Sunday Service: 23/08/2021
Supporting Scripture: Philippians 3:7-14
Title of Message: Living On Purpose
Delivered by: Pastor Mercy
What is Purpose?
The reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.
Do you know what your purpose is? Do you know what drives you?
God has a purpose for our life but sadly, many of us don’t have any idea what that purpose is.
We are all driven either by design or default.
Living by design means living according to a plan in order to achieve your purpose in life. Living by default means just following the crowd. It’s just letting things happen as you go.
We either live for the purpose that God designed us to, or we live according to the demands of our schedule and the expectations of others.
Some people think the purpose of life is making money, for some it is having as much fun as possible, and for others it’s being popular and well-liked by others.
There’s nothing wrong with these things, but if they are your whole purpose in life, there’s an emptiness to it. It’s like a cotton candy – tasty, but no substance. We have to find our purpose and live it to please God.
When you live on purpose, the benefits are:
- It will Reduce Frustration
By knowing your purpose, you can reduce meaningless work. Otherwise, you may feel like you’re always busy, but not accomplishing much. Many of us have gotten our hands in so many things and yet we are not making any progress. We’re burning the candle at both ends and yet not as bright as we think we are. - It will Increase Motivation
Why get out of bed if you don’t have anything to do? When you know what your purpose is, you get excited – you want to get up and go. - It will Allow Concentration
Purpose allows you to focus – It keeps you on track. It allows you to ignore the things that can easily distract you and take your attention away from the things that really matter. You don’t have time to do everything. Purpose not only helps you know what to do, but also what not to do.
So How do we Live on Purpose? – (Philippians 3:7-14)
“But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Pressing Toward the Goal. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
- We must know Christ (v. 8)
We can’t possibly know God’s purpose for our lives, if we don’t know Him.
John 10:10 – The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. Jesus’ purpose is to give life in all its fullness. - We must forget the past (v. 13)
Whether your past is good or bad, you can’t focus on it. (Jeremiah 29:11)
If your past is bad, you can’t let it keep you from fulfilling your purpose.
If your past is good, you can’t depend on it. - We must have a worthy goal (v. 13-14)
Have you ever noticed that if you do not have an agenda for your life (or even for the day) one will be provided for you…either by the events of life itself or by other people. I believe our lives will be better if we lived it in an intentional manner. - We must realize that our purpose is eternal (v. 14)
We may be here on earth for 80 or 100 years, but compared with eternity, that’s just a weekend trip. Sometimes we spend all our energy trying to have a comfortable and successful life here that we forget our ultimate goal is to please God. Don’t be too comfortable that you forget the purpose you’re here on earth for.
Pleasure won’t last – Ecclesiastes 2:10-11 – Solomon speaking of pleasure, says “as I looked at everything, I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless. It was like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.”
Possessions won’t last – I Timothy 6:7 – Paul says, “after all, we didn’t bring anything with us when we came into the world, and we certainly cannot carry anything with us when we die.”
Prestige won’t last – Matthew 19:30 – Jesus says, “but many who seem important now will be the least important then, and those who are considered least here will be the greatest then.”