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Every life is has been made for something.
Every human being is guided by something – guilt, worry, fear, insecurity, anger, resentment, their past, their possessions or their parents.
I believe that God wants guide us as His people and His plan for our lives. That’s where meaning and significance come.
Proverbs 16:4 (NLT) The Lord has made everything for his own purposes…
Proverbs 16:4 (NKJV) The Lord has made all for Himself…
The Bible teaches very clearly that God has never made anything without a purpose. Regardless of the circumstances of your birth, you are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you but God did. And if you’re alive, He has a mission for your life and a reason for your existence. You are not an accident.
You will live life at one of three basic levels.
The first level, the lowest level is what I call the Survival level.
Most of you, probably everyone here, are in the second level. A little higher level I call the Success level. By the very nature that you live in Australia, that you live in Western Australia in a city called Perth means you’re in this group.
Most of the world would love to have your problems. We worry about paying our mortgage. Other people worry about having food for their children for the next meal. Most people would love to have our problems in the world. At the success level you’ve got a comfortable lifestyle.
But I have a lot of people tell me, “I don’t understand it. If I’m so successful, why do I feel so unfulfilled? Why is there still a hole in my heart? Why do I still feel empty?” The answer is because success never ultimately satisfies. It takes more that success. There have been a number of books that have come out recently talking about the dark side of success.
- The Success Trap, If I’m So Successful, Why Do I Feel Like a Fake?
- Beyond Success, Coping With the Fast Track Blues!
- Downshifting: Reinventing Success on a Slower Track, Is It Success or Is It Addiction?
- The Success Fantasy, When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough
- Quiet Desperation: The Truth About Successful Men.
These are all saying the same thing. It takes more than success to satisfy you. All of the self-help books and all the success motivation books in the world will not bring you ultimate satisfaction because you have to go to the ultimate level of life which is Significance.
Significance is when you know why you’re here on earth. You have a mission and purpose for your life. You know that your life matters. You know that there is meaning behind what’s going on in your life.
Truth - People who enjoy significance know what on earth they’re here for!
The tragedy is that many, many people – in fact most people – have no idea what their mission in life is.
This series flowing out of last weeks message on the Power of Choice is aimed at helping us all move from success to significance.
We’re going to look at a number of lives of people in the Bible who had a mission.
We’re going to look at the practical steps, starting next week, a step a week on how do you develop a simple missional life plan.
My goal is, at the end of this series you will have actually written out a life plan for your life.
Many people will spend hours and even days on a business plan but have never taken one minute to write out a life plan. What’s more important, your business or your life?
God has a lot to say to you about what I have called your cosmic mission for your life.
This morning, I want to just introduce the concept, list the benefits of living a life that fulfils your cosmic mission.
What are the benefits of fulfilling your Cosmic Mission?
1. IT WILL REDUCE MY FRUSTRATION
If you don’t know your overall direction in life, daily decisions become very difficult, because you have no basis, no basis at all, for making decisions. You make them haphazard.
As that great theologian Alice in Wonderland once said, “If you don’t know where you’re headed, any road will get you there.”
It seems to me we know how to fill our calendars, our schedules and how to set goals! BUT this is not a series about goal setting. Goals can be accomplished and then you go, “So what?” This is about knowing what’s the general direction of my life? What’s the North Star? What’s the objective? Why am I here? Where am I going? What is the purpose of my life? Do I matter?
If you don’t know your ultimate mission, then all the day-to-day decisions become difficult.
James 1:8 (NEB) “The double minded man can never keep a steady course.”
Many Choices…Over 200 new magazines hit the market every year. Over 200 new grocery products hit the stores every week.
If you don’t have any general, overall view of life how do you make day-to-day decisions? It’s frustrating.
What are the benefits of fulfilling your Cosmic Mission? It will reduce my frustration and…
2. It WILL INCREASE MY MOTIVATION
It decreases frustration and increases motivation. If I don’t have a purpose, why get out of bed? Why get up in the morning? Why make any effort. The fact is, most people just kind of drift through life. They’re kind of battered around. They’re controlled by circumstances.
You talk to somebody and say, "How's it going?” and they say, “So far so good under the circumstances.” You want to say, “What are you doing under them?” You should be on top of them. Circumstances are like a feather mattress. You get underneath them and you suffocate. You get on top and you rest easy.
Let me tell you the secret of lasting change. Let me tell you the secret of energy, of motivation, of enthusiasm in life. How do you get motivated in life?
Simple Truth - Di scover your personal cosmic mission in life. When you do that, it motivates you!
“’The plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.’” Jeremiah 29:11 (LB)
Do you know where the word “enthusiasm” comes from? It comes from two Greek words: en and theos. En in Greek is the word “in” and theos is the word for God. Theology is the study of God. The name Theodore means “lover of God.” The point that I’m making here is when you get in God, en theos, you’re going to be naturally enthusiastic. When you get in the centre of God’s plan for your life and you know “This is my niche. This is why I’m here on earth. This is where I fit.”
What are the benefits of fulfilling your Cosmic Mission? It will reduce my frustration, it will increase my motivation and…
3. It WILL ALLOW CONCENTRATION
A cosmic mission allows you to focus your life. It gives you a track to run on. Do you agree with me that you don’t have time to do everything? Are any of you trying to do everything? Yes.
The world says, “You can have it all!” That’s a lie. You can’t have it all. It’s not true. You cannot have it all. Selection is the name of the game and you have to choose what you’re going to build your life around. Don’t try to have it all. You can’t do everything in life. The Good News is God doesn’t expect you to do everything in life.
Peter Drucker is the father of American management, revered by nearly every businessman and quoted in every business school in 1996 said (to Rick Warren), “It’s like what I tell business people. There are only two questions in business: One, What is my business? Two, How’s business? Those are the two questions every owner, every manager, every CEO has to constantly ask. What is our business? And, How’s business?”
Likewise as a person you can ask, “What is the mission of my life? And, How’s it going? Am I moving toward it?” It simplifies decision-making. That’s what God wants to do with our lives.
Proverbs 4:25-27(Living Bible) “Look straight ahead and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then stick to the path. Don’t get sidetracked.”
If you want to make a difference in your life and you want to find fulfilment, you must be a focused person.
“I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: forgetting what is behind and looking forward to what lies ahead.” Philippians 3:13 (LB)
When you focus light it increases its energy, its power. You can take just a few kilowatts of light and if you focus it, it will become a laser. Just a few kilowatts. A few kilowatts of light can actually burn through steel, if they’re extremely focused. If it’s even more focused, it can burn through even a diamond.
There is nothing quite as powerful as a focused life. Yet as your minister, I want to tell you that I have observed that many of you are trying to do too much! Surprise! You’re trying to do too much.
- You have so many irons in the fire, you’re putting out the fire.
- You’re burning the candle at both ends and you’re not as bright as you think you are.
- You’re headed off in a dozen different directions and you’re scattered and spread thin.
- You’re like a poor photograph: You’re overexposed and underdeveloped.
I’m not saying you’re doing a bunch of bad things. The fact is, your schedule is filled with good things. The decision you have to make to simplify or focus your life is not a matter of choosing between good and evil. I doubt any of you here need to say, “I want to spend more time with the family so I’m going to stop dealing drugs.” Or “I want to spend more time reading the Bible so think I’ll stop being an international terrorist.”
It’s not a matter of good and bad. Your schedule is filled with good things.
But, you can still miss the cosmic mission you were made for even if your life is filled with good things. And that is a tragedy. A waste.
What are the benefits of fulfilling your Cosmic Mission? It will reduce my frustration, it will increase my motivation, it will allow concentration and…
4. IT WILL ATTRACT COOPERATION
When you have a clearly defined purpose for your life, the amazing thing is when you know where you’re going other people want to come along. You’ll find that other people want to jump on your bandwagon, other people want to help. The world is looking for people of purpose. You’re an example.
Proverbs 1:27 “If your goals are good, you will be respected.”
Nothing is quite as powerful as a life lived with mission and purpose.
If you want to look at the people who have made the greatest impact in this world, they weren’t the smartest or the wealthiest or the best educated. The people who’ve made the greatest impact are those people who had a mission, a sense of destiny and lived it with passion.
What are the benefits of fulfilling your Cosmic Mission? It will reduce my frustration, it will increase my motivation, it will allow concentration, it will attract cooperation and…
5. IT WILL PREPARE ME FOR GOD’S EVALUATION
Let’s review the facts of life:
1. God made you for a unique mission.
2. He has invested in you certain talents and abilities and gifts.
3. One day God is going to ask for a return on that. God expects a return on those investments.
4. One day God’s going to do an audit on your life. That’s the big final.
And one day you will stand before God and He’s going to ask you two extremely important questions. I’m telling you in advance what they are!
"We will all stand before God's judgement seat. So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God." Romans 14:10, 12
One, “What did you do with My Son, Jesus Christ?” He’s not going to ask what denomination you were. He’s not going to say, Were you Baptist? Were you a Catholic? He’s not going to say, Were you a Buddhist or Moslem or Mormon or…. He’s going to say, “What did you do with My Son, Jesus Christ? I sent Him to earth so you could have a relationship with Him.” I hope you know the answer to that one: “I accepted Jesus Christ into my life and heart. I developed a relationship with Him as my Lord and my Boss, my CEO. He guided me through life."
Two, “What did you do with all the talents that I gave you? Your life, your opportunity, your time, your energy? Di d you just spend it on yourself or did you use it for the purpose on earth I created you? What did you do with what I gave you?”
So I hope you’ll stick with this series in the weeks ahead because we want you to be prepared for that final exam. It’s going to come, inevitably.
I want to give you a couple of steps now on how to get started…
If you’re new to SPCC I want you to know that we are on about changed lives. It happens all the time in this place!
Are you tired of hitting dead ends yourself? You matter to God. God has a plan for your life. He has a purpose for you. How do you get started? There’s a couple of preliminary steps. I’ll mention these today.
Next week we’re going to get into step after step of moving toward discovering and fulfilling God’s Cosmic Mission for your life. But there are three things you can get started on:
1. Identify what’s been driving my life so far
Has it been guilt? Has it been fear? Worry? Resentment? My past? Other people? Making money? What’s been driving my life so far?
Ephesians 5:15 says “Pay close attention to how you live.”
Be aware of what’s driving you and be aware of where it’s leading you. Don’t waste your life.
Most Australians play Trivial Pursuit every day with their lives.
The truth is most people don’t plan on messing up. Most people don’t plan on a divorce, alcoholism or just missing what they could have become. Or any number of other things, crises that come into our lives. You will go through life and you will live your life either by design or by default. You can either live it intentionally based on what God wants you to do or you can just do it by default and kind of muddle through. Know what’s been driving you.
2. Believe God has a purpose for my life
He doesn’t create things without a purpose. You were made to be you and God designed your life plan even before you were born.
Ephesians 2:10 (GNB) “God is our Maker and in our union with Christ, He has created us for a life of good works which He has already prepared for us to do.”
Before God even planned the world, He planned you. When He planned you, He planned your purpose even before you were born. When you fulfill your life purpose it brings honor to God and it brings satisfaction to yourself.
3. Receive
I need to receive God’s Son into my life. “Long ago even before He made the world, God chose us to be His very own through what Christ would do for us. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us. And He did this because He wanted to.” God had a purpose in creating you. God had a purpose in bringing you here this morning so He could say to you, “I love you. I have a purpose for your life. You matter to Me. I don’t want you to waste your life.” If you want to know how much you matter to God, look at Jesus Christ. He died for you.
Prayer
I don’t know a more important topic than discovering and fulfilling your life’s cosmic mission. In the weeks ahead we’re going to talk about designing your mission and launching it and maintaining it. I hope you’ll not miss any week and I hope you’ll invite your friends that you care about and I hope you’ll get your teenagers here. But I encourage you to take these first steps. Would you pray this prayer in your mind?
“Dear God, I want to know Your mission for my life. I want to know why You made me and what You put me on this earth to do. Forgive me for looking elsewhere. Help me to identify what’s been driving my life so far. Help me to believe that You have a purpose for my life. Help me to receive Your Son into my life. Jesus Christ, as much as I know how I ask You to put Your spirit and Your love in me and be my guide from here on out. In Your name I pray, Amen.”
