5A DEFINING A PURPOSE

If you had to say it in one sentence:

What would you say your main purpose is?

What would you say is the purpose of your church?

How did you come to that conclusion?

A great question asked in class was, “Do we get our purpose from books -like the one we are currently studying- or do we get it from the Bible?”

That question is well worth leading into the message today. So, let’s go to the Bible and look at purpose, this morning. And let’s start directly with Jesus. As He walked this earth, how did ‘purpose’ fit into His life?

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

¨ First- He had one! Jesus was here for a definite purpose, and that purpose was as big as the world, itself.

¨ Second, He didn’t develop His own purpose. He came with His Father’s. …It took the early church a few hundred years, but they did it. They articulated the mystery of God as a Trinity. God is three persons in one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each His own personhood, yet one.

¨ Do you know what that tells us about our purpose? If Jesus needed unity with the Father, to define His purpose, we certainly won’t get by with anything less. Personally, collectively, we have no chance of knowing our purpose without a true unity with God.

And, did you notice this? Before we are told in this passage why Jesus came, we are told why He didn’t come. IT IS IMPARATIVE WE UNDERSTAND THIS- Jesus didn’t come to condemn, but to save! What a difference it makes to have a crystal clear awareness of this purpose. It defined how Christ responded to everything, especially the ‘hard’ calls. It’s easy to look and feel pious when everything is flowing with your beliefs. The real refinement comes when situations are not that easy- when people don’t fit in our envelope of beliefs.

If we trace the life of Jesus, we find an interesting pattern- He spends half His time in the temples teaching shocking truths, and the other half, reaching people in shocking places.

One of the most telling accounts of Christ’s life is one we’ve visited on a number of occasions. It is the Samaritan woman at the well. Let’s take an abbreviated look at it now.

Jesus needs to travel through Samaria. On a hot day He stops by Jacob’s well as a rather liberated Samaritan woman shows up to draw water. Jesus asks for a drink. She’s blown away that a Jew is talking to her. Jesus reveals who He is- the Son of God, and then He reveals who she is- a woman with a very messed up life, even by Samaritan standards. She is won over by His candid insight into the truth, and she leaves in excitement and leads the whole town out to meet God. The disciples are returning with food just in time to see this Samaritan woman leaving, and this is their reaction:

27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"

‘Surprise’ here, doesn’t mean they were like, “Oh, that’s different!” The original Greek is-

They were uncomfortable with this. They didn’t understand it. It was so unsettling they were afraid to even ask why Jesus was doing it. But why such a strong reaction?

First, it was against Hebrew protocol to address a strange woman in public. Not only was Jesus talking to a strange woman, she was a Samaritan! Consider for a moment who these Samaritans were. Earlier in history, the Assyrians had conquered this Jewish land. The conquered Jews intermarried with their conquerors and became the mixed-blood people of Christ’s time- Samaritans. These people represented all kinds of nasty things to the full Hebrews:

¨ They were the product of gentile conquest. Every Jew was aware the fall of the land came as a punishment of God for unfaithfulness. These people were a constant reminder of past sin. They were the product of sin.

¨ These people were wayward. They set up their own place of worship separate from God’s Holy temple. They had a history of mixing it up with pagan practices. They represented the prostitution of true faith.

And then there was this… ‘woman.’ She’s out at the wrong time of the day- she is obviously on the fringe of society. She is so low, she is rejected by the rejected. When seeing a woman like this, every good Hebrew would have certain teaching come to mind. Like:

26 for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life.

What an affront to God she must have been. What a lost cause! And yet, Jesus is interacting with her! -It was uncomfortable. It was baffling. The disciples would have been far more content to see fire reign from heaven and leave a smoldering hole where she was standing. After all, that would fit traditional understanding… but not this.

Do you know what made the difference in Christ’s response? -Clarity of purpose. Jesus followed His heavenly directive with a constant awareness- “I have not come to condemn the world but to save it.”

With that understood, everything becomes clear. There was no other course of action to take. The urgency of life took priority over the tradition of judgment. The woman was no longer refuse, but an opportunity to save.

Clear purpose, given by God, does some interesting things… it does some powerful things. Jesus made no bones about who He was. He made no bones about who this woman was. He didn’t dilute the truth, and He didn’t soften the course of action she needed to take. But somehow, compassion still shone through. Somehow, the woman wasn’t crushed by judgment. It was quite the opposite. Perhaps for the first time in her life, she was excited with real hope. Somehow, life grew out of a hopeless situation and a person who was a lost cause, blossomed into something significant.

Jesus Christ projected a spiritual impact on humanity so powerful that He shattered history in half- BC and AD. He transformed the human heart; He changed the future, and He moved nations yet to be born. And He did it all with the power of a simple 12-word statement of purpose, given by God- “I have not come to condemn the world, but to save it.”

Isn’t it amazing what can happen with clear understanding of God-given purpose!

While we are here, it might be worth pondering a question. If we were following a physical Jesus today; where might we find Him? I believe half the time we’d find Him in places like this- shocking us with the power of Biblical truth. The other half would be with our ‘Samaritans’, those uncomfortable people.

Maybe we’d find Him in a café in Provincetown or the Florida Keys talking to a young gay person. He’d be telling them over a coffee how God really does love them, but they also must love Him, His way. He wouldn’t be pulling any punches, but instead of alienation, compassion and hope would come through.

We might find Him talking to a gang member downtown, telling them there is a family they can belong to- one that doesn’t beat you to near death just to be a part. There’s a family that doesn’t use knives but swords instead- the sharpened Word of Life.

Maybe He’d be quietly slipping through a crowd of protesters outside an abortion clinic- ignoring the hysterical cries of ‘baby killer.’ Instead he would be taking a confused woman aside and listening to her story and telling her of a better way. He speaks candidly, but the truth brings guidance instead of guilt.

Or maybe we find Him on a college campus of liberal thinkers. He listens to their hopes in humanism, and their struggles in relativism, and watches them roll their eyes at backward conservative thinking. But, He doesn’t talk politics or religion, but simply a relationship with a very real and absolute God. And a new vision is born.

Perhaps He’s talking to a young single parent, or a bar-hopper, or new-ager, or a neo-pagan… not condoning the lifestyle but in solid truth sowing the vision of God. Isn’t it amazing what can happen with clarity of purpose! It is powerful, but it seldom comfortable.

What was the purpose of Christ’s life according to John?

How do you think that relates to your purpose as a follower of Christ?

The lesson mentions people and situations that would be difficult to approach- can you think of others you might face?

Does your understanding of your purpose help or inspire you in any way to face those challenges?

Name some practical ways you might show love and acceptance without compromising your faith

What “uncomfortable people” could you pray for in closing this morning?