40 Days of Purpose Week 1: LIFE'S GREAT QUESTIONS 

Adapted from Rick Warren’s material by Steve Jourdain

I read the following poem when I was about 17 years old, and it has remained significant ever since, because it expresses for me the most important issue in life.

THE FATEFUL FACT by Dick Williams

If there is no reason behind the universe,
then that is a fact,
and it is a fact I need to know.
For if I knew that,
I should know that whatever reason
I can construct for living will be sheer invention,
having no authority whatever,
save that of my own mind.

But if there is a reason for everything,
that too is a fact,
and it is even more important
that I should know it.
For to be alive for a purpose
and to be ignorant of it,
would be a tragedy beyond imagination.

Today we're going to have an introductory look at three of life's great questions: firstly, the question of existence - 'Why am I here?'; secondly, the question of significance - 'Do I matter?', 'Does my life have a meaning?‘; and thirdly the question of purpose - 'What am I living for', 'What is my life purpose'?

 

The first question is the question of existence, ‘Why am I here?’  

It isn't a new question. It's been asked by countless philosophers throughout history. It was asked more than two and a half thousand years ago by the biblical prophet Jeremiah. ' Why was I born? Was it only to have trouble and sorrow, to end my life in disgrace?' (Jeremiah 20v18, TEV). Perhaps you've felt that way too in tough times? Was I put here just for heartbreak, grief and frustration?

As some of you will have already read in your PDL books, Dr. Hugh Moorhead, from the Philosophy Department at Northeastern University in the United States, wrote to 250 well-known philosophers, scientists, writers and intellectuals in the 1980s and asked them, 'What is the purpose of Life?' He published their responses in a book and their answers make depressing reading. Some offered their best guesses. Others said they made up a purpose for living. Some admitted they didn't have a clue what the purpose of life was, and asked Dr. Moorhead that if he found out, to please to let them know!

The famous psychologist Carl Jung in his response said, 'I don't know the meaning, the purpose of life, but it looks as if something were meant by it.' Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov, inventor of the term 'robotic', wrote, 'As far as I can see, there is no purpose.' One respondent, Joseph Taylor, wrote, 'I have no answers to the meaning of life and I no longer want to search for any.'

Rick Warren tells of seeing an advert for an Oprah Winfrey Show on discovering your purpose in life. He watched thru each segment which finished with Oprah saying, “After the break we’re going to tell you your purpose.” And so he came back after each break but did she tell us? It wasn’t until the final credits started rolling that she realised she hadnt answered the question and said, “And remember, you have to figure it out by yourself!” What a tragedy - to be alive for a purpose and to be ignorant of it!

These are all depressing statements, because a life without purpose is a tough life to live. It's no wonder that the suicide rate among young people in our society, and throughout the Western World, is so high. If you take God out of the equation, you take meaning out of the solution. That's what many philosophies do today when addressing the question of “Why am I here?”

1/ Naturalism (Biological accident) says you are just a product of random natural processes. The Naturalist says you and I are here for purely biological reasons; accidents of evolution. We just ARE here. 'The purpose of life is simply to perpetuate itself.' Rap artist, Ice T, said, 'The only reason we're here is to reproduce. Just chill out and reproduce. Keep the species alive.' Well, that might motivate some people to jump INTO bed, but it certainly won't motivate many to get out of bed in the morning!

2/ Hedonism (Pleasure seeking) says that the purpose of life is pleasure; thrills. The Hedonist says, 'P is for party. Grab it while you can, have fun, party-hard, do extreme stuff.' The trouble is that you have to do more extreme stuff to maintain the level of pleasure, the high. And true pleasure is most satisfying as a by-product; the result of other things, activities and relationships. Pleasure so often eludes us when we make it the main thing.

3/Materialism (Possession acquiring) is the philosophy of many people in the West. They put material possessions and physical comfort before spiritual values. The Materialist says, ' Life is for getting things. ' Life is measured by the things you own, the toys you have. ' I have, therefore I am. ' But people work so hard to get more things that life tends to pass them by; and ultimately, even the person with the most toys, dies in the end.

Many people today reject materialism and naturalism, recognising that they do not satisfy. And they turn to...

 

4/ Spirituality (Spiritual insight) the self-help approach, seeking life's purpose within you, or by some personal mix of ancient religious practices, called new age religion. Go to any bookstore today and you'll find scores of self-help books. They tell you, essentially, ‘invent your own purpose, create your own meaning in life, explore the spirit world.' They all give the same basic advice: “aim high, explore your dreams, go after your goals, believe you can achieve, find the god within you”.

 

Some who follow this advice will achieve success and others will fail. But success isn't the same as knowing your life purpose. You can be a success and still never know why God put you here on earth. And what comes after success anyway?

 

You see the purpose of life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment. It’s far greater than your own happiness or peace of mind. In fact the purpose of life is not about you or me. You were made by God and put here for God’s purposes. Until you understand that, you'll experience emptiness and frustration, unease and dissatisfaction, a sense that there’s got to be more to life.

 

Why am I here? The Bible says, 'Long before he laid down the earth's foundation, he had us in his mind and settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.' (Ephesians 1v4, Msg).

 

You and I are the 'the focus of God's love.' We were created to be loved by God. YOU were created to be loved by God. God is love (1 John 4v8,16). God wanted to create someone to love and so he created us. God didn't need us. God wasn't lonely. But God made us in order to love us. And before we consider anything else, you need to understand that this is what on earth youre here for. We are here on earth to be in loving relationship with God.

 

The second great question of life is the question of significance, ‘Do I matter?’ ‘Is my life of value?’ 

The prophet Isaiah asked this question. 'My work all seems so useless. I've spent my strength for nothing and for no purpose at all' (Isaiah 49: 4, NLT). We were made for meaning. We are meant to mean something to someone. If you don't have meaning and purpose in your life, if you don't know WHY God put you here, your life won't make sense.

 

Rick Warren tells of prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp in Hungary during World War 2. They worked in a factory that processed human waste. When the allies bombed the factory, the prisoners had nothing to do. They were made to move all the factory rubble to another field. The next day, they were made to take it back. The day after that they were made to move it back again. This went on day after day. The prisoners began to lose their will to live because there was no meaning, no purpose in their work. Many of them began to throw themselves in front of their guards trying to get shot, trying to commit suicide.

 

You and I were made for meaning. In the Bible God says, 'I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born.' (Isaiah 44v2, CEV). A famous psalm - some call it the in utero psalm - explains how God had you in mind even before you were born. 'You are the one who put me together inside my mother's body, and I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me.... Even before I was born, you had written in your book everything I would do.' (Psalm 139v13-14, 16, CEV). God knows you intimately. From the moment of conception he knows all about you. You matter to God.

 

God's purposes for you are long term, not just for a while; they're for eternity. The Bible says, ‘God’s plans endure forever. His purposes last eternally.' (Psalm 33v11, CEV). God's plans for you are not just for the next 40 days, not even just for the rest of your life on earth; they are for ever. You were created by God to live FOR EVER. God's purposes are eternal. God put you on earth, for you to prepare for eternity.

 

God wants you to prepare now for what you'll be forever. Were in a development squad where our character, trust, loyalty and love are being developed. Life on earth is a temporary deployment. That doesn’t make this life insignificant or unimportant. In fact it makes it more important. This is the key to discovering the meaning of life.

 

The Bible says, ' our bodies are like tents that we live in here on earth. But when these tents are destroyed, we know that God will give each of us a place to live... in heaven [that] will last forever.' (2 Corinthians 5v1, CEV).

 

God gave you a life that ends, to prepare you for a life that never ends; a life that will last for ever. If that’s the case, isn’t it vitally important that we discover how to qualify, how to enter that next life that will last forever; discover where we will spend eternity - in the smoking or non-smoking section?

 

We need an eternal perspective, so the Apostle Paul wrote, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

(2 Corinthians 4v18, NIV).

 

One of my friends from student days was a teacher when I became minister in Dannevirke. Shirley was 48 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and I visited her every week with friends to have a communion service. After it was clear that she was going to die, I was praying about what to say at the next communion time. I believe God gave me a very clear message based on this verse. It was a reminder to Shirley that this life is not all there is. It is only a beginning for those who trust in God. However long we live, 70, 80 or 100 years, its only a drop

in the bucket of eternity. If I drew a line from here to London, our life span wouldn’t even equate to a dot on that line. God has made us for eternity.

 

So on the question of significance, Does my life matter? God says, Too right, you matter. You matter so much that I want you around for eternity, and I want to prepare you for that in this life.

 

The third great question of life is the question of purpose, ‘What am I living for?’ ‘What is my life purpose?’

Bertrand Russell, one of the leading philosophers of the twentieth century, was an honest atheist. He said, 'Unless you assume the existence of God, the question of life's meaning and purpose is irrelevant.'

 

In short, if there is no God, your life has no ultimate meaning. If there is no God, we're just pond slime, accidents of nature, cosmic dust on a lonely planet lost in space. There's nothing ultimately to live for. Life is just a game, a joke without a punch line, in Shakespeare's words, 'a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.'

 

For your life to have a purpose, you need to know why you are here, and who put you here. You need to know God. The Bible tells us, 'God has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet people cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.' (Ecclesiastes 3v11, NIV) There's a God-shaped hole in every human heart, an unease, a dissatisfaction, a sense that there’s got to be something more, that only God himself can fill.

 

Human reasoning can't fathom these depths. We can't work out why we're here intellectually, just by thinking about it, because even the best philosophers can't solve these ultimate questions. Not even mystics can fathom these depths. You won't find the meaning of life by looking within, because the vacuum in your heart is God-shaped. You won't find it in self-help books. They're saying invent your own purpose. But nothing you invent can fit the God-shaped hole in your heart. Only God can fill that. You need a relationship with your Creator to give meaning to your life. Only by getting to know God can you have true fulfillment.

 

In the fourth century there was a great thinker named Augustine but he was a troubled person. He sought the meaning of life in sexual freedom, and took up a mistress. But sexual freedom didn't satisfy. He sought the meaning of life in philosophy, but philosophy didn't satisfy him. He sought the meaning of life in mysticism, but didn't find it there. Finally, in answer to his mother's prayers, he met the living God, his Creator, and declared in a wonderful prayer, 'Eternal God, too late have I loved you! You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in you.'

 

You find your life purpose by getting to know your Creator. God made you for a relationship with himself. The Bible says, 'Everything was created by him, everything in heaven and on earth, everything seen and unseen.... All things were created by God's Son, and everything was made for him.' (Colossians 1v16, CEV)

 

“It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for... part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.” (Ephesians 1v11, Msg)

 

If you want to know your purpose in life, start getting to know God, and getting to know Jesus Christ God's Son, through whom everything was made. The more you get to know God, the more you grow to love God, the more you'll discover the meaning and purpose of your life.

 

If then life on earth is a temporary assignment, how might that change the way you are living now?

8 May 2005

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