## Purpose or Aimlessness?

## Ephesians 5:15-17

A wise man once said, "The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for." Put it another way and you find that the key to happiness in life is to have a clearly defined purpose for living. With that in mind, it is amazing how few people have a clearly defined purpose in life.

During World War II there was a group of Jewish prisoners interned in a Nazi concentration camp. For three years they, as prisoners of war, worked in a factory day in day out. One night the allied forces bombed the factory and it burned to the ground. With no more production, the commandant of the camp ordered that the prisoners continue to work. He ordered them to go to an area where there was a huge pile of sand. They were commanded to fill their carts and wheel barrows with sand, push it to one end of the camp and dump it out. Then they were commanded to go to that same area and fill their carts only to return the sand to its original location. This continued for weeks. One by one the prisoners who had worked diligently for the previous three years of captivity began to lose their minds. Why? Because they had lost purpose for living.

I. What is My Purpose

A. Why do I exist?

1. Have you ever wondered that?

2. Before coming to Christ, I often wondered what life was all about and why I was here.

B. We need purpose in our lives.

1. Solomon struggled with this very thing.

2. In Ecclesiastes he relates his search for meaning and purpose.

(ECCL 12:13) "LET US HEAR THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER: FEAR GOD, AND KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS: FOR THIS IS THE WHOLE DUTY OF MAN."

3. The apostle Paul relates a similar thought.

(1 COR 10:31) "WHETHER THEREFORE YE EAT, OR DRINK, OR WHATSOEVER YE DO, DO ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD."

4. Jesus said that He came not to do His own will, but the will of God.

5. This should be our purpose and goal for our lives...to do the will of God.

II. The Purpose of the Local Church.

A. Why does this church exist?

1. As a local church we must also have a purpose and goal for existence.

2. Our reason for existing is to win people to Jesus Christ and help them mature in their faith.

(MAT 28:19-20) "GO YE THEREFORE, AND TEACH ALL NATIONS, BAPTIZING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY GHOST: {20} TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED YOU: AND, LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAY, EVEN UNTO THE END OF THE WORLD. AMEN."

3. Everything we do should be connected with accomplishing that goal.

B. As individual believers we need to be involved corporately in purpose.

1. We are not alone in the Christian life.

2. We come together in the local church to fulfill God's purpose for us as individuals and to fulfill God's purpose for the church.

3. Consider how we can accomplish this.

a. My goal is to glorify God and to do His will in my life.

b. I cannot go into all the world as an individual, but I can accomplish that purpose when I come together with the local church.

(EPH 4:16) "FROM WHOM THE WHOLE BODY FITLY JOINED TOGETHER AND COMPACTED BY THAT WHICH EVERY JOINT SUPPLIETH, ACCORDING TO THE EFFECTUAL WORKING IN THE MEASURE OF EVERY PART, MAKETH INCREASE OF THE BODY UNTO THE EDIFYING OF ITSELF IN LOVE."

c. Each of us contribute to the whole and together we accomplish our purpose.

III. Making the Application.

A. Sharpen the focus.

1. It is one thing for us to say that our life's purpose is to glorify God in all that we do.

2. It is another thing for us to actually see how to put that into practice.

3. In other words, we can have lofty goals and good intentions, but they are meaningless if we do not act upon them.

B. Make it practical.

1. If we say that we want to glorify God with our lives, but we do not take any practical steps toward fulfilling that purpose we will be frustrated.

2. The Christian life isn't mystical, it is very real and certainly pracitical.

3. Paul's admonition to the believers in Ephesus was to walk circumspectly.

(EPH 5:15-17) "SEE THEN THAT YE WALK CIRCUMSPECTLY, NOT AS FOOLS, BUT AS WISE, {16} REDEEMING THE TIME, BECAUSE THE DAYS ARE EVIL. {17} WHEREFORE BE YE NOT UNWISE, BUT UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE WILL OF THE LORD IS."

Each of us have a God-given purpose for our lives. God, in turn, gives us the grace to fulfill that unique need in His world. Many people struggle because they have no real direction and purpose for living; but that direction and purpose comes from knowing God.

Not only do we have an individual purpose for existing; God has also given us a corporate purpose. It is only when we come together to fulfill that purpose that we can find true satisfaction in our lives. Illustration: Folks who say, "Now, I don't go to church, but..." Jesus Christ established the local church, He died for the local church, He empowers the local church to do His will, and one day He is coming again. He will judge us on the basis of our obedience to His Word.

There is purpose to our lives. The question tonight is simply, "Are we fulfilling His purpose?"