Created with Purpose
We are starting a new series today called God’s Mission, Our Purpose. We want to talk about how we bring our lives into conformity with his purpose and how that can bring life to us. Purpose is extremely important for people.
There are a lot of ways to illustrate the importance of purpose. There is a classic movie that depicts this. The movie was made in 1984 and features an Italian American teen boy who moves to LA with his mother trying to start over in life. The young man runs into some trouble at school with some bullies, led by Johnny Lawrence. One night after a dance he is jumped by them and beat up, but fortunately for Daniel LaRusso, he is saved by a maintenance man who is also a karate master named Mr. Miyagi. Mr. Miyagi agrees to help Daniel and teach him discipline, respect, and, yes, karate.
Daniel shows up early to Mr. Miyagi’s house expecting to do karate, and instead he is told to paint the fence. After days of that Mr. Miyagi has him sand the floor while he goes fishing, and after that Daniel has to wax the car–wax on and wax off. After several more days of this, Daniel has had enough. What is the point of all this senseless work? He wants to learn karate and not be a personal do-boy.
This is when Mr Miyagi calls the frustrated Danielson over and tells him to paint the fence. Daniel does a haphazard up and down, which draws the ire of Miyagi. Miyagi tells him to do it again with some conviction, and then as Daniel begins Miyagi lets out a building scream that ends with a vicious punch toward Daniel. The paint the fence technique blocks the punch. Then he tells Daniel to wax on- and as he does so Miyagi attacks from another angle and the punch is blocked. Daniel’s eyes light up. These chores have had a purpose and they have been developing Daniel’s strength and muscle memory. Suddenly the true purpose of the mundane chores transform Daniel’s perspective. He goes from frustrated, disinterested, depressed, to suddenly finding purpose, mission, significance.
People need purpose to survive and thrive. Some have even observed that without purpose people die. It is essential to have an answer for why. And it is not just karate or chores. We need purpose for life, for the ups and downs. If not, we are destined to be angry, frustrated, apathetic, disappointed and disengaged. More and more people are growing up with this perspective on life.
If purpose is so important you might think the Bible would speak to it. Well it does, and it is on the very first page of the Bible.
What is your purpose in life? Can you answer that? Many people today cannot articulate a purpose for their life and are angry, frustrated, apathetic, too tired, or just don’t want to talk about it. I do not believe it’s a coincidence that, as people turn away from God, they find more frustration and dissatisfaction in life.
**God created us with a purpose, and we come to know our purpose in life when we know and align ourselves with God’s work in the world.** Knowing this purpose brings joy, meaning, significance and so much more to our lives. I want you to know your purpose so you can thrive and also so you can help others know their life purpose.
Let’s look at three ways we can know our purpose.
Know Who You Are
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them (v. 27).
God made man in his image. That does not just mean males. It means all people. Think of it as mankind/human kind. The hHebrew is adam. Adamah is dust, ground. Here it means human, and humans are created male and female.
Both male and female are created in his image. They bear his image, and this is true of all people: male and female, black and white, rich and poor.
But what does it mean to be the image of God? The word image is tselem. Really a neat word here. Tselem is the Hebrew word used of ancient statues or reliefs, but more specifically it was used of the images that kings would put of themselves throughout their kingdom. The images pointed to the one who was in power.
These images were made out of stone and placed throughout the kingdom. They were ordinary stones, but because they had the image of the king they were to be treated with dignity. How you treated the image was equated with what you thought of the king.
We lived in Washington, DC for eight years and loved going to downtown DC. There are statues designed to show the greatness of our country. If I went to the Lincoln Memorial and took a can of spray paint to that statue bad things would happen to me. That monument represents something greater than itself.
That image points to the power of our country. That image also demanded to be treated with dignity and respect. How you treat it reflects what you think about that leader. Better show the proper deference. If you go to the Mall in Washington DC, you will see statues and monuments of past leaders. These statues are well guarded. They are going to make sure you treat them the right way.
And so you are created in the image of God. You represent the king of the universe. One who did not put his imprint on a lifeless statue, but who put his image in living flesh and spirit.
This means there is dignity in who you are. In your being you are the image of God. Unique. Nothing else in all creation is called the image of God. No animal. Physical imprint, but that imprint is deeper too.
Dignity and Respect for Every Person
God’s divine representatives. When you see people you see something of our creator. You should see this in every person. Homeless person on the street. Unborn baby bears that imprint.
Significance simply in who you are, you are a child of God, and resemble your heavenly Father. There is a significance to that. My kids are my kids. I will always love and care for them no matter what they do.
There is an important distinction to make and it is in regards to our ontological and functional. Ontological means in our being. People are by nature God’s image bearers, and this is the case from the oldest person in the world to the unborn, from elite athletes to the paraplegic, from billionaires to the homeless. They all have the image of God in them, and for that reason are endowed with dignity and significance.
But we also have to point out, as some theologians have said, that the image of God is to be a verb and not just a noun (hoekema, Created in his Image). We are the image of God, and therefore we ought to image God. We ought to reflect who God is and what he does.
Two specific aspects of God’s mandate to people are to have dominion and multiply. These are things we are called to do. God blesses us, empowers us, to do them. So we also have to think about our purpose in what we do.
These are basic aspects and desires of people and they are a blessing. Creation or cultural mandate because it is given to all people of all times and all cultures.
Our Purpose in Life Is to Image God
As we work, parent, learn in school we have a responsibility to look to God.
If I were a painter, and you hired me to paint a portrait (an image) of you and your family, and I showed up to your house with my paint and brushes, and you and your family got all dressed up and sat down for me to paint, and I never looked up at you, or did so very seldom, that image probably is not going to be very accurate.
We have a functional responsibility to look to God and to reflect who he is. We are created for dominion, and so our dominion should be done in a way that reflects the character and desire of the one whose image we bear.
Life is not about just making money, nor is it about making a name for ourselves, getting our way, or exalting ourselves above everyone else, or beating up Johnny Lawrence. So many people seek to do that and end up emptier than ever. Let me say God has designed the world to work in certain ways, and when we go against his design there is trouble.
Know thyself. But it also requires knowing God.
Know Who God Is
We are created to have dominion in the image of God. Dominion is a kingly term. Kings have dominion. We are given the blessing and responsibility of caring for God’s creation.
You might be running a billion dollar company that affects millions of people. Or perhaps right now your dominion is keeping your room clean and the dog fed. Your work affects others. Psalm 8 is a song of praise to God and he marvels at caring for livestock!
When we lie, cheat, steal, do wrong things we go against the purpose we were created for. In verse 26 it’s said that we are created in God's image to rule over the earth. What should our work look like? Well there are 25 verses before this of God having dominion. This helps us know what God is doing in the world. Let’s look at what this tells us of God.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Gen 1:1.
God Creates
The God of the Bible is a God who works. He works freely. He does not need anything. He is not compelled by anything else to act. God is self-sufficient. God exists by His own power and needs nothing outside of Himself to exist or to be complete. He is not contingent or dependent on anything else. This means he created the world out of his own love and goodness. We are his creation and dependent on him. None of us gave life to ourselves. Every day, every moment is a gift from him.
God Works and You are Called to Image Him in This
You are called to work. Not called to play video games. You are called to work and shape the world because that is what God does. You want to find meaning? Then live according to your purpose.
But keep looking at what he does.
"The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters (Gen 1:2).
God creates in verse 1, but in verse 2 the work is incomplete. The world is dark, formless. Do you know we live in a world with darkness? God deals with this problem.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. (Gen. 1:3–5)
When you read the creation account there are themes that emerge. One theme you hear is “God said.” He creates by speaking with words. His words are powerful and lifegiving.
But you also hear repetition of light. And also “it was good.” God is bringing goodness to the world. He is bringing form to the world. He is bringing order to the world. He is bringing life to the world.
This will change your attitude about life. God’s work in creation does not look at all like toil, but in the words of Leland Ryken, “more like the exuberance of an artist. It is joyous, self-expressive, and energetic” (Redeeming the Time, p. 160).
God’s work blesses others. It brings order, light and goodness to the world. And so when God creates people and blesses them with the gift of dominion he is calling them to continue the work he is doing in the world. They are to bring life, light, order, and goodness to the world. Want to find purpose? Here it is. How are you doing this?
Just think about the blessing of order. Think about going into a messy room versus a clean room. Think about working in an office that has clear rules and policy versus one where anything goes. God’s word gives order to our lives. Even in this passage we see he gives order to days with night and day. He gives order to the week with days of work and rest. When we go against God’s created order bad things happen. Go against his pattern of resting each day. Go against his patter of resting one day in seven.
This was seen during the French Revolution when people wanted to wipe Christianity out of the country. They turned the Notre Dame Cathedral into the temple of reason, got rid of churches and Christian names throughout the country, and even changed the work week from seven days to a ten-day work week. It didn’t go well. Led to fatigue, low morale and resentment in addition to chaos. It was a short-lived experiment. There is a structure to the world. You can deny it, but if you do it just might crush you.
God has a structure to the world, it is for the good of his creation. He is providing life, order, and flourishing. He limits the darkness and chaos of the world.
We see God’s dominion described here. How would people describe your dominion, your presence in their lives? Are you life-giving or life-sucking? Do you bring order or chaos? Is it brighter or darker? Are people blessed or are they cursed? Do they know God more or less because of you and your words?
When we see our purpose in God it makes us come alive. When we see what he is doing. And this leads us to give him more glory. There is an old saying by Marcul Aurelius that imitation is the highest form of flattery. When you value something you want to be like it. When you esteem a celebrity you will read about them, watch things about them, want to hear their thoughts and even start to act like them. Hollywood sets fashion trends because people want to be like them. You begin to image them. We are to value God above everything, and when we see him for who he is it leads to that, and that in turn leads to us honoring him. We glory in him and his purpose and want to be like him.
“The glory of God is man fully alive.” Irenaeus.
Know God’s Mission
There is a progression to God’s work in this passage. God’s work builds with light, then the heavens, then the land and vegetation, then the moon and sun and stars, then fish of the sea and birds of the sky, and then land animals of the field, and it culminates in people as the apex of his creation, and then God rests. Rest is a cessation of work, but it is more than just the absence of strife, it is also the positive position of blessing, peace, prosperity, and goodness.
The rest of the Bible tells the story of how God is working in the world to bring it to a place of complete and absolute peace where there will be no more darkness, chaos, or death.
God deals with darkness. People are called to restrain the darkness and bring light. But they will fail. They turn away from God–the source of light and goodness, and live for other things. They bring darkness instead of life, chaos instead of order, death instead of life. This is sin, and its self-destructive nature is like a scuba diver being a hundred feet underwater and removing the air tube and tank, just throwing it away. It is complete madness.
Evil is not just something out there, in that part of the world, or on that side of the train track, or on that feed. It is something that cuts right through all of us. People failed to image God and that means they forfeited life with him.
But the good news of the Bible is that God had a plan from the very beginning. God decided to send his own Son into the world. His Son is born as one under authority and one to whom dominion is given. God sends his Son to live the perfect life and to demonstrate perfect dominion and therefore restore life to all.
Jesus Christ will come thousands of years later and he will be called the light of the world, the savior of the world. He resists darkness but the darkness overcomes him. He was pure light but suffered death. He suffers the death we deserved. He suffers our death. And God brings life to him. In Christ the creation that is marred and fallen is restored, renewed and saved. That means in Jesus we find the greatest source and reason of restraining darkness and cultivating goodness.
It is an amazing plan. God shows us our significance in that we are created in his image. We see his love in that he sends his Son to redeem his children, his image bearers.
"Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope" (Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life).
Wherever you are in life, the most important thing you can do is look to God and honor him. Whether it is painting a fence, running a business, pastoring a church, taking care of kids, dealing with bullies. This is the place God has you to honor him, be a blessing to others, see how your work can be in line with his mission, and you can do work of significance.
He calls us to be a part of what he is doing. This requires that we starting
- Put God first.That we look to him and his word. We let what he says define us.
- Look to his Word. We bring our lives into conformity with what he is doing.
- Rejoice in his Work. We find our place among his people.
What is your purpose in life? Many people will say it is to be happy, and they go out to do whatever their heart desires and their happiness often causes hurt for others, and leads to their own disappointment. Some think they just need to follow rules and it doesn’t matter what they feel. When we see what God is doing in the world and what he says about us, we find a purpose that fills us, satisfies us, makes us a blessing to others, and gives us hope no matter how bad it is and keeps us humble no matter how good things are.
Discussion Questions
- What would you say is your purpose in life? How does that measure up to what the Bible says?
- What is the significance of being created in the image of God? What is the responsibility of it?
- How would you describe the dominion and work God is doing in Genesis 1? How does this encourage you?
- If someone was struggling with purpose and significance, how would you share these truths with them?
