Does Life Have a Purpose?.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Welcome to Village Church. If this is your first time here, my name is Steve. I’m one of the pastors here at Village Church [0:05] and as always I’m thankful and grateful to see each and every one of you. If you have a Bible with you, [0:11] open it up to Ecclesiastes chapter 1. That’s where we’re gonna start this morning. [0:15] If you don’t have a Bible, it will be up on the screen as well as we go through this. [0:20] But over the next seven weeks, we are going to be answering questions about God and His involvement in our lives. [0:28] So together, we’re going to explore the purpose of life in relation to all that God has revealed to us

[0:36] and through this world and through the gospel of Jesus Christ. [0:41] And so first, yes, if you’re new here and you aren’t a follower of Jesus or you’re new here [0:47] and you’re just kind of checking things out, I want you to understand that yes, this series is kind of catered towards you. [0:53] And so we kind of want to kind of put all our cards on the table that we are seeking to answer questions that everyone has [1:02] so that you don’t have to go through life uninformed or thinking incorrectly about life and incorrectly about God. [1:10] And so second, we do believe in God. And so I kind of assume that you know you entered into a church this morning.

[1:17] And so just to be clear, we do believe that there is a God and we believe more than just that there is a God. [1:26] We believe that God is interested in your life. We believe that God is also intricately involved in the life that you are living. [1:36] So you are not just kind of going through this world with even if there is a God, He’s somewhat uninvolved, [1:43] He’s somewhat separated off from you. We’re coming at this from a standpoint that yes, there is a God. [1:49] Yes, He is involved in your life. And yes, we do believe that it is important for you to know who He is and what He has done. [1:58] And so over these seven weeks, we’re going to kind of answer all of these from a standpoint of a belief about God,

[2:06] a specific belief about Jesus and a belief about the Bible and your place in life concerning those three very important, very vital areas. [2:19] And so I do believe that God has every single one of us here now in this place for a specific reason. [2:27] I do believe that God does want to do something in every one of our lives over the next few weeks that we spend in His Word together. [2:37] And so today for our purpose, we’re going to talk about the issue of purpose. [2:42] And so I want you to understand that yes, we believe that your life does have a purpose and we believe that you can find it. [2:52] But the issue is where are you supposed to look for that purpose?

[2:57] Where are you supposed to find the answers not only to what are you supposed to do with your life, but why are you supposed to do it? [3:06] Why do you exist? Why do you have the longings inside of your life that you know that you have? [3:14] And why are you so determined to pour things into your life to find meaning and to find identity? [3:22] And so before we get into that, I do want to show a brief video. [3:27] The Old Catechism says that the primary purpose of humankind is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. [3:36] And I mean, it’s a very old catechism, the Westminster Confession, but I can’t improve upon it.

[3:43] I mean, the primary purpose of humankind is to glorify God. [3:47] That is to acknowledge that He is King, that He reigns, that He rules, that He’s in charge of the universe. [3:53] And to glorify Him is to hand over more and more and more of your life under that reign, under that rule, which sounds a bit oppressive. [4:02] But if you then follow the rest of the catechism, it goes and to enjoy Him forever. [4:07] And what you discover is that our purpose in life is to hand over all that we have, both our habits, our lifestyles, [4:16] our viewpoints, our understandings, our intellect, but also our work, our hobbies, our pastimes, our relationships,

[4:24] to hand these over under the reign of God, to, as it were, take the values of God, of peace and justice and reconciliation and beauty and joy, [4:34] and to infuse every aspect of those. So I’d say God is actually interested in your work. [4:40] If you’re a builder or a teacher or a healer, He wants you to glorify Him by embracing His values and expressing them through your work. [4:49] He wants you to bless the city that you’re from. He wants you to create a better city, to bring peace and justice to this world. [4:56] He wants you to enjoy the beauty and the wonder and the joyousness that comes from glorifying Him. [5:02] So in case you thought that glorifying God and enjoying Him forever was just being in some eternal church service,

[5:08] think again. It’s actually about art and beauty, painting. It’s about laughter and parties and eating. [5:16] It’s about work and healing and serving and giving. It’s about every aspect of life, [5:21] whichever way we’re wired or whichever contributions we make, to actually fashion a [5:25] mosaic, a tapestry of glory, which reflects the marvelous reign of God. [5:32] And so in the video we just watched, he talked about a two-fold purpose for life. [5:38] The first one is to glorify God, and the second one is to enjoy Him forever.

[5:44] And so if that is true, if those two purposes that we just looked at are the reason why you do all that you do, [5:51] or should do all that you do, we need to begin to ask ourselves questions surrounding how are we doing in that. [5:59] But even more than that, is that something that we’re interested in? [6:03] Is that something that we want to do with our lives? And if that is something that we want to do with our lives, [6:09] how do we even begin to answer questions to how in the world do I glorify God? [6:15] And in glorifying God, I don’t know how to even begin finding enjoyment in something that really for many people,

[6:23] maybe even you this morning, this kind of idea of glorifying God or worshiping Him, [6:29] and then having a life of working, eating, drinking, having a family, being alone, [6:36] all these things, they seem like two different things. There seems to be that kind of this idea [6:40] that I have my spiritual life, and so that’s kind of an ethereal, mystical thing outside of me. [6:45] You go to church for that, maybe you crack the Bible open every once in a while, maybe if you [6:50] don’t believe the Bible, you just try to pray to whoever is God. But then in everything else,

[6:55] that’s just you working. That’s just you trying to go to school. That’s just you getting an education. [7:02] And what we’re kind of proposing this morning is that there is no dichotomy between these things. [7:10] That everything in life, if it is to have a meaning that can be known, [7:17] and by meaning I mean an objective, understood, factual, yes, there’s meaning, that if that exists, [7:25] then it all has to then fall under this umbrella of glorifying God and enjoying Him forever. [7:30] So what you do for a job, however it is that you provide for yourself and your family,

[7:38] what we’re proposing to you is that God is interested in being involved in that. [7:46] Who your spouse is, how you treat your wife, how you treat your husband, how you raise your [7:51] children, how you view education, how you view just your place in this world, not just this morning, [8:00] but tomorrow morning when you get up and go to school or work or raise your children or whatever [8:06] it is you’re going to do, that that also falls under the umbrella of purpose and meaning where [8:14] God is concerned. So we need to begin to build a foundation as to how we should view life and

[8:22] how we should view our meaning. And so number one, I just want to begin with this reality that [8:28] everyone was created with purpose. Everyone. That you need to answer that question first. [8:36] Because what we typically do is we begin with a different question. What is my purpose? [8:42] And so we seek out to find the what before we ever seek out to find the why. And so what I [8:51] think is is that the why has to be settled before you ever get to the what. Because many of us run [8:57] around for many weeks, months, even years trying to say what is my purpose. And really in the back

[9:04] of our mind while we’re trying to find that purpose, we haven’t even determined whether we [9:09] have one or not. And so we are seeking to find what it is even before we even answer yes or no. [9:18] Do I have a purpose? And so what I want you to understand this morning is first settle that. [9:25] Yes, you have purpose. Why? And I think the answer to that is in the phrase that we started with.

[9:35] Created. You were created. You did not just happen to exist. I don’t believe that. [9:44] You did not just one day through some type of happenstance come to be. No, you’re not just an [9:51] biological abnormality that came out of just nothingness. There was not just chaos and then, [9:58] there you are. No, you exist because you were created by God to exist. And if that is true, [10:09] then yes, your life has meaning. And you need to determine that. Because once you determine, [10:16] yes, I have meaning. Yes, I have a source from whom I have come. Then you can answer the question

[10:26] of do I have purpose? But if you do not establish that, if you do not come to a concrete place [10:33] where yes, I know for certain because of that, that I have purpose, you will look at life eventually [10:41] the same way that Solomon did in the book of Ecclesiastes. See the book of Ecclesiastes is [10:47] a book that this man named Solomon, who was a great king over Israel, wrote towards the end [10:52] of his life. I believe that he wrote it specifically to his children, but of course, [10:57] had a wider audience in mind as well. But note what he said at the very beginning of the book

[11:03] in verse 14. Solomon wrote and he said, I have seen everything that is done under the sun. [11:10] And behold, all is vanity, a striving after the wind. That term vanity is going to eventually [11:20] throughout the book of Ecclesiastes be used over 30 times throughout the book at large. [11:28] In modern English, it does not mean the same thing that we might think it means. He is not [11:32] saying all is pretty. He is not saying everything is really good looking the way that we would [11:37] think about vanity fair or something. No, that term in our modern vernacular would actually

[11:42] mean meaningless. It means that there is no purpose. It means that he came to the end of [11:50] his life and he looked at everything that he had poured himself into. He looked at everything that [11:54] he had sought after in his whole life and he says, it has all been meaningless. And he goes [12:00] even further and he says a striving after the wind. I’m going to assume something that none of you [12:07] have ever tried to capture the wind in your hands. If you have, everyone thought you were crazy. [12:14] So don’t do that ever again. But what he’s saying is, is it something that you can’t do. It’s

[12:19] something that you can’t capture. Like even if you are seeking to fly a kite or sail a boat using [12:25] the power of the wind, you’re not capturing it. You’re just using it to move along. It’s still [12:31] going. You didn’t impede it. You didn’t stop it. He’s saying it’s the most frustrating thing that [12:38] he’s ever done is try to look at everything that he’d poured himself into and find meaning in it [12:43] because he came to the end of his life and Solomon said, I have wasted it.

[12:50] He’s communicating that nothing in his life has had real purpose. It’s not that he didn’t try. [12:59] He poured himself into as much as he possibly could. He reigned over an entire kingdom. [13:06] And so he sought satisfaction because all of us do. Pastor and author Tim Keller says it [13:13] this way. He says every human being must live for something. Something must capture our imaginations, [13:20] our hearts, most fundamental allegiance and hope. In writing the book of Ecclesiastes, [13:26] that is what Solomon is getting after. In everything that we do, in everything that we try to determine

[13:33] our meaning around, in everything that we think is going to give us satisfaction, in every identity [13:41] that we seek to espouse in our lives, what we are actually doing is that we are trying to live [13:48] for something that determines why we are here to begin with. Towards the end of Solomon’s life, [13:57] he writes this letter as a warning to others to ensure that they will not waste the way that he [14:06] wrote. Russian author and philosopher Leo Tolstoy wrote when he came to the question of why am I [14:13] here? And here’s how he put it. He said, my question that at the verge of 50 brought me

[14:20] to the verge of suicide was the simplest of questions, lying in the soul of every man, [14:26] a question without an answer to which one cannot live as I had found by experience. And that [14:31] question was, what will come of what I am doing today or shall do tomorrow? What will come of my [14:39] whole life? Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy? [14:48] You see, if you have ever struggled with this issue, you are not alone. You are actually very [14:55] normal for wondering, even struggling with the thought of purpose and meaning in life. Tolstoy

[15:03] writes at the age of 50 and he says, this is bearing down so hard on me as I seek to live my [15:10] life that it makes me think of ending it because I can’t see a point to everything that I’m doing.

[15:17] By God’s grace, Tolstoy though found that meaning. And the answer that he inevitably came to [15:23] understand was that yes, life can have purpose, that death can’t destroy, but it must have purpose [15:29] that is greater than myself. The answer that he found from Psalm 139 verses 15 through 16 [15:36] informs us that before we were even born, there was a God forming and involved in our lives. [15:43] The psalmist writes, my frame was not hidden from you, God, when I was being made in secret, [15:48] intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book

[15:54] were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. [16:02] So the psalmist is saying, not only can my life have meaning, but even before I was born, [16:10] God was involved in forming me in the womb. And even before I was born, God knew all of the days [16:17] of my life, they were all mapped out. This is a journey that God is involved in. This is a journey [16:23] that God is interested in, that God is involved and concerned with your every day. The only way [16:31] that we can answer the question of purpose is to realize that we were created by a God that we are

[16:39] in our lives. And there’s that key term, created. Without that term, created, life cannot have [16:50] certain meaning. You see, friends, without a creator God, we have no basis. We have no [16:57] foundation upon which to build meaning. We have no foundation upon which we can say, [17:03] here is objective truth. Here is reality that can be defined for all of us. But instead, [17:10] without the term created, without the realization of a creator God involved and interested in our [17:16] lives, then we are all left to our own devices to define meaning ourselves. And all that will

[17:24] emerge from that is subjectiveness. There can be no certainty. You are left to your own design to [17:32] guess about any assurance that we will ever know truth. And under that rubric, you will get to the [17:42] end of your days and you will look back and you will look back at a life spent with complete [17:47] uncertainty. You will look back at a life in which you can’t know for certain whether it counted or [17:54] not. And in that sense, you will be left with nothing other than a striving after the wind. [18:02] Meaninglessness. But in grace, God has revealed himself and has made known to us that he is the

[18:10] root of our purpose. But to find that and submit yourself to that, because don’t make any mistake, [18:18] that is something that must be submitted to in life. You have to do something that’s probably [18:24] the hardest thing that any of us could ever do. And that’s number two. To find purpose, [18:31] you have to get over yourself. That’s a tough thing to do. Has anybody ever told you to get [18:38] over yourself and you’re like, well, that’s a glad reminder. Thank you so much.

[18:44] Sometimes that’s a tough pill to swallow. But it’s the truth. And his great bestselling book, [18:51] Pastor Rick Warren, starts out with what I believe is probably the best introductory sentence to any [18:58] book that I’ve ever read. It’s not about you. The answer to purpose is not something that you’re [19:07] going to find deep in you. The answer to the meaning of your life and how you should pursue [19:14] satisfaction, joy, happiness, glory to fill the great longings of yourself. It’s not going to be [19:22] found from you because when the focus is on you, you will always fall short every single time.

[19:30] Think about how we answer the great questions to what we’re going to do with our lives. [19:35] We ask questions like what should I do with my life? What are my goals? What are my dreams? [19:42] What will I do with my future? You see, these are normal questions that we ask ourselves [19:49] when trying to figure out not just the purpose of life, but what are we actually going to do [19:54] with those lives. But note where we always start. I, me, my. You see, when we begin with me and I [20:05] as the foundation from which purpose and activity flow, we will always fall short of finding true

[20:11] meaning and purpose. You see, when you begin with yourself, you eventually invest in building up [20:18] all of the things that you think will fill your life with pleasure. You see, Solomon did the same [20:25] thing. One chapter later in Ecclesiastes chapter two, starting in verse 10, here’s what Solomon [20:31] wrote. He said, whatever my eyes desired, I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure. [20:37] For my heart found pleasure in all of my toil, and this was the reward for all my toil. Then I [20:44] considered all that my hands had done in the toil I had expended in doing it. And behold,

[20:49] all was vanity, meaningless, and a striving after the wind, and there was nothing to be gained [20:56] under the sun. You see, it wasn’t after chapter one’s statement that Solomon had not tried [21:05] something under the sun. No, he tried it all. Archaeologists look back and they look at the [21:12] things that Solomon is thought of to have built, and he built temples that were so grand that [21:18] nothing has ever been built again to compare to them. This was a man who at one time had great [21:24] power. He reigned over a great kingdom. Some people have estimated by using currency levels that if

[21:31] Solomon existed today with the same amount of wealth they had at his time, that he would be by [21:36] far the richest man in the world, that no one’s wealth even compares to his wealth. This was a man [21:43] of such great power and means, history tells us, that he got bored one day and thought, I would [21:50] love to go through a walk and on a walk through the woods to clear my mind, but because of the [22:02] trees and soil and everything, and they built a forest behind his palace so that Solomon could [22:10] go on a walk through the woods. This is a guy that tried everything. It’s somewhere around 300

[22:20] wives, 700 concubines. So he even tried that, guys. Nothing ever brought him to a place where he [22:31] says, I’m fully satisfied. The man that we would look at and say, he’s got it all, looked in the [22:50] it’s meaningless.

[22:55] The man who had it all said, it’s like I’m trying to catch the wind.

[23:03] Friends, you were not meant to trust yourself. All you will do is work for satisfaction, [23:10] only to be left wanting more. You see, friends, because the reality is that everything that you [23:17] do needs to go past itself. You work, get a paycheck, you eat meals, you drink things, [23:26] you do things, you buy things, but then eventually you get bored with them and so you’ve got to move [23:32] on to something else. And this is natural revelation. This is a natural law that happens [23:38] with all of us. It begins at about the age of one. We are always moving on to the next thing. And

[23:44] that’s because every place that you seek to find happiness, that happiness that you experience for [23:49] a minute, it ultimately terminates on itself. It doesn’t go past that. It doesn’t go on to [23:56] anything larger. It doesn’t have any greater meaning. And so you’ve got to move on to something [24:00] else. But what you actually need, what you were created for, what you were designed for, is for [24:06] the joys and pleasures of this world to go past themselves onto something greater, onto a source [24:13] from which all that exists came from. During World War II, scholar and philosopher C.S. Lewis

[24:21] wrote this about purpose and satisfaction. He wrote, he said, all that we call human history, [24:28] money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery, is the long terrible [24:36] story of man trying to find something other than God that will make him happy. [24:43] The reason why it can never succeed is this. God made us. He invented us as a man invents an engine. [24:52] A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now, God designed [24:59] the human machine to run on himself. He himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn,

[25:05] or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.

[25:14] Friend, you were not meant to guide yourself as the author of what will give you meaning. [25:21] You were meant to find meaning and purpose in God, and only then will you start to have a life [25:29] of purpose. Understand, make no mistake, without God, work, satisfaction, happiness, [25:37] everything under the sun will ultimately seem meaningless, because in that there is no source, [25:44] no foundation upon which to build a life that you can be sure about. There will always be that [25:50] question in the back of your mind. Is this the right thing? Is this the one? Is this the decision

[25:58] that will finally give me satisfaction, that will finally give me purpose, that will finally [26:03] give me meaning? Everything will ultimately disappoint you. There’s nothing under the sun [26:09] that won’t be different in five years. You see, that is unless you define it as being from God. [26:17] You see, reflecting on this reality and his thoughts of pointlessness, Solomon wrote one [26:23] chapter later in Ecclesiastes 3, starting in verse 10. He says, I’ve seen the business that [26:28] God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He’s made everything beautiful in its time.

[26:34] Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done [26:42] from the beginning to the end. I perceive that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful [26:48] and to do good as long as they live. Also, that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure [26:54] in all his toil. This is God’s gift to man. I perceive that whatever God does endures forever. [27:02] Nothing can be added to it nor taken away from it. God has done it so that people fear before him. [27:11] Everything else will die when we die, but God will endure forever. You see, Solomon wrote,

[27:18] and he said, even the limitations that are put on me where I don’t understand everything that [27:24] there is to understand about God, I don’t understand everything that he does. I don’t [27:28] understand everything about him. Even that was designed by God so that I could look and say, [27:34] there is something larger than me. There is a purpose beyond me. There is something eternal [27:40] that I need to go after, and only then will work have meaning. Only then will food and [27:46] drink begin to satisfy. Only then will pleasure be something larger than just about me. Then

[27:53] these things can go beyond themselves and they can be about God because he’s done all of it [28:00] so that I will submit in fear to him as being greater than I. You see, God is where joy is [28:09] because he endures forever. Therefore, his meaning and purpose can be trusted to endure forever.

[28:20] But make no mistake, yours, apart from God, will not. It will die when you die.

[28:34] So the key is to invest in a life that has greater meaning than just right here, [28:41] right now. Greater meaning than my bank account, greater meaning than my refrigerator,

[28:48] greater meaning than just what I’m seeking to identify myself as or with in the right here [28:56] and right now. That it is actually good news that you need to get over yourself. [29:06] See, if you’re going to find meaning, if you’re going to find purpose, joy, hope, [29:09] it will not be under the sun because all of that is fading away and doesn’t really give you [29:16] a foundation to build life on. You need God. You see, that’s liberating. That’s good news. Why? [29:28] Because that means the responsibility is off my shoulders. That means that I’m not left for the

[29:36] next however long that I have, you know, 70 to 90 years total on this earth, that I don’t have to [29:44] spend all of them just trying to figure out is there meaning and if there is, what exactly is it [29:51] God’s been gracious enough to say? It’s him. That he has taken responsibility for defining purpose. [30:01] He has taken the responsibility for defining why we exist. And if we will fear him, if we will submit [30:08] to him, he will reveal the answers through faith. And so thirdly, this morning, if there is a God, [30:17] and I believe that there is, and we’re actually going to talk about that more next week,

[30:21] but if we go from a foundation of being created, then yes, there’s a God. And if there is a God, [30:25] then purpose must come from him. You need to settle that.

[30:33] Does life have a purpose? Complicated question, two possible answers.

[30:41] No more answers than that. Either yes or no. Those are our options. And if the answer is no, [30:50] then that is a sad reality that we should all mourn upon because that means that nothing matters. [30:54] It’s the only option. That means that we are all left to lives of credulity where we can never be [31:01] certain that what we are doing not just matters, but if what we are doing is proper, if what we [31:09] are doing is appropriate, if what we are doing will ever make us happy, if there is anything [31:15] such as happiness, if there is no purpose, then you are left to nothingness. But if the answer is

[31:24] yes, and I hope it’s been clear, I believe the answer is yes, then the only option for that meaning [31:33] is God. Because otherwise we will eventually get to know again, and we will start the whole [31:43] cycle of meaninglessness, striving after the wind all over again. So please do yourself a favor. [31:52] Settle your purpose. Answer the question right here and right now forever. [31:59] Yes, my life has purpose. Yes, I can face tomorrow with at least that answer. I may not have all the [32:09] rest of the answers, but I can flow out of a life of yes way better than I can flow out of a life of

[32:16] no. Because if yes, my life has purpose, then yes, meaning is not too far off. See, God must be [32:26] found for that purpose to be known. And if he isn’t, then your guess is as good as mine.

[32:33] And that’s all that you are ever really going to have. Everything is up for grabs. [32:39] You see, Solomon begins his conclusion at the end of the book of Ecclesiastes about [32:43] finding meaning in the midst of a meaningless life by telling us all in Ecclesiastes 12.1 this. [32:51] He says, Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, [32:55] before the evil days come and the years drawn near of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them.

[33:03] I love what Solomon says here because he doesn’t just deal with meaning. He doesn’t just deal with [33:09] God. He also deals with timing. And he says, You need to settle this as early and as young [33:18] as you possibly can so that you don’t waste it. He says, Settle this here and now so that you [33:29] will not get to the end of your days as he did and look back and say, I’ve wasted it.

[33:40] Meaninglessness, striving after the wind, nothing under the sun will satisfy me. I’ve tried it all.

[33:52] He then closes in verses 13 and 14 with a warning.

[33:58] This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God. Keep his commandments. [34:06] For this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment [34:13] with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

[34:21] He ends with a warning. And the warning is clear. He says, You will meet God. [34:28] And your life will ultimately be laid out for both you and him to see. [34:36] And then all of the contemplation over purpose will be settled for sure.

[34:45] But God doesn’t make us wait until that day.

[34:50] See, that’s the best news of all. Is that God is not some far-off deity sitting on a throne [34:57] waiting for you to miss it long enough for you to have to stand before him completely unprepared, [35:07] completely unready, looking back at a life saying, I never found my purpose. I never really sought [35:15] it the way that you designed me to seek it. I just strove after the wind the best I could. [35:20] And then God just to lay it out before us and say, how dare you waste it.

[35:27] See, God could have left us like that, but he didn’t. That’s a gracious thing. [35:34] See, he has been kind enough to spell it out for us. The purpose that he has for our lives [35:40] can be known and must be known. We are meant to live in his design. We need to keep his [35:47] commandments. With God as the source of meaning, you cannot hope to be perfect. Don’t make any [35:53] mistake. But you can hope to at least know the meaning. In that, God has been kinder than you [36:02] may realize. And he’s probably also been more specific than you realize. Because ultimately,

[36:11] the answer to the purpose of life is God. He is the purpose. And he also lived that purpose. [36:19] He’s shown that purpose. He’s given all of that purpose to you and for me. [36:26] Matthew 6, Jesus remarked on the frustration of meaning. And I believe in Matthew 6, what we have [36:34] is that Jesus actually commenting on the book of Ecclesiastes. He says, therefore I tell you, [36:40] do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, what you will drink, nor about your body, [36:45] what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds

[36:51] of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. [36:58] Are you not of more value than they? You see, we toil and work for basic necessities [37:06] with great fear that we will not have enough. So our focus never goes past this world. [37:15] You see, Jesus knew that we would look at the book of Ecclesiastes as we do and we say, [37:20] okay, I get it, but I got to eat. I mean, I got to get clothes. I need a house. I have a family to [37:32] take care of. I mean, I have to strive after the wind a little bit, don’t I?

[37:37] So Jesus understands the anxiety. Jesus understands the stress that this world brings upon us [37:50] and the limitations that we feel oppressed by when we look at all that we need in life and [37:56] struggle to see past those physical needs or wants or identities.

[38:07] Jesus looks and he says, don’t be anxious

[38:13] about striving after the wind.

[38:17] Are you afraid that you won’t have any food? Are you afraid that you won’t have any water? [38:21] Are you afraid that you won’t have clothes to wear?

[38:26] God has designed this world in such an amazing way that even the birds of the air have worms [38:31] in the ground. If God has supplied for them, don’t you think God’s more intricately involved [38:40] in your life than he is in that bird’s life? Then Jesus concludes in verse 33. [38:49] He says, instead, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things. [38:58] It’s so funny in those three little words, Jesus sums up most of what we consider our lives to be about.

[39:10] Jesus just looks at it and he says, you’re getting it backwards. You seek God first. [39:16] You seek his righteousness. You seek his kingdom. Then all these little details,

[39:24] they’ll work themselves out. Not because God’s calling you away from your work, but because [39:31] going into your work with God is far more meaningful than going into your work without him. [39:39] Not because God doesn’t want you to eat, but because God’s concerned with your food more than [39:46] you probably are. He’s concerned with your water more than you probably are. He’s concerned with [39:51] your family more than probably you are. God will not abandon you in that toil God desires for you [39:57] to flourish in all of your work. You see, we exist to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

[40:09] That is your purpose. That is the foundation of a life of meaning. I think it’s interesting that [40:17] Jesus said all of these things in reflection on all that we’ve learned from the book of [40:22] Ecclesiastes because Jesus showed in his life that he is that God of purpose. [40:31] That he is that God that created us. That he is that God who gives meaning and value and joy and [40:40] happiness. We got it wrong for so long. We strove after the wind for so long that God himself [40:50] became a human. Lived the most purpose-filled life and satisfying life that has ever been

[41:01] He lived. And he did it for us to see. He did it to reveal it to us.

[41:10] But then also because we strove after the wind for so long, God looked and he said, you have failed.

[41:19] Our lives are meaningless. We have tried to do it all without God. Because of that, we’ve sinned [41:26] against him. And then Jesus not only showed us a life of purpose, Jesus died for all of our lives [41:31] that lack purpose. And ultimately, that’s every single one of us because when you’re striving [41:36] after the wind, when you’re living that meaningless life, that’s what sin is.

[41:45] I said, Jesus, God himself came and he died for the penalty for our sinful shortcomings [41:51] and rose from the dead to show that he is truly God eternal. [41:56] He has power over sin. He has power over sin. He has power over sin. He has the power to restore [42:12] true meaning. We’ll talk more in a couple of weeks about Jesus being God, but make no mistake [42:21] that if Jesus died and then thought he was dead, he would have been a human being. [42:25] And then three days later, God up out of the grave, he’s God and he’s to be trusted.

[42:35] See, what we’re going to see is that Jesus is the point of the whole record of the Bible. [42:41] And in him purpose is known. Purpose can be lived and purpose can endure forever because he is the [42:51] God that not only has power over life, but he’s the God that has power over death. So eternity is [42:57] in his hand. You need God. As the band comes up this morning, wherever you’re coming from, [43:11] whatever you’re bringing into this church service this morning, I want to speak to two different [43:18] crowds just for a moment. And so the first crowd that I kind of want to talk to, if you’re in here

[43:24] and you’re thinking to yourself, I don’t know if I have purpose. I’ve never really thought about it [43:29] that way. I don’t know if I have God in my life the way that I need him. I don’t know if I’ve [43:35] trusted and believed in this Jesus. And for you, I just want to ask you to do me a favor. In just a [43:41] few moments, there are people in the foyer that would love to talk to you about that. There are [43:45] people in the foyer that would love to pray with you and pray for you, answer any questions that [43:50] you might have. Maybe help you continue to seek the answers to these questions that you might have.

[43:57] But I think there’s a second group of people in here and that’s people who are followers of Jesus. [44:02] Maybe you’re in here this morning and you’re like, I’ve settled it. I know I have purpose. I know [44:07] I have a God who loves me, who’s concerned with my life, who’s involved with my life. [44:13] I want to follow him. Friend, that’s the wonderful thing about the grace of Jesus is that when you [44:20] settle that purpose, when you settle that faith in him, you can just walk into that life.

[44:27] He calls us to glorify him. He calls us to enjoy him. And you’re going to spend your life pursuing [44:34] that and growing in that. And this morning, I want to reflect on just the joy of knowing that [44:43] purpose. As every week here at Village Church, we finish our services by reflecting on what’s [44:49] called communion or the Lord’s Supper. And what it is, is that the bread represents the body of [44:55] Christ that was broken for us because of our sin. And the cup that we’re going to drink represents [45:00] the blood of Christ poured out for our sin. And this is a symbol. This is a metaphor for the life

[45:08] of Christ in our lives. That Jesus, before he left, he said, you take this bread and you eat it. You [45:13] take this cup and you drink it in remembrance of me, proclaiming my death until I come. [45:22] As if you’re in here and you’re a follower of Jesus, in the front and in the back, there are [45:27] tables. And I’m going to call you in just a moment to come, to eat, to drink. Because when you eat [45:32] and when you drink, what that represents is that the life of Jesus is inside of your life. [45:39] He’s driving you to that life where he is the fullest meaning and he is the fullest purpose.

[45:46] And Jesus gives us forgiveness of sin. Jesus gives us life eternal. And Jesus also gives us a purpose [45:54] to follow in this life. And when you are ready to celebrate that, come eat drink.