What’s Your Purpose?

Let me ask you a question that just might change your life: What’s your purpose? Why do you think you have been created by God and living here, of all places, in the Bellbrook Community?

It’s a question that, if we’re honest with ourselves, can make us squirm a little. I mean, we can answer quickly if someone asks our name, or where we’re from, or what we do for a living, or even what we had for breakfast. But when it comes to our purpose, why we are here on this earth, what God created us to do, well, it takes a few moments for us to come up with an answer. Doesn’t it?

Several years ago, I was giving a children’s message on this same scripture, and I asked the children, “Why do you think God put you on this earth? What’s your purpose?” The kids’ hands shot up right away. One little boy who always had a mischievous answer yelled out, “To play video games and eat pizza!” And of course, everyone chuckled. But the boy wasn’t done. He added, “And if God’s being really nice to me that day, I’ll also get some ice cream!”

Out of the Mouth of a Child

Then a little girl thought she knew the answer to this challenging question. She yelled out, “I know, Pastor Mary Beth, God created me to keep my brother out of my room!” That got an even bigger laugh, and I thought, here’s another children’s message gone bad. Yet again.

Finally, a little girl who was very shy and rarely offered an answer spoke up. She said, “God created us to love people, because God loves us.” I think I mumbled out loud, “Thanks be to God,” and the room went silent.

Out of the mouth of a child came the truth that we often forget. Our purpose for life is rooted in God’s love. So, let me ask you the question that may change your life: What’s YOUR purpose?

Isaiah’s Vision: A Time of Uncertainty

You know, Isaiah answers this question for us in today’s passage. The Bible tells us, “In the year King Uzziah died,” Isaiah had a vision. It’s essential to know that King Uzziah had been king for more than fifty years, bringing prosperity and stability to the land. But now the throne is empty, and the leadership of the land is up for grabs.

So, the people are feeling threatened and anxious because their enemies are surrounding them, and they don’t have anyone to lead their country out of the corruption and injustice that has crept into their land. They are feeling vulnerable, hopeless, and without a prayer.

Isaiah’s Response: Terror and Repentance

We, too, live in unsettled times within our world. Political division, economic uncertainty. Injustice and anxiety about the future, with unrest not only in the Middle East but in many other countries where people have lived at war for many years.

Yes, it’s true, Isaiah’s world is not that far from our own. And it’s into this moment of fear and instability that Isaiah encounters God. Isaiah sees the Lord, “high and exalted, seated on a throne,” with angels crying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.” While that sounds amazing, Isaiah’s first response is not joy. Isaiah’s first response is pure terror. He cries out, “Woe is me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among people of unclean lips too.”

In other words, we are all sinful people. And I’m going to die because I have been in the presence of God.

Grace Before Purpose

Certainly, of all the people in the land, Isaiah feels like he should be the last person to be in the presence of God. His words reflect that he is inadequate, unworthy, and dreadfully sinful. Too sinful to be in the presence of God. Can’t you feel the sorrow in his voice? His sorrow is palpable.

And friends, here’s the thing I don’t want any of us to miss. Isaiah’s words are a prayer of repentance. And because he repents of his sinful ways, he is forgiven, and he can hear God’s call.

You see, a seraph touches Isaiah’s lips with a burning coal and declares, “Your guilt is taken away. Your sin is atoned for.” And at that moment, Isaiah hears God’s voice asking, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”

It’s true, forgiveness comes before calling. After all, grace makes purpose possible. When we realize the magnitude of God’s grace, God’s forgiveness freely given to us,

No More Excuses

We become willing to put ourselves aside to answer God’s sacred call. And we do this out of our thankfulness to God.

The Bible tells us that Isaiah doesn’t hesitate to say yes to God. He doesn’t think, ‘ Hmmm, I’ve got a busy week; I probably should check my calendar. ‘ He doesn’t start with excuses like ‘I’ve got meetings all day, and then the kids’ soccer games are tonight.’ He doesn’t say, “I’m so tired from all the other stuff I’ve got to do. I don’t have the time or energy to serve God.” No. Isaiah answers God’s call immediately. Without hesitation, he says, “Here I am, Lord. Send me.”

When we grasp the depth of God’s mercy, we stop asking, “Am I worthy?” and we stop having excuses. And we start asking, “Where can I serve?” We do this because God’s grace pushes us out of self-doubt, out of our self-centeredness, and into living for God’s sacred purpose.

Living Into Our Own Calling

Isaiah’s purpose was to be a prophet, to speak God’s truth to people caught up and lost in their crumbling culture.

That was his role in God’s story. But each one of us is of sacred worth, and we are all created and called to a sacred role. Your purpose may not look like Isaiah’s, but it isn’t any less holy.

Some of us are called to care for the vulnerable, perhaps visiting a lonely neighbor or sitting with someone in grief. Maybe others are called to offer food or shelter to the homeless. And some might be called to help immigrants learn English, to help them feel at home in a foreign country.

Some of us are called to teach children about Jesus in Sunday School, in a youth group, or in Messy Church. Others are called to cook meals, deliver canned goods to the community support center, write cards of encouragement, knit prayer shawls, or pray faithfully for our church, the suffering, and our world.

Every act of love, however ordinary it may seem, is a sacred calling from God that we are created to answer.

Two Women, One Purpose

While thinking and praying about this message, I was led to remember two very different women who lived out their callings in the same generation.

Princess Diana used her influence to shine a light on people suffering from AIDS, showing compassion to those who were shunned by society. She also used her voice to bring awareness to the victims who have lost limbs from landmines. She spent her life working tirelessly for good, even after stepping away from her royal status and the throne.

And then there’s Mother Teresa, who picked up the dying and forgotten sick folk in the streets of Calcutta. She treated them with compassion and dignity, providing them with health care by opening numerous facilities through her Missionaries of Charity organization.

Mother Teresa created facilities for those in need of hospice care, orphans, people experiencing homelessness, and those requiring counseling. And here in America, she opened the Gift of Peace Aids Hospice in Greenwich Village, in New York City. Mother Teresa was moved to make a difference in this life by serving God with her life.

She once said, “I am a pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.” She served God until she was 87 years old and gave up her life selflessly, answering God’s call out of her gratitude for God’s forgiveness.

A Call for All of Us

Yes, Diana wore a crown, Mother Teresa wore a simple habit, but both lived into their calling from God to help humanity however they could in their corner of the world.

Our purpose may look vastly different than these two famous women, but whatever we do, when it’s rooted in love, will reflect the love of Christ and the undeserved grace of God.

Together, we can be a voice for God through our actions to people who are searching for meaning.

When the Puzzle Isn’t Complete Without You

Many people feel unworthy, inadequate, and overlooked in today’s world. And God still asks the same question: “Whom shall I send?” You might even feel inadequate and unworthy to serve God, and if that’s you, my friend, hear the Good News: God calls the forgiven. God doesn’t ask us to be flawless. God only asks us to be faithful. And when we hear that call, we discover that the very grace that forgives us is the grace that empowers us.

Remember the children who thought their purpose was to eat pizza or keep siblings out of their rooms? Sometimes we adults get just as lost as little children. We chase after careers or comfort. We look at Facebook and compare our insides to someone else’s outsides. We chase after someone’s seeming success. And this is like jamming puzzle pieces into the wrong picture.

But God has created us all with our unique gifts so that we can thank God with our lives. We are all created to fit perfectly into God’s kingdom design. To help others by coming along with them and showing them the love of Christ. And without you, my friend, the picture isn’t complete. God has work for us to do so that others will receive God’s forgiveness and love.

Jesus Still Calls

This isn’t just about Isaiah and his calling; it’s about the calling of God. It’s also the story about Jesus calling ordinary people: fishermen, tax collectors, women, and the outcasts, those who were gentiles, sick with leprosy, the blind, and the lame.

Jesus calls everyone out of their comfort zones and off the sidelines and margins of society to come and follow him. He found them mending nets, sitting at tax booths, drawing water from wells, and living in cemeteries on the outskirts of society. Doing life just like they have always done. Then amid their chaos, Jesus calls, “Come follow me.”

These people weren’t perfect. They didn’t have all the answers. But they took a chance and stepped away from safety into service. They stepped away from comfort to answer the call.

And you know what? Jesus still calls us, even today. We are all called by Christ. Not just a few. It’s a call for all those who dare to know and understand that they have received one of the greatest gifts they can ever receive: the mercy, forgiveness, and grace of God.

Dare to Answer

So, friends, the call of Christ is there for us if we dare to listen. Just as Isaiah said, “Here am I, send me,” Jesus invites us to rise up from the sidelines, follow him, and live out our sacred purpose of love.

So, what do you say? Let’s serve God with all that we have so that together we will make a positive difference.

Come, Holy Spirit, I pray it may be so. Amen.