Wired: Purpose (Part 2)
Continuing with the Wired sermon series, Pastor Sally taught on how God has wired us for purpose. The central ques- tion of Pastor Sally’s message was this: Are we only living as people who are saved, or have we taken up the challenge to live a life on mission for God? Sally started her message by sharing about a dream she had 8 years ago. In this dream she saw a red Bible laying on a white table and the it then began to float. A gust of wind rushed into the room and caused the pages of the Bible to flip open. When she looked to see what page the Bible had opened to, it shone with a bright light. At that point Sally wake up.
This dream marked a milestone in Sally’s journey with Jesus and over the years God has slowly showed her what the dream meant. The dream was a wakeup call—to her and now to us—to realize who are we in Christ and what our re- sponsibility is as image-bearers of the King. The big question for Sally’s message was: what is our purpose?
Purpose, the world will tell you, comes from within ourselves. But, what if you cannot trust what is within you? We know from Scripture that “the human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer 17:9). The wrong place to look for purpose is within ourselves. Instead, we need an outside source to reveal our purpose. That outside source is God. “Our purposes,” Pastor Sally stated, “begins with God: we are created by God (in his image) and for God (for relationship with God and others).” Not only that, but we are also created for ministry and mission.
Pastor Sally drew a distinction between ministry and mission. Ministry is your service to believers (within the church) and mission is your service to unbelievers (those outside the church). As join God in the ministry and mission to which he has called us, it’s important to recognize that this is a team effort. The body of Christ is diverse and God has given each of us unique gifts and assignments. To help us discern our gifts, Pastor Sally gave us the image of discerning our SHAPE: Our Spiritual Gifts, Heart (Passions), Abilities, Personality, Experiences. Our individual SHAPE is an integral member of the large body of Christ, through which Jesus is moving his mission forward. Our ultimate purpose is to:
- Love God with our whole heart, soul and mind
- Bring honor and glory to God through everything we do and say
- And continue the ministry of Jesus Christ on earth by being his hands and feet through our personal, unique callings
- and assignments.