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January 9, 2005
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The Purpose Driven Life
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Pastor Brian Shimer
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"It's Not about Me"
Ephesians 1: 1-14
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
NIV
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- Last week we looked at Jesus' last prayer for you and me, that we would be one, that we would live in unity one with another. If there is one negative thing around which we are unified as people, it is today's reality: we tend to be focused upon ourselves, getting our needs met. But, the Purpose Driven Life study begins with this simple statement day one, "it's not about you." When I read that, it jumped off the page, I circled it and starred it for how much of life gets interpreted as if it is about me?
From birth you and I believe this. We are the center of our universe and mom and dad and brothers and sisters are all the planets that orbit around us. When we have a need, someone comes to meet it. (At least that is what happens in a healthy home).
Good things happen and we tend to receive the applause, as if it is all about us. Someone gets mad at us, and we can sink into the abyss of the thought: "this person's feelings are all my fault, my problem," when that may be far from the truth.
Bad things happen to us and we can think, "Why me?" "What have I done to deserve this?"
This is what Jesus' first disciples were wondering when they came upon the 40 year old man blind from birth. "Who sinned?" they asked the Master, "this man or his parents?" But Jesus' answer shocked them out of their "it's all about him" mentality, when Jesus said: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened that the work of God might be displayed in his life" (John 9:1-3).
It is not about him but that God's works may be displayed. Imagine the man's purpose was found in a-forty-year darkness. He was entrusted with blindness in order that his restored sight would manifest the presence of God to others. How many are entrusted with degrees of suffering of hardship, simply in order to manifest more fully the glory of God?
The painful cry "Why is this happening to me?" may indeed the lament of many precious souls, brothers and sisters for whom Christ died now facing devastating losses in SE Asia. Homes, family members, livelihoods washed into the sea. When all is lost, in what do people find meaning, if life is all about them?
On day one in the book there is a quote by Bertrand Russell, a man who "classified himself as a philosophical agnostic and a practical atheist. He wrote that his attitude towards the Christian God was the same as his attitude towards the Greek gods: strongly convinced that they don't exist, but not able to rigorously prove it."
(http://www.brainyencyclopedia.com/encyclopedia/b/be/bertrand_russell.html, 1/8/05)
He is quoted as saying; "Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless." So stated positively, since God exists then there is a reason for life, it has a purpose beyond being just about this bit of pleasure, that career, this relationship, this season of suffering.
As Rick Warren says of God on that first page of day one "you were born by His purpose and for His purpose."
(The Purpose Driven Life, by Rick Warren, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervon, c.'02, p 17, ubp)
- Say this with me: "I was born on purpose for a purpose". Say it once more and let it sink in. That life is not about you is true, but that God intends to work through you, to manifest his presence and glory through your life is also true.
You were not a passionate accident. You were conceived in the heart of God long before you were conceived in your mother's womb. You were born on purpose for a purpose and that was not just for the here and now, but to impact all of eternity.
Isn't that what we encounter in Ephesians 1?
The chapter begins with that great general statement in verse 3: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ…"
In that verse God has done something which warrants our praise. God has blessed you and blessed me in the heavenly realms, it says.
So, where are the heavenly realms?
Paul is not speaking of something far removed from us, here, for he says "God has blessed us" in the heavenly realms. So what are those realms?
Look with me at verse 19 and 20 in chapter 1 where Paul uses the phrase again. In the preceding verse he has written of God's power at work in us, and then beginning in verse 19 tells what kind of power this is: "That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and ever title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come."
So, we learn the heavenly realms are the place where Christ is seated with God in a locale that is above all other spiritual rule and authority. Now how can God be blessing "us" in the heavenly realms unless we are there too?
Look at chapter 2, verse 6 where the phrase is used again: "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him (where?) in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus," now read on to verse 7 where God tells you and me why he has done this, "in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus."
So, God can bless us in the heavenly realms - for that is where we who are in Christ are seated with Him. Imagine as you are seated here, you are also seated at God's throne. Impossible? Not in God's kingdom reality. What's the result? This life is not about me, but about the One who established it and blessed it. This life is a portion of a plan that is so big we cannot comprehend it all, but look at the eternal ramifications of your life - that in the coming ages the incomparable riches of his grace will be expressed in his kindness to us.
There's more seen in the next use of this phrase in chapter 3, verse 10 where we read: "God's intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Are you getting the picture of this blessing of God? We are that church and God's plan is not only that those who live in the age to come after we are dead and gone would behold His grace, but as the church we would make God's wisdom known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.
In writing thus, Paul is speaking to the beliefs held by Ephesians in the angelic rulers in the heavenly realms. There was an understanding that there is a hierarchy of rule in the heavens. Paul acknowledges that rule in this book, showing the demonic origin of it, but says: "friends, those rulers do not sit above you, so that you have to somehow try to control them by your magic works, no, you sit above them in Christ, and through you God is going to show them wisdom."
You are born on purpose for a purpose -- a purpose that extends so far beyond this few short years here, into the greatness of eternity. Remember how Paul lived witnessed to the demonic host, as the sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest discovered. They tried to cast out a demon in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches, when the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know and I know about Paul, but who are you? Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding" (Acts 19: 13-16).
Paul was known by name in the hellish environment where these demons operated because of the witness of God through Paul's life. He was born by and for God's purpose in his life.
- Back to chapter 1:3, "Praise be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly realms (where we dwell, where we are seated right now, where our lives make a difference in eternity) with every spiritual blessing in Christ."
You see, God has not blessed you with just a little spiritual blessing, or just some spiritual blessing, but with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
The key word in this sentence after we get through where the blessing is and the quantity of it is in the little word prior to Christ, the word "in".
Apart from Christ, nothing. But in Christ: everything - eternal purpose, life. Every spiritual blessing has been promised to you and gives you your purpose, but is only available IN Christ not outside of Him.
Attending church does not mean you are in Christ anymore than going into a garage makes you a car. No, being in Christ takes transformation. It takes accepting what God has offered, grace, life and blessing.
Read verse 13 in this chapter. "You also were included in Christ when
*you heard the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
*having believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised holy spirit
(who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession.)
So, how do we enter Christ? We hear the gospel and believe. The Gospel is this: that Jesus is truly God, became fully man, to die for your sins in order that you can be freed from sin and live in fellowship with God, and dwell with him eternally.
You heard all the blessings read. Right now all are true of you - and do you imagine that such blessing could be poured forth upon you without purpose coming forth through you?
You were born by his purpose for his purpose that you and I might be for "the praise of his glory."
- This passage speaks much of the praise and glory of God, because God deserves the glory. So what does His Glory mean?
The word glory refers to the manifest presence of God, and when God manifests his presence his "glory" is made known. The Hebrew word brings the idea of weightiness. There is a heaviness, a tangible, take-your-breath-away splendor to God's Glory. Remember when worship was established on multiple occasions in the Old Testament, the cloud of God's presence filled the temple and was so heavy that the priests could not carry on with their duties. God's glory is his weight, his manifest, impenetrable, objective presence. In the New Testament the Greek word tends to lean toward the idea of light and splendor - as heaven needs no light for God is the light and the lamb, Jesus, is the lamp.
Our purpose here on earth is not about us but about God's glory, the manifest presence, the weight and light of God through our lives. As the sun radiates light and heat, so God radiates his light and character through our lives.
All of creation manifests aspects of God's glory - this is why we can rejoice in something beautiful for we encounter in that thing a witness to the greatness of God. How much more do you and I manifest the Lord and show forth God's glory?
The more fully we accept that we are born by and for His purpose, the more we are available for God to shine through us. It is when we get stuck as the center of our own universe that we miss out on the purpose God has for us.
Could you imagine if the choir sang a Sunday anthem with each person singing the part of his or her favorite anthem, to their own time, on their own key, wanting applause? The result would not be pleasant.
But when God gets center stage, individually, when we realize that this life is not about us, we will find our purpose in Him and experience a greater unity with one another.
Then the Lord will be able to more fully let the light of his Love shine not only on but through our lives and his Glory will be more fully known.
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