“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will” (New International Version, Rom. 12.1-2)
So many people are searching for their purpose in life. No matter their life stage – high school, college, starting a career or even a family – many are seeking, but sadly not finding simply because they are searching in the wrong places. There’s nothing more fulfilling than being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Opening the Bible with someone and helping them change their life in a radical way is truly gratifying! One of the greatest joys of studying the Bible with people is helping them find their “God-given purpose.” Where do we learn what our purpose is? The answer is very clear and is found within God’s Holy Scriptures. Let’s take a look at a few Scriptures so that we can understand God’s purpose for all of our lives.
Paul teaches that if we are going to understand God’s purpose for our lives, we need to change. First, we need to become a living sacrifice for God. In ancient Israel, physical animal offerings were made to God. We no longer need to offer sacrifices of animals, but offer ourselves as “living sacrifices.” We must learn to sacrifice our time, talents, finances, family, and career in order to give our lives to God. Secondly, in order to fully understand God‘s purpose, we must no longer conform “to the pattern of the world.” If we claim to be followers of Christ our life should look less like the world and more like Jesus every single day. We see this in 1 John 2:6 when John states, “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” Therefore if we are called to be like Christ, before we can see what our purpose is, we must find out…What is God‘s purpose?
What is the purpose of God?
“This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim 2.3-4)
According to the Apostle Paul, God’s will and purpose is for all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth: God is the Creator and His desire is for His creation to know Him. Jesus, being the Son of God, had the same purpose. Jesus himself explains in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” God’s purpose is to allow everyone the opportunity to know what it will take to have a true relationship with Him.
What is the God’s purpose for man?
“God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Gen 1.28)
Genesis Chapter 1, we see the creation of mankind. In verse 28, God gives mankind their ultimate purpose: “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth…” God‘s purpose from the beginning of creation was for mankind to multiply themselves. We see this as a continual theme in the Old Testament. We also see this as a theme in the New Testament!
“As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.” (Mark 1.16-18)
As Jesus begins His ministry, the first thing He does is call these fishermen to have a new purpose for their life – to become “fishers of people!” He gave them a new purpose, not to multiply themselves physically (like in the Old Testament by making physical children), but to multiply themselves spiritually by fishing for people and helping them learn to follow Christ!
Jesus was so resolute that He walked with the apostles for three years to train them on how to live out their purpose! A question one might ask, “Sure, the purpose of the apostles was to go and fish for people and find more followers of Christ. However, is that actually meant to be everyone’s purpose? Maybe it’s only for some people in the church?” Let’s take a look at the last words of Jesus Christ on Earth to help with answering that question.
I first learned about God‘s purpose for my life over ten years ago when I became a true disciple of Jesus. Words cannot express how much joy, hope and direction my life has had since accepting His purpose for my life! One of the greatest joys I have is not only having a purpose for myself personally but helping other people understand God’s purpose for their life as well. There’s nothing quite like living for God and having the privilege and honor to help others learn to do the same.
The question for us is not just “Do we understand God‘s purpose for our life,” but, “Are we living out God’s purpose?” One of our goals in the Denver International Christian Church is for every member to help someone become a Christian this year. We want each member of our church to fulfill their purpose by being true fishers of people.
Here are three practices to help us live out our purpose:
- In your daily prayer times with God, remember to pray deeply about those you are reaching out to help become Christians. As well, pray for God to put people in your path that you can study the Bible with and help transform their lives.
- Make it a priority to evangelize daily. Making disciples cannot be something we do, it must be who we are. If this truly is our purpose it will reflect in our daily actions. Yes, sharing our faith on campus or at work is important, but we need to be sharing everywhere we go! Share at the grocery store, with our neighbors, when running errands, when out with our family or friends, and with anyone else we come across at every opportunity.
- Make disciples together! Grab a hold of other disciples in your ministry and do Bible studies together. If your ministry does not currently have many Bible studies, go and share your faith together and experience the power of God putting new people in your path.
As a congregation, we have had multiple ministries focused on evangelistic campaigns in the last three weeks. The Lord has allowed us to share our faith with literally hundreds of individuals! I am particularly proud of the campus ministry as many of them have shared with a minimum of 50 people per day. Praise God, we have already seen souls added to the Lord’s church this year.
Friends, I put before you that if everyone in our church family grabs a hold of their purpose and truly lives it out, we will experience a year of fruitfulness that the Denver Church has never seen!
Let’s continually honor God and live out our purpose! To God Be The Glory!
Jason T. Woody
Evangelist
