Human beings want to have purpose. No one wakes up in the morning and commits to doing completely meaningless things that day. This would be foolishness. There is not a human being that wants their life to be pointless. Some of us, of course, are living largely meaningless lives for a variety of reasons. Maybe the directionless have given up, or maybe they haven't been given an example to follow, or maybe there are some deeper forces at work, but absolutely no one, if given the objective choice, would choose a life of meaninglessness over a life of purpose. Such a choice would be the mark of insanity.
"This is all well and good", you may say, "but how do I know what my purpose is?"
"Well", I would say, "let's look to the Bible."
"I don't believe the Bible", you may say.
To which I would say, "Well, let's try anyway."
And that is what I ask you to do, stick with me as we walk through man's purpose as revealed throughout the Bible.
A way to categorize the Bible is into time periods: 1) Pre-Covenant (????-1900 BC?), 2) Old Covenant (1900 BC?-2 BC?), 3) Christ's Ministry (2 BC?-30 AD?), and 4) New Covenant (30 AD?-????). During each period, God's interaction with man was a little different.
Pre-Covenant
This period of human history began at an undisclosed time. I believe that Adam and Eve certainly existed in real space and real time as real people sometime long ago, but there are disagreements over when exactly they lived. This is okay though, their place on the timeline does not affect our exploration of purpose. What we are concerned with is the purpose of humanity from the time Adam and Eve were created until God made His covenant with Abraham (about 1900 BC).
With regards to this time period, I think we can roughly summarize man's mission into two objectives: 1) act morally and 2) steward gifts. The cool thing is, these have largely been the objectives of mankind for our entire existence. When we look at Genesis 1-11 (Pre-Covenant time), man is not necessarily instructed to form an organized religion but instead we find Cain getting in big trouble for killing his brother, all but one man and his family getting swept away by a flood for falling short of God's standard, and man being commanded to be fruitful, multiply, and use the earth to meet his needs (steward their gifts). In these we see God saying, "Hey, this world, yourselves, and your relationships are yours to take good care of, but I have a few rules on how that best happens." During this time, man's mission was to act in a moral manner and to make the best use of the gifts given to him. This has not changed. We are to avoid lying, stealing, killing, and adultery. We are also to take good care of our earth, institutions, economy, children, bodies, animals, minds, souls, relationships. If one can do these things he is on the path to living a fruitful life. But the revelation of God's mission for man does not stop at Genesis 11, God's revelation to man and of man's mission gets more intricate and detailed as the Bible progresses.
Old Covenant
In approximately 1900 BC God chose a man that would be the father of a nation. This nation would be God's people, He would reveal Himself in a big way to these people, and He would--since they were His people--hold them to a higher standard. This is not to say that God ceased to love the rest of humanity, but, out of His wisdom, He specifically chose a group of people to be His chosen ones. This may make a little more sense, not that making sense to us is a requirement for something to be true, when we realize that nations were fairly secluded and nationalistic at this time. Transportation and communication were not what they are today or even what they were during the time of the Roman Empire and therefore mass transport of a message was much more difficult. A focus on spreading their message was not a focus of Israel as it should be a focus of the church. The focus of Israel was being a nation that glorified God in everything they did.
As we look for brief Biblical summaries of the covenant God made with Abraham, we would have a hard time finding a better one than Genesis 12:2-3:
"This is all well and good", you may say, "but how do I know what my purpose is?"
"Well", I would say, "let's look to the Bible."
"I don't believe the Bible", you may say.
To which I would say, "Well, let's try anyway."
And that is what I ask you to do, stick with me as we walk through man's purpose as revealed throughout the Bible.
A way to categorize the Bible is into time periods: 1) Pre-Covenant (????-1900 BC?), 2) Old Covenant (1900 BC?-2 BC?), 3) Christ's Ministry (2 BC?-30 AD?), and 4) New Covenant (30 AD?-????). During each period, God's interaction with man was a little different.
Pre-Covenant
This period of human history began at an undisclosed time. I believe that Adam and Eve certainly existed in real space and real time as real people sometime long ago, but there are disagreements over when exactly they lived. This is okay though, their place on the timeline does not affect our exploration of purpose. What we are concerned with is the purpose of humanity from the time Adam and Eve were created until God made His covenant with Abraham (about 1900 BC).
With regards to this time period, I think we can roughly summarize man's mission into two objectives: 1) act morally and 2) steward gifts. The cool thing is, these have largely been the objectives of mankind for our entire existence. When we look at Genesis 1-11 (Pre-Covenant time), man is not necessarily instructed to form an organized religion but instead we find Cain getting in big trouble for killing his brother, all but one man and his family getting swept away by a flood for falling short of God's standard, and man being commanded to be fruitful, multiply, and use the earth to meet his needs (steward their gifts). In these we see God saying, "Hey, this world, yourselves, and your relationships are yours to take good care of, but I have a few rules on how that best happens." During this time, man's mission was to act in a moral manner and to make the best use of the gifts given to him. This has not changed. We are to avoid lying, stealing, killing, and adultery. We are also to take good care of our earth, institutions, economy, children, bodies, animals, minds, souls, relationships. If one can do these things he is on the path to living a fruitful life. But the revelation of God's mission for man does not stop at Genesis 11, God's revelation to man and of man's mission gets more intricate and detailed as the Bible progresses.
Old Covenant
In approximately 1900 BC God chose a man that would be the father of a nation. This nation would be God's people, He would reveal Himself in a big way to these people, and He would--since they were His people--hold them to a higher standard. This is not to say that God ceased to love the rest of humanity, but, out of His wisdom, He specifically chose a group of people to be His chosen ones. This may make a little more sense, not that making sense to us is a requirement for something to be true, when we realize that nations were fairly secluded and nationalistic at this time. Transportation and communication were not what they are today or even what they were during the time of the Roman Empire and therefore mass transport of a message was much more difficult. A focus on spreading their message was not a focus of Israel as it should be a focus of the church. The focus of Israel was being a nation that glorified God in everything they did.
As we look for brief Biblical summaries of the covenant God made with Abraham, we would have a hard time finding a better one than Genesis 12:2-3:
"I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you."
Now, it must be noted that God did not actually form this nation until at least 400 years after making this promise to Abraham, which exemplifies God's patience. Abraham was probably looking for this nation to form during his lifetime, that was not God's plan.
When the nation did finally form, God gave them a lot of guidance. Maybe too much guidance according to the reader that has set out to read the Bible straight through but gotten bogged down in Leviticus. God started by telling these people how to act morally (Ten Commandments) and then He went on to tell them how to build their place of worship, how to make their priestly garments, what holidays to celebrate, what to eat, and how to atone for their sins with intricate sacrifices. You don't get to be God's people and be sloppy.
These rules were certainly not meaningless. With our scientific knowledge today, we know that the washing rituals God gave the Israelites protected them from microbes--humans didn't even know about microscopic life until the 1600s--talk about divine providence. We also now know that their dietary rules are rooted in modern nutrition. God was truly looking out for these people, giving them guidance that led to moral and healthy living. With their knowledge of God and their societal structure, they could truly be a nation that blessed other nations, both in the present and as the nation that would birth Jesus Christ. Israel's mission under the Old Covenant was to be a nation that glorified God. This mission was only a foretaste of what would come when God came to be with us.
Christ's Ministry
The Christian believes that there is a man that lived on earth that is quite different from all the others. Yes we are all unique, but this man was different. He was referred to as Jesus of Nazareth, He was born of a virgin, lived in 1st century Israel, and died the most meaningful of all deaths. During Jesus Christ's life, God was truly with us, and His life marks the transition from the Old Covenant to the New.
With regards to mission, Christ accomplished a lot of things. Two of the most important were His teaching and His atoning death.
First, His teaching. If God truly came to be with us, I hope He would teach us a thing or two, and thankfully He did. Jesus taught the people around Him often. In fact, His grand plan for continuing His mission was pouring into the lives of 12 men and then leaving. He spent a lot of time with these men, teaching them through instruction and example. Luckily, we can access, in the Gospels, these teachings as well. If you want to get started learning what Jesus has to say, the Sermon on the Mount is a good start.
Second, His atoning death. With Jesus' death, no longer do we need to atone (pay) for our sins with animal sacrifices, Jesus' death was the all-satisfying sacrifice. Only God can pay back God. Remember how despicable sin is to the Holy God, the only fully satisfactory payment for sin to such a Holy God would be the perfect sacrifice, and only God is perfect. Paul, in 2 Corinthians writes, "God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (5:21). This death inaugurated a new time. No longer was God's primary focus on the nation of Israel. No longer did people need to bring sacrifices to offer before God. No longer did priests need to approach God for the people. Jesus broke down the wall, bringing humanity from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.
New Covenant
Jesus made this covenant with His death on the cross and we will continue to live in it until He comes back; you can take that to the bank. This is no simple thing. In Jesus' death and resurrection, we are able to freely approach the Father. In Jesus' death and resurrection, we experience the Holy Spirit's presence in a greater way. In Jesus' death and resurrection, we get the promise of eternal life. In Jesus' death and resurrection, we find our current mission: 1) being the light of the world and 2) a royal priesthood.
In Matthew 5:14-16, Matthew records Jesus as teaching, "You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Light was a more precious thing to the people of that day. I get physical light now by turning on a switch. A person could be nocturnal these days if he wanted to. Then, you had to work harder to illuminate a room. Regardless, now or then, being in the dark is no fun. It is part of God's grace that any of us have physical light, but this is not the only light we need. We also need light shining on our life's path--a purpose if you will. It is only through God that we can find our true purpose--a light shone on the path we should walk.
Here's the deal, Jesus is this light. Jesus shines the light on the path we should take. This may not be incredibly supernatural. Of course Jesus could give us supernatural visions, but in a very natural sense, Jesus shines light on the principles and rules of behavior we should follow. A man with solid true principles, is a man that lives a fruitful life. But it doesn't stop with Jesus being our light, by His grace He lets us be the light as well. The church, if doing its job, is the light of the world. You, if a Christian doing your job, are the light of world. A Christian will exude the fruits of the Spirit, and the fruits of the Spirit are what the world needs. Each church should be a light. Each individual Christian should be coming together for community; where they learn, serve, and fellowship, forming a body that shines life-giving light to the world around them. The churches addressed in Revelation 2-3 were actually called lamp-stands. The churches were and are places where Christ's light shines forth. The world needs the light, don't put yours under a bowl.
Under the new covenant we also are able to approach God freely as a royal priesthood. As noted before, under the Old Covenant there were only specific people who could approach God. Not so under the New Covenant. During the first century, Peter wrote, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praise of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (1 Peter 2:9) Note the mention of darkness and light. Note the talk about Christians being God's special possession. Note the mention of the church now being God's holy nation. No longer is Israel God's nation, the church is God's nation. This is a nation without borders. No longer do people need a priest to approach God for them, through Christ's death we can approach freely. This is our mission. We are to be God's people. Lights. Priests. People that are representatives of God here on earth, taking care of His creation, using our gifts wisely, loving people, approaching God freely, and shining Christ's light throughout.
It is only right that one's mission should be found in the Word of the Creator. If I want to fix my car I read the manufacturer's manual. If I want to fix my life, I listen to my Creator. The invitation is free, but the commitment is lifelong. One can make a choice; either she is going to forge her own path, or look to Christ to light it. If Jesus is really God, then it only makes sense that He will be where meaning is found. It is Him that should set our standards for relationships, money, sex, and career. If there is really a Creator, and that Creator is interested in His creation, then it is only wise to look to Him. We must not get so caught up in our progress as people that we forget that God hung the stars. It is this God that wants to shine light on your purpose and mine. Our mission is only going to be found in our Creator.
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