Today’s Facebook Sermon September 14, 2014. Why Am I Here? Scripture: Ecclesiastes 1:1-14 1 The words of the Teacher,[a] son of David, king in Jerusalem: 2 “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.“Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”3 What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north;round and round it goes,ever returning on its course. 7 All streams flow into the sea,yet the sea is never full.To the place the streams come from,there they return again.8 All things are wearisome,more than one can say.The eye never has enough of seeing,nor the ear its fill of hearing. 9 What has been will be again,what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.10 Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”?It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.11 No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to comewill not be rememberedby those who follow them.12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. This is why we’re here, to make sure that things are right between us & God, both now & for all eternity. That reminds of the old story about a 5-year-old boy who came to his mother & asked, Where did I come from? The mother took a deep breath because she had dreaded the moment when he would ask that question. But she was determined to answer it truthfully. So she started explaining in explicit detail the whole reproductive system, conception, birth, everything. About 20 minutes later, her bored little boy interrupted & said, But mommy, where did I come from? Jimmy said he came from New York. Well, I guess it’s possible to make a mistake like that. But I hope that will not be the case this morning as we consider one of the most difficult questions we’ll ever face. And it is, What is the purpose of life? Have you ever asked yourself, Why did God permit me to wake up this morning? Why is my heart still beating, & my lungs still breathing? Why am I here? What is the purpose of my existence? If you haven’t asked yourself that, you need to, because there is a reason why God has permitted you & me to be here. I believe it is important for us to know the answer to that question because if we don’t, there can be all kinds of negative results. And in the O.T. book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon talks about some of the negative results that arise when we have no purpose. Now King Solomon, if anyone, should have known the answer. I mean, Solomon had it all. He had money - more than he could ever spend. He had possessions - more than he could ever enjoy. He had wives - more than he could ever please. He even had wisdom far greater than any one else in his day. He had it all. Yet he didn’t have a real grasp on the purpose of life. LIFE WITHOUT A PURPOSE A. Turn with me to the 1st chapter of Ecclesiastes, & let’s consider some of the negative results that come from not knowing the purpose of life. 1. First of all, when you don’t know the purpose of life, then life will seem empty. In vs. 2 Solomon writes, `Meaningless! Meaningless!’... `Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’ Have you ever felt that way? Without some guiding purpose, life doesn’t make much sense at all! 2. Secondly, when you don’t know the purpose of life, then life can be an endless cycle of futility. In vs’s 4, 5, & 6 Solomon says such things as, Generations come & generations go... The sun rises & the sun sets, & hurries back to where it rises, & The wind blows to the south & turns to the north; round & round it goes... So life becomes like a merry-go-round - going round & round, yet never getting anywhere. And Solomon gives this result in vs. 8, All things are wearisome, more than one can say. In other words, It’s wearing me out. 3. Thirdly, when you don’t know the purpose of life, you’ll never be really satisfied. Notice the last part of vs. 8, The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. We always want more. We have gone from 10 black & white picture tubes to giant screens, & hi-fidelity, stereo- phonic, surround sound. But we’re still not content. Put a 150-channel remote control in our hands & we’ll still be restless. Because the things of life don’t really satisfy unless you have a purpose. 4. Fourthly, when you don’t know the purpose, life itself will seem insignificant. Listen to vs. 11, There is no remembrance of men of old, & even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow. If you went to college you probably attended classes in a building that was named after some person. Did you know who that person was? Did you even care? Probably not! It was just X building, named after someone who did something before you got there. It was all ancient history to you, & you were only concerned about the here & now. But don’t feel superior. Solomon says that future generations won’t remember us, either. I mean, here we are, working like crazy to accomplish things that future generations won’t even care about at all. Tony Campolo said, If you ever start to feel proud, just remember that soon after your body has been lowered into the grave, your family & friends will be eating potato salad & telling jokes, & you’ll be history. Wow, that’s depressing, isn’t it? And I don’t like to talk about depressing things. Yet, we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the lives that Solomon describes as empty, meaningless, futile, insignificant, & out of control. HOW TO DISCOVER GOD’S PURPOSE Now if your life is like that, I want you to know that God has set a purpose for your life & for mine. Listen to this passage from Ephesians 1:4-5, from The Message paraphrase. It says, Long before He laid down earth’s foundation, He had us in mind. He had settled on us as the focus of His love to be made whole & holy by His love. This verse tells us that long, long ago, even before He created the heavens & the earth, God had mankind in mind. God, who is love, created us with the sole purpose of being able to focus His love on us, & that we would be His family, adopted sons & daughters through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And it says that God took great pleasure in planning all of this. Can you see the sparkle in God’s eyes as He makes His plans for that day when we will be with Him for all eternity? Ephesians 1:10 in The Message paraphrased says, And this was His purpose, that when the time was ripe He will gather us all together from where ever we are in heaven or on earth to be with Him in Christ, forever. Did you hear that? Listen to it again, And this was His purpose, that when the time was ripe He will gather us all together from where ever we are in heaven or on earth to be with Him in Christ, forever. We’re going to be with God forever. When the time is ripe, when the time of waiting is over, God will come & gather us together. Whether we are in heaven or on earth, He is going to take us to be with Him, forever. That means that we’re going to live a whole lot longer on the other side of death than we lived on this side of it. So now at last I’m ready to give you the purpose of life that we talked about at the very beginning of this sermon. The purpose of life is to prepare us for eternity. This life is pre-school. This life is dress rehearsal. This life is a time to get ready because we’re going to live a lot longer on the other side of death than we’re going to live on this side. We may live 60, 70, or 80 years here. But that is just a tiny little speck on the yardstick of life, because we’re going to live forever with God. So the reason we’re alive, the reason God has left us here is to get us ready for eternity. That’s the reason for our existence. WHAT GOD WANTS US TO DO And there are 4 things that God wants us to do with the years that we have while we’re here. Let me put it this way, There are (at least) 4 things God wants me to do with my life. The first one is this. God wants me to get to know Him. That makes sense, doesn’t it? If I’m a part of His family, & He is my heavenly Father, He would like me to know Him. Now, how do you get to know somebody? Well, you spend time with Him, & talk with Him. You do things together, & take Him with you wherever you go. And the Bible also teaches that I can come to know God by coming to know Jesus Christ as my Lord & Savior. Jesus Himself said, ...when you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. In following Jesus I’m following God. So I’m ready for my eternal home, aren’t I? Now that I’ve accepted Jesus as my Savior, & I’ve come to know God, that ought to do it. I’m ready Lord. Take me home. Are you really ready, my child? Yes, Lord, I’m really ready for you to come. So why haven’t you come? To answer that, we need to realize that there are 3 more reasons why God hasn’t taken us yet. The second thing that God wants me to do is to become like Christ. That makes sense too, doesn’t it? If I’m a member of His family, & if Jesus is my elder brother, & if God is my Father, then I ought to take on family characteristics. Just as my children have some of my traits because we’re family, I should exhibit some of the traits of Jesus because we’re family, too. So God is busy trying to form His character in our lives, to make us like Jesus. That has always been His goal. Now that makes Roman 8:28 very special. Here’s what it says, We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. It’s a very familiar verse, isn’t it? But I want you to hear it & the verse after it in The Message paraphrased, for vs. 29 explains vs. 28. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is working into something good. Why is everything working together for good in my life? Here’s why. God knew what He was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love Him along the same lines as the life of His Son. Why do all these things happen to us in life? - Some good, some bad. Why do they happen? Because God is building Christ-like character in our lives. Life was not that good for Christ. They spat on Him. They mocked Him. They crucified Him. And Jesus told us, They persecuted me, & they’ll persecute you as well. You might as well get ready for it now. So as we go through all these experiences, some good, some bad, God is grooming us to be more & more like Jesus. Now here is the third one. God still has me around because He wants me to practice being a servant. Why? Because in heaven we’re going to be serving. Oh, you thought we were going to be sitting on clouds & playing harps? No, we’re not going to be doing that. We’re going to be serving in heaven. The most Christ-like picture, the best model of being Christ-like you will find in Scripture is of Jesus putting the towel around His waist & washing the feet of the Apostles. And God tells us, I want you to be like Him. Now folks, that’s the secret of contentment in life. When we give ourselves away we find out what life is really all about. Finally, there is one more thing that God wants me to do - that is to share my life’s purpose with others. Why does God keep me around? Because the only plan that God has for telling others about His purpose is for those who have found the purpose to share it. The Bible says, God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, & He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. God has no other plan than that. So once I understand what life is all about, that this is preparation for eternity, God wants me to tell as many other people as I can. Folks, it won’t be too many years until all of us in this room will be dead. Now what will happen after we die? We’ll go to one of two places - either to a place without God that we call Hell, or to a place where God is, called Heaven. And the choice is ours. Well, someone may say, I don’t think God will send anybody to hell. I don’t think so, either. But you see, the choice is yours. You choose to go to hell by rejecting the greatest love that’s ever been offered, & by saying to God, I’m not going your way. I’m going my own way. And I’m going to reject everything you’ve offered me, even Jesus. I choose God, I choose life, I choose love. I pray that you do, too! And all God’s precious children say, Amen!! Today’s sermon supported and inspired by; Jessica Barnes, Freda-Lionel Willcott who writes: “Be content with what you have, for God has said, Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. So say with confidence, The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.. this more applies right now to my niece..” And Shontelle Barnes who said; “ I once did a study on the word grace and exactly what it means when Paul and others said grace be unto you. It has a beautiful and very important meaning. We tend to gloss over that word, that has so much meaning, if you really study it…”
Posted on: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 15:03:10 +0000
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