Man with a Purpose

Good morning and Happy Father’s Day to all the men here this morning. I say all the men because even though you may not have any biological children, there are others who are looking up to you as the example of what a man or father is supposed to be. I know because I am one of them. I come from a divorced home where my dad wasn’t around much, in fact he lived in Texas and we lived up North. The last time I seen him alive was when I was around 13. He passed on in 2001. So I look up to the men in the church for an example of how to be a good father and man of God.

This morning I want to share a message called “Man with a Purpose”. While this is a Father’s Day message, the ladies I believe can apply this to their lives as well.

Opening Illustration

I want to open this message with a short story that took place awhile ago.

I read of a story of a psychologist who was studying productivity. He hired men at eight dollars an hour to cut wood in his backyard while he observed their behavior from the house. The only requirement to be paid was that they had to cut the wood with the back side of the ax! One fellow was banging away in the backyard, and the psychologist went away from the window for a minute to get something. When he returned, he heard a commotion in the backyard. The man was wildly cutting with the edge side of the ax.

The psychologist ran outside and said, “You are disqualifying yourself from getting paid. You are using the sharp side of the ax.” The man replied, “I don’t care if I am getting paid or not— I’ve got to see some chips fly!”

How many here today have ever felt this way before?

Where you feel as though you are just chopping away at life and not seeing any results?

Your kind of are just hitting life hoping that at some point you will make some progress, but you are not going anywhere, and you are not being fulfilled.

Today I want to talk to you about “purpose”.

Purpose is defined as - the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.

Each and everyone of us here this morning has a purpose. If we do not know what that purpose is, we will not be fulfilled.

Even though we are working and filling our lives full of activities, without purpose being the driving force, the activity becomes mindless, boring, and depressing.

God & Others

So what exactly is that purpose? What is the purpose supposed to be in my life? Simple.

Live for God and Others.

I have found in my own life a purpose that helps me get through the mountains and valleys, through thick and thin – that purpose is to live for God and others.

When you live your life for God, the second part of this will flow from you supernaturally.

Here is something we have to get a hold of – our life is short and when we die it isn’t going to be about the date we were born or the date that we died, but what did we do with the dash in between.

How did we live out the time that God has given to us which James described as:

James 4:14 NASB95

14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

I read of man who lived in Mexico. His name was Daniel Ost.

Danny, as he was known nationwide, had a huge radio audience and planted gigantic Faith, Hope, and Love Centers that seated up to five thousand in the cities of Mexico.

When Danny was buried, he had requested to be buried on a hillside in Mexico City where thousands of unmarked graves were the final resting place for the poorest of the poor.

Every day an average of fifty bodies were laid in nameless graves in that burial ground. Danny was buried there under a large white cross, under a huge gravestone engraved with the name of his church and telephone numbers to call. Inside the small fenced-in yard around his grave was a rack full of gospel tracts kept stocked by the church members.

At any given point in the day, you could see a crowd of mourners gathered around Danny’s grave, reading the gospel literature to be saved.

Talk about a man with purpose!

His life was so full of purpose that it even continued on after his death. I could give you more and more examples of men who had a purpose, but I want to share with you one of the GREATEST examples – Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ Example of Purpose

Christ is the the GREATEST example of a man with purpose. Jesus main purpose was to live for God, but also OTHERS. Because His whole life was revolved around God, He lived for others.

Luke 19:10 NASB95

10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

His life’s purpose was to live for God and in that He reached out to OTHERS with the Gospel message. His purpose moved Him towards His divine assignment which was to be crucified for the sins of mankind. He wasn’t afraid or timid about it, in fact he marched ahead knowing His own life was going to be taken. His purpose was more important than His comfort in this world.

Paul felt the same way. Listen to the words of Paul.

Acts 20:17–24 (NASB95)

17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.

18 And when they had come to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time,

19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews;

20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house,

21 solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

22 “And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,

23 except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.

24 “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.

From both Jesus and Paul, we can learn that our purpose will drive us forward into our divine assignment.

Our purpose as men, not just the men but every Christ follower, is to live for God and to live for others. When we live for God on purpose, we will be driven to reconcile this world to Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:18 NASB95

18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,

The word ministry used here in the Greek means “of those who by the command of God, proclaim and promote religion among men.”

What is that religion? It is not a religion that we think of today. It is not about a list of do’s and don’ts that we are to proclaim. What we are to proclaim is RECONCILIATION to the world.

Reconciliation simply means the “restoration of DIVINE favor”.

Paul is telling us that God Himself reconciled (restored divine favor) the world through Jesus Christ, so we as men of God can go in/through Christ and reconcile the world back to God!

2 Corinthians 5:20 NASB95

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

The relationship you cultivate and experience with Jesus becomes the lens through which you face the world each morning. Through your relationship with Christ you will see that this is the purpose that Christ has given to you and THIS is the only PURPOSE that will fulfill your life.

You can fill your life with activity after activity and you will be left wanting more and never be satisfied. Why? Because that is not your purpose.

Your purpose is to act as a representative for Jesus Christ.

Purpose = Priorities

With this new found purpose, there is something else we need to understand.

Purpose is about priorities.

When you find your purpose, you need to be focused on it. Otherwise you will disconnect from it.

Author Larry Stockhill put it this way:

“A Wi-Fi or cellular signal can easily drift in and out so that you are suddenly disconnected. You have to recall or reconnect to your party and platform. Similarly, without priorities and purpose, you may drift for days, months, or even years, wasting the precious moments God has given you on the earth.”

Focusing on our purpose, live for God, and live for others as men of God, should become a priority in life.

The priorities we set in our life determine the direction we will take.

We are either living our lives to please ourselves or we are living our lives to please God. Let me illustrate this using two trees.

Tree of Self

Finish this sentence for me: “If we are not living our lives for others, then we are living our lives for…our self.”

This is the first tree…the “tree of self”.

This tree goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were originally created by God for God. God desired they would remain in that relationship with Him.

They walked with God, talked with God, had a relationship with God, and lived their lives for God and for each other. God told Adam it wasn’t good for him to be alone, so God created a helper.

Something happened in the Garden. The serpent came along and presented to them this tree of knowledge of good and evil. But, in all reality it was a tree of self.

Listen to what the Scriptures say.

Genesis 3:4–6 NASB95

4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

Eve seen that the tree was good for food, it was good for her body, her flesh. As she looked upon the tree with her eyes it was a delight (lust or desire) to them, and she seen the tree as something that would make her wise…make her like God knowing both good and evil. That is something to be proud of. To be wise. In reading this I am reminded of another Scripture where John said:

1 John 2:15–16 NASB95

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

This tree of self is not about God and it is definitely not about others. It is about self.

The root of this tree is “selfish ambition”.

While there is nothing wrong with ambition, after all ambition is having a strong desire to do or to achieve something, but if it is done for selfish gains, then ceases to be about our relationship with God and the purpose He has for us and like Adam & Eve was warned, we will surely die.

Ask yourself, “Am I climbing the tree of self and living for myself instead of God and others?”

Tree of God

The second tree is what I call the “Tree of God”.

This is the tree that Jesus, Paul, and other great men of God climbed. They invested their lives pursuing and climbing the tree of pleasing God.

Jesus said this:

John 8:29 NASB95

29 “And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”

Jesus lived do the things that pleased His heavenly Father. Paul strived to climb that same tree his entire life.

2 Corinthians 5:9 NASB95

9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

Paul woke up each morning, whether in jail, shipwrecked on an island, or in a governor’s palace, with one desire: to live a life that was pleasing to God.

Jesus and Paul’s whole purpose in life was to please God and they did this by serving others. You see, serving others is at the root of the tree of pleasing God.

Serving others is the heartbeat of God.

The human heart has to be in rhythm. When a heart is out of rhythm, there are many physical symptoms (dizziness, shortness of breath, weakness, and fatigue)— all of which are bad! Heart patients can feel the moment their heart goes from irregular back to regular, just like a car changing gears.

Selfish ambition, is an “irregular heartbeat.”

Part of God’s purpose for you is to serve others, not with selfish ambition in hopes of getting something in return, but as some who lives to see God’s name lifted high above all other names.

When you live each day for serving others, your inner man goes back into rhythm with God’s purpose for your life.

Serving others is a something which ought to be done. It is a part of our purpose as men of God.

For those who have not experienced this relationship with God and are searching for purpose, this is it. Living for God and living for others. It is our lifestyle…our calling…our motivation...our purpose in this life. We live to give, live to serve, live to love, live to reconcile the world to Christ.

Serving your family, serving the lost and broken, serving the least and last is a purpose that will never change in this crazy world that can flip in an hour.

Your wealth may evaporate, your job may disappear, your influence may wane, but you should never stop getting up each day praying and asking the Lord, “Lord, what can I do today to bring You pleasure? And whom may I serve today in Your name? How can I reconcile someone to you today?”

Closing

I want to close with this Scripture that was mentioned a little while ago.

Paul said this,

Acts 20:24 NASB95

The goal is to finish the race.

During our lifetime, the dash between birth and death, we are called to please God by serving others and reconciling them to God. That is our purpose. Let this be a reminder that while we are here, we will continue to please God and serve others.

In our lifetime we are going to struggle. We are going to feel like we don’t measure up or we just feel unbalanced. That’s when we need to turn to the Word of God and towards each other to be encouraged.

1 Corinthians 16:13 NASB95

13 Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

In those times you are feeling like you don’t measure up and are unbalanced, remember what the Word of God says about you.

It is a tactic of the enemy to discourage you.

So, be on alert (on your guard), stand firm in your faith in Jesus Christ, act like men of God, and be strong in Jesus Christ. Live for God by serving others.