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February 20, 2005
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The Purpose Driven Life
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Pastor Brian Shimer
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"What will be the communication of my life?"
1 Peter 2: 1-9
Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone,”
and,
“A stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his Wonderful light.
NIV
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I am hearing some very positive stories about the experience people are having with the Purpose Driven Life. In fact I know that many of the groups have decided to start over, and take it slower, and one group is already doing this. As they do so, they hope to dig deeper, more fully apply the themes to their lives, and really grow into being a person who has discovered that living on purpose is the only way to really live.
Next Sunday I want people to share how God has impacted them through this Purpose Driving Life study. So, this week, along with writing your life's mission statement, I ask you to take the time to review what you have encountered in the book, re-read parts, read your notebook and choose something you can share. Much of the service time I hope will be spent passing around the microphone and celebrating what God has done.
If you have something God has done in you, but are nervous standing up to share it in front of everyone, then you can write it out, email it to me (my email is on your bulletin) or bring it on Sunday and I will read it for you. For us to be doing this study at the same time has been a rich exercise in unity and to share that together next week will help strengthen what God has accomplished. So, do take the time to pray, re-read, ponder God's mighty acts in order to share right here, next Sunday!
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Since January 9th we have focused our time together around the themes found in the Purpose Driven Life. The overarching purpose for your life and mine is simply to glorify God.
We do so as we place God at the center of our lives through worship, involve ourselves in God's community for our lives the church, let God transform our character into Christ's through relationships with Him and one another, express the gifts God had poured into our lives through a ministry, the contribution we make to one another and finally the purpose of God is achieved through what we communicate. So, what will be the communication of my life?
The question is not as much "what will be" but "what is the communication of my life?" For already you are speaking volumes and so am I.
The man in the traffic jam, late for a meeting who is fuming, twisting, raging within is communicating something about his need to be in control, the place he finds identity, the anger at himself that he left later than he intended. The woman checking her receipt on the way out of the store, on discovering an error in her favor, who then returns so that the error can be corrected, is communicating something about her values, about her life's priorities.
The student who flunks the test because she did not study, rather than finding a creative way of cheating, is facing consequences for behavior and boldly communicating something with her life. Recently a student at Banks was caught sharing information on a test with another student through text messaging phone to phone!
No, the question is never "if" but "what" we are communicating. Are not only our words, but is our life communicating a life-giving message? Are we light illuminating a dark world? Are we salt - adding flavor, preserving from evil, healing wounds?
So many Christians separate what they believe from how they behave. Holiday Inn and other hotel chains testify that when there are Christian conferences the use of Pornographic movies goes way up. What is the communication of our life?
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God's desire for us is what same as His desire was for Israel- that our lives would declare Who He is!
When God called Abraham he said he would bless Abraham so that others would be blessed through him. "Through you all the families of the earth will be blessed," God said. Through one man God intended to touch the world.
When God created from that one man the people of Israel, his chosen people, did his purpose change? He said they were his special treasure and "you will be to me a kingdom of priests, my holy nation" (Ex 19:6). And through this one nation God intended for all the nations to know the living God.
So, the unbelieving nations heard how the Israelites had escaped from Egypt and crossed the Red Sea on dry ground and for 40 years Rahab in Jericho had heard the stories of other miracles accompanying this great people. She says to the Hebrew spies: "the LORD YOUR GOD is the Supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below" (Joshua 2:11).
When David fought Goliath a story we are all familiar with the purpose was not for us to know that God will defeat our giants, even though that is true, but the purpose was for a witness to go forth because of the battle. David declares to the giant, that because of their battle, "the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel!" (1 Samuel 17:46).
When Daniel got to spend a night in the lion's den it was not for an example of how God will protect us in a tight place, although that is true. But it was an experience allowed by God to proclaim to King Darius and through him to all the lands of the Medes and Persians: "that everyone in my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. For He is the living God and He will endure forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed and his rule will never end…" (Daniel 6:26).
When Jesus arrived in fulfillment to God's promise, God's plan became even more focused. Jesus came to seek and save the lost, declaring that He was the Light of the World and all of his followers then became the light of the World following Him. You are the light of the World!
Who you are is declaring something to this world. What happens in your life is saying something about your God.
Peter captured this Scriptural theme when he wrote this passage we have as our theme verse for today. He wrote "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God,…" He says "you are something." Before you say a thing you are already communicating, you are someone to God.
Before His ascension He gave the apostles the Great Commission, which Luke recorded in Acts 1:8 saying: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth."
Jesus does not say: "You will do a witness before people," no, he says, "You will be my witnesses." It is a state of being.
So what does it mean to BE a witness of Jesus?
If we looked at the book of Acts, we would discover that to be a witness is about the whole of life not just about what we say: they ate, worked, shared, talked, walked, traveled and all along the way they belonged to Jesus and as He gave them opportunity shared about Him. So, we "are" someone to Jesus and from that place of being God will work through us.
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I remember being in my art class and believing that I needed to share a witness. I went determined to somehow talk about what I believed, I went believing I was failing God if I did not do something spiritual there, which meant to talk about Jesus.
It was the worst art class of my life. I was tense, uncomfortable, uptight, afraid and frustrated. Worse than the fact that I could not think of a thing to say, I was miserable so my teacher was concerned for me that day wondering what was going on in my life.
We are to BE witnesses. Once I let go and just chose to be present in the class, be myself, enjoy the time, care for others, oh my gosh, God opened doors to a witness so much so that the daughter of my art teacher bumped into me at the last Art Potluck and said, "Oh, I am so glad to meet you, my mom has told me about you. To her, you are her pastor."
Now that amazed me. From uptight cannot say a thing to being the pastor… God has done something there.
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Peter says you are a priest. Now a priest is a person who in the Old Testament set apart to serve God. So, God is saying that everyone who trusts Jesus is such a person, a set apart person. And also a priest was someone who went before God on behalf of the people, priests led worship, they led in prayer.
So what ought we to be doing as God's priests? Relating to God in order that he can strengthen us in witness, in order that the communication coming from our lives may become all that God intends it to be.
The passage from Peter says this. The purpose in who we are is stated in the second half of the sentence: "That you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
That is the mission of our lives that is the communication of who we are. But such a declaration begins as we declare it to God. As we learn to grow in relationship to God, and then the witness will come through our lives day by day.
We do not force the witness, we live and then there will be opportunity to talk about what God has done in our lives. We don't live in the era of David when the story was passed around to the traveling caravans, but today we still have opportunities to share what God has taught us through our own giant experiences and as we do so we are declaring His praises.
When I write that I think of Darlene Dersham, who just died this past week and who was the secretary at St Francis school in Roy. Karen, my wife, tutors a high school student who used to attend that school and his reaction when he heard she was in the hospital was a testimony to the kind of woman she was there. "Oh no," he said, "she was the only person who was kind to me there." After 8 years this young man still remembers the witness he experienced through the life of this secretary who loves Jesus and served Him by working as a secretary. Whether or not she would have put these words to it, her ministry was from that post. I bet she prayed for those students and I bet she laughed, smiled and loved them. That is a profound witness.
My friend Hugh just hired a new guy to work in his financial firm. "He is not quite a Christian," Hugh said. "But I know how to reach him," he told me, "by quietly living my life before him." Hugh is Christ's in that firm, it is Jesus' company and to quietly live means to not be afraid, to speak when asked, to share honestly about his own life, and to be a Christian in how he deals with stress, with hurts, with difficulties. They guys pray together there, even the non Christian joins in seeking the same God the boss claims. He won't have a chance.
What will you be communicating from your life? Friends, dwell in relationship with God, be praying for God to cause you to be aware of your life lessons and aware of the benefits of the gospel for you, then, when there is opportunity you will be able to talk about what God has done and taught.
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