Discovering Purpose for Life

2 Kings 6; Psalm 119:1–24; Daniel 10; 1 Timothy 3

A couple weeks ago we were blessed by a sermon that explained the main purpose of God’s Law. First, the speaker noted that Israel became the people of God by no doing of their own. God choose them and delivered them out of bondage in Egypt. They didn’t have to do or be anything; this was an act of God’s grace. They were to live as God’s distinct people in a land He would give them, not to earn the freedom they already had but to express that freedom and to show the rest of the world the likeness and character of God in whose image all humanity had been created.

Some of them did well with this task. Many did not, yet those who embraced their role as lofty and wonderful could say things like this:

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently. Oh that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous rules. I will keep your statutes; do not utterly forsake me! How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me! My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times. You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments. Take away from me scorn and contempt, for I have kept your testimonies. Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes. Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors. (Psalm 119:1–24)

This psalmist knew the delight of living as God wanted him to live. He experienced the joy of God’s will for his life and did not resist Him. Was he a freak? A rare person who was pious in a community of ordinary folks? No, he was normal. He lived with the purposes of God as His priority. He knew that fighting sin had its own reward and that purity and obedience kept him in right relationship to his Maker. No matter what sin he gave up, he discovered that the joy of the Lord was far better than anything sin did for him.

I’ve thought much about that sermon and the clarity of how the purpose of God’s people was explained. We are not here to make a name for ourselves. We are here to glorify God. The Law shows us how and the Lord Jesus Christ gives us Himself as the resource for doing it. The people of Israel fell short, not that many of them wanted to be God’s people but that they needed the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit to do it. The good news of the Gospel is that God Himself knew that. Instead of sacrificing lambs to atone for sin, He became the Lamb of God and took away the condemnation of sin. We could not stop sinning and needed forgiveness and new life.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:8–10)

I am not saved by Law-keeping but by grace through faith, by God’s gift! No believer can boast for we are His workmanship, given the task to be like Jesus and demonstrate to the world the wonder of who God is; unique, not like sinful man but holy and pure. No one person is a perfect image except Jesus, the One given to save us but also to model for us the life we are to live. Because of His amazing grace, doing so should be a delight.

APPLY: I often fall short. I forget who I am and God’s purpose for my life. Yet He is gracious and patient and leads me by the hand, picking me up when I fall and encouraging me when the world and my own ‘I wants’ get the best of me. The Law is a guide to my behavior but only with Jesus can I walk in it — and like the psalmist, experience the joy of obedience.