Impact: It is What You Were Created For, Part One- Created for a Purpose
Created for a Purpose
Life is confusing sometimes. I think often about the reason for my life. There are many potential reasons I was created. Was I created t be a good father, husband, and pastor? Was it to make some important product? Was it to be holy? Was it to become a Bible expert?
Then I consider what I am. I am a missionary. When I say that, a certain image comes to your mind. “Missionary” comes for the Latin word for sent. In essence, I am sent. But that raises a lot of questions. What was I sent here to do? Feed the hungry? Clothe the naked? Build buildings? Preach on the corner? Lead Bible studies? Just exactly what was I created for? Why was I sent to Lithuania? I can think of all sorts of good things for me to do as a missionary.
I know that many of you are asking the same thing? Why am I here? Why was I created? What does God want from me? Why has God put me on this earth? Why has he made me like this? Why do I have the job I currently have? Why can’t I do what I really want? All of us are experiencing some of these questions from time to time. Everyone would like to know their purpose.
Over the next four weeks we will be working on this theme. The title of our series is: Impact: It is What You Were Created For
Today we are going to talk about why we were created. I believe we were created for Impact!
I want to define what I mean by “impact.”
Impact is an action, activity, or message that changes someone, something, or a situation.
Let me qualify what I am going to say before I begin talking about this too much. I believe and declare that ultimately we were created to have a relationship with God through his Son Jesus. We were created to worship and to be in his presence.
At the same time we were also created to be a people and individuals who impact our world. I want to make a difference. I want my life to mean something. God didn’t just create us to grow up, get married, and have 1.5 children, work for 40 years and get cancer and die, all the while trying to enjoy life. No! God created us to impact the world around us.
You can find this in virtually every book of the Bible. God chose people to make a difference, to make an impact. Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Daniel, Joshua, Gideon, Esther, Deborah, all impacted their world in significant ways. You may not think that you could have the same kind of impact as these, but since God will be with you there is a possibility. God can do great things with your life if you will live it with his purpose in mind.
When we think about the purpose of our life it is important to understand that it is directly related to Jesus’ purpose. Jesus was clear about his purpose: Even at a young age Jesus was clear about his mission.
Luke 2:49- Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?
Upon his entering into ministry he stood in the temple and read from the scroll of Isaiah.
Luke 4:18-19- ”The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Jesus again declares why he is has come to earth.
Luke 19:10- For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.
Jesus sacrificial death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead was the means by which Jesus could save the lost. The lost are those that have turned their hearts away from God. He took the sins of the world upon him. He took our punishment upon himself. He defeated the death! He rose from the dead so that we could live a life with purpose. If Christ is not risen our life is meaningless.
When Jesus left earth for heaven he gave us an assignment. He gave us a purpose! It is clear that Jesus is passing this mission on to us:
John 20:21- As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.
This is extremely clear. Jesus was sent to seek and save the lost. So we too are sent to ……..
During the last supper he shared this thought with his disciples:
John 15:16- You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.
Chosen and appointed to go and bear fruit that will last. Jesus’ statement is not only applicable to the disciples, but to us as well. We are chosen by God- Think of that! Appointed- We have been given assignments.We are sent- To fulfill our mission we must go. To bear fruit- there is little doubt that what is being referred to here are souls. The souls of men and women, boys and girls are the only thing that will last.
And finally, we have the Great Commission:
Matthew 28:18-20- Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus has all authority and commands us to go. We are to make disciples of all nations. We are to baptize them. We are teach them to obey.
This is our assignment! This is our purpose!
This is a corporate purpose an overarching purpose for the church of Jesus Christ! This is also an individual purpose. Each of us is unique and we have our own particular role in fulfilling this purpose. Every person can IMPACT their world.
We have been given a ministry.
2 Cor 5:18-19- All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
We are to carry a message of reconciliation to the lost people we know. We can impact our world if we will make this message a priority. Now, I bet you are thinking, “I am not an evangelist!” “I cannot share my faith!” Well, I am only going to ask you to knock on one door this week.
No, I am not!
However, I do want you to begin to think about what positive contribution you can make to the world in which you live. What would happen if you intentionally started thinking how God could use your natural talents and gifts for his purposes? What if you were to say, “God, here I am use me in whatever way you like. Would God use you to impact your world? Remember, not all significant impact is accompanied by fireworks.
Most significant impact is accomplished by intentionally
doing small things over an extended period of time.
99.6% of the people in Lithuania are not Evangelical Christians? That leaves the rest of us to impact them. You can do something major for the Kingdom of God. As a church we can do something important that will help us fulfill the assignment Jesus gave us.
It is why we were created! What would it look like if we began to work toward impacting our city, our friends, and our co-workers by living our life intentionally for the good news? Are we living our lives in such a way that we are impacting our world?
REFLECTION TIME
- Prayerfully consider and write down some area in your life where you feel you could make an impact on your world?
- Ask God to speak to you this week about how to do that.
