Purpose
We have been talking about the fact that although there is not a redo button in life, there is a transformation for us in this life through the work of Jesus.
Romans 12:1-2 says:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Do not conform 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.
The life of a follower of Jesus is one of total surrender, offering all of who we are to him, not just our Sunday self but our Monday self. Every part of who we are is to be influenced by who Jesus is. To be a disciple means that we spend time with Jesus to become like him so that we can do what he did.
Luke 19:1-10 says:
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
Zacchaeus had so much, but he was still looking for what he needed.
And it says in verse 5
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner. But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
We have no record of Jesus talking to Zacchaeus about how or what he did with his money, the only thing that we know is that When Jesus spent time with him, it profoundly changed him.
Luke 19:8 says:
Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Time with Jesus awakened God’s purpose through Zacchaeus. He went from being greedy to generous in a flash, from being a man who spent his life to cheat those around him, to being a man who took care of those around him. Now I want you to see that Zacchaeus didn’t change what he did, he changed how he lived.
We all have moments in life where we feel stuck, lost, or overwhelmed. We may feel like we're not good enough or that we can't achieve our goals. But what if I told you that changing your mindset and adopting a positive outlook could transform your life?
That starts with realizing that our story is part of a much larger story, God’s story. The story of eternity, the story that God is telling from creation until his return, is so much bigger than you and me.
Psalm 19 says…
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
I love this passage because it reminds us to be blown away at the majesty of Almighty God. One thing that reminds me of this is M74.
Think about how big space is, M74 is 30 million light years from us, and 1 light year is 6 trillion miles!
The same God who Saw Zacchaeus in a tree and called him out, to spend time with him. The god of the universe knows your name. Your significance to him drove The father in heaven to send his son Jesus, to die on a cross so that we could know and spend eternity with him.
Psalm 139 says that he knit us together in our mother’s womb. The fingerprints of the Almighty God are on every detail of what makes you who you are. You matter to him, you are worth everything to him.
God see you. Yet in light of eternity, we are seemingly an insignificant piece of grass that is here today and gone tomorrow.
If our obsession turns from what God is doing in us and through us, to what we need to do, where we need to go, where we need to live, where we need to work, we are missing the point. Questions in light of eternity start to feel a little insignificant.
Romans 8:28 says:
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.
The God of the universe cares about every aspect of your life. The freedom in that is that when you feel like your choices are wrong or you’ve made a mistake, God is in all things and he’s working for the good of those who love him.