Genesis 12:1-4
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
Mark9:30-37
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it, 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” 32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him. 33 Then they came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34 But they were silent, for on the way, they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them, and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
Everything has a purpose. The purpose of a hammer is to hit the nail. The purpose of a book is to relay information. The purpose of a Christian is to follow Christ. Without a purpose, things are useless. God planned for everything, and in an ideal world, everything would work according to its plan. However, we do not live in a perfect world, so we are surrounded by many useless things. It seems that sometimes, things that are made for a purpose can become ineffective. Have you ever leaped into a pool on a scorching summer day, hoping to be invigorated by the water? You realize only after you jump in that the water is warm like bathwater. It fails to bring any relief from the summer heat. It is a most disappointing feeling and incredibly sad when water does not fulfill its intended purpose. The same can be said when we do not fulfill our purpose as Christians.
In Revelation 3, Jesus compares the church in Laodicea to water that serves no purpose. He says, “I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3:15-16) The congregation is called to repent from a lifestyle of mediocrity and become useful to God. A call to repentance is not a punishment but a necessary step in our spiritual growth. It is a chance for us to reflect on our sinful actions and realign ourselves with God’s purpose for us.
In today’s lesson, Christ pointed out one purpose for those who follow him. He told his disciples that those who wish to be first must be last and servants to all. Jesus lived the life of a servant leader, and in his example, the bar is set pretty high. From his glory in heaven, Christ gave up everything to be born a helpless baby. He was wholly dependent on his mother and those around him (John 1; Luke 2; Matthew 1). Tempted in the wilderness, he resisted hunger, thirst, and the trickery of the Devil (Matthew 4), only to be deserted and accused by the very people he came to help (Matthew 26). Jesus never lost sight of the purpose God laid out before him. His focus remained on the Father in heaven, and he showed his purpose by healing and serving those he met (Mark 1:29–45; 2:1–12; 5:24–34, Luke 4:38-41; 17:12–19, Matthew 8:14-16, etc.). Ultimately, Jesus’ purpose was revealed upon the cross (John 19:16, Luke 23:33, Mark 15:24, Matthew 27:35). The first thing a Christian must understand is that Jesus did not have to do any of it. Christ did not have to die for us; he chose to die for us. He chose to be forsaken so that we might live in communion with God and have a relationship unlike any other. Our purpose as Christians is to seek sanctification by living as Christ did, and we cannot do that if we do not study the Word of God, pray with conviction, confess our sins, and be servants to all who come to us. In other words, live a Christ-like or sanctified life.
Many books have been written about purpose in the Christian world, none more famous than Rick Warren’s A Purpose-Driven Life. Rev. Warren makes many claims in his book about the purpose of a Christian but provides minimal discussion on the process of sanctification. One of the main objectives of the Christian life is to gain a deeper understanding of God and His desired way for us to live. Consequently, through prayer and supplication, we align ourselves with God’s will. Sanctification is specifically the state of growing in divine grace as a result of Christian commitment after baptism or conversion. (In Merriam-Webster's unabridged dictionary 2024) Doing a 40-day study of what is basically a self-help book that quotes the Bible is no substitution for actual Bible study.
Our purpose as Christians is also shown through the gifts given by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12). The Spirit is more than a luxury; it is divine guidance and a necessity for us to understand and fulfill our purpose in God’s kingdom. It is a comforting thought that we are not alone in this journey but guided by the teacher Christ told us he was going to send (John 14). However, far too often, the gifts go undiscovered by lukewarm Christians who neither seek to understand them nor seek to discern what God has in store for them. Finding our purpose and seeking sanctification is like welcoming the child in Jesus’ name. When we do so, we are welcomed by the Father with the same open arms.
Do you know your purpose? Is your purpose that of a servant leader? Will you seek to be first, or will you choose to be last? These questions are not just for contemplation but also serve as a guide for aligning our lives with the purpose Christ has set for us. Our purpose is not known until we submit to God’s will, and God is not obligated to show you how things are going to work out. When God called Abram to leave his home and go, he only backed it up with a promise that he would be blessed. Abram did not know where any of it would lead; he did not know the danger. He had no way of knowing if the promise to make his name great would be because he was killed in battle like Uriah or if it was associated with some other tragedy like Cain, Samson, or Judas.
In the same way, the promise of salvation does not come with guarantees of comfort, nor do we get to sit back and watch it all happen to everyone else. Christ said, “On [the last] day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me…” and the difference between those who hear and those who do will be “like a wise man who built his house on rock.”(Matthew 7:22-23a, 24) When we receive the call from God, our first instinct should be to run toward the cross of Jesus, to kneel, and to pray. It is only by doing, living inside the Word, praying confessionally and intercessional, and being a servant to all that we manage the act of sanctification. It is only by fulfilling the commandment to love thy neighbor that we can truly love God.
A life with purpose is a life in communion—communion with God and with each other. Rev. Warren made one point in his book that I think more Christians should heed. That point was that there is no such thing as a lone Christian. (Warren 2002) Warren makes a point to tell his readers to go and be active in church. The Body of Christ only works when we are together. When we are not in communion with one another, we are not following God’s will. We are not heeding the call to welcome a child of God in Jesus’ name. Sometimes, your purpose is revealed when we come together for worship, choir, Bible study, fellowship, or any number of other reasons. When we invite the Spirit to be among us, we understand what Christ taught the disciples when he said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”(Matthew 18:20). Just as there is no lone Christian, there is no single way to find your purpose. A Christ-centered life, serving others with humility and grace, is great. However, we do not need to do it alone; that is why Christ gave us his Church, so there would be a place to learn and discern in communion with the Spirit and each other.
A life with purpose takes time. God asks us to give time to worship, time to pray, and time to others. Time seems also to be the one thing the world demands of us. We must ultimately decide if we will offer time to God or not. It does not seem too much to ask in light of what God offers us. Let me give you an example: For this sermon, I spent about ten hours researching and about one hour typing it up and making the proper citations. It takes about nine minutes to read. (Longer to preach when the spirit moves me). This is only one of my offerings to my fellow Christians and, therefore, to God. However, the blessing I received in researching the Word of God, the time I spent in prayer crafting the prose in this manuscript, and the satisfaction of knowing that I gave my best is in itself another step in sanctifying myself before God. Hopefully, the more I offer myself in this way, the better I will become at doing so. One thing I have discerned is that my purpose is still being determined, as it has changed many times in my life. Maybe that is what sanctification is all about. Perhaps our true purpose in Christ is more glorious than any of us can imagine on this side of heaven, and when we seek that purpose, we get a glimpse of what life in God’s kingdom is all about.
I pray your journey of sanctification leads you to the foot of the cross. I pray that in all you do, you seek to glorify God. Most importantly, I pray that you welcome all children of God in Christ’s name and that as you welcome them, you welcome the one who sent Christ. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. AMEN.
Works Cited
In Merriam-Webster's unabridged dictionary. September 19, 2024. https://unabridged.merriam-webster.com/unabridged/sanctification.
Meeks, Wayne A., Ph.D., Jouette M. Bassler, Th.D., Werner E. Lemke, Ph.D., James Luther Mays, Ph.D., Susan Niditch, and Ph.D., Eileen M. Schuller, . The Harper Collins Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version with the Apocryphal and Deuterocanonical Books. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1993.
Warren, Rick. The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here for? Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2002.
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