Chapter 3: Earthly Purpose

Matthew 18:16-20 (NIV)

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 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, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Better Than Good News

The last thing Jesus asked of His disciples before He ascended into heaven was The Great Commission: “go and make disciples of all nations and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.” The Great Commission is only fulfilled by sharing the Gospel. But what exactly is the Gospel? I know that it means “Good News”, but what is the Good News? If it’s so good, why are so many scared to share it? If it’s so good, why aren’t more people talking about it? If it’s better than Good news, why am I not spreading it as much as I should?

The Gospel isn’t about getting someone to pray a prayer, it’s about helping an orphan be restored into a relationship with their heavenly Father. Christianity is not about a religion or a set of rules. It’s about beginning a relationship with Jesus Christ and seeking to honor His preferences because you desire to be in relationship with Him. The heartbeat of the Gospel is to restore all men back into a growing, loving relationship with their Heavenly Father.

I think a lot of people have been hurt by religion. I heard an evangelist, Todd White, speak to a girl who said she used to be a Christian but lost her faith after a while because of people in the church. He responded with, “If Jesus was alive today and you got a chance to follow Him in person and see Him face to face, do you think you would lose your faith?” She said she wouldn’t. So Todd said, “If you wouldn’t lose your relationship with Jesus that way, why do we allow religion to take away our relationship with the person of Jesus?” If we have a relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ and truly understand His love for us, then no one else can rob us of that -- not even our enemies. We too were once God’s enemies, but now we have been brought near by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:12-13 (NIV)

12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise,without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

When you have been forgiven much, you forgive much -- even your enemies; even the people that hurt and disappoint you. The Good News is that God is in love with you. He created you for love. He is a holy, just God and cannot approve of evil and stand for good at the same time. The Good News is that His holy love found a way to be in relationship with you again by sending His only Son to pay the price for our sins. Through His death and resurrection, our true identity as children of God has been restored. We no longer have to live in need but we can live in love because we are complete in the fullness of the Father.

The understanding of His overwhelming love for the world is the Good News. In fact, it’s better than Good News -- it’s great news. Having a relationship with God allows you to spend time discovering the mysteries of why such a big God loves little us so much.

John 3:16 (NIV)

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.

The challenge is that some people think God causes evil to happen in the world. But that’s not true. He is a good God and a good Father. The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He comes to convince you that God is not a good God, giving you reason to blame Him and hate him. But check these verses out:

John 10:10 (NKJV)

The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. (Jesus said) I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Psalm 119:68 (NKJV)

You are good, and do good; Teach me Your statutes.

Romans 2:4 (TLB)

Don’t you realize how patient he is being with you? Or don’t you care? Can’t you see that he has been waiting all this time without punishing you, to give you time to turn from your sin? His kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

James 1:17 (TLB)

17 But whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God, the Creator of all light, and he shines forever without change or shadow.

Deuteronomy 32:4 (TLB)

He is the Rock. His work is perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is faithful, without sin.

You see, it is impossible for God to do evil. Everything He does is upright and fair. So if something unfortunate or unjust happens in our life, it was not God. God comes to give abundant life. Satan is the originator of all evil, but God is our comfort and our strength.

I recently listened to a message by Abi Stumvoll and she gives a phenomenal understanding of Genesis 1. When the devil spoke to Eve, he questioned the character of God. He said, “Did God really say you couldn’t eat that fruit? Well, the reason He doesn’t want you to eat it is because He wants to keep you from knowing all good and evil like He does.”

Think about this: the devil has spent eternity trying to get us to question the character of God. An intimate relationship is built on trust; if trust is broken, so is the relationship. If I really believe that God is good, that He loves me, that He would never do anything to hurt me, or do anything cruel towards me, the difficulties in life would draw me closer to Him, not further away.

The Good News is that God’s love relentlessly pursues us all of our days. Every day we have breath in our lungs, He aggressively pursues loving those who are lost. What’s fascinating is that Jesus died for my sins just as much as He died for the evilest person in the world. Do you think if that evil person really knew just how much God loved them, that He died for them and their sins, that they would continue doing evil? No! It’s the unfathomable kindness of the Lord that leads us to repentance, to have a change in heart. That is our eternal purpose and destiny -- to bring people back into relationship with their Father!

The love of God is an invitation to love Him in return and discover what it means to follow Him and be in a relationship with Him. Some people think that how much we love God is more important than how much He loves us. But I think the balanced thought is this: if we truly understand how much God loves us, despite the times we reject Him, hate Him, and push Him away, it will compel us to love Him in return.

So the question is if this Good News is so good why do we hesitate to share it? Why do we hesitate to tell someone about the transforming love of God? I don’t think it’s a fear problem. I think it’s a love problem. I believe it’s because we don’t really realize how great His love really is. I think our prayer should stop being, “Lord give me boldness to preach the Gospel,” and start being, “Lord, give me a greater understanding of your love for me!” Once I understand how much God loves me, it will show me just how much God loves other people, which will remove all fear and compel me to share the love of Christ.

We must spend our lives growing in the love of God and bringing others into a love relationship with Him. That is our purpose -- to know this God that created us because He wanted to love, and to help others come to know Him too. When you realize that, it doesn’t matter what occupation you choose, you’re overwhelmed by one mandate: help others know God through Jesus Christ.

John 17:3 (NIV)

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

2 Corinthians 5:19-20 (MSG)

16-20 Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.

2 Corinthians 5:19 (TLB)

19 For God was in Christ, restoring the world to himself, no longer counting men’s sins against them but blotting them out. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others.

Matthew 10:7-10 (TLB)

Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.[a] 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure the lepers, and cast out demons. Give as freely as you have received!

One of my favorite pastors, Bill Johnson, shared once that some young people asked him what occupation they should choose. He responded with, “It doesn’t matter. Pick one and then ‘heal the sick, raise the dead, and cleanse the leper.’” But who should I marry? “Pick someone who shares the same relationship you have with Jesus then ‘heal the sick, raise the dead, and cleanse the leper.’” But how many children should I have? “As many as you want. Then teach them to ‘heal the sick, raise the dead, and cleanse the leper.’”

There is nothing more fulfilling than showing others the love of God. We have to realize that our purpose on this earth is so much more than what society tells us. Let us not become so earthly minded that we become eternally forgetful.

If you don’t make an effort to remember why you’re here, you will indeed forget. If you’re not moving towards God, the world is pulling you away from Him. If you’re not making an effort to live holy before the Lord, the world is teaching you how to be filthy. If you’re not making an effort to know how much God loves you, the world will convince you there is no God or if there is a God, He can’t possibly be good.

You have to know the truth. You have to know how much God loves you. Once you do, you’ll be able to tell others how much God loves them. Sharing this better-than-good-news is not a hard thing once you realize that nothing can separate you from the love of God:

Romans 8:31-39 (TLB)

What can we ever say to such wonderful things as these? If God is on our side, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son for us but gave him up for us all, won’t he also surely give us everything else?

33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has forgiven us and given us right standing with himself.

34 Who then will condemn us? Will Christ? No! For he is the one who died for us and came back to life again for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us there in heaven.

35 Who then can ever keep Christ’s love from us? When we have trouble or calamity, when we are hunted down or destroyed, is it because he doesn’t love us anymore? And if we are hungry or penniless or in danger or threatened with death, has God deserted us?

36 No, for the Scriptures tell us that for his sake we must be ready to face death at every moment of the day—we are like sheep awaiting slaughter; 37 but despite all this, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us enough to die for us. 38 For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels won’t, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God’s love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, 39 or where we are—high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean—nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us.

News Flash!

The world is after us, chasing us down with its foot at our necks demanding we serve it for the rest of our lives and renounce our pursuit of anything else. The world wants to persuade us that, in order to be fulfilled, you must have love, sex, and money.

What if we, as single people, became aware that our purpose in life is not to find Mr. or Mrs. Right, but to partner with someone in order to bring more people into the Kingdom of God? What if my value didn’t come from how many people want me sexually, but from me understanding how much God wants me -- enough to sacrifice Himself just to be in relationship with me. What if my identity wasn’t defined by how other people feel about me, but instead was founded on the solid, unchangeable thoughts God thinks about me? What if, instead of finding fulfillment in money, I used it as a tool to help bring more people into a relationship with God?

When you realize that love, sex, and money, aren’t the ultimate goal and God is not a means to that end, you are free to realize that a love relationship with God is vastly more satisfying than any of those things. You will be free to live in His love and you will never live in need again.

I can’t help but think of a child playing in a playpen. He is surrounded by toys he got from his dad. Once his Dad comes into the room, does he put down the toys and stand to his legs with arms lifted high, looking to be picked up by his father? Or does he ignore his father and keep playing with the toys? I’ve seen children do both, but I pray we learn that we only have the toys because our heavenly Father gave them to us. The toys are the not the fulfillment -- the relationship is the fulfillment. And all the things God gives are just a bonus to show how much He loves us.

The reason we become disappointed with our lives is because we spend so much time chasing toys. But toys can't love like a Father can. Facebook likes can’t secure your future. The number of followers you have on Twitter can’t hug you. A human relationship can’t satisfy your longing to be eternally and unconditionally loved. A career can’t calm your fears and money can’t comfort your brokenness. There is one Person who can do that for you. And you were born to be loved by Him!

God Is Not Cruel

Once you really believe God loves you wholly and perfectly, that he has a plan for your life and would never do anything to hurt you, you won’t allow disappointment to change your perception of God. God does not bring sickness, shame, or disappointment, on us to teach us a lesson.

I don’t like it when we make up cruel excuses for why something good happened for someone else instead of us. For example, when someone else gets a good job while we hate ours or someone gets married before we do. In the back of our minds we think, “It’s only a matter of time before they mess up.” What a terrible way to think! And guess what? We treat others based on how we think God treats us. If you’re critical towards others, deep down you think God is critical towards you. If you find it hard to love difficult people because they “don’t deserve it”, it’s because deep down you believe God only loves you when you “deserve” it. If I truly believe that God loves me and not just the other person, then I will have peace when I get unfairly treated, knowing that all things work together for my good. God is not cruel. He doesn’t do evil. He is only good and there is no evil in Him.

I can’t help but ask why God loves us so much. Why do You give us your very best? Why do you keep loving us when we hate You? When we blame You? When we’re angry with You? Why are You so merciful? But we can spend eternity asking these questions and still not fully understand the magnitude and depth of God’s love for us or the reason behind it.