There is an epidemic facing America and frankly all of western civilization right now, and I’m not talking about COVID-19. It is purposelessness. We are purposeful creatures, and if we lack access to the correct purpose, we will invent our own idea for our purpose. Not only does purposelessness rob your life of meaning, but it can have catastrophic consequences such as drug addiction and even suicide. Did you know that suicide is the second-leading cause of death among young Americans behind accidents, and there is nothing else close to those two causes (CDC 2017)? Is that not crazy? By and large, young Americans do not die unless they kill themselves either accidentally or on purpose. That is a tragic statistic, and I am convinced that a large percentage of those deaths are linked to lack of purpose.
Let me tell you something else, I understand the destructive consequences of purposelessness from personal experience. I will tell you more about that shortly. But first, Paul understood the problem of purposelessness as well, which he addressed in his letter to the Romans. Turn with me if you will to Romans 12. In verses 1-8, Paul encouraged,
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.” (ESV)
The first thing I want you to understand from this passage is that the world sells a false bill of goods when it comes to the purpose of life. Think about some of the life mantras that you see out there, whether it be in television shows, movies, books, popular songs, or even commercials. You hear things like, “Follow your heart,” “Do what makes you happy,” and “Live your best life.” I saw a commercial recently advertising one of those matchmaking websites, which I will not name to protect the guilty. One of the people endorsing the site said, “I’m just trying to find a successful woman so we can be a power couple. That’s what it’s all about, right?” That statement represents the worldly pursuit of wealth and influence as “what it’s all about.” Sometimes worldly ideas for purpose represent more noble motives. You hear them discuss things they think will make the world a better place, whether it be addressing inequity in society, the climate crisis, or other ways of being “woke.” At their core, the prevalent worldly ideas for purpose fit into three categories: hedonism, “get rich or die trying” (with apologies to 50 Cent), and social justice warrior mentality. I want to look briefly at these three ideas and see if we can find a theme.
Hedonism means doing whatever makes you happy, regardless of how it affects other people. Hedonism is the “live your best life” mentality. Hedonists pursue pleasure. That is what they do. For the hedonist, something is good if it leads you to pleasure, and it is bad if it leads to discomfort. If going to work makes you happy, go. If not, stay home. If smoking a little weed makes you happy, smoke it. If sleeping around makes you happy, by all means, live your best life. A theologian named Vince Vitale once philosophized that “the one thing that is most certain not to lead to pleasure is the pursuit of pleasure.” It sounds counterintuitive, but I think it is correct. Pleasure ensues not from searching for it but from a job well done, but we are getting ahead of ourselves. One of the world’s ideas for the meaning of life is hedonism, the all-out pursuit of pleasure.
The next one is what I labeled the get-rich-or-die-trying mentality. These people are laser-focused on accruing wealth. They might work extremely hard to do so, or they might cut corners in their pursuit of wealth. This type of person might work late hours at the office to try to increase the number in her bank account, or he might try a less strenuous route such as selling illegal drugs or some type of fraud or scam. Either way, this person prioritizes the pursuit of wealth.
This last one sounds a little more noble. The social justice warrior seeks to make this world a better place, to the best of his or her definition of what constitutes a better world. The social justice warrior might have great motives. Those who fight for equity in the world believe that the world would be a better place if everyone had the same amount of money, goods, and so forth. Others believe we all have a responsibility to fight for equality of opportunity. Others believe that we need to fight to end climate change. I don’t want to get into the pros and cons of those pursuits because that lies outside the scope of this discussion, but I will say this: The problem with the social justice warrior mentality is not with their goals generally speaking. They want to make this world a better place, and that is great. The problem, as with the other two examples we just discussed, is their prioritization.
Each of these unbiblical ideas for the meaning of life have some things in common. First, they are not inherently immoral. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to be happy like the hedonists. There is nothing inherently wrong with accruing wealth. There is certainly nothing inherently wrong with wanting to make the world a better place. However, it is inherently wrong to make any one of these ideas the meaning of life. If each of them is part of what you are doing in life, that is fine. They have their place. But, if you prioritize any of these ideas to the extent that it governs your every choice, that is not going to go well for you because each of these ideas centers on something that is not going to last. They center on this world, which will not stand the test of time. This world, this life that you are living now, is guaranteed to end. Why would you want to prioritize something guaranteed to end when heaven is guaranteed to last forever?
Let me tell you a quick story about my own misguided prioritization that can serve as a cautionary tale. I enrolled at the University of West Georgia fresh out of high school, and I had some plans. I had been looking forward to college basically ever since I saw the movie Animal House. I was looking forward to enjoying my newfound freedom as a college man. I came to college with basically two goals. I wanted to make memories that would last for a lifetime, and I wanted to prepare myself to land a lucrative job when I graduated. To be honest, the first goal probably governed more of my decision-making, especially in my first couple years of college, than the second. I called myself a Christian at this time; however, God was not a high priority for me.
I wound up joining Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity my first year of college. I figured Pike would help me achieve both goals. I could have some fun partying and meeting girls. Plus, I knew the fraternities had a wide network of alumni, so I figured that could help me land a good job when I graduated. I did it. I partied a lot and had a lot of fun. To be honest, I was actually miserable at a lot of the parties, but large amounts of alcohol fixed that problem. I climbed through the ranks of leadership in the fraternity and expanded my network to include many professionals in the corporate world that promised to help me achieve my professional dreams. I had it going on, and everything was going great until May 2, 2012, at 2am.
May 11 was a Monday, and my cousin Josh and I went to the Braves game at the old Turner field. I drank a couple beers at the game. I drove myself, but I was 21 at the time, so I could drive legally as long as my Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) stayed below .08 (I’m so smart…smh). After the game, we went to a couple bars in Douglasville where I continued to drink. My BAC certainly exceeded the legal limit by the time I left, but I figured I would be alright. Josh offered to allow me to stay the night at his house so I wouldn’t have to drive as far. However, I had to go to my internship in the morning so I needed to get home. I did not make it. Early on the morning of May 12, while driving drunk, I got into a head-on collision on Ephesus Church Road that resulted in the deaths of the two young men in the car that I hit. Ultimately, I would receive fifteen years in prison and a lifetime of guilt, but everything that happened that night had a direct correlation with poor priorities. I wanted to have a little fun, make a little money, and find a good career. That’s what it’s all about, right? Wrong. What, then, is the purpose of life?
It is not anything you hear from the worldly sources. Paul preceded this passage in Romans 12 with a few words about “the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God” by whom and through whom all things, including you, exist (Romans 11:34, 36). You are a created being. God willfully created you, and He did so for a purpose. That purpose is your purpose. Think about it like this. Maseratis are excellent cars. A master craftsman created the Maserati to fly down roads at high speeds, all while maintaining a comfortable ride. Maseratis are great cars, but what would happen if you tried to use a Maserati as an airplane? What would happen if you drove that Maserati off a cliff? Maseratis are great cars, but they are terrible airplanes. You have to quit trying to be an airplane.
God didn’t make you to be an airplane. God made you uniquely for a specific purpose. The Bible says that “you are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Eph. 2:10). He also created the Church. The Church is the body with which God has chosen to effect His purposes on Earth right now. The Church body contains a bunch of individuals like you that God wants to work together. What does God want the Church to do? Basically, the Church has one job, to bring people to Christ. There are multiple ways the church works to do that job, but the overarching purpose of the corporate Church is to bring people to Christ, to make “little Christs” as C. S. Lewis said it.
You, as a member of the Church, have your own unique role in that venture. God made you specifically for a purpose. Let me tell you something, and I really want you to get this. Only when you fulfill that role for which God created you, will you experience true joy in this life. If you try to live as something other than the child of God you were created to be, you will be miserable, but as you begin to apply your talents to the purpose God assigned, you will love life, I guarantee it, because you will be doing what you were designed to do.
Your role is to apply your gifts, your talents, within the body of Christ. Paul gave us this list in verses six to eight of some of the various gifts that God bestows for the advancement of His Kingdom. This is a representative list; these are categories, and you possess a gift that falls into one of these categories. That’s what the Lord is telling us right here. Something to keep in mind about your gift is that it is a gift of God. You say, “Now, I worked hard to be an effective communicator,” or “I worked hard to be a good singer,” or lawyer or equipment operator or whatever it is that you are good at, and you probably did. However, apart from God, you don’t have the tongue that shapes those words or the brain that made those arguments or the hands that guide that tractor. God granted your gifts. As a good steward, you should work to better yourself at your ability to employ the gifts that God gave you within the context of God’s purpose, but you always need to remember the source. Now, let’s look at some of these gifts that Paul mentioned.
First, Paul mentioned the gift of prophecy. Now, this gift has received a bad rap recently with some individuals making some false predictions about elections and current events. But the gift of prophecy is so much more than that. More often than not, the biblical gift of prophecy has nothing to do with predicting future events. There are biblical examples of this type of foretelling, which still happens today, but foretelling is a distinct subset of prophecy. Prophecy more broadly is the proclamation of God’s truth to God’s people. Have you ever been around some people, maybe in a Bible study, when you felt the need to tell somebody there about something associated with their walk with Christ? That’s prophecy. Have you ever felt like you just knew what some individual needed to hear to become closer to God? That’s prophecy. Prophecy is nothing more than acting as God’s spokesperson, and the more you do it, the easier it will get. One caveat: God will never give you a prophecy that contradicts His Word in the Bible. Keep that in mind, and tell people what the Holy Spirit leads you to tell people. The more you do, the more you will hear from Him.
Paul also noted a gift associated with serving. Service, in Paul’s usage here, refers basically to the behind-the-scenes type of work. It could be something like cutting the grass at the church or something as specialized as running the church’s sound system. This gift is not tied to the church building though. I remember in Coweta County earlier this year, a violent tornado went through, and I saw Leslie Pair and some people that I knew from Midway Church helping rebuild. They volunteered their time to come out here and help their neighbors. That’s service—meeting needs.
When Paul mentioned teaching, he meant teaching the Word of God. Some of you have a real skill for teaching. You can take complex ideas and break them down into a simple form for people to ingest. If you think you might be a good teacher, apply your talents to God’s Word. Study it and volunteer to teach a Sunday School class. See where the Lord takes it. You might find you like it so much you want to teach full time, whether in the church or outside it. Test your talents in the Church.
Exhortation refers to encouraging people to devote themselves to the Lord. Right now, I am engaged in exhortation. I am exhorting you to apply your God-given gifts to God’s kingdom. Evangelism also falls under the category of exhortation. Evangelism is exhorting people to trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Some of you are naturally skilled at exhortation. You encourage people to do things, and they do it. You can talk anyone into anything. The world tells you to take that talent and become a sales representative. I tell you that’s fine, but also, make sure you are selling people on Jesus. You can convince people to buy a vacuum, great. You made a couple bucks, and they got a nice cleaning utensil. You can convince people to put their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and you have eternally impacted their lives. You have stored up treasures for yourself in Heaven that will never perish or rot. Which do you think is the better use of your talent?
You could do both because if you make a boatload of money, you will have assets to contribute to God’s mission. That was what Paul meant by contribution and generosity. The Bible encourages Christians to work for a living and make money. If the Lord blesses you with wealth, you need to be a good steward of that wealth. Do not become greedy. Remember whose wealth it is and give generously to the Lord’s work. Take the time to understand the cause to which you contribute, but make sure you contribute! The Lord did not bless you with that wealth for you to hoard it. If you contribute your wealth to the garnering of more souls for the kingdom of God, you will receive back more than you ever gave; the Bible guarantees it.
The church also needs leaders, visionaries who hear from God and see the big picture. Leadership is the God-given ability to organize people for a task, and some of you have that talent in spades. You can delegate and guide people toward a common goal. Apply that talent to Christ’s Church. Do you have an idea for some kind of ministry that could help people out? Step out in faith and make it happen. I have to brag on my mom, Sandie Camp, for a second to illustrate this leadership gift. She facilitates a women’s life group that meets at her house. She and some of the ladies had a service idea that they believed could help the community and bring more souls into the Kingdom. Their idea was to get some money together and help people at a local laundry mat. It is a simple idea, but Mom exemplified this leadership gift by making the idea happen. She found some generous contributors to support the idea. Then, she planned a day and took $500 and her life group to a laundry mat in Villa Rica, Georgia. They paid for people’s laundry, told them about Jesus, and had an eternal impact on people’s lives. “Soap and Hope” continues on a quarterly basis at laundry mats in West Georgia.
When you comfort people in distress, you engage in acts of mercy. The Bible says that the Lord comforts us so that we can in turn comfort others, and what a powerful opportunity to witness to Christ these acts of mercy represent. You are meeting people when they are at their most vulnerable. They are hurt, physically or emotionally, and you are there to help. Lead them to the Helper of their souls. Also, the church needs biblical counselors if you feel called to that. Talk to your local church and see if you can volunteer to help counsel people. You can try it out and maybe that becomes your career choice. At the least, it will give you some valuable experience.
Some of you are thinking to yourself, “That sounds great, but I do not have any of those gifts you just discussed.” Let me tell you something: you do. You have a role to play in God’s Kingdom, and you have a gift that falls into one of these categories. You probably have multiple gifts that you do not even know about. “Um, how do I know what my gifts are if I don’t know about them?” Good question, I’m so glad you asked. In verse two, Paul said “that by testing you may discern what is the will of God.” You find out what you are good at by trying things out! And, what better place to test out your skills than in the church? Go to one of your church leaders and ask what you can do to help. If there is something you are interested in doing, tell them that. If not, just ask them what the church needs help with. God knows where He wants you, and if you are dealing with a godly church, He will create opportunities just for you because you are right where He wants you to be. God is going to bless that effort, I guarantee it. Find needs, and fill them. Quit asking God for things you want from Him, and start asking Him what He wants from you. Then act, and God will reveal His purpose for your life. His Word guarantees it.
If you are not yet a believer in Jesus, you need to get that right first. The meaningful life begins and ends with the Cross of Christ. As you begin to serve the Lord, you will meet with successes and failures. You need to place both at the foot of the Cross. When you fail, thank the Lord for forgiving you and continuing to work with you despite your failure. When you succeed, thank the Lord for gifting you with that success while acknowledging that you are His vessel. Your purpose is to bring God the glory He deserves.
I want to leave you with a story I read in a John Piper book. Piper’s dad was an evangelist. For years, Piper’s dad and his church prayed for this one stubborn man to get saved. One day, when the man was old, Father Piper was preaching at the church. At the end of the sermon, Father Piper called inquirers to the altar to get saved. To everyone’s surprise, the old man shuffled forward to the front of the church and gave his heart to Jesus. Excitement permeated the church that the old man finally accepted the Lord when all of a sudden the man fell to his decrepit knees and started wailing. No one could understand what he was crying at first, but as he continued to wail, Piper began to make out his words. “I’ve wasted it, I’ve wasted it,” the old man cried. “I’ve wasted my whole life.” I want to ask you today not to waste your life. God made you for a purpose. Start applying your talents to His Kingdom, and I guarantee you, you will find more joy in living the life God created you to live than you ever could think to find pursuing your own purpose, and the things that you do will have eternal significance. Don’t waste your life.
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