Quote from Forum Archives on November 17, 2008, 3:17 pm

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

 

SOUL PURPOSE

November 16, 2008

 

 

TEXT:  Romans 8:28-39

 

A funny thing happened at the Peru public library a few weeks ago.  As is my habit, I looked over the books on the new arrivals shelf.  I do not necessarily intend to check one out from there, but there is the occasional title that catches my eye.  If there is, I thumb through it to get a quick idea what it is about.  As it happens, I did find one that caught my attention, and I did skim through it, and I did find something interesting.  But I did not check it out.  Still, the little bit I saw that interested me kept coming back to me, so I sought it out the next time I was in the library.  This time I did check it out.

 

As I began reading it, I discovered that there was more to it than I had realized.  In fact, as I read it, I found myself reflecting on topics other than the one I thought I had checked it out for in the first place.  The title is Killing Sacred Cows, but it is not about religions.  The subtitle is more descriptive of what caught my eye: “overcoming the financial myths that are destroying your prosperity.”  I was intrigued by this subtitle and some of the chapter headings, so, as I said, I checked it out.

 

This is a secular book.  It was not written to give any kind of explicit spiritual direction.  What Garrett Gunderson wants to get across overall, I think, is that choosing to do things in life that are passion-driven instead of security-driven often bring more reward and success than can be found in today’s typical financial planning guidance.  Even though Gunderson’s purpose and goals are secular, I still found myself thinking how familiar this all sounds with another book with which I have some familiarity.

 

I’m not going to spend this morning just doing a review of a book I checked out at the library, but I want to toss out a few things that are in it so that you capture the same feel for it that I have.  Gunderson writes early in his book about something he calls Soul Purpose.  “Each of us was born for greatness, and every one of us has what I call ‘Soul Purpose.’  Soul Purpose is your unique set of talents, abilities, and passions applied productively and effectively, making tremendous impact upon the world and bringing the highest levels of joy and fulfillment for you and everyone you touch.  It’s the mission you were born for; it’s what you would do every day even if you didn’t get paid for it.  When you’ve found your Soul Purpose, you create so much value for others that you’re almost inevitably paid very well indeed.” (Garrett B. Gunderson, Killing Sacred Cows, Greenleaf Book Group: San Antonio, Texas, 2008, p. xv)

 

If this doesn’t make you sit up and take notice, try these thoughts from a chapter section titled “The Destructive Nature of False Security.” “Successful people understand that the only true security we can find in this life is the security of responsibility and Soul Purpose…  [Entitlement] mentality is destructive because not only does it lead us to illegitimately confiscate the labor of other people, it also limits our own potential through selfishness.  People with this mentality are so concerned about what they can get from others that they never think of what they can give.  It is precisely what we have to give that results in the development of our whole being.  Our Soul Purpose and our human life value are all about what we have to offer the world, not what the world has to offer us.  As long as we’re more concerned with getting than giving, we will never find and live our Soul Purpose.  And consequently, we will never receive what we have the potential to receive, because there is a direct correlation between what we give and what we receive.” (ibid., pp. 87 & 89)  Does this not have a familiar ring?  And there are many other places throughout the book where similar parallels jump out.

 

As I have said, this is a completely secular book, and I am not basing my sermon lesson this morning from it.  When I run across such close parallels with Biblical teachings in a secular book, though, I respond with both joy and concern.  On the one hand, it gives a confirmation, intentional or not, to the Word of God.  People living in the secular world without Christ in their lives are longing to find purpose and fulfillment.  As Gunderson puts it, people will find fulfillment when they discover their Soul Purpose.  This is exactly what God has been telling His human creation since the beginning.  He happens to be more truthful and specific about it, though.  If Jesus was responding to questions about how to discover our Soul Purpose, he would likely reply with something like, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:37-38)  We get the connection, don’t we?  While Gunderson’s book ad seminars might sound new to a lot of folks, it should be second nature to anyone confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  I am always joyful to recognize God’s Word being confirmed in secular literature.

 

On the other hand, I am also concerned.  Why do there remain so many people who are unaware of the insights and answers to their human longings for fulfillment that are given in God’s Word?  Where is the proclamation from God’s people – His Church – announcing the Good News that we all have an opportunity to find fulfillment through a saving relationship with Jesus?  Certainly, the failure of the secular world to hear the Gospel message is not the fault or shortcoming of the Church alone.  Through our modern methods of communication, joy and fulfillment through a right relationship with God are being sent to people of all walks of life.  That same message, though, is often blocked by those receiving it.  They shut it out for reasons too numerous to list this morning.  In fact, some shut it out and reject it so well that they express literal surprise at never hearing it before if the Holy Spirit breaks through their defensive shell and moves them to receive the light of God, even though they have attended church or crusades or heard a Bible sermon or even read the Bible through.  Responsibility for not receiving the Good News does not rest on the Church alone.

 

But rest assured, unfortunately, that some of the responsibility for not receiving the Good News message does rest with the Church.  There is a reason why some people may very well find their Soul Purpose from the insights of a secular book instead of from the Bible.  The reason, which saddens me to say, is that few of us – maybe none of us – live up to our own God-given Soul Purpose.  If Christians are not as excited about our Soul Purpose as secularists are in reading that they can begin finding their Soul Purpose in “Killing Sacred Cows” seminars, then why should the world pay attention to the Church?  When Christians fail to implement in faith the promises of the God who graciously gives us His purpose, then why should the world pay attention to the Church?

 

The New Testament authors write extensively that our belief in Jesus Christ influences - even dictates - our behavior.  Paul writes in Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.”  In this morning’s text, he writes, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 22:28)  God’s purpose is our Soul Purpose.

 

Recognizing and living our Soul Purpose means that we make as big a deal about God’s love as Paul does.  “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?…  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 22:35, 37-39)  This is an amazing expression of faith that inevitably leads us to an amazing discovery of our purpose.

 

Instead of expecting to get, Christians expect to give.  That doesn’t always make sense when we are faced with the traumatic turmoil that our world often throws at us.  I doubt that anyone here is unaware of the many gut-wrenching concerns going on around us.  It seems in many ways that even the stolid, stable United States of America is undergoing a tremendous upheaval right now.  Typically, humans do not do that great a job predicting the future with pinpoint accuracy, but regardless of how everything plays out, born-again Christians are to be powerfully giving evidence of their faith day in and day out.  For instance, because of the conquering power of Jesus, Christians set aside comfort, ease, and even safety in order to respond to catastrophes all over the world.  Christians continue to gather for faithful worship and continue to pray for and support ministries even in the face of dwindling resources.  These are all parts of the Soul Purpose God has given us.

 

At the very beginning of Big Idea’s VeggieTales videos, even before Bob and Larry make it onto the scene, some children are shown at play and a caption comes on saying this is why we do what we do.  In the same way, this is why we do what we do as a congregation.  This is why we gather for worship.  This is why we do and support ministries.  This is why we teach Sunday school classes, lead youth groups, sing in the choir, pray, witness.  This is why we do what we do.  God has given and shown us our Soul Purpose, and we find our greatest fulfillment when we are accomplishing the purpose to which God has called fitted us for.  “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 22:37)

 

Nothing tells the world about Christ better than when the testimonies from our lips are matched by the actions of our lives.  When we are living for God’s purpose as intensely as Paul expressed it here and throughout Romans, it is almost impossible for the world to ignore it.  We certainly want people to learn their Soul Purpose from the Word of God instead of from a secular book no matter how well crafted.  Regardless of where any of us may be along our spiritual journey, we all have a common starting point.  It begins with the act of belief in Jesus as our personal Savior who died for our sins and arose victoriously.  In Los Angeles, a motorcycle officer began chasing a pickup truck that had run a stop sign.  The truck slowed and stopped.  Thinking this to be a routine stop - “he’s probably just late for work” - the officer walked up to the vehicle.  What he didn’t know was that the driver had just robbed a convenience store.  Beside him on the seat was the bag of money and his gun.  The policeman approached the driver to ask for his license and was met by a blast from this fellow’s gun.  The bullet hit him in the center of the chest, throwing him to the ground seven feet away.  For a few moments, all was quiet, then the policeman began to get up.  The horrified gunman couldn’t believe it.  “Who is this guy?  Superman?”  In a matter of seconds, the officer regained his composure enough to pull out is own revolver and fire a couple of shots into the truck.  One bullet wounded the driver.  “Don’t shoot,” screamed the terrified robber, throwing the gun and the bag of money out of the window.  The motorcycle officer’s life had been spared because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.

 

A few weeks later another officer and his partner went to serve a warrant on a known drug dealer.  As his partner knocked, the officer shouted “police” and began to kick down the door.  From inside the shabby apartment, four shots were fired.  One bullet found its mark in almost exactly the same place that the motorcycle officer had been hit - squarely in the center of the chest.  The coroner reported that the policeman probably lived less than a minute.  The bullet had ruptured an artery; blood to the brain had been stopped instantly.  This police officer left behind a wife, three children, and a bulletproof vest in the trunk of his car parked thirty feet from where he fell.

 

Every police officer in Los Angeles believes in bulletproof vests.  They work!  There are probably not many law enforcement officers who don’t believe that vests save lives.  Many military personnel likewise agree that those bulletproof vests, or flak jackets, can keep bad things out of our bodies.  But that is not enough.  An officer must do more than believe in the usefulness of the vests; he must take his belief to the point of personal commitment.  He or she must put it on for it to do any good.

 

It is not enough to believe that a man named Jesus lived about 2,000 years ago.  One must take belief to a point of commitment, to the point of “putting on” the risen Christ by receiving him as Savior and Lord.  “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 22:38-39)  That’s real purpose for the soul and Soul Purpose.

 

 

Rev. Charles A. Layne

First Baptist Church

PO Box 515

179 W. Broadway

Bunker Hill, IN 46914

765-689-7987

bhfbc@bhfirstbaptist.com

www.bhfirstbaptist.com

 

 

 

 

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