Just Like Jesus in Purpose

And grab your message notes as we continue with the series. We're calling "Just Like Jesus." And two weeks ago, we looked at having the attitude of Jesus last week, how to be just like Jesus in terms of our spiritual habits and this morning, just like Jesus in purpose. You know, the incredible thing about Jesus is how much He accomplished in just three years of public ministry. Three years. And yet, in those three short years, He literally changed the world.

And like Max Lucado says in the section of this week's devotional, Jesus had no money, no computer, no personal jet, no administrative assistants or paid staff. Hey, He didn't even have a smartphone. I mean, perish the thought. You know, His life was not transformed through technology. In fact, He didn't even have like a little calendar to walk around with. None of that stuff. And yet, despite that, Jesus did what many of us failed to do at times in our life. He kept His life on target all the time.

Now, how did He do this? Did He use His supernatural powers to bend time? Did He miraculously appear in more than one place at a time? No. None of those things. In fact, Jesus kept His life on target through something that's just as available to us as it was to Him. And that's a clear sense of purpose. Jesus knew exactly what His purpose was in life, and He stuck to it relentlessly.

In fact, this is what Jesus said about His purpose in life. Here's His purpose statement in one sentence, and it's from Luke 19:10. Do you want to read this with me this morning? Or are we still waking up? Let's read this together. Here we go. Let me hear you. "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Jesus came to seek and to save what was lost, lost people, and everything that was lost to sin. That was His purpose. Everything He did was driven by that singular purpose.

Now, if you're like most people, you have many ambitions in life. You have several interests. You have lots of obligations, some personal goals. But let me ask you, is there a higher purpose that pulls them all together? And perhaps you're thinking to yourself, well, wait a minute, Mark, not so fast. It's not that simple. I don't have the option of just kind of walking around with a robe and sandals, OK? I mean, I've got to support my family. I've got to make a living. I've got to keep groceries in the house, shuttle the kids to school and to soccer practice and to dentist appointments. I've got to pay bills, taxes, rent, mortgage. I've got to keep gas in the car. Hey, sometimes I just got to keep the car running. I've got to do laundry, cook dinner, watch grandkids, feed the dog. What's my purpose in life?

Sometimes, I don't have the time. I don't have the luxury of pondering that question. Now, I'm mindful of those kinds of tensions and the way that life pulls at us from so many different directions. But here's the thing. Jesus did all sorts of things just like we do. He went fishing. He went to weddings. He went to dinner parties. He cooked meals for his friends. He traveled a lot. In fact, practically all the time he traveled. And yet, he never seemed to be in a hurry, had time to stop and talk with strangers.

Like we heard last week, Jesus regularly went to the synagogue. That was his custom. Now, you would think that for him, that would be a total waste of time. Who's going to tell Jesus something he doesn't already know? And yet, apparently, he thought it was well worth the time. He also liked to get away, go out on a boat and take a nap or hike up into the hills and find a quiet spot where he could be all alone to rest, to pray, to escape even from the demands that came with his growing popularity. And all the while, he's in the process of doing what? Changing history.

What was his secret? Purpose. Now, we need to bear in mind that his purpose was powered by the Holy Spirit. So there's more to this than just staying focused. But that said, everything he did was infused with and informed by his purpose to seek and to save what was lost. And that's why after a career that spanned all of three years, he could say with his dying breath, it is finished. It's finished. I've done everything that I was meant to do, all of it.

Now, don't you want to be able to say the same thing on your deathbed? On your deathbed? I do. And again, you don't have to have superpowers to be able to do this. The Apostle Paul, in some of his last words, says this. "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith." Now, I can't think of anything better to say at the end of life than to say, "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith." And not to be morbid, but every time you open up the newspaper, I don't know about you, but eventually, you're going to have to go over the obituary page, right? And sometimes we just kind of leapfrog over that.

But I'm reminded when I look down at that page and I see those little pictures and little mini biographies, I'm reminded that someday it's going to be my picture on that page. My race will have come to an end. My life will be over. And someday, your picture is going to be there too. So let's flesh this out just a little bit, shall we? For starters, we have to address a fundamental question, which is whose purpose am I living for? Now, the default answer is me, myself. Just like for you, it's you. That's our natural inclination.

In fact, anyone willing to admit-- confession is good for the soul. Anyone willing to admit been there, done that kind of lived life for me? Yeah, me too. Turns out it's not all that satisfying because we have a deep longing to live for something, a cause greater than ourselves. And you know, when I think about it, I don't want my epitaph to be Mark Spurlock. He lived life fully for himself. You know, he looked out for numeral uno. He grabbed all the gusto he could find. Well, big whoop, you know. Thanks for playing, Mark. I want to live my life for something great, don't you? In fact, why stop at great? Why not live our lives for the greatest purpose in the entire universe?

Well, guess what? That's exactly what Jesus invites us to do. There's a reason God put you on Earth, a God-given purpose. And if that's true, it's well worth the time to ask the question, how do I live out God's purpose in my life? How do you live out God's purpose in yours? Well, we're not going to exhaust the subject this morning. But let me just give you three ways that you and I can live out God's purpose in our lives.

And number one, wherever life takes you, go with purpose. You know, you've got places to go, people to meet, right? Well, perfect. Go with purpose. And specifically, I mean, wherever you go, whoever you talk to, you have the opportunity to go with God's purposes in mind in that situation. And I'm telling you, this will revolutionize your life. Because suddenly, there's no ordinary moments. Every situation can be infused with purpose.

And like I said earlier, Jesus never seemed to be in a hurry. But He sure did have a keen sense of urgency, didn't He? And because of that, He made every single moment count. For example, open your Bibles to John 4. And if you want to borrow one of those Twin Lakes Bibles, you're welcome to do that. John 4 is on page 752 here in the auditorium and on page 728 in venue. And by the way, good morning, all of you in venue. John 4, this is a familiar story to many of us. It's when Jesus has His encounter with a so-called woman at the well.

We're not going to look at the whole story. But what I find especially intriguing about this passage is how it begins. And notice starting in verse 4, it says, "Now Jesus had to go through Samaria." Now stop there for a second. Jesus had to go through Samaria? Why do you suppose He had to go through Samaria? Because the fact is most Jews didn't go through Samaria when they went from Jerusalem to Galilee. They didn't go there because they hated the Samaritans. And especially rabbis, especially respectable teachers, they had an alternate route through Jordan around Samaria. Now it was longer, but at least they didn't have to be around those stinking Samaritans.

So when John says Jesus had to go, most Bible scholars think that he's writing this with kind of a nod towards Jesus' purpose here. He had to go because it had everything to do with His purpose. What was His purpose? Let me hear you say it again. What was His purpose? Oh, come on now. To seek and to save what was lost. Don't you wish you could say your life's purpose in one little sentence like that? Well, look what happens next, verse 5. "So He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as He was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour." Now the sixth hour is high noon. Not a preferable time of day to be sitting out by a well with no bucket.

But Jesus seems to be anticipating that He's going to meet somebody. He's there for a reason. And He's sitting there, and verse 7 says, "When a Samaritan woman came to draw water." Now what happens next? Well, if you read on, you see that Jesus engages this woman in conversation. And lo and behold, she's got a bit of a colorful past. She's been married five times, and now she's living with guy number six. And in the process of the conversation, though, she becomes a follower of Jesus. In fact, not just any follower, she becomes one of the very first evangelists in the history of the Christian faith. She becomes the spark that spreads like wildfire through her community. Fire of faith. And it's all because why? Because Jesus had to go to Samaria.

Another great example. Since we're in the neighborhood, just flip to the left a couple of pages and find Luke 19. That's where our old theme verse came from, Luke 19. And here's the setup to the verse that we read earlier. Luke 19, starting at verse 1, another story that's very familiar to many of us. But in verse 1, it says, "Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through." And by the way, whenever you see Luke use that phrase, "passing through," this is one of Luke's unique phrases. He uses this phrase more than anyone else in the Bible. Jesus was kind of passing through.

And I think he does that because Luke likes to show us that there's really no ordinary moments. You know, it's like there was no fanfare. Jesus was just kind of passing through. No trumpet sound. But you know that something eventful is about to happen when he says that. And sure enough, that's exactly what happens. Because when Jesus passes through, God is actually on the move. And through Jesus, those little passing through moments become moments of eternal significance.

So he's passing through Jericho. And a man was there by the name of Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector. And he was wealthy. In other words, Zacchaeus was a sellout. Zacchaeus was working for the Roman overlords. And he was shaking down his fellow Jewish people for their taxes. And apparently, he was really good at it. He got real rich doing this. Verse 3, he wanted to see who Jesus was. But being a short man, he could not because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to see him since Jesus was coming that way.

When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today. Now, did Jesus really have to stay at Zacchaeus's house like it was his only option in the whole world? Of course not. Jesus had to stay with Zacchaeus because that was his purpose. Now, it could be that Jesus used his divine powers to orchestrate this whole meeting with Zacchaeus. Or in his full humanity, maybe Jesus just sees a funny little man up in a tree, straining to get a look at him. And Jesus notices the sneers and the murmuring of the crowd around him. And he hears them cursing under their breath, you sinner, traitor, scum.

My point is this, is that when your soul is as lost as Zacchaeus's was, you're not that hard to recognize. Lost souls are not that hard to spot if your eyes are open. In fact, I guarantee you this. Let's kind of lay it on the line here. How about tomorrow morning you wake up and you pray this. Say, Lord, I want to live out your purposes in my life today. Will you open my eyes to the opportunities that you put in my path? And I guarantee you, you'll be amazed at all the opportunities you see to serve him to make a difference. Just having this mindset makes a huge difference at work, at the coffee shop, anywhere you go.

So go see a friend on purpose. Go surfing, go golfing, shopping on purpose. There's no shortage of women at the well or Zacchaeus the tax collectors out there. There's really not. And I think sometimes Christians spend way too much time obsessing over, does God want me to do this or that? Should I go here or should I go there? Hey, just go. I think God cares far more about why we go than where we go. Look what Jesus said right before he ascended into heaven. He's handing his mission over to his followers. And he says at the end of Matthew, therefore what? Go and make disciples of all nations.

So wherever you go, go with purpose. And number two, you want to live out God's purposes in your life? Give on purpose. Give with purpose. I want you to imagine something for me. Imagine that at the end of the service today, we do something a little bit different with the offering. We do what maybe we might call a reverse offering. The ushers come forward. And instead of passing the bags, they actually hand out $100 bill to every single person in this room. Sounds kind of cool, huh?

Now I want you to imagine this, because if we really did this, it might be a little hard to explain to René when he gets back from Brazil. I'm thinking, I'm not a great mathematician, but I'm going, it's like almost 3,000 people and three services. That's 300,000. Yeah, that might cause a little bit of a stir. So we can still pretend, OK? Imagine you get that $100 bill, and it's just crisp and new right between your fingers. And there's Ben Franklin looking at you. And it's got that new money smell. It's all yours. But there's one catch. You've got to spend it like it's God's money. You've got to spend it in some way, however you want. But somehow, it's God to connect with God's purposes.

Now some of you, I could see you just like, oh, guy, thanks for taking all the fun out of it, Mark. Really? Does it really take the fun out of it? Or does it open up a door to deep joy? Because you know where I'm going with this. Everything we have already belongs to Him. And not just our money. Every heartbeat, every breath, every ounce of energy, it's all a gift from God. And one of the greatest joys in all of life is when God gives us talent and treasure and time, when we can direct that back to the things that matter to God, there is deep joy in that.

I mean, because now we know we are participating in the greatest adventure, the greatest purpose on earth. And you know, if you take this seriously, take this to heart, it's radical. It's radical because let's face it, Jesus didn't come to earth just to kind of rearrange the furniture down here, did He? He's not interested in fine-tuning things. He wants to completely transform the world, and that includes you, that includes me. So it shouldn't surprise us when He says some radical things to us, like here in Luke 6. You still got your Bibles open to Luke? Just flip over to the left a little further, find chapter 6, starting at verse 32. This is radical stuff right here.

Jesus says, "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the most high, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked."

See, when I say give on purpose, again, I'm not just talking about money. I'm saying, give yourself with purpose. You know, love with purpose. Do good with purpose. Lend without expecting to be repaid on purpose. By the way, you know what it's called when you lend without expecting to be repaid? It's called a loan to your kids, right? Yeah. My parents are like, amen. Are you sure so? No, it's called a gift, at least. Eventually, that's what it becomes, right? Now, I'm not saying be an enabler, but be generous, because God is generous. You can't be godly without being generous. That's just so who He is.

God gives to people who don't even thank Him or deserve His good gifts. And here's the great thing Jesus says, that when we mimic our Father, that's what children do. Our Father gives to people. He's kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Last week, or a week before last, I was hanging out in People's Pantry. That's our food pantry ministry every Wednesday afternoon. And I love being there. Every time I have an opportunity. And most of the people that come in are the very sincere needs, and they're so appreciative. But every once in a while, you get someone who's difficult, someone who you get the sense that they're kind of taking advantage of the whole thing. And that's just the way it goes.

But I'm so proud of our totally volunteer staff. I'm so proud of them, because they don't keep score. They just keep being kind and charitable and generous. They're gracious. And they keep giving of their time. And of their effort. And of their finances. Because they know that that is part of their purpose. And you know what? When God finds people who are willing to give generously-- and He has a way of replenishing the pantry, so to speak, you know what I mean? He really does.

In fact, René's predecessor, Pastor Kraft, was fond of saying this. You can't out give God. You can't do it. And that's pretty much what Jesus says here, picking up in verse 38 of Luke 6. He says, "Give--" or excuse me, "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. So whatever you give, man, give with purpose. Give with purpose."

I came across a great quote by a legendary 20th century missionary named Lillian Dixon. And just for background, when Lillian Dixon was a little girl, she says that it was her life's goal to be an atheist. That's true. She would sit in church, and she'd think about, man, when I get out of this house, I'm going to live the life of an unbeliever. Well, funny thing happened on her way out of the house. God broke into her heart. And by the time she left home, she didn't want to just be a missionary, man. She wanted to be a kind of missionary who went where no one else had ever gone to reach people who were forgotten, forsaken, cast off. She wanted to live as large for God as she possibly could.

And so it turns out she and her husband spent a good part of their life reaching out to the indigenous mountain people in Taiwan, people who were just forgotten about. And many of them were suffering from leprosy. And so they built facilities, and they cared for, and held services for, and fed, and just loved this leper community. And oh, by the way, they also planted 400 churches in Taiwan and built 40 children's homes in their spare time. I mean, they lived these incredible lives.

But here's Lillian Dixon, life expert, if it comes to living a life that counts, talking about why your purpose matters. She says, life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once. That's good. How you spend your life, how I spend my life, will have everything to do with purpose. Maybe you're here today and you're thinking, Mark, how could God still have a purpose for my life? I mean, you have no idea the mess that it's become. I mean, maybe you feel totally stuck. It's stuck in a relationship that's gone sour that has deep problems, or you feel stuck in a job that you hate, or you feel stuck because you have these self-destructive habits that you can't shake. And you say, sounds good, Mark, but you know what? That ship sailed long ago.

Well, I'm not here to offer some sort of pat answer to you, but I am here this morning to point you to the one, to remind you that there is one who is able to work all things together for good, to those who love him and are called according to his what? His purpose. Because no matter what, he's still your best old. No matter what, he's the one who loves you as much as he ever did. And no matter what, he's the one who, when it was his time to spend his one coin, he spent it on you. He spent it on me.

And so here's Jesus talking about how he gave on purpose, when he said, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." That means that for those Christ has purchased, I have to believe he still has a purpose. I hope you'll hear that this morning. Because if Christ has purchased you with his blood, then I have to believe that he still has a purpose. So wherever you go, man, go with purpose. And however you give, give with purpose, and finally never forget that our lives would be utterly purposeless, meaningless, unless God had given his Son for us. Life in Christ is free, but it didn't come cheap.

With that in mind, number three, you want to live out God's purpose for your life? Guard your purpose. Guard it well. Because here's the sobering reality. Your adversary, the devil, would like nothing more than to suck the purpose out of your life. I don't think anything makes hell happier than to see a Christian whose life is distracted or derailed away from God's purposes. And it may surprise you, but this is something that Jesus had to contend with in a very real way. Because not only did Satan tempt him when he set out to achieve his purpose and tried to get him to abandon it, but watch what happens when Jesus closes in on the finish line, Matthew 16:21–23.

From that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law. And that he must be killed and on the third day be raised again. Now what is Jesus doing right there? He's reaffirming his purpose, isn't he? That he must go to Jerusalem. And he must be killed and then be raised to life. But no sooner has he said this when Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, never, Lord, he said, this shall never happen to you. Jesus turned to Peter and said, get behind me, Satan. You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.

You think Peter was being a real temptation in this moment? Man, you better believe it. And that's why this exchange is so hot. Jesus could not have used stronger language to describe Peter's influence, which says, get behind me, Satan. You're a stumbling block. You are tempting me. Because you don't have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. So Peter, don't tempt me away from my purpose. Jesus, guarding his purpose fiercely. That means that if we take this message today and we plan to run with it, we're going to have to guard that purpose, aren't we? You have to guard your mind from getting distracted, getting pulled off purpose. Guard your heart. Guard your integrity.

And this is where staying focused on your purpose can really make a difference. Because perhaps you're on the internet. Like I was just this week, previewing a video that was potentially to be used in this service. And here's the video. And it's totally innocent. But over on the side, they've got these little thumbnail things and different videos. And oh, well, lo and behold, why is there always some buxom babe off to the right? And there's the rat hole. You know, go check that out. And in that moment, I told this to Kelly. I said, Kelly, man, I had to tell myself, that's not my purpose. That's not my purpose.

Or maybe some juicy bit of gossip comes your way. And it's the temptation to go tell someone, it's not my purpose. It's not my purpose. And I'm not saying it's some kind of silver bullet. But I can tell you this, that times this week, at points of decision, or when I was feeling tempted to refocus on my purpose really made a difference. So guard your purpose. Stay on focus. And another way to guard your purpose, stay in fellowship. I beg you on this one. And if it's not at this church, then find a church that loves Jesus and loves his word. But stay in fellowship. Why? So that we can have a healthy head count? No, it's so that you can have a healthy head, and a healthy heart, and a healthy soul.

Once again, the Apostle Paul, in some of his last words that he ever wrote, he writes to his friend in protege, Timothy. And he says, guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you, guarded with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. I love this verse. Because it reminds me, I've got to guard the good deposit, what's been entrusted to me, God's purposes that are in me, and been working through me, and so do you. But it also reminds us that we're not alone. That we have the Holy Spirit to help us, because really, we live out God's purpose through the power of God's Holy Spirit.

Allow me to wrap up with this. I mentioned the video that I was previewing. It came from a gentleman in this church who's been a member of Twin Lakes Church for many years, Clark Masters. He does so many wonderful things in Bridge of Hope ministry, but Clark was an American Airlines pilot for 35 years, and this video caught his eye, because it was about a fellow American Airlines pilot, a guy named Steve Scheibner. And let me give you this set up for this. It was a beautiful September day, and Steve Scheibner, as a pilot, is available to fly. So he does what all commercial pilots do. He goes to, in his case, the American Airlines network. He logs in, he looks for an available flight, and he finds that there's one available, a flight from Boston to LA, and so he just types in his name.

And the way that this works is that he then waits for a confirmation call back from the airline, and once that happens, he's locked in. So in the meantime, he's packing his bag, he's talking to his wife about what she's going to be doing during the days that he's gone. And during this time, the way this works is that if a more senior pilot wants to take that flight, they can. They can bump the less senior pilot. And so Steve doesn't get a call at 3, like he's expecting, or 4 or 5. And so out of curiosity, he logs back on, and he notices that, sure enough, he's been bumped by a more senior pilot, a guy named Tom McGinnis.

Now all of this happened on September 10, 2001. And the next morning, Tom McGinnis takes American Flight 11 up into the sky out of Boston, heading towards LA. But as you might have guessed, that flight never made it to LA, that flight was, in fact, Flight 11, the first plane to strike the World Trade Center, a moment that we'll never forget, and in the horror and the tragedy of all of that, imagine being Steve Scheibner. Imagine thinking how close you came to death until someone else took your seat. How do you think that would affect your sense of purpose?

Well, here's what Steve Scheibner has to say about just that. 20 years ago, I wrote a life objective. And my life objective goes like this. It's to seek, trust, and glorify God through humble service and continual prayer, to raise up qualified disciples as quickly as possible, so that someday I might hear God say, well done, my good and faithful servant. The events of September 11th took that life objective that I already had, and it intensified it for me. The fire just keeps getting hotter as I get older. But someday I want to stand in the Lord's presence, and I want him to say, well done. I should have died, but I didn't. And now there's an obligation that comes with that. I've got to live my days with a sense of urgency. I have to make sure I get the most out of them, and not the most for me.

I think we live in a world where everybody's kind of out to get the most for them. This is not about me. This is about the distinct privilege I've been given to know that somebody died in my place. What I know is that somebody died in my place not once, but twice. That's where God comes into the whole thing for me. See, Tom sat in a seat that I was qualified to sit in. And by all rights, that was my seat that day. I should have been in that seat. In fact, I've sat in the very seat of that airplane that Tom was in. I've flown all of the 757s and 767s American Airlines own. So I know what it's like literally to sit in that seat. But I am still, all these years later, still qualified to sit in that seat. And I could have. But Tom didn't die for my sins.

You see, God sent his own son to die for my sins. Jesus Christ was the other one who died in my place. And he hung, and he bled, and he suffered on a cross to pay a price for me that I wasn't qualified to pay. I couldn't have hung on the cross. I didn't have the same qualifications. So one guy sat in a seat that I should have sat in. The other hung and bled on the cross. One is far more significant than the other. That's not to trivialize what happened to Tom. It's to elevate and glorify what God did for me and for mankind on the cross. Powerful stuff.

But if you place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you've essentially recognized that Jesus took your seat, right? He died for us so that we might live for Him. And with that in mind, may that fire in your soul, that sense of God-given purpose, may it burn hotter and hotter and hotter in the days to come. Let's pray towards that end.

Heavenly Father, thank You for each man, woman, young person that's here today. We don't take that as coincidence. But Father, we thank You for gathering Your church together so that we might focus on You, that we might worship You, that we might hear from You today. Father, I'm thinking of the ones here that they feel maybe even disqualified from living a life of purpose because all they can see is their sin or their failures or their mistakes. Lord, I pray that Your grace and the promise of Your forgiveness would break through all of that.

For the ones-- and Lord, I'm guilty of this. I get preoccupied with my own stuff and forget that life is a lot more important than just me and my little agenda. I pray, Lord, that You would give us all a sense of urgency that we would want to make every moment count, every day count, living every day like maybe this is my last day. How would I live it if that were true? Father, we can't do this through willpower. We can't do this through emotionality. We can't do it through anything but the power of Your Holy Spirit. And so I pray, Father, that Your Spirit would light that fire and that it would burn bright in our hearts. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.