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Mapping out my Mission Statement so that it expresses my values, SHAPE, and surrender to God’s mission for my life
If I said, “Describe your life in one word,” what word would you use? Would it be fun? Busy? How many would use the word focused? Missional? Yet the secret of effectiveness in life is having a focus and having a mission.
That’s why we’re looking at the life that is guided by a Cosmic Mission.
Clarify My Values, Outline My Shape, Surrender to God’s Mission…
Prayerfully Mapping out my Cosmic Mission Statement so that it expresses my values, SHAPE, and surrender to God’s mission for my life
Jesus was mission guided…
John 17:4 (NIV) “I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave me to do.”
Acts 20:24 (GNB) “I only want to complete my mission and finish the work the Lord Jesus gave me to do.”
1. what is a life mission?
It is a description of what you believe God wants you to do with your life.
That’s what we want you to end up with – a description of what you believe God wants you to do with your life…
1.1 It is more than a goal.
People often confuse a Life Mission Statement with goals. Aussies often talk about and set goals; often we are lousy at accomplishing life mission.
You ask somebody, “What’s your purpose in life?” and they’ll give you a goal. “I want to graduate, make a million dollars, retire, buy a house.” Those are great goals, nothing wrong with those. But they’re not a life mission. You can have many, many goals and not have a life Mission.
Juggler who spins plates on sticks? They get them going, by the time they get to number ten, what happens to number one? It starts wobbling, so they run back down and get that one. That’s the way many of us live life. You pay attention to one area and you get it going real good, then another area is falling apart. So you run down and get it going. Then another is falling apart. That is a life without mission, without an overarching direction.
1.2 It defines success for me
A life mission defines success for me. Remember I said, success is living by my values. Never let anybody else define success for you.
Success is knowing and understanding what’s important to you and living by those values.
1.3 It’s based on God’s purpose for me
It’s what I was made to do. Your life mission is the practical expression of God’s purpose for your life. It doesn’t come automatically. It comes as you grow. It comes as you develop. It’s a practical expression of God’s purpose.
1.4 It expresses my SHAPE
Why would God give you certain talents and certain abilities and gifts and background and experiences and not use them? That would be an incredible waste of your life. So God has given you spiritual gifts, a heart for things, abilities, personality and experiences and He wants to use those and they will all be a part of your life mission.
1.5 It clarifies my roles in life
You must define your roles before you set goals. In your life, your life mission gives meaning to your roles and at different stages in your life you’re going to have different roles in life.
Student, single adult or married, as a parent, as a profession; put these together as you serve through the church or out in the community in a ministry, you have the role of a minister. You have different roles at different stages in life. They change; your life mission doesn’t.
For example - Your life is greater and much more complex than one single role.
If you are a parent, part of your life mission is to raise kids if you’ve got kids. Your life mission is more than simply just being a parent.
Your life mission also includes your career but it is greater than your career. A lot of people make their entire identity based around their job. Your job is included in your life mission but your life mission is far greater than that. Why? Because you’re not going to take your career into heaven but you are going to take your character. Your job is part of your life mission but it’s more than that…
2. HOW DO I DISCOVER MY LIFE MISSION?
You have two options: speculation or revelation. In other words, I can just guess or I can ask God about it.
The first is speculation - This is the way most people think about life. In speculating on the purpose of your life you guess about it, you conjecture, you theorize, you debate it. You go to college and take a college course on philosophy with a professor who has a goatee and smokes a pipe. He talks in deep tones about the meaning and purpose in life. You think and you debate and you conjecture and you theorize and then you go into a student centre or Gloria Jeans, have a cup of coffee, many actually, and talk about questions like, “What am I here? Where am I going? What is the meaning of life? What is the purpose of life?”
There’s a problem with speculation – it’s just guesswork…
So rather than going to speculation we can go by revelation. We can ask God, “What is the purpose in life? What is my personal life mission?” The more you study and read this book (the Bible), the more it’s going to become clear to you.
Ephesians 5:17 (LB) “Don’t act thoughtlessly but try to find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to do.”
2.1 WHAT or who WILL BE THE CENTre OF MY LIFE?
In other words, who or what am I going to live for? You have to start with this. What am I going to centre my life around? That’s the starting point. There are a lot of options. You can centre your life around your job, your career, family, making money, a hobby, a sport, collecting things.
None of these things are wrong; it’s just that they don’t belong at the centre!
When you become a believer, the centre of your life changes. In fact, that’s one of the greatest definitions of being a Christian. I realize that many of you here today are not a Christian. You haven’t stepped across the line. You’re considering it; you’re being honest.
Truth - God says that He made me to know and love Him
Matthew 22:38 (LB) “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”
Proverbs 9:10 (LB) “Knowing God results in every other kind of understanding.”
The Bible says you will know who you are, once you figure out who God is. We were made to relate to and to love God.
2.2 WHAT WILL BE THE CHARACTER OF MY LIFE?
What am I going to be? God is far more interested in who you are than what you do. There could be a half dozen different careers and they’d all be within the circle of God’s will for you. But He’s more interested in who you’re becoming than what you’re doing. Why? Because you’re going to take your character into heaven. You’re not going to take your career into heaven.
Truth - God says He made me to become like Christ
Romans 8:28 says “For from the very beginning God decided that those who came to Him should become like His Son.”
Philippians 2:5 “Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ.”
If God is going to make you like Jesus Christ in your life then He is going to take you through the same circumstances and situations that Jesus Christ went through.
Do you think there was ever a time when Jesus was lonely? Was criticized? Was misunderstood by other people? Was tempted? Was fatigued and tired?
What was Jesus like? - Keith Farmer - Galatians 5:22-23, the fruit of the Spirit.
Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, kindness, self-control…
Situations for each of these to develop them in our lives…
2.3 What will be the contribution of my life?
In other words, what am I going to do with my God given talents. You weren’t put here just to waste your talents on yourself. You are here to make a difference with your life. You were put here to leave the world a better place, to make some kind of contribution.
Truth - God says He made me to use my shape to help others
1 Peter 4:10 (NIV) “God has given each of you some special abilities. Be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God’s many kinds of blessings.”
Ephesians 2:10 (LB) “It is God Himself who made us what we are and given us new lives through Jesus Christ and long ago. He planned that we should spend these lives in helping others.”
Starts with family, where I work or study right now, small group, using my gifts…
I hope this week you’ll spend some serious time considering this question: What is going to be the contribution of my life? Because when you boil it all down there are really only two types of people in life. There are givers and there are takers. You’re either a giver or you’re a taker. You live selfishly or you live unselfishly.
Abundant giving is the key to abundant living. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give away.
They never build statues to people who got things all their life. We remember people who spent their lives giving themselves away.
2.4 WHAT WILL BE THE COMMUNICATION OF MY LIFE?
That means your life message. You probably have never thought about this. Di d you know that God wants to speak to the world through you? I’m not talking about being a pastor or a teacher or a prophet or evangelist? I’m saying that God has a message for the world through you. That is what we call your life message.
There’s a general message that God has for every Christian to share with the world. But there’s also a specific message that’s based on your personal shape, your personal background and how He made you and wired you up.
Truth - God made me to tell others about Him
If you know about Him, then it’s your duty to tell other people. God made me to tell others about Him. We are to share the good news. We’re to pass it on. The Bible calls us ambassadors for Christ. An ambassador is somebody who represents a king or a government or whatever and God says you are an ambassador for Jesus Christ. God wants you to share His love. That’s your duty.
2 Corinthians 5:20 (NIV) We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
EG…For instance when I mention a cause like abortion and all the babies that have been killed through abortion, some of you, your blood begins to boil and you feel that very deeply….The environment; Sport; Art; Business;
Here’s your homework. I want you to take these four questions that we’ve just reviewed, get alone with God sometime this week and start on writing out a rough draft of your life mission.
WHAT OR WHO WILL BE THE CENTRE OF MY LIFE?
WHAT WILL BE THE CHARACTER OF MY LIFE?
What will be the contribution of my life?
WHAT WILL BE THE COMMUNICATION OF MY LIFE?
Shaping My life mission Statement?
Some suggestions
i) Don’t try to write it all out at one setting
Don’t worry about wording, if it’s long, if the sentences make sense or they’re incomplete. Just start writing stuff down. I would encourage you to write fast. Don’t worry about spelling. Just let the thoughts flow out. It’s easier to edit than to create.
ii) Depending on your personality, you’re going to approach this project very, very differently.
For instance, if you are a sanguine, you’re probably going to sit down and start saying, “There are so many things I want to do with my life. I want to do this and this and this….”
If you’re a choleric your tendency might be to say, “I already know what my life mission is. My mind is made up and now I’m going to convince everybody else to do the same.” Just cut and dried.
If you’re a melancholic you’re probably already thinking, “This is going to take a long, long time because I want to know the perfect will of God and it will take forever.” You will agonize over every little jot and tittle and soul searching.
If you’re phlegmatic you might say, “Hey, anything’s ok with me, God. Let’s go!”
iii) base each segment on a supporting Scripture.
Each definition of success underlined by Scripture will become your life verses.
Why am I Encouraging you to do this?
1. It forces you to think about your life.
Socrates said, “Know thyself.” Plato said, “The unexamined life isn’t worth living.” Psalms and Proverbs tell us, Ponder or think about the path of your feet.
2. Writing things down helps you become specific.
Thoughts disentangle themselves when they pass through the lips and the fingertips. When you write them down.
It’s worth spending a little bit of time thinking it through because all the rest of your life is in the future.
3. It will give you a standard by which to evaluate decisions.
You can look at your life mission and when a decision comes up you can say, “Does this match my life mission.” If it does, you do it. If it doesn’t, you don’t.
I suggest as you write out your life mission, you keep 2 Corinthians 10:13 in mind
2 Corinthians 10:13 “Our goal is to measure up to God’s plan for us.”
Years ago, Stephen Jobs who founded Apple computer went to recruit John Skully who was president of Pepsi to come be the president of Apple computer. He was having a hard time convincing him to do it. Skully kept saying “Not interested. Why would I leave Pepsi and go be the president of Apple?” Finally Steve Jobs looked at him (Macintosh had just come out and it was innovating and the first to really be user friendly) and said, “Listen Skully! Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want to change the world?”
Prayer…
As we close, I invite you to open up your life to Jesus Christ if you’ve never done so. Maybe you’ve known about Him but you didn’t really know Him. Say, “Jesus Christ, as much as I know how I want to get to know You. I want You to be at the centre of my life. I don’t understand it all but I want to fulfil Your purpose and plan for my life. Jesus Christ, teach me to love You with my heart and soul and mind. You’ve said that knowing God results in all other kinds of understanding. As I get to know You, You’re going to help me figure everything else out.”
Can we all pray… “Lord, I want You to build character in my life of love and joy and peace and patience and all of those other things. Help me to become like You. I want to make a contribution with my life. I want to use the background and abilities that You’ve given me to help people and not just think of myself. Help me to understand and communicate the life message You want me to share with this world. Help me to tell others the good news about Your love. And help me to share those unique expressions and emphases that You have just for me to share. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
