Today I need your help – just by listening and observing your life. Be honest with yourself and others. And pray now quietly that you will go home with a full heart of good desires, intentions, goals and God’s given seeds to you. I will give you a moment of silence for your prayer.
So, my brothers and sisters, today you should leave church with clear answers of what is you purpose and calling from God, how to serve God, and stay close to Him.
At the start, I would like first to explain what purpose is. Some people think that purpose is some single thing they can do, something what they can achieve and use, or be used in something and etc. But…it is not the whole true of purpose. Yes, it might look great when some people find this kind of purpose. But yet… Let’s look at God’s creation. God made the sky, did he? Has it achieved or learned any purpose, or has its purpose ever changed from the beginning till now? Has the nature – trees achieved any purpose or learned any purpose, or changed or chose their purpose from beginning till now? Has God made anything without a purpose? Are you God’s creation? Do you think God made you without a purpose, or do you think your purpose is still waiting for you? I’ll tell you one thing, since you were born God had a plan for you for your future Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (ESV). Your purpose is facing you right into your face, right now, in every moment of your life, and it has never stopped to do so. Because everything what God has created has a purpose Proverbs 16:4 “The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble” (ESV). Do you believe it or not?
The only thing that can stop you from fulfilling your purpose that God gave you is by not taking up your cross Matthew 10:38 “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (NIV).
“Take up your cross!”
Let’s go back into history and see how Jesus was taking up His cross. Matthew 26:39 ‘He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”’(NLT).
How often do you question God, and how often do you answer to God’s given questions to you? In other words, when purpose is facing us like it did face Jesus, how often do we go on our knees and say Your will and not my will Lord, or we just tend to ask why me Lord, why this all happening to me?
Life with God simply means to answer to God’s given questions to you. In other words, it is not really matter what you expect from life, but rather what life expects from you. We should take responsibility to find the right answers to its problems and fulfil the tasks which it constantly set for each of us. Every moment we get tasks from God but how do we answer to it? Do we take challenges? Do we accept sufferings and pain? Do we accept life with all its losses and deaths? The choices that we make in every moment, how we respond in each situation is the answer do we respond to our given purpose or not, do we say yes to our purpose or not.
Mark 8:34 ‘Then He called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (NIV).
What does cross really mean then? What had Jesus to go through while He was on the cross? Did He feel pain? Did He suffer?
People, to take up your cross you must face your challenges, your life, your pain, your sufferings, you fears and no one can do it for you. It is only between you and God. It is your answer to God.
Brothers and sisters live your life worthy of the cross, worthy of your sufferings. In the way in which you accept your destiny, your purpose and all the suffering in it, the way in which you take up your cross, even in the most difficult situations – you add a deeper meaning to your life. Think of Jesus, how meaningful was His life and how He took up His cross.
Each moment of our lives comes with the choice – will we take up the cross or no? Will we answer to God’s calling or no? If we don’t take up the cross then we choose our flesh, which is no more then to be like animals which only care about how to satisfy and defend themselves. So, to fulfil your purpose means to take up your cross at each given moment of your life.
As an example:
Wives – to take up you cross and to fulfil your purpose as being a wife, instead of expecting your husband to be a better husband, you should respect your husband as it says in Ephesians 5:33 “However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” (NIV). And if you are not doing so you are disobeying God and you are choosing to serve your flesh only. But I want to ask you one thing, I know many wives including me that have disrespected their husbands for their wrong actions and attitudes, but…what have we gained? I gained nothing! It didn’t changed him, it didn’t helped him, I didn’t win his heart like that and I didn’t bring him any closer to God. What I did, I chose to protect my flesh only. And I pushed my husband even more away and I even contributed towards him being in that angry state, I supported him in doing more wrong. That’s why by disrespecting our husband we sin, we add more sticks to the fire of anger.
Husbands – to take up you cross, and to fulfil your purpose as husbands, instead of expecting your wives to be better wives, you should focus on how you can be a better husband, to obey God and love your wife as it says in. Ephesians 5 v 33 “However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” And if you are not doing so you are disobeying God. John 3-16 says that “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (NIV), which means He loved us when we were still sinners and “He gave his only Son”. He loved and He sacrificed, not because we did good and loved God but because He loved us first. Husbands, your duty is like Christ to love your wife even when she is a sinner and not doing well to you, but simply because you love her first, and follow the example that Jesus gave to you.
The same is for all of us. Matthew 7:3-5 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye” (NIV).
We focus too much on other people and their lives then our own. We also focus too much on other people’s sin then our own. But what do we gain apart from conflicts which only destroy our relationships and pushes people even more away from us, from God, from love and from relationships?
It doesn’t mean that we must to agree with every wrong thing that everyone else do. But it simply means that we are not going to sin or support the sin.
Ephesians 4:26 says “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger” (ESV). No one has a right to do wrong, not even if wrong has been done to them. Instead we should think what can really help, what is the best what we can do in every situation and in every moment?
Many of us like to do good to people who we think deserves it. But…is this is what Jesus did, what God did? Did Jesus went to places and people that only deserved to receive Him? Did God only sacrificed His only Son for the price that we must pay back to Him? We must to learn to do good not for the price to receive back, but simply because God did the same for us. Just a priceless giving, a free gift.
Luke 6:33 says “And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much!” (NLT). But… if you do good for someone who you think does not deserve it, then…something amazing might happen. People, who feel that they don’t deserve anything good and then…they receive something good for free, it is a life changing miracle for them. What could we gain then?
Matthew 7:13 -14 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (ESV). Many people choses their flesh and not their cross, it is easier. It easier to blame and judge others, as it keeps our focus away from ourselves. It is easier to focus on other people’s lives then seeing our own. It feels better at that moment to talk about other people sin’s then talking about our own. Is it right?
But narrow gate is like a life with everything that comes with it, including suffering and death. Bible says in book of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
- For everything there is a season,
- a time for every activity under heaven.
- A time to be born and a time to die.
- A time to plant and a time to harvest.
- A time to kill and a time to heal.
- A time to tear down and a time to build up.
- A time to cry and a time to laugh.
- A time to grieve and a time to dance.
- A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
- A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
- A time to search and a time to quit searching.
- A time to keep and a time to throw away.
- A time to tear and a time to mend.
- A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
- A time to love and a time to hate.
- A time for war and a time for peace.
Are we ready for life that has a time for everything, or we just want to pick out the best times that we like? Are you ready to face death? Yet death is as much common as birth and as much important as birth. God made even death purposeful as we look up to Jesus, because of His death on the cross we got an opportunity to know God and have relationship with him as his child. Have you ever thought about your own death or the death of your close ones? Do you know how long you are going to live or how long your loved ones going to live? No one knows what tomorrow will bring but one thing you can choose – how are you going to live your life till that day comes and be ready for it. Having no regrets for what words you spoke, no regrets for what you did, but instead having peace and knowing that this is the right time and the best time for you to leave this world and join Jesus in Heaven.
We need to learn to live and walk in truth and to be real with ourselves and each other. How can we see people for who they are if we do not understand them and the season they are going through? We need to ask God to heal and open our eyes, so we could properly see others and stop building walls between each other and fight against each other.
I remember the times when my husband and I use to argue a lot. When he was angry I was scared to be hurt and I was only thinking how to defend myself. But at the same time I was choosing to defend my flesh only, which obviously wasn’t helping my husband at all. I also felt lonely and not understood and hurt and not loved. I prayed to God and I said “God, it wasn’t my dream, it is not what I want. We do not see each other. God I am so blinded. Help me to see my husband for who he really is, help me to be an awesome wife and help me to help him”. I knew my prayer was from broken heart and not selfish, and in this case I hoped and believed that God will answer very quickly. And he did so. After that when my husband got angry again, I saw not his anger but instead his worry for family, for us. I saw how desperately he wants to provide all we need. And he was getting frustrated because he thought he will fail. As I saw him for who he was, I didn’t want to defend myself anymore, but instead I wanted to give him a hand and I said he is not alone to carry it all, that he also has me. It also was an amazing moment of connection and presence of God and unity. The moment I chose not to defend my flesh but to see my husband behind the anger, the moment I choose to fight for him and not against him, everything got changed. God opened the door to his heart.
To finish, Brothers and sisters, what matters is not the meaning of life in general, but…rather the meaning of each given moment. Everyone’s life is unique, and no one can replace you in your situations and no one can take up the cross for you. As your purpose is in the uniqueness of the way you pick up your cross. God has already showed us the greatest example of one’s purpose – Jesus, by not living your life for yourself but by giving yourself to others. Always think what Jesus would want you to do in every situation, in every moment, in every decision.
Prayer.