven and we could be freed from the awful burden of our guilt;
--so that we would never again have to fear death because we know that when this life ends, the best part of our life begins and it will last forever.
What a gift. What an amazing gift.
And it pleases God when we live in that recognition. It pleases God when every day of our lives is a living expression of our gratitude.
Do you have a sense of purpose or calling in your life? You do if you’re a child of God. You are here to live a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him in every way.
And God has drawn us together in the Petaluma Valley Family to encourage and help one another along the way; to encourage and help one another stay on track. God has drawn us together in the Petaluma Valley Family to encourage and help one another fulfill the purpose for which we were created.
What a high calling!
What a grand adventure!
© Copyright 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum