Today folks, marks the beginning of something new here at
Lakeview . . . I think it's even historic . . .
This series - "The Purpose Driven Life" will not only be taught here on the weekends . . . but in children's ministry (your kids - same learning), youth ministry, available for small groups, personal bible study sheets available. First time.
See . . . our goal is to gather the entire church around learning the purposes God has for us in life . . .
Our goal is that in these next 5 weeks we would:
. learn individually
. learn corporately
. learn and discuss as families
. learn in small groups and with friends
That we would take several steps closer to God as an entire congregation to begin 2005 . . . (use invitations). Books - available at the book ministry (fireside room).
Challenge - read this with us . . .study it, focus you attention on God at the start of this year . . . I believe incredible things will happen among us if we together pursue God with a passion this season . . .
Thinking game with audience.
. What really makes you happy?
. What is it that really makes you content?
. What is it in life that makes you feel most fulfilled?
Need to go to a deeper level than you're thinking and girls get beyond that chocolate cheese cake just a bit . . . and fellas get beyond what you're thinking about (cause we all know what that is!) . . . we've got to go a little deeper . . . What is it that makes you happy? Content?
Well -I think the answers to these questions are the same for all of us. I think as human beings we are the happiest and the most content when we are living life how we were created to live . . . . . . and I think we're most fulfilled when we are actually doing what we were created to do . . . (Hold on to that thought for a little while).
Now I know it's early in the year to say this - (but I'm going to say it anyway), I think today's topic and this message will be the most important one we will give all year . . . because today I'm gonna tell you one of the secrets of life - an answer to a question that people have been asking for centuries . . .
One night this week - we rented the movie Troy - good movie - I think they were trying to create a classic . . . but it fell a little short. (But Brad Pitt was in it - so Pam was okay without a story line) . . . Anyway it was set in 1200 BC . . . and the Greeks were trying to take over the world and decided to go up against Troy - a city that had never been taken and whose walls have never fallen . . . but the Greeks had a great warrior named Achilles - who had never lost a battle - (Great Show) (cast of 1000's) But what caught my attention was that several times in the story you see these kings and warriors from 3200 years ago having the same discussion that we're having today and trying to answer the same questions.
What is the meaning of life?
Why am I here?
What is my purpose?
What am I really supposed to do with my life?
What is it that causes fulfillment in life?
Now my first suggestion today is this . . . . . . that if you haven't begun to ask yourself those type of questions - today would be a good time to start . . . because unless we wrestle with, and find answers for, . . . . . . these bigger issues of life . . . life will quickly become meaningless . . .
Thomas Carlyle said this . . . "The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder - a waif - nothing - a no man . . . ."
Now that's perhaps a little stronger than I might have said it, although I think it's true . . . but . . . I like this quote better . . ."nothing matters more than knowing God's purposes for your life, and nothing can compensate for not knowing them . . ." (profound if you think about it . . . )
Rick Warren
There are a couple verses from the bible that put our purpose and life meaning into perspective . . .
Revelation 4:11 says this,
"You - Oh God, created everything and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created . . . (Rev 4:11b)
Let that soak in a bit . . . . . . that truth says . . . we exist (as human beings) only because of God and his love - He created us and (that's how we got here) . . . . . . and we exist to bring pleasure to God by loving Him in
return . . . That is the reason we were created . . . Now . . .
Jesus also made a profound statement about the purpose of life - and He said it to a young man who asked Him a question ® about what Jesus thought the most important thing in life was . . . . . . some of you may know how Jesus answered . . . Jesus said, the greatest thing is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and with all you strength." (Matthew 22:38) Hold onto that verse - we'll bring it back . . .
Pretty clear . . . what Jesus thought . . . . . . and really it's pretty clear what God's word says about purpose and the meaning of life.
Our purpose is to love God and worship Him . . . . . . Now, Rick Warren has done an outstanding job with this book (of that there is no question . . . ) . . . and were gonna take 5 weeks to digest what he says . . . but (you know what?) he isn't the first author in history to tackle this, (why am I here and what's my purpose stuff . . . . . .)
In fact, about 350 years ago (or so) a bunch of pretty solid spiritual guys and theologians put together something called the Westminster Catechism (a statement of beliefs and truth) and here's a great line from that 3 century old document - "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."
Now, if you'll notice it doesn't say there are 2 chief ends or purposes for life but only one . . . "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever" . . . Here's perhaps a better way to understand that line . . .
"The chief purpose of man is (to glorify God by enjoying Him forever). . ."
And that folks, is the key to life and the answer to every big question we've asked so far today . . . . . And there is a word that sums up that line (to glorify God by enjoying Him forever) and it's called worship - glorifying God by enjoying Him forever is what worship really is . . . and as we'll see in a minute or two worship isn't just about coming to church or singing some songs or even acknowledging that God is with us in the world - no . . . . . . worship is bigger than that . . . Worship is the purpose of life - worship is what brings meaning to life . . . and fulfillment and happiness . . .
Blaze Pascal put it like this . . . "Happiness can be found neither in ourselves nor in external things, but (only) in God and ourselves united to Him."
So, yes our subject today is worship . . . but I wanted to give you some (larger) perspective . . . that worship is also the subject of life (and meaning and happiness and even our very existence . . .)
So . . . I think it's a pretty big deal for us to get this worship thing figured out and nailed down in our lives - because if you're like me - I want to be happy and find fulfillment and I want my life to be filled with joy and meaning and satisfaction . . . I mean . . . we don't want to just endure life and get through it - we want to squeeze as much out of it as we can . . .
And that can only come, through understanding worship which is - Our One Purpose - One Reason - One End to our existence . . . (to glorify God and enjoy Him forever . . .)
So, the why we are here question . . . is figured out . . . to worship God - but how do we actually get that done (is also a large question) . . . because unless worship can get into our everyday lives . . . it isn't gonna work. We'll never understand it. Worship has got to become a practical and everyday and down to earth thing . . . . . . That's our goal today . . . To put worship into practice . . .
Let me read you a verse that best describes this how-to process of putting worship into our lives . . . (The apostle Paul said . . . )
"Therefore . . . I urge you . . . in view of God's mercy . . . offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship." Romans 12:1 (NIV)
The message translation says this . . .
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering . . . . . . Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. "
Romans 12:1 (The Message)
So what is it saying? . . . . . . It's saying because of what God has done for us (when we grasp what He's done for us . . . ) . . . we worship Him . . . and we worship him best - by offering our lives back to Him - our everyday sleeping, eating, going to work and walking around life . . . all of it -
Worship is about our entire lives being given to God . . . 24 - 7 - 365 . . . and only there can you and I find our purpose - for life . . .
In the verse I read to your earlier . . . Jesus described the "how-to" of worship as loving God with all your mind - heart, soul and strength. Let's talk about that for a couple minutes . . .
Here's the first thing Jesus says, He says . . . if you want to learn to worship, it starts with loving God with all of your mind . . .
See folks, worship is about consciously putting our minds on God every day . . . That means that our faith must be intentional and thought through and continuous . . . A steady flow through our conscious mind . . . (This helped me get it a little better . . . )
Do you remember a time (or the first time) that you fell in love with somebody?
Remember your thoughts . . .
You thought about them when you woke up in the morning.
You thought about her at football practice or at school
You thought about that person at work
And you probably said something like this to friend - "I can't get her off my mind . . I think about her all the time . . ."
I remember when I stared dating Pam - it was crazy - we were in
college . . . . . lots of free time - hung out all the time - meals - classes - coffee - pizza - 4 wheel driving - movies - so fun - but the most amazing thing to me was . . . . . . that when we weren't together - I thought about her all the time - anyway . . . . . . she was always on my mind - her laugh - her words - her smile - her really big 1986 hair . . . Awesome - couldn't get her out of my
mind . . . it came very naturally for me to think about her . . . . . . As human beings we consciously think about people we love and see and connect
with . . . Now, the difference between our latest girlfriend or boyfriend and God . . . is that God isn't quite as immediate in our minds . . .
See . . . because we don't physically see God everyday - we have to choose to focus our minds on Him . . . and so loving God in practical everyday terms is a decision .
We have to decide to consciously give our focus and thought and attention to God . . . otherwise all of our thoughts will center around the immediate or finite- or busy aspects of life . . . They will simply take over our minds . . . Now this may depend on personality a bit . . . but for me - to connect with God, . . . I need to be very intentional . . . If I want to really love God with all my mind . . . I have to work extremely hard to focus my attention on Him . . . otherwise . . . life just goes by me and my spiritual life begins to
wither . . . it just gets crowded out of my mind . . .
So here's what helps me (some practical things) - maybe it will help you. I never thought up these things - other people did - but in order to slow down my life enough to connect with God in my mind on a regular basis . . . I use these every day things as reminders . . . of worship - to focus my mind on the things of God.
Red Lights - sound crazy - but we go through a lot of intersections every day - we stop at red lights for 15 - 20 - 30 seconds at a time . . . Well - I'm trying to get in the habit of using these 30 seconds to think about God.
Stop Signs - same thing . . . stop and take 3 seconds to think - focus - return our minds to God . . .
Door Ways - This is great - how many doorways do you go through every day . . . What if we trained our minds to think on God at every
doorway . . . (sounds crazy . . .but it might work . . .)
Minutes - This is a goal for me - I would love to connect with God every minute in my mind . . . I'm not there . . . but what if we could learn to mentally multi - task continuously with God in life . . .We'd learn to worship. Connect our minds to minutes.
See folks, (the truth is ) God is actually more real than our schedules or our pressured life or our busy jobs or our frustrations or our experiences. He's more real than this door frame . . ., (that is how real the spiritual realm really is . . . ) but it takes daily training to be able to focus our minds at a higher level than just running through another busy . . . immediate . . . very full day . . .
(Secret about Dean) - I like to run fast . . . I like the energy of a full schedule . . .but it can quickly become my enemy . . .
50 Stop Lights - Big slow breaths - slow down - slow down physical - slow down mental. When I do that - God is there every time.
® Sometimes we've got to just mentally gather our thoughts - before we could ever worship with them . . .
Folks, whatever it takes . . . we've got to learn to love God with all of our minds . . . Get practical with this . . . Try a stop sign or a doorway or mental minute prayer this week . . .
And then Jesus said . . . we've also got to learn to love God with all our
hearts . . .
Now . . . in the times Jesus walked around the Greeks had a huge impact on the world . . . in fact the original New Testament of the Bible . . . was completely written in Greek . . . So when the bible uses the words heart and soul . . . - in the Greek world . . . that referred to the inside of a person - the emotive part of the psyche - the feelings of an individual.
To love and worship God with all our heart means we allow ourselves to feel emotional when it comes to God . . . and to express emotion to God . . .
Now, I know this is already freaking some of you out . . . because maybe you didn't grow up in a family that was real emotional - or a family that didn't express love too often . . . and for some of you it's a bit more of a personality thing - or gender thing . . . you're the strong quiet type . . .and you'd rather have a root canal at the dentist without freezing than to get too mushy about anything, much less talking about our emotions to God . . .
(And I gotta admit - publicly it's a little weird talking about it) . . . but Jesus said love God with all your heart . . .that's what is needed . . . to really understand worship . . .
Now there are lots of ways to express that emotion to God . . . and a lot of people over the centuries have tired a lot of things to show God their
love . . . they've shown it by tears and laughter - shouts of joy - quiet prayers - raising hands - falling down on their knees - people express emotion in a variety of ways . . .
One very effective way is to just say it. I know that that sounds elementary, but it works. Do you remember the first time you ever said, "I love you" - to another person?
I'm sure it scared you to death . . . It sure did for me . . .
1987 - by buddies pimped up Cordoba
. big tires - big stereo
. plush velvet interior
. dice - perfect
. date - supper - movie
. stop on the way home - a little smooching ® and all of a sudden
I wanted to tell her . . .
I was so uptight I didn't know what to do - think - say
But I said it anyway - why? Because I couldn't help it . . .I knew she
loved me to . . . And you know what folks? God has said "I love you" to us in a thousand different ways . . . (think about it).
He created us . . .
He's forgiven us . . .
He's taken care of us . . .
He sent Jesus to die (on the cross) for us . . .
He answers prayers for us . . .
Its really quite amazing when you think about it . . . God just loves us so much and He's said it over and over and over and over again . . . ® (This is great) . . . We don't have to worry about who's gonna say it first . . . because He beat us to it . . . he's already said it . . .
So, when's the last time you said that to God ? Four simple words - I - Love - You - Lord . . .
See . . . like a wife wanting it from a husband or a parent wanting it from a child . . . or a child wanting it from a parent - God wants to hear that from
us . . .
Jesus said - if you want to learn to worship - love God with all your mind (yes) . . . but then He says - transfer that to your heart - worship is about loving God with all our hearts . . . and we've got to learn to do that . . . (wait).
Now, Jesus goes on to talk about loving God with all our strength as
well . . . but I'm gonna save my thoughts on that for the weekend of January 29 & 30 - when we talk about "serving" as being a huge apart of living a purpose driving life . . . (that's where our strength will come in)
Folks . . . I intentionally didn't write a big finish to this message because we wanted to end today in another way . . . We wanted you to be able to experience worship . . . and to participate in a few moments that we're gonna set aside to love God with all our minds and hearts and strength ® to worship through music . . . so our worship teams have put together a few songs and I'm gonna ask you to allow yourself to be lead by them - to follow their lead in worshipping God and connecting us to the greatest purpose of life . . . (take sometime here . . . to focus)
Let me ready you for that by again reading Romans 12:1
So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Romans 12:1 (The Message) |
